Golden Cup or Cankering Ccesspool? :: By Terry James

Disturbing statistics about the nation I love bring again to mind the question: Why is America not mentioned in Bible prophecy?

It is the apex nation of history so far as concerns achieving material wealth and moving forward technology that defines the term “modernity.” America has been, as we’ve noticed on many occasions, among history’s most spiritually blessed and God-centered nation-states. Of course, we’re quick to recognize and state the obvious. That seems now a thing—for recent generations, at least—of the distant past.

Every day and in most every way it can be said that the US as currently constituted has turned our back on God and most things of the Heaven-directed sort. We watch on an hourly news-cycle basis while the political power wielders who committed electoral larceny work incessantly at trying to take apart this nation one constitutional safeguard after another. And they do so without seemingly significant push-back from all but a very few.

Sadly, it appears that a majority of we the people, rather than oppose things going on to destroy this once-great republic, just fall in line like proverbial lemmings. Evidence of this acquiescence is the very large number of people who accept an almost totally unproven and non-FDA approved vaccine. With government-engineered, fear-engendered COVID-19 at the center of the coercion, they are willing to give in to government directives to comply, if they want to be able to be American citizens in the same sense as before the so-called pandemic. Only, there is little chance of that ever being allowed to happen. Implied in this government demand that all be vaccinated with an unproven injection is that a vaccine passport is forthcoming. All will have to have it—or else stay sequestered within the confines of one’s home, I presume. 

I don’t intend by this rant to advise in any way that one should or should not take the vaccine. That is a personal decision (at this point at least.) I’m more than implying, however, that I object strenuously to government, by proxy, forcing us to be jabbed, as it is termed by some.

I say “by proxy” because the politicians, very wise in their end-times deceit and treachery, are in league with big-business interests. They will, no doubt, let the business entities take the blame for requiring the vaccine passports that are undoubtedly on the way.

This is to say that in the near future you might not be allowed to go to Walmart or any other place to shop, or ride in public conveyance without your papers—yes, much like Nazi Germany began the Reign of Terror during der Führer’s rise to dictatorship.

The papers of vaccination are the new normal  the powers that be want us to accept. And this while Dr. Anthony Fauci says we need to keep the masks on in public and avoid gathering.

All this, in my view of Bible prophecy, demonstrates the terrible effects of turning one’s back on God, which we mentioned at the beginning.

Is America the Babylon of Revelation 18? This is a query we’ve been over many times here, and others have explored on many occasions in Bible prophecy studies. I’ve indicated that I believe there are parallels that are hard to dismiss between that doomed, future city-state that will be destroyed in one hour and our beloved America. Time factors show, in my view, that it would be hard for another all-dominating empire-type state such as America has been to develop in the area of ancient Babylon—if Christ’s return is close.

I don’t hold that America and the prophesied Babylon are one and the same. I simply weasel out by saying it looks to me like there is a possibility that they are.

And when I see the description in Revelation chapter 18—“has been a golden cup in God’s hand”—I think of this Heaven-blessed nation.

As stated many times, we have spread the Gospel—carried out the Great Commission—as no other nation to ever exist. We have been blessed with the technology and travel capability to do so.

America has blessed God’s chosen nation Israel as no other nation has blessed that people. The US was instrumental in bringing about Israel’s rebirth in 1948 and has stood as a sort of big brother to protect the Jewish state since.

This blessing of Israel, too, is now on the dangerous side of down-trending with the Biden administration and a seeming increasing hostility toward Benjamin Netanyahu and the Jewish state.

The “golden cup” nation called America, it seems, is now cankering—rusting and deteriorating by the day. As a matter of fact, it has become rather a cesspool of Sodom-like activity in a significant way.

The following somewhat frames this truth.

There are a lot of things that we want America to be great at, but spreading sexually-transmitted diseases is not one of them.

