“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28).

FLASHBACK – Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Winter 2010

“Incoming! Incoming! Incoming! Mortar attack in progress!” I shook myself awake and had a decision to make. Throw my pants and shoes on and make a mad dash to the bunker or just lay in my bunk as the incoming round rapidly closed in.

Depending on the time of flight, I had between 5 to15 seconds to act. As part of the team that had installed the rocket warning system, I was also well aware of the randomness of the enemy’s indirect fires. There was a very good chance I would not get hit.

On the other hand, I was also well aware that being housed in a metal conex offered no real shelter from the rockets’ eighteen pounds of high explosives, which would easily make the conex, with me in it, look like swiss cheese. Stay or go?

Having been through this dozens of times before and with brisk winter weather outside, I opted to roll over, pray, and count. One thousand four, one thousand five, one thousand six…THUWHUMP! The report rumbled from close by, letting me know the potentially deadly round had impacted close by, but elsewhere. At least that “bullet” did not have my name on it. Thank you, Lord God!

Being in A War Zone…

In a war zone where you routinely get shot at, you gradually came to terms with certain things. One thing you learned to accept was the cold hard truth – death is random. Real life examples:

–A group of soldiers are in a chow-hall line, a rocket explodes – killing two of them.

–A civilian sits at the laundry service desk; an inbound rocket, though a dud, fails to explode, yet hits the man’s chest full-on, impaling him against his chair – killing him instantly.

–A soldier in full body armor, at the edge of a rocket’s blast radius, is still struck by a dime-sized piece of shrapnel which takes an improbable route through a helicopter’s open bay, finding him on the other side; then finding the very narrow gap between his neck collar armor and his helmet, severing his spinal column – killing him instantly.

You have heard about being in “the wrong place at the wrong time.” In a combat zone, you are already in the wrong place. For these people (may God rest their souls), it was about the “time,” and their “time” had come. A “bullet” had their name on it.

There is nothing like being in a combat zone to focus you on the immediacy of life and death.

That is what we have in common with these departed souls; there is a bullet out there with our name on it. That is a fact.

More likely than not, for you, it will not be an incoming rocket but it may be a car wreck, a massive heart attack, a slip on the ice, a drive-by shooting, cancer, or simply a worn-out, failing body. The plain, inescapable fact is that since Christ’s resurrection, a “bullet” in some form or fashion has eventually found 100% of Mankind. None have escaped the black wall of death.

FLASH-FORWARD – Pandemic Zone, Anywhere in the World, April 2020

When I wrote those words in 2015, no one predicted or prophesied the COVID-19 pandemic would be wreaking havoc upon the health and lives of Mankind globally.

Presently, it is not a bullet that has people’s names on it but a virus.

Much of Mankind is now face-to-face with death; and many people’s reality has been suddenly altered and shaken. We are all becoming brutally aware of the grimmer aspects of human existence, and the thinner line that now exists between life and death.

However, despite COVID-19, the basic fact remains unchanged that until the Rapture occurs, the perfect 100% fatality percentage of Mankind will continue. All of us will die. It is just a matter of timing. For there is no bulletproof vest out there which will stop the bullet, perhaps this virus, that has your name on it.

Ignoring this fact, many of us are still in denial of death, and opt to roll over in our bunks and return to our slumber. But with COVID-19 at all of our doors and broadcast into our homes, it is much harder to ignore death in this media-driven age. The transfixed news media provides a continuous flow of updates on the rising contagion and death toll. Constantly before our eyes, death is not quite so easy to ignore, as if we could somehow not think about this nightmare and just make it go away. Our death waits; it is a bullet we cannot dodge on our own.

All too often, we are like the rich man in Luke 12:16-20 who was caught up in life, planning and storing up for himself things on top of more things, as if he had an endless stream of days before him. Jesus concludes this parable by saying, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'”

Like the rich man, we all will catch a bullet, perhaps a virus, or something else to end the life of our flesh, for our days are known and numbered by God. Be assured you will die on time, God’s time.

