11 Aug 2025

Donation Drive August to October

For over 38 years, Rapture Ready has played a significant role in Bible prophecy. I sincerely appreciate everyone who has contributed to the site in any capacity.

Recently, I received an unusual complaint from someone who found a message on a bathroom wall promoting our humble domain. The note read, “Your wife loves my website, RaptureReady.com. I am coming soon – Jesus.” I took the opportunity to clarify that we do not endorse graffiti as a means of promotion.

If someone wanted to alert others about the end times, RaptureReady.com would be an excellent link to post in a public forum such as a men’s restroom. Every article on our site is freely available for anyone to access and share with other people.

We once included a humorous message at the bottom of the main page: “Many people have asked if they could reproduce content from Rapture Ready. I always respond, ‘Absolutely!’ In fact, readers are welcome to share this information through mail, email, airmail, conversations, billboards, carrier pigeons, pony express, smoke signals; by phone, television, telegraph, teletype; using Braille, sign language, messages in bottles, drum beats, books, CDs, radio, and even telepathy for those New Age enthusiasts. The only copyright I request is that if you reproduce our work, please do it correctly.”

Regarding donations to support RR, I’ve always aimed to keep requests minimal. As most of you already know, we only post our financial needs every three months.

We don’t maintain a donor mailing list. If you haven’t donated to RR in the last quarter, you won’t receive another thank-you letter until your next donation. Many ministries inundate new donors with solicitation letters. I once reached out to several radio-based Christian organizations, and I was quickly overwhelmed with junk mail.

As search engines become increasingly influential in determining who visits our site, they can affect our donor base. While our traffic and financial support have remained steady, the number of new donors has mysteriously declined. We suspect that Big Brother is pointing more people to the site who are hostile or indifferent to the Christian faith.

Yes, we want to reach the lost, but believers are the lifeblood of any Christian ministry. If we attract too many atheists, it could lead to our eventual demise.

Rapture Ready has a significant mathematical counterbalance: we only need support from a small fraction of our visitors. Years ago, I noticed that our donor base consisted of just 0.1% of our audience.

When the Blessed Hope occurs, RaptureReady.com will become an immensely valuable domain. Some tech companies are currently valued in the trillions of dollars, but the worth of RR extends far beyond mere currency, as it explains Bible prophecy from beginning to end. Please help us sustain this beacon of hope.

There are three ways you can contribute to RR: You can send a financial gift via our P.O. Box address; you can make a one-time donation; or there is a “frequent” option that allows you to make monthly donations. If you’re interested in signing up, find the links on the Donation Depot page. Donations can be sent to our P.O. Box at:

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


Days of Noah, Days of Lot Alert!

Ever since Donald J. Trump became president #45, I’ve presented in this column the conviction that his coming into such global power must have dramatic prophetic significance.

Specifically, I’ve expressed that Trump’s presidency might be relevant to what I believe is one of the most obvious prophecies for the time of the Rapture of the Church.

I believe and have often put forward that the words of Jesus about the days of Lot, as recorded in Luke 17:28-30, portray precisely what things will be like when Christ steps onto the clouds of Glory and shouts, “Come up here!”

That belief about social and cultural atmospherics at Christ’s next catastrophic intervention into the affairs of mankind has been framed as “business as usual. In other words, things will be going along pretty much as usual, economically speaking, when the Church is called into eternity at the Rapture. People will be buying, selling, building, planting–doing all the things of normal life.

As a matter of fact, I believe Jesus’ words in that prophecy indicate that things, fiscally speaking, will be moving along at a better-than-usual pace.

Sodom and Gomorrah constituted the region in the Middle East that had to offer the richest lifestyles for inhabitants. Remember, Lot chose to go to Sodom when his Uncle Abraham offered him his choice of places to establish residence. Sodom was the lushest, most desirable area in the region.

Of course, Sodom and Gomorrah at the same time constituted the wickedest place on earth, according to Genesis chapter 19.

I draw the parallel of our society and culture today to that experienced by Lot in Sodom. Just as America’s economy is beginning to pick up at a reluctantly acknowledged pace of increase by some anti-Trump pundits, we have endured a corruptive and wicked societal and cultural degradation over the past months and years.

