Each passing second, advancing history goes deeper into the unknown for much—maybe for most—of the world’s population. From that unknown boils fear. The fear is steeped in self-conjured premonition that the evilest things imaginable will soon engulf life, bringing devastation and even death.

It is the feeling of impending doom, of something dreadful lurking just ahead. In terms of Greek mythology, it’s the sword of Damocles hanging overhead, threatening to decapitate the fearful.

Probably you’ve had that feeling, but maybe not as intensely as described above. I’ve certainly had moments when I had a sense that something bad is about to happen.

For me, the dread, thankfully, has never played out. The anxiety soon passes, and sometimes even a sense of joyful anticipation resides where the fear sat just a short time before.

For others, the premonitions have seemed to play out in worst-case scenario.

At this moment, even for those who are Bible-believing, born-again people of God, the times are producing such fear. I know this because I get emails in which people share their worries about what’s on the horizon that will affect their lives and the lives of those they love.

Usually, the alarm is expressed through questions such as: Do you think there will be a time of martyrdom for Christians before the Rapture?

Of course, what most writers really mean by that question, I suppose, is: Do you think Christians in America will face martyrdom before the Rapture?

Another question I often get is: Do you think there will be a World War III before we are raptured?

With all the reports of some of America’s powerful enemies preparing for war, we’ll think about that last question in particular a bit more deeply.

As we’ve looked at more than once in this column, it looks like the current American government and the so-called Western allies are doing much to provoke such a nuclear conflict. Rather than looking to ask Mr. Putin to sit down with the Ukrainian leadership—which itself seems to be a complicit partner in poking the nuclear bear—the United States is sending elite forces such as the 101st Airborne into places near the bear’s cave.

And, while that once-unthinkable move—provoking toward war rather than toward peace—brings the world closer to unleashing the nuclear genie, China leers Westward.

As amazing as this administration’s actions are in seeming to make Russia do something Putin obviously doesn’t want to do at this time, even more amazingly, the entire US diplomatic machinery all but totally ignores the threat China poses.

The US Navy has a presence in the South China Sea and purports to be a buffer against China invading Taiwan. But, in reality, with Taiwan being just miles from the Chinese mainland, it would take nothing short of nuclear weapons to offer any hope of dealing with such an assault. And, in that regard, China is as equipped as American forces. So it is feared that the US couldn’t win such a conflict due to having to confront China in its own backyard.

There’s good reason for many of us to be anxious, as that deadly sword is indeed hanging over our heads, based upon just these geopolitical realities. It seems as if everything is out of control—as if even the top leaders on both sides of the nuclear threat have little interest in a peaceful resolution to prevent WW III.

But for those who know what God’s Word has to say about how things end up, the fears of nuclear holocaust this side of the Rapture don’t need to reach the level of trepidation I described earlier. That’s because of the thought wrapped up in the title: “Prophetically Appointed Day and Hour.”

We’ve incessantly gone over the Gog-Magog war prophesied by Ezekiel and how Russia is destined to lead that assault. There has even been speculation that Putin might be the one who will be indwelt by the Gog spirit at the time of that invasion against Israel. Although I have to say here that while he is a known dictator and a KGB operative from the Soviet days, Putin seems in many ways more honorable than a number of the Western leaders who foment globalist surreptition.

If there is all-out nuclear war, neither Putin nor Russia would be available to take part in that Gog-Magog attack—that is, not if the assault is scheduled to take place soon. God, Himself, is going to take care of that invasion force. And, while He could use nuclear force to take care of business, the description given by Ezekiel seems to be that God has scheduled a supernatural fire from Heaven, like in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God’s schedule is key in considering why believers don’t need to sense that dreaded sword of destructiveness.

We see this by looking at the great book of prophecy that God has given us so we can know how things play out.

China is at the heart of God’s final dealing with humankind’s rebellion, I’m convinced. We can see clearly that the massive nation continues to build in every way toward becoming the head of the hegemonic force that will kill a third of the world’s population during the Tribulation. John, the prophet chosen to present the Revelation, terms this force “the kings of the East.”

