Rapture and End Times

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

There are many End Time signs, plainly visible to anyone who is aware and spiritually awake. For most people, the concept of “the end of the world” is more fantasy than reality. But, the Holy Bible makes it very clear that the end will come to us all. All indications are that we are approaching the final countdown:

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Former FBI Special Agent Left Homeless After Blowing the Whistle on FBI and DOJ – Gives Powerful Testimony on Abuses of Power and Weaponization The Gateway Pundit, May. 18, 2023

On Thursday, three former FBI officials testified during a public whistleblower hearing by the House Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle revealed in a shocking testimony that he and his family had their belongings confiscated by the FBI and were subsequently left homeless after he was suspended from the bureau for speaking out against them.

The three FBI whistleblowers – FBI special agent Garret O’Boyle, former FBI special agent Steve Friend, and FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen – have all been suspended from the bureau for expressing concerns about alleged abuses of power.

These agents shared their concerns over the handling of January 6 cases, specifically that they were instructed to pursue “domestic violent extremism,” disregard standard investigative procedures, and pursue Jan. 6 investigations over child sex crimes which were deemed “no longer a priority.”

The whistleblowers also accused the FBI of inflating statistics on “domestic violent extremism” to align with the Biden regime’s political narrative. They did this by targeting pro-life groups, Catholics, and parents attending school board meetings to make it seem like they posed a domestic terrorist threat.

FBI Special Agent O’Boyle gave powerful testimony before the committee Thursday morning on the “weaponization of the FBI and DOJ,” stating that the organizations were weaponized against “not only [their] own employees, but against those institutions and individuals that are supposed to protect the American people.”

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RFK Jr. Says “CIA Involved In Assassinations and Fixing Elections” The Gateway Pundit, May. 5, 2023

Democrat presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat down with Freddie Sayers the Editor-in-Chief of Unhurd and had a lot of interesting things to say about the CIA.

The topic of the CIA got brought up when Sayers asked Kennedy what kind of approach he plans to take with the CIA.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to Sayers’ question by saying “the CIA needs to be reorganized.”

He continued “Very early on Allen Dulles( former CIA Director) corrupted the purpose of the CIA by getting it involved in assassinations and fixing elections… the CIA has been involved in coup d’état’s in a third of the countries in the world.”

Kennedy rounded up his thought by saying “Our national policy as a country is to promote democracy the CIA’s policy has been the opposite.”

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A.I. poses existential risk of people being ‘harmed or killed,’ ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says CNBC, May 24 2023

Artificial intelligence could pose existential risks and governments need to know how to make sure the technology is not “misused by evil people,” former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned Wednesday.

The future of AI has been thrust into the center of conversations among technologists and policymakers grappling with what the technology looks like going forward and how it should be regulated.

ChatGPT, the chatbot that went viral last year, has arguably sparked more awareness of artificial intelligence as major firms around the world look to launch rival products and talk up their AI capabilities.

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in London, Schmidt said his concern is that AI is an “existential risk.”

“And existential risk is defined as many, many, many, many people harmed or killed,” Schmidt said.

“There are scenarios not today, but reasonably soon, where these systems will be able to find zero-day exploits in cyber issues, or discover new kinds of biology. Now, this is fiction today, but its reasoning is likely to be true. And when that happens, we want to be ready to know how to make sure these things are not misused by evil people.”

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Incredible shrinking lakes: Humans, climate change, diversion costs trillions of gallons annually AP, May 18, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — Climate change ’s hotter temperatures and society’s diversion of water have been shrinking the world’s lakes by trillions of gallons of water a year since the early 1990s, a new study finds.

A close examination of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes found they are losing about 5.7 trillion gallons (21.5 trillion liters) a year. That means from 1992 to 2020, the world lost the equivalent of 17 Lake Meads, America’s largest reservoir, in Nevada. It’s also roughly equal to how much water the United States used in an entire year in 2015.

