General End-Time Commentary
September 27th, 2004
WHY I BELIEVE THE RAPTURE IS VERY NEAR
If you've been a regular visitor of this site, you might know the official view of Rapture Ready is that the Church will not know the exact date of the pre-tribulation rapture. We do maintain that believers will be able to estimate the nearness of the rapture by looking at various end-time precursors.
The Bible clearly says, "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).
In recent days I've become all the more convinced the time to look for our redemption is drawing very, very nigh (near). I base this sense of urgency on six major end-time indicators.
A single warning sign would not be a strong enough reason to speculate the rapture might be near. Dozens of indicators pointing in the same direction, however, produce a high combined mathematical probability that something is about to happen.
Many of these indicators are the result of sudden departures from long-established trends that are striking because they run in direct conflict with human nature.
WORLD EVENTS
The Bible provides us with a long list of predictions (or prophecies) of what will happen during the 7-year Tribulation Period. Because we are witnessing the development of some key components of the Tribulation, we know the final hour must be close at hand. Some of these prophecies do not require any further development.
One good example is the Mark of the Beast. For centuries it was technologically impossible for a system to track every financial transaction on the planet. We now have the technology on hand to implement the global financial system the Anti-christ will compel the world to receive.
Prophecy has waited on world events for a long time, but we are now at the point at which world events are waiting on prophecy.
DISTANT DATE SETTINGS
One of the most remarkable indicators of the end times has been recent trends in date setting. Because we are only told how to recognize the general season of the end times, all predictions for the rapture are doomed to fail. Jesus said, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 25:13).
Despite the restrictions against knowing the exact time of the Lord's return, people have been setting dates since the first century. For hundreds of years, men have set dates focused on the short term. Around the year 2000, a strange transformation took place. People began focusing on dates several years down the road.
Because this website ranks as one of the top domains for the word "rapture" I receive a continuous stream of end-time predictions. During the '80s and '90s, the predicted dates were normally one to two years out; now I receive forecasts for 2011, 2017, 2022, and 2030.
The only explanation I can find for this sudden switch to distant date setting is the close proximity of the actual rapture. If the rapture will occur as a total surprise within the next few years, it is fitting for the speculation to focus beyond the horizon.
MEDIA ATTENTION
In the past few years, Bible prophecy has been given a great deal of exposure by the press. Because of the huge success of the "Left Behind" series, some of the most liberal television and print media organizations have felt compelled to produce stories on the end times. I remember in the late '90s U.S. News and World Report were the first publications to clearly mention the pre-trib(ulation) rapture.
I think the reason prophecy has been given such wide coverage has to do with God wanting mankind to have a final witness before He passes judgment. Because the end-time message has received major coverage by Time, 60 Minutes, Newsweek and many other major media outlets, it seems the warning has been sounded.
APATHY
Never before has it been so clear that Bible prophecy is on the verge of being fulfilled, and never before has the subject of prophecy been given so much coverage by the mass media. Despite the abundance of these two positive factors, the level of apathy has grown steadily worse.
Many Christian leaders in the field of prophecy have tried to figure out why we are having this disparity between the warning signs and the average person's level of watchfulness. I think an understanding of the end times is the only way to make sense of this departure from logic.
Jesus talked more about apathy than He did about any other end-time signs. What makes apathy such a strong indicator of an imminent rapture is its ability to affect believers. If you're not looking for the Lord's return, you're actually helping fulfill prophecy.
At Rapture Ready, apathy has become a huge problem. When I started the site 17 years ago, I had no problem getting people to provide me with input and feedback regarding various issues. Today, the site has grown over tenfold in size, yet it only receives a fraction of the level of participation it drew back in the early days.
GOD REMOVING HIS HAND OF PROTECTION
When Billy Graham's daughter, Anne (Graham-Lotz), was being interviewed on "The Early Show" [on the CBS Network] she was asked why God would allow the tragedy of 9/11 (perpetrated by our own treasonous government) to happen. Anne gave a very insightful response. She said, "I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"
For many years God has spared America from the horrors that have plagued the rest of the world. Because the U.S. has been a friend to Israel and a spiritual and financial blessing to the world, God has protected us.
