Topics: Prophecy & End Times
Does God Still Speak Through Signs of Nature?
The End Time Signs of Nature
“Natural Disasters An Increasing Reality” San Francisco Chronicle, October 3, 2018.
“Is The Pacific Ring Of Fire Getting Ready For The End-of-Days?” BreakingIsraelNews.com, December 17, 2018.
“With A Surge In Tornado Activity, Scientists Want To Know Why?” Washington Post, May 29, 2019.
“Very Unusual Seismic Activity On The West Coast Has Experts Extremely Concerned” Zero Hedge.com, December 26, 2019.
“Locust Plague of Biblical Proportions Threatens African Famine” TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com, January 31, 2020.
“World Economy Projected To Shrink For First Time Since 2009 As Coronavirus Plays Havoc With Global Supply Chains” TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com, February 13, 2020.
“Historic, Unprecedented Flooding Swamps Southern USA” USAToday.com, Febuary 17, 2020.
“Global Crop Failures Continue” TheEconomic CollapseBlog.com, Febuary 19, 2020.
“Astronomers Discover Eleven Dangerous Asteroids That Could Impact the Earth” SciTechDaily.com, March 6, 2020.
These headlines are enough to make you think that all of nature is spiraling out of control. And that, in fact, is exactly what is happening from a human viewpoint. But spiritually, the Bible assures us that God is in control, and what we are witnessing is the fulfillment of end time prophecies.
Even secular writers have recognized the phenomenon. Take, for example, Michael Snyder who maintains a blog called The Economic Collapse. He recently wrote:
Over the last several decades, have we ever seen a year start as strangely as 2020 has? Global weather patterns have gone completely nuts, large earthquakes are popping off like firecrackers, it looks like the plague of locusts in Africa could soon develop into the worst in modern history, and a massive plague of bats is severely terrorizing parts of Australia. On top of all that, African Swine Fever is wiping out millions upon millions of pigs around the globe, the H1N1 Swine Flu is killing people in Taiwan, there have been H5N1 Bird Flu outbreaks in China and in India, and the H5N8 Bird Flu has made an appearance at a poultry facility in Saudi Arabia. And then, of course, there is the coronavirus outbreak…
Those of us who specialize in the teaching of Bible prophecy, refer to all these natural disasters as “Signs of Nature.” They constitute one of six categories of signs that the Bible tells us to watch for in the end times.
This category of end time signs is a very important one, and yet, it is the category that receives the least respect. There are two reasons for this — one that is conceptual, and the other that is philosophical.
Problems with the Signs of Nature
The conceptual problem resides in the fact that there have always been signs of nature. So, when confronted with the prophesied signs of nature, many people shrug their shoulders and ask, “What else is new? There have always been tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes.”
What they overlook is that Jesus said these signs would be like “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8). That means they will increase in frequency and intensity the closer we get to the Lord’s return. And that is exactly what appears to be happening today.
The philosophical problem many people have with the signs of nature is due to the fact that we have been brainwashed by Western scientific rationalism into believing that for something to exist, you must be able to see it, measure it, weigh it and dissect it.
In contrast, the Bible teaches there is a whole realm of the supernatural that cannot normally be perceived by the senses. This realm includes angels, demons, and the operation of the Holy Spirit. It also includes God’s intervention into history from time to time through supernatural manifestations and natural disasters.
God and Signs of Nature
Sometimes God uses signs of nature to underline the importance of major events. Thus, at the birth of Jesus, God placed a special light in the heavens, probably a manifestation of His Shekinah glory. When Jesus was crucified, the earth experienced three hours of darkness and a major earthquake. And the Bible says that when Jesus returns, the world will experience the greatest earthquake in its history. Every island will be moved, valleys will be lifted, mountains will be lowered, and the city of Jerusalem will be lifted up like a jewel, possibly becoming the highest place on earth (Revelation 16:18-21 and Isaiah 40:3-5).
More often, God uses signs of nature as remedial judgments to call nations to repentance. Both the Bible and history attest to the fact that God has a pattern of dealing with nations. When a nation rebels against God, He responds first by raising up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. These are not necessarily people with supernatural knowledge of the future. They simply have the gift of discernment to see where a nation is missing God’s mark. To put it another way, they know how to apply the Scriptures to contemporary events.
If a nation refuses to listen to the prophetic voices, God will then send remedial judgments. These can take many forms. Deuteronomy 28 mentions economic failure, rebellion of youth, an epidemic of divorce, confusion in government, foreign domination and military defeat. The chapter also mentions natural disasters like drought, crop failure and pestilence.
Finally, if a nation digs in against God and sets its jaw against His calls to repentance, a point of no return will be reached — often referred to as “when the wound becomes incurable” (Nahum 3:19, Jeremiah 30:12 and Micah 1:9). At this point, the Lord will deliver the nation from judgment to destruction. That destruction may occur quickly — as with Babylon and the Soviet Union — or it may occur gradually over a period of time, as with the Roman Empire.
Examples of Remedial Judgments
There are many examples of remedial judgments in the Bible that involve natural disasters. Take, for example, the plagues with which God afflicted Egypt in order to convince Pharaoh that he should release the children of Israel from captivity. The Lord sent plagues of frogs, gnats, flies and locusts. In addition, He contaminated the nation’s water, afflicted the livestock with pestilence, struck the people with sores and boils, engulfed the land in a thick darkness and finally took the lives of the firstborn of both men and livestock.
When King Ahab led the Israelites into the worship of a pagan god, the Lord raised up the prophet Elijah to call the king and his people to repentance. When they ignored Elijah, the Lord then put a remedial judgment on the land in the form of a severe three and a half year drought (1 Kings 17 & 18).
The book of Joel tells about a locust invasion that afflicted Judah. This was one of the worst calamities that could befall an agricultural society. It appears that people began bemoaning their “bad luck.” That’s when God sent the prophet Joel to inform them that the disaster had nothing to do with luck. Joel boldly proclaimed that the locusts had been sent by God to call the people to repentance. He warned that if they did not repent, the Lord would send something even worse — an enemy army. The people ignored Joel and the prophets who followed him, and God ultimately sent the army, delivering them from judgment to destruction.
