The Lion, the Sluggard, and the Rapture :: By Jonathan Brentner

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

One morning last week, Proverbs 26:13 caught my attention. “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!'” The “sluggard” in the book of Proverbs is more than just lazy, although he’s all that. Sluggards of the past invented the bubble of normalcy in which they imagined they were safe from the dangers outside their homes.

As I watch the signs of the coming Tribulation period fall into place, I believe that one might rightly say, “There’s a lion in the street!” The perils to our wellbeing are exceedingly real, and they’re not going away.

What, then, is the difference between someone with the mindset of a sluggard and one that the book of Proverbs describes as wise?

It’s where they look for wisdom. Sluggards trust their own instincts (see Proverbs 26:16), while the wise seek the understanding and insight that’s found in God’s Word.

Jesus personifies the wisdom of the book of Proverbs. It’s in His words, Scripture, that we find not only His guidance for our daily lives but genuine guidance for lives and insight into world events. As such, Bible prophecy illuminates the dangers of our day while at the same time assuring us of a joyous future regardless of the lions we face in our world.

The Lion in the Streets

We live in perilous times on steroids; Paul’s description of the last days in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 has never been more relevant or posed a greater threat to our livelihood. In addition to the rapid downward spiral of common decency around us, the coming kingdom of the antichrist is taking shape before our eyes with an ever-increasing velocity and deadly fierceness. The technology that will enable the lawless one to control all buying and selling (Revelation 13:16-18) is already here, and it appears to be far more enslaving than we ever imagined.

Lest you think I’m just another prophecy guy sounding the alarm for whatever reason, please pay attention to the quote below from Peter Koenig, a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO). Koenig recognizes the grave threats to our future wellbeing; but being outside of Christ, his only solution is for “we, the people” to rise up and stop the beast. (Yes, in other articles, he refers to the coming world government as “the beast,” just as in the books of Daniel and Revelation.)

Two kinds of absolute controls are being prepared to implement The Great Reset, alias UN Agenda 2030. A potentially straitjacket and total control by programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and an all-oppressive health tyranny by WHO, overriding national Constitutional rights and national sovereignty as far as health measures are concerned.

The former will be “managed,” coordinated, and supervised for faultless implementation by the so-called Central Bank of Central Banks, the Bank for International Settlement (BIS); the latter by the 1948 Rockefeller-created, falsely called UN-agency WHO. The emerging tyrant’s budget is to 80% pharma, Gates, and otherwise privately funded. Both are criminal organizations….

CBDC may be upon us, humanity, rather sooner than later. Programmable CBDC is a weapon of mass destruction. The weapon has been in the planning for decades – and it fits right into the Bigger Picture of the Great Reset / Agenda 2030.

Programmable – means the money can be programmed on how it is to be spent by an individual, or blocked, or made to expire, or made to be used for certain goods or services – or it can be totally withheld, wiped out, depending on how well you behave, according to the standards of the all-commandeering death cult elite. . . .

Simultaneously, an all-controlling health tyranny is being prepared by WHO. The plan is that the new totalitarian rules – Biden Administration initiated revised International Health Regulations (IHR), including a new Pandemic Treaty – are to be ratified by the World Health Assembly, presumably by the end of May 2023. If approved by a two-thirds majority, the new rules will become effective in 2024. [i]

We know from Scripture that the future one-world government, which will dominate the world during the seven-year Tribulation, aligns perfectly with the threats that Peter Koenig describes in the above quote. It will be a satanic and deadly tyranny, one that will enslave people of all nations through the use of technology. The CBDCs and Pandemic Treaty will someday trap an unsuspecting public in a web of deceit and murder.

In an article entitled, “Technocrat says quiet part out loud: A Digital ‘World ID’ will soon be mandatory for anyone who wishes to partake in day-to-day functions of society,” blogger and research analyst Leo Hohmann wrote the following:

I’ve been saying for nearly three years now that the beast system is based on the world’s people accepting two technological components offered up by the Luciferian globalist elites: A globally recognized digital ID to replace the cards in your wallet and a globally recognized digital money to replace the cash in your wallet. The two together will comprise the foundation of the punitive global beast system.

From an article in Slay News, we learned today that the CEO of an outfit called Worldcoin has warned that a global digital ID system will be ushered in for citizens around the world whether they “like it or not.” [ii]

Please know that we are not decades away from the lethal regime of the globalists seizing control of all nations, but rather a few short years. The UN and WEF (World Economic Forum) have 2030 as their goal for worldwide implementation of their empire. The elite from these organizations are meeting in September of 2023 to ensure that they are on target for the full implementation of their worldwide regime by 2030, if not before.

The Sluggard Hides

In today’s world, those that copy the behavior of the ancient sluggards hide from the dangers they see, believing they will mysteriously go away and the streets will return to normal. They find confirmation of their hopes in the mainstream media that disguises the long-term threats to their long-term wellbeing.

What they often hear in churches, if they attend, is an exclusive emphasis on how the Gospel relates to this life. The silence about biblical prophecy confirms their perception that all is well, at least for the foreseeable future. If not, surely those who know the Bible would warn them.

