Racing toward Rapture :: By Terry James

These thoughts encompass the many things of prophetic progression going on as we enter 2023. Issues and events are, indeed, speeding full bore toward that twinkling-of-an-eye instant when we hear Christ shout our names, saying, “Come up here!”

However, I’d like to think a bit with you on the “race” Paul the apostle consistently worked into his great epistles. I want to bring our thoughts down to our individual sprint toward that God-ordained finish line, giving every ounce of our spiritual ability and strength to the effort.

Okay. At the risk of raising an eyebrow or two from the skeptics, I’m going to bring it up again. I can’t and won’t apologize for telling it—at least in part—again, because it is an experience I was given, and I know that not using it when appropriate would run counter to God’s purpose in the entire matter.

I’m talking about my widow-maker heart attack more than ten years ago. (The “widow-maker” occurs when an artery that runs directly into the heart is blocked. The heart stops if it isn’t cleared immediately.)

My heart did stop—on, the hospital records show, four different times. I remember three of those times because each time it stopped, I was instantaneously in front of the same huge throng of magnificent heavenly beings. They were handsome and beautiful young men and women—smiling broadly with great, energetic enthusiasm—who were bidding me to come to them. They looked no older than their mid-to-late twenties.

Each time I was with them, things shortly started darkening from the spectacular brightness of that realm. That’s what happened when the doctors in the Cath lab kept hitting me with the defibrillation paddles to restart my heart. By the third time it happened, I definitely remember not wanting to leave that joy-filled place.

That third time, I wasn’t in front of the group but among them. We were running swiftly and effortlessly toward a destination I couldn’t know at that moment. They had their hands raised, and they were looking over at me, laughing out of sheer delight, making me sense they were saying, “Isn’t this the most wonderful thing ever?!”

It sure was, and I didn’t want to leave. But, being blind, things started fading to black yet again, and I was again in darkness on the table. The doctor had removed the blockage, and I was back to stay.

I now know the raised arms and bright smiles were the way these runners were saying as they looked over at me: “This is a race we are running together… and we are already in a victory lap!”

To add validation, that experience occurred on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. Meanings of the details of that heavenly visit were provided and remain at the center of what it was all about that strange day.

The Scripture assuring me the Lord is in that experience is constantly on my mind:

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

I was running along with that “cloud of witnesses” toward the throne where Jesus sits with God the Father, wanting to award us for our victory. Our victory, of course, is possible only as we overcome this sin-filled world through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has already overcome this world of wickedness.

The race is full of obstacles made up of evil and corruption at every level, with luciferian maliciousness toward God becoming overwhelmingly evident at this hour.

We’ve looked at all of the levels of resistance to godliness throughout the past year. The “woke” insanity that has assaulted America and the world, bringing about recognition that God has turned much of our country over to the “reprobate mind” of Romans 1:28, is undeniable.

Defection from a strong stance against such insanity by even formerly staunch Christian churches has risen to apostate levels. Devilish practices (including transvestites being allowed to perform for children) have even entered some denominations.

And 2023 portends even more hellish lasciviousness. This, while at the same time that the globalist-cabal—the demonic and human powers and principalities described in Ephesians 6: 12—make plans in the New Year’s first month to bring on Antichrist’s rule as quickly as possible.

Karl Schwab’s World Economic Forum (WEF) seems at the moment to be the primary force in this accelerated effort to bring about a one-world government. On January 16, 2023, the WEF will meet to deal with the following agenda items to create systems of control, according to reports. This is the nucleus of their much-ballyhooed “Reset.”

  1. A new system to deal with energy and food crisis.
  2. A new system to deal with high inflation, low growth and high economy.
  3. A new system based on the use of technology.
  4. A new system to deal with social issues.
  5. A new system to deal with dialogue and cooperation in a multi-polar world.

The satanic powers are in a race to have everything in order when the real Reset takes place. The demonic minions among them, at least, understand that the real Reset will be the one God interjects into this world. They believe in the Rapture because they know God cannot lie. They just don’t know when it will happen (it will be cataclysmic for the world of rebels but not for Christians).

You and I are in an even more profound race of destiny. The race God has chosen for us to run is all-important within His eternal knowledge. We are to run it all out and give all we can to God’s great calling in our lives–individually and collectively as His Church.

Paul the apostle informs about his own race, which he carried out spectacularly to the very end of his life and until his beginning at home in Heaven:

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

Let us run this race in which we’ve been placed for this time at the very end of this Church Age. Like Paul heard, we want to hear what the Lord said will be His words for us when we finish this race to the best of our ability:

“…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21).

The Top 3 Prophetic News Headlines of 2022 :: By Britt Gillette

The number one sign of the Second Coming is the convergence of all the signs Jesus and the prophets said to look for. Jesus said, “When you see all these things take place, look up! Your salvation draws near” (Luke 21:28). What are the things Jesus and the prophets said to look for? Israel back in the land (Jeremiah 23:7-8)… The Jewish people back in control of Jerusalem (Luke 21:24)… The Gospel being preached to the whole world (Matthew 24:14)… And more. Today, we see these signs. Because we do, we can be confident we live in the season of His return. But Jesus cited other signs too. So did the prophets. And we see those signs as well.

