The Great Flood of 2019

There has been massive flooding in the central region of the U.S. I lived in Nebraska from 1987 to 2009, so I’m very familiar with the state’s flood history. A few days ago, I was shocked to read reports of record flooding on the three largest rivers in the state.

According to a press release from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, or NEMA, the Missouri River crested between 30 and 47.5 feet in different areas throughout the state, breaking previous records by 1 to 4 feet. The Platte River in Louisville crested at 14.3 feet, breaking its 1960 record by 1.9 feet, NEMA said. The Elkhorn River at Waterloo crested at 24.6 feet, breaking its 1962 record by 5.5 feet.

I was stationed at Offutt Air force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska, and I was shocked to see the building where I first worked under several feet of water. The worst I’ve ever witnessed was water creeping up to the back gate of the base. In this flood about one-third of the base was under water, including 3,000 feet of runway, the 55th Wing headquarters building, and about 60 other structures. If this flood happened during the Cold War, it would be a national crisis to have the Strategic Air Command flooded out.

It is very strange to have so much water this early in the year. Most of the previous record floods were the result of massive spring or summer thunderstorms. The trigger for this flood was a historic winter storm called a “bomb cyclone.” This storm had hurricane force winds that dumped record amounts of rain and snow over a vast area.

This flooding has done a huge amount of damage to farmland. Over 200 miles of levees have been breached and several dams have been destroyed. It may take months for millions of acres to dry out. Cropland that has had water rushing over it may require years to recover from the buildup of sand and the removal of top soil.

The National Weather Service is warning that there may be worse to come in this apocalyptic Midwest flood. Thanks to a very snowy winter, a massive amount of snow is going to melt during the next several weeks. There are still 20 inches of snow in North Dakota, and Minnesota.

On top of all of that melting snow, forecasters are telling us that it will be a very rainy spring. During the next three months, the Weather Channel is warning that there will be “above-average precipitation across much of the Lower 48.”

The American farmer has always had to deal with good and bad years. Lately, the worst-case scenario has been the norm: a cold planting season and a wet harvest had corn yields edging lower for the past two years, drought thinned cattle herds in many Western states and pathogens have killed millions of chickens, turkeys and piglets. Farms filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy protection rose by 19 percent last year across the Midwest, the highest level in a decade, according to data compiled by the American Farm Bureau.

In this year’s flood, farmers have lost a large amount of their 2018 crops and livestock. Millions upon millions of bushels of wheat, corn and soybeans have been washed away from ground-level storage bins and containers. It’s hard to get numbers on livestock deaths because ranchers are reluctant to acknowledge the death of their animals and blame themselves when it happens. The wind and icy water are a deadly combination. Many farms lost 10-20% of their calves during the flood. The recent decline in cattle future prices is seen as an indication that farmers are being forced to liquidate their herds because of heavy losses from winter kill.

I don’t expect to see a massive food shortage ahead of the rapture. Because it normally takes several years for a famine to develop, we may get a glimpse of worst to come from seeing a sudden decline in global food production. Unless the weather pattern suddenly turns around, this year may forewarn what could be the start of the predicted end-time famine.

“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny…” (Rev 6:5-6).

–Todd

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Nearing Midnight

Our weekly commentaries on raptureready.com are written under the heading “Nearing Midnight.” There can be no better column title for Bible prophecy, in my view, in consideration of the gush of issues and events flooding upon this generation of Planet Earth’s inhabitants.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ “Doomsday Clock,” although an often-specious mélange spewed at us in order to persuade the world to accept globalist sophistry, is on the mark unknowingly. The minute hand is indeed nearing the midnight hour, according to issues and events moving forward under the template of Bible prophecy.

All we must do to see the nearness of midnight is to skim over headline matters appearing simultaneously at this very hour.

Time Ticks On Culturally and Socially

The Apostle Paul’s “perilous times” foretelling stares us in the face every time we watch the news. The prophecies contained within 2 Timothy 3 cannot be missed by those spiritually attuned to the apostle’s forewarnings.