We Are ALL NOW in a Global COVID-19 Combat Zone

Don’t kid yourself; there is an ongoing spiritual war going on around us for the souls of man. Whether we like it or not, or know it or not, we all play our part in it. When your bullet strikes home, your earthly part in this struggle ends; there remains but one of two Biblical outcomes:

1)    You will be absent from the body but your soul and new, incorruptible body will be present with the Lord for eternity as a Believer sealed by the Holy Spirit through the grace of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8 and Ephesians 1:13-14), or

2)    Your flesh will die but your eternal soul will face the judgment of your works at the Great White Throne, and then face potential eternity in a place of torment called the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

If you are already a Believer, Amen! The Rapture is imminent; God still has work for you to do!  Therefore, sow the seeds for Christ’s Kingdom while it is still light, for the darkness shall soon fall upon us when no one can work. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

If you are not a Believer, the God of the Bible provides you no other options for eternity than the two listed above. After the death of your body, other people’s prayers will have no bearing on your soul.  This is a private decision for you alone.

There is a single means by which you can receive salvation. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6). And that is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the Redeemer of Mankind. “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

And fence-sitting is a decision to reject the offer of Jesus Christ, creator of Heaven and Earth. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18, NIV).

In Closing…

The COVID-19’s sheer randomness of death is now evident before all Mankind to witness. The fallen nature of this world and death which accompanies it is now tangible in our everyday life. You only have to look at the news which reports 24 x 7 the hundreds upon hundreds of dying souls departing the earth each day into the next life…be they great or small, rich or poor of all peoples, kindreds, tongues, and nations. The randomness of death is the great equalizer, and cannot be bargained with, or bought off.

However, unlike a war zone, we will not receive a prior warning signal alerting us that “a virus with our name on it” is on the way. Death is as real as life. Our time is short, so use it well. Be prepared! Be in Christ!

God Bless!  Come, Lord Jesus, come!

J&J Ranch Ministries – “But as for me and my <ranch>, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

For my YouTube channel search for “rancherjoe”

Contact me at…jojoekwaj@yahoo.com

In the book of Jonah, we learn that God called the prophet to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh.  Famously, Jonah resisted that call and ran as far as he could in the opposite direction. God demanded obedience and convinced Jonah through his adventure with the whale to go do what he’d been told.

Jonah had good reason in the natural to oppose God. Nineveh was a mighty city of 120,000 people that was part of the Assyrian empire. Assyria had the rightly deserved reputation of conquering its enemies by using sheer terror as part of its strategy. The thought of Assyria marching onto your nation’s doorstep made its victims tremble with abject fear. In Jonah’s fleshly estimation, Nineveh had no right to escape God’s judgment and wrath. The best thing for all concerned, particularly Israel, would be for God to pour our utter destruction upon the city.

But God thought otherwise at that particular point in time. Astonishingly, there were people in that city whom He wanted to reach. Grudgingly, Jonah traveled to Nineveh, preached his message, and saw the entire city turn from its wicked ways so that God relented of His death sentence.

The pertinent questions for this essay are: Why did Nineveh repent? How was it even possible for this pagan city to turn to God? And: How does America compare with Nineveh?

Nineveh in Assyria, in what is now Iraq, was part of the wider Ancient Near East (ANE). Israel was a tiny part of that larger ANE culture, but oversized in terms of her importance and influence. Yahweh was Israel’s God, the One true God. After the Tower of Babel incident, God scattered the peoples, confused their language, created nations, and set His divine sons over those nations. We see this in Deuteronomy 32:8:

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.”

Because God had essentially gotten fed up with mankind’s rebellious ways, He decided to take a time-out. Rather than deal with all these disobedient peoples, God took a break after the Tower and required His spiritual sons to point these nations back to Him. In the meantime, He called out Israel as a special people, which is what Deuteronomy 32:9 tells us:

“But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.”

That didn’t work out so well, which is what Psalm 82 outlines. However, the point is that the peoples of the ANE knew about God. He had been integral in the affairs of man since the Garden, the Flood, the Tower, and in the life of Israel since its inception. Everyone in that surrounding culture knew about Yahweh and what He could do. It’s simply that He wasn’t the God of these other nations, per se, as far as all of them knew. The divine son of God placed over a particular nation ended up becoming its god because of the disobedience of these sons as shown in Psalm 82. In the case of Assyria, that god was called Ashur. Other gods in the ANE were Baal, Molech, etc.

