SPECIAL EDITION - ISRAEL AT WAR!!! #1

 After Israel Sends Troops into Gaza, Watch for Hezbollah, Iran, Syria and The U.S. To All Get Involved In The Great Middle East War- by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/after-israel-sends-troops-into-gaza-watch-for-hezbollah-iran-syria-and-the-u-s-to-all-get-involved-in-the-great-middle-east-war/ “Escalation” will be a word that is used a lot in the coming days. Once Israel sends troops into Gaza, it is going to trigger a series of events that nobody is going to beable to control. But there is no turning back now. When Hamas decided to rape women, behead children and kidnap the elderly, they made any other course of action impossible. Israel must go into Gaza. And as I write this article, we are witnessing the largestmobilization of Israelis troops that we have seen since the Yom Kippur War… Tens of thousands of Israeli troops are on the move as the country prepares for a possible ground operation in response to the surprise attack launched by Hamas early Saturdaymorning. More than 300,000 troops have been called up, the largest mobilization on short notice in Israel’s history, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Lt. Col.Jonathan Conricus. Those in the south are readying ahead of the forthcoming operation in Gaza and defending the border. Jeeps, tanks and other large military vehicles have been seen heading south as well Along the northern border with Lebanon, the IDF has deployed tens of thousands of troops, including reservists and regular units, Conricus said. Tanks have also been spottedin the area. Once Israeli troops enter Gaza, the Great Middle East War will have begun. Even now, Israeli aircraft are “razing entire districts” inside Gaza in preparation for the coming invasion… Israeli air strikes hammered Gaza on Tuesday, razing entire districts and filling morgues with dead Palestinians as Israel took revenge for the Hamas assaults that have triggeredsome of the worst blood-letting in 75 years of conflict. Across the barrier wall enclosing the coastal enclave, Israeli soldiers collected the last of Israel’s dead four days after Hamas gunmen rampaged through towns, killing hundredsof people in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history. In the past, Israel has tried to hit Hamas really hard in order to deter future attacks. But now the mission is to utterly destroy Hamas. At this point, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is characterizing this fight as a battle between the civilized world and barbarism… Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his intent to wage an unprecedented military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, a war that he has characterized as acivilizational clash. “And just as the forces of civilization united to defeat ISIS, the forces of civilization must support Israel in defeating Hamas,” Netanyahu said on Monday. “In fighting Hamas,Israel is not only fighting for its own people. It is fighting for every country that stands against barbarism. Israel will win this war, and when Israel wins, the entire civilized world wins.” There is no way that Israel can “win this war” without going into Gaza. And that is precisely what is about to happen. In fact, it is being reported that the Israeli government has already informed the Egyptian government that it is gearing up for “a months-long ground campaign in Gaza”… Israel is readying for a months-long ground campaign in Gaza, an Egyptian official tells The Times of Israel, saying that this message has been passed along from Jerusalemto Cairo. The Egyptian official says Israel has thus far dismissed Cairo’s efforts to mediate any sort of de-escalation, indicating that it wants to deal a knock-out blow to Hamas beforeentertaining the idea of a ceasefire. So when Israel is systematically destroying Hamas, do you think that there is any chance that Hezbollah will just sit on the sidelines and watch it happen? No way. In fact, a Hamas official has stated that Hezbollah “will join the battle” if Gaza is invaded… A senior Hamas official warned Israel on Tuesday that Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah “will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation,” according to the AssociatedPress. That is why the Israelis are sending so many military resources to the northern border. They know that this will be a two front war… On the third day of war between Hamas and Israel, residents of northern Israel were rushing to evacuate towns near the Lebanese border and buying essentials in preparationfor a possible escalation. As in much of the country, an eerie silence prevailed throughout the north, broken only by the rain showers periodically breaking over the area. Driving up from central Israel, there was relatively little traffic on what is usually one of Israel’s busiest highways, Highway 6. On both sides of the road, tanks and militarybulldozers on carriers headed to the southern and northern border. But it won’t end there. As I mentioned yesterday, Israel has reportedly warned Hezbollah that Damascus will be destroyed if Hezbollah tries to send troops into Israel… Israel gives clear warning to Hezbollah: If Hezbollah joins the war, the IDF will completely destroy Damascus and will directly target the Iran-backed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Moreover, US warships will supportIsrael in this war. This message was delivered by Israel via France. So that would bring Syria into the war. And I think that it is a very ominous sign that Israel and Syria are already exchanging artillery fire… The IDF said it was responding to shells fired from Syria into Israel on Tuesday night. Some of the shells most likely landed in open fields in Israel’s Golan Heights, the military added. The IDF responded