Because our nation has drifted off its Christian foundations, we now see signs that the Lord is withdrawing [and cutting down] His hedge of protection. This weekend, Florida was hit by a fourth, setting a record there in the number of such storms in a single season. The total storm damage in that state is expected to rise beyond the $20 billion mark.
What makes God's removal of protection so important to the subject of the timing of the rapture is that His ultimate removal of protection will involve the removal of the Church itself. The Holy Spirit's work in the Body of Christ is reason the earth has not endured a more violent history. When the Church is gone, the restraining factor will leave with it, and the Devil will be free to do as he pleases.
THE COLLAPSE IN APOLOGETICS
In order to defend true Christianity against the encroachment of error, people must be active in finding the wolves who dwell amongst the flock. Sadly, "apologetics" has become a dirty word. Few Christian leaders want to be the bad guys. They would rather make friends with the enemies so they won't lose out on financial opportunities [and the influence] that comes along with these alliances.
Some of the most grievous examples of how the field of apologetics has collapsed can be found in Christians' reactions to errors in the World of Faith movement. During the past few weeks, the press has reported a huge scandal involving the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN, which is one of the BIGGEST curses to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- more like the aid to the spread of error, deception, heresy, false doctrine & other kinds of foolishness and worldliness -- as far as I'm concerned).
The LA Times revealed that TBN had "paid Enoch Lonnie Ford $425,000 to keep quiet about his claims of a homosexual tryst with Paul Crouch", the founder of that organization. The paper also reported that TBN has become a huge cash cow for TBN big wigs. The ministry has purchased more than 30 luxury homes and has assets of about $700 million.
The news of the sex and money scandals apparently has had zero impact on the Christian community. The lack of public interest has caused many apologists to give up trying to document the errors now running rampant in various ministries. I’m sure the Devil must be thinking he can now get away with anything.
Normally when God's people fail to police members of their own faith, the Lord turns to the secular world to accomplish the task. Once the world fails to act, the Lord turns to calamity to get man's attention. The silence we are seeing now may be the calm before the storm.
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11).
"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (Daniel 12:10).
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some (not all) shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:1-3).
"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" (2 Timothy 4:3,4).
-Todd
-------
MADONNA AND REVELATION CHAPTER 17
While receiving reports of American pop icon Madonna's recent trip to and activities within Israel, my thoughts turned to the swiftly developing amalgamation [inroads or the ecumenicalization (sp?)] of many religions that is taking place. It is as if Madonna's doings in Israel, for the moment, seemed eerily familiar, but I couldn't quite put a finger on the connection to Bible prophecy.
The paparazzi and others followed her while she went through the motions of acting as a Kaballah prayer warrior and ambassador for peace in the Middle East and the world. A news item captured the flavor of her latest foray into religion.
"After midnight prayers at the grave of a rabbinical sage, songstress Madonna yesterday called for world peace at a conference on Jewish mysticism, a highlight of her five-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Israel hopes the star -- the biggest pop celebrity to visit in years -- will revive tourism battered by four years of violence, and government officials were on hand at a Tel Aviv hotel to share the spotlight, the glory and the photographs.
Madonna, wearing a low-cut dress with a black and white leopard pattern, said... the people she met during her five-day Holy Land trip 'have one thing in common -- we want to create peace in the world'.
'We want to put an end to chaos and suffering,' she said, 'but most of all we want to put an end to hatred with no reason'.
The singer said she was not representing a religion. Rather, she said, 'I'm here as a student of Kabbalah. A Kabbalist sees the world as a unified whole...'