I call China the “king of the kings of the East.” That nation is, I believe, scheduled to gather all others within its Oriental orbit for the movement to the Euphrates—the apparent barrier separating the Oriental and Occidental worlds.

Their 200-million-man army will, John said, be possessed by demons that have been kept beneath that area for a certain prophetic moment. It will be the time appointed by God, who knows and controls all things from beginning to end. Here is what He says about that horrendous army from the East:

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them” (Revelation 9:13-16).

John also said:

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” (Revelation 16:12).

The reason believers shouldn’t fear all-out nuclear war is tied up in John’s statement in Revelation 9:15:

“And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.”

Just as Russia is scheduled to come against Israel, the kings of the East have been scheduled by God Himself to cause—because of His righteous judgment—massive deaths across the world. He has appointed the “hour,” “day,” “month,” and “year” when it will happen. It is the God of all there is, not human warmongers, who will control when death and destruction on a massive scale will occur.

Meantime, we have been promised that we’ll be kept from that appointed time:

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

It becomes more evident by the hour that the world is quickly headed toward the Tribulation storm. That’s what our new book, TRAJECTORY: Tracking the Approaching Tribulation Storm, is all about. Here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/TRAJECTORY-Tracking-Approaching-Tribulation-Storm/dp/1948014580/ref=sr_1_1?crid=24AVTWLUL90AO&keywords=terry+james+trajectory&qid=1667840596&sprefix=terry+james+%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1

You don’t want to be left on this judgment-bound planet when that storm begins. Here’s how to go to Jesus Christ and heavenly shelter before that judgment falls.

“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).

 

 

Author’s note: This article, written some years earlier, perhaps more than when written, puts focus on the times God’s Word speaks to in regard to being faithful to completing the mission and the assignments the Lord has placed us here to accomplish.

Vince Lombardi, the famous Green Bay Packer coach of the 1960s, known for his draconian training regimen in preparing his players, said: “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” He put his observation to practical use against his opponents by making sure it was the opponents, not his team members, who were fatigued by game’s end. Each Packer player was totally spent at the end of each practice session; the coach and the players left all they had on the field of preparation.

When strength was returned and fully pumped up on game day, there was more than enough to overpower those not as intensively conditioned. The result was a championship team that continues to be memorialized in sports lore all these years later. There was no team that could match Lombardi’s Packers when the fatigue set in during the later stages of the games they played during the height of their power. There were teams that could match their natural athletic abilities, but none could match their endurance.

The game was won by the intensive time of preparation as much as it was won on the actual field of play.

The use of the above sports analogy is not far-fetched. Paul, the great champion for taking the gospel of Christ forth, used just such an analogy to describe his life, death, and glorious future in God’s kingdom:

“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Paul, it is obvious by studying his writings, was a sports fan. He used things like running a race, beating the air, finishing the course, and other terms that give us insight to the fact that he at least took interest in the society of his day. That society was one filled with sports activities and would have been a natural area of subject matter for the great teacher to interject as he presented the gospel and matters of Bible doctrine.

The games of the day included Olympic-type events. The races, in particular, turned on the cheers of fans of the day. Crowns of laurels (formed from leaves) were placed upon the victors’ heads by the judges.

Paul made the linkage of the races of his time to the bema (judgment seat of Christ), at which children of God will receive crowns of victory based upon how they ran the race in Christ’s cause during their lifetimes. The very nature of such a race indicates the necessity of enduring–of persevering—through the long, sometimes uphill miles of living a life of righteousness.

Most often, Paul used such analogy to indicate, as in the verses above, the fact that the Christian should be willing to endure. In many places, he taught how to build endurance. That preparation most often was wrapped around prayer, Scripture study, and practical action–witnessing and teaching truth to others.

