Why Would You Make Such a Thing?

For hundreds of years, nations have been seeking out ways that will advance their ability to wage warfare. A great deal of research and development has been in the areas of conventional, chemical, nuclear, and biological weaponry.

It was all fine when mankind was working on making a cannonball fly faster and farther. When we reached the point where we had bombs that could destroy an entire city, we needed to ask ourselves why are we going down this path.

The Cold War arms race was pointless because no side could win in a nuclear war. If the USSR had managed to knock out 90% of the US nuclear bombs in a surprise attack, our military would still have had enough nukes to devastate the USSR.

For decades, each side continued to add more and more nuclear weapons to their stockpile. By 1991, the US and the USSR had 65,000 nuclear bombs. The power of the bombs has increased over the years. The atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima had the explosive power of 15,000 tons of TNT. The first hydrogen bomb had the power of 10 million tons of TNT. In 1961, the USSR tested a bomb that had a yield equal to 60 million tons of TNT.

Luckily, President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev managed to negotiate a massive drawdown with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Both sides now have around 10,000 nuclear bombs. We’ve gone from being able to destroy the world 100 times over to just 20 times over.

The world has spent $5.5 trillion on nukes. Vast areas of the world are contaminated by nuclear tests and the development of bombs. The US government has spent over $40 billion so far just trying to clean up the decommissioned Hanford nuclear production complex in Washington state.

We may have fewer nuclear bombs, but the development of nuclear technology goes on. The Russians are constantly upgrading their ability to strike targets. They have just developed a missile that is known as “Satan II.” It can carry up to 15 warheads and has several countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems.

The biggest concern in nuclear technology is hypersonic weapons. These are missiles and projectiles which travel at between 5 and 25 times the speed of sound – about 1 to 5 miles per second. Russia and China claim to have a hypersonic system in the development stage. If deployed, they would be very hard to shoot down, and the reaction time would be greatly reduced because they would avoid radar by flying much lower than a conventional missile.

Scientists at Boston University recently came under fire for an experiment in which they tinkered with the Covid virus. Breathless headlines claimed they had created a deadly new strain, and the National Institutes of Health rebuked the university for not seeking the government’s permission.

Several liberal media news outlets say the 80% death rate in mice was just clickbait headlines for social media sites and the manipulated virus strain was actually less lethal than the original.

The key word in all news stories about the Boston University virus is “created.” I don’t see why we would want to make a new strain of any virus that causes death. I can see that knowledge can be gained by seeing how a virus might spread, but research like this carries great risks, foremost among them the chance that an accidental lab leak could create a new pandemic, killing millions of people.

It is possible that COVID-19 was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. It would be the crime of the century if it turns out Wuhan was the source of the virus. Over 7 million people died during the pandemic, and the world spent $10 trillion on COVID-19 relief.

There are government labs that could have developed a virus that is many times more deadly than COVID-19. The Nazis and the Japanese tested all types of viruses on inmates during World War II. Our ability to redesign the workings of the virus ensures that someone will eventually build a bio-weapon.

I was shocked at how quickly COVID-19 swept around the world, and it did this three times. President Biden has declared the pandemic to be over, but we could easily see round four. China is still fighting the virus. Lockdowns in key port cities have greatly hampered supply chains. President Xi’s zero-Covid policy is putting a massive strain on the Chinese economy.

Until Jesus returns to rule with a rod of iron, mankind’s evil nature will compel him to seek to develop weapons of warfare. Once our Lord takes over, no nation will need weapons. The Prince of Peace will make conflict a distant memory for a thousand years.

“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

–Todd

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These Lot-like Days

It seems I just can’t turn loose of the prophecy I believe to be perhaps the most immediately pertinent to Christ calling His Church to be with Him. And, at any rate, I wouldn’t want to turn loose of it if I could bring myself about to do so.

The words are from the very mouth of God, and they speak directly to the most desired prophecy for our day from the standpoint of what we, as pre-Trib believers, look to be imminently fulfilled. I believe He is talking about the Rapture.

Jesus, while teaching about the same time frame He spoke of during the Matthew 24:36-42 Olivet Discourse prophecy, said the following.

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).

He was foretelling the characteristics that would be starkly observable before and during His next intervention into this earthly wickedness. That time will, as I study things surrounding the Rapture in context, look much like the very times we’re enduring now.

