In Combat for Christ

When going to Google to flesh out my quest to write on the war being waged against Christianity today, I immediately discovered a primary attack strategy the enemy uses.

In putting in research lines and terms, the search results often placed Christianity in the position of being the aggressor against the social norm Christianity opposes—i.e., Christianity is most often at first presented by the search engine as wrongly assaulting the issue or event, such as abortion, a homosexual convention, or whatever.

Although the search engine eventually got to the facts involving the Christianity vs. the anti-biblical matter being researched, facts were reached only after going through several levels of attempts by the search engine to imply, at the very least, that Christianity, not the opposition matter, was likely in error.

There is no doubt, considering the way things are swiftly trending, that a war is being waged upon true Christianity—that is, biblical truth.

Christians who engage in this battle are indeed combat soldiers of the cross. The proof is in every direction upon the prophetic horizon that this is an end-times battle of epic proportion. That proof is made clear through accumulating evidence such as the following:

• UK pastor says he was arrested for preaching the gospel, speaking out against Islam
  A 66-year-old U.K. pastor arrested while street preaching in London said he is facing hate speech-related charges for preaching the Bible and speaking out against Islam. “It’s called inciting religious hatred — which is false,” Pastor Steve Maile told Fox News Digital. “The cross of Christ is a message of hope, love, mercy, and reconciliation to a fallen world… How could that be hate?” (Rapture Ready News, May 16, 2026)
• Irish Pastor Convicted, Fined for Preaching Near Abortion Facility
  Clive Johnston was arrested for holding an outdoor church service near a hospital (near an abortion facility) despite not mentioning abortion. He was convicted of violating Northern Ireland’s “safe access zone” law. “This is a very dark day for Christian freedom,” Johnston said. (The New American, Rapture Ready News, May 19, 2026)
• Every year Open Doors USA releases its World Watch report, ranking the top 50 countries where Christian persecution and discrimination are at an all-time high. The 2026 report reveals a consistent trend: the intensity of persecution and discrimination continues to increase, with over 388 million Christians worldwide, 1 in 7, facing high levels of persecution & discrimination for their faith. This accounts for 8 million more than last year.

Here in the United States, opposition to Christianity and its principles of morality is on the rise as never before. The following points to that burgeoning opposition:

“Progressive outlets are in an uproar this week over a White House-sponsored Christian prayer event scheduled to take place this Sunday at the National Mall.  The Trump administration and the Freedom 250 nonprofit will host ‘Rededicate 250,’ which will feature Cabinet members and conservative religious leaders to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.

“According to event organizers, the program aims to reflect on the faith of America’s founders and serve as a national moment of rededication. Participants include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

“Leftist journalists and Democrats are accusing the Trump Administration of violating the US Constitution and the ‘separation of church and state’ by sponsoring the event.

“We have seen how governments devoid of religious principle behave—The atheistic regimes of communist Russia, China, Cambodia and North Korea have murdered millions upon millions in the name of ‘saving’ the populace from the ‘opiate of religion.’ We have also seen how movements like the political left behave when they gain power, injecting authoritarianism and degeneracy into every facet of society and even targeting children with irrational and anti-science indoctrination.” (“Establishment Media Outraged By White House Sponsored Christian Prayer Event,” ZeroHedge, May 16, 2026)

The same Zerohedge article gave a sense of America’s founders’ view of this battle involving Christianity vs the world’s evil:

“The Founding Fathers are often described by leftists as ‘followers of the Enlightenment,’ as if this means they were not Christian. [Most] of them were in fact Christian while also promoting some ideals of the Enlightenment.  Many prominent figures of the Enlightenment were religious, including Isaac Newton, John Locke, and Christian Wolff.

“Their goal was to seek harmony between faith and reason, not erase the practice of faith from society or government.  As John Adams said:

“‘The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity…I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.’

“He also stated:

“‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

My Maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Adams. We are supposedly somehow related to John Adams and, of course, his son, John Quincy Adams. Whether related in fact or not, I’m in complete agreement with President John Adams’ belief in engaging in combat for Christ in this increasingly wicked world.

