Donation Drive January to March

There really isn’t anything all that special about the calendar rolling over to a new year. Now that January, 2016 is here—it’s still winter, there is still unrest in the Middle East, and we still have Barack Obama as the “leader” of the free world.

What makes the arrival of a new year important is how we can use milestones to track the progression of events. Reflection is important because it is easy to lose track of where we are on the timeline of Bible prophecy. We are in totally uncharted territory in relation to one key factor—apathy. It is a very sinister thing because it eats away at our ability to comprehend the significance of birth pang signs.

Jesus talked more about the lack of awareness than any other sign of last days. The Lord was so insistent about getting this point across, He repeated Himself four times in the space of a few verses:

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36).

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42).

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).

What has convinced me that we are very near to the Tribulation hour is how extreme the apathy has gotten in recent days. We are approaching what I can only describe as a total collapse of discernment.

A good example of this is the problem of Islamic rape in Europe. Muslim immigrants have raped so many citizens of Sweden, it has turned the nation into “The Rape Capital of Western World.” If Muslim men see a woman walking unaccompanied by a man, they think they have a right by Islamic Sharia Law to have their way with her.

These Muslim attacks have reached an unbelievable scale. In the city of Cologne, Germany during the New Year’s celebration over 1,000 drunken newly arrived Muslims robbed, or sexually molested nearly 500 women at the central railway station. This is crime on a completely new dimension.

The truly crazy part is how leadership tolerates this type of behavior; defending the Muslims attackers as if they are the victims. After the Cologne attack, the local Integration Commissioner Aydan Ozoguz, warned against refugees and foreigners being put under “blanket suspicion.”

The mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, blamed the women for attacks saying:

There’s always the possibility of keeping a certain distance of more than an arm’s length, that is to say to make sure yourself you don’t look to be too close to people who are not known to you, and to whom you don’t have a trusting relationship. We need to explain to people from other cultures that the jolly and frisky attitude during our Carnival is not a sign of sexual openness.

We have sunk to a very low level of irrationality; I’m not sure how to address this problem which will affect the future. Demonic delusion has gotten so strong, humanity has losing its grip on common sense. Over the past few weeks I have been contacted by the heads of several other prophetic ministries. They have been alarmed by a large decrease in their web traffic, ranging from 30 to 50 percent. I keep track of these cycles, and this is one is indeed, one is the steepest slowdowns since December of 2008.

What I find the most remarkable about the downturn is that it has occurred right after the Islamic terror attack in Paris and Russia’s deployment of troops into Syria. During any other timeframe these events would cause a surge in web traffic for all prophetic sites. The lack of awareness doesn’t trouble me because this is clearly the “think not” hour.

I am very thankful to everyone who has helped financially support the site during this dark time. The fact that you are reading this page right now is an indication that you are one of the few who remain faithful to the gospel message.

I believe 2016 is going to be a very pivotal year for Bible prophecy.

We have three ways you can contribute to Rapture Ready: You can send a financial gift via our postal address, you can make a one-time donation, or there is a “frequency” option that allows you to make monthly donations. More information can be found on our Donation Depot page.

Rapture Ready’s P.O. box adddress:

Rapture Ready
P.O. Box 969
Benton, AR 72018

–Todd

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America’s Contribution to Armageddon

I caught the tail-end of a former general saying on FOX News, I paraphrase, “This administration is complicit in prepping the way for World War Three…”

Such a statement from a top military commander who is recently retired grabs one’s attention as few others pontificating on geopolitics can. The retired officer –perhaps one forced from service by this president, I can’t say because I don’t know the circumstance of his leaving the U.S. military– went on to talk about the upheaval in most all of the Middle East caused by American withdrawal in so many key areas of the region. The vacuum created, the general was saying, is setting up the world for a war of unimaginable scope.

Particularly, he was commenting on the growing threats and actions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which has flared following Saudi’s execution of a high profile Shiite cleric and a number of others.

Iran’s response was the takeover of the Saudi embassy building and the looting and ransacking of its contents. The reaction on both sides continues to escalate, dividing Islamic nation from Islamic nation along Shiite/Sunni religious lines, and threatening a war that could spread into a global conflagration, according to the general and other pundits.

President Obama has come under consistent criticism from military officers who have either resigned because of differences with the administration’s way of handling military involvement around the world, or who have been forced out because of conflict with advice offered the president on military matters.

Those retired or resigned officers who continue to criticize Obama’s use of military, and his dealings with America’s and Israel’s destruction-vowed enemies, point to the danger to the nation –and the world– in the administration’s actions, paving the road for Iran to build a nuclear force.

This, they say, is insanity –giving the very Islamists who want to bring on their version of Armageddon the capability to do so through acquiescence to Iran’s demands on nuclear development and their demand that sanctions be lifted, and access given to $150 billion as part of the lifting of those sanctions.