We all know about the woke insanity that was intended to fundamentally transform America, according to Barack Obama. Things became so insane that government was preventing parents from keeping the evil forces from mutilating their children to change their genders, even arresting parents in some instances.

And now, the much-hated Donald J. Trump is credited—reluctantly so by Trump-haters—with creating an economy that is on the verge of booming. For instance:

>Wall Street sentiment is surging as the stock market reaches new record highs. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UBS Global Wealth Management, and Barclays have all elevated their S&P 500 Index year-end targets—now predicting record gains to continue.

>Consumer outlook is on the rise. With core inflation at its lowest level since March 2021, expectations for an inflation spike have “completely receded” as Americans grow increasingly confident about the economic outlook.

>Price hikes never materialized. A new study found that prices for imported goods have actually declined faster than prices for overall goods — confirming that tariffs have had little effect on prices.

>By all metrics, President Trump is overseeing another economic boom. Jobs numbers have trounced expectations for four straight months, gas prices remain at their lowest level in four years, and blue-collar wage growth has seen the largest increase in nearly 60 years. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/trust-in-trump-sentiment-surges-as-economy-booms)

And even the most ardent anti-Trump entertainment types have joined in praising the Trump economic phenomenon.

Bill Maher said he has been proven wrong about his belief that President Trump’s tariff plan was going to wreck the economy.

The veteran comic, during the latest episode of his “Club Random” podcast on Monday, said he agreed with those who projected the president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which were announced in early April, would result in the economy being “tanked” by the Fourth of July.

“I would have thought—and I gotta own it—that these tariffs were going to [expletive deleted] sink this economy by this time—and they didn’t,” Maher said.

A moment earlier, he noted how the stock market has reached record highs and that it does not look like the country is on the verge of a 21st-century Great Depression when he drives around town.

His comments stand out, considering he originally lambasted the tariffs in April. At the time, Maher said on his HBO show “Real Time” that using tariffs to try and get a better trade deal with China was a “completely a–backwards” approach. (“Bill Maher Says He Was Wrong About Trump Tariffs: ‘I Gotta Own It’,” Sean Burch,  July 28, 2025)

Since Maher reversed his course on the Trump economic successes, the president’s trade deals and their achievements with China, the EC, and many other such fiscally amazing deals based upon tariff dynamics continue to perplex his political enemies and astound the financial experts.

With the “days of Lot” prophecy by Jesus plainly appearing like our own day, the other foretelling by the Lord cannot be missed either. Jesus said that as it was during the days of Noah, so will it be in the day of the coming of the Son of man (Luke 17:26-27).

The primary characteristics that marked that antediluvian time were total moral and genetic corruption. One other thing that made God say He was sorry He had made mankind was the blood-drenched violence throughout the world.

Our generation is, in my estimation, becoming more and more like that antediluvian age. Just this morning, as I compose this commentary, there have been reports in a single newscast of multiple shootings throughout America and the world–murderous rampages that have no apparent causes the authorities can figure.

The liberal news reports call these “gun violence,” but it is “people violence,” and it is saturating all societies throughout the world.

There is but one answer to the days-of-Noah-and-Lot characteristics from which this world suffers. The answer is the Person who warned that these societal and cultural characteristics would be prevalent when He next intervenes into the affairs of humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ will suddenly call all believers–all who are righteous in God’s holy eyes—to Himself.

When the Rapture of the Church happens, judgment will begin falling on a world of rebellious, violence-filled people. This righteous act by God must take place in order to bring His Son Jesus to rule on a restored planet where righteousness reigns.

You don’t want to be left behind when Christ’s call is heard by all who are Christians. Here is how to be sure you will hear that call:

“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


What Makes Our Blessed Hope so Wonderful?

Why is it that so few believers today watch for Jesus’ appearing? I believe the primary reason for this is unbelief; they either attend churches where the pastor combines the Rapture with a distant end-of-the-age return of Christ or they believe they will die long before Jesus appears.

In a recent blog post, The Ghost of a Good Thing (2005), my friend and prophecy expert made this insightful observation about the nonchalant attitude of most Christians regarding their blessed hope:

I still think that part of the reason that so many out there in Christendom struggle with the concept of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is that it seems too fantastical to fit into today’s mundane existence. It seems too good to be true, and we as human beings have been let down so many times throughout our lives, that it’s easier to believe it’s not real than to believe that it is. We don’t think we are good enough, or that we deserve that level of deliverance, but rather, we should suffer first and ‘purge’ our sins.