with artillery and mortar fire toward the source of the Syrian shelling. If Israel ends up fighting Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria all at the same time, do you think that Iran will be able to stay out of the war? The Iranians seem to fear direct military conflict, but it seems unlikely that they would refuse to fight if all of their allies in the region were getting pummeled by theIsraelis. And leaders from the two nations have already been exchanging some very harsh words… “A senior Israeli government source said Monday that Israel has indications that Iran pushed Hamas into carrying out its massive infiltration and deadly assault, and thatIran was also pushing Hezbollah to be ready for conflict with Israel,” the Times of Israel reported. Khamenei predicted that Israeli military operations would backfire. “The calculation of the illegitimate regime and its supporters in this regard is also wrong,” he said. “The rulers and decision-makers of the Zionist regime and their supporters should know that these actions will bring a greater disaster upon them, and the Palestinian people, with a firmer determination, will slap their hideous faces harder in response tothese crimes.” Of course the moment that Iran launches missiles at Israel, the U.S. will enter the conflict. On Tuesday, Joe Biden made it very clear that the U.S. is standing with Israel in this fight… President Joe Biden said the U.S. stands with Israel after Hamas’ brutal massacre in Israel, condemning the attack as “pure, unadulterated evil” and pledging to support Israelwith military aid as war erupts in the Middle East. “At this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel,” Biden said Tuesday in remarks from the White House State Dining Room. “We will make sure Israel has whatit needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack. There’s no justification for terrorism. There’s no excuse.” And Biden also confirmed that some of the hostages that are being held by Hamas are U.S. citizens… Biden said Israel has a “right to respond and indeed has a duty to respond” four days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas. “There are moments in this life − I mean this literally − when pure unadulterated evil is unleashed in this world,” Biden said. “The people of Israel lived through one suchmoment this weekend.” An estimated 100 to 150 people in Israel were kidnapped by Hamas militants and are being held captive in Gaza. That includes some Americans, Biden confirmed for the firsttime. Hamas made a huge strategic mistake when it decided to take U.S. citizens hostage. If they were smart, they would return those U.S. citizens immediately. But they aren’t going to do that. So now Joe Biden will have some decisions to make. Will the U.S. also get involved in the conflict? One retired general seems to think so… The US is likely to directly intervene with air and naval strikes if Israel’s existence is threatened, Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said. Speaking on Sunday on MSNBC’s “Weekends with Alex Witt,” the four-star US Army general described how such an escalation likely would only occur if Israel’s Middle Easternneighbors became heavily involved. “The other shoe we’re waiting to see if it drops is, will Hezbollah intervene out of Lebanon with their 100,000 some odd rockets? Will the West Bank ignite? And what willthe Syrians and the Egyptians do?” McCaffrey said. “I would suggest to you our support of Israel will be absolute, and if we see Syrian military intervention, active Iranian military intervention, we’ll go to war,” McCaffreyadded. For a long time, I have been warning that a great war would be coming to the Middle East. But it has arrived a bit sooner than I thought. Once Israeli troops move into Gaza, global events will start to move at a pace that will be absolutely breathtaking. And at this moment it appears that the beginning of a ground operation could potentially be just hours away. ----------------------------------- The Mideast road to World War III - Scott Lively - https://www.wnd.com/2023/10/mideast-road-world-war-iii/ Scott Lively opines, 'We seem right on track for the Antichrist kingdom' In my WND column of last week, "The race to global government," I summarized the post-Reagan globalist takeover of our national government and international alliances by maligndomestic forces. I ended my article with links to two news stories that highlight the culmination of their strategy and agenda, and a promise to comment on them. The first headline is self-explanatory: "Leaders at the U.N. make a 7 year agreement to implement a single global agenda." It details how and why "Officials from all overthe world gathered in New York City to commit their nations to fully implement the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals over the next seven years." Essentially, the globalists are escalating their efforts to impose tyrannical global governmenton humanity by 2030. The second predicts "'2030 is when the merge happens,' OpenAI president tells Netanyahu of coming man-machine merger," with "two possible futures: A future extinction of mankind,[or] a future 'heaven' in which AGI eliminates poverty, hunger, and sickness and mankind merges with machines." Only God creates heaven. Any man-made counterfeit will be hell on earth: making this a secular prophecy of the "beast" government. The single greatest threat to the globalist agenda is the still-rising populist/nationalist revolution behind the domestic MAGA movement in the U.S. and the Russia-led BRICSalliance across the world – both of which seem unstoppable despite massive suppression efforts. Trump and his MAGA army are simply crushing all opposition in what's left of the GOP primary race, while the Dems weigh their slate of bad options under