Seventy years later, when the Babylonian captivity ended, the Jews who returned to Judah laid the foundation for a new temple and then quickly lost interest in the project. They turned their attention instead to the building of their personal homes. For 14 years the foundation of the temple stood vacant. Finally, God raised up an elderly, tough-talking prophet named Haggai. He confronted the people by asking them: “Have you noticed that when you plant your crops, they are destroyed by root rot? And when you replant them, they are destroyed again by hail? And when you replant, a wind storm comes? God is speaking to you! He is calling you to repent of your misplaced priorities and give attention to the rebuilding of His temple.” For once, the people listened, obeyed and were blessed.
The Nature of God
God has continued throughout history to use signs of nature to call nations to repentance. Some people say, “Oh no, God doesn’t do that anymore because this is the ‘Age of Grace.'”
Well, the first problem with that statement is that it implies there was a previous time of no grace. The fact of the matter is that there is only one way of salvation that has ever existed — namely, grace through faith (Joel 2:32).
Furthermore, the Bible says God is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). There is no such thing as the Old Testament God of wrath and the New Testament God of grace. God does not change (Malachi 3:6). He is immutable.
The Old Testament God of wrath is the One who showed grace toward the wicked city of Nineveh when its people repented in response to the message of Jonah. The New Testament God of grace is the One who warned the church at Thyatira that if it continued to tolerate a false prophetess, He would “cast her upon a bed of sickness and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation.” Further, He threatened to “kill her children with pestilence” (Revelation 2:22-23).
Our God is a God of grace, mercy and love. But He is also a God of holiness, righteousness and justice. The balanced view of God is presented by the prophet Nahum. Speaking of God’s grace, he wrote: “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7). But Nahum warned that the same God is One who is righteous and holy and who will not tolerate sin (Nahum 1:2-3):
A jealous and avenging God is the LORD;
The LORD is avenging and wrathful.
The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty
unpunished.
The Role of Satan
Some counter by trying to argue that natural calamities come from Satan and not God. But the Bible teaches that God is sovereign. Satan is not free to do anything he pleases. When he wanted to torment Job, he had to ask God’s permission, and when he was granted permission, God laid down rules about what he could and could not do (Job 1:6-12).
The Bible says God does not tempt us (James 1:13). Yet Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13). How can these statements be reconciled? The answer is that although Satan is the tempter, he cannot do so unless God allows it.
Again, God is sovereign, and nothing happens that He does not allow, either in His perfect will or His permissive will. That is the reason the Bible attributes all natural disasters to God.
Crucial Questions
Are all natural calamities a product of Man’s sin? Yes, absolutely. The original creation was perfect. Natural calamities are a result of the curse that God placed on the creation in response to Man’s sin. When Jesus returns, the curse will be lifted and natural calamities will cease.
Do all natural calamities represent remedial judgments of God? No — most are products of the natural processes of our weather systems.
How then can we determine when a natural calamity is a remedial judgment? One important factor is the timing of the event as it relates to the sins of the nation.
Another factor is the magnitude of the event. Remedial judgments are designed to have great shock value in order to capture people’s attention and force them to think with an eternal perspective. The most important factor is God’s Spirit witnessing to the spirits of those to whom He has given the gift of prophecy. They will be motivated to speak forth with a united voice.
The Example of the United States
We can see all these principles operating in the history of our own nation. We were founded as a Christian nation, committed to Christian values, and God greatly blessed us. But in the 1960s, we began to thumb our nose at God as a cultural revolution was launched. Our society quickly descended into a cesspool of sexual promiscuity, drug abuse, abortion on demand, legalized gambling, rampant blasphemy and a flood of pornography. Our national slogan became, “If it feels good, do it!” We adopted a hedonistic lifestyle, calling evil good and good evil.
God responded by raising up prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. One of those was Dave Wilkerson, pastor of Times Square Church in New York City. I call him “God’s Jeremiah to America.” In the 1970s he began writing a series of books in which he clearly outlined the sins of America and warned of judgments from God if we did not repent. Like Jeremiah, his popularity plummeted because people — even church people — did not want to hear his “doomsday message.”
When the prophetic voices were ignored, God began to place remedial judgments on our nation — things like our defeat in the Vietnam War, the AIDS epidemic, the plague of sexually transmitted diseases, the scourge of homosexuality and natural disasters in the form of monster earthquakes, killer tornados and hurricanes. We even experienced an unprecedented volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 — an eruption so severe that it blackened the sky from Seattle to New York City and as far south as Oklahoma.
The culmination of the remedial judgments seemed to come with the 9/11 terrorist assault in 2001, when two symbols of American pride were attacked: the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The towers stood as symbols of our wealth; the Pentagon symbolized our military power.
As I have stated before, I believe this event was a wake-up call from God for our nation to repent. Instead, like a drowsy man who doesn’t want to wake-up, we merely rolled over and hit the snooze button on the alarm clock.
End Time Signs of Nature
In Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, delivered to His disciples on the Mount of Olives during the last week of His life, He specifically spoke of signs of nature to watch for in the end times.
Matthew recorded Him saying, “…and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes…” (Matthew 24:7). Luke’s account of the same speech is more detailed. He quotes Jesus in Luke 21 as saying:
11)… there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven…
25) There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea…
We are witnessing all these things today worldwide. All sorts of weather calamities are happening more frequently and causing greater damage — hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods and forest fires.
Additionally, famine continues to rage throughout Africa and other Third World areas. Plagues like AIDS, SARS, Ebola and COVID-19 continue to challenge and perplex medical science. A new danger is the return of old diseases thought to be under control — due to the development of antibiotic resistant strains.
And for the first time ever, we are living in a time when we can see incredible sights in outer space due to space telescopes and satellite probes which we have sent to other planets — all in fulfillment of Luke 21:25 which says that in the end times, “there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars…”
The Birth Pangs Effect
With regard to natural calamities, some simply dismiss them in a cavalier manner by asking, “What else is new?” But as I have already mentioned, Jesus said that the signs in the end times would be like “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8), meaning they will increase in frequency and intensity. And that is what has been happening.