Even lakes in areas getting more rainfall are shriveling. That’s because of both a thirstier atmosphere from warmer air sucking up more water in evaporation, and a thirsty society that is diverting water from lakes to agriculture, power plants and drinking supplies, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science.

Authors also cited a third reason they called more natural, with water shrinking because of rainfall pattern and river runoff changes, but even that may have a climate change component. That’s the main cause for Iran’s Lake Urmia to lose about 277 billion gallons (1.05 trillion liters) a year, the study said.

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Are we approaching the final countdown?

Whether you believe that or not, as Christian apologist Walter Martin used to say – the real death rate is one per person, meaning that each person’s death is a matter of when, not if.

What is our ultimate fate?

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“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was left at his gate. He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores. 

One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’

“‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’

“‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house— because I have five brothers—to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

Jesus teaches that heaven and hell are both real, literal places. Sadly, many preachers shy away from uncomfortable topics such as hell. Some even teach “universalism” – the belief that everyone goes to heaven. Yet Christ spoke about hell a great deal, as did Paul, Peter, John, Jude, and the writer of Hebrews. The Bible is clear that every person who has ever lived will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. Like the rich man in the story, multitudes today are complacent in their conviction that all is well with their soul, and many will hear our Savior tell them otherwise when they die:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

This story also illustrates that once we cross the eternal horizon, that’s it. There are no more chances. The transition to our eternal state takes place the moment we die:

Two others—criminals—were also led away to be executed with Him. When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.  Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided His clothes and cast lots.

The people stood watching, and even the leaders kept scoffing: “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked Him. They came offering Him sour wine and said, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

An inscription was above Him:

But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”

And He said to him, “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:32-43)

When believers die, they are immediately in the conscious fellowship and joys of heaven. When unbelievers die, they are just as immediately in the conscious pain, suffering, and torment of hell.

Notice the rich man didn’t ask for his brothers to pray for his release from some purgatorial middle ground, thereby expediting his journey to heaven. He knew he was in hell, and he knew why. That’s why his requests were merely to be comforted and to have a warning sent to his brothers. He knew there was no escape. He was eternally separated from God, and Abraham made it clear to him that there was no hope of ever mitigating his pain, suffering, or sorrow. Those in hell will perfectly recollect missed opportunities and their rejection of the gospel.

Like many these days who buy into the “prosperity gospel,” the rich man wrongly saw his material riches as evidence of God’s love and blessing. Likewise, he believed the poor and destitute, like Lazarus, were cursed by God. Yet, as the apostle James exhorted, “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter” (James 5:5). Not only do riches not get one into heaven, but they have the power to separate a person from God in a way that few other things can. Riches are deceitful (Mark 4:19). It is certainly not impossible for the very rich to enter heaven (many heroes of the Bible were wealthy), but Scripture is clear that it is very hard (Matthew 19:23-24; Mark 10:23-25; Luke 18:24-25).

True followers of Christ will not be indifferent to the plight of the poor like the rich man in this story was. God loves the poor and is offended when His children neglect them. In fact, those who show mercy to the poor are in effect ministering to Christ personally (Matthew 25:35-40). Christians are known by the fruit they bear. The Holy Spirit’s residence in our hearts will most certainly impact how we live and what we do.

Abraham’s words in verses 29 and 31 referring to “Moses and the Prophets” (Scripture) confirms that understanding the revealed Word of God has the power to turn unbelief into faith. Furthermore, knowing Scripture helps us to understand that God’s children, like Lazarus, can suffer while on this earth—suffering is one of the many tragic consequences of living in a sinful and fallen world.

The Bible says our earthly lives are a “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Our earthly sojourn is exceedingly brief. Perhaps the greatest lesson to learn from this story, then, is that when death comes knocking on our door there is only one thing that matters: our relationship with Jesus Christ. “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36).