the walkingcorpse Biden. Putin is handily winning both the Ukraine war and the economic sanctions war, each victory on both fronts incrementally drawing an increasing number of nations into his orbit. As I (and many others) have been predicting all along, the fall-back plan of the elites to retain power is World War III to facilitate their Great Collapse/Great Reset strategy.Yet all their efforts to provoke the Russians into NATO intervention-justifying escalation in Ukraine have failed. Conveniently for the elites, however, the world was suddenly shaken this week by a shockingly savage Hamas attack on southern Israel, tied closely to Iran in initial mediareports. Suspiciously, it comes just as the NATO powers are finally admitting (obliquely) they've lost the Ukraine war and MAGA "radicals" in Congress have mortally wounded the golden goose of Ukraine funding. And just as the elites have agreed to dramaticallyescalate their global takeover. Even more suspiciously, we're expected to believe that Israeli intelligence was taken completely by surprise. I'm NOT saying this was a "false flag," especially since thisis exactly the sort of "revenge" radical Islamists dream about, but I do strongly suspect it was steered or orchestrated. I think it likely, even, that these bloodthirsty dogs of war were deliberately unleashed by the very people who have mercilessly fed upto 500,000 Ukrainians into the Russian meat grinder. Now Netanyahu is invoking Pearl Harbor and Israel has 9/11-level justification for wiping out its enemies. No more walking on geopolitical egg shells to appease the UnitedNations. No more nail-biting or politically necessary self-restraint about taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities militarily. And now NATO will have its justification for WWIII, as mutual defense pacts kick in on both sides of the NATO/BRICS battlefront – as it memory-holes its humiliating defeat in Ukraine. Is this, then, the kick-off of the Great Collapse? Was this week's heart-wrenching carnage of innocents in Israel just the first entry in a long parade of real-time, real-lifehorrors that will drive the world to its knees, ready to accept deliverance in the form of a new global government and a new global economic system? Will the rebellion of the dollar-disenfranchising BRICS alliance be smashed and shattered – or further empowered?The world nervously awaits it fate. On the Bible prophecy front, we seem right on track for the Antichrist kingdom, as the world collapses into barbarism and the demonic realm is unleashed. In any case, we of the remnant should remain cool and calm, knowing that the Lord of Hosts will soon arrive on His preset schedule to take this planet under His control. Our most important role in the expanding crisis is to point people to the simple truths that God is still on the throne, that He made us in His image, that this world belongsto Him and that all its natural systems and order remain available to us as a sanctuary from satanic tyranny. The left is notorious for "never letting a good crisis go to waste." I remember particularly that on 9/11, while the rest of the nation was in deep shock and mourning, theCalifornia Legislature met to push through a lightning vote on some big LGBT legislation. This time, how about we Christian patriots use the crisis for a godly end? We often cite Christ's general command to "occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13), but in his Olivet Discourselaying out the chronology of the end times for his disciples at their request, He specifically states: "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time? Blessedis that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions" (Matthew 24:45-47). "Their food" is the milk and meat of the Word, and the blessings of His natural order. I believe we can do the most good by reaffirming and conserving His natural world inour laws: undermining transhumanist ideology while giving sanctuary to those seeking an escape from the insanities of the counterfeit parallel world of artificiality. I will outline my proposed strategy for pulling this off in my next article. ------------------------------------- AI and the Coming Antichrist - By Howard Green - https://www.raptureready.com/2023/10/07/ai-and-the-coming-antichrist-by-howard-green/ Imagine a global event taking place that was so pivotal that beliefs and responses to it would determine eternity for billions of people. What if there was a concerted effortto distort the truth in order to deceive people into their own destruction? This is exactly what is happening today, as truth is being distorted and denied. This rejection of the truth will culminate in billions of people being deceived straight into hell. Right before Jesus was crucified, Pontious Pilate asked Him, “So you are a king?” Jesus tells Pilate why He came into the world in John 18:37, and the governor asks Jesusthis question, “What is truth?” That question and our response to it will matter a thousand years from now. Jesus said, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” in John 14:6. To refuse to love the truth and be saved is setting yourself up for end-time spiritualdeception and ultimate eternal condemnation (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). With all of the talk about the possibility of the Bible being rewritten and so many people rejecting the truth of what Jesus said about Himself, they are setting themselves up for strongdelusion and worship of the Antichrist and his image. A time is coming, and we have reason to believe – in the near future – when a man is going to declare himself to be God and demand to be worshipped (2 Thessalonians 2:4).The Bible makes it crystal clear that this world leader is coming on the scene with all wicked deception. Most Christians