Rapture and End Times

Global Disasters of Biblical Proportions Strike Worldwide Future News Report, September 17, 2023

In a shocking turn of events, multiple disasters have struck various parts of the world over the last 2 days, causing widespread panic and chaos. Reports are coming in of the disappearance of millions of people, a significant increase in UFO sightings, multiple crashes of the internet on a global scale, the invasion of Israel by Russian and Iranian forces, and a massive 9.8 magnitude earthquake in the Middle East followed by a series of massive airbursts apparently from meteorites.

The cause of the disappearances is currently unknown and is being investigated by authorities. 10 Countries have been the most severely impacted (United States, Nigeria, China, Brazil, South Africa, United Kingdom, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Kenya, and India).

Associated UFO activity has been reported in multiple countries, with witnesses describing unidentified flying objects of various shapes and sizes.

The internet crashes have resulted in widespread communication failures and have severely impacted businesses and daily life.

The invasion of Israel by Russian and Iranian forces has led to a state of emergency in the region and has sparked international condemnation. The 9.8 magnitude earthquake (downgraded from 10) in the Middle East has caused widespread damage and destruction, and the subsequent airbursts have added to the already catastrophic situation.

Authorities are urging people to stay calm and follow any evacuation or emergency instructions issued. Rescue and relief efforts are currently underway, and authorities are working to assess the full extent of the damages. Erdogan, the President of Turkey, and the Vatican will be issuing a joint report. Turkey is offering safe haven for all refugees. The North American Union is releasing emergency funds to the areas that were most impacted. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

This fictitious news report could very well become reality one day soon, as events continue to unfold, leading up to what the prophets called the Day of the Lord.

Conflicts to Watch in 2023 CFR, January 4, 2023

The world took a dangerous turn in 2022. High-intensity conflict broke out in Europe—something widely considered unimaginable just a few years ago—while tensions continue to escalate between the United States and China over Taiwan. Meanwhile, the potential for conflict on the Korean peninsula and between Iran and Israel remains high. Interstate warfare, and the potential for its escalation, features prominantly in the Council on Foreign Relations’ (CFR) fifteenth annual Preventive Priorities Survey.

Conducted by CFR’s Center for Preventive Action (CPA) in November, the survey asks foreign policy experts to evaluate thirty ongoing or potential violent conflicts based on their likelihood of occurring or escalating this year, as well as their possible impact on U.S. interests.

In total, seven contingencies are considered top-tier risks:

Likelihood: Moderate; Impact: High

An escalation of coercive pressure by China toward Taiwan, including heightened military activity, precipitates a severe cross-strait crisis involving the United States and other countries in the region

An escalation of the armed conflict in Ukraine resulting from the employment of unconventional weapons, spillover into neighboring countries (including cyberattacks on critical infrastructure), and/or the direct involvement of NATO members

A highly disruptive cyberattack targeting U.S. critical infrastructure by a state or nonstate entity

Popular dissatisfaction with the war in Ukraine and worsening economic conditions lead to growing civil unrest in Russia and a power struggle in Moscow

An acute security crisis in Northeast Asia triggered by North Korea’s development and testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles

A military confrontation between Israel and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program and its continued support for militant groups in neighboring countries

Increased violence, political unrest, and worsening economic conditions in Central America and Mexico, aggravated by acute weather events, fuel a surge in migration to the United States

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The World’s Most Important Election in 2023 Will Be in Turkey Bloomberg, January 8, 2023

Among the many general elections of international consequence to watch this year, Nigeria’s, scheduled for February will be by far the largest; Pakistan’s, due by October, will probably be the loudest. But the most important will unquestionably take place on June 18, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to stretch his rule over Turkey into a third decade.

The outcome will shape geopolitical and economic calculations in Washington and Moscow, as well as capitals across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. “What happens in Turkey doesn’t just stay in Turkey,” says Ziya Meral, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. “Turkey may be a middle power, but the great powers have a stake in its election.”

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The 10 Most Powerful Individuals On the Planet in 2022 The Tough Tackle, May 23, 2022

Typically, elected political leaders wield the most influence. However, there are also many powerful leaders in the fields of religion, innovation, business, social media, and entertainment who are not involved in politics.

Due to their large following and cult status, these individuals are regarded as thought leaders and influencers.

6. Pope Francis

Pope Francis is the leader of the Catholic Church and the ruler of the State of Vatican City. He is one of the most popular international leaders, with supporters all around the world. He is the first pope who belongs to the Society of Jesus.