Take earthquakes for example. In the decade of the 1980s, there were a total of 1,085 earthquakes worldwide that measured 6.0 or greater in magnitude. In the 1990s there were 1,492. In the first ten years of this century, the number jumped to 1,591. With regard to monster quakes of 8.0 or greater, in the 1980s there were four; in the 1990s, six; and in the first decade of this century, 13.
There’s a better way to look at natural disasters than to consider them by category, such as the frequency and intensity of tornadoes, for the number and intensity will go up and down from year to year, although showing an overall increase over a period of time. The best way to view natural disasters is to consider all of them grouped together. When you do that, the statistics show that they are rapidly increasing, from an average of 300 per year in the 1980s, to 490 per year in the 1990s, to almost 900 per year in the first ten years of this century.
Oddly, one of the reasons for considering natural disasters overall rather than individually is because one type of natural disaster can restrain other types.
Let me illustrate what I mean: In 2012, our nation experienced one of its worst droughts in modern history — with over 61% of America affected. Now, one side effect of that drought is that we experienced the lowest number of tornados in 60 years — after all, you can’t have tornados without thunderstorms. The same was true of flooding.
The chart below (chart unavailable) illustrates the exponential growth of disasters worldwide. Ron Fraser, the author of the article that the chart illustrates, asserts: “The facts are that statistics prove natural disasters have risen startlingly since 1990.” The Borgen Project (a non-profit organization focusing on world poverty), has labeled the increase in disasters worldwide as “skyrocketing.” The fact of the matter is that the severity and cost of the disasters have been rapidly increasing, and “record disasters are becoming commonplace.”
Fraser presents convincing arguments that 1989 was the watershed year — “a threshold from which natural disasters escalated most dramatically compared to past eras in history.”
The Message
It seems rather obvious that God is shouting at us through increasing natural disasters that “Jesus is coming soon!” And yet, few seem to be getting the message — even those in the Christian community.
All of which reminds me of the cartoon below about how people in the time of the prophet Haggai seemed to ignore his warnings that the natural disasters they were experiencing were due to the fact that they were postponing the rebuilding of the Lord’s temple.
“Global Warming”
This leads to a frequently asked question: “What is the prophetic significance of ‘Global Warming?'”
The answer is that the whole concept is a political ploy which liberals are using in an attempt to gain greater control over society. The fact that it is a non-issue was pointed out brilliantly in a 2020 article by Jack Kinsella, a writer for Hal Lindsey.
He observed that 96% of all greenhouse gases and other so-called global warming emissions originate naturally from the oceans that cover five-sixths of the earth’s surface. Thus, as he put it, “That leaves only 4% to divide up between human activity, volcanoes, rotting vegetables, cow flatulence, etc.” It is estimated that the human portion of that 4% is 14%, and 14% of 4% is .056!
Even the advocates of Global Warming have recognized the absurdity of their claim that humans are responsible for the earth’s warming. So, Global Warming has morphed into “Climate Change.” And, as Harold Ambler, writing for The Huffington Post has observed, “the term, Climate Change, is a redundancy because the climate has always changed, and always will.”
For example, scientific studies have shown the following climate periods in world history:
- The warm Roman Optimum (200 BC to 400 AD)
- The cold Dark Ages (400 AD to 900 AD)
- The warm Medieval Period (900 AD to 1300 AD)
- The Little Ice Age (1300 to 1850)
- The Modern Warm Age (since 1850)
I feel compelled to point out that the Bible does prophesy that a super-hot time is coming when God will envelop the earth in fire to burn away the pollution of Satan’s last revolt, which will occur at the end of Jesus’ millennial reign. Out of that fiery inferno will come the New Earth, which will serve as the foundation for the New Jerusalem where the Redeemed will reside forever.
Conclusion
So, true global warming is on its way! But, more importantly, the Signs of the Times are screaming that we are on the threshold of the Tribulation. And that means, in turn, that Jesus is at the very gate of Heaven, ready to step out on a cloud and come for His Church.
Meanwhile, the Church needs to wake up to the Signs of Nature and all the other signs that are converging for the first time ever. But for that to happen, our nation’s pastors need to get serious about the fact that we are living in the season of the Lord’s return, and they need to start proclaiming that fact from their pulpits.
The Church needs to stop yawning and start yearning for the return of Jesus.
Maranatha!
The Perfect Storm
Our Society in Chaos
[read in Lamplighter | Spanish
The first time I can remember hearing the term, “perfect storm,” was in 1991 when a very strong storm off the coast of Nova Scotia was given that name by meteorologists. The storm was produced by a cold front from the northwest that converged with a cyclone surging down from the northeast. The storm headed south toward New England where it converged with Hurricane Grace. This convergence of a cold front, a cyclone and a hurricane produced the “perfect storm.”
The storm got a lot of publicity because it produced waves up to 30 feet tall that flooded President George H. W. Bush’s vacation home in Kennebuckport, Maine, causing major damage. It got even more attention when it veered back up to its starting point off the coast of Nova Scotia where it produced waves as high as 100 feet. It was in this area that the fishing vessel, Andrea Gail, sank, killing her crew of six. This tragedy inspired the book, and later movie, The Perfect Storm (2000).
Our Societal Storm
Today, we here in the United States are experiencing another “perfect storm” of a different type that is far more dangerous. It is a storm that hit us suddenly and overwhelmingly. First, came the coronavirus pandemic which produced a stock market crash of 8,000 points. Then, came a shutdown of the economy, followed by widespread rioting and looting in the streets. Millions have been thrown out of work, thousands of businesses are declaring bankruptcy and millions of people are defaulting on their rental and mortgage payments.
One moment our nation was sitting on top of the world enjoying one of the greatest economic revivals in history. Then, in what seemed like a moment’s notice, we plunged into economic, social and political chaos.
I once witnessed a similar overnight societal collapse in Russia in 1992. When I arrived in Moscow, I could hardly believe my eyes. The nation was in absolute chaos. Only a few months previously, this had been the most powerful nation on planet earth, with more nuclear weapons than any other country.
