General Articles

When Life Came to a Screeching Halt :: By Jim Towers

Published on: by RR7

The title to this article sounds like the title of an apocalyptic horror film. It is nighttime; shouting ensues from the crowds of young people rioting in the streets and gets ever louder as they march toward us carrying weapons and bricks. Overturned police cars are burning on the streets. This true-to-life movie is made up of highly dramatic scenes depicting sirens blaring from emergency vehicles and red and blue flashing lights. The police are lined up shoulder to shoulder with shields and truncheons as they make their way toward the terrorists.

On a side street, several young black thugs are pummeling a helpless old wheelchair-bound woman who happens to be white. A man wearing a Covid mask steps into the scene, and having seen enough, pulls a handgun from behind his waistband and begins blasting away at the thugs who fall backward dead – one after another. The scene is reminiscent of a scene from the movie “Death Wish” starring Charles Bronson, screened in the late sixties.

But wait a minute before you protest this scene. This isn’t a scene from a movie; it is a scene from actual real life. The silent majority has had it and is fighting back with pent-up fury; retaliation can’t be far behind, and civil war is beginning to look likely.

Reality and the book of Revelation have converged, and now the book of Revelation doesn’t seem too farfetched as it once was. It’s as if we – the present generations – are smack dab in the middle of the prophecies of that ominous book.

Not only has reality and the book of Revelation converged but politics and Christianity have merged as well with all-out spiritual warfare in the offing. Grey areas have all but diminished, and now it’s “in your face” confrontation where right is wrong, and wrong is right, and there is no God.

With the presidential election coming up, we can expect chaos to escalate even further with the prompting and encouragement of Godless Democrats. The presidential election is only three months away, and they are determined to win at all costs, even with lawless distractions.

The newspapers – or what’s left of them, are phasing out because of their outright lies and inability to report the facts and, instead, have been infiltrated by hard-left writers seeking fame and fortune by reporting “politically correct” propaganda or even outright lies.

In the meantime, earthquakes, tsunamis, drought, floods, and famine are destroying whole communities and threaten to destroy a third of mankind while another third twiddles their thumbs in fear. The final third lives under a rock and couldn’t care less about the state of the nation or anyone else. They only want football season to finally open. But as of yesterday, the football season has been put off again because of a phantom virus (Covid19) relapse.

Common sense tells us that these things have always been and are self-correcting in time, but never in the life of the planet has everything gone out of whack at once.

The only explanation is that there IS a Creator (God) who is very angry with mankind for taking His commandments so lightly. Commandments are not just suggestions to disregard on a whim, and He gave them to us for our own good. But not only that, He gave us the capability to engage in the creative process by making babies, babies that we take for granted and kill by the tens of thousands every year – and they are a precious gift given to us by Him. Anyone would be greatly offended if you gave them a gift and you threw it away like so much garbage. What an atrocity! What an afront to our benevolent and gracious Creator!

In reality, there is no other reason needed to destroy mankind. But God is longsuffering and going about salvaging those who will turn to Him in repentance. Perhaps that is why He doesn’t just destroy mankind completely. Perhaps our Divine Creator is letting these disasters happen to us to get our attention so that we might repent. It appears that we have done too little too late to be granted a reprieve and He had no option but to fulfill biblical prophecies of doom in our lifetimes.

If God is who He says He is in the Bible, then He can and will do as He sees fit; and so far, He isn’t moving to alleviate our fear of the future. And who can blame Him? We have no one to blame but ourselves for ignoring His admonitions and basic life rules. Furthermore, even pastors and clergy are wishy-washy in their belief system and find loopholes in scripture for not calling for repentance from the pulpit, they themselves needing it just as much as the congregants.

Our desperate prayers are falling on deaf ears. God has seen enough, and now it’s every man for himself individually – no more national repentance.

Although small revivals are beginning to take place throughout the world, it seems that God is going forward with prophetic scripture incrementally, but a man would have to be blind not to see the pieces of the prophetic puzzle coming together.

Even though we know the things prophesied in the Bible must happen, we must do our best to stem the tide of evil. Pedophilia should never be right. Abortion should never be right, except for early delivery in certain cases. Homosexuality should never be right. Murder should never be right – neither should theft, yet we permit, condone and embrace those things that are bringing our country to its collective knees while we should be using the windows of opportunity that we still have to warn others of their need of a Savior before that opportunity fades away – never to be seen again.