And the numbers tell us that cases have been rising at a particularly frightening pace since 2015

For 2019, health departments across the U.S. reported 1.8 million cases of Chlamydia, an almost 20% increase since 2015; 616,392 cases of gonorrhea, more than 50% higher than 2015, and 129,813 cases of all stages of syphilis, a whopping 70% increase, the CDC said.

So why is this happening?

Well, an NPR article on this subject is pointing out that dating apps have made finding casual sex easier than ordering a pizza

There are many factors that contribute to the rise of STDs, and syphilis in particular.

In the gay community in San Francisco, for example, the rise of mobile dating apps like Grindr and Tinder made finding a date “faster than getting pizza delivered to your home,” says Dan Wohlfeiler, an STD prevention specialist and co-founder of Building Healthy Online Communities, which uses these apps to improve gay men’s health.

These dating apps are particularly popular among young people and in the gay community, and this is clearly showing up in the case numbers

Additionally, gay and bisexual men and younger people also faced an increased burden. According to the report, gay and bisexual men made up nearly half of all 2019 primary and secondary syphilis cases and had gonorrhea rates that were 42 times higher than heterosexual men in some areas, whereas people aged 15 to 24 years accounted for 61% of chlamydia cases and 42% of gonorrhea cases.

It is important to keep in mind that chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are just three pieces of a much larger puzzle.

According to the CDC, there are dozens of STDs currently spreading in the United States.  Approximately 20 million new STD infections occur in the U.S. every single year, and at any moment in time approximately 110 million Americans are dealing with a sexually-transmitted disease. (“We’re #1”: Yet Another Ignominious All-Time Record High Is Established In The Late, Great United States,” by Tyler Durden (article by Michael Snyder), ZeroHedge, April 15, 2021)

America, in significant, wicked ways, has now become like the sexually debauched days of Sodom of Lot’s day. There seems no turning back, although we should pray and work toward that changed trajectory.

This all means that Jesus, and His time for stepping out on the clouds of Glory to call His Church to be with Him, might be even at the door of Heaven. We who are called by His Holy Name can take comfort from His own Words. We can take comfort because all we are seeing might mean that things are now like they were in Lot’s day when God intervened. The next Intervention, I believe Jesus is saying, will be the Rapture!

Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:28–29)

Eternal Life Has Already Started :: By Dennis Huebshman

John 11:25-26; “Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (all emphasis mine)

Jesus was talking to Martha about the death of her brother Lazarus. Shortly after this, Jesus raised Lazarus from his grave after he had been there four days. It was truly a blessed miracle for all who witnessed it, but the reality is, Lazarus had to die again. We are not told anything about that in scripture. In fact, all the people Jesus raised while in His ministry here had to die again. Only Enoch and Elijah are said to have been taken up into Heaven, prime examples of a Rapture; and of course, Jesus Himself was raptured after His resurrection.

We have at least two instances in the Bible that address what happens after our earthly death. I realize that many people believe that this life is all there is, and they live a lifestyle to fulfill as many pleasures and desires as they can. Sadly, they will be completely shocked when their last breath is taken here.

One example is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar in Luke 16:19-31. Upon their deaths, their experiences reversed. Lazarus, a poor beggar, begged for table scraps just to survive another day. When he died, he was said to be in “Abraham’s bosom,” which signified a place of comfort and peace. The rich man had lived a lavish selfish lifestyle, yet when he died, he was said to be in a place of torment. Even though he had not received his final judgment yet, he realized he had made a horrible foolish mistake that was irreversible.

Heaven has always been there, as our Creator, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have always existed. The Trinity has no beginning and will have no end. This is a concept that is difficult for humans to understand as time was made for us at the creation. God is not bound by our time.

Satan and his fallen angels are created beings that could have existed peacefully in heaven from their creation, all through eternity. However, he allowed destructive self-pride to take over, and he defied the Heavenly Father. For him and his fallen angel followers, the Lake of Fire – Hell – was created especially for them (Matthew 25:41). At the present time, Hell is unoccupied, but those who have already died and are lost will spend eternity there after the Great White Throne Judgment, and they have already begun their punishment wherever their souls are being held.