–Terry

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The Blessings that Flow from Our Hope

Our hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing is truly a light shining in a dark place (2 Peter 2:19), and as such, it enables us to escape the delusion that this life matters more than eternity. It’s this anticipation that increasingly draws the longings of our hearts heavenward in the midst of the perilous and confusing times in which we live.

In the introduction to my book, The Triumph of the Redeemed, I wrote this about why our beliefs about the Rapture matter so much in our walk with the Savior:

“It’s the details of our everlasting hope that enable us to put the ups and downs of our lives as well as chaotic world events into a sound biblical prophetic framework that offers assurance of God’s unfailing sovereignty over all that concerns us. These specifics redirect our attention to the joys ahead in paradise during times when life doesn’t make sense, or when all seems lost.

“The divorce of the Rapture from the message of the gospel has resulted in a near blackout of teaching about our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11–14). This negatively affects new believers as well as seasoned saints, as it leaves them ill-prepared to live in a fear-ridden society. In addition, this neglect, or even denial, of Bible prophecy provides no context into which a follower of Jesus can place the violence and lawlessness of our day or the push for a New World Order or what the World Economic Forum calls the ‘Great Reset.’”

Besides the illumination that our hope sheds on this dark and lawless world, we find these additional benefits in our expectation of meeting Jesus in the air.

Contentment

Please know I am not writing as one who has already learned to be content in all things. I can say, however, that focusing on eternal realities has greatly helped with my contentment amid the ups and downs of this life. The best way to begin describing how our belief in Jesus’ imminent appearing leads to such a mindset is to look at what happens when Christians behave as though this life is all they have:

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:1-4).

I recently read these verses in a new light. What’s the best antidote, besides prayer, to the envy described in these verses? It’s recognizing that the hope of glory we possess in Christ is so much greater than anything we could gain in this life. Others will, at times, stand in our way of getting something we greatly desire in this life, but no one can interfere with the receipt of our “inheritance” that Peter describes as “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).

One of the reasons that I long for Jesus’ appearing is knowing that when He comes, my life will far exceed anything I could ever obtain in this life or even hope for. Consider the anticipation of a resurrected body that Jesus promises us in texts such as Philippians 3:20-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-55. It’s difficult to grasp the wonders of our new lives in eternity, but it’s clear they will be far better than even the most favorable circumstances or riches we could enjoy in this short and rapidly fleeting life.

Motivation to Keep Serving

One promise that’s directly related to our expectation of the immortal bodies is found in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

I realize this promise applies to believers who don’t share our hope in Jesus’ imminent return. However, it seems clear there was a connection in Paul’s mind since he used the word “therefore” to link the promise of resurrection life with the certainty that the Lord will reward our service for Him.

The definiteness of the promise keeps us looking heavenward when the way seems difficult, as it often does, in whatever the Lord calls us to do in this life. It’s far more than one of “Yep, God will reward you,” but rather that of looking up to the glory of the moment when the Lord recognizes our service for Him as we stand before Him in glory with imperishable bodies. That’s motivation!

Many pastors disconnect the promise of 1 Corinthians 15:58 from our hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing. I cannot do that because it’s this anticipation that keeps our hearts focused on the glories ahead for us as we serve the Lord amid the many difficulties of this life.

 Encouragement

There’s no greater encouragement amid the struggles, setbacks, and sorrows of life than knowing that a glorious future awaits us when the Lord will bless us far beyond all we can imagine. When writing to the Thessalonians about the Rapture, Paul stressed the encouraging nature of our hope, instructing his readers, which includes us, to use our hope in this way as the means of building others up in the faith (1 Thessalonians 4:18; 5:12).

During the past several days, I think there’s been more disinformation than facts concerning the supposed agreement between President Trump and Iran. At times, I’ve felt quite discouraged by the ever-changing news concerning the negotiations. But then I remember that my hope doesn’t lie in what happens in this world, but rather with eternal realities. That focus reminds me that the One who “declares the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10) is sovereignly directing all human affairs that will lead to fulfillment of all His word says about Israel’s future kingdom and Jesus’ millennial rule.

Just as nothing can interfere with the glorious promises Jesus makes to me as a believer, so the ever-shifting tide of current events cannot stop the Lord’s resolve to fulfill all His promises to Israel.