know that the Man of Lawlessness is coming, and his co-conspirator, the False Prophet, will make the inhabitants of Earth worship theAntichrist. Although our meeting the Lord in the air is a certainty, it isn’t my intent to address rapture timing in this article but to focus on people around the world who are being set up to believe the ultimate lie. Revelation 13:14-15 tells us that this worldwide religious leader will instruct people to make an image for the Antichrist, who was wounded yet lived. Moreover, the FalseProphet is going to be allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that it will speak! This global spiritual deception will be so spectacular and wonderous that it will cause people to do the unthinkable, to worship the beast and its image as God. I’ve been a Christian since the 1980s. When I used to study end-time Bible prophecy decades ago, I knew every word of God would come to pass. But it was hard to comprehendhow a satanic religious world leader could realistically deceive billions of people into worshipping an image. In the ensuing decades, with technological advances and AI, the ability to deceive the masses with an image empowered by Satan seems like somethingthat could now happen at almost any moment. I can tell you this with all surety: not since the beginning of time has technology existed that could somehow monitor, mimic, and monopolize every aspect of human life untilright now. Like anything else, technology, specifically AI, can be used for good, but it can be used for nefarious purposes as well. Already, we see that AI-generated avatars preached sermons at Christian churches in Germany and America. A major ‘Christian’ media outlet is even promoting AI sermons. Here’s what a well-known contributor at the World Economic Forum said about AI and religion: AI can write a new Bible. In a few years, there might be religions that are actually correct. Just think about a religion whose holy book is written by an AI. That could bea reality in a few years. Yuval Noah Harari – World Economic Forum Contributor The Bible tells us that the False Prophet will give breath to the image of the beast. It also tells us that the coming Antichrist and his worldwide religious leader is bythe activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). Jesus also warns us about spiritual deception four times, culminating in Matthew 24:15. I won’t emphatically say that AI and avatars will be used to facilitate the imageof the Antichrist to be worshipped. But it is quite possible that Satan could use AI to deceive billions of people into worshipping the Antichrist and his image. It is worth noting that AI already identifies itself as I Am, a title clearly limited to the one true God of the universe. Anyone who loves Jesus should see the emergenceand increase of AI, avatars, UFOs, and talk of rewriting the Bible as a clear sign that a worldwide religion of Antichrist worship is in the very near future. Friends, we live in times when global commerce, utilities, supply chains, weapons, and life itself can be altered by strokes on a keyboard. There are bad actors, both privateand governmental, who are under the control of Satan, and this enemy of our soul will do everything in his power to bring this planet into utter darkness, including using these same groups. Very soon, perhaps even in the coming months and the next few years,this world will be thrown into unprecedented chaos and upheaval like never before. Everything people take for granted, like buying a sandwich, a coffee, getting healthcare, and worship gatherings, will be nearly impossible, that is, unless you worship theAntichrist and his image. As we see signs of the Lord’s soon return increasing daily, I want to encourage you to be a bold witness for Jesus, lovingly warn people about what is coming, and finish well. There are links to related resources below, including to my friends Jan Markell and Pastor Billy Crone, who dive deep into the subject of AI and the Antichrist. All for Him, Howard PastorBilly Crone and Jan Markell discuss AI and the coming Antichrist. The Infrastructure of the Antichrist. Link: WEF-YuvalNoah Harari video on AI and the Bible. Link: AIChatGPT preaches a sermon in a Texas church. Link: ContradictingJesus on End-Time Bible Prophecy. Link: ----------------------------- Outatime – John Salom - https://www.rev310.net/post/outatime Very few films from the 1980s captured the imaginations of the American public and international audiences around the world quite like the groundbreaking Robert Zemeckis Sci-Fi/Comedyof Hollywood legend, the iconic Back To The Future. Early on in the film, the eccentric Doc Brown, a scientist played in an unforgettable performance by the quirky and one-of-a-kind Christopher Lloyd, invites his young friendMarty McFly to join him in the early hours of the morning in the parking lot of the local Twin Pines Mall. He claims he needs his help with an experiment in which he’s had a breakthrough and has directed the young McFly to bring his video camera in order todocument all of the events that are about to unfold. An unsuspecting Marty, wearing Walkman headphones and riding his trusty skateboard, pulls up to the Twin Pines Mall sign with the clock reading 1:15 am. He gazes down at asingle white step van that sits alone in the middle of a wet and reflective empty mall parking lot with Einstein, Doc’s beloved sheepdog, sitting on the asphalt just behind it. As he approaches Einstein and the step van, Marty suddenly hears the sound of an engine coming to life, and the back door of the van unfolds into a car ramp where a 1980sStainless Steel DeLorean begins to back out onto the parking lot tarmac. The car, looking like an experiment in condensation, opens its signature gull-wing door to the hissing sound of a gas-pressurized