In his youth, he worked as a bouncer and a janitor and was born in Argentina. Later, he received training in pharmacy to become a chemist and worked as a technician at a food science laboratory.

After recuperating from a serious illness, he was inspired to join the Society of Jesus and became a priest 11 years later. He was then appointed archbishop and later made a cardinal.

As Pope, Francis upheld the traditional Catholic Church stances on clerical celibacy, women’s ordination, and abortion.

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Explained: The World Economic Forum has warned the world of a polycrisis in 2023. What is it? FirstPost, January 16, 2023

While the word polycrisis has been around for long, it has gained traction in the past year. Columbia University historian Adam Tooze is perhaps the most prominent champion of the polycrisis label.

His explanation of the term is: A problem becomes a crisis when it challenges our ability to cope and thus threatens our identity. In the polycrisis the shocks are disparate, but they interact so that the whole is even more overwhelming than the sum of the parts.

Another explanation of polycrisis would be — when multiple crises in multiple global systems become causally entangled in ways that significantly degrade humanity’s prospects. These interacting crises produce harms greater than the sum of those the crises would produce in isolation, were their host systems not so deeply interconnected.

If you are seeking for a simpler meaning of a polycrisis, it would be the ‘perfect storm’.

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What is the Day of the Lord? Why would we want it?

Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord!
What will the Day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
It will be like a man who flees from a lion
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Won’t the Day of the Lord
be darkness rather than light,
even gloom without any brightness in it? (Amos 5:18-20)

The big picture:

The phrase “day of the Lord” usually identifies events that take place at the end of history (Isaiah 7:18-25) and is often closely associated with the phrase “that day.” One key to understanding these phrases is to note that they always identify a span of time during which God personally intervenes in history, directly or indirectly, to accomplish some specific aspect of His plan.

The Old Testament passages referring to the day of the Lord often speak of both a near and a far fulfillment, as does much of Old Testament prophecy. Some Old Testament passages that refer to the day of the Lord describe historical judgments that have already been fulfilled in some sense, while others refers to divine judgments that will take place toward the end of the age.

Blow the horn in Zion;
sound the alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the residents of the land tremble,
for the Day of the Lord is coming;
in fact, it is near—
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dense overcast,
like the dawn spreading over the mountains;
a great and strong people appears,
such as never existed in ages past
and never will again
in all the generations to come.

A fire destroys in front of them,
and behind them a flame devours.
The land in front of them
is like the Garden of Eden,
but behind them,
it is like a desert wasteland;
there is no escape from them.

Their appearance is like that of horses,
and they gallop like war horses.
They bound on the tops of the mountains.
Their sound is like the sound of chariots,
like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble,
like a mighty army deployed for war.

Nations writhe in horror before them;
all faces turn pale.
They attack as warriors attack;
they scale walls as men of war do.
Each goes on his own path,
and they do not change their course.
They do not push each other;
each man proceeds on his own path.
They dodge the arrows, never stopping. (Joel 2:6-8)

The earth quakes before them;
the sky shakes.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars cease their shining.

The Lord raises His voice
in the presence of His army.
His camp is very large;
Those who carry out His command are powerful.
Indeed, the Day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful—
who can endure it? (Joel 2:10-11)

1 big thing:

The day of the Lord is a reference not only to a single day, but also to a period of judgment called the Tribulation. This period of intense suffering lasts 7 years. The midway point is called the Great Tribulation, and is highlighted by the invasion of Israel.

The New Testament calls it a day of “wrath,” a day of “visitation,” and the “great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14) and refers to a still future fulfillment when God’s wrath is poured out on unbelieving Israel and on the unbelieving world. The Scriptures indicate that “the day of the Lord” will come quickly, like a thief in the night (Zephaniah 1:14-15; 1 Thessalonians 5:2), and therefore Christians must be watchful and ready for the coming of Christ at any moment.

Going deeper:

All indications are that the President of Turkey, Erdogan, is going to do everything in his considerable power to “make Turkey great again” and overturn the Ottoman defeat of 1917.

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Turkey’s Erdogan shows no give on Sweden’s NATO bid Al-Monitor, January 20, 2023

No quid pro quo for US F-16s, says Turkish FM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has seized opportunity in the crisis that is the Ukraine war: leveraging his star turn as mediator between Moscow and Kyiv, flirting with rapprochement with Syria, rebuilding ties with Israel and the Gulf, and trying to steady US-Turkey relations.