-Jonathan

Climate-Change Charlatans

It started out as global warming, eventually with Al Gore’s infamously spawned picture of a polar bear floating atop a small area of ice somewhere near the Arctic, I think it was. The picture and all that flowed from that heart-tugging graphic caused much panic within the progressive enclaves of America and the world. Children in the classrooms were particularly dismayed seeing the photo and receiving the teaching that we were all doomed.

The polar bear’s supposed dilemma was to illustrate the swiftly developing ecological condition that would soon have us all, symbolically at the very least, floating on an ever-decreasing area of existence upon the planet.

We were informed–assured—by supposed top scientists that soon the Atlantic would be up to the first floor of the Empire State Building as the oceanic waters took over America’s geography, as well as the rest of the world’s inhabitable areas.

But as the years and decades came and receded, the opposite was shown to be happening. The Arctic and other icy regions actually grew in their frozen expansion.

The whole lie was concocted to control the populations of America and the world. The same type of control has been attempted, and was even considerably successful, with the COVID hoax that was foisted upon us a couple of years ago.

America and the world were going to have to bow to those who knew the “science,” which the rest of us, according to those authorities, did not understand.

The results of the changes made under the lies of global warming and the COVID hoax were to make billions of dollars for those perpetrating the lies and, more egregiously, to prepare the way for forcing acceptance of demands upon those who will live under the terror regime of Antichrist at some future prophetic point.

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17). 

The successful indoctrination in the global warming and COVID matters proved beyond any doubt that people are susceptible to the constant, fear-mongering warnings and threats of those who have the means to control–those with information dominance. Satan, as “prince of the power of the air,” is at the helm of all such lies. His “son of perdition”–Antichrist—will use all available platforms of satanic inculcation to bring about adherence to the devil’s control demands during Daniel’s seventieth week–the Tribulation era.

The minions, both demonic and human, are hard at work at this moment, continuing to try to bring about submission to the control techniques of the one who stalks about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

I think we see the furtherance of this effort with the most recent warnings issued breathlessly by most all mainstream news sources regarding the Hantavirus health scare. It is prudent to ask how long it might be before we are again asked to change everything in our lives because of this most recent or a future threat made up by the minions.

Actual facts about the global warming lie—changed because of its failure to produce the terrors predicted from global warming to climate change—recently made their way to the surface of truth-telling.  

The IPCC has published a new generation of climate scenarios—and buried in the fine print is a remarkable concession: the extreme warming pathways that dominated climate research, policy, and media coverage for decades were never actually plausible. It took a while to notice because almost no one in mainstream media bothered to report it.

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just published the next generation of climate scenarios,” Science policy analyst Roger Pielke Jr. wrote, calling it “big news” that “eliminated the most extreme scenarios that have dominated climate research over much of the past several decades.” 

The conclusion was unambiguous. “The IPCC and broader research community has now admitted that the scenarios that have dominated climate research, assessment and policy during the past two cycles of the IPCC assessment process are implausible. They describe impossible futures.”

Those “impossible futures” formed the backbone of a decade-plus of apocalyptic climate messaging – melting ice caps, submerged coastlines, mass extinctions, widespread crop failures, and global hunger, always around the corner, always demanding immediate, economy-reshaping action to avert a catastrophe that, it now turns out, the underlying science community had assigned to a category closer to science fiction than projection. (“UN Climate Panel Quietly Admits Its Doomsday Climate Scenarios Were ‘Implausible’,” Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge, Thursday, May 07, 2026)

Despite the divulging of such truth about what the minions are seeking to foist upon us, those minions are not the least bit deterred. Here is what the Apostle Paul warns, particularly for this end-of-the-age generation of believers.

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them” (2 Timothy 3:13-14).

The second verse here offers us absolute assurance. We are to take that assurance in the things we’ve learned from God’s love letter to all humankind. Here is what that Word promises:

• Psalm 104:5: “The Lord established the earth upon its foundations, so it will never move.”
• Ecclesiastes 1:4: “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.”
• Isaiah 45:18: “He created the earth to be inhabited; He did not create it to be empty.”

The charlatans of global warming, climate change, and all other attempts to bring us under the satanic spell of fear should have no influence over believers in Jesus Christ—especially those who are foundationally secure in God’s prophetic Word. The Lord has given all we need to know about what lies ahead for those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Here once again is how to know you are in the safe shelter of God’s Son, who went to the cross at Calvary, died, was buried, and rose again to eternally pay for our sin so that anyone who accepts this gift, this sacrifice, is forever secure in God’s family.

