(There is a special message at the end of this article for those who might happen to read this and do not have Jesus in their life and are looking for peace and a way to better understand the present-day insanity and confusion.)

There is a type of chart that is used to illustrate the relationship between time and events.

Called an Exponential Curve, it illustrates this relationship both graphically and numerically and is presented in chart form for easy comparison.

As events progress, they also increase in frequency as they approach the end of the timeline illustrated on the chart.

A quick search on the web will give numerous examples of how this looks, and you will notice that the rate of acceleration rapidly increases to near vertical as the end of the timeline approaches.

Using this example, I believe that the acceleration of current events and the increasing visibility of the conditions that will exist at the time of the final fulfillment of Bible prophecy are at the point where they match the location on the chart where the curve goes nearly vertical.

For the sake of this discussion, we will view the event line as two different but related lines (or topics), instead of one, that are merging as the timeline advances.

The convergence of these two different conditions is also accelerating in their merging together, as well as accelerating in their relationship to the timeline.

Picture in your mind’s eye a set of railroad tracks that convey the illusion that they are converging in the distance, as they appear to be when you are observing them when standing in the center. Hopefully, this will present a picture of the point I am trying to make.

In this case, the convergence of the two different conditions is not an illusion. Unlike the railroad tracks, these end-time events will converge and, I believe, are doing so at an undeniably accelerated pace.

I believe the merging of these events would be more accurately described as a collision.

The two converging conditions I am referring to are:

• The current state of the unbelieving, God-rejecting world and the consequences it will bring about.
• Bible prophecy, particularly, but certainly not limited to the events described in the Book of Revelation beginning in Chapter 4:1 and beyond.

The current state of the God-rejecting world:

The current state of the world bears a remarkable resemblance to the book of Daniel, one of the most prophetic books of the Old Testament. Most significant is the world conditions that must exist for the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks of Years to be completed (Daniel 9:24-27).

This prophecy describes the division of 70 weeks into three sections (7 weeks of years, 62 weeks of years, and one final week of 7 years). The first two divisions constitute a total of 69 weeks and have already been fulfilled. The final week of 7 years is the time of the Tribulation (or the Time of Jacob’s Trouble), described in the Book of Revelation beginning with chapter 4, verse 1.

The time between the 69th week and the commencement of the final week is not specified, but it can be understood as a period of time from the crucifixion of Jesus and the birth of His Church (50 days later) until the rising of the “ruler who will come.” This is the Church Age, or the Age of Grace, in which we currently reside. It has gone on for approximately 2,000 years. This brings us to the New Testament prophecies to complete the understanding of the accelerating rate of prophetic fulfillment.

The much-read and discussed prophecies of Matthew 24:1-25 (Mark 13:1-23 and Luke 21:7-24) describe the things that “must” take place before the end of the age arrives and address more widespread worldly conditions. These things are occurring daily and are constantly in the news in both secular (occasionally/reluctantly) and alternative (frequently and in detail) media venues.

One of the most significant prophecies is the degradation of humans on a personal level, and can be found in Paul’s warnings in (2 Timothy 3:1-7). The velocity of this downward spiral cannot be ignored and has steadily increased since the 1960s.

The result has been a marked rise in rebellious and perverted behavior.

I grew up in the 60s, and I can tell you, with no need for exaggeration, the difference between then and now is staggering. If the schools of today would only have to deal with gum chewing and talking in class, it would be cause for celebration.

There are, despite aches, pains, and physical degradation, some advantages in advanced years.

Perhaps the most valuable is hindsight.

The difference in culture, thought, understanding, and activities referred to as “entertainment” today that I can see over the last 60 or so years of my life (I am 71) make it clear that the deteriorating rate of society and culture is very real.

There are some that will say, “I’ve been hearing this for years, but everything continues on as it always has.”

That is, in fact, a fulfillment of a prophecy made by the Apostle Peter approximately 1,956 years ago:

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3).

I can safely say things are most definitely NOT continuing along as they always have.

Not at all.

Technology and its exploitation for evil purposes, even over just the last couple of years alone, has made it possible for humans to deceive, control, and subjugate other human beings on a massive scale.

That brings the current conditions in line with what is revealed in the Book of Revelation.

“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:17).

Whatever final form that this total control of humanity takes, it will quite literally occur, exactly as described, after the Lord has removed the True Church from this earth in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

The demise of the current cash-based system and the advent of some form of digital currency that is frantically being pushed toward implementation will be the likely mechanism used to acquire near-total control of individuals and countries.

Now to the crux of this article.

I believe the momentum of the planned takeover was lost in 2016 when the American election did not go according to plan.

I believe in those four years, God sounded a final warning to America to repent, but it went unheeded. In fairness to Donald Trump, he did try to turn things around in secular terms, but evil was much too firmly entrenched, and there is now no remedy.

That four-year interruption delayed the program of world control, and clearly, purveyors of globalism are extremely distressed by it.