But there it is in scripture clear as day. Still, many go out of their way to do the mental gymnastics of making it more complex and more unattainable than it really is.

The wonder of “our blessed hope” (Titus 2:11-14) does seem at times to be far “too good to be true.” We can scarcely comprehend what we feel when we are suddenly in glory with immortal bodies, totally healed from all the maladies of this life, but outside and inside. Until then, we bask in the glow of the many life-changing benefits of the time our wonderful hope becomes a reality.

It Tempers Our Aspirations for This Life

The practice of watching for Jesus’ imminent appearing tempers our aspirations for this life. It’s not that our temporal hopes are necessarily misguided; they are not. An awareness of our blessed hope, however, keeps our dreams for the future grounded in reality. It does so by reminding us that eternal realities are superior to temporal ambitions that will surely fade away someday (see 2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

I have observed that believers who don’t think Jesus will return in their lifetime are far more vested in their future aspirations than those who watch for His appearing. They not only place an undue emphasis on their future in this life, but they often ignore the wise counsel of James 4:13-17.

It Renews Our Hope Amid the Lawlessness of Our Day

As I have written many times, I couldn’t cope with all that I see in our world apart from the certainty of Jesus’ direct intervention in the affairs of humanity, beginning with the Rapture. What the Bible says about “our blessed hope” calms my soul whenever the evils so rampant in our world begin to enrage my soul.

Deadly attacks in stores and workplaces seem to happen every week. It’s difficult to avoid the continual reports of government corruption, deception, epidemic immorality, and those wickedly celebrating the horrors of abortion. These things dismay us for sure, but the Bible long ago said the world would look like this before the start of the Tribulation period.

This is the season of Jesus’ appearing, and as such, we have an excellent chance of being a part of the “we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord” that Paul wrote about in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. We most assuredly live in biblical times as we watch the convergence of signs unlike any other time during the church age.

It Reminds Us that a Better Day Is Coming

Awareness of our blessed hope constantly reminds us that a much better day lies ahead. These evil days, filled with wars and violence, most assuredly don’t represent the kingdom to which New Testament saints are heirs. If this world is the promised glorious kingdom, we are all people most to be pitied (see 1 Corinthians 15:19).

In the articles cited above, Pete Garcia wrote this about our anticipation of a better day:

The “blessed hope” to me is not about escaping this broken world in the nick of time (although that’s admittedly an added blessing), but it is about finally being in a reality where all things are made right. And that reality can only exist for us when we are finally freed from sin. And our freedom from sin can only be by one Person, the man Christ Jesus. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me” …He meant it. Not simply because He wanted to be exclusive and shut people out, but because His blood was the only thing in the entire universe that could forever wash man’s sinfulness away.

The Bible reveals the glories of what lies ahead for us. Someday we will return with Jesus and reign with Him in His kingdom with immortal and sinless bodies. Our glorious future starts the moment Jesus takes us home to the place He’s preparing for us. For those already with their Savior in Heaven, they will soon experience resurrection life to the full as Jesus transforms their dead bodies to glorious ones like that of Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).

Our blessed hope is wonderful beyond what we can possibly imagine. There’s nothing more comforting than knowing we will see our loved ones again. Someday, perhaps soon, Jesus will instantly transform us and take us home to the place He’s preparing for us.

-Jonathan

4 Aug 2025

Revisited – Zola Promoted! 

Author’s note: In thinking on the many Heaven-Sent friends in ministry I’ve known over my many years, my spirit is convicted to once again post my memory of an especially gifted and powerful brother for the Great Cause of Christ.

I wanted this re-posted commentary to be relevant to these times and wanted it to be about a recognized personage that most of you will, I believe, remember well because of his profound presence through his TV ministry “Zola Levitt Presents.”

Nothing of the past could be more relevant to this present time than matters involving God’s chosen people, the Jews, and His chosen nation, Israel. Zola Levitt personified God’s Love for His nation and people. It is with a most Beloved memory that I present again this commentary about someone I look so forward to being with again one Eternal day.

