The Great Economic Crash!?

This is it! This is the beginning of the great financial collapse that’s going to send the world into Tribulation—the last seven years leading to Christ’s return, the last three and a half of which will be the worst time in human history, according to Jesus Himself (Matthew 24:21).

This is the apparent belief of some who study Bible prophecy and completely dismiss any notion that the Bible teaches a pre-Trib Rapture that will keep believers in Jesus Christ out of that terrible time the Lord warned about. Those who adamantly proclaim there will be no pre-Trib Rapture, or that there will be a mid-Trib Rapture, imply that now is the beginning of the Tribulation. Or, they believe the world is at least entering the portal that will lead into that last seven years the book of Revelation covers by giving twenty-one specific judgments in a series of seven scrolls, seven trumpets, and seven bowls or vials.

All of this dire assessment is, of course, based on the turmoil stirred by the tariffs threatened against America’s worldwide trading partners for not treating the US fairly. The stock market has been fluctuating wildly, with nations threatening retaliation, causing panic within the world of economy and finance. The dire analysis reverberates within the no-pre-Trib sphere, to be sure.

Two articles posted on Raptureready.com more or less frame this “we-are-now-entering-the-Tribulation-era” view that ignores the great mystery revealed through the Apostle Paul about the Rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Christ for salvation).

Here are the prompts linking to the stories on Rapture Ready News on April 8, 2025. The stories are products of a writer who covers news from a biblically prophetic perspective, for the most part:

We Are Witnessing “Lehman-Style Margin Calls” in the Aftermath of the Biggest Stock Market Wipeout in U.S. History

We have never seen so much stock market wealth get wiped out in such a short period of time. Unfortunately, many major players on Wall Street that made a ton of money on the way up were not prepared for a rapid reversal of this magnitude. All of a sudden, hedge funds are being hit with absolutely enormous margin calls, and this threatens to create a “doom loop” which could potentially push stock prices a whole lot lower.

The second such prompt linking to the full story is the following:

This May Not Be What They Were Originally Anticipating, but a “Reset” of the Global Economy Is Definitely Here

Over the past few years there has been a tremendous amount of buzz about an imminent “reset” of the global economy. Well, what we are witnessing may not look like what they were anticipating, but a “reset” of the global economy is definitely here.

The article’s writer (who covers issues and events such as the world’s economy as it might pertain to Bible prophecy fulfillment, and who, for the most part, does so very well) always points to the Tribulation, never to the blessed hope of the Rapture. This troubles me, of course, because that consistent perspective, which never includes God’s promises of Rapture, diminishes our Lord’s truth about things to come.

Jesus said in no uncertain terms that at the time He next catastrophically intervenes into the affairs of wicked, rebellious humankind, there will be no worldwide economic disaster in progress. The Lord said business will be doing well, perhaps even booming. He said it will be exactly like it was in Lot’s day when that “righteous man” was removed to safety (Luke 17:28-30). God will call all believers out of a totally debauched society and culture like that of Lot’s day while building, planting, buying, and selling are taking place–indicating a strong commerce at that future time.

He will take them to a place of rescue, just like He did Lot and his daughters because Lot was seen as righteous in His holy eyes. All believers in Jesus Christ will be removed from this planet before all of the disastrous judgments of the Tribulation begin. That’s what we must take from Christ’s words in the “days of Lot” prophecy.

Get it? Economy will be business as usual when Christ calls us into the clouds of Glory. No matter what the wild world financial markets indicate—or what any other indicator flashes before the panicked eyes of the financial gurus—the economy will be business as usual.

While in the process of writing this article, the news came that despite the fact that the direst warnings of financial collapse imaginable were in every headline of significance, the Dow had gone up 2,500 points. This due to President Trump putting a ninety-day pause on all tariffs he had previously said the US would impose. In addition, it was reported that the tariffs will likely be only 10 percent across the board (not the tremendously higher percentages) on all nations (more than one hundred at this time) that had not retaliated against America wanting a fair balance of trade with the nations of the world.