[Later] Madonna, wearing jeans, a black and gray checkered sweater with a matching cap and a large diamond encrusted letter 'E' on a chain to symbolize her new name, Esther, spent more than an hour inside the stone mausoleum, placing candles on the tomb [of the Polish-born Kabbalist Sage Rabbi, Yehuda Ashlag, who died in 1954] praying and chanting. Led by a rabbi, Madonna and her small entourage recited blessings over food and wine, drank from small plastic cups and circled the raised stone grave" SOURCE, (The Associated Press, "Madonna ends five-day pilgrimage with call for world peace, visit to sage's tomb", [http://www.haaretz.com]; excerpted Sept. 21, 2004).
Kabbalah is defined, in part, by its own website writers as follows: "WHAT IS KABBALAH?
"Imagine if there was a miraculous source of power so profound, so powerful, it could totally heal and transform your life and genuinely change our world for the good -- forever! There IS. It is called Kabbalah, and it is the oldest, most influential wisdom in all of human history. Kabbalah reveals all the spiritual and physical laws that govern the cosmos and the human soul... "So where does one 'find' the actual wisdom of Kabbalah? Good question.
THE POWER OF LIGHT KABBALAH IS ABOUT 'LIGHT' ...NOT RELIGION!" (The Kabbalah Center, accessed http://www.google.com).
The mix of Madonna's new excursion into Kabbalah and into Israel, combined with her desire to unify all peoples into one world so that peace can be achieved congealed in an epiphany. Suddenly, I could see in my spiritual mind's eye a seductively grinning woman sitting atop the beast of Revelation Chapter 17. That prophetic account goes:
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration" (Revelation 17:1-6).
Now, I don't want a lawsuit. I'm not saying that woman I envisioned was Madonna. The harlot who rides the beast is symbolic of one-world, apostate religion. I'm just saying that the connection of a call for religious unity combined with the description of Madonna's newfound "faith" sparked the thought of Revelation 17 and the woman that rides the beast symbol.
The connection becomes profound when considering that Kabbalah sounds almost exactly like the counterfeit of true Christianity. Its guiding entity is described by the Kabbalah as "the power of light".
God's Word has something to say about such things. Paul the Apostle wrote, "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
-Terry James
WHY I BELIEVE THE RAPTURE IS VERY NEAR
If you've been a regular visitor of this site, you might know the official view of Rapture Ready is that the Church will not know the exact date of the pre-tribulation rapture. We do maintain that believers will be able to estimate the nearness of the rapture by looking at various end-time precursors.
The Bible clearly says, "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).
In recent days I've become all the more convinced the time to look for our redemption is drawing very, very nigh (near). I base this sense of urgency on six major end-time indicators.
A single warning sign would not be a strong enough reason to speculate the rapture might be near. Dozens of indicators pointing in the same direction, however, produce a high combined mathematical probability that something is about to happen.
Many of these indicators are the result of sudden departures from long-established trends that are striking because they run in direct conflict with human nature.
WORLD EVENTS
The Bible provides us with a long list of predictions (or prophecies) of what will happen during the 7-year Tribulation Period. Because we are witnessing the development of some key components of the Tribulation, we know the final hour must be close at hand. Some of these prophecies do not require any further development.
One good example is the Mark of the Beast. For centuries it was technologically impossible for a system to track every financial transaction on the planet. We now have the technology on hand to implement the global financial system the Anti-christ will compel the world to receive.
Prophecy has waited on world events for a long time, but we are now at the point at which world events are waiting on prophecy.
DISTANT DATE SETTINGS
One of the most remarkable indicators of the end times has been recent trends in date setting. Because we are only told how to recognize the general season of the end times, all predictions for the rapture are doomed to fail. Jesus said, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 25:13).
Despite the restrictions against knowing the exact time of the Lord's return, people have been setting dates since the first century. For hundreds of years, men have set dates focused on the short term. Around the year 2000, a strange transformation took place. People began focusing on dates several years down the road.
Because this website ranks as one of the top domains for the word "rapture" I receive a continuous stream of end-time predictions. During the '80s and '90s, the predicted dates were normally one to two years out; now I receive forecasts for 2011, 2017, 2022, and 2030.