The protest of America’s military experts seems to make no difference whatsoever, any more than did the advice the generals gave in warning the president against first telegraphing the removal of American forces from Iraq, then in actually removing those forces. Such action was all but unprecedented in modern, American, military strategy. The result has been, and continues to be –as predicted by the generals– a power vacuum that is in the process of igniting the whole region in a conflict that is almost certainly unstoppable.

As written about before in this column, Israel remains strangely silent as all of the Arab and Iranian states around the tiny Jewish state begin to burn like a grass fire surrounding a log cabin. But Israel is no such inanimate, ordinary spectator. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF know that Israel is the actual target when these wild men –as the Bible terms them– finally zero in on their most hated enemy. Israel’s trigger finger is on the ultimate weapon and will pull that trigger to defend itself.

Thus there is a cry for peace and safety by the likes of American Secretary of State John Kerry. It is really, however, a demand that Israel be disarmed and marginalized. This is so Kerry’s new friends, the Iranian Mullahs, can have their way, bringing, he and the rest of the world’s diplomatic fools believe, peace at last.

It is arguable to contend that the whole Middle East region would have been far better off if America had never gotten involved there. This is something that is said time and time again by those who want to blame George W. Bush and his father for committing troops to the region in two military actions. This is, at least in part, a mistaken contention, however. The Lord, Himself –it is obvious to students of history, when combined with study of Bible prophecy– determined that the United States would be a major part in the founding of modern Israel and a major physical agent of Israel’s protection.

The current American president and his ideological, leftist bedfellows display the reprobate thinking that comes from anti-God rebellion as forewarned in chapter one of Romans. A prime example of this upside-down lunacy is on display when thinking on the situation in the president’s dealings with both the nation of Iran and with the American people.

In the matter of Iran, Mr. Obama and his ilk indicate they think it is just fine to arm the Armageddon-planning Mullahs with nukes. This, despite the fact these madmen have stated time after time they plan to destroy the great Satan,and the little Satan (America and Israel). At the same time, the president and his leftist, political associates indicate they think it will make America safe by disarming American citizens by the threatened executive action on so-called “gun control.” The Iranian Mullahs can be trusted with nuclear weapons and their delivery systems that can destroy the world, but the American gun-owner can’t be trusted to have a Second Amendment-guaranteed right to own and bear arms.

Such insanity almost certainly is in the process of making our nation culpable in helping bring on man’s final war.

Thankfully, all of this means, as always, that Christ is about to call His church –all born-again believers– to the safe-shelter of their Heavenly home.

It is imperative, therefore, that all who belong to Jesus Christ determine to lift that name that is above every other. Thus, so that many who are lost will be drawn to the Lord. He is the only hope for those who are heading into the worst time in all of human history.

–Terry

The Meltdown of the American Presidential Election Process

The United States stands alone in having the world’s longest and most expensive presidential political race. In England, when a national election is officially set, the campaigning occurs within the space of a single month. Each party can only spend $33 million on each election.

The campaigning for U.S. president is officially ten months long. But in reality, candidates need to position themselves at least two years earlier with exploratory committees, campaign fundraisers and debates. And we spend an insane amount of money on each contestant. In the 2008 presidential race, the candidates spent a total of $1.7 billion.

I have no real excitement amount the 2016 race. The process has become so corrupt that I fear the type of candidates it will produce.

On the side of the Democrats, there doesn’t seem to be a race at all. The party insiders and the media have pre-decided that Hillary Clinton is their candidate. The Democrat debates are a sham; having been buried in odd weekend hours against big television events including NFL playoff games, and ahead of the busy Christmas week.

You can’t have a fair contest with Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign co-chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz as head of the Democratic National Committee. Also the Clinton campaign renting office space in the party headquarters is a clear conflict of interest.

The liberal media has been the most disgraceful in regard to Clinton. The other day I saw a headline on a news site: “Hillary Clinton Ranked Most-Admired Woman in U.S. for Record 20th Year.” What has allowed Clinton to maintain this high ranking is the media’s failure to do its job. In a real world, the press would have grilled Clinton over Benghazi, her private email server, and the cozy relationship her Clinton Foundation has with foreign governments.

For the most part, Hillary Clinton runs her campaign from inside a bunker. While she hides from people that might ask embarrassing questions, her stooges are sent out to defend her. When Donald Trump is under attack, Clinton pops her head out of the bunker, makes a quick shot at him, and then she’s back to the shelter.

On the Republican side, we don’t have the problem of a lack good candidates. The problem is that the vast majority of the media’s attention is focused on Trump. By slamming the Billionaire with negative coverage, the press has turned Trump into the ultimate alternative candidate. People are so fed up with Washington D.C. going against the will of the people, they are attracted to the guy who promises to shake-up the system.

