In Part 1, we began looking through Ezekiel 38 and 39 in detail, showing that the internal evidence cannot possibly support any Gog/Magog invasion of Israel before the Rapture. It would turn all prophecy against itself and create such confusion. We will see how that invasion happens just before the Second Coming. Now for Part 2.

(f). [[Ezekiel 38:18-19 “It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘that My fury will mount up in My anger. In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.”]] Now take note of this as well. God’s fury mounts up in His anger when Gog is in Israel, and there will be blazing wrath. You who think the Gog war must be before the Rapture, how can you say that with this apocalyptic language that just does not belong to this age of grace. The great earthquake could very well be connected with the one that is coming – Revelation 16:18 (quoted in the next reference (g).)

(g). HONESTLY LET’S BE REAL. Consider this verse – [[Ezekiel 38:20 “The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence. The mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.”]]

Tell me, is this going to be the case BEFORE the Rapture? This is what is going to happen when God rises against Gog/Magog. A God in judgment and blazing wrath is NOT God before the Rapture. A Gog war before the Rapture is an impossibility. Every wall falling down and mountains collapsing are connected with the earthquake of [[Revelation 16:18-19 “and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and there was a great earthquake such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty, and the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.”]]

(h). LET’S KEEP BEING REAL. Consider these verses – [[Ezekiel 38:22-23 “With pestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him, and I shall rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain with hailstones, fire, and brimstone. I shall magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations, and they will know that I am the LORD.”]]

Who among those who think there is a Gog war before the Rapture can justify the section I have underlined? All that apocalyptic language is NOT of our age. It is post-Rapture. It is God in open display. This war cannot be before the Rapture. Why do people believe such a thing? Why is there an entrenched opinion that is not open to scrutiny? The same principle applies to Matthew 24.

(i). [[Ezekiel 39:3-4 “and I shall strike your bow from your left hand, and dash down your arrows from your right hand. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops, and the peoples who are with you. I shall give you as food to every kind of predatory bird and beast of the field.”]] That is God in openness with judgment. Just further proof it is post-Rapture. GOD TAKES UP ISRAEL’S CAUSE AFTER THE RAPTURE.

The predatory birds parallel this reference to Armageddon at the Second Coming, as we have just had – [[Revelation 19:17-18 “I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.'”]]

(j). [[Ezekiel 39:5-6 “You will fall on the open field; for it is I who have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD. I shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD.”]] That thing will not happen before the Rapture. That is judgment and wrath from heaven, not of the Church age.

(k). ANOTHER CONCLUSIVE PROOF – [[Ezekiel 39:7 “My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.“]] The Lord WILL NOT MAKE KNOWN HIS NAME TO HIS PEOPLE ISRAEL BEFORE THE RAPTURE so that His Name is profaned no longer. The Church must be removed first before He takes up His people again. God never works with the Church and Israel at the same time. A redeemed Israel WILL NOT HAPPEN this side of the Rapture, and in fact, it will not be until after the Second Coming.

Look at these statements (a) God will make His Name known among His people in Israel. That will not happen before the Second Coming (which ends the Tribulation). Read the last few chapters of Zechariah. That is a strong reason for placing Gog right at the end of the Tribulation. (b) God will not allow His Holy Name to be profaned anymore. That would be an utter impossibility if the Gog war was pre-Rapture because after the Rapture come the great blasphemies of the world leader and False Prophet, and by the people of the earth.

Look at these – [[Revelation 13:5 “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.” Revelation 16:9 “Men were scorched with fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory.”]] Those blasphemies will continue right up until the Battle of Armageddon when these two evil men are removed to the lake of fire.

When God says He will NOT let His name be profaned anymore, it would have to be after the Gog war (Ezek 39:7). Every true student of prophecy knows that would be an utter impossibility before the Rapture. That can only happen after the Second Coming. If the Gog war was to happen before the events of Revelation 16 (see verse above), then God’s word would be speaking lies. The Gog war has to be after Revelation 16! (c) The nations will know that God is JEHOVAH, the Holy One in Israel.

