4 Apr 2022

Published on: by RR7 Category:Nearing Midnight

Constant Crisis Mode

One of the most active features of our domain has been the Rapture Index. It has been the subject of a plethora of articles by the secular media. When I started it in 1987, my simple interest was focused on the activity of end-time events. There have been times when not much was going on in relation to Bible prophecy.

When I was in the Air Force, there was a time when I could be sent on a 45-day deployment to the Middle East and leave the site on hold the whole time. Today, if I forget to update something on a daily basis, I get calls from friends worried about my health.

A couple of years ago, I realized that the Rapture Index had lost its importance, primarily due to the fact that it is constantly stuck at high levels. The index has not been below 170 in 20 years. It is amazing that the index had a low of 58 in 1993. What keeps the RI high is that we are in Constant Crisis Mode. There is always something going on that keeps prophecy-related events in the news.

One of my favorite drought sites is the US drought monitor: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu. It is run by the University of Nebraska, and they track areas of the US that have received below-average amounts of rainfall.

The site has records that go all the way back to the year 2000. I looked at them and noticed that in most years, the average level of droughts was less than 30% of the whole US. Right now, the percentage of the US in drought condition is 60%, which is the highest reading in the history of the site.

Because most western states receive their rainfall during the winter months, there was much hope that this season would end the Californian drought. The first couple months of winter looked good, with California receiving large amounts of rainfall, but the rain suddenly stopped. Since very little rainfall occurs in the summer months, California is back in the red zone for drought.

California has been in the drought category for four years straight. I was amazed at the state record of having the largest wildfires each year. I didn’t think there was anything left to burn in California from the 2018 to 2020 fire seasons. Somehow California had the misfortune of having 2021 as the fresh record for the most areas burnt.

Normally when winter comes, the recorded numbers of wildfires significantly decrease because of the reduced average temperature and the increased moisture levels. A week ago, I saw a map that had at least a dozen fires burning over the state of Texas.

What makes the current fire season odd is that I’ve been tracking them for several years and noticed the few odd years. In 2018 we had a generally wet year. It was odd because the moisture levels made it unproductive for growing anything.

I’ve been monitoring wildfires for 37 years, and I don’t ever recall so many fires during the spring in the Midwest. There was one report of fires in the Smoky Mountains. The Smoky Mountains are named so because of the natural configuration of clouds. To have an abundance of moisture is very odd and dangerous.

The funny thing is not that we are entering into a season that is prone to fire hazards; we are approaching a season that is the kingpin of fire dangers. I know we quickly become complacent to end-time views but are at a point where we don’t understand the current reality.

The reason why we are experiencing constant crisis is that we are very near to the cause of these end-time events. Once we realize that God is in control of events, we can make sense of the progression of events.

“And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?'” (Revelation 5:1-2, NKJV).

__ Todd

 

Author’s note: This week’s Nearing Midnight article is one written some time ago. Never, however, has its subject been more time-appropriate than at this moment. With issues and events moving at accelerating swiftness, and in ever greater proliferation, we who name the Name of Christ must be constantly aware of the glorious fact that we could at any moment meet Him face to Face. –Terry

Thief in the Night

By

Terry James

No scriptural proof-text in God’s Word more clearly points to the first of the two phases of Jesus Christ’s second coming than does the following: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2).

We who hold to the pre-trib rapture viewpoint are often accused of being deceivers. We are condemned by our detractors as leading astray Christians alive now –if they live to see it–  who will be required to endure the tribulation, thus to wash their robes clean in preparation for inheriting God’s Kingdom.

We are castigated for foisting upon innocent, gullible believers a “secret rapture” that will somehow lead these Christians to take the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16-18).

I’m not precisely sure of their “reasoning,” but I think they claim this because they are convinced that the ones who fall for the rapture viewpoint won’t be able to recognize Antichrist when he comes to power. We who teach the pre-trib rapture, so the accusation goes, would have falsely led these people to think the Church would not be here when Antichrist is on the world scene.

Almost all who are antagonistic to the pre-trib rapture doctrine teach that the “elect” will have to endure part or all of the seven-year tribulation era.

Those who hold to a post-tribulation rapture, or a no-rapture position, believe that Christ will come back at the end of the tribulation, at Armageddon.

They hold to the notion that that is His only return in the second coming. There are other views of the second coming that have Christ returning when the earth is perfected and made ready, but we won’t go there in this essay.