Now we find ourselves in 2023, and the globalist, one-world government cabal recently announced an “emergency” meeting to accelerate its 2030 agenda:

https://fism.tv/wef-members-summoned-to-accelerate-and-advance-the-great-reset/

Why would this need to happen? Why the sudden need to accelerate it?

I believe that pushback against this evil by both individuals and the leaders of a few countries across the globe is very severe, and the one-world globalists are losing the control they thought they had firmly in hand.

Truth, reality, and facts are impossible to suppress.

As people perceive they are losing their freedoms, that the food shortages are planned, and even the ability to heat their homes is being restricted, pushback is taking on a measure of desperation.

The “sea and the waves” (people and nations) spoken of by the Lord Jesus in (Luke Chapter 21:25) are frenetic, determined, and widespread, and they are roaring in defiance.

I believe drastic measures will be undertaken to quell and/or try to control this rebellion.

I also believe that this current activity, and the attempt to accelerate it, is the most substantial indication that the Pre-Tib Rapture of the Church must be very near.

By bringing about the Rapture, God would remove the last bit of control over the advance of evil: the Holy Spirit and the indwelt, Christ-worshipping and believing Church.

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

Take heart, my sisters and brothers, and pray without ceasing so we can be a part of the fulfillment of this promise by our One and only God.

“Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

The special message I promised you:

For anyone who may read this article and has not trusted in Jesus Christ and therefore has no hope or peace in your life.

You can have hope. You can have the peace that Jesus has promised to all who have made Him their Lord and Savior. The peace that passes understanding.

It requires that you come before God on His terms.

And, what are His terms according to His Word?

• Genuine repentance (turning to God instead of continuing to reject or ignore Him).
• Confession of sins (that you are a sinner and acknowledge that to God).
• That you understand that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
• To acknowledge to God that you are unable to pay that debt.
• Belief that Jesus Christ paid your death sentence for you on the cross.
• To believe that Jesus is the Way, the only Way, that God has established by which humans may be saved from the consequences of their sin and rebellion.

God has made it absolutely clear that there is no one who comes before Him, under His terms, that will be refused.

• No one: no race, no color, no country of origin, regardless of any previous belief system: no one.
• No matter what your past sins have been, God can and WILL forgive you because He says He will.
• Salvation is available to everyone without any exceptions.

If you put all your trust for salvation in Jesus, and Him only, you can follow that prayer up by simply saying, “Thank you, Father God, for hearing my prayer and saving me,” because we can trust Him to keep His Word. He always has. He always will.

“Truly, Truly, I say to you that he who hears My words and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed from death to life” (John 5:24).

There are no answers and there is no hope in the world by governments, organizations, politics or politicians. There are only lies and deception. But you can have the Truth and the peace you seek.

The answers are in the Word of God—The Bible. If you ask God, with all your heart, He will hear you.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Pro Salvator Vigilans

To contact me: canoeman96@gmail.com

Somewhere in the dusty storage bins of my mind lies a memory from my childhood that I can never quite forget. Ironically enough, it’s not the actual memory that I’m recalling but rather a memory of the home video that was being shot at the time the real event took place. Being a child of the 80s growing up in middle America, it was a common sight to see my mother bearing the burden of a camcorder on her right shoulder. You remember the ones, those clunky VHS camcorders that made the ordinary American mom or dad look like they were a cameraman on location filming the evening news?

The footage is that of a Christmas morning, and in it, a six-year-old me is gathering around the Christmas tree with heightened levels of excitement and anticipation as the family prepares to open gifts on a beautiful Christmas morning. My mother has the camera pointed right at me, capturing this moment of fervor and childlike joy, her voice just a little bit louder than the ambient noise as she calls to me from within close proximity to the poofy foam mic jutting out from the front of the camcorder. With the camera zoomed in and focused on my face, she says to me, “I have a pleasant surprise for you.” Now this is the moment that has become impossible to forget. I look at the camera, my eyes lighting up as brightly as they can, my cheeks blushing with anticipation, and squeal out these words with delight, “a pleasant surprise for me?!!”

Perhaps it was the cuteness factor of the moment or just the capturing of that priceless childlike innocence that made for the replay-ability of that moment, but it was a moment the whole family loved to watch again and again when going back over old home video footage.

Maybe we love moments like that so dearly because, as we grow older and life becomes increasingly more difficult and challenging with each passing year, we long for the days of that childlike anticipation, excitement and joy. Only this is exactly what the Lord would have for us all, no matter what our age. Jesus encourages this mindset in the 19th chapter of Mathew as he exhorts, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Only we allow the years and life’s endless troubles to dampen that childlike faith if we do not, like the children in this passage, stay near to Jesus. The book of 1 Kings Ch. 19 gives us a fine example of what disappointment and disillusionment can do to even the strongest amongst us.

One of the finest examples of faith and courage in all of the Old Testament takes place in just the preceding chapter of 1 Kings (Ch. 18). In it, we see a moment of outstanding faithfulness and valor as the prophet Elijah single-handedly takes on a king, 450 hostile prophets of Baal, and an entire apostate nation. It is a moment in Israel’s history filled with the supernatural display of God’s power and considered one of the great victories in all of scripture. But we are not talking about the Elijah of 1 Kings 18; rather, we are looking at a very different Elijah just a few verses further down the road in the subsequent chapter.