The wise place a high value on understanding, which in turn leads them to a diligent search for wisdom, such as those that seek after precious and expensive jewels (Proverbs 2:1-6).

Such dependence on the words of Scripture is especially needed with biblical prophecy. Unless one is willing to do the hard work of thoroughly examining God’s Word and letting the words of the text speak for themselves, one is likely to wander down an erroneous path that leads to the drowsiness found in the bubble of normalcy.

The prevalence of beliefs in Jesus’ thousand-year reign and the pre-Tribulation Rapture in Bible-believing churches during the last century resulted from Bible students vigorously applying two principles of Bible interpretation that came from the Reformers.

The first was sola scriptura, which signifies that the Bible must be the sole source for our beliefs. What we believe must come from its words and their meanings. Other resources help us understand the text of God’s Word, but it’s the words on the pages of the Bible that matter for faith and practice.

The second was “Scripture interprets Scripture.” God’s Word doesn’t contradict itself, but some texts are difficult to understand. One must always give way to the clear passages and let those interpret the ones that seem less clear.

Because they performed the difficult task of applying these precepts to Bible prophecy, these students of God’s Word from the past opened the door for the revival of premillennialism (the belief in a literal Tribulation and thousand-year reign of Jesus), which had dominated the early centuries of the church.

Yes, books can aid in our understanding of future things. I’m an author myself. However, there’s no substitute for doing the hard work of studying the Bible for oneself and letting the words speak for themselves.

The Rapture Is Imminent

The awareness that the world is rapidly moving toward the events described in Revelation 6 and 13 gives all of us hope because it signals the nearness of Jesus’ appearing to take us home. Such an anticipation relieves any fears that might arise from the deadly perils around us and encourages us to press forward in serving our Lord.

In the meantime, however, we sometimes wonder aloud, “How much longer can it be before our Savior comes for us?”

On the one hand, we see a multitude of signs telling us we live in the shadow of the Tribulation. There’s never been a day like this one when so many things from biblical prophecy are coming into clearer focus with vibrant colors.

On the other hand, we also recognize God’s restraining power, holding back the full onslaught of evil that will come when the antichrist steps onto the world scene.

So we wait.

The good news is that with the myriad of signs converging against the backdrop of Israel’s miraculous existence as a nation, we have a valid expectation of being alive when Jesus comes for His church.

The Words of Scripture Validate Our Hope in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him” (KJV). The word for “pure” denotes something that is tested and found to be genuine. The verse tells us that the words of Scripture have been refined like precious metals and, as a result, proven to be true.

Proverbs 2:6 states, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul repeats this same concept when he says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” The words of wisdom come directly from the Lord’s mouth via the inspired words of Scripture.

Of key importance for our day, this truth applies to passages that describe the event we now refer to as the “Rapture.” 1 Corinthians 15:48-54, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, Romans 8:23-24 and Philippians 3:20-21 refer to this still future occurrence. This signifies our imminent and “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11-14).

How is it possible for anyone who has carefully examined Scripture not to recognize the nearness of the Day of the Lord and hence our homegoing? The signs cry aloud with the message that we live in the last moments of the last days!

The dangers for those outside of Christ arise from a much different Lion. Revelation 5:5 refers to Him as “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” and during the Tribulation, His roar will signify destruction and death for many.

Although today’s perils are more deadly than ever before, our confidence as New Testament saints rests in Jesus, who is coming to rescue us before executing His wrath on this wicked world.

I provide a detailed defense of the Pretribulation viewpoint in: The Triumph of the Redeemed-An Eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times. I demonstrate, using an abundance of quotes, that the belief in a thousand-year reign of Jesus dominated the church during its first three hundred years. The historic view of the millennium is a literal view of Revelation 20:1-10 that places it between the Tribulation and the eternal state. The belief that Jesus takes the church out of the world before a time of tribulation on the earth also appears in the early centuries of the church.

Note: Please consider signing up for my newsletter on the home page of my website at https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/. Thanks!

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[i] Peter Koenig, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): The Weaponization of Money? WHO’s Health Tyranny: Towards a Totalitarian World Government? No Way! July 15, 2023 at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/central-bank-digital-currency-cbdc-weapon-of-mass-destruction-and-whos-health-tyranny-towards-a-totalitarian-world-government-no-way/5814122

[ii] Leo Hohmann, Technocrat says quiet part out loud: A Digital ‘World ID’ will soon be mandatory for anyone who wishes to partake in day-to-day functions of society, July 20, 2023, at: https://leohohmann.com/2023/07/20/technocrat-says-quiet-part-out-loud-a-digital-world-id-will-soon-be-mandatory-for-anyone-who-wishes-to-partake-in-day-to-day-functions-of-society/#more-15107

7 Aug 2023

Published on: by RR7 Category:Nearing Midnight

A Very Large Number of Young People Identify as LGBT

A growing number of surveys have made known an alarming sexual trend in America. A high percentage of young adults label themselves as being LGBT. The percentages are as high as 38%, which was taken at Harvard University.

