Where We Currently Stand with the Coronavirus

In my first post for last month, I said, “I believe that the coronavirus will ultimately be contained before it reaches the level of a global pandemic. I think Bible prophecy will be the key reason why. We are in a state of profound financial risk. A global lockdown on economic activity related to the effort to fight the virus would certainly push us over the edge.”

The virus has now spread to the point where it can now be called a pandemic. Dow Jones has had its fastest collapse from a record high since 1928 but, so far, the economy has not gone into meltdown mode. If we are going to witness yet another monetary miracle that saves the financial system from a depression, this one will leave no doubt that God rules over Wall Street.

The reason why the coronavirus has spooked markets around the world is because it spreads very rapidly and it kills large numbers of people. This estimated fatality rate currently stands at 3.4%. The flu virus has a mortality rate of 0.1%. This means the average person has 34 times a greater chance of dying from coronavirus than the flu.

In a worst-case scenario where 60 to 80% of the global population could contract the virus, 100-180 million people could die. This level of death would have a profound impact on society. Going out in public could mean risking your life.

The reported case of over 100,000 may lead some people to think that they are still safe being part of the 7.2 billion who don’t have the virus. The rate of how coronavirus spreads needs great attention. In a two-week period, the number of infections in South Korea went from one person to more than 5,000. In a couple more weeks, it could spread to 25,000 or 50,000 people.

Iran has been clearly lying about its coronavirus numbers. It claims to only have a few thousand cases, but dozens of people who visited that nation have tested positive for the virus. Nearly 10% of Iranian lawmakers are infected with the coronavirus, admits Iran’s State Media Report. Iran can thank its nuclear program for being the most likely cause of its coronavirus outbreak. Hundreds of Chinese workers are stationed at its various nuclear facilities.

The World Health Organization has found that 16% of the people who come down with the coronavirus develop symptoms that require hospitalization. The flu results in 0.2% needing hospital treatment: which is an 80-fold factor. In the US, there are only about 200,000 open beds in hospitals. England only has 28 beds for people with severe respiratory failure.

The coronavirus has been found to be very deadly when combined with pre-existing illness like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. In some areas of Africa, 18% of the population is HIV positive. If the coronavirus kills huge numbers of people in Africa, waves of infected individuals would likely flee to Europe to try to escape the carnage.

The sharp decline in stock prices puts us at risk of seeing a systemic collapse in our financial markets. In recent years, stocks have been largely rising based on companies issuing bonds to buy back their own shares. Because their stock has increased in value, banks would gladly loan firms money to finance more purchases.

Uncle Sam gets a huge chunk of his taxable income from capital gains on stocks. A chart of the Treasury’s income and the Dow Jones are nearly equal to each other. This connection is the reason why President Trump starts yelling at the Fed every time the Dow takes a dive.

China is currently the bullseye of the coronavirus outbreak. The economic impact has been stunning. In February, car sales declined by 95%. Macau, the far east Las Vegas, closed for 15 days to help control the spread of the virus, but it cost them. Gross gaming revenue for February was just $386.5 million, an 87.8% fall from 2019.

Some people in China have been in financial lockdown for over a month. The lack of work has left workers and businesses with debts that can’t be paid. Beijing responded to the financial crisis by telling banks to give lenders a three-month grace period. Ultimately, the debt will have to be forgiven or added to the Chinese national debt.

For well over 10 years, Terry and I have maintained that the economy is going to hold together until the rapture. Because Jesus said his return for us would be like the days of Noah or tranquility, we think that time is now. The days-of-Noah factor is an explanation for how the stock market has been able to delay the consequences of our unmanageable debt load. The following five events should have popped the financial bubble:

• The 2008/2009 Housing Bubble should have been the Great Depression II.
• The unmanageable debt loads of nations were magically lifted by rates going below zero.
• The trade war with China had no impact on the US economy.
• We hit several record highs during the Impeachment of President Trump.
• The total collapse of the Repo market in Sept of 2019 was a snoozer.

The coronavirus outbreak appears to be the most serious threat to the global economy in the last 100 years. In the next few months, America is going to either become a very scary place or we are going to think how in the world did we dodge another bullet. The day will come when a third option takes all believers to a place where the coronavirus can never reach us.