I found all the stores in Moscow empty — and I mean completely empty of both food and clothing. Thousands of people were standing on the sidewalks with card tables full of items to barter. People were trading food products like milk and potatoes for blue jeans, shirts and underwear. At the first class hotel where I was staying, the only food they had to serve was potatoes, and a Coke had to be shared with three other people.
As I viewed this heart-breaking spectacle, the Lord spoke to my heart and told me to go back to America and share the devastation that He can pour out in an instant, no matter how powerful the nation may be — just as He did with Babylon in Old Testament times.
He said for me to emphasize that His judgment on our nation would be much worse. After all, the Russian people had been under a totalitarian dictatorship for 70 years during which time Christians had been severely persecuted and the distribution of Bibles had been outlawed.
In contrast, during that same time period, God had poured out abundant blessings on our nation. Further, we have churches on every corner, an average of five Bibles in every home, and we have the Gospel being proclaimed on radio and television.
In short, unlike the Russian people, we have no excuse before God for our wanton rebellion against Him and His Word. The verse the Lord laid on my heart for this nation was Luke 12:48 which says that to those to whom much is given, much is expected.
Public Scoffing at Prophetic Warnings
I have been proclaiming that message far and wide since that time — in books, magazine articles, sermons, television programs and video productions. And I discovered early on that people did not want to hear the message.
That’s nothing new. The prophetic voices God sent to nations throughout Old Testament times were treated the same way. People mocked them, scoffed and jeered at them, harassed them and even tried to kill them.
When Jeremiah started warning the people of Judah of God’s impending judgment, they did not repent. Instead, they laughed at him and responded by crying out, “The temple, the temple, the temple!” (Jeremiah 7:4). What they meant, of course, was that they did not believe God would ever allow anyone to destroy the temple. After all, the Shekinah Glory of God resided in the temple.
Likewise, I have found that Americans tend to respond in the same way to warnings of God’s impending wrath on this nation. “Never America!” they chant. I’m convinced that many believe God is sitting on His throne draped in an American flag!
How God Deals with Rebellious Nations
The Bible clearly reveals a definite pattern of how God deals with a nation He has blessed when it starts turning against Him. First, He sends prophetic voices to call the nation to repentance. In our case, God began to do that in the mid-1970s when He raised up voices like David Wilkerson, Francis Schaeffer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Donald Wildmon. Since that time, the Lord has demonstrated great patience with us as He has continued to send prophetic warnings, despite our refusal to repent.
When we dug in our heels and stubbornly resisted the calls to repentance, the Lord began to bombard us with remedial judgments to get our attention — judgments like the 9/11 attacks (2001), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the Stock Market Crash of 2008 and the election of Barack Obama in 2008. And now, the “perfect storm.”
God’s Grace Toward America
When President Trump was running for election in 2016 on the motto of “Make America Great Again,” I warned repeatedly that no one could make our nation great again as long as we were thumbing our nose at God. I pointed specifically at several things in particular:
- The gross apostasy in the Church.
- Our legalization of the slaughter of babies in their mother’s wombs.
- Our legalization of same-sex marriage.
- Our flooding the world with violent, immoral and blasphemous movies and television programs.
- Our overwhelming addiction to drugs.
- Our determination to kick God out of all aspects of public life.
- Our leading the world in the production of pornography.
God orchestrated the election of Trump and gave us a window of grace. God allowed Trump to launch an “economic miracle,” but I believe He allowed it in order to dramatize His destruction of it overnight.
God wanted us to be fully aware that we are experiencing His wrath. The problem is that most Americans have become so secular that they cannot perceive the spiritual any longer. So, they dismiss God’s wrath as “bad luck.”
Destruction from Within
We are reaping what we have sown (Galatians 6:7). As I pointed out in my book, God’s Prophetic Voices to America, we began surrendering our nation’s Christian heritage at the beginning of the 20th Century when our mainline churches started treating the Bible as Man’s search for God rather than God’s revelation to Man. These churches abandoned the true Gospel for the Social Gospel, and the churches began to die.
This apostasy began at the same time that Humanists were beginning to organize and push their atheistic agenda, calling for the secularization of our society.
Very quickly, Humanism (faith in Man) became our religion. Materialism (the love of money) became our God, and our lifestyle became Hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure). This was in fulfillment of prophecy. In general terms, the Bible says that in the end-times, society will become as evil as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37) — a time that was characterized by immorality and violence (Genesis 6:5 and 11).
Specifically, the Apostle Paul prophesied that in the end-times men would love three things — self, money and pleasure (2 Timothy 3:1-5). That’s precisely where we are in America today. But God cannot be mocked (Galatians 6:7). When those three things converge into a “perfect storm,” the result is always Nihilism — which is a fancy philosophical word for despair. And thus, we find our society wallowing in despair as people seek meaning in all the wrong things — like sex, money, drugs, alcohol and the pursuit of power.
Basically, what we are witnessing today is God allowing us to destroy ourselves. Theologians call it “abandonment wrath.” It is outlined in detail in Romans chapter one. That chapter says that when a nation becomes characterized by ungodliness, unrighteousness and the suppression of truth — and when it begins to worship the creation rather than the Creator — God will step back, lower His hedge of protection around the nation and allow evil to multiply.
When this happens, Romans 1 says the first manifestation will be a sexual revolution (verse 24). If there is no repentance, God will then step back a second time and lower the hedge further, producing a plague of homosexuality (verses 26-27). If the rebellion persists, God will lower the hedge a third and final time, delivering the nation over to a depraved mind (verses 28- 32). That’s where we are.
Evidence of Depravity
So, we should not be surprised that people are demanding a Socialist government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave. Nor should we find it unbelievable that people are in the streets demanding the removal of the statues of some of our greatest historical figures. Nor should we be shocked by the following goals of the “Progressives:”
- To overrule all of Trump’s executive orders that enforce Judeo-Christian principles.
- To expand hate crime legislation to include speech against abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage and transgenderism.
- To promote the Sexual Perversion Movement to include legal protection of polygamy, polyamory, prostitution and other deviant sexual behaviors.