The first two occupants of the actual Hell will be the antichrist and false prophet of the tribulation period as given in Revelation 19:20. One thousand years later, they will be joined by their leader, Satan (Revelation 20:10). Finally, all the other lost souls from Creation to the end of the millennial reign will receive the formal eternal details of their punishment and join them in Hell (Revelation 20:11-15).

A second example is given to us in the writings of Paul. When a believer passes from this earth, we are assured by the examples of the beggar Lazarus in the mentioned parable, and also by Paul in Philippians 1:21-23. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

Paul understood that because of his belief and acceptance of the gift of the Savior, he received a commitment to spend eternity with our Lord. Alive, the Holy Spirit was already in him; but to die, his soul would immediately be with Jesus. Our outer covering and inner organs are not who we actually are. It is our conscious soul that is truly alive. When we take our last breath in these mortal bodies, our forever soul will continue immediately.

After the Rapture, all who have died in Christ will be raised, and their bodies will reunite with their souls and be given a new forever immortal, imperishable body. Those who are alive will be converted on their way up to meet Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). No more pain or suffering, no more death, and no more being tempted by Satan and his followers.

It’s all about choice. All earthly choices, no matter how important they may seem at the time, are not permanent. The most important choice to make that will last for eternity is to accept or reject Jesus. Sadly, for many, this isn’t at the top of their priority list, or even on their list at all. They don’t realize that eternity already exists. The “I’ll get around to it later” concept could be the biggest mistake anyone could make. It is also one of Satan’s greatest tools to cause someone to think they have a lot of time left.

Paul was confident with his relationship with Jesus, and the thought of dying did not cause him any distress. No one relishes the idea of the “act” of dying, but death itself should not frighten a believer in the Savior. Jesus has gone on ahead to prepare a place for us, as spoken of in John 14:1-3, and we should take comfort in His promise.

On the other hand, anyone who does not have Jesus as their Savior should be very concerned. We’re not guaranteed another hour here, much less any extended period of time. Matthew 24:43; “But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not have let his house be broken into.”

In my lifetime, I have witnessed many people of all ages pass from this life into death. The vast majority had not planned on this at all. One minute they were here and alive, and the next, their mortal body was dead. Whoever passed that were part of the Shepherd’s flock received the most wonderful greeting of all. Those who were not are like the rich man was in the parable, waiting for their final sentence, and they have no hope for any other outcome.

To think of eternity as being far off is probably the biggest gamble anyone could ever make. To think you would be able to call out to Jesus as the thief on the cross did is saying you believe that you, not the Father, control your time here.

According to all the signs present, there will be a trumpet sounded and a shout, and then all true believers will be taken up to meet Jesus in the air. There will be no other warning, and the event known as the Rapture will be over in the “twinkling of an eye,” calculated by experts to be less than one second. After that, all who are left behind will enter the absolute worst period of time this earth has ever seen.

The only “sure bet” is to have already received and accepted Jesus into your heart prior to this event happening. Romans 10:9-13 gives the steps to be saved, and they are not complicated. The only “hard” part is for stubborn humans to believe and have faith that this is true. God did not waste His time writing fairytales for our entertainment. He gave us the ultimate words of how to have the “gift” given by His Son to be eternally with Him. All scripture is Holy Spirit inspired, and there for everyone who will receive it (2 Timothy 3:16).

Today would not be too early to ask Jesus to be your Savior. Tomorrow could just be too late. We have a loving Heavenly Father who wants us all to spend eternity with Him in Heaven (2 Peter 3:9). However, it is a choice that each person has to make for themselves, and God will in no way force anyone to accept Salvation.

Right now, if you haven’t already done so, please make the most important decision of your life. No one can make it for you, and you can’t make it for anyone else. It’s up close and personal, and God will honor what you decide either way. Hope to see you at the Rapture!

Maranatha! Shalom! Come, Lord Jesus!

huebshman46@gmail.com