Here we find a tale of great irony as we catch up with the prophet just after the life-defining moment of his tremendous victory on Mt. Carmel. How ironic indeed that a man who was best known for his courage, facing an entire nation with unflinching boldness, would now be running in fear and cowardice from just one woman. What irony that a man who had not long before this prayed “that the boy should live” was now praying that he should die. Take it even one step further, and the story is now dripping with irony! How ironic that the man who had faith enough to shut up the heavens with his prayers should now not only receive a no from heaven to his prayer to die but a resounding no! For Elijah was, in fact, one of the few men in the Bible to never die. And herein is where I want us to see what encouragement we can find in this story of the prophet’s despair.

The events that unfolded on Mt. Carmel were a dramatic display of the supernatural power of God and of the vindication of His faithful servant. Elijah was playing a high-stakes game where the stakes could not be higher. He was putting on the line his reputation, all of his life’s work, his ministry, and the reputation of his God he so faithfully served. His faith was so unshakable that he not only had confidence that God would restrain the powers of darkness from being able to light a false fire under the altar of Baal but that God would manifest His own power in defense of the prophet’s challenge to the nation. His confidence went a step further even, as he solidified the supernatural nature of what was about to take place by drenching the sacrifice with water not once, not twice, but three times! Elijah was, as they say in the world of poker, “all in!”

That fateful day fire did indeed come down from heaven; only the supernatural did not end there. Elijah then prays, and the heavens are opened for the first time in three and a half years, and the drought in the land suddenly and dramatically comes to an end. Then the hand of the Lord comes upon him, and he outpaces and outruns a horse-drawn chariot on foot! Elijah is on a roll.

I digress. This is the Elijah of Ch 18. This is the Elijah we all love and celebrate so enthusiastically. Now, however, we find ourselves in a cold, damp cave, Elijah curled up into a ball, lying in the darkness and wrapped in his mantle, hoping that death will find him.

Ever been there, friend? Perhaps not hoping for actual death but instead that sweet release from all of our troubles and trials we are constantly battered by.

Here in this moment of his deepest despair, the word of the Lord comes to the prophet in the form of a question. “What are you doing here?” the Lord inquires. It is a question the Lord already knows the answer to, but He is presenting Elijah with an opportunity to unburden himself. Just prior to this, an angel of the Lord had prepared bread and water to sustain the prophet on his journey, and now the Lord was offering him a listening ear. It is a beautiful illustration that teaches us that what we need most in desperate times are not desperate measures but rather to feed upon the Word of God, our daily bread, to be refreshed by the healing waters of the Holy Spirit, and to be quieted in the presence of our God and hearken that still small voice.

Elijah ultimately airs his grievances, and the Lord gently responds to him, correcting him where his thinking has gone astray. He assures Elijah that he is not alone in this fight and that the Lord has kept a record of his faithfulness, and then, in giving him further marching orders, encourages him to finish the work to which he was called. Now here is what I want us to really catch in this story, what we all need to be reminded of as the world around us grows darker and darker, and we are ever more susceptible to the hopelessness of despair.

When we hear the word “rapture,” most of us immediately associate that with the Blessed Hope, the catching away of the church as described to us by Paul in 1 Thessalonians Ch.4. Only there are numerous examples in scripture of a rapture besides this one.

The first example is that of Enoch, who walked with God and then was not, for God took him. Isaiah was raptured when he was caught up to the throne room of heaven. On numerous occasions, Ezekiel was “brought out by the hand of the Lord.” In one, he was set down in the midst of a valley, and prior to that occurrence, the Spirit had before lifted him up between earth and heaven and brought him to Jerusalem from Babylon. In the New Testament, Paul was caught up to the third heaven, and Phillip was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord when emerging from the water after baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch. On both of these occasions, the scripture uses the Greek word harpazo to describe what happened to both Paul and Phillip, the same word used to describe what awaits those who remain and are alive at the coming of our Lord.

Out of all of these examples, though, my favorite has to be the one that is just about to happen in the life of our despairing hero. You see, it wasn’t very long after this cave of despair moment that Elijah was gloriously caught away to be with his Lord. Here he was, at the lowest point in his life, and he didn’t know that his redemption was so spectacularly close.

The faithful church in Revelation 3 is one described as “having little strength.” They are battle-weary and tired, and yet before them is placed an open door that no one can shut! Let us cling to the Blessed Hope as we await our Messiah, friends! Cling to Jesus in this dark hour as we continue to make a stand for God and press on toward the finish line, knowing that there is still work to be done in our Master’s house until His appearing. Knowing that as the storm clouds gather, we are closer than when we first believed to being gathered into the clouds. Cling to Jesus like the little children with the expectancy of childlike faith and anticipation, and I promise that you will find that what He has in store will be a pleasant surprise for you.

John Salom

jjonaflies@aol.com