pneumatic strut. As the gull wing opens,a considerable amount of fog comes pouring out before revealing its occupant; a crazed, wild-eyed, wild-haired Dr. Emmett Brown, who steps out of the vehicle and nearly hits his head on the car door now above him. He emerges wearing a white hazmat suit fornuclear radiation and holding a clipboard in one hand with a pen in his mouth, looking about in bewilderment before Marty reveals his presence from just behind him and calls out “Doc!” in his near puberty sounding, squeaky high pitched voice Michael J. Foxwas famous for. The two unlikely friends greet one another, and the Doc begins to frantically bark orders telling the inquisitive Marty to “stay with him, all his questions will be answered” and to “roll tape” while explaining to him that this is the “big one,” the experiment which the Doc has been waiting for all his life. In his typical unhinged manner, the Doc dismisses Marty’s curiosity about the radiation suit with a “never mind that now, never mind that now” and, looking straight into thecamera, begins his introduction to his experiment, saying, “Good evening, I’m Dr. Emmett Brown; I’m standing on the parking lot at Twin Pines Mall. It’s Saturday morning, October 26th, 1985, 1:18 a.m., and this is temporal experiment number one.” The Doc thenbegins to excitedly coax his dog Einstein into the DeLorean while he double-checks his and Einstein’s synchronized stopwatches, all the while pointing out his every step to the rolling camera Marty now has fixed on him. Marty has no idea what he is about to witness as he continues to follow the Doc’s orders to film and watch as he secures the seatbelt over a calm and indifferent Einstein.The Doc then proceeds to affectionately pat his dog on the head, telling him to have a good trip and to watch his head while he lowers the gull wing door and seals him into the DeLorean. Marty caught up in the moment and still trying to process everything from behind the camcorder he is holding as the Doc hurriedly proceeds with the experiment, finds himselfa bit taken aback as he realizes the Doc has retrofitted the DeLorean with a remote control. In a dramatic sequence that alternates between the Doc’s hands on the wireless remote-control display and a tire-squealing DeLorean that is being remotely tossed around theTwin Pines Mall parking lot, the Doc briefly yells at Marty, who isn’t sure where he should be pointing the camera. “Not me, the car, the car!” he says. The Doc finally brings the peeling out of tires, and the grunting engine sounds to an end as the DeLoreanstops and idles somewhere in the distance. Its headlights create beams of light that extend forward from the car, illuminating the mixture of exhaust and burnt rubber in the air that the car’s recent vehicular gymnastics has just created. In the Doc’s continuously hyper-excited state, the wild-haired scientist scurries behind the now anxious young Marty as he grabs hold of his arm and pulls him into alignmentwith those headlight beams; Marty and the Doc now both face the DeLorean at their 12 o’clock position, both on a collision course with its projected trajectory. And now, the moment of truth arrives. With the Doc holding his remote control and Marty holding up the camcorder, the two stand shoulder to shoulder, looking straight downthe barrel at a silver bullet in the form of an ’85 DeLorean DMC-12. The Doc arms the front brakes with the flip of a red switch on his remote control and then proceeds to nudge forward the accelerator with his thumb. What ensues is perhaps the longest burnoutof radial tires ever to grace the celluloid of a film reel; the shot once again alternating back and forth between a peeling out and stationary DeLorean and the Doc’s thumb slowly increasing the speed while a digital readout of the speedometer rapidly windsupwards. The drama of the next few seconds of the film has audiences everywhere slowly beginning to lean forward in their seats in a mix of heightened curiosity and trepidation. Weare all feeling the hesitancy of a bug-eyed Marty who slowly begins to distance himself from the crazed Doc, gently sidestepping away from him as he hears the squealing of the car’s tires increase in volume and intensity and listens as the small digital chimesfrom the Doc’s speedometer climb in pitch and frequency, creating an urgency in the audience, knowing the car will soon be catapulting in a straight line directly at them. We are given a passing glance at the Doc’s digital speedometer. 20 MPH. . .30. . .40. The Doc gives Marty a look as if he’s being rude in his lack of trust and then motionswith his head and eyes for Marty to scoot back over next to him into the line of fire where he can get the best camera angle. Marty reluctantly complies. 50MPH. . .60! Then suddenly. . .brake release! At around 65MPH, the Doc flips the red switch and lets her rip! The car now rapidly leaves behind the cloud of smoke it hasjust created; the sound of peeling tires giving way to what can only be described as the sound of a jet engine accelerating as an airliner speeds down a runway on takeoff; every movie goer’s heart rate accelerating alongside the DeLorean as Marty makes onelast attempt to dodge the oncoming vehicle. The Doc grabs a panicked Marty by the arm and forcefully pulls him back towards himself while he reassures him with a loud whispered: “Watch this, watch this!” 80MPH. . . .81. . . .82. The audience is given a brief moment peering into the cockpit of the DeLorean, where a digital display just behind Einstein’s head reaches its max, much like the top of astereo’s equalizer. The digital chimes have now reached a fever pitch, and the car is just seconds from colliding with Marty and the Doc. 86MPH. . . .87. . . .88MPH! Suddenly what looks like small bolts of lightning extend forward