How Much Longer Can It Be?

 How Much Longer Can It Be? – Jonathan Brentner - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ I have seen this picture several times on social media. I’m not sure if it’s real, photoshopped, or an image created by AI. The meme depicts a monkey walking toward a sleeping lion with alarge stick in his hands. The clear implication is that once the primate hits the sleeping beast, it will not end well for him. This meme keeps coming to mind as I reflect on current events. Just like the monkey, the globalists are provoking dangerous beasts knowing that their actions will not end well for a greatmany people. What’s different is that they will initially prosper from the anarchy they cause. The question on my mind is this: How much longer can it be before the Lion of Judah responds in His wrath, wipes out the realm of the antichrist, and inaugurates His righteous rule upon theearth? I agree with Dr. David Reagan, who recently wrote that we are “living on borrowed time.” We do not know how much longer we must wait until the Lord appears and God’s wrath in the form of “suddendestruction” descends upon the world (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), but what we see tells us it must be soon. World War III The picture of a monkey about to attack a sleeping lion came back to my mind when I recently came across a news item from Newsmax. Below is the first paragraph of the story: After gaining approval from the Biden administration, Ukraine reportedly used U.S. High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to hit targets in the Russian city of Belgorod, 20 milesnorth of the Russia-Ukraine border in southern Russia. I dare not predict when, but I know this is not going to end well for America. Joe Biden, a true globalist, is doing all he can to provoke Russia into a full-scale war. Perhaps soon, the bearwill respond to his constant provocation. The war in Ukraine is already a proxy conflict between NATO and Russia. Before I read the news of Biden’s approval for an attack on Russia with U.S. missiles, I was amazed that Russian PresidentVladimir Putin had not yet attacked NATO interests outside of the current battlefield. Now I realize it must be the Lord’s restraining hand that’s preventing the start of WWIII. The world is even now on the brink of the opening of the second seal and the release of the “pale horse,” which will bring war and conflict to the earth (Revelation 6:3-4). Perhaps soon, theconstant threats from Russia to use nuclear weapons against NATO members will become a reality and lead to the massive death toll indicated in Revelation 6:8. Economic Devastation The third rider of the Apocalypse reveals a coming time of economic devastation upon the earth (Revelation 6:5-6). How much longer can it be before we see the dire conditions predicted inthese verses? Painful inflation, layoffs, and business closings are already wreaking havoc throughout the U.S., but we have yet to experience the conditions described in Revelation 6. In America, we see a deliberate attempt to destroy the economy and bring financial ruin to all but the elite. The government is printing massive amounts of money as by some estimates, we areadding one trillion dollars to our debt burden every one hundred days. The open borders have allowed millions to enter our country in just the last few years, which is adding to the nation’s debt level, economic woes, and housing crisis that’s leaving multitudeshomeless on our streets. Despite the financial turmoil that increases by the day, we remain earthbound, and the black horse remains in its stall. We hear it kicking, but we will be with Jesus in Heaven before thisrider and horse bring widespread suffering to the world. Planned Food Shortages When goods such as food experience record soaring prices, such as will occur during the Tribulation, it signifies a shortage (the scarcity of a product combined with demand always drives upits price). Do we see the globalists provoking this outcome? Absolutely, we do. The draconian restrictions that they seek to impose on farming in the name of saving the planet will most assuredly result in the deaths of a great many people due to starvation and lead todire food shortages in the future. The cost of meeting one’s daily need for nourishment will soar to unimaginable heights. If Not for the Lord These are just a few examples of where it seems that the Tribulation period should already have begun, but for the Lord’s hand holding back the appearance of the antichrist and the full implementationof his deadly agenda. How much longer can it be before He takes us up to glory and takes away the restraining work of the Holy Spirit? I seriously doubt that Putin’s patience accounts for delaying the start of WWIII. It could begin at any moment, but for the Lord’s power holding back the forces of evil and allowing more timefor people to come to saving faith in Him. For several years, I’ve been amazed that the U.S. economy has not completely collapsed into oblivion. I can’t predict when this will occur, but I know it must be soon. For the past eighteen months, we have read warnings about imminent food shortages. However, for most people in the U.S., this has not yet materialized. Were the experts wrong? Or is it againthe Lord somehow foiling the plans of the elite until the time is right? We would be terribly amiss not to see these things as evidence that the Rapture might happen in the near future. How much longer can the world leaders actively provoke events that stronglyresemble the conditions described in Revelation 6:1-8? What they don’t know is that at the same time, they will unleash the fury of the Lion of Judah. Since we see much evidence of the Lord restraining judgments that cannot happen until after the Rapture, how much longer can it be until He brings us home to glory?