Let us look at only the pre-trib rapture and the post-trib rapture positions for the purpose of exploring what is meant by the “thief in the night” references in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10.

These two viewpoints–the pre-trib, and the post-trib–offer the greatest contrast to examine in consideration of the second advent of Jesus Christ, within the overall belief that rapture will, according to Bible prophecy, happen before Christ’s foot actually touches down on Planet Earth.

The pre-trib view of rapture says that Christ’s second coming is in two phases, separated by at least seven years. The post-trib rapture view says that the rapture and Christ’s coming back to the Mount of Olives will occur almost simultaneously–certainly with no more than a matter of days separating the two events. The post-trib position says there is no “secret” rapture. Christ’s coming again will be fully seen in the heavens by all, including Christians who will be watching for Him to break through the darkness of that hour.

We agree that the rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Jesus Christ for salvation since the Church Age began at Pentecost) will be anything but a “secret”. The world will instantly go into cataclysmic chaos at the moment that stunning event takes place. The imagination is hard-pressed to fathom the ramifications of what will happen when millions suddenly vanish. Every child below the age of accountability will be gone in that mind-boggling instant of time. I am convinced that all babies (including those in the wombs of their mothers) will be instantly in the presence of Christ in the clouds of glory. Every corpse of every dead Christian will be raised to join with his or her soul to meet Christ in the air in that atomos of time.

The rapture will be mystifying, and to some an inexplicable phenomenon, but it will not be a secret. It will happen before the eyes of a stupefied planet of left-behind earth-dwellers. This declaration that Jesus will call His Church to be with Him seems audacious to many. But, it didn’t seem so to the Apostle Paul. He was quite confident–even adamant—in his prophecy concerning the “mystery” he had been given by the Holy Spirit to instruct all believers down through the Age of Grace (Church Age).

“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” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

He explains what will take place next, in that stupendous fraction of a second: “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” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

Jesus himself told of this “mystery” Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 15:51. The Lord explains what happens after believers –both the bodies of the dead and those who are living– are caught up in the air to be with Him: “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” (Jn. 14:1-3).

So, the rapture will take place. Believers and the bodies of those who died during the Church Age will be “caught up” in one single moment of time. “ALL,” not “some,” will go instantly to be with Jesus, who will then take them into heaven, where He has been preparing their dwelling places since He ascended from the Mount of Olives.

Again, the pre-trib position on this joyous event is that it is imminent (could happen at any moment), and will happen before the tribulation period begins.

The post-trib position says that it happens at the end of the most terrible time in human history, just as Jesus Christ is returning from heaven at Armageddon.

The pre-trib view holds that it will occur at an unknown time. It will be a stunning, sudden, and unannounced-to-the-world-at-large break-in upon business as usual on Planet Earth. The post-trib proclaims that it will occur following all of the horrors of the judgments outlined in Revelation.

The pre-trib view says that the world at large (left-behind earth-dwellers) won’t see it coming. The rapture will cause all left on earth to wonder what has happened. The post-trib view says that all eyes will behold Christ’s coming again to a hellish planet, and the living and dead saints will then be gathered to Christ.

The defining thing to consider in thinking on the two diametrically different views of the rapture and second coming is wrapped up in the term “thief in the night”. The Apostle Peter again uses this mysterious term, first used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).

Peter is saying here that the day of the Lord–that time when God and His Christ, His Son, takes over this fallen planet—will begin like a thief in the night.

It will be a sudden, catastrophic break-in upon a world doing business as usual. (Read Luke 17:26-29 to understand how things will be going along as usual when Christ comes back.)

This description hardly fits the post-trib view, or any other view that says Christ will rapture His Church during a time of unprecedented trouble (Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:21). This indicates that it will be a total surprise, because a thief in the night doesn’t announce his coming with great, cataclysmic fanfare.

The break-in is swift, stealthy–a totally unexpected event.

Peter foretells in these passages that the “day of the Lord” will then run its course, until the remaking of the heavens and the earth. The rapture will begin this “day of the Lord,” which will then run at least 1,007 years.

This is the first phase of Christ’s second coming. The rapture occurs like a “thief in the night”. The second advent, when Jesus’ foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, is the second phase of His second coming.

There are those who say with vehemence that it is blasphemous to equate Christ’s coming again as being like the break-in of a thief in the night. How dare we liken their Lord to a “thief”!

Really? Here’s what Jesus, the Creator of all things, said about this matter:

“But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:43-44).