China, at the time of the report, would have a 125 percent tariff for engaging in war against the Trump tariff initiatives for fair and balanced trade. (It later went to 145 percent on China.)

This president—and I give him credit only because he is, unwittingly, being used as God’s human agency in keeping Heaven’s control on matters as the end of the age approaches—is a negotiator like no other. Trump, as I’ve often expressed in these commentaries, is, I am convicted, not a godly man, but God’s man for this late hour of the age.

It should be obvious to any serious student of world economic matters, and of America’s economy in particular, that there are forces that have done all within their power to bring the world into financial collapse in order to reshape—“reset”—things so their power base might control all things, especially all things of the fiscal order.

One of the most respected Wall Street types weighs in on all of this:

Mark Spitznagel, one of Wall Street’s most prominent skeptics, is sounding the alarm once again—insisting that the recent market volatility is not the long-awaited reckoning he has been predicting for years but rather a harbinger of something far worse.

“This is a trap,” Spitznagel told MarketWatch, dismissing the latest downturn as a mere tremor before a true financial earthquake. “I expect an 80% crash when this is over. I just don’t think this is it.”…

Last week’s steep selloff, triggered in part by former President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs, saw the S&P 500 suffer its sharpest two-day decline since the COVID crash in March 2020, falling more than 10%. Monday brought further volatility, with the Dow losing over 200 points and major indexes continuing to swing wildly. Yet Spitznagel remains unfazed.

“This isn’t Armageddon,” he continued. “That time will come as the bubble bursts.” (“Wall Street Bear Warns: The Real Crash Is Still Ahead,” America’s News Brief, WWWAmericasnewsbrief.com)

This secular financial wizard is correct, even though he most likely doesn’t understand Bible prophecy. The worst—by far—is yet to come during that time of Great Tribulation Jesus warned about. It will be the Rapture that bursts that bubble he mentions. Until then, there will be no great economic crash.

—Terry

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What Do the Scoffers Tell Us About the Rapture? :: By Jonathan Brentner

No other biblical teaching receives as much ridicule within the Christian community; it’s not even close. It even happens within the walls of churches that claim to believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. What doctrine receives so much scoffing? It’s none other than our belief in the pre-Tribulation Rapture.

The online Cambridge Dictionary defines a scoffer as “someone who laughs and speaks about a person or idea in a way that shows that they think that person or idea is stupid or silly.” This accurately sums what often happens when such people hear about our hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing.

The book of Proverbs describes scoffers as those that:

• Spurn reproof – Proverbs 9:7-8, 13:1, 15:12
• Exhibit pride and arrogance – Proverbs 21:24
• Cause quarreling and division – Proverbs 22:10, 29:8
• Seek wisdom in vain – Proverbs 14:6

The Apostle Peter warned that such people who would arise during the last days asking, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:3-4).

The word for “coming” in the above text is parousia, a word that denotes Jesus’s presence and its resulting impact on the world. The Lord used the same word in Matthew 24:37-38 to denote the sudden onset of judgment on the earth at His coming.

Former pastor and author Ray C. Stedman, in his book What on Earth Is Happening? wrote this about Jesus’ use of parousia in these verses:

In one sense, He is describing one event: His parousia, His presence on earth. The parousia begins with His return to remove the church, and it climaxes with His glorious manifestation. So these two events are really different aspects of one parousia, one presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beginning with the pre-Tribulation Rapture, the earth will feel Jesus’ presence via the Day of the Lord wrath during the Tribulation period, His spectacular Second Coming, and His thousand-year reign.

Today’s scoffers ridicule our belief of Jesus’ unexpected and sudden intervention in our world, His parousia.

They Cause Division in the Church

Please know that the blame for divisions that arise because of our belief in Jesus’ imminent appearing does not result from our adherence to it, but rather from those who suppress any mention of the Rapture in their churches. Such places of worship often seek to take the “high road” by regarding the Rapture as tertiary, or of lesser importance than other doctrines, and therefore not an issue that should divide believers.