towards the car’s bumper,lighting up the space just before the vehicle, and in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, the car simply vanishes right before Doc’s and Marty’s eyes. The only remaining evidence that there even was a car barreling down a straightaway directly for bothMarty and Doc is a pair of flaming tire tracks and a California license plate spinning on one of its corners with the single word phrase OUTATIME imprinted on it. The look on both Doc’s and Marty’s faces at this moment is priceless. Marty’s is a mix of utter and complete dumbfoundedness combined with confusion and total incredulityat what he has just seen, while the Doc is sporting an almost childlike grin of amazement and satisfaction at his rewarded faith that the car would make the time jump at the precisely determined moment. He lets out a small burst of laughter and then beginsto jump up and down and pump his fists in the air in a euphoric display of celebration and yells out an epically triumphant “WHADID-IIII TELL YOUUUUU!! EIGHTY-EIGHT MIIIILES PER HOOOUUUUUR!! Now before you think this article is about some cult classic from the 80s or that I could possibly be endorsing anything that comes out of Hollywood, I want us to stop fora moment and think, because this inconsequential small piece of film history actually serves to beautifully illustrate exactly what is happening in our world right now. In this hour, these rapidly fleeting moments just before the rapture of the church, weare being separated into two camps. We will either be in the startled, dismayed, and bewildered unbelieving camp of the Marty McFly’s who are caught completely off guard and totally unaware of what is happening, or in the abundantly rejoicing camp of the believingand victoriously celebrating Doc Brown’s who will have “loved His appearing” and will be epically and triumphantly rejoicing. “Rapidly fleeting moments just before the rapture, you say?” I can hear the Marty’s of this world asking, “How can you be so sure?” Well, McFly— I’m glad you asked. I have heard it said from a number of Christians that they do not believe that the rapture is scriptural. This is a very difficult position to defend as the Apostle Paul clearlydelineates an event in 1 Thessalonians 4 where the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. If we as believers choose to ignore this passage and severalothers pointing to this event we have called “the rapture,” then where does that stop? How much of scripture must be redacted in order that we should have a Bible that is to our personal liking? This is that accursed place where heresies are born and cultsfeel right at home. Take care, brothers and sisters, of the company you keep. Still there are others that would say that the rapture is still a very long way off. Many, in fact, will concede in their observance of our world today that things are beginningto take shape for the Bible’s predicted Day of the Lord, the 7-year Tribulation, but that it is still some time in the distant future. To this, I would humbly offer that, firstly, this is a flawed approach when contemplating the rapture and that, secondly,this conclusion is one that is highly unlikely. Allow me, if you will, a moment of your time (pun intended) to explain. Let’s start with why this is a flawed approach. We can see repeated throughout the New Testament that the early church clearly understood the monumental importance of thesecond coming of our Lord. All nine of the New Testament authors mentioned the second coming in their writings, and in fact, 1 out of every 30 verses in the New Testament pertains to the second coming. Furthermore, all of the writings of these inspired authorscreate a picture of a decisively convinced body of 1st Century believers who were anxiously awaiting the return of their Master. James writes in one of the earliest penned epistles: “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives theearly and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7-8). The writer of Hebrews exhorted: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37). Peter echoes the same sentiment in his first letter: “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers” (I Peter 4:7). John announces his belief that the church is near the end of the age, simply stating: “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard thatthe Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (I John 2:18). Paul, when summarizing the Christian walk, prominently underscores this idea of anticipating the Lord’s return in his writings to Titus: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godlyin the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13 NKJV). Paul, using the personal pronoun “we,” even goes a step further to potentially include himself among those who will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep” (I Thessalonians4:15). He might have just as easily said “you” instead of “we.” It is clear that Paul, who was receiving direct revelation from the Lord, was also unsure of the timing of this eventand therefore presented it as one that could happen at any moment. These passages, among many others, point to the imminency of this event we have come to call the rapture. This is precisely why saying that the rapture is still many years into the future is flawed thinking. The return of our Lord in the sky for His Church has always been somethingthat could take place at any time in our history, and it is why we are repeatedly commanded to be on the watch and at the ready for this event. At the same time, we must understand that the rapture is a two-sided coin. Make no mistake about it, friends; the day that this blessed event will occur has long been determinedby the Father. As we are instructed in Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Rest