As a society, we have become a people steeped deeply in self love. We are turned inward more and more, lost in our devices with the selfies and all other things that draw us into our inner sanctums. America’s divorce rate–most often with selfishness at its heart–stands at the center of the problems involving this indicator the Apostle Paul gave as that which will characterize mankind at the end of the age.

All that’s necessary to see that we are a generation ripe with those who are covetous, boasters, and proud is to consider the political process and those involved. And, yes, this cuts across all political ideologies and parties.

One party in particular, however, exhibits a specific indicator Paul gives in characterizing end-time man. Blasphemy has been made the very benchmark of this political party. We remember that, during the lead-up to the 2016 presidential nominating process, the Democrat Party gave a voice vote to remove the mention of God from their political platform. The politically wise moderator ignored the “yea” voice votes of the raucous attendees who wanted to throw God out and declared the much less vocal “nays” had won the vote.

Despite that politically expedient vote obfuscation, this party has become the champion of same-sex marriage, homosexual and transgender causes, and the murder of babies, even after infants have survived the abortion process. They are a people devoted to blasphemous ideology and exhibit that they are without natural affection by advocating the killing of the most innocent among us while in the mothers’ wombs. These are indeed unthankful and unholy in their comportment.

Their mantras fly in the face of the Creator. What God declares to be the natural order, they turn upside down in practically every instance. They are more and more manifesting the degeneration into the reprobate mindset forewarned Romans 1.

Time Ticks On Geopolitically

Observers of these times in light of Bible prophecy have pointed time after time to the nearness of the midnight hour. They might not use the term “nearing Midnight,” but the observation is there. They consistently blow the siren of alarm. Every signal is front and center that Christ is about to call the Church to Himself.

The things we harp on most stringently are things involving the geopolitical world of issues and events. The American political process has been a most fertile ground for analytically plowing through these issues that are flooding every news cycle.

Again, the Apostle Paul gave what most believe were prophetic utterances for this specific hour. His declaration includes that men will be truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, heady, and high-minded. The last two years have brought to the forefront each of these characteristics, at least in my view.

Despite all of these nefarious intrigues by those trying to bring down a presidency, nothing significant enough to do so was found. This shows the evil and insidious nature of those who seem to possess “perilous times” traits.

The Lord–again in my view–has been the restraining influence in preventing things from going the way of the globalists elite. The prayers of His saints, imploring His intervention, is key, I have no doubt. The Lord of Heaven has continued to intervene to prevent the collapse of America for His own purposes. This is important because the rest of the world is intricately linked to this nation. A collapse of the US economy would surely bring about world collapse. I am convinced God’s purposes for preventing collapse at this time have at their center the desire to bring as many to salvation as will come to Christ.

When the Church–all born-again believers–go to be with Christ, the Restrainer will remove from that supernatural office and all will come crashing down.

Time Ticks On Economically

And, make no mistake, this nation and world will suffer a colossal crash once the Church leaves this world. None will be more catastrophic than that of the economic realm.

Economic experts are baffled as to why the level of debt and other unprecedented, existential fiscal factors haven’t already collapsed the financial order because of the great weight involved. With America’s national debt at more than $21.1 trillion and its extrapolated debt at more than $150 trillion, normal, monetary principles should have long ago kicked in, causing catastrophic collapse. Again, the experts can’t understand what is holding things in place. That is because God is never figured into the equation for the inexplicable holding pattern this world is experiencing.

Time Ticks On Religiously

We witness daily the defection of even some evangelical Christians from scriptural truth. They seem to want to follow Pope Francis into the abyss of Laodicean apostasy.

Most illustrative of this defection is the betrayal of Israel. Many have become almost anti-Semitic in their anti-Israel biases. They sign onto the effort to treat the Jewish state as anathema in matters of international commerce, despite the fact that Israel is one of the most vibrant economies on the planet in every respect.

There is a religious fervor against the Jews developing in practically every nation on earth. The United Nations is almost completely comprised of Jew-hating nations. In America, the many Democrat Party presidential candidates refused to attend the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPC) meetings. This is because the Democrat base is now made up of young people who almost as one champion the Palestinian causes and see Israel as responsible for all the problems in the Middle East.