“So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (Luke 21:31).

— Todd

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Why God’s Wrath Is Inevitable

“My God [or my Jesus] would never send anyone to Hell.”

This is a statement in one form or another I’ve heard many times, and I’ll bet you have, too.

The world of quasi-Christianity presents a view of Heaven, God, and Jesus as love that holds no person ultimately responsible for sinful activity. While many of the mainline sorts of these folks claim to preach from the same Bible as we do, they deny the concepts of Hell and eternal punishment for sin. These, like the current Catholic pope, hold that everyone will somehow make it to Heaven, because all are loved by God.

This is why, for example, the Catholic Church and most reform brands coming out of Catholicism believe that prophetic portions of the Bible and the book of Revelation (the “Apocalypse,” as the Roman Catholic Church would have it) are to either be spiritualized or allegorized—or should have been left out of the canon of Scripture altogether.

That God’s judgment and wrath are on the way to a rebellious, evil world system lost in sin just doesn’t register within quasi-Christianity.

“Evil will be dealt with by simple, God-ordained dismissal when all is said and done” seems to be the answer when these are questioned about the Bible’s truth about wrath and judgment, because God is only love.

I don’t intend to paint all reform congregants or all Catholics in this way. But, this is a growing heresy—a burgeoning, blasphemous trend within so-called Christendom.

The following examples document how far this world is going in a direction opposite of God’s prescribed way to live, and are, I think, evidence of why God’s judgment and wrath are—and must be—inevitable because of mankind’s incorrigible rebellion.

A new study by LifeWay Research says that 47 percent—nearly half—of all Mainline Protestant pastors now support same-sex marriage. This is up 15 percent from ten years ago. increase over the same time period.

According to the report at LifeWay, “Around a third (32%) say they see nothing wrong with civil unions between two people of the same gender. Almost two-thirds (63%) say they disagree, with a majority (54%) strongly disagreeing.”

The study aligns itself with the evidence that is persistent in mainline Protestant denominations—such as the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), the United Methodist Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), all apostate denominations that ordain women and, in many cases, homosexuals. (Jeff Maples, “New Study Shows Nearly Half of Mainline Protestant Pastors Support Gay Marriage, Reformation Charlotte, Rapture Ready News, February 28, 2020)

Jesus forewarned that at the time of His next catastrophic intervention into the affairs of wicked mankind, people would be conducting life like people did during the days of Lot. The sodomite lifestyle is now condoned by an ever-broadening swath of clergy. And, according to this ecclesiastical agglomerate, there will be no ultimate judgment or wrath from Heaven for this sinful conduct.

The second example must be even more angering to the loving God who sits on the throne:

In a shocking move Tuesday, nearly every Democratic senator voted against requiring that medical care be provided to babies who survive abortions.

A cloture vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act garnered the support of 56 senators, compared to 41 who voted to block it.

All 53 GOP senators and three Democratic senators voted to proceed, while 41 Democrats voted no, meaning the measure fell short of the 60 votes needed for cloture, ending debate.

The bill requires, in part, that medical personnel “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child [who survives an abortion] as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”…

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who sponsored the bill, rightly observed from the Senate floor prior to Tuesday’s vote, “Every one of us should be able to say without any hesitation, ‘leaving babies to die is unacceptable.’ THIS AIN’T HARD STUFF, PEOPLE!!

This should be a 100 to zero no-brainer.”…

The Susan B. Anthony List’s national campaign chair, Jill Stanek, a former nurse who witnessed babies born alive during an abortion procedure and then left to die, said in a statement provided to The Western Journal, “It is appalling to see Democrats…vote against compassionate, common-sense bills, including one that simply requires medical care for born children.”

Concerned Women for America president Penny Nance linked Planned Parenthood to Tuesday’s vote by Democrats.

“It is a very sad day for the unborn, and I pray God’s forgiveness over our country. Planned Parenthood and abortion extremists’ death grip have once again prevailed through the Democrat party,” Nance said in a statement given to The Western Journal. (Randy DeSoto, “God Help Us: 41 Dem Senators Vote Against Protecting Already Born Babies from Being Legally Murdered,” The Western Journal, February 26, 2020)

That any baby is murdered, either while in the mother’s womb or once born, must wrench the very heart of God, must anger the Creator who loves His creation so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for mankind’s sin. That is love our finite minds cannot grasp.

