Rapture and End Times

Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute,
the attractive mistress of sorcery,
who betrays nations by her prostitution
and clans by her witchcraft,
I am against you.
This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.
I will lift your skirts over your face
and display your nakedness to nations,
your shame to kingdoms.
I will throw filth on you
and treat you with contempt;
I will make a spectacle of you. (Nahum 3:4-6)

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Is it possible the United States, a superpower without peer in history, might not be a key player as the world makes its way down the road to the Battle of Armageddon?

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Can We Do Anything About America’s Decline? American Greatness, April 16, 2023

Twenty-first-century America was on a trajectory of gradual decline—until it began to implode.

Was the accelerant the COVID-19 pandemic and unhinged lockdowns? Or was the catalyst the woke revolution fueled by the 2020 summer of exempted rioting, looting, arson, and violence? Or was it perhaps the deranged fixation on removing Donald Trump from the presidency and destroying the rule of law in the process? Or all that and more?

Now with the election of Joe Biden, what had been a fast-tracked decline has accelerated at such an astonishing rate we can scarcely recognize our country.

Our largest cities are becoming uninhabitable—dilapidated, dangerous, and dysfunctional. The challenge is not just rampant crime, but the realization that if you, the citizen, are stabbed, shot, or beaten up on the street, the perpetrators may well be exempt from most punishments. And the victim either will be forgotten in his misery or, indeed, blamed for bringing such violence upon himself.

To have a “border problem,” one must have a border. The United States has no southern border.

Upwards of 7 million illegal entries since the Biden inauguration are proof enough of that tragedy. Mexico brags that 40 million have come into the United States. It urges them to vote Democratic. And it relies on still more illegal entries to ensure yearly increases in its current $60 billion in remittance income sent from its expatriates in the United States. The donors apparently grow fonder of Mexico—the more they are safely distant from it.

Abroad, our allies and neutrals are distancing themselves from America—France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Turkey, South Korea—on the Ukraine War, China, the dollar as the global currency, and our popular culture.

Biden is on schedule to run up a $2 trillion annual deficit, adhering to the Bush, Obama, and Trump legacy of unfettered spending. In Biden’s case, he insanely printed over $4 trillion at a time when labor participation rates were already in decline, COVID-suppressed demand was returning, and transportation and production interruptions were reducing supply. He raised taxes, increased regulations, cut projected increases in gas and oil production, and canceled energy projects. The result was the highest inflation in 40 years, near-record energy costs, soaring interest rates, the largest modern percentage of debt to GDP at 130 percent, the greatest debt in our history at $33 trillion, and stagnant GDP. All that and more prompt the current Chinese-led effort to dethrone the dollar as the world’s currency.

America is in a similar position to where it was in 1861, 1929, 1941, and 1968—only perhaps worse, given in all those cases, there was at least a president and Congress that identified and reacted to the crisis, whereas today our elected government is what caused the crisis.

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America ‘unrecognizable’ and on the brink of collapse, experts warn: ‘Turning on our own legacy’ Fox News, February 7, 2023

Is America dying before our eyes?

All societies eventually collapse – from the classical civilizations of Ancient Rome and Greece to the ever-alarming decline of modern America, could the past be hinting at what’s in store?

“The America of the 1980s has pretty much vanished,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo said. “We’re now entering a new period of unprecedented economic, social and cultural change.”

“We’re in a very bizarre and unprecedented situation in our civilization today, which is – we are turning on our own legacy and declaring it evil, oppressive, without any redeeming characteristics…” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Heather MacDonald said.

Among the devastating changes, the Fox Nation special explores, are unbearable living costs, anti-American “woke” sentimentality infiltrating the nation’s public schools and universities, riots in the streets of major U.S. cities, and the emboldening of the nation’s greatest adversaries, including Russia and China.

“The chain of civilization is only as strong as its weakest link, and all the values have to be passed on in their entirety from one generation to the other,” said historian and Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson.