God’s Word telling us to endure is one topical area of Bible prophecy that has caused anxiety-ridden questions among some. It seems to those who question that the command to endure, according to the language used, is a requirement in order to assure that salvation is achieved. One must “endure unto the end” to be saved–to win in the game of life, thus to secure one’s place in heaven for eternity.

Endurance is one of the things God requires of His children. As a matter of fact, He demands it. But what does the term “endurance” used in the scriptures, causing anxieties among some believers, mean exactly?

A close examination of the key verses involved is necessary to understand the term “endurance” in God’s prophetic lexicon. One such reference is found in the Apostle Paul’s foretelling about departure from Bible doctrine in the end of the Church Age:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:3–5).

Paul was prophesying a time—indeed, I am convinced we are in that time—when many within the very heart of the Christian church will move away from preaching and teaching that man is lost and needs the Savior, who is Jesus Christ, alone (John 14:6). This failure to endure the sound doctrine taught by Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles would, Paul indicated, be a fatigue that would make cowards of many, causing them and those they teach to turn to lies.

We see today this very thing. The gospel that man is lost in sin, thus, must turn to the shed blood of Jesus Christ for remission of that deadly sin, has been changed to give the feel-good message that God is love and would never condemn those He knows to be less than perfect. The fable makers teach and preach the do-good message that we must go along with the world of philanthropists who preach a social gospel to feed, clothe, and, in general, show the have-nots that humanism is their savior.

Much of the Church today thus has failed to “endure until the end.”

Jesus pronounced, in strong language, the role “endurance” will play in the days leading up to His second advent:

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:11-13).

Jesus even asks in one instance whether He will find any faith on earth when He returns. And this is where the anxiety comes in for some. Is Jesus saying that those who do not hold to absolute Bible truth until the very end won’t be “saved”? Must we—and those of the Tribulation era—never slip up and sin, thus departing from truth, or else suffer the eternal damnation of hellfire?

The answer is found within the character of the One who issued the solemn statement. Jesus, who said, “It is finished” when He completed the redemption plan of God on the cross at Calvary, also said:

“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29).

Saints “endure” through Christ. We haven’t the ability to resist this fallen world apart from the strength found only in our Savior. The supernatural endurance required to “endure unto the end” is not in us but in Jesus, who paid the full price for our eternal souls:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

When we are “in” Christ, we will “endure” because Christ “endures.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Now, this does not excuse the Christian from remaining faithful to God. In that sense, “endurance” is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to the very end—of our lives, or until the Rapture of Christ’s body, the Church. We are to strengthen ourselves for spiritual battle in order to not become fatigued through prayer, Bible study, and exercising our witness before our fellow man. We put on the whole armor of God as we are directed to do in Ephesians, chapter 6.

God equips us. He doesn’t demand such a hard thing without providing the ability—even the absolute guarantee—of that sort of “endurance” that takes His child “unto the end.”

Those who fail to exercise their witness, in whatever way God directs, become flabby, ineffective ambassadors in Christ’s royal service. There is always a heavy price to pay for such sloth. Not loss of salvation for those who are truly in Christ’s grip, but a loss of position within the kingdom of God.

Those who fail to endure in the center of God’s will suffer loss of rewards when kneeling before their Savior at the judgment seat of Christ.

That is one primary reason we at Rapture Ready and this blog exhort Christians to join in our efforts in these closing days of the Age of Grace—the Church Age. There are many, many opportunities to labor, to “endure,” during these trying times that are presented by the dynamic Rapture Ready website and this blog’s efforts to reach the lost world for Christ.

Many are writing articles, many are writing encouraging emails, and some are giving in other ways to God’s work on raptureready.com.

One area we very much need help in is finances. Donations have dwindled, yet the ministry-associated needs of Christ in these closing days of the age have never been more pronounced. Enduring to the end also means supporting Christ-centered ministries with our financial offerings. If hundreds of millions can be contributed to the prosperity ministries who teach that false message of giving to get, why do not those who hold to Bible truth not support faithful ministries with greatly abundant offerings?

Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).