“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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What Makes Our Blessed Hope So Blessed?

Since I was ten years old, a very long time ago, I have believed in a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Even though I didn’t grasp its significance and had much to learn about it, I sensed that it aligned with the words of Scripture.

Even after my seminary studies solidified this conviction, it took a long time for me to fully appreciate all that makes our blessed hope so wonderful. I’m still growing in my gratitude for this precious hope revealed on the pages of God’s Word.

Our adversary has a very different attitude toward it. Over the past few decades, he has greatly intensified his attacks on our anticipation of meeting Jesus in the air to the point where the word “rapture” has become taboo in many churches, even those that claim to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. As a result, much of the mocking of our hope comes from those professing faith in the Lord Jesus.

Rather than dwell any further with the scoffers, I want to emphasize what makes our blessed hope so wonderful and thus a target for our adversary.

A Light Shining in a Dark Place

The world is a very dark place as lawlessness and violence continue to grow mostly unchecked. As I have often stated, I couldn’t cope with the headlines of our day apart from the biblical perspective of prophecy. Peter referred to its illuminating qualities in 2 Peter 1:19,

“And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Scripture illuminates what’s happening in our world as nothing else can. It explains why Satan has ratcheted up his vehement and deadly opposition to the Jewish people. He knows that Israel’s existence signifies his eventual doom and is doing all he can to prevent the fulfillment of what the Bible says will happen when Jesus returns to a repentant Jewish remnant.

What does that have to do with the Rapture? The majority of pastors who say the Rapture is the same event as the Second Coming, or that there’s no such thing, believe that the church is the new Israel and there’s no seven-year Tribulation. They regard the biblical texts that illuminate our way through this dark and murky world as either allegorical of the distant past or descriptive of the last 2,000 years.

In other words, there’s no near-term intervention of the Lord in our world to deal with the wickedness of our day and inaugurate His kingdom. Such teaching reinforces the normalcy bias, the vain hope that things will get better; they always have. Such is the empty expectation of those who don’t recognize that we live in biblical times.

I remember the pastor of an Evangelical Free Church mocking the relevance of Bible prophecy to our day. He accused us of reading the Bible in one hand with a newspaper in the other. It was his way of claiming that we interpreted Scripture based on current events. He didn’t understand what the apostle wrote in 2 Peter 1:19; it’s Bible prophecy that shines the light on the darkness of all that we read about in our violent, corrupt, and lawless world and gives us hope in Jesus’ soon appearing.

An Escape from the Delusions of Life

The second benefit of anticipating Jesus’ soon appearing is that it enables us to escape the delusion that we can find hope in the things of this life. This is something I wish I had learned long ago.

It’s what Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

It’s not that we forgo our aspirations for this life, but it’s a matter of realizing the relative value of temporal things versus eternal realities. Though others might also possess this same perspective, more often than not, it’s an eager anticipation of Jesus’ appearing that produces this eternal outlook. Over time, it’s our focus on our blessed hope that provides us with greater clarity as to what ultimately matters.

I believe this is also what Paul wrote about in Colossians 3:1-4:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

All four verses speak to how the saving message of the cross changes us (see also Romans 6:5-9). Because of the new life we have in Christ, we learn to “seek the things that are above” and set our “minds on things that are above.” Our anticipation of appearing with Jesus in glory when He comes for us is not an afterthought that Paul tacks on to show the Gospel renews our mind; it’s foundational to developing an eternal perspective.

The practice of “waiting for our blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) teaches us how to place a greater importance on eternal realities versus the fleeting aspirations of this life. The silence in so many churches today, regarding the Rapture and eternal life, subtly exalts this life or what lies ahead and focuses the minds of those in the pews on the things of this life.

I have discovered that there’s great freedom in focusing on my hope in Jesus’ soon appearing. That’s why I have learned to cherish the Scriptures that promise a glorious future to all who are in Christ. The long wait for the Rapture has resulted in a greater appreciation for it.

Stay tuned, as next week I will continue sharing what makes our blessed hope so Blessed.

-Jonathan