The voices culminate to warn that erasing America’s past and the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that constructed its foundation could spell a devastating change in the near future.

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The decline of America The Washington Times, June 20, 2022

While inflation, high gas and food prices, a falling stock market, corrosive politics and a looming recession are all causes for concern — even alarm — two recent Gallup polls reveal an erosion of foundational principles that are key to a stable and enduring society.

According to Gallup, 50% of those surveyed believe the state of “moral values” in America is “poor.” Thirty-seven percent say they are only “fair.” The trend is not headed in the right direction as 78% think they are getting worse.

One doesn’t have to look far to see the reason for this pessimistic outlook. Consider what is being taught (and not taught) in many public schools and universities. The media — social, broadcast, cable and entertainment — mostly focus on the tawdry. It’s “news” that Emma Thompson is doing a nude scene in a film because she wants us to love our bodies. It’s news that Kim Kardashian wore a dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. Don’t even get me started on the fascination the media have with Harry and Meghan.

Things once considered wrong and immoral are now paraded as the opposite and woe to those corporations, institutions and individuals that claim otherwise.

Need more examples? There isn’t enough space to list them all, but these few will do: mass shootings in schools and everywhere else; Speaker Nancy Pelosi appearing on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and remarking, “This is what America is all about”; drag queen story hours at some elementary schools and other actions related to the promotion of the acronym known as LGBTQ-plus; gender identity and fluidity (Facebook’s list of gender categories now totals 58); a library system in Maryland hosting social justice and activism camps for ninth-graders to teach them “how to engage your activism, make connections to your community and develop your passions”; Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a “Menstrual Cycle Dignity” bill that requires thousands of new tampon dispensers be placed in boy’s bathrooms; a Washington, D.C., elementary school gave pre-K through third-grade children a lesson on “anti-racism” that asked them to identify racist members of their family.

Moral decline — along with massive debt — has contributed to the collapse of great nations in the past. If a foundation is defective, any house built on it will likely experience distress. What makes us think we can escape the judgment of history and avoid a similar fate? A house and its foundation must be maintained. A car must be serviced. A body must be taken care of. So must America.

The second Gallup poll found belief in the existence of God has reached a new low. Eighty-one percent of those surveyed said they believe in God, but the number is down six points from a consistent 87% that held that belief between 2013 and 2017.

The two polls should be seen as related. When a vacuum is created, pressure builds from the outside to fill it. If growing numbers of people don’t believe in God, they have to believe in something. Without the power to restrain humankind from our lower nature, anything goes. Is this where we want to be and is this the direction in which we wish to be headed?

I once heard the late evangelist Rev. Billy Graham say America was not at a crossroads, but had traveled down the wrong road and needed to come back to the crossroads and take the right road. What if we can no longer agree on the right road and where the wrong road is leading us?

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The American empire has been a global superpower for nearly a century. However, in recent years, there have been increasing signs that the empire may be coming to an end. Here are 7 reasons why the American empire could be ending:

1. Decline in traditional values: Many Americans believe that traditional values, such as hard work, family, and community, are being eroded. This is leading to a sense of moral decay and a loss of hope for the future.

2. Economic Decline: The American economy has been in decline for several decades. The country has a growing trade deficit and a shrinking middle class. The United States no longer produces enough goods and services to sustain its standard of living, and the country has become reliant on borrowing from foreign countries. The gap between the rich and the poor in America is wider than it has been in decades. This is leading to social unrest and a sense of hopelessness among many Americans.

3. Political Polarization: The United States is deeply divided politically, with the two major parties increasingly at odds with each other. This polarization has led to a gridlocked government that is unable to address the country’s most pressing problems.

4. A growing national debt: The national debt of the United States is now over $31 trillion. This is a major financial burden that is making it difficult for the government to invest in the future. Also, the US currency now represents about 58% of total global official reserves, down from 73% in 2001 when it was the indisputable hegemonic reserve.