Thankfully, this president is a strong supporter of Israel and defends its right to the Golan Heights, recently declaring that militarily essential, elevated, territory to belong to the Jewish state. This has set the Muslim world and most of the diplomatic world into frenzy. While the stated frenzy is based upon political anger, the actual root of it all is religious. Satan hates Israel…the world hates Israel.

This is how God’s prophetic Word said it would be at exactly this time so near the midnight hour of the age.

The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1-3)

Nearing Midnight… A most apropos title for a Bible prophecy column, don’t you think?

–Terry

The Aftermath of New Zealand Massacre

It has now been five times in the past four years that I have reported on a massacre that is regarded to be the worst ever of its kind in a nation’s history. Since the last one was in November, with the mass murder of Jews in the US., the killing of 50 Muslims in New Zealand comes as no great surprise.

Normally, the killer of a Muslim is another Muslim. Because those stories occur so often, they disappear from the top of newsfeed like the morning fog vanishes under a blazing July sun. With the attacker being a xenophobic white supremacist, the press will eagerly feed on this tragic event for weeks to come.

The first news flash promised immediate changes to gun laws. There was no talk of debate. The legislative process in New Zealand quickly moved to restrict people’s ability to own several types of guns.

The next thing I noticed was an embargo on the video of the shooting that Australian Brenton Tarrant has streamed on Facebook as he carried out his deadly crime. The video was 16 minutes in length, and it mostly shows him driving around the city. The part where he shoots people is very grainy and only lasts a couple minutes. I think the video is important because it shows how quickly a determined terrorist with the right weapons can kill large numbers of people.

Even though the video has been viewed by millions, the New Zealand government has decided that they have the power to block access to this information. In this dangerous power grab, government officials are saying that social media giants don’t deserve their freedom as an open format. For too long, terrorists have used them with impunity, so it is time for counterterrorism specialists to move in to heavily regulate these social media sites.

If you are a New Zealand citizen and are found with a copy of the massacre video, you can face up to 14 years in jail and a $200,000 fine. An 18-year-old man was denied bail at a court in New Zealand after he was charged with distributing a live stream of the shooting, the New Zealand Herald reported. The teen was initially charged with publishing material insulting other races and ethnicities, but that charge was withdrawn and replaced by the two new charges.

I think it should be up to an individual to decide if they want to watch a gory video. When governments and activists step in to decide what should be censored, you end with total suppression of negative information. If New Zealand telecom had been primary news sources for the past 100 years, the attack on Pearl Harbor; the assassination of president John F. Kennedy; and the second plane hitting the World Trade Center would be judged too shocking for the public to view.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has the crazy idea that the killer was only out for fame, and she is determined to block his main goal by blotting his name from history.

“I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them,” she told the gathering in the city of Wellington. “He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless,” she said.

President Tayyip Erdogan described the New Zealand attack as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back “in caskets” anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul. Erdogan’s remarks earned a rebuke from New Zealand’s foreign minister who said it could endanger New Zealanders abroad. I’ve long considered Erdogan to be a political lunatic but think, in this case, he has a better grasp on reality than his New Zealand counterparts.

If the name Brenton Tarrant is going to be forgotten, it will be because there were so many other terrorists in history that his name gets lost in the crowd.

Years ago, an event like the New Zealand Massacre would trigger a spiritual revival in society. Today, an act of insanity just causes people to respond with more insanity. The level of lunacy that I’ve witnessed indicates to me that the end must be very near.

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4 ESV).

–Todd

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The Age of Accountability Question

Some time ago I received an email in which the correspondent expressed his adamant belief that there is no such thing as the “age of accountability–i.e., he declared that those under such a fictitious age will not automatically be transported into Heaven by Christ’s shout at the time of Rapture.

I replied that he had touched on a topic that is a hot issue with yours truly. On this, I give no quarter, whatsoever. But, through experience in dealing with the issue, I am fully aware that no matter what evidence I offer to the contrary, those who accept 1 Corinthians 7:14 as dealing with children and the Rapture consider it a verse that stands alone as proving their point that only children with at least one saved parent will go to Jesus in the Rapture. And, most won’t change on that.

Here is that Scripture: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.”

Even the great Dr. John Walvoord believed this Scripture indicates that only the child below the age of accountability who has at least one “saved” parent will go to Christ when He calls the Church to Himself.