(l). [[Ezekiel 39:8 “Behold, it is coming and it shall be done,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘That is the day of which I have spoken.'”]] Most certainly, this is referring to the Day of the LORD. It is that day, and God spoke about it often. The Day of the LORD does not begin until after the Rapture.

(m). Now we come to the cleansing of the land, Gog’s burial and the Lord’s glory. [[Ezekiel 39:9 “Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them.” Ezekiel 39:11 “It will come about on that day that I shall give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off the passers-by, so they will bury Gog there with all his multitude, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog.” Ezekiel 39:13 “Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself,’ declares the Lord GOD.”]]

Surely it is painfully obvious here that God is not going to glorify Himself to Israel before their restoration, and He does that with Gog’s destruction. This is in line with the latter chapters of Zechariah. Their (Israel’s) restoration will come when He sets up His kingdom on the earth and He is glorified in Israel. There is NO WAY these things happen in the Church age. It is so incorrect to maintain that the Gog war can be anytime now. It cannot happen while the Church is still on earth. Please, people, think into these things.

The Jews will be very busy cleansing their land after this war, and they know that it is God who delivered them who has glorified Himself in Israel.

(n). Then will come the call to all the scavengers of the earth to feed on the corpses of the Gog alliance scattered all through the land of Israel. The passage is verses 17-20, but here is verse 17 – [[Ezekiel 39:17 “As for you, son of man,’ thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field. Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.'”]] Again, for the purpose of emphasis, compare the parallel passage in Revelation, which is just after the great Battle of Armageddon in which Gog has a part –

[[Revelation 19:17-18 “I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.'”]] Those two verses go together so closely. Gog must be part of the Revelation 19 great conflict where the frog spirits have assembled all the nations for war. It is not feasible that this could happen now in the land with the way it is. This happens at the Second Coming, and the first 7 months at least will be spent in cleaning up the land.

To be continued in Part 3.

ronaldf@aapt.net.au

 

 

(Jeremiah 11-13; 1 Timothy 4)

In the fall of 2019, before the whole COVID chaos hit, I was part of unpaid staff when a new pastor was chosen and came to lead our church. I had been the Missions Director for several years, as well as a Bible teacher emphasizing eschatology. That’s pretty rare these days, I know, but our prior pastor and the interim pastor gave me free rein to teach on end times related subjects.

Because of my watchman mentality and focus, I’d been seeing for a while that things were getting darker in the world and America in particular. I’d said for some time that I believed the American church would face a time of trial and persecution before the Rapture, because I always felt the Lord would need to purify His Bride in our land. My facetious and (in)famous saying was: “Do you think the only suffering we’ll endure before Jesus returns is ease and comfort?”

Seeing this gathering gloom, I suggested to the new pastor in one of our first staff meetings that it would be prudent for the church to make plans for a time of coming persecution. Perhaps we should get the people thinking about this and make preparations to go underground at some future point by getting small groups meeting and understanding what this would mean.

This idea was met with a serious head nod and abruptly forgotten. Subsequently, into 2020 with the advent of COVID, because of things I said about what was happening and how I said them, the pastor didn’t approve, effectively saying, “That’s not who we are.” Eventually, through this and various other interactions, this led to my parting ways with the church.

Here we are now two years later, in the fall of 2021 [when this essay was written], and our government is plunging headlong toward absolute tyranny. Conservatives and Christians, i.e., political enemies and those who love God, are being demonized. The State has set up a false dichotomy of fear versus safety by emphasizing the difference between vaxxed and unvaxxed people. Quarantine facilities, a.k.a. FEMA or internment camps, have been prepared all around our nation – no different from those already being used in China and Australia. The rhetoric is increasing against those who refuse to go along with the narrative propagated by mainstream and social media under direction of the Biden Regime. All they need is a trigger mechanism to go after those they deem enemies of the State.

No doubt at that time, churches that declare they follow only God and His commands will find themselves at extreme odds with governmental decrees. It wouldn’t surprise me if they are forcibly shut down. What then happens? Will churches be ready to meet secretly, i.e., those believers who haven’t yet been rounded up and isolated in Green Zones for “their protection”?