We have, of course, considered this many times before. However, there is one specific angle that might pull into a little sharper focus just how much our darkening moments of history might be likened to Lot’s time in Sodom.

To begin, we must first consider God’s words to Lot’s uncle, Abraham.

The Lord said He would tell Abraham things to come because He knew Abraham would do righteously. God wanted him to know His plan to deal with Sodom’s wickedness once He determined that it was necessary. The Lord, Himself, stood with Lot, then, and discussed Sodom’s fate while the Lord’s angel representatives headed down toward Sodom and Gomorrah.

“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:20-23).

We remember that there was then a profound back-and-forth discussion between the Lord God and a lowly human being—Abraham. God answered each of Abraham’s questions as the old man asked them. Abraham was appealing to God to have those in the wicked cities spared from destruction. He asked if God would relent if 50 were found to be righteous—then 40, then 30, then 20.

Finally, after Abraham asked if God would spare the cities if the Lord could find even 10 righteous, and 10 couldn’t be found, Sodom and Gomorrah’s fate was sealed.

God had said to Abraham before the countdown began—following Abraham’s initial question about the possibility of the cities being spared:

“That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).

It was almost as if the Lord was mildly indignant to have it thought of Himself as so unjust as to condemn the righteous with the unrighteous.

Alas, there were not 10 righteous left in the city of Sodom. There were only Lot and his small family. God’s Word calls Lot “righteous,” even though Lot dwelt among perhaps the worst culture and society biblically recorded in such detail. The detail was so graphic as to make the fact of the level of unrighteousness unmistakable.

While it was business as usual during daylight hours, with the cities being apparently prosperous, buying, selling, building, planting, etc., when the sun went down, it became a habitation of every sort of evil—particularly of debauchery, with homosexual rapaciousness leading the wickedness. The lustful males came even against the angels who visited Lot.

The raging men of the city threatened Lot with the worst possible attack if he didn’t go along with them and send out his visitors. They were just on the verge of tearing down the door to get at their would-be victims. The only ones God considered righteous in the city at that moment were hated and threatened by the rest, who were the unrighteous in God’s holy view.

And this is the angle I would like us to consider for now.

Jesus foretold in Luke 17:28-30 that it will be for those alive at His next revealing or intervention like it was at that time for Lot when he was hated and threatened by the wickedness of that society and culture.

We have covered many times the God-rejecting, hate-filled actions and activities of our own troubled times. Is there any question of how the evil and wickedness have increased exponentially?

The following brief excerpt tells of one pastor’s story who has endured such assaults by the unrighteous against the righteous. He was imprisoned in Turkey for preaching of Jesus as the only way of salvation. He was finally released after the Trump administration and others pressured Turkey to release him after that government had sentenced him for the crime of preaching the gospel.

He tells that he sees in the United States the same sort of Sodom-like actions coming against believers.

Andrew Brunson’s message is straightforward, but it is far from simple: The Church needs to brace for a dark wave of persecution that is coming…

“Most of the institutions of society are supporting things that a faithful follower of Jesus cannot embrace… and that’s how they will justify persecuting us,” Brunson said.

Believers who stand for this truth will be marginalized in schools, jobs, banks and more, he added. Testing believers’ resolve, the pressure to conform will manifest socially and eventually financially.

“What has emerged as the main flashpoint is gender identity and LGBT. And wherever that is intersecting with religious freedom, LGBT is winning,” he said. “Now there is a requirement that people not only tolerate but that we embrace and celebrate this ideology. And if you don’t, you are seen as someone who is hateful.” (“American pastor delivers sobering message of coming ‘dark wave’ of persecution, All Israel News, October 19, 2022)

The days (and nights) of Lot are gathering around those who hold to biblical Christianity. At the center of the threats is the same spirit of Antichrist that infected the rapacious hordes of ancient Sodom.

Jesus promised He will catastrophically intervene and execute judgment and wrath against the unrighteous when these conditions become undeniably evident at the end of the Age of Grace (Church Age).

You want to escape with those God considers righteous. You want to be removed from the gathering wickedness and the judgment that must destroy it the same as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Here, again, is how to escape the coming judgment and wrath—through the Rapture promised by our Blessed Hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

—Terry

 

The Creeping Avalanche of Absurdity

Now, all avalanches involve an event that is over in a few seconds. Some earth movements take place over a very long period of time. They are very hard to manage because most normally involve a vast area of land. I think we are in a prophetic creeping avalanche of profound, willful ignorance.