- To defund our police departments.
- To gut the Second Amendment by sharply curtailing the right of Americans to own arms.
- To impose taxes on churches and ministries that refuse to endorse the sexual revolution.
- To impose draconian taxes on middle class Americans to provide reparations for blacks and homosexuals.
- To socialize major aspects of the American economy in order to bring about a “re-distribution of wealth.”
- To pack our Supreme Court with judges who have utter contempt for our Constitution.
- To try to amend the Constitution to eliminate the Electoral College.
- To isolate and endanger Israel by giving maximum support to its enemies.
- To maximize our support for the United Nations and other world organizations in order to move us toward the establishment of a One World Government.
President Trump’s Personality
Another factor that has contributed to our current “perfect storm” is one that most conservatives do not want to recognize. It is President Trumps’s monumental ego. Again, I have warned repeatedly that although President Trump’s policies are in accordance with Judeo-Christian principles and should be applauded and supported, his constant bragging about his wealth, his wisdom and his greatness constitute a danger to himself and the nation because God hates pride. Consider the following scriptures:
Proverbs 16:5 — “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; assuredly, he will not be unpunished.”
Jeremiah 9:23 — “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches…'”
Isaiah 2:12 — “For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud and lofty and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased.”
Proverbs 16:18 — “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
Proverbs 26:12 — “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
Matthew 23:12 — “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”
James 4:6 — “…God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
These are awesome and sobering warnings. Again, God hates pride. We cannot expect Him to bless the prideful person. Remember King Nebuchadnezzar. As he was congratulating himself on his greatness, he was reduced to insanity.
A second personal problem that characterizes President Trump, and which is responsible for much of the hatred and division in our nation today, is his juvenile responses to his critics. Instead of dealing with their criticisms, he attacks them personally in tweets that are often crude, rude and even vulgar.
One of God’s modern-day prophetic voices is Albert Mohler, Jr., the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He recently spoke to the problem of President Trump’s personality. In June, in an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Mohler called Trump “a huge embarrassment” to Evangelicals because of his “misbehavior” and the “glaring deficiencies in his private and public character.” Nonetheless, Mohler said he was going to vote for the President because “the alternative is unthinkable.”
One favorable thing about Trump, in addition to his conservative values, is that he has kept his word concerning the political promises he made in 2016. In fact, I think it would be very difficult to find any President who has been as faithful to his promises. We have become so accustomed to politicians lying about what they will do if elected, that it is particularly refreshing to find one who actually means what he says.
The Nature of Our Constitutional Government
But let’s get back to the “perfect storm” of mindless violence we see all around us. It reminds me of the fact that our Founding Fathers purposefully did not create a democracy because they believed that pure democracy would result in mob rule. That belief was based upon God’s Word and its teaching about the fallen nature of Man and his corrupt heart (Jeremiah 17:9 and Matthew 15:18-19).
Instead, they created a representative form of government with checks and balances. It was one in which the only directly elected officials on the national level were the members of the Congressional House of Representatives. Senators were selected by state legislatures, and the President by an Electoral College.
The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, provided for direct election of Senators. And now the “progressive” forces of evil in our nation are determined to abolish the Electoral College. The result will be mob rule and the demise of our representative system of government.
Our Founding Fathers emphasized over and over that our Constitutional form of representative government could prevail only if there was a foundation of religion and morality. Consider the following statements:
Samuel Adams (1722-1803) — Governor of Massachusetts, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and organizer of the Boston Tea Party:
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.
He further added:
Religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness.
Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) — Signer of the Declaration of Independence, attendee at the Continental Congress, physician, and first Surgeon General:
The only foundation for…a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.
Patrick Henry (1736-1799) — First governor of Virginia and member of the Continental Congress:
The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, and this alone, that renders us invincible.
John Adams (1735-1826) — Member of the Continental Congress, one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence, and second President of the United States:
We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion… Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. [Emphasis added].
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) — Governor of Virginia, first Secretary of State, principle author of the Declaration of Independence, and third President of the United States:
No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man, and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example.
James Madison (1751-1836) — Political philosopher, considered the “Father of the Constitution” and the “Father of the Bill of Rights,” member of the House of Representatives, and fourth President of the United States:
We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.
What these men are saying is that the form of government created by our Constitution depends for its success on a foundation of religion and morality. Without this foundation, we will have mob rule which will lead to martial law and ultimately to a dictatorship.
The Destruction of Our Nation’s Foundation
This necessary foundation for our Constitution has been eroded beyond recognition. We as a nation have rejected God in the public arena, and our churches have perverted Christianity beyond recognition.
The vast majority of our children today are being raised in homes where God is either ignored or denied. Those who are attending church are hearing a watered-down, false gospel of pop psychology, without any teaching about the fundamentals of the Faith.
Additionally, in the public schools, they are being fed the lie of evolution that teaches them they are just animals evolved from apes. Is it any wonder that they are now in our streets acting like beasts?
As I have said many times before, we are raising a whole generation of moral pygmies who are willing to kill each other over pricey tennis shoes.
And the answer is not the election of more Republicans as many Evangelicals believe. First of all, it is not likely this is going to happen. Our nation has deteriorated to the point that only 23% attend church every Sunday and only 9% have a biblical worldview. Most professing Christians in America today are carnal people who profess to be Christians but who have no personal relationship with Jesus.
And even if we could elect more Republicans, we have to keep in mind that they are just as weak and corruptible as Democrats. That’s the reason that both our national and state governments have so many RHINOs in positions of power — a RHINO being a Republican-in-name-only. President Trump discovered this truth very quickly when he tried to “drain the swamp” in Washington. Many Republicans were a part of that swamp.
I am reminded of my colleague and my designated successor, Colonel Tim Moore. He served in the House of Representatives of Kentucky for 13 years before resigning in preparation to take over the leadership of this ministry. The first time he ran for office, he ran on a very strong pro-life platform. He quickly became the leader of the pro-life forces in the Kentucky House. When the first vote came up on a pro-abortion bill sponsored by the Democrat Governor, one of the members of Tim’s pro-life coalition — a man who had run for office opposing abortion — voted for the Governor’s bill!
