My personal opinion is that the next Biblical prophecy to be fulfilled is the Rapture.  My sincere desire is that our generation will experience this event. The Bible does not use the word Rapture, but it speaks of being caught up. The Latin word rapturus means “to be caught up”, or a more literal definition would be “to be snatched up”. We will be “snatched up” to meet our Lord Jesus Christ in the air, in the twinkling of an eye.

We believers have this great and wonderful promise to look forward to. As the time grows nearer and this world grows darker, we can lift each other up with this hope:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (KJV) – “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

In one of the Left Behind series books, The Rapture, it described Jesus shouting our names all at the same time, but we hear our own name individually. I can imagine hearing Jesus shout, “ANNA!” then I am suddenly transcended to Heaven. Whew! My heart is pounding in my ears at the thought! Come now Lord Jesus! But, I digress.

Jesus tells us to remain watchful and describes it this way, Matthew 24:36-41:

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

Although Jesus tells us that no one but His Father knows the day of His return, He does give us signs to watch for. As we survey the world we live in today, it is clear that the same sinful atrocities are being committed as those in the days of Noah. Some are very comfortable in their sinful lifestyles and will be caught unawares when the Rapture catches God’s church up to Heaven. It is urgent that we, His children, do all that we can to let our lights shine and tell people the truth. Whether they listen and turn to God is up to them, but it is detrimental that we share and live accordingly.

One of my very favorite passages about going to meet our King in the sky is John 14:1-3 when Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” I have seen some pretty awesome mansions on earth over the years, but I truly doubt that any of them will even compare to the ones Jesus is preparing for us in Heaven. Jesus has gone to make a place for us to be with Him for eternity. Soon He will come back for us.

This phenomenon we call the Rapture will happen instantly: 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52:

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Yes, it will happen instantaneously. Those who put off repentance and salvation for another time, will have waited too long. In the “twinkling of an eye” all true Christians will be gone from this earth. Those left behind will have the chance to become saved during the tribulation period, but they will have to endure the trials of the end days.

My plea to all who read this is, “Please, please, please make certain that if the Rapture happens tonight or tomorrow or next week, that you will be translated to Heaven with the rest of us for eternity:

We are all sinners: Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” There is a high price for sin: Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death,…” God looks at our sin as ‘rebellion’, but He loves us in spite of it:

Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We must turn to God and repent to have our sins completely taken away: Acts 3:19: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” By God’s grace (generosity), we receive His free gift (eternal life) through faith which is also from God: Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,”

We must confess Jesus and believe that He was raised from the dead by God: Romans 10: 9-10, v.9: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” v.10: “For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”

Finally, we must call on (pray to) the Lord and be saved: Romans10:13: “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” This simply means that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your life, He will.”

PRAY: “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I know that you died on the cross for me. I now turn from my sins and ask you to forgive me. I invite you into my heart and my life. I now trust you as my Savior, and I follow you as my Lord. Thank you for saving me. Amen.”

Scripture often compares Israel to a fig tree. Jesus spoke of the fig tree as a mega sign of His return in Mark 13:28, 29: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.” Ezekiel 37-39 talks about the rebirth of Israel — the gathering of Jehovah’s people. When we see these signs, Jesus said we know that His return is very near.

The gathering of God’s people happened in May of 1948 when Israel declared that it was once again a free state. After the annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazis, Jewish people started coming back to the land God gave them hundreds of years prior. Never before in history had a nation ceased to be and then come back into being. Soon after, five Arab countries went to war with Israel which divided the city of Jerusalem. The old city, the temple mount, and most of the historic sites were under Jordan’s control.

Another war in 1967, that lasted for six days, resulted in Israeli forces seizing the old city and reuniting the whole of Jerusalem. After many centuries, the Jews had control of the city of Jerusalem, fulfilling Bible prophecy.

God said He will destroy his people’s enemies, Zechariah 12:2, 3: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” In other words, Jerusalem will be the center focus in the world in the last days. We are seeing these things happen in our time. God will protect Israel.

We read and hear of the conflicts in the middle east every day, and many times Jerusalem is at the center of it. We should all be very familiar with the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Most Arab leaders around the world resolutely believe that the whole West Bank and the old city rightfully belong to the Palestinians. They want the territory relinquished as a condition for peace.

Zechariah 14 talks of how God will bring all the nations of the world against Jerusalem. I believe it is speaking of the battle of Armageddon and how the Lord will end it. There will never be any real peace until Jesus comes back and rules His kingdom on Earth. That is what we need to be watching for. I also believe that the world is at the point where the Rapture of the Church is the next prophecy to be fulfilled. We must watch and be ready for it to happen at any moment.

Next: The Rapture of the Church

Spiritual deception is more rampant than ever. There have been various cults popping up for some time now. Most of us are aware of the Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Church of Scientology, Christian Science, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. We recall the heinousness of the Jim Jones mass suicide in 1978 in Guyana, The David Koresh Davidians who were killed by government agents in Texas in 1993, and Heaven’s Gate suicides in California in 1997. As I shared in Watch for the Lord-Part 1, we now have a new group showing its face under the guise of revival through a new emerging church.  All of these impostors are a catalyst to the revelation of the last deceiver of all, the Antichrist.