Eternal life is only found in Christ. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12). The truth is, if we wish to live apart from God during our time on earth, He will grant us our wish for eternity as well. As one pastor aptly said, “If you board the train of unbelief, you will have to take it all the way to its destination.”

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Do you know the laws of heaven?
Can you impose its authority on earth? (Job 38:33)

In the story of Job, the Lord is asking Job if he knows the physical and moral laws by which the course of nature is governed (Do you know the laws of heaven?) In asking Job that question, God was helping His troubled servant to understand just how little humans really know in comparison with the limitless wisdom of the Creator.

Paul stated the position very clearly to the Romans:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. (Romans 1:16-20)

Paul appeals to the natural revelation of God and His will to establish humanity’s knowledge of sin and God’s justice in the coming judgment.

The natural law itself doesn’t reveal the Good News of salvation. There’s a natural law, but there’s no natural gospel. A conception of natural law does, however, provide theological explanation for why the Son of God became incarnate, died, and rose again. The church doesn’t preach the gospel into a vacuum, but to real people whom God created for good purposes and who failed to attain those purposes.

The Lord’s universe preaches to people who are hurt and needy—hurt and needy not because they’re lost in a sea of chaos, but because they’re out of alignment with the moral laws by which God governs this world. Natural law explains the biblical teaching that, deep down, all people know that there’s a God, a moral order of the world, and a final judgment. Thanks to the natural law, every person is ready, at some level, to hear and to understand the gospel, even before any Christian explains it to him.

What is the gospel – the Good News?

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
All things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created.
Life was in Him,
and that life was the light of men.
That light shines in the darkness,
yet the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-3)

Jesus lived a perfect life and did not sin. There were some people who did not like what Jesus was doing and plotted to have Him crucified. He was scourged, mocked, and hung on a cross until he died. Then, he was placed in a tomb. Just like the Passover lambs were offered and their blood was shed for the forgiveness of sin, Jesus was offered and his blood was shed. His perfect sacrifice was better than an animal sacrifice and by the shedding of his blood came the forgiveness of sins for all people once and forever.

Jesus paid the price for all mankind when he suffered on the cross. He took on himself the rebellion and sin of all mankind from the past, present and future.  So, even we have caused him the pain he suffered. He was the final sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice for all time.  No longer did man have to sacrifice animals to cover their sin because his ultimate sacrifice PAID the price for all time.

He arose from the dead three days later and appeared to his disciples and apostles and many witnesses. He returned to his Father in heaven, but before ascending he charged them to spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. He promised to come again to take his people who believe in him and look for his appearing to be with him in the clouds.

For those who know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent, there will be no more death, no more sorrow, and no more crying or pain. God will be with his people and he will wipe away all tears from their eyes. The former things will pass away and all things will be made new. This will continue forever.

In its biblical usage, “unbelief” always connotes stubborn resistance, disobedience, rebellion and rejection of the Gospel. The truth is, God doesn’t want to send anyone to Hell. He’d much rather people come to Heaven with Him, so much so that He sent His one and only Son to take our punishment so that we wouldn’t have to. But, He created humans with free will.

We have the choice whether we want to accept God and be with Him, or reject Him and spend eternity away from Him. The sad fact is, many will make the decision not to be a part of God’s heaven.

Those who continue rebelling and reject this sacrifice for their sin will remain spiritually dead for all eternity, and will be sent to the hell of the bottomless pit along with Satan and his evil angels.

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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:

Thank you for this article. There are many signs and indicators that the Rapture may happen in 2023, including the convergence of biblical prophecies and current global events. Great job emphasizing the importance of being prepared for the Rapture and encouraging readers to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. My key takeaway from this blog post is the urgency of being ready for the Rapture, and the significance of faith in Jesus Christ as the means of escaping the Tribulation.

Benjamin731, May 30, 2023

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There are many signs that are now beginning to come clear that point to the second advent being in the year 2030. The Church will be raptured before the final week begins. The math says be ready.

The Light, June 1, 2023

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