The protest group Animal Rebellion went into shops all over the UK last week and started smashing milk containers onto the floor. The UK activists’ reason for pouring out milk in supermarkets is to stop Oil and Gas production and to have a plant-based future. Milk was targeted because they claim Dairy and cattle farms are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than oil giants like Exxon, Shell, and BP.

“Birds Aren’t Real” is a satirical conspiracy theory that claims birds are actually drones operated by the United States government to spy on Americans. Birds Aren’t Real hosted its “biggest rally ever” in Washington Square Park on Saturday, Oct. 15. Hundreds of participants crowded the north side of the park, holding signs that expressed a range of anti-avian sentiments, including “Birds Aren’t Real,” “Open Your Eyes,” “Pigeons Are Liars” and “Wake Up America.” Every time a flock of birds circled the Washington Square Arch, participants would boo.

The founder of Birds Aren’t Real sees his movement’s acts as a protest of more detestable causes like pro-life and anti-LGBTQ groups. He told one reporter that his opponents are likely accustomed to the standard counterprotesters: debaters that try to fight with reason. But this time, you come at them with signs and chants that say, “Birds aren’t real!” How do they respond to that? They would likely respond by saying this is an exercise in idiocy and an opportunity for people to question their life goals.

The dumbest statement so far came from PayPal. The online financial transfer company attempted to slip past its user base with terms that would have allowed it to fine them as much as $2,500 for “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” that “promote misinformation.”

The company quickly backed off from its plan, saying it was a mistake that should have never been posted. This isn’t an error. It’s social media’s standard plan of attack, where it’s two steps forward, one step back. It would be crazy just 10 years ago for a financial firm to post their willingness to steal from clients because they don’t like their political views.

The insanity in the criminal world has people willing to ignore life and property over the smallest offense. The New York police spent nearly two weeks tracking down a man for setting a local Asian restaurant on fire.

Choephel Norbu, 49, admitted to setting Ittadi Garden and Grill in Jackson Heights ablaze on the morning of Oct. 2 after the Bangladeshi restaurant’s staff allegedly botched his order the night before. He was released just one day after his arrest for setting the fire because those charges do not require bail under New York’s criminal justice reform.

“I was very drunk. I bought chicken biryani. They didn’t give me chicken biryani. I was mad, and I threw it out,” Norbu told police following his arrest, according to the New York Post. In New York, so many are let out of jail within 24 hours, you would have to be Donald Trump’s New York property manager to serve any hard time.

The buzzwords of New York City crime circa 2022: Random and unprovoked. A chilling spate of recent incidents involving innocent victims runs the gamut from a woman savagely beaten inside a Queens subway station to a 17-year-old Brooklyn girl killed by a stray bullet to a Mexican immigrant nearly killed by a sucker-punch outside a Manhattan restaurant. The NYPD does not keep count of random or unprovoked attacks committed by the mentally ill — or anyone else.

Our lack of a biblical moral foundation has caused this meltdown in our society. I don’t like that it can be described as slow and relentless. The relentless part I can stand because when things finally break, the whole system will go at once.

“It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us” (Deuteronomy 6:25).

“Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18).

–Todd

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All These Things…

The entire Bible is Jesus speaking.

He is the Word (John 1: 1). Each of the writers was inspired by Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to speak and or pen what is written in God’s love letter to mankind.

However, the words spoken directly by the Lord Jesus while He was here on earth penetrate even more deeply into our spiritual hearts. This is especially the case, for me at least, when He talks about prophecy to be fulfilled as the time of His Return nears.

When considering the Olivet Discourse given by Christ, laid out in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I believe everything wrapped up within His words comes into phenomenal focus in the following:

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21: 28).

Seminaries most often hold that the Olivet Discourse is almost exclusively for the House of Israel–for the Jews. It is said to have nothing to do with prophecy for our time that is leading to the Rapture. As a matter of fact, those within seminary academia generally pooh-pooh the notion of the Rapture being in view within Jesus’ message on the Mount of Olives.

Dave Hunt, one of the great prophecy teachers, I remember vividly, spoke about the topic of the Olivet Discourse and the Rapture of the Church.

It was in 1998 early one morning in Dallas at the annual Pre-Trib meetings. Dave was assigned the topic: Is the Rapture in the Olivet Discourse?