However, more times than not, such a stance silences those of us who watch for Jesus’ imminent appearing. It often leaves us out in the cold without a church home. Pay close attention to the words of Jude 17-19:

“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

There will always be people who disagree with the message of God’s Word. If division erupts as a result of our adherence to what Scripture tells us, the fault lies with those who scoff at our beliefs. This is particularly true for those who scoff at our hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing.

Scoffers Don’t Recognize the Signs of the Times

I’m shocked by how many writers, pastors, and teachers deny the reality of the approaching seven-year Tribulation and thus the Rapture that precedes it. They misinterpret John’s words in Revelation 6-18 as symbolism or past history, which blinds them to how so many world events are shaping the world for the fulfillment of the judgments described in these chapters.

They boast of a wisdom that enables them to understand what the biblical prophets actually meant. They retrofit their words to fit their errant understanding that God has rejected Israel.

During a long lunchtime conversation with a pastor who denied a future for Israel, he accused prophecy watchers like us of “reading the paper in one hand with the Bible in the other.” In other words, he claimed that what we see today is not the fulfillment of prophecy but rather our attempts to make it fit with what Scripture says. In reality, his inability to recognize that we live in the last days results from following current events with a closed Bible.

I recognize that there’s a significant difference between those who ridicule our belief in the Rapture and those who are willing to respectfully listen to us despite not agreeing with our beliefs. In my experience, however, scoffing is much more prevalent when it comes to Jesus’ imminent appearing than that of those genuinely seeking to discern the truth from Scripture.

My passion is to defend the biblically sound teachings of premillennialism and the pre-Tribulation Rapture. That’s what gets me up in the morning and keeps me writing. The ability to recognize the signs of the approaching Tribulation comes from the wisdom that flows from a biblically sound approach to prophecy.

So, what do the scoffers tell us about the Rapture?

First, they tell us it’s exceedingly close because their mocking is itself a sign that we live in the last days before we meet Jesus in the air.

Second, the widespread dismissal of the Lord’s imminent return, which has given rise to mocking of our hope, tells us that the fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:45 is at hand:

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

When the Rapture happens, Jesus will quickly take us to glory, and sudden destruction will fall on those left behind. Although we don’t know when, we obey the Lord by watching for it.

-Jonathan

God’s Staying Hand

While I think on and write this commentary for posting April 14, there are powerful storms brewing to the west in Oklahoma. This time of year always brings angst about the tornadic thunderstorms that threaten during the springtime in the mid-south. This one is particularly threatening, the weather gurus are saying. Long-track tornadoes are possible, even likely, and the rain, they say, could be the likes of which we haven’t experienced in…maybe…50 years or so.

By now, at the time you read this, of course, that threat is long gone, and we have likely faced similar weather fronts since.

Always, while the storms are forming and approaching, we pray for God’s Protection –that His Hand governs so that people aren’t harmed.

There is building at this moment in our world a storm potentially far worse than a long-track tornado that destroys only in a relatively narrow path. It is World War III that is looming across the horizon, and it is from the east rather than from the west from whence the tornadic thunderstorms come.

The threats have been building and ongoing for months and have come more intensely into focus within recent weeks and days.

The latest indication of the building storm of potential World War came directly from the nation-state possessing reportedly the largest stockpile of nuclear weaponry. The warning implicit within the threat again brings back thoughts of the same nation-state and its part in bringing the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust.

I’m talking about, of course, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev threatened all-out war while America’s President John F. Kennedy opposed Khrushchev’s movement of nuclear weapons onto the island of Cuba 90 miles to our south.

As a 20-year-old college student, I was quite worried as that geopolitical storm developed and grew to the point it looked like the nukes would be unleashed at any moment.