It takes infinite comprehension to grasp that kind of love. We can only get that kind of understanding through the grace of God—through the salvation process and a regenerate mind given to us when we accept Christ as Savior.

God’s love also demands judgment and wrath. He cannot allow unrighteousness in His holy presence. He, in His holiness and righteousness, therefore, must exact a price. Jesus paid that price for sin with His own blood upon Calvary’s cross more than two thousand years ago.

Therefore, God’s wrath is inevitable. It will be unleashed against all unbelief at the Great White Throne judgment.

To avoid that wrath and judgment, each person must accept the gift of grace that is Jesus Christ and His once-and-for-all-sacrifice for mankind’s sin.

Again, here is the only way to avoid the otherwise inevitability of God’s wrath falling upon you and me:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

—Terry

The Prefab Fake News

The major network news reporting has become so predictable, there are several times each week that I don’t bother to watch the evening newscast. On a good night, I’m lucky to watch 10 minutes of the broadcast. I realize this a huge departure for someone who has watched the 5:30 news since my early teens.

It’s not that the internet has drawn me away from network news. Because ABC, CBS, and NBC are still the only broadcasters with a large news budget, they still offer more superior coverage than any web-based news organization. What has caused my fallout with the major networks is how predictable their news coverage has become. By the time we reach the evening hour, I know 95% of the time what is going to be the lead story and how they are going to present it.

When President Trump was being impeached in the House, all the anchors spoke in phony somber tones; giving every step of the process a “historic” label. The build-up to the Robert Mueller Report was likened to the Constitutional Convention. When the report came out, it was found to be a giant waste of time and money.

The only thing that stands out in my mind of the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election is how poorly Mueller did in his congressional testimony. For months, the media talked him up as the savior of Democracy against the great red menace. When he finally spoke before Congress, we were confronted with a feeble old man who couldn’t recall basic facts about the investigation.

Since the left has run out of new lies to take down the president, they decided to borrow a tactic from Joseph Goebbels. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” This is why the news has become so predictable. It’s mostly recycled, prefabricated, fake news.

Three times in as many weeks, billionaire George Soros has attacked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding he be removed because he is working to re-elect Donald Trump. Zuckerberg is under attack from Soros because Russian agents placed some ads to support Trump in 2016. Like most of the tech giants, Facebook is run by liberals. The only way Zuckerberg can get out of the doghouse is by helping to defeat Trump.

One of the most common pre-fab fake news tricks today is the signed letter ploy. A couple weeks ago, more than 2,600 former US justice department officials called on Attorney General William Barr to step down for “doing the president’s personal bidding” in imposing a recommendation of a reduced sentence for Roger Stone, a longtime friend of the president. The list of names came from the liberal media working with the Federal Judges Association.

I hope that Barr just laughed off this one-day news story. Here we have former DOJ officials claiming to stand for the rule of law, but the association makes it clear that it sides with district court judge Amy Berman Jackson. Normally, the president should not comment on pending legal matters. Since now facing an Obama-appointed Judge means you have no chance of getting a fair trial, every Republican politician should be raising their voice.

The flip side of the media trying to control public thought by liberal committees is by giving voice to leftist individuals. One of my favorites was the Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti. After he was found guilty of extortion, conservative sites began circulating a montage of his 250 appearances on various news shows. I was stunned to hear one woman compare this slime ball to the Holy Spirit.

The liberal media deserved to be mocked for thinking that the Avenatti & Stormy Daniels road show would have any impact on Trump’s poll numbers. They have worked for decades to normalize sexual depravity.

I find it amusing that celebrities of any stripe who decide to vent hatred at Trump only need to wait their turn in getting a diatribe in print. Last week, Neil Young’s number came up; letting him show his contempt for the Donald:

“You are a disgrace to my country,” Young writes in a long, scathing open letter to Trump on his Neil Young Archives website. “Your mindless destruction of our shared natural resources, our environment, and our relationships with friends around the world is unforgivable.… Our first black president was a better man than you are.”