I know the title of his presentation and his precise words not because I was there that morning (I was), but because I have a full audio and transcript of that lecture.

Dave said: “Well, I’d like to talk on the topic ‘The pre-Trib Rapture in the Olivet Discourse.’ I couldn’t quite handle that question. I couldn’t justify why there ought to be any question at all…why the pre-Trib Rapture, or the Rapture, or the Church, or anything else was in the Olivet Discourse.”

Dave proceeded, then, to lay out as well as anyone ever has done, that the Rapture is indeed spoken of in the Olivet Discourse.

I could only say “Amen!” that morning. And I still say “Amen!” today. There is just no question to my understanding that Jesus had the Rapture and the Church in mind that day on the Mount of Olives when he dealt with the end of the age and His return in the clouds of glory some seven years later.  

When Jesus instructed us (believers) to “look up” and “lift up our heads” when we see “all these things,” for our “redemption is drawing near,” He was talking about the Rapture. “All these things” will, then, obviously be in view—that is, they will have begun to come to pass—at some future time. Those alive at that future time, it is also obvious, will be given the ability to recognize the apocalyptic signals when they begin appearing.

It is more than obvious to those who look at the issues and events boiling to the surface of these strange times that “all these things” spoken of by Jesus are coming into focus in a truly profound way.    

The so-called two-state solution as part of the increasingly demanded nucleus of a peace process speaks directly to the forewarning given in Joel 3:2. It is just such dividing of God’s chosen land that will cause Him, in his wrath, to bring all nations to the killing fields of Megiddo. We watch daily, even hourly, while the pressures build on Israel to relent and give land for peace.

It is not the leadership of Israel who has authority to acquiesce to the anti-God world of diplomacy. The land upon which the present-day Israel sits–and much, much more surrounding land—is God’s alone to do with as He determines. And He determines that it will not be divided–not without the most serious consequences ever to be meted out by heavenly judgment.

Yet Israeli interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid, on September 22, 2022 informed the UN General Assembly that he endorses a two-state solution. This is a stark development with regard to bringing to pass Joel 3:2. It seems an opening that will ultimately bring the Antichrist covenant confirmation of Daniel 9: 26-27.

And, as part of that beast regime we see in development, “all these things” are moving with amazing swiftness.

The onslaught of Klaus Schwab’s World Economic Forum and the entire globalists-elite cabal to bring the world’s populations under their despotic thumb are nothing short of astonishing. The words, spewed freely by Schwab’s right hand man Yuval Noah Harari, mock the very name of Jesus Christ while he declares there is no God and that man is his own god-creator. He declares that the computer and all other technologies from the creative brains of mankind will be melded soon with artificial intelligence—and all that is being developed renders any deity as myth and legend.  

Spinning from “all these things” is the demanded new economic order that will be based on no telling what. Certainly it will entail–as Harari and others proclaim—the merging of the very cellular makeup of human genetics with nano bio-engineering elements to bring about the complete control system of Revelation 13:16–18—the 666 marks-and-numbering system.

We won’t even go for now into the matters involving Russia and the coalition of nation-states north of Israel that are shaping for fulfillment of Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog assault.

“All these things” that are deluging our lives at this very moment have at their center the almost incomprehensible evil and wickedness of the Genesis 6 account of the antediluvians. The corruption Satan and his minions are overtly attempting through pharmaceutical-DNA manipulation and through the transhuman, gender-morphing madness can bring no other bottom-line conclusion to the prophecy watcher of the pre-Trib view.

Jesus was speaking to our time…to this moment in history.

Now a late breaking matter has come to our attention. Although the things involved would in normal times smack of conspiracy, we should rule nothing out in this, one of the most critical elections in U.S. history. The powers of evil directly confront the Power of God on most every level at this crucial moment.

Sources that have credibility in the thinking of a number of those in the intelligence community (former and even present U.S. government officials)believe that there is evidence to suggest Former President Donald Trump might be arrested just prior to the mid-term elections of November 8. –Thus to prevent that election process from taking place. Such would be the ultimate October surprise, as the now traditional political wickedness terms it. Certainly we must pray this isn’t allowed to happen.

Of course, the truly Ultimate Surprise will be when Christ Calls His Bride, the Church, from this Judgment-bound planet.

Therefore, it is time, as never before, to be “looking up”–because, observably, all these things are right in our faces. Our redemption is drawing near!  

–Terry