There is a report I’ve read of a Soviet submarine at that crucial moment carrying atomic weapons whose commander came within a hair’s breadth of pushing the nuclear button. Three of the sub’s officers had to make the decision to launch, and one of the three didn’t believe there had been the hostile action reported against the Russian navy that warranted retaliation. He refused to agree to the launch, and World War III was avoided.

Although the world of military history doesn’t acknowledge the truth of the matter, it was, to us who were Christians and went through that time, God’s Staying Hand that controlled those submarine officers’ decision that fateful instant. It continues to be our God’s Omnipresence, Omnipotence and Omniscience that, as John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address: “stays the hand of man’s final war.”

The following demonstrates that man continues down that deadly pathway toward the great Tribulation storm leading to World War III and devastation even worse than nuclear weapons can produce. Ironically, again, the threat comes from within a Russian nuclear weapons-laden submarine.

On the cold steel of the Arkhangelsk, a nuclear submarine anchored in the machinery of modern warfare, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a message that bypassed diplomatic filters and landed directly on the fault lines of international tension. He spoke not with rhetoric but with a calculated, measured threat — the kind that doesn’t need to shout to be heard.

“He forgot, it seems, that Russia has crews like yours and submarines like yours,” he said, staring out across a sea of uniformed sailors and flashing cameras. His words, directed at former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were neither casual nor symbolic. They were a deliberate invocation of power, a reminder carved into steel and uranium that history has not been forgotten — and will not be forgiven.

This wasn’t a nostalgic reference to past conflicts. It was a direct line drawn in real time between an aborted peace agreement in 2022 and the quiet hum of nuclear submarines now fully armed and ready beneath the waves. The implications are staggering, and the silence in London should no longer be interpreted as strength but as ignorance — or worse, as denial. [Source: BREAKING: Putin Sends Nuclear Warning from Submarine Deck — “You Forgot About Our Submarines,” he tells Britain as Poseidon Looms Off the Coast – amg-news.com- American Media Group, Telegram, By Medeea Greere]

It is not just the Russian dictator that is threatening to initiate World War III but other building situations to our east. Here are a few examples taken from Raptureready.com News.

>The Iranians Load Missiles “Onto Launchers in All Underground Missile Cities” After Trump Threatens Them With “Bombing the Likes of Which They Have Never Seen Before.” Iran threatens to target US-British joint base in Indian Ocean.
Trump warned that any future attacks from the Houthis, who have targeted US Naval vessels hundreds of times and wreaked havoc with global shipping channels, would be treated as a direct aggression from Iran itself. Iran has threatened to retaliate against the joint U.S.-U.K. naval base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago if the United States attacks the Islamic Republic.

>Kim Jong Un Unveils Large AI-Equipped Combat Drones
North Korea has unveiled a new batch of new AI-equipped suicide and reconnaissance drones, which the country is showcasing as part of military modernization plans. State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of “various kinds of reconnaissance and suicide drones.”

>China is practicing ‘dogfighting’ in space, Space Force says
Chinese satellites have conducted coordinated maneuvers with “synchrony” and “control,” a top Space Force official revealed Tuesday, dubbing the moves “dogfighting in space.” The service is “starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite” operations, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein said during the annual McAleese defense programs conference.

The Tribulation storm, outlined in the Book of Revelation, is building. Our new book “Tracking Toward Tribulation: And the Any Moment Intervention of Jesus Christ” is a volume I hope you will read. The sub-title tells the great Truth within these times that threatens ominously at this moment. Jesus is about to Intervene. God’s Staying Hand until that stunning moment of the Rapture is easily discernable to the believer who knows it is God’s Merciful, Staying Hand that keeps us from that terrible hour of His Wrath and Judgment.

If you haven’t yet accepted God’s Grace Gift Offer of Salvation through belief in Jesus Christ to Forgive and Cleanse you of all sin, here is the Message whose Divine Instruction I prayerfully hope you will follow.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

               –Terry

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Our King Is Coming

Jerusalem is abuzz with jubilant anticipation. As Jesus nears the city gate, multitudes loudly proclaim, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Yes, it’s Palm Sunday weekend, but the above scene awaits the future fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:37-39:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

The Lord’s prophetic words came after His triumphal entry in Jerusalem, as recorded in Matthew 21:1-11, and immediately followed His pronouncement of judgment on the Scribes and Pharisees, who typified Israel’s rejection of their Messiah (Matthew 23:1-36). His words, “your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:38),” signified the dismal future of the nation and the Land.