The majority of our Christian churches are turning away from God’s Word and going the way of the world. Since the beginning of time, people have felt a void before finding that Jesus is the answer to that void. Today, they are trying to fill their emptiness with whatever feels good to them. We see such abominations as homosexuals filling the pulpits of feel-good churches and leading people astray. It is obvious that they are not preaching God’s true Word. They will answer to God for lying to their followers and telling them that it is okay that they are ‘gay’, and that they cannot help it. Yes, God does love us all, but He hates our sin, and He calls homosexuality an abomination. The sin of homosexuality is as bad now as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Everywhere we look, we can see the New Age movement and some turning to mysticism for their euphoria. They want to be spiritual, but they do not want to be part of God’s true church because they do not want to follow God’s rules. They want to make up their own rules as they go. There are plenty of deceivers coming out of the woodwork every day to help them along their way.

Another sign is the persecution of God’s church. Jesus said in Mark 13:9, 10 “But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the Gospel must first be published among all nations.”

Christians have been persecuted for centuries. For over 200 years after Jesus died there were many thousands martyred by people like Nero and Diocletian. The bloody Romans fed them to wild animals and watched them torn to pieces for their entertainment. There are Christians being persecuted around the world as I write this; Burma, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Algeria, to name a few. You can go read about those and more at Persecution.Com which is the Voice of the Martyrs.

It is important that those of us who are true born-again followers of Jesus realize that we will also be persecuted for our beliefs. 2 Timothy 3:12 (KJV) says, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Remember also John 15:18-21 (KJV) “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent me.”

We see people in our country attacked daily for taking a stand for what they believe in. The unbelievers recoil in anger when we try to share God’s truths with them. Brit Hume was excoriated terribly for his recent suggestion that Tiger Woods turn to Christ and the Christian faith in order to receive the forgiveness that he assuredly will not receive from his Hindu faith.

The lost especially do not like the truth that there is ONLY ONE WAY to God and that one way is JESUS CHRIST. They would rather be told that there are many ways to salvation and they can just pick whichever way they think fits them best. Moral relativism is very big in our society these days. It is the theory that all points of view are equally valid, and that all truth is relative to the individual. There are no absolute truths – “that may be true for you, but not for me”. This, in turn, leads to turning away from God and tolerance of sin.

The Holy Bible tells us that this persecution will get much worse in the last days.

Next – Why we need to keep our eyes on what is happening around Jerusalem

Soldiers of Christ are always in danger of the peril of apostasy, but even more so in today’s world. Modern churches have gone the way of “if it makes you feel good, it’s okay”. Many preachers are afraid to stand up and preach the actual Word of God. Homosexuals are standing in many pulpits as false teachers and are in a state of apostasy (having rejected Biblical truths and replaced them with their own feel-good deceptions).

When we take a look at what is happening around us this very day, it is all too obvious that we are indeed near the end days. Our political system is very corrupt and broken, there are more laws for criminals than justice for victims, Godly and traditional morals and values have deteriorated, and many just make up their own self-indulgent, evil values as they go along.

We now have a man that does not know if he is going to Heaven, does not believe there is a Hell, and does not see the evilness of such things as partial-birth abortion, as President of the United States. What does that say about the people who voted him into office? Have so many left “their first love”, Jesus Christ and His teachings, for the evil ways of the world? As a Christian, I find the state of our country very shameful, but then again “signs of the times”?

Although it grows more difficult each day to stay the course of a Good Soldier of Christ, God teaches us in His Word that there is also protection for us. The scripture reference for that protection will follow the description below.

When Paul wrote “in the last days” in 2 Timothy 3:1, he was referencing the whole period between the writing of his letter and the Lord’s return. As His return draws very near, the characteristics described below (mass corruption and a breakdown of law and tradition) will intensify greatly.

As I read the following scripture, I see news pictures and headlines from present-day broadcasts and newspapers for every characteristic listed.

2 Timothy 3:1-9 – “1. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

2. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3. unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4. traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5. having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

“6. For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7. always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses,” (Though these names do not appear in the Old Testament, in late Jewish, pagan, and certain early Christian writings they are applied to the Egyptian magicians who performed counterfeit miracles in opposition to Moses-Exodus 7:11, 22. They are symbols of the folly of opposing the truth.) “so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9. but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.”

The Protection from Apostasy:

2 Timothy 3:10-17 – “But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11. persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra–what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

“13. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14. But as for you, continue in the things which you have learned and be assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15. and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” This is our protection. If all those in America who claim to be born-again Christians would follow this advice, our country just might not be in the shape it is now.

“16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” (God-breathed; i.e., the Bible came from God through the men who wrote it–2 Peter 1:21–God was the superintendent to these human writers so that, using their individual personalities, they composed and recorded, without error, God’s Word to man.) “and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” (this is what many churches of today are not doing) 17. that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Next: The Charge to a Soldier of Christ and the Comfort of a Soldier of Christ

In one of my recent quiet times in God’s word, I was reminded of this in Matthew 27:50-53 (NKJV) “Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Note that it says “many bodies of the saints”. It makes sense to me that when God’s saints die the earthly death, our souls go to be with Him, and our bodies rest. What an awesome God who can take decayed skeletons and make them new, and unite them with our heavenly souls.

Also, consider this account in Luke 23:39-43 “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

What more explanation do we need?