I’m name-dropping, I guess, but I asked my good friend, Dr Walvoord (he wrote  a number of chapters for my books and we were indeed good friends and talked by phone and in person on occasion), if he could give any other Scriptures that backed up the contention that this verse indicated as he believed.

He thought for a moment and shook his head no. “No, I can’t,” he said somberly.

I no longer debate the matter when given a contrary opinion, but respond one time and one only.

This is a salvation matter between Jesus Christ and the child (an eternal matter–not a matter dealing with physical life and death). It is not a matter of earthly relationship (child to parent) and religion (to church affiliation) or morality (to personal conduct).

Children who have died physically and children who will be taken in the Rapture have in common the fact that they were/will be instantly with the Lord. This is because they are seen in God’s merciful economy as innocents, considering the factors as dealt with in this treatment of the subject.

Most importantly, it is an INDIVIDUAL matter–God dealing one on one, not collectively or corporately with the salvation issue.

Acceptance of Christ is based upon a decision to accept or reject. If a person doesn’t have–and has never had–the ability to accept or reject because he or she doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand, they cannot accept or reject.

The Bible says that those who know to do good and do it not–to them it is sin. Conversely, I believe that the whole body of Scripture presents the case that if one doesn’t know they are lost because of sin, they are not condemned. But, when maturity that brings understanding comes (and the Holy Spirit draws them, convicting them of sin), they must accept God’s offer of reconciliation.

The very character of God, as presented throughout the entire Word of God, is at stake. All in Christ will go at the Rapture. Paul says “all will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” What does this mean–“all” that are “in” Christ? It refers to the fact that all who are redeemed by the shed blood of Christ are a part of the Body of Christ–the Church.  The child–even though born into sin because of Adam’s disobedience–is “in” Christ before he/she is able to comprehend God’s salvation provision. None who are in Christ will have to face the wrath of God during the coming Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week).

One area of Scripture regarding the wrath of God that addresses the position of all in Christ–thus the Rapture–is found here in 1 Thessalonians: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (2 Thessalonians 5:9-10). During this Age of Grace (Church Age), all who are born and have not reached the age of understanding–thus accountability–will go to Christ when they die. This is totally in keeping with God’s character, again, as plainly laid out in God’s holy love letter to mankind.

All of the children who have died–before maturing to the point of being able to make decisions regarding salvation–are now with Christ. To God’s holy praise, that includes every one of the millions upon millions of babies this evil world system has aborted and continues to murder. This number of “innocents” includes every child who has been slain in wars throughout history or who have died due to other causes.

The Scripture that talks about the name being blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life deals with this, I’m convinced. The names of all who are born are in that book, I believe. Once the child reaches the age he/she realizes Christ is the way to salvation, but rejects God’s way (John 14:6) have their names blotted out. They are written back in when salvation does occur in the only way God prescribes.

And, I’m convinced that not one child born after the Rapture into that horrendous, seven-year era will ever reach that age. Thus, all children born following that event will go to be with the Lord–either upon their deaths, or during the sheep/goats judgments following the triumphant return of the Lord Jesus. As a matter of fact, read Jesus’ words here: “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!” (Matthew 24:19).

Jesus is talking here about the Tribulation era–the last seven years of human history before His Second Advent. The Lord mentions two age classifications: 1) children who are in the womb, and 2) those who are so young that they are still at the mothers’ breasts.

There is no mention even of toddlers–i.e., these children have been conceived or born during the Tribulation period. And Jesus is talking here about halfway through the seven-year period.

All children below the age of being able to make decisions on the salvation matter will go to be with Jesus–I have absolutely no doubt, after studying the matter for forty-plus years.

I respect thoughts and beliefs of others on the matter. But as ol’ Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to say with a chuckle, “You have room to disagree, but if you want to be right, I’m sure you’ll want to come along with me.”  ( I say this, even though Dr. McGee, like Dr. Walvoord, most likely held to the generally accepted seminary line that 1 Corinthians 7:14 indicates contrary to my position. I don’t recall Dr. McGee’s belief on this issue.)

We will see the truth of it when we stand before Christ. I believe that time is not far distant.

–Terry