Looks like a pretty good case for the Lord’s sudden intervention into the nefarious affairs of this increasingly wicked world, does it not? That thief-in-the-night

moment could happen, literally, at any moment. Certainly, signals of the tribulation are beginning to come to pass.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 21:28).

—Terry

4 Apr 2022

Published on: by RR7 Category:Prayer Center

Last Days Utter Immorality

“Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment” (Isaiah 59:14:15).

LAST DAYS OF LOT RETURNED

Texas AG investigating whether pharma companies deceptively advertised puberty-blocking drugs. “Companies should never promote or supply puberty blockers for uses that are not intended or approved,” Paxton said. “I will not allow Big Pharma to misleadingly promote these drugs that may pose a high risk of serious physical and psychological damage to Texas children who cannot yet fathom or consent to the potential long-term effects of such use.” (A photo in the article shows a sign on an elementary classroom door that states, “Some people are trans. Get over it.”)

Minnesota Wild raises money for kids’ puberty blockers on first-ever ‘Pride Night.’

New Jersey Middle School Forced 12-Year-Olds to Learn About Transgender Hormone Therapy without Parental Consent.

Disney Lashes Out at DeSantis for Signing Anti-Grooming Bill, Vows to Fight in Court. Florida Governor DeSantis signed a measure forbidding instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity to children in grades pre-K through grade 3. Disney responded, “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts.” Disney supports groomers and wants to overturn the will of the people.

Watch: Disney Executive Producer Says Company’ Welcoming’ of Her ‘Gay Agenda.’ Leaked video from Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” summit reveals top-level employees openly discussing the company’s push to include more LGBTQ+ content in its ever-growing library. One video featured executive producer Latoya Raveneau talking about how the company encouraged her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda.”

Openly Gay Teacher Accused of Sending Nude Selfie to Young Student. The degenerate left is determined to pervert students with its reprobate gay/trans agenda. The teacher, Dean Wright, is “most proud” of teaching kids about “pronouns.”

Biden Promotes Transgender Day of Visibility with Launch of New’ X’ Gender Marker. New Transportation Security Administration scanners that are gender-neutral are also planned as part of the administration-wide embrace of transgenderism and LGBTQI+.

There are so many more very recent news articles on this subject. See Mark Becker’s soon-to-be-posted article on Rapture Ready titled “Countdown to Judgment.”

ABORTION ABOMINATION

WHO calls for widespread removal of abortion restrictions. The World Health Organization released new guidelines on promoting abortion, calling for a ban on any laws that restrict abortion, thus opening the door to sex-selective abortion and abortion up to birth.

Shocking Images Show 5 Babies Killed in Late-Term Abortions at DC Abortion Clinic.

LAST DAYS TRAITORS

The Corruption in Washington DC Is Far Worse Than Most Americans Can Possibly Imagine. The system our forefathers established has been completely corrupted, and Americans should be deeply ashamed for allowing this to happen.

Hillary Clinton Campaign & Demo-crat National Convention Fined $113K for Falsifying Fraudulent “Russia dossier” Expense. Hillary’s campaign and the DNC reported payments as legal expenses instead of accurately marking them as “paying Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Trump.” Last week, Trump sued Hillary and Demo-crat Party leaders for falsely accusing him of drumming up the Russia hoax.

Dems Weaponize Govt Policies, Driving USA Into Dystopian Revolution. The reason Dems want failure is that they can’t achieve their goals without revolution. Yet the spontaneous revolution Marx taught us inevitably simply never occurred. Marx originally said the world’s beleaguered workers will arise and “throw off the chains” of capitalism. But free markets increasingly made workers’ lives better. So Marxists eventually developed a theory of internal destruction to collapse a society, an inverted revolution.

ORWELLIAN SOCIETY

US Military wants AI to replace human decision-making in battle. Microsoft’s Brad Smith warned we might be caught up in a losing race with artificial intelligence. Our reality is rapidly catching up with the fictional portrayal of Orwell’s 1984. He called for lawmakers to protect the public against the all-to-real threat of the technology over the coming years.

INIQUITY (LAWLESSNESS; WICKEDNESS) SHALL ABOUND

Prime example of a Dem-nation: Crime stalls resurgence of downtown Minneapolis. It’s been two years since the start of the COVID pandemic, and downtown is thwarted by crime at every turn. This is an example of Democrat-run cities.