I think Trump would make a better president than Clinton, but I’m not sure by how much. Trump never really explains how he’s going to fix America, he has no experience in politics, and he has very thin skin. My greatest doubt with Trump is moral issues. In the past, he has been for abortion, gay marriage and the Legalization the drugs. The choice here for Conservative voters: Is it better to half a Republican than no Republican at all?

There is little doubt in my mind that the best candidate for President is Ted Cruz. He supports limited government, a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions, and measures that would strengthen the Constitution. Because he stands against the corporate welfare system that pervades Washington D.C., he remains a long shot at getting the nomination.

I welcome a new president that reverses the destructive policies set by Obama, but I cannot help have a fatalistic outlook on the future of our nation. If we are indeed close to the end of the last days, the quality of political leaders will degrade with time (which has happened). My greatest hope is that the Lord Jesus will come soon. I can’t imagine a world where I’d reflect back on the current political arrangement as the “Good old days.”

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13).

“Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).

–Todd

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Piercing the Perils of 2016

Never in my own memory has a new year appeared at its beginning to be more prophetically interesting. Never–in my thinking, at least–has one portended more perilous times, as the apostle Paul would have it. Yet I wouldn’t trade my time on this darkening planet with anyone of any other generation.

The fact that the Lord of Heaven has put me here at this strange, ominous, yet immensely fascinating time in history makes it all the more intriguing–even riveting, in terms of wanting to know what happens next. He has put you here, too, at this time when the final curtain is about to fall. He has trusted you to be an actor in at least part of the final scenes of this great, cosmic play called human history. No illustrious personages of the past–not Julius Caesar, not Napoleon Bonaparte, not Alexander the Great, not even Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or Ronald Reagan were so privileged. We are about to serve as active members of a most especially commissioned cast who populates the end-times stage.

There is about to occur a schism–a separation–of cataclysmic proportion. It will rend one part of humanity from the other. It will not be a natural catastrophe that will inflict the humanity-dividing rift. It won’t be great political upheaval in America and around the world that will cause the tearing apart of life upon the troubled planet. Those things will certainly happen. But it won’t be acts of nature or of man that will bring about the very last scene of the age. That last act will be orchestrated by the Master Director of all Creation–by the Lord God of Heaven who is the final judge of good and evil.

The excitement presaging that grand climax of the age is building. Momentous events, written on the pages of Holy Scripture, are about to come alive. The final curtain will rise when Jesus steps out on the clouds of glory and calls all believers–His Bride, the Church, to Himself. If you are a believer in Christ alone for salvation, you will catch the grand finale as you watch from the luxuriant balconies of Heaven.

We see the drama building all around us for the tumultuous scenes set to play out during the times just ahead. The year 2016 is cloaked in the fog of malevolence this world continues to wrap itself in–an increasingly anti-God, anti-Christ vesture that embraces humanism forewarned about by the psalmist.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalms 2: 1-3)

A quick scan of the news just the past week exposes, I believe, the arrogance of those the Scriptures call “earth-dwellers” who incessantly strive to break asunder the governance God rightfully placed upon His creation called man. The reports are laden with prophetic indicators.

One such report is seen in the prideful claims by a U.S. State Department spokesman, as the boast involves the increasing call for “peace and safety,” While the situation in Syria grows intensely worse by the hour, with the Syrian people torn violently between the forces of Syrian dictator Basher Al-Assad and the hordes of ISIS murderers, Secretary of State John Kerry is lauded as bringing about a peace that just isn’t happening and will never come to pass.

State Department spokesman John Kirby wrote under the headline, “Bringing peace and security to Syria”: “Under Secretary of State John Kerry’s stewardship the United Nations passed a U.S. sponsored resolution to create a road map for Syria.” Again, the problem is that like in all of the humanistic efforts at bringing true peace, the only “peacemaker” is kept out of the peacemaking. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is denied at every turn by the president of the very country that speciously purports to be making the peace. (President Obama, remember, upon his very first week in office, proclaimed that the United States is not a Christian nation.)

The president of the United States of America, in effect, proclaimed regarding the governance of the God of Heaven: “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

We can believe what that omniscient, omnipotent, governing authority has to say about such arrogance and willfulness. The message is chilling for the planet’s inhabitants who will be left behind when the great schism aforementioned takes place.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (Psalms 2: 4-6)

Details of what is about to take place in 2016, of course, lurks in the murkiness of an ever-increasing pall of trepidation. But, for those who are secure within the unshakable, impenetrable shelter of their Lord and Savior, there is no reason to fear. Piercing that black uncertainty is an effulgence that lights the path to the brightest of all possible futures. It is that Blessed Hope of Titus 2: 13! –Terry

–Terry