Nadine Ness, the head of the watchdog group Unified Grassroots, recently shared her concern over these high numbers. She said a father told her that in his 13-year-old son’s class, 13 out of 30 young people identify as LGBT. She was also notified of a principal in a different school telling a parent that some 32 percent of Grade 7 and 8 students identify as LGBT.

“I think it sends a clear message that something is happening in the classroom that is leading kids to go that route of either identifying or being confused about gender,” said Ness.

I remember that several decades ago, many Christian apologists were attacking the left’s claim that 10% of the population was gay. At the time, the real number was around 4%. To jump nearly tenfold by any length of time is shocking.

The people saying they are LGBT are clearly being influenced by popular culture, which praises people who claim they are outside traditional sexual roles. A university’s level of liberalism is directly related to the number of individuals who identify as LGBT. All the northern Ivy League colleges are in the 30% range, while schools in the conservative south are mostly in the 20% range.

Some studies have pointed out that half the population has the potential for a shift in sexual orientation. Sexual fluidity in attractions was reported by 63% of females and 50% of males.

When I went to high school in Storm Lake, Iowa, I don’t recall a single person being known as anything other than heterosexual. Out of a student body of 400, it would be likely that some people were gay, but they remained silent.

I did several searches of my local high school here in Benton, AR, and I found several examples of people who would identify as LGBT. All the issues of the Big Cities are playing out in small-town Benton. The City’s library system is exposing children to pornographic propaganda from the left. In June, the school was part of an LGBT pride event. Terry and I know of a girl who says she is a lesbian. Two people made the bizarre claim to be a cat and a dog, which is why some people add a plus sign to LGBT. The Cat person asked for a litter box to be installed in the bathroom. In 2020, one student was charged with a number of sex crimes.

There is one study that points out how dangerous it is to allow teachers to encourage children to explore other sexual orientations. Once a boy decides he likes other boys, it is very unlikely that he will return to heterosexuality.

One study by Steven E. Mock and Richard P. Eibach from 2011 shows only 2% of 2,560 adult participants included in the National Survey of Midlife Development reported a change in sexual orientation identities over a 10-year period. Once you go gay, you tend to stay that way.

We are born with minds like wet cement. You can shape a child’s thinking up until the cement hardens. We learned from tragic cases of child abuse that young minds need protection. Some children have been locked away for years like solitary prisoners, and when they are rescued, they suffer from mental disabilities that can never be fully reversed.

Things are not hopeless. I’ve seen reports about men who were deep into the gay lifestyle that got saved and completely turned their lives around. Many get married and raise a family.

Even if 100% of the people who identify as LGBT are just doing so to please their teachers, it still shows how morally corrupt our nation has become. There was a time when gay people were thought to be mentally ill. Today, we have a press that holds up perverts as heroes.

The greatest example of sexual wickedness is the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha. When the two angels went into Lot’s house, they were so good-looking that a vast number of the men of Sodom surrounded the house and demanded access to them so they could have sex with the heavenly visitors.

The punishment of Sodom and Gomorrha should warn us what can happen when a city or nation suffers a complete moral collapse. It would take decades to reach the level of sexual debauchery that was common in Sodom. We are so far ahead in many other areas, our wickedness outweighs these two cities. There is an old saying that has become more true with each passing day. Someone said, “If God doesn’t judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrha.”

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7).

–Todd

Believers, Take Comfort

Every significant prophetic signal is appearing every hour, indicating that Christ will at any twinkling-of-the-eye moment call believers to Himself. God’s Word offers great comfort to those who have accepted His grace gift of salvation to those who believe Christ died so they, personally, can be redeemed from the sin into which we’re all born.

I think it’s good to use this column this week to post the Scriptures that promise the soon-coming rescue from this world of growing wickedness.

We are told to take comfort from thinking about and believing the stupendous promise of the Rapture.

Here are a number of those scriptural promises:

John 14:1–3: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Romans 8:19: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:7–8: “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:51–53: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Philippians 3:20–21: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Colossians 3:4: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

1 Thessalonians 1:10: “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

1 Thessalonians 2:19: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 5:23: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Thessalonians 2:1–3: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

1 Timothy 6:14: “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Timothy 4:1: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.”

Titus 2:13: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 9:28: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

James 5:7–9: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.”

1 Peter 1:7, 13: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ….. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1 John 2:28, 3:2: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming…. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

Jude 21: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Revelation 2:25: “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”

Revelation 3:10: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

Remember, with the privilege of the great promise of Rapture comes the responsibility of each of us to witness of His soul-saving sacrifice on the cross so many will join God’s family before their death or before that seven years of Tribulation that is awaiting those who reject Jesus, the only hope for lost humanity.

Here, again, is the Scripture in witness to Christ’s saving power:

Romans 10:9–10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

—Terry

*** Thank you who donated! ***

Thanks so much to each of you who so generously have contributed to the Pakistani ministry for distribution of the Prophecy Power Book Pastor Anil translated.

This means God’s Work in this critical hour so near Christ’s Call to the Church will, under the Holy Sppirit’s  Direction, go forth in ways we can’t fully know.

Thank each of you so very much. –Terry