Desolation

With the clarity of hindsight, we understand that Jesus’ prophetic words of the desolation began after AD 70 and continued into the twentieth century. The word for “desolate” in the Greek depicts a desert wilderness, a land deprived of care.

In 1867, Mark Twain journeyed to Israel. His description of the Land at the time provides dramatic evidence of the fulfillment of Jesus’ words:

“The further we went the hotter the sun got, and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary the landscape became…. There was hardly a tree or a shrub any where. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

Of course, much has changed since then. With Israel once again a nation, the once barren places in the Land now flourish with vibrant vegetation, as but a preview of what’s to come when Jesus revitalizes Israel’s land when He reigns over Israel and all the nations of the earth.

Jesus’ Return to Jerusalem

Reflecting back on what had happened a few days ago, Jesus looked forward to the time when a throng of worshippers in Jerusalem would again greet Him with words from Psalm 118:25-26, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (see also Matthew 21:9). Though sorrowful for the future of Jerusalem and His people, He looked forward to the time when the cries of the people would not later change to chants of “Crucify him.”

Jesus will someday return to a truly repentant Israel, remorseful of their rejection of Him (see Zechariah 12:10-13:1). Their suffering during the latter years of the Tribulation period (Zechariah 13:8-9) will not only change the hearts of the Jewish people but also result in a gleeful welcoming of Christ into Jerusalem. The outcome on this future day will be far different than what happened after Jesus’ first triumphal ride into the city; it will lead to the restoration of a glorious kingdom for Israel.

King Over All the Earth  

Aware of how His earlier ride into Jerusalem fulfilled the words of Zechariah 9:9, Jesus likely remembered the prophet’s words recounting the time when He would reign as King “over all the earth” (14:9; 16-21) after His future triumphal entry into the city. Of particular interest in this text is the resumption of the yearly celebration of the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, during this time (Zechariah 14:16-19).

In the Old Testament, this feast was a time of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest as well as a reminder of when their ancestors wandered for forty years in the wilderness.

Could there be a connection between the Millennial celebration of this feast and the words that will greet the Lord when He enters Jerusalem to take His place on the throne of David? I believe there is.

In his commentary on Matthew, Irish writer and biblical scholar Adam Clarke (1762 – 26 August 1832) makes this connection when writing about the words that greeted Jesus on the first Palm Sunday:

Probably there is an allusion here to the custom of the Jews in the feast of tabernacles. During the first seven days of that feast, they went once round the altar each day with palm and other branches in their hands, singing HOSANNA: but on the eighth day of that feast, they walked seven times round the altar, singing the hosanna, and this was termed the hosanna rabba, the GREAT hosanna.

The link between the first century AD Feast of Tabernacles and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is that of the words of Psalm 118:25-26, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).

Jumping to the future, is it possible that the ongoing celebration of this feast during Jesus’ millennial reign will not only be a time of thanksgiving and worship of the One who resides, or tabernacles, with His people in Zion, but also serve as a reminder of Jesus’ second triumphal entry into the city? If so, the words of Psalm 118:25-26 would continually remind the people Israel of the day their messianic hopes became a reality.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:37-39 add prophetic significance to the first Palm Sunday because they tell us that He will again ride into Jerusalem amid shouts of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The result, however, will be far different, as it will mark the beginning of a gloriously restored kingdom for Israel.

For us as New Testament saints, we know that our King will surely come for us just as He promised in John 14:2-3 and throughout the New Testament. After the Tribulation, we will return to the earth with our Savior and witness the jubilant scene on the streets of Jerusalem.

-Jonathan