The only explanation I can find for this sudden switch to distant date setting is the close proximity of the actual rapture. If the rapture will occur as a total surprise within the next few years, it is fitting for the speculation to focus beyond the horizon.
MEDIA ATTENTION
In the past few years, Bible prophecy has been given a great deal of exposure by the press. Because of the huge success of the "Left Behind" series, some of the most liberal television and print media organizations have felt compelled to produce stories on the end times. I remember in the late '90s U.S. News and World Report were the first publications to clearly mention the pre-trib(ulation) rapture.
I think the reason prophecy has been given such wide coverage has to do with God wanting mankind to have a final witness before He passes judgment. Because the end-time message has received major coverage by Time, 60 Minutes, Newsweek and many other major media outlets, it seems the warning has been sounded.
APATHY
Never before has it been so clear that Bible prophecy is on the verge of being fulfilled, and never before has the subject of prophecy been given so much coverage by the mass media. Despite the abundance of these two positive factors, the level of apathy has grown steadily worse.
Many Christian leaders in the field of prophecy have tried to figure out why we are having this disparity between the warning signs and the average person's level of watchfulness. I think an understanding of the end times is the only way to make sense of this departure from logic.
Jesus talked more about apathy than He did about any other end-time signs. What makes apathy such a strong indicator of an imminent rapture is its ability to affect believers. If you're not looking for the Lord's return, you're actually helping fulfill prophecy.
At Rapture Ready, apathy has become a huge problem. When I started the site 17 years ago, I had no problem getting people to provide me with input and feedback regarding various issues. Today, the site has grown over tenfold in size, yet it only receives a fraction of the level of participation it drew back in the early days.
GOD REMOVING HIS HAND OF PROTECTION
When Billy Graham's daughter, Anne (Graham-Lotz), was being interviewed on "The Early Show" [on the CBS Network] she was asked why God would allow the tragedy of 9/11 (perpetrated by our own treasonous government) to happen. Anne gave a very insightful response. She said, "I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"
For many years God has spared America from the horrors that have plagued the rest of the world. Because the U.S. has been a friend to Israel and a spiritual and financial blessing to the world, God has protected us.
Because our nation has drifted off its Christian foundations, we now see signs that the Lord is withdrawing [and cutting down] His hedge of protection. This weekend, Florida was hit by a fourth, setting a record there in the number of such storms in a single season. The total storm damage in that state is expected to rise beyond the $20 billion mark.
What makes God's removal of protection so important to the subject of the timing of the rapture is that His ultimate removal of protection will involve the removal of the Church itself. The Holy Spirit's work in the Body of Christ is reason the earth has not endured a more violent history. When the Church is gone, the restraining factor will leave with it, and the Devil will be free to do as he pleases.
THE COLLAPSE IN APOLOGETICS
In order to defend true Christianity against the encroachment of error, people must be active in finding the wolves who dwell amongst the flock. Sadly, "apologetics" has become a dirty word. Few Christian leaders want to be the bad guys. They would rather make friends with the enemies so they won't lose out on financial opportunities [and the influence] that comes along with these alliances.
Some of the most grievous examples of how the field of apologetics has collapsed can be found in Christians' reactions to errors in the World of Faith movement. During the past few weeks, the press has reported a huge scandal involving the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN, which is one of the BIGGEST curses to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- more like the aid to the spread of error, deception, heresy, false doctrine & other kinds of foolishness and worldliness -- as far as I'm concerned).
The LA Times revealed that TBN had "paid Enoch Lonnie Ford $425,000 to keep quiet about his claims of a homosexual tryst with Paul Crouch", the founder of that organization. The paper also reported that TBN has become a huge cash cow for TBN big wigs. The ministry has purchased more than 30 luxury homes and has assets of about $700 million.
The news of the sex and money scandals apparently has had zero impact on the Christian community. The lack of public interest has caused many apologists to give up trying to document the errors now running rampant in various ministries. I’m sure the Devil must be thinking he can now get away with anything.