5. Globalization: The rise of globalization has made it easier for other countries to challenge the United States’ economic and military dominance. Countries like China and India are rapidly developing their own economies and are beginning to challenge the United States’ global influence. Global competition is making it difficult for American businesses to compete and is leading to job losses.

6. Military Overstretch: The United States’ military is stretched thin, with troops deployed in dozens of countries around the world. This overstretch is expensive and unsustainable, and it is undermining the country’s ability to respond to emerging threats.

7. Loss of Soft Power: The United States’ soft power is declining, with other countries no longer looking to America as a model for democracy and human rights. This loss of soft power is undermining the country’s ability to influence global affairs and is contributing to its declining global relevance.

The American empire is facing significant challenges that are contributing to its decline. If these challenges are not addressed, it is possible that America could decline and eventually fall.

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America in Last Days Prophecy Oneplace, May 29, 2020

When you study end-times, you will read of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. We know of the important role of Jerusalem and Israel. But what about the United States of America? Where is America in Last Days Prophecy?

Only by the greatest expanse of ingenuity can you read of the USA in the Bible. Granted, it is not hard to find those with that kind of creativity, but no tenable method of interpreting Scripture finds a specific reference to the United States in the pages of the Bible.

What happened to the greatest venture into democracy the world has ever known? Surely a nation as large, powerful, and prominent as the United States would have some quality role in the last day’s government, wouldn’t it?

When the rapture occurs—and nothing is keeping its occurrence save the mercy and patience of Almighty God—large sections of America will be left decimated. Of all the nations of the world, perhaps the United States will be more negatively affected by the rapture than any other. Sadly, some nations will scarcely notice the rapture.

America, on the other hand, still has a sizable population base of born-again believers. While some areas will stand less affected by a loss of the Christian population, some communities and regions would lose a large share of the population, including key figures in their government and perhaps a greater part of their teachers, first responders, and businessmen and women.

In a recent sampling, 82 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Christians. While few would contend that these 82 percent have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, the number is nonetheless large enough to merit an argument for an enormous and rapid breakdown of our national strength following the removal of the born-again community, instantaneously and without notice. Make no mistake, should the USA remain until the day of the rapture, it will develop into a Third-World country in an instant. This country—then ravaged by crime, hunger, lawlessness, and chaos—will long for a “savior” of its own. It is easy to imagine a scenario in which America quickly succumbs to the leadership of anyone who can help.

Even if that person is the Antichirst.

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Of course, there are also many people who believe that America is not in its last days. They point to the country’s strong economy, its vibrant culture, and its commitment to democracy. They believe that America is still the greatest country in the world and that it will continue to be a beacon of hope for people all over the world.

Only time will tell which side is right. But one thing is for sure: America is at a crossroads.

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But the Good News is – God’s Kingdom is coming, and it never ends!

The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. (Isaiah 9:7)

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In the book of Isaiah, we read a lot about God’s judgment on the people of Israel, since they continually rebelled against Him. As a consequence of their idolatry, the people “dwelt in a land of deep darkness” (Isaiah 9:1-2).

Once, their country had flourished under the reign of King David, but now enemies had conquered them and the situation seemed hopeless. But right in the midst of this misery, God tells them that He will give them a “Prince of Peace” who will reign on David’s throne forever and restore justice and righteousness.

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In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel quotes this prophecy and applies it to Jesus. He is the ultimate Son of David. He will reign forever and ever. The book of Revelation gives us a preview of this situation, since Jesus’ Kingdom is not yet visible to us in all its glory.

All three Bible passages stress that there will be no end to Jesus’ reign.

This promise is like a refrain that unites believers from all times: the Kingdom we are expecting will endure through the ages. Human nations rise and fall, but God’s Kingdom will remain.

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“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:

Raptureandendtimes.com,

Great work! 

Keep up the Blessed Commission!

Joey