This article was originally posted on April 24, 2006.

Zola Promoted!

It was at the Sherlock Bali prophecy conference at Branson, Missouri, a number of summers ago. Several of us were standing around the hotel lobby just outside the main conference room where the lectures and presentations were taking place. My great friend, Zola Levitt, was finished with his presentation and was making his way through the lobby.

Someone of our group had just asked where in the Bible it explains when the Old Testament saints will be resurrected. About that time, Zola grabbed me, and smiling, with that little laugh he always had, answered the question instantly when one of us asked it directly of him. He went into detail. He was one who was tremendously qualified to go into detail. There were few with the knowledge Zola had. Then, when he was asked when he might be coming out with another book, he patted my back and said, “Ask Terry; he’s my publisher.” (Zola wrote many chapters for me in my books of compilation.)

That bit of kindness, I assure, could have caused a mighty swelled head –if it hadn’t caused such a lump in my throat from the emotion in my humbled heart.

That’s just the kind of friend Zola was. I loved him very much and will, for all eternity. He was and is my brother forever.

Zola, of course, died last Wednesday, April 19, after a brief battle with one of the most virulent forms of cancer. He had been diagnosed in February of 2006.

When asked about the cancer that –barring a decision by the Lord to perform a miraculous physical healing—would end his life on earth, Zola, with that typical little humorous chuckle he was famous for, said, “If the Lord wants to give me a promotion, I certainly don’t object.” He wasn’t being flippant. He meant it with all his heart.

Zola received his promotion last Wednesday. Now his assignments will far exceed even the things to do for God’s service he was assigned while in this mortal flesh. His gifts were far beyond those given most of us. Perhaps that was because God knew His servant, Zola, would make full use of what he was given.

Zola Levitt certainly did that, and the world is a more eloquent realm for his having performed his services as a very special royal ambassador.

Iran Leader Uses Prophetic Language

Thinking about Zola made the recent, vitriolic talk by the Iranian leader all the more significant. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ranted about the thing Zola Levitt loved most, second only to His Lord and Savior–the nation Israel. About God’s chosen people, the Iranian tyrant said: “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm” (“Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Annihilated,” April 14, 2006, Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press writer).

Those who follow the “Zola Levitt Presents” TV program or “The Levitt Letter” know Zola many times addressed Israel as the “fig tree.” He specifically dealt with the following prophecy, given by the Lord Jesus himself:

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matt. 24:32-33).

Those of us who recognize Israel as the key indicator of the lateness of the hour know that far from being “a rotten, dried tree,” like the Iranian dictator proclaims, the nation Israel is putting forth the new growth of its modern nationhood. It is the most productive nation in the Middle East by far and takes second place to no country in the world, so far as contributing to the advancement of civilization is concerned.

So, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vile words are the antithesis of God’s prophetic truth. Israel is, rather than a dried-up tree, a live, vibrant one that is the center of the world of nations, especially from the viewpoint of international media and the international community. The Iranian president’s declaration that Israel “will be eliminated by one storm” will one day be proven satanically false by a Persian tyrant’s own forces. We see the prophecy concerning this in the following:

“Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land” (Ezek. 38:9-12).

We are told what will happen in this “storm” against God’s chosen people:

“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

“And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone” (Ezek. 38:18-22). 

The modern-day Persian leader, Ahmadinejad, is deceived and deluded by the same creature that leads all who oppose God in the direction opposite of the Lord’s ways. My great friend Zola knew there is only one way, and that is Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

That’s why the newly promoted Zola Levitt, even before his elevation to a higher position, always ended his time before us with words about the Prince of Peace: “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.”

–Terry


We Are So Close to Jesus’ Appearing

It almost feels a bit surreal. I have been aware of the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy at least since my seminary days in the late 1970s. As a young pastor, I spent many Sunday evenings teaching through the book of Daniel, highlighting its prophecies. During the past ten years, I have often written about the peace covenant that the antichrist will make with Israel (Daniel 9:27).

Now, as I watch the world clamoring to bring peace to the Mideast by seeking to impose a peace accord upon Israel, I wonder, “How much closer can we get to the Tribulation without the Rapture happening?”