When Tim confronted him and asked why he had given the Governor his vote, he said, “The Governor told me that if I would vote for his bill, he would see to it that I got an office with a window.” So, he traded a window for the lives of babies.
The classic example of misplaced trust in politics is the record of Supreme Court justices. Over and over, conservative Presidents have appointed conservative justices, only to watch them migrate to the left over time and give their votes to uphold abominable things like abortion, same-sex marriage and transgenderism. Our current Chief Justice, John Roberts, was appointed to the Supreme Court by President George W. Bush because he claimed to be a strong conservative and constitutionalist. Now, he is voting with the liberals.
Christian Involvement in Politics
Does this mean that those of us who are Bible-believers and supporters of our Constitution should withdraw from politics? No! But it does mean we are not to look to political solutions for our nation’s problems when our problems are rooted in the rejection of God and His Word.
I have no idea what is ahead of us in the upcoming election. Will God in His mercy orchestrate the re-election of Trump and allow our current window of grace to be extended? Or, will He see to it that both Trump and our nation get what they deserve?
Whatever the outcome of the election, I know for certain the ultimate fate of our nation — and not because I have been given any supernatural revelation by God. I know our fate because God’s Word reveals that when a nation God has blessed decides to turn its back on the source of its blessings, God will pour out His wrath, and the nation will be destroyed.
That is precisely where we are headed.
Is There Hope for Our Nation?
Do we have any hope? Not as a nation. We have passed the point of no return. The percentage of Americans professing to be Christians has plummeted from 85% in 1990 to 65% today, and probably more than half of these are “Cultural Christians” who have never been born again. Only 9% of Americans have a biblical worldview according to the Pew Research Center. And only 17% of those professing to be Christians can be classified as “Bible-believing.”
Keep in mind, too, that despite being the most unbiblical President in American history, Obama left the office with a 60% approval rating. And his designated heir, Hillary Clinton, received three million more votes than Trump. Most important, those in their 20s — the Millennials who are the future of our nation — favored a Socialist in 2016, and when he did not get the nomination, they voted overwhelmingly for Hillary. They repeated that conduct again this year when they favored Bernie Sanders for the Democrat nomination. Our Millennials are the most secular generation in our history. Few go to church, and they are enamored with Socialism.
No, I do not believe there is any hope for our nation. But there is incredible hope for individuals who place their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They have the hope of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the hope of the Rapture, the hope of Glorified Bodies, the hope of reigning with Jesus during His Millennial Reign over all the earth, and the hope of eternal life with God in a New Jerusalem on a New Earth. Maranatha!
The Rapture
What is it? Who will it affect? When is it most likely to take place?
The Rapture is a glorious event which God has promised to the Church.
The promise is that someday very soon, at the blowing of a trumpet and the shout of an archangel, Jesus will appear in the sky and take up His Church, living and dead, to Heaven.
The Term
The term “Rapture” comes from a Latin word, “rapio,” that means “to catch up, to snatch away, or to take out.” It is, in turn, a translation of the Greek word, “harpazo.”
So, “Rapture” is a Biblical word that comes right out of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. The word is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In the New American Standard Version, the English phrase, “caught up,” is used. The same phrase is used in the King James and New International Versions.
A Promise to the Church
The concept of the Rapture was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets because it is a promise to the New Testament Church and not to the saints of God who lived before the establishment of the Church. Jesus will return as a bridegroom for His bride, and that bride consists only of Church Age saints.
The saints of Old Testament times will be resurrected at the end of the Tribulation and not at the time of the Rapture of the Church. Daniel reveals this fact in Daniel 12:1-2 where he says that the saints of that age will be resurrected at the end of the “time of distress.”
Biblical References
The first clear mention of the Rapture in Scripture is found in the words of Jesus recorded in John 14:1-4. Jesus said, “I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
The most detailed revelation of the actual events related to the Rapture is given by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He says that when Jesus appears, the dead in Christ (Church Age saints) will be resurrected and caught up first. Then, those of us who are alive in Christ will be translated “to meet the Lord in the air.”
Paul mentions the Rapture again in 1 Corinthians 15 — his famous chapter on the resurrection of the dead: “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (verses 51-52).
Paul’s reference here to being changed is an allusion to the fact that the saints will receive glorified bodies that will be imperishable, immortal, and perfected (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50-55 and Isaiah 35:5-6).
A Summary
To summarize, these passages teach that the shout of an archangel and the blowing of a trumpet will herald the sudden appearance of Jesus in the heavens (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The dead in Christ will be resurrected and rise up to meet the Lord in the sky. Then, those saints who are alive will be “caught up” to the Lord. Paul concludes his description in 1 Thessalonians 4 by encouraging his readers to “comfort one another with these words.”
And truly the Rapture is a comforting thought! Consider the promises contained in the concept of the Rapture. Jesus will bring with Him the spirits of those who have died in Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14). He will resurrect their bodies in a great miracle of re-creation; He will reunite their bodies with their spirits; and He will then glorify their bodies, making them immortal. And those believers who are living will not even taste death. Rather, they will be caught up to the Lord, and in transit, they will be translated from mortal to immortal.
All my life I have heard that there are two things no one can avoid: taxes and death. Well, that is not true. According to 1 Thessalonians 4, a whole generation of believers will escape death. Taxes appear to be the only inevitability!
The Timing
The most controversial aspect of the Rapture is its timing. Some place it at the end of the Tribulation, making it one and the same event as the Second Coming. Others place it in the middle of the Tribulation.
Still others believe that it will occur at the beginning of the Tribulation.
The reason for these differing viewpoints is that the exact time of the Rapture is not precisely revealed in scripture. It is only inferred.
There is, therefore, room for honest differences of opinion, and lines of fellowship should certainly not be drawn over differences regarding this point, even though it is an important point.
Post-Tribulation Rapture
Those who place the timing at the end of the Tribulation usually base their argument on two parables in Matthew 13 and on the Lord’s Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24.