His actions come across as both urgent and purposeful, given a difficult economy and elections now slated for May 14, as Nazlan Ertan reports.

The opposition coalition has yet to name a candidate, and an expected close race seems increasingly to tilt, if slightly, in Erdogan’s favor.

Such was the context last week when Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu came to Washington for meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Biden administration has proposed selling F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, in return, unofficially, and not as a condition, for Ankara approving Sweden’s membership bid for NATO.

If that’s not the official deal, it is the expectation in Washington. Erdogan is at ease, however, with high-stakes diplomacy. He is flashing no sign that he buys into the linkage, at least not now, and certainly not before the election.

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Erdogan will be part of a non-aggression agreement, a firm covenant with Israel, allowing the Third Temple to be built:

He will make a firm covenant
with many for one week,
but in the middle of the week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
And the abomination of desolation
will be on a wing of the temple
until the decreed destruction
is poured out on the desolator.” (Daniel 9:27)

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What to watch:

Jerusalem will be taken over by the Beast because of the apostasy of Israel. If Israel’s history proves anything, it proves how quickly and easily so many people can turn away from obeying the Lord.

Soon after the miracle of the destruction of the invading armies of the Ezekiel 38 war, Israel slips back in a period of apostasy.

During the second half of the 7 year Tribulation, the world is dominated by the Antichrist—one specific person. That is the final manifestation, the final product of the spirit of antichrist. He will be one final, supremely evil, supremely powerful ruler, who will dominate the human race for that brief period.

They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against him?”

A mouth was given to him to speak boasts and blasphemies. He was also given authority to act for 42 months. He began to speak blasphemies against God: to blaspheme His name and His dwelling—those who dwell in heaven. And he was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. He was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. All those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. (Revelation 13:4-8)

Ultimately, the evil nations are brought to judgment:

Yes, in those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all the nations
and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will enter into judgment with them there
because of My people, My inheritance Israel.
The nations have scattered the Israelites
in foreign countries
and divided up My land. (Joel 3:1-2)

Let the nations be roused
and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit down
to judge all the surrounding nations.
Swing the sickle
because the harvest is ripe.
Come and trample the grapes
because the winepress is full;
the wine vats overflow
because the wickedness of the nations is great.

Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the Day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
The sun and moon will grow dark,
and the stars will cease their shining.
The Lord will roar from Zion
and raise His voice from Jerusalem;
heaven and earth will shake.
But the Lord will be a refuge for His people,
a stronghold for the Israelites. (Joel 3:12-16)

The Valley of Jehoshaphat is also known as Armageddon, a place that is to be the focal point of a world conflict where the nations will be gathered for war. The meaning of the word Armageddon is “a heap of sheaves in a valley for judgement.”

Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against His army. But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with him the false prophet, who had performed the signs in his presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:19-21)

The Book of Joel gives us an overview of the entire Tribulation – from the plague of locusts to Armageddon. In the end, Israel is blessed.

Besides being a time of judgment, it will also be a time of salvation as God will deliver the remnant of Israel, fulfilling His promise that “all of Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), forgiving their sins and restoring His chosen people to the land He promised to Abraham. The final outcome of the day of the Lord will be that “the arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:17). The ultimate or final fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the day of the Lord will come at the end of history when God, with wondrous power, will punish evil and fulfill all His promises.

The bottom line:

The last picture is of Jerusalem in the end of days experiencing a time of complete peace, a peace that will spread out to everyone as it becomes a house of prayer for all nations:

Then you will know
that I am Yahweh your God,
who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy,
and foreigners will never overrun it again.

In that day
the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and the hills will flow with milk.
All the streams of Judah will flow with water,
and a spring will issue from the Lord’s house,
watering the Valley of Acacias.

Egypt will become desolate,
and Edom a desert wasteland,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah
in whose land they shed innocent blood.

But Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
I will pardon their bloodguilt,
which I have not pardoned,
for the Lord dwells in Zion. (Joel 3:17-21)

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If you are not sure that you are saved, you can accept Christ into your life right now, by praying:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.  Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life.  I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior.”

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Reader Comments:

Brilliant! I see it all happening, exactly as you described.

The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel. Joel 3:16

Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger. Zephaniah 2:3

Benjamin731, September 5, 2022

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