Just this past July 28-29, the nations met at the UN to agree upon a resolution aimed at bringing peace to the Middle East. The US and Israel didn’t send representatives to the meetings, but almost every other country attended. The result of this assembly was a document entitled, “New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.” The formal UN vote on the document is set for this September at its annual gathering.

The Prophetic Implications

In many ways, this conclave and resulting declaration are what we might expect to happen during the period of time leading up to the start of Daniel’s seventieth week.

First, the document uses the phrase “peace and security” five times. The words “peace” or “peaceful” occur twenty-eight times, while “security” appears twenty-four times. We are living at a time when the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:3 are coming to life:

“While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

In the context of 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, the apostle refers to the devastation that will come upon the world at the beginning of the “Day of the Lord,” which happens after the Rapture. The world’s cries for “peace and security” tell us that our remaining time on earth is rapidly ending. Jesus is coming soon.

Second, the late July get-together of nations signals the future fulfillment of Zechariah 12:2-3:

“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”

I believe the “siege of Jerusalem” is a reference to Armageddon, which happens at the end of the Tribulation. However, the recent conclave in New York appears to be a warmup to what’s ahead as the nations gathered to impose their will upon Israel. Do they really believe that taking land away from Israel will bring security to the nation? It didn’t work so well with Gaza.

Third, the text of Daniel 9:27 implies that the antichrist will take an existing covenant and make it stronger. It’s highly unlikely that the statement recently approved in New York will be the text that kicks off this last week of years, or what we know as the seven-year Tribulation. However, the fact that there’s such a declaration of peace already in place is a momentous step toward the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy.

Roadblocks

Although the July 28-29 UN agreement is noteworthy, it faces at least a couple of roadblocks that, at least for the moment, keep it from resulting in the covenant of Daniel 9:27.

First, Israel will never agree to its terms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often stated that a return to the pre-1967 borders, which the New York declaration demands, would be suicidal for Israel.

In Isaiah 28:14-18, the Lord referred to Israel’s future peace accord with the antichrist as “a covenant of death” and chastised its future leaders for agreeing to it. By the time Israel comes to terms with the antichrist, its leaders will accept the terms of the covenant. That won’t happen with the current UN plan, but it will when the antichrist comes to power.

Second, Israel can stand firm in its resistance to the UN accord because it has the strong backing of the US and President Donald Trump. We saw this in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement that he would recognize a Palestinian State in September. The Trump administration quickly voiced its disapproval of Macron’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state.

Reuters quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio as saying that the United States “strongly rejects (Macron’s) plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly.” In a post on X, he said about Macron’s statement, “This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.”

President Trump has repeatedly voiced strong disapproval of the willingness of France, Canada, and other nations to formally recognize a Palestinian State. With his staunch support, Israel can emphatically say no to any UN imposition of terms that claim to “guarantee” its peace.

The Missing Piece

The covenant of Daniel 9:27 cannot happen until the antichrist appears on the world scene and is capable of assuring Israel that he can guarantee its future peace, at least for seven years. So, what needs to happen to take us from the calls to recognize a Palestinian State to the start of the Tribulation?

The Rapture is the missing piece to the puzzle. According to 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8, the man of lawlessness can’t make himself known until the Lord removes the Restrainer, which happens when He takes us up to Heaven. We won’t be here when the antichrist inks his deal with Israel.

Once the Rapture happens, the other events leading to the Daniel 9:27 peace covenant will rapidly take place. A greatly weakened America will create a void, leaving Israel without the protection of a powerful ally. The Bible doesn’t provide us with the details of how the Gog/Magog invasion of Israel might lead to the Daniel 9:27 peace accord or even if it will, but I believe that after the Rapture, prophetic events will accelerate even faster than their current rapid pace.

As you know, a powerful 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia on July 28, the last day of the New York meeting and its formalization of its intent to divide the Land God gave to Israel. Perhaps the timing of one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded was a coincidence, but I think it displayed God’s displeasure of what happened at the UN that same day.

We live at a time like no other. So many signs herald the rapidly approaching start of the seven-year Tribulation, and before that, our departure. Regardless of what happens at the UN this coming September, the New York declaration tells us that Jesus’ appearing is not only imminent but could possibly happen very, very soon.

Maranatha!!

-Jonathan