DELIBERATE PITTING OF NATION (ETHNIC) AGAINST NATION (ETHNIC): A MARXIST AGENDA

NYC’s black chief medical officer calls whites’ birthing people,’ blacks and Puerto Ricans’ mothers.’ “The urgency of this moment is clear,” she said. “Mortality rates of birthing people are too high, and babies born to Black and Puerto Rican mothers in this city are three times more likely to die in their first year of life than babies born to non-Hispanic White birthing people.”

WHO examining potential hearing problems linked to Covid vaccines. The World Health Organization is investigating 164 reported instances of hearing loss and other auditory disturbances associated with COVID vaccinations – primarily the Pfizer vaccine.

DRUG PLAGUE

Number Of US Workers Testing Positive for Marijuana Reaches 2-Decade High.

THE PLANNED-DEMIC

10 real-life examples of people who died or were injured after receiving the COVID vaccine.

FOOD INSECURITY

Biden says “food shortages are going to be real.” From Tucker Carlson: “Food shortages topple governments. They turn moderates into revolutionaries. A food shortage is a big deal. You don’t want one, but now we’re getting one just a little over a year into Biden’s presidency. Think forward. If the traditional calendar holds, we’ve got 1,032 days left of the Biden administration, and you wonder what things will look like by then. We’re already speeding toward dystopia…

GOP Senator Warns There’ll Be Worldwide Famine in the Next 2 Years. He said, “This will be a worldwide famine. I think it will be even worse next year than this year. So if 12, 15% of the wheat comes from Ukraine that’s exported, and they’re having problems getting fertilizer, they have tractors in the field, [and] all the diesel fuel is going towards their war efforts, right? So if all that’s clogged, all the USAID that we spend, all those type things, there’ll be a famine across the world, and we are seeing it right now.”

Supermarkets Allowed to Begin Rationing Food and Other Items, Says Spain’s Socialist Government. Amid soaring inflation, which hit nearly 10 percent in March, the Spanish government, controlled by the leftist Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has opened up a legal loophole for supermarkets to begin rationing to customers.

WEATHER EVENTS/DISASTERS

Sprawling storm triggers nearly 500 severe weather reports across the US A massive storm system that spread across much of the US this week left a trail of damage across several states. What started as a snow event in the Rockies turned into severe thunderstorms as the system moved into the Plains Tuesday. An EF-3 tornado touched down in Springdale, Arkansas, Wednesday, injuring seven people, two seriously. The storm line intensified further as it approached the Mississippi River, stretching over 1,300 miles at one point. Two people were killed when a tornado struck a home in Florida. So far in March, 223 tornadoes were reported compared to the average 91 tornadoes, making this March one of the most active in decades for severe weather.

Another multi-day severe weather threat looms for storm-fatigued US South this coming week. Damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes are all possible with this next round of severe storms.

Texas Wildfire Preparedness Level Increased to Level 4 Due to Activity, Resources. Level 5 is the highest level of wildland fire activity. The fire environment this week was characterized by critical weather conditions and dry grass that allowed the growth of several large wildfires across the state. Over the past week, 192 wildfires burned 173,559 acres.

Tennessee wildfire near Gatlinburg prompts evacuations of 11,000 homes.

Heavy rains trigger deadly landslides, leaving over 250,000 without drinking water in Ecuador. The current death toll currently stands at four, with four others injured. Homes and roads were damaged.

Australia floods: Thousands forced to evacuate for the second time in weeks after extraordinary rain burst river banks and lashed the east coast. Several towns in northern New South Wales, already struggling after record floods over a month ago, took a month’s worth of rain in just six hours. There was no official warning that the levee had been breached after sirens malfunctioned.

VOLCANOES

Eruption at Taal volcano, Alert Level raised to 3, Philippines. There’s magmatic intrusion at the Main Crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions.” It’s recommended that Taal Volcano Island and high-risk barangays be evacuated due to possible hazards should stronger eruptions subsequently occur.

Strong tremor and Crater Lake heating at Ruapehu, Aviation Color Code raised to Yellow, New Zealand. Sustained elevated tremor, combined with the slow lake heating, continues to indicate that gas is fluxing through the system.

PROPHESIED GLOBAL GOVERNMENT MOVING FORWARD

On Opening Day of 2022 World Government Summit in Dubai, the First Item on the Agenda Was About Preparing to Receive the New World Order.