In Matthew 24 the Lord portrays His gathering of the saints as an event that will take place “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29). This certainly sounds like a post-Tribulation Rapture. But it must be kept in mind that the book of Matthew was written to the Jews, and therefore the recording of Jesus’ speech by Matthew has a distinctively Jewish flavor to it as compared to Luke’s record of the same speech.
Note, for example, Matthew’s references to Judea and to Jewish law regarding travel on the Sabbath (Matthew 24:15-20). These are omitted in Luke’s account. Instead, Luke speaks of the saints looking up for deliverance “to escape all these things” when the end time signs “begin to take place” (Luke 21:28, 36). The saints in Matthew are instructed to flee from Judea and hide. The saints in Luke are told to look up for deliverance.
It appears, therefore, that Matthew and Luke are speaking of two different sets of saints. The saints in Matthew’s account are most likely Jews who receive Jesus as their Messiah during the Tribulation.
The saints in Luke are those who receive Christ before the Tribulation begins. Most of those who accept the Lord during the Tribulation will be martyred (Revelation 7:9-14). Those who live to the end will be gathered by the angels of the Lord (Matthew 24:31).
The parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and the parable of the dragnet (Matthew 13:47-50) can be explained in the same way. They refer to a separation of saints and sinners that will take place at the end of the Tribulation. The saints are those who receive Jesus as their Savior during the Tribulation (Gentile and Jew) and who live to the end of that awful period.
The Bible clearly teaches that the Rapture is an event that is separate and apart from the Second Coming. The two simply cannot be combined into one event.
Mid-Tribulation Rapture
There are variations of the mid-Tribulation Rapture concept. The most common is that the Church will be taken out in the exact middle of the Tribulation, at the point in time when the Antichrist is revealed.
This concept is based upon a statement in 1 Corinthians 15:52 which says that the Rapture will occur at the blowing of “the last trumpet.” This trumpet is then identified with the seventh trumpet of the trumpet judgments in the book of Revelation. Since the blowing of the seventh trumpet is recorded in Revelation 11, the mid-point of the Tribulation, the conclusion is that the Rapture must occur in the middle of the Tribulation.
But there are two problems with this interpretation. The first is that the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15 is blown for believers whereas the seven trumpets of Revelation 8, 9 and 11 are sounded for unbelievers. The Revelation trumpets have no relevance for the Church. The last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15 is a trumpet for the righteous. The last trumpet for the unrighteous is the one described in Revelation 11.
Another problem with this interpretation is that the passage in Revelation 11 that portrays the sounding of the seventh trumpet is a “flash forward” to the end of the Tribulation. Flash forwards are very common in the book of Revelation. They occur after something terrible is described in order to assure the reader that everything is going to turn out all right when Jesus returns at the end of the Tribulation.
Thus, the eighth and ninth chapters of Revelation, which describe the horrors of the trumpet judgments, are followed immediately by a flash forward in chapter 10 that pictures the return of Jesus in victory at the end of the Tribulation. The mid-Tribulation action resumes in chapter 11 with a description of the killing of the two great prophets of God by the Antichrist. Then, to offset that terrible event, we are presented with another flash forward, beginning with verse 15. The seventh trumpet is sounded and we find ourselves propelled forward to the end of the Tribulation when “the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord.”
The point is that the seventh trumpet of Revelation relates to the end of the Tribulation and not the middle. It is the same trumpet that is referred to in Matthew 24:31, the trumpet that will be blown to announce the Second Coming of Jesus. It is therefore no basis for an argument in behalf of a mid-Tribulation Rapture.
Pre-Wrath Rapture
A variation of the mid-Tribulation Rapture is the pre-wrath Rapture concept that places the Rapture at some point in the last quarter of the Tribulation, about five and a half years into the Tribulation.
The argument for this view is that the Church is promised protection only from the wrath of God and not the wrath of Man or of Satan. It is then argued that only the Trumpet and Bowl Judgments constitute the wrath of God, and these are placed in the last quarter of the Tribulation, despite the fact that the book of Revelation clearly places the Trumpet Judgments in the first half of the Tribulation. They maintain that the Seal Judgments are the wrath of Man and Satan.
This view disintegrates when you consider the fact that it is Jesus Himself who breaks the seals that launch each of the Seal Judgments recorded in Revelation 6. These judgments occur at the beginning of the Tribulation, and they are referred to as “the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16).
All the judgments of Revelation are clearly superintended by God. That is the reason we are told in Revelation 15:1 that the Bowl Judgments at the end of the Tribulation will finish the wrath of God, not begin His wrath.
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture
I believe the best inference of Scripture is that the Rapture will occur at the beginning of the Tribulation. The most important reason I believe this has to do with the issue of imminence.
Over and over in Scripture we are told to watch for the appearing of the Lord. We are told “to be ready” (Matthew 24:44), “to be on the alert” (Matthew 24:42), “to be dressed in readiness” (Luke 12:35), and to “keep your lamps alight” (Luke 12:35). The clear force of these persistent warnings is that Jesus can appear at any moment.
Only the pre-Tribulation concept of the Rapture allows for the imminence of the Lord’s appearing for His Church. When the Rapture is placed at any other point in time, the imminence of the Lord’s appearing is destroyed because other prophetic events must happen first.
For example, if the Rapture is going to occur in mid-Tribulation, then why should I live looking for the Lord’s appearing at any moment? I would be looking instead for an Israeli peace treaty, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the revelation of the Antichrist. Then and only then could the Lord appear.
Focus
This raises the issue of what we are to be looking for. Nowhere are believers told to watch for the appearance of the Antichrist. On the contrary, we are told to watch for Jesus Christ. In Titus 2:13 Paul says we are to live “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” Likewise, Peter urges us to “fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). John completes the apostolic chorus by similarly urging us to “fix our hope on Him” at His appearing (1 John 3:2-3).
Only Matthew speaks of watching for the Antichrist (Matthew 24:15), but he is speaking to the Jews living in Israel in the middle of the Tribulation when the Antichrist desecrates the rebuilt Temple.