I think it is very timely for Bible prophecy that Donald Trump is one of the most hated men in world history. He will make a fitting contrast to the Antichrist. After spending what I hope is eight years spewing every form of abhorrence at Trump, the liberal media will be more than ready to lavish the Beast with endless praise.

“The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?’” (Revelation 13:1-4).

— Todd

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Denying Climate Change While Declaring Changing Weather

It’s a thing one might accurately say is a prophetic paradox. Some even might claim it’s being two-faced, wishy-washy, or hypocritical. But, it is fact.

To declare that the world is in the midst of climate change is a truism. But that change isn’t out of ordinary for our planet. It is something that happens continually; the climate goes from one season to the next. The Bible edicts that there will be changes in the seasons until God remakes the heavens and earth one eternal day.

The globalist, progressive purveyors of the “global warming” mantra, now altered to the mantra of “climate change,” mean by their diatribes that mankind is wrecking the environment. Mankind alone, therefore, can fix “Mother Earth.” Only humans, not some existential God, at best (who probably isn’t there at any rate), can save the environment.

Those who observe Bible prophecy, especially from the pre-Trib perspective, almost always come down on the side of the view that people are not destroying the planet’s ecology—at least, not through physical activity. We can’t destroy the earth, because we haven’t got the power to do so. Like all of His creation, including human history, God ultimately has His almighty hand on it. He is in complete control, even though He granted us volition, the right to self will.

Those who believe that humans are here by happenstance, such as in the theory of evolution or some other model, believe that we, following our random placement in the sphere of the living, are masters of our own destiny. Many among these religiously believe that through our technological development, using fossil fuels that contaminate and corrupt the geophysical elements, we’re making life unsustainable.

America is seen as the greatest culprit in all of this, even though China, India, and others put far greater amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere. America is held as chief culprit by the globalists elite, of course, because they want our nation’s great wealth (or, I should say “perceived wealth” because of the national debt) to be brought into the internationalists’ orbit so they can plunder it as they see fit. This is why, as we’ve looked at many times, there is such hatred for a nationalist like President Donald J. Trump. He believes American citizens should be in control of America’s assets. Of course, this, too, is subject to violation by the corrupt government practices within the US. The Congress and entrenched, corrupt, bureaucratic entities siphon America’s wealth unabated.

All this said, the climate-change mantra continues and grows with a religious fervor that will be the feverish rallying cry around which Antichrist will one day build his regime, at least initially.

So it would seem that we who look at things from the pre-Trib perspective deny climate change.

Well, yes and no.

We believe and report events that point to the wrap-up of the Church Age, the Age of Grace. We acknowledge that changing weather patterns are primary indicators that Jesus Christ will one day—we believe soon—step out on the clouds of glory and call all born-again believers to Himself in the Rapture!

The growing weather disturbances and other strange phenomena within the natural world indicate the wrap-up of this phase of human history, setting the stage for all biblically prophetic fulfillment.

However, we deny climate change taking place that is caused by our sins against nature—i.e., polluting the atmosphere, etc. Rather, we say it is our sin nature, our anti-God, spiritual transgression that is bringing on nature’s rebellion against such comportment.

Remember Jesus, when He came into Jerusalem riding the little donkey while the people shouted “Hosanna!” The Judaizers told Him to make them shut up. However, Jesus said that if they were to keep quiet, the very stones would cry out. Nature, itself, would shout that He had arrived as Israel’s Messiah.

Well, Jesus is about to arrive again, this time as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Mankind is for the most part denying Him. This anti-God rebellion is causing the very elements of creation to cry out in acknowledgment of His majesty and power.

We who observe prophecy acknowledge that the proliferating weather and other strange geophysical phenomena, many stories about which you can read on any given day on Rapture Ready news, are indeed taking place. However, the earth will not be destroyed by man or any other entity. Earth will be judged by God’s wrath because of mankind’s rebellion. Our atmosphere and existence in general will be judged for Israel’s sake and to bring about a remnant for a magnificently restored earth.

The thing you and I should do with regard to observing these things is to make sure we know Jesus Christ for salvation and forewarn others after giving them God’s salvation message. Then, we will one eternal day hear the Lord say, “Well done, good, faithful, servant. Welcome into the Kingdom, of which you are now joint heir.”

—Terry