ISLAMIC TERRORISM

Israel terror threat level raised to highest amid spree of attacks. Israel raised its level of threat from terrorism to the highest possible after yet another deadly terror attack took place, the third within a week. Five people were killed when Diaa Hamarsheh, a resident of the West Bank, opened fire from an automatic rifle in two separate locations in the mostly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak. The gunman was shot and killed on the scene.

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

Biden Admin’s Nuclear Deal: “This Isn’t Obama’s Iran Deal. It’s Even Much, Much Worse. “By every indication, the Biden Administration appears to have given away the store… What’s more, the deal appears likely to deepen Iran’s financial and security relationship with Russia and China, including through arms sales.”

Asia’s Autocrats Are Calling, Mr. Biden. While he was in Brussels and Warsaw showing US solidarity with Ukraine, rocket man in North Korea made a bold bid for his attention. For the first time since 2017, Kim Jong Un test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the largest road-mobile missile ever launched. Had it been fired in a normal trajectory, its warheads could have reached DC and every city in the USA.

US Navy deploys electronic attack jets to Europe to bolster the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) radar jamming abilities.

Ukraine missile hits military camp inside Russia for the first time. Four Russian soldiers were injured.

NATO Likely to Approve ‘Major Increases’ of Troops as Zelenskyy Says 100,000 People Trapped in Mariupol amid the conflict.

Come Again? Ukrainian Parliament Member Tells Fox News: “We Not only Fight for Ukraine – We Fight For this New World Order” (VIDEO). Ukraine parliament member Kira Rudik said, “we not only fight for Ukraine; we fight for this New World Order for the democratic countries.” Folks, there are no “good guy” governments in this war! Ukraine has long been used by Biden and other Global elitists like Klaus Schwab and George Soros to run corrupt dealings through, so it’s no surprise to see Ukraine’s officials pledging allegiance to leftist so-called ‘democracy’ using language like “New World Order.”

Ukraine Represents Globalism, and Russia Is Standing Up to Them, Israeli Politician Says. Read this whole article to understand, but here’s a brief summary]: Moshe Feiglin, a veteran of Israeli politics, sees the Ukraine-Russia war as a war of ideologies that could enflame the world. Feiglin doesn’t support Putin or his actions in Ukraine. But in this particular conflict, he sees the globalist powers supporting Zelenskyy as more of a threat to Israel. [NOTE: I repeat: there are no ‘good guy’ governments in this conflict — not Putin, not Zelenskyy’s government, not the US administration, nor other Western nations involved.]

Hamas says the next war with Israel will be a turning point in the conflict. The Deputy leader of the terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza says the next confrontation against Israel will have “a wider scope” (wider participation of the so-called Palestinian Arab public in Judea and Samaria and Israel) and that it “would be a turning point in the history of the conflict with the occupation (which they claim is Israel).”

Little do they know what’s in store for these terrorists at Armageddon. “Indeed, what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon [Lebanon – has Hezbollah terrorist regime], and all the coasts of Philistia [Gaza – has Hamas terrorist regime]? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me, Swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head” (Joel 3:4).

CALLS FOR PEACE AND SAFETY

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators developed poisoning symptoms during peace talks. A Russian businessman, a Ukrainian lawmaker, and another member of the Ukrainian delegation developed poisoning symptoms after peace talks in Ukraine. Symptoms included red eyes and tearing and peeling of the skin on their faces and hands — all consistent with poisoning by chemical weapons. Sources blamed the poisoning on Russian hardliners opposed to peace talks. The poisoning victims’ symptoms have improved.

Greater Iranian threat brings Abraham Accords countries closer. With the specter of a revived Iran nuclear deal approaching, Israel hosted a summit Monday, which included foreign ministers of the Abraham Accords countries and Egypt, together with US Secretary of State Blinken. The summit is part of a recent tendency by signatories to the Accords – Egypt, Bahrain, UAE, Morocco, Israel, and the US – to improve their ties through a series of cultural events, diplomatic visits, and summits.

APOSTASY

UAE, US, and Israel Launch Religious Coexistence and Tolerance Chrislam Group Ahead of Opening of Abrahamic Family House. Chrislam is rapidly accelerating across the Middle East, riding the back of the Abraham Accords. In the fall, it’s expected that the Abrahamic Family House will be headquarters for Pope Francis’ Declaration of Human Fraternity and will feature a mosque, a synagogue, and a Roman Catholic Church.

CONCLUDING SCRIPTURE

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Romans 1:16-20).