Perhaps in 2019, such scenarios may have appeared as fanciful conspiracy theories. Twenty-four months later, at least to some, they’ve probably taken on a new reality and truth.

In Jeremiah’s day, the Lord warned the prophet that certain men were conspiring against Him. In Jeremiah 11:9-10, He warned:

“Again the Lord said to me, ‘A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.”

God went on to detail the extent of their sins, and it disgusted Him so much that He commanded in Jeremiah 11:14:

“Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.”

They had gone after other gods, worshiped them, gave them offerings of every kind, and set up altars in reverence to them. In other words, they had decided that the God of Israel wasn’t worth following. They apparently thought that pagan gods had more to offer than the One who had delivered them from the fiery furnace of slavery in Egypt.

Their iniquities had risen to such a drastic level in their rejection of Yahweh that He wouldn’t even hear prayers on their behalf going forward. He would bring disaster upon them.

There are two groups in our current times that are stoking the furnace of God’s anger. The first is those who have outright and long ago decided they didn’t need Him in their lives. For many of these, just as Romans 1:24 says, He has given them over to the sinful desires of their hearts.

The second group is the church that has chosen to ignore the Word of God when its people should have known better. How much condemnation might the Lord have for those who say they are in Christ yet choose to continue doing church as though we’re still in normal times?

One of the phrases making the rounds these days that resonates is because of the truth it conveys. It distinguishes between what we’re currently seeing and surely what is ahead, from the days of old, i.e., 2019 and earlier, to the future. It is the BEFORE TIMES. This is so dystopian – and yet so true – it’s astounding that we are even beginning to talk this way.

Those who have believed that Christ-followers must endure the Tribulation are perhaps beginning to understand how devastating this coming time will be. To think that we can prep and hole up as God’s wrath rages around us – and that He will shelter us supernaturally – is an interesting but false perspective. I’m very much a believer in the supernatural aspects of God, but I also believe that He has other plans for us during the Day of the Lord. In fact, I’m very much anticipating the incredibly supernatural event that will soon astound the world, i.e., the Rapture of the true church.

Conspiracy theories from just a couple of years ago have largely proven true. Thankfully our God is sovereign and watching closely. At just the right time, He will prove that the “conspiracy theory” of the Rapture is also fact. Won’t that be an amazing vindication of what many of us have believed to be the blessed hope that God has given to His children?

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The Lord has put it on my heart to always read completely through His Word at least once each year. From that practice, it resulted in my producing the Awaken Bible Study Notes, a 4-volume set correlating with each quarter’s readings. This is the link to Amazon for Volume 1 covering January – March (Genesis 1 – Judges 5; Matthew 1 – Luke 7):

Awaken Bible Study Notes series Volume 1

Following that year’s efforts, God gave me the “assignment” of writing a daily essay on what I had read. That produced the 4-volume Awaken Bible Commentary and Reflections series. Here is the link on Amazon to Volume 1, which covers January – March (Genesis 1 – Judges 5; Matthew 1 – Luke 7):

Awaken Bible Commentary and Reflections series Volume 1

If these daily writings have been a blessing to you, I hope that you’ll acquire these books for further study. My intent in all I write is to bring God the glory and to make His people think. Both the Study Notes and the Commentary and Reflections delve into the prophetic and supernatural nature of God’s Word, a combination you simply won’t find elsewhere. They attempt to show the parallels to our times with the peril from the past when God’s people turn away from Him and His commands. Scripture is very much a blueprint for today.

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Gary W. Ritter is a lay pastor, Bible teacher, and prolific author. His Whirlwind Series comprises three end-times books: Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind, and There Is a Time. These books are contained in the collected volume of the Whirlwind Omnibus. Gary has written many other Christian thrillers that will challenge you, and which you can learn about at his website:www.GaryRitter.com. You can also watch Gary’s video Prophecy Updates on Rumble at his Awaken Bible Prophecy channel: https://rumble.com/c/c-783217.