Normally when God's people fail to police members of their own faith, the Lord turns to the secular world to accomplish the task. Once the world fails to act, the Lord turns to calamity to get man's attention. The silence we are seeing now may be the calm before the storm.
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11).
"Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (Daniel 12:10).
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some (not all) shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:1-3).
"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" (2 Timothy 4:3,4).
-Todd
MADONNA AND REVELATION CHAPTER 17
While receiving reports of American pop icon Madonna's recent trip to and activities within Israel, my thoughts turned to the swiftly developing amalgamation [inroads or the ecumenicalization (sp?)] of many religions that is taking place. It is as if Madonna's doings in Israel, for the moment, seemed eerily familiar, but I couldn't quite put a finger on the connection to Bible prophecy.
The paparazzi and others followed her while she went through the motions of acting as a Kaballah prayer warrior and ambassador for peace in the Middle East and the world. A news item captured the flavor of her latest foray into religion.
"After midnight prayers at the grave of a rabbinical sage, songstress Madonna yesterday called for world peace at a conference on Jewish mysticism, a highlight of her five-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Israel hopes the star -- the biggest pop celebrity to visit in years -- will revive tourism battered by four years of violence, and government officials were on hand at a Tel Aviv hotel to share the spotlight, the glory and the photographs.
Madonna, wearing a low-cut dress with a black and white leopard pattern, said... the people she met during her five-day Holy Land trip 'have one thing in common -- we want to create peace in the world'.
'We want to put an end to chaos and suffering,' she said, 'but most of all we want to put an end to hatred with no reason'.
The singer said she was not representing a religion. Rather, she said, 'I'm here as a student of Kabbalah. A Kabbalist sees the world as a unified whole...'
[Later] Madonna, wearing jeans, a black and gray checkered sweater with a matching cap and a large diamond encrusted letter 'E' on a chain to symbolize her new name, Esther, spent more than an hour inside the stone mausoleum, placing candles on the tomb [of the Polish-born Kabbalist Sage Rabbi, Yehuda Ashlag, who died in 1954] praying and chanting. Led by a rabbi, Madonna and her small entourage recited blessings over food and wine, drank from small plastic cups and circled the raised stone grave" SOURCE, (The Associated Press, "Madonna ends five-day pilgrimage with call for world peace, visit to sage's tomb", [http://www.haaretz.com]; excerpted Sept. 21, 2004).
Kabbalah is defined, in part, by its own website writers as follows: "WHAT IS KABBALAH?
"Imagine if there was a miraculous source of power so profound, so powerful, it could totally heal and transform your life and genuinely change our world for the good -- forever! There IS. It is called Kabbalah, and it is the oldest, most influential wisdom in all of human history. Kabbalah reveals all the spiritual and physical laws that govern the cosmos and the human soul... "So where does one 'find' the actual wisdom of Kabbalah? Good question.
THE POWER OF LIGHT KABBALAH IS ABOUT 'LIGHT' ...NOT RELIGION!" (The Kabbalah Center, accessed http://www.google.com).
The mix of Madonna's new excursion into Kabbalah and into Israel, combined with her desire to unify all peoples into one world so that peace can be achieved congealed in an epiphany. Suddenly, I could see in my spiritual mind's eye a seductively grinning woman sitting atop the beast of Revelation Chapter 17. That prophetic account goes:
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration" (Revelation 17:1-6).
Now, I don't want a lawsuit. I'm not saying that woman I envisioned was Madonna. The harlot who rides the beast is symbolic of one-world, apostate religion. I'm just saying that the connection of a call for religious unity combined with the description of Madonna's newfound "faith" sparked the thought of Revelation 17 and the woman that rides the beast symbol.
The connection becomes profound when considering that Kabbalah sounds almost exactly like the counterfeit of true Christianity. Its guiding entity is described by the Kabbalah as "the power of light".
God's Word has something to say about such things. Paul the Apostle wrote, "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
-Terry James
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