With permission from this wonderful website, I would like to remind you that this is an election year and that the state of our nation is at stake. The Godless Democrats are going to do all they can to tear this country down and hand it over to Islam and the Communist Party. It’s never enough to just pray; we must put feet on our prayers and do what we can to stem the tide of corruption and vote for who and what is right.

Books

I just finished reading a great book titled American Crusade by Pete Hegseth. This man is right about all the evil that’s going on in our country and believes – like I do – that all right-thinking people should do what they can to stem the present tide of corruption for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

YBIC

Jim Towers

Write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or visit www.dropzonedelta.com and my webpage www.propheticsignsandwonders.com

Keep Watching for the Lord’s Return! :: By Todd Hampson

Published on: by RR7

A word study: Leipó—”The Left Behind Ones”

My recent article highlighting 7 (of the many) reasons to believe in the pre-trib view could have contained many more. For example, I could have included the fact that the 7-year tribulation period is the 70th Week (of years) of Daniel chapter 9. The 70-weeks prophecy is specifically about God’s plan for the Jewish people. The church is not seen in the prophecy. Additionally, the Old Testament refers to this future time of judgment as “the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). The main focus of the tribulation has nothing to do with the church.

Also, as I study deeper into various texts, I find more details that support the pre-trib rapture. Consider these compelling details I accidentally uncovered while researching the details about what the idiom “like a thief in the night” is all about.

First, a little background is needed. The idiom “like a thief in the night” refers to the high priest or captain of the guard who would make his rounds at night to see if the temple priests were staying awake and keeping the sacrificial fire lit. If he found them sleeping, he would use his torch to set their clothes on fire. They would run out naked and ashamed. We are to stay awake.

So, that’s a quick overview of the meaning of the idiom behind 1 Thessalonians 5, but the detail I discovered that supports the pre-trib rapture is another fascinating matter which I’ll now explain.

Similar to Old Testament passages about the tribulation period, the New Testament also portrays this time of judgment as coming suddenly and unexpectedly—but not to everyone. Those who are watching carefully will be able to “see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). We learn more about these phenomena in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Many people reference verses 1-2 about the day of the Lord coming like a thief, but they fail to read the next few verses. Read the full passage below carefully.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6—”Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord (i.e. the tribulation period) will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” (emphasis mine).

The passage above details 2 groups of people. First, we have those who are in the dark, sleeping, and are caught by surprise. Second, we have brothers and sisters who are “of the light” and “children of the day,” and who are not caught by surprise. A quick study of the Greek words that are used sheds even more light on these two groups, and this is the little discovery I wanted to share with you.

While the Greek words used for the group that is awake/not caught by surprise are adelphoi and uioi (literally, “brother” and “son”). These are those who are in the family of God (both male and female, of course).

The Greek word used for the “others” (i.e. Let us not be like “others” who are asleep) is loipoi (literally, “the rest/remaining”). The root word of loipoi is leipó and literally means “to leave behind.” This further supports the position of the pre-tribulation rapture. When we do a little digging, we find there are 2 distinct groups. The brothers and sisters (who will not be caught by surprise by the tribulation period—because they won’t be here), and the group that is left behind and caught by surprise.

The rapture does not begin the tribulation period (the finalizing/confirming of a covenant by the antichrist does), but it is the domino that sets all other events in motion. We learn in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 that the antichrist will not rise to power until after the Church is removed from the earth via the rapture.

Here’s what we read in those 3 verses: “And now you know what is holding him (the antichrist) back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he (the Holy Spirit who indwells each believer) is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.” (emphasis mine)

So, when you look at the details of 1 Thessalonians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 2, it becomes even more clear that the rapture will trigger the revealing of the antichrist, and those who are believers will not be taken by surprise, and those who are not believers will be left behind. This squares with every other teaching about the rapture and the beginning of the tribulation.

While I believe all believers (even those not watching) will be taken in the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51 says we will all be changed), I also believe many believers will not be watching. They will not be left behind, but they may have regret that they were not watching. While salvation is a free gift that Jesus already paid for, Heavenly rewards should drive us to sprint to the finish line. Paul indicates there are rewards waiting for those who watch until the end (2 Timothy 4:8). Let’s all keep the fire lit! Let’s all continue watching! This anchors our faith, gives us an eternal perspective, and keeps our faith strong in the midst of trying times.

Todd Hampson | ToddHampson.com