In fact, for much of 2022, we appeared to be on the verge of seeing the events of Revelation 6 kick off at any moment, with the real possibility of global war (Revelation 6:4), global hyperinflation (Revelation 6:6), and widespread famine from an escalating food crisis (Revelation 6:8). As 2022 drew to a close, what were the biggest prophetic news stories? Below is a list of what I believe were the top three:

1) Rumors of War

Jesus said rumors of war will precede His return (Matthew 24:6). 2022 brought war between Russia and Ukraine, but it also brought countless rumors of an escalating conflict with NATO, as well as rumors of war in other parts of the world. In September, someone blew up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in what should be considered a major act of war. In years past, it would have been. But in 2022, it spent just a couple of days in the western media news cycle before being all but forgotten. Meanwhile, the United States and NATO continued to provide armaments and intelligence to Ukraine. Even worse, some reports claimed NATO had troops on the ground in Ukraine.

All these developments heightened tensions and led to rumors of an escalating conflict that would draw NATO into all-out war with Russia and spark a nuclear exchange. How bad did it get? While the U.S. defense readiness condition (DEFCON) level isn’t public, some estimate we’ve been at DEFCON 3 – a level reached only three times in history – for nearly all of 2022. None of those previous instances lasted more than a few days, yet some estimate we’ve been at DEFCON 3 since February 28. This is the longest period of heightened readiness in the more than six decades of the alert system’s existence. This means a strong case could be made that we’re closer to nuclear war now than we’ve ever been in the post-World War II period.

But the Russia/Ukraine conflict isn’t the only source of rumors of war. For all of 2022, Taiwan has lived under the threat of imminent Chinese invasion. Time and again, China has sent ships into nearby waters and warplanes into Taiwanese airspace. U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, took a provocative trip to Taiwan, and the United States threatened to respond militarily to any Chinese aggression.

Meanwhile, we continue to hear rumors of war in other parts of the world – Israel/Iran, India/China, North Korea/South Korea, and countless other places. The sheer number of possible conflicts between major powers, many armed with nuclear weapons, arguably makes this the most dangerous time since World War II.

2) Inflation

Price inflation hit the world with a vengeance in 2022. World leaders blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it did play a role in some of the inflation. But poor government policies and currency printing were the true culprits. Pandemic lockdowns caused major supply chain disruptions, and government stimulus programs pumped currency into every corner of the economy. How much stimulus was created? In the United States, more than 40% of all the dollars in existence were created in the last 3 years. More currency units chasing fewer goods and services will inevitably lead to higher prices, and that’s what we saw in 2022.

In Europe, decades of poor planning and naïve energy policies led to a surge in electricity and natural gas prices. In some cases, these prices rose as much as 20 times what they had been just one year before. This impacted all of European industry, leading to less production of energy-intensive products and forcing many businesses to completely shut down. One energy-intensive product, fertilizer, saw significant production cuts as European firms could no longer offer competitively priced products in the global marketplace. Lower supplies increased the global price of fertilizer, and the result will likely be higher food prices in the years ahead as less fertilizer leads to lower crop yields.

In addition, I believe we’re witnessing a collapse of the petro-dollar system, which has dominated global trade for the past fifty years. In fact, I believe 2022 signaled we’re in the last dying days of the entire global fiat currency system. The world is waking up to the fact that pieces of paper, electronic ones, and zeroes don’t have the same value as tangible items such as oil, natural gas, timber, aluminum, copper, gold, and silver.

The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have signaled their intent to develop an alternative to America’s SWIFT payment system as well as a commodity-backed currency to challenge the U.S. dollar. As 2022 draws to a close, a host of additional nations have expressed interest in joining the BRICS coalition. Among them are some of the most important producers of oil and natural gas on the planet – Nigeria, Iran, Argentina, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. If they succeed, and BRICS creates its own commodity-backed currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar, it will destroy the U.S. dollar, and most of the world’s fiat currencies will plummet in value.

3) Central Bank Digital Currency

In 2022, governments all around the world telegraphed their support for central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Bank of International Settlements announced 9 out of 10 of the world’s central banks were exploring digital currency, and more than half were developing CBDCs or experimenting with or testing rollouts.

For example, in mid-November, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced a 12-week proof-of-concept project to “explore the feasibility of an interoperable network of central bank wholesale digital money and commercial bank digital money.” They aren’t alone. In mid-December, it was revealed that the Bank of England “will begin consultations on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) which would act as a digital version of the pound sterling.” Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India announced the second stage of testing for its own CBDC. After successfully running a pilot program at the wholesale level, they announced they will now test the digital rupee in a retail setting.

Meanwhile, the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX led to calls for greater regulation of digital currencies from politicians all over the globe. Citing money laundering concerns, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has vowed to crack down on the entire crypto industry. You can be certain whatever legislation results will benefit CBDCs at the expense of decentralized alternatives such as Bitcoin.

What to Look for in 2023

Expect these same trends to continue in 2023. What will 2023 bring? We can only guess, but I believe the probability is high we will see a global financial crisis, the collapse of a major market currency, widespread famine, and social unrest. In my latest video, I cover all of these in greater detail. For more than fifty years now, all the world’s major currencies have been fiat currencies – meaning they have no intrinsic value or claim on anything of value. They only have purchasing power because people believe they do. That belief will significantly erode in 2023.

Combine these developments with countless others foretold in the Bible, and we can know the rapture, the Tribulation, and the Second Coming are now closer than they’ve ever been before. This is why the #1 event you should focus on is the return of our Savior. As we enter a new year, all the signs tell us, “Jesus is coming!”

Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming, Racing Toward Armageddon, and The End Times. Receive his book 7 Signs of the End Times for free when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.