Wrath
Another argument in behalf of a pre-Tribulation Rapture has to do with the promises of God to protect the Church from His wrath. As has already been demonstrated, the book of Revelation shows that the wrath of God will be poured out during the entire period of the Tribulation.
The Word promises over and over that the Church will be delivered from God’s wrath. Romans 5:9 says that “we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him [Jesus].” 1 Thessalonians 1:10 states that we are waiting “for His Son from heaven… who will deliver us from the wrath to come.” The promise is repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 — “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Deliverance
Some argue that God could supernaturally protect the Church during the Tribulation. Yes, He could. In fact, He promises to do just that for the 144,000 Jews who will be sealed as bond-servants at the beginning of the Tribulation (Revelation 7:1-8).
But God’s promise to the Church during the Tribulation is not one of protection but one of deliverance. Jesus said we would “escape” the horrors of the Tribulation (Luke 21:36). Paul says Jesus is coming to “deliver” us from God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
Symbolism
There are several prophetic types that seem to affirm the concept of deliverance from Tribulation.
Take Enoch for example. He was a prophet to the Gentiles who was raptured out of the world before God poured out His wrath in the great flood of Noah’s time. Enoch appears to be a type of the Gentile Church that will be taken out of the world before God pours out His wrath again. If so, then Noah and his family are a type of the Jewish remnant that will be protected through the Tribulation.
Another Old Testament symbolic type which points toward a pre-Tribulation Rapture is the experience of Lot and his family. They were delivered out of Sodom and Gomorrah before those cities were destroyed.
The Apostle Peter alludes to both of these examples in his second epistle. He states that if God spared Noah and Lot, then He surely “knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:4-9).
Another beautiful prophetic type is to be found in the Jewish wedding traditions of Jesus’ time. After the betrothal, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a wedding chamber for his bride. He would return for his bride at an unexpected moment, so the bride had to be ready constantly. When he returned, he would take his bride back to his father’s house to the chamber he had prepared. He and his bride would then be sealed in the chamber for seven days. When they emerged, a great wedding feast would be celebrated.
Likewise, Jesus has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for His bride, the Church. When He returns for His bride, He will take her to His Father’s heavenly home. There He will remain with His bride for seven years (the duration of the Tribulation). The period will end with “the marriage supper of the Lamb” described in Revelation 19. Thus the seven days in the wedding chamber point prophetically to the seven years that Jesus and His bride will remain in Heaven during the Tribulation.
Revelation
Speaking of Revelation, the structure of that book also implies a pre-Tribulation Rapture in a symbolic sense.
The first three chapters focus on the Church. Chapter 4 begins with the door of Heaven opening and John being raptured from the Isle of Patmos to the throne of God in Heaven. The Church is not mentioned thereafter until Revelation 19:7-9 when it is portrayed as the “bride of Christ” in Heaven with Jesus celebrating the “marriage supper of the Lamb.” At Revelation 19:11 the door of Heaven opens again, and Jesus emerges riding a white horse on His way to earth, followed by His Church (Revelation 19:14).
The rapture of the Apostle John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type of the Rapture of the Church. Note that it is initiated by the cry of a voice that sounds like the blowing of a trumpet (Revelation 4:1). Since the Tribulation does not begin until Revelation 6, the rapture of John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type that points to a pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.
Some counter this argument by pointing out that although the Church is not mentioned in Revelation during that book’s description of the Tribulation, there is constant mention of “saints” (for example, Revelation 13:7). But that term is not used in the Bible exclusively to refer to members of the Church. Daniel uses it to refer to Old Testament believers who lived long before the Church was established (Daniel 7:18). The saints referred to in the book of Revelation are most likely those people who will be saved during the Tribulation, after the Church has been taken out of the world.
Paul’s Assurance
An interesting argument in behalf of the pre-Tribulation timing of the Rapture can be found in 2 Thessalonians. The church at Thessalonica was in a turmoil because someone had written them a letter under Paul’s name stating that they had missed the “gathering to the Lord” and were, in fact, living in “the day of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).
Paul attempted to calm them down by reminding them of his teaching that the day of the Lord would not come until after the Antichrist is revealed. He then stated that the Antichrist would not be revealed until a restraining force “is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7).
There has been much speculation as to the identity of this restraining force that Paul refers to. Some have identified it as the Holy Spirit.
But it cannot be the Holy Spirit because there will be people saved during the Tribulation, and no one can be saved apart from the testimony of the Spirit (John 16:8-11 & 1 John 5:7).
Others have identified the restrainer as human government. It is true that government was ordained by God to restrain evil (Romans 13:1-4). But the governments of the world are in rebellion against God and His Son (Psalm 2), and they are therefore a contributor to the evil that characterizes the world. Furthermore, the Tribulation will not be characterized by a lack of government. Rather, it will feature the first true worldwide government (Revelation 13:7).
In my opinion that leaves only one other candidate for Paul’s restrainer — and that is the Church. It is the Church that serves as the primary restrainer of evil in the world today as it proclaims the Gospel and stands for righteousness. When the Church fails in this mission, evil multiplies, as Paul graphically points out in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Paul says that society in the end times will be characterized by chaos and despair because “men will hold to a form of religion but will deny its power.” When the Church is removed from the world, all hell will literally break loose.
Escapism?
The pre-Tribulation concept of the Rapture has often been condemned as “escapism.” I think this criticism is unjustified. The Bible itself says that Christians are to “comfort one another” with the thought of the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:18). Is it a comfort to think of the Rapture occurring at the end of the world’s worst period of war instead of at the beginning?
Regardless of when the Rapture actually occurs, we need to keep in mind that the Bible teaches that societal conditions are going to grow increasingly worse the closer we get to the Lord’s return. That means Christians will suffer tribulation whether or not they go into the Great Tribulation. And that means all of us had better be preparing ourselves for unprecedented suffering and spiritual warfare.
If you are a Christian, you can do that on a daily basis by putting on “the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:13), praying at all times in the Spirit that you will be able to stand firm against the attacks of Satan (Ephesians 6:14-18).
If you are not a Christian, your only hope is to reach out in faith and receive the free gift of God’s salvation which He has provided through His Son, Jesus (John 3:16).