assured, the rapture is no exception. The Father has put in His authority the times and seasons for allthings, including the rapture for which the Church is waiting and anticipating. Furthermore, our God sits outside of time in which Psalm 90 and 2 Peter 3 both tell us that 1,000 years is as a day for Him; precisely why, from His perspective, the end of allthings has been at hand for some 2,000 years now. On one side of the coin sits an all-knowing God who has appointed the precise timing for this event, and on the other side of that coin is the Church. We dwell on that imminencyside of the coin where we are not told the day or the hour but are instead given many clues wherein we might determine the season. These are clues that have come to light in recent generations, just as predicted by the prophet Daniel. Listen to these wordsfrom the final chapter of his book: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4). Just a little furtherdown, he writes: “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10). It is this understanding, this increase in prophetic knowledge, whichis now being unsealed to those diligent students of prophecy that gives me the confidence with which to say that it is highly unlikely that the rapture is in the distant future and why I don’t need a time machine to be sure of that. “So then,” you may ask, “why get excited now, in this particular moment in history, if the rapture has always been an event that could have occurred or could now occur atany time?” To that, I would say, “Hello? Hellooooo? Anybody home? Think, McFly! Think!” You’ll forgive the silly Biff Tannen reference, but all kidding aside, there are a great many reasons for us to believe the rapture of the Church is so very, very closenow. The primary reason? It is simply that we are quickly— running out of time. You see, the reason for today’s excitement, why it is that the Lord has raised up so many watchmen in this hour, is not because the rapture could occur at any moment but ratherthat the window in which the rapture MUST occur is hastily dwindling down. The one caveat to imminency has always been that the rapture MUST precede the Tribulation. Much like the Doc’s predetermined 88MPH, the Father too has set a predetermined moment in which He will tell His Son to go get His bride. There is an appointed time for thatlast trump. The Father knows that exact moment when “the fullness of the Gentiles” will have come in. Likewise, in the same way, the Doc’s digital display on his remote control rapidly climbed, the digital noises increased in pitch and frequency, and the soundof the peeling tires grew louder in intensity, we are told that there will be birth pains increasing both in frequency and intensity. Like the final grains of sand slipping through an hourglass, the archetypal DeLorean that is humanity is racing at full tilttowards 88MPH. Friends, we are through burning out the tires, brakes have been released, and this baby is a COMIN’! That all happened in the not-too-distant past on May 14th, 1948, when Israel once again became a nation. Now what we see before us is a convergence of signs occurring whileIsrael is back in the land of their fathers, the shadow of the Tribulation described in Revelation already being cast upon us; its nearness causing some of us to begin moving out of the way like a frightened Marty who can see it barreling down a straightawayright at us. As if all of the signs we are given in scripture and the ever-increasing birth pains were not enough, there remains even more evidence; these windows of time that are closingall around us, all of them at the same time. I will mention each of these just briefly, as every one of them merits its own individual study. But for time’s sake, we shall observe them as merely examples. Many of our early church fathers, along with a great many rabbis over the centuries, understood there to be a correlation between the creation account and what would ultimatelybe the duration of all of human history. Using the Lord’s 7-day week consisting of 6 days of work followed by a Sabbath day of rest as a template, these early scholars and theologians posited that humanity would labor and strive for 6,000 years followed by1,000 years of rest. Again, Psalm 90 and 2 Peter 3 both describe 1,000 years being as a day to the Lord, giving this concept further validity. Again, without going into too much detail, I highly encourage you to do your own study of this Millennial Week Theory,or Creation Day Theory as it has been called. These Talmudic rabbis, along with several early church fathers, pointed back as far as Elijah’s school of the prophets from where this concept originated. Even earlier thanthat, this concept was presented in the Book of Enoch, a nonbiblical source but one highly regarded by our church fathers and even quoted in our New Testament by Jude. A study on this will uncover the writings of numerous respected theologians and early church fathers who taught this concept, including Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Commodianus,Lactantius, and the highly esteemed Justin Martyr. It is also plainly taught in the Epistle of Barnabas, another non-canonical but notably respected writing. Simply put, human history began with the fall of Adam in the Garden and will continue for six thousand years until the return of Christ, where He will establish His kingdomfor a thousand years of peace and rest. It is a compelling idea when we consider that from Adam to Abraham was two thousand years (the first two days), from Abraham to Jesus was two thousand years (the middle two days), and from Jesus’ first coming to Hissecond coming another two thousand years (the last days, which Peter tells us began at Pentecost). Even more compelling is when this concept is