When Jonah came preaching repentance to Nineveh, the people of the city faced a huge decision. They all knew that Yahweh could do what Jonah claimed. They’d seen or heard about Yahweh’s judgments in the past. This was the God who had destroyed the world by the Word of His mouth through the Flood; this was Yahweh who had delivered Israel from Egypt with ten horrible plagues. The threat that Jonah brought was no idle one.

That was the scenario when Jonah declared that Nineveh had forty days to repent. Because of all they knew, the people made a wise and informed decision. And there was true repentance; otherwise, God would have destroyed the city, which would have made Jonah quite happy. The bottom line in Nineveh’s repentance was knowledge of God and of His capabilities.

When we look at our situation comparatively in America, this is one of the many problems I have with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and its prophetic declarations. Time and again, NAR’s prophets, through magazines like Charisma, have declared that a great revival is coming to this nation. When I first began reading this several years ago, it never sat right with me. Immersed in Bible prophecy as I’ve been, what these folks said ran absolutely counter to my reading and understanding of Scripture. How could there be this great soul harvest without the Bible telling us about it? (Actually, it does tell us there will be many turning to Christ, it’s just that they’ll do so during the Tribulation.)

I later learned that many NAR adherents are preterists. They believe that Biblical prophecy was all essentially fulfilled by 100 AD. If that was the case, then Revelation is symbolic and not literally applicable to today. No Revelation – No Tribulation. In fact, as I understand it, even the Rapture is up for grabs with many NAR people. With these minor inconveniences out of the way, that makes room for a massive revival and the Christianizing of the world, NAR can take Dominion, and bring about the Kingdom Now.

As far as I can tell, this is all a part of the Biblical illiteracy that has been growing over the years.  Relatively few Christians read the entire Bible. Many think that if they read a devotional plus the verse of the day, they’re all set and right with God. Who needs more than that? Thus, when NAR pastors, apostles, or prophets come along and say that revival is coming, with no mention of the Tribulation, a false understanding of what God intends is foisted upon these unsuspecting NAR followers.

Compounding this is the absolute falling away of America from God. Our nation has turned secular.  Worse, those people that go to churches other than NAR churches are generally subjected to the social gospel, homosexuality is peachy-keen, and other aberrant teachings which bring forth anything but the true Word of God.

Compared to Nineveh, we’re in big trouble. Yes, that city was a fraction of our 330 million people, but I think we still have to consider the knowledge base. Whereas probably most of the inhabitants of Nineveh knew about God and feared Him, the percentage of those in America with those same sensibilities are minuscule. Today, truly, there is only a remnant in America who actually know and fear God. Yes, of course, God can do anything. That’s a given. He can bring a massive revival and not forewarn us in His Word. But He also reaches the point of no return for a person, a city, a nation, and a world. (Yes, He even reaches that point with individuals. See Jeremiah 11:14.)

The Tribulation is coming for this world, and America will be cast into the heart of that wrath. But, here’s the most important promise that God has made that I want to point out. For those who love Him, He will deliver them from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He will keep us from the hour of trial coming upon this entire earth (Revelation 3:10).

We do not have to be afraid. What we’re currently facing now with the coronavirus, the lockdowns, and the increasing governmental control over daily life are simply pebbles in our path to when Jesus comes back to Rapture His church. The things we see happening all around us will be magnified many times over in the Tribulation. Rejoice! We who love the Lord won’t go through that.

Yes, life is getting more difficult, but we who follow Bible prophecy knew that it would. Didn’t Jesus say that we as believers would face trials and tribulations? But again, I say: rejoice! Because we are seeing and experiencing all these things, His coming is soon. The leaves on the fig tree are becoming greener. It will shortly bear fruit. Even if it’s just with your fingernails, keep hanging on. It’ll all be worth it.

————————

Gary W. Ritter is a lay pastor, Bible teacher, and serves as Missions Director at his church.  He is also a prolific author.  His Whirlwind Series is comprised of three 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 been given the Christian Redemptive Fiction award for two novels: The Tattooed Cat and Alien Revelation.  He has recently released Looking Up – Volume 3, a non-fiction work that contains essays and devotions on end-times and prophetic events.  Gary’s intent in all his writings is to bring a strong Christian witness to what people read.  You can reach him at his website: www.GaryRitter.com or his Facebook Author page:  https://www.facebook.com/gritter3390.  You can also see his video Bible teachings on his Gary Ritter YouTube channel – look for the fish symbol.