considered alongside a prophecy that is given to us concerning the Jewish nation in the book of Hosea. “I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction, they will earnestly seek Me. Come, and let us returnto the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight” (Hosea 5:15-6:2). This is a prophecy about Israel’s restoration, a restoration and a prophecy that to this day remains unfulfilled. It points to those words Jesus directed at the nation whenstating, “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'” (Matthew 23:39). As it says in Hosea, “Till they acknowledge their offense.” Zechariah fills in other blanks in the 12th Chapter of his prophetic writings: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they willmourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10). A picture of Israel earnestly seeking Him in their affliction (Hosea). The prophecy states that after two days, the Lord would revive them. This, of course, never occurred, but we can see now in our day, some 2,000 years after Israel rejectedtheir Messiah, that they are once again a nation and in a position to once again “acknowledge their offense” and to be made right before “the one whom they have pierced.” In holding with the scriptural concept “to the Lord a day is as a thousand years,” it has been nearly two days (or two thousand years) since that rejection of their Messiahon the day of the crucifixion where His hands and feet were pierced. You see, friends, while we cannot be certain about specific dates like when the fall of Adam took place or the exact year of the crucifixion; while it is impossible to knowexactly where we sit within 6,000 years of human history or exactly how many out of 2,000 years have expired since the cross, we can, through the diligent work of a great many scholars, know that these two windows of time are rapidly closing! Most scholarsand historians place the cross somewhere between A.D. 30 to A.D. 33. Add 2,000 years, and at the most, we are a mere ten years from the latest possible date. Looking at the works of Ussher and other respected chronologists, we can tell that we are living inthe last few moments of a 6,000-year history. We are simply—running out of time. Consider with me for a moment the technology that is described for us in Revelation. In it, we can see numerous passages that allude to the use of nuclear weapons. Many ofthose prophecies that speak of a planet on fire may have seemed far-fetched to past generations, but we are living in a world where we have created enough nuclear weapons to set the world on fire three times over! How about the technology required to implement the Mark of the Beast? Is it that hard to imagine a system that includes a controllable currency and the surveillance capabilityby which compliance to this system may be monitored? All of that required technology is here, friends. What about the technology that would allow the entire world to view the death and the resurrection of the Two Witnesses? Not many decades back, that mayhave seemed impossible, but today, a ten-year-old can see what is happening on the other side of the planet with just a few taps on their iPhone. As one popular prophecy teacher has aptly suggested, “How much longer before our rapidly evolving technology exceedsthat of which we see in the book of Revelation?” These prophecies recorded for our benefit have a shelf life, an expiration date, if you will. The window for their fulfillment is speedily closing like a DeLorean that isabout to hit 88MPH. The clock is tic-tic-ticking away. Finally, we have the most compelling window of them all. Our Lord has clearly told us that when we see the fig tree blooming again that we are down to one generation. Thefig tree bloomed over 75 years ago, the moment that Israel became a nation again. The question that begs to be asked then is how long is a generation? That’s one most scholars can’t seem to agree upon. What we all can agree upon is that a generation doesn’tlast forever. That window is closing, and time is almost up. So we can’t know the date of Adam’s fall, the date of the cross, or how long a generation is. We can’t see the exact expiration date on these prophecies. We are still on theimminency side of that coin. There is simply no guarantee of any more time. Imminency doesn’t guarantee more time; the convergence of all these signs and the looming shadow of the Tribulation being caston us gives no guarantee of more time. All of these windows closing at the same time is, in fact, a guarantee of the opposite. What we know on this side of the coin is that we are oh so ever close. We are in the sunset of our age, and like any sunset, theyonly last for a very limited amount of time. As the Apostle Paul has exhorted us: “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day isat hand” (Romans 13:11-12). That appointed moment the Father has set in His wisdom is barreling straight at us. As we are told by the prophet Habakkuk: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; Butat the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3). And you can bet your entire future on it, friends, that much like the Doc’s heavily modified DeLorean, the moment humanity hits the appointed proverbial 88MPH, millions uponmillions of people will in the twinkling of an eye instantaneously vanish off of the face of our planet. I don’t know about you, but I plan to be among them. Frankly, I’m gonna make like a tree and get outta here! I’ll be the guy not in the white hazmat suitbut in a gleaming white robe jumping up and down and triumphantly yelling, “WHADID-IIII TELL YOUUUUU!! EIGHTY-EIGHT MIIIILES PER HOOOUUUUUR!! Sadly, for the Marty’s of our world, they will be tragically and simply. . .OUTATIME. John Salom Jjonaflies@aol.com ----------------------------------