Re-Post: "Entering End Times Darkness" from Rapture Alert

Entering End Times Darkness
by Michael G. Mickey
(2-2-06)

Although I write a great deal about the end times, it's interesting how different it is to speak out loud about them as I did last night on Dr. Gianni Hayes' radio show, "The New World Order Disorder," featured every Wednesday night from 8:00-10:00pm EST on the American Voice Radio Network. As I spoke last night on a variety of topics, which is something I'm still learning how to be comfortable with, live formats being so unpredictable in terms of where conversation is going to lead, I found myself wondering how anyone could even remotely question how close we are to the return of Jesus Christ taking place.
Truly, we are entering into an era of unprecedented darkness in the world we're presently living in - a darkness I'm doing my very best to point out to all those who will hear me before it's too late. As I attempted to stress last night on Gianni's show when asked how much longer I believe it is going to be until a literal hell is going to be unleashed on the earth, I can think of absolutely nothing that gives me hope our world can continue on the path it is currently traveling down much longer without the prophesied seven-year Tribulation Period beginning, an event which will be preceded by the Rapture of the Church.
Conditionally, everything seems to be in place for all the Bible's remaining prophecies to be fulfilled and yet, in spite of the overwhelming evidence supportive of that being the case, few Christians and even fewer church bodies are sounding the warning cry that Jesus Christ is coming soon to a lost and dying world! If we, the body of Christ, don't sound the alert that Jesus Christ is coming soon, who in the world (no pun intended) is going to?
Having said that, let's have a look at some evidence appearing in the news of our world today indicative that Jesus Christ's return may well be right around the prophetic corner.
Hurricanes shaping a new natural order
A Yahoo News story spells out the impact the roaring seas Christ predicted would be a sign of His coming return are presently having in our world today, as seen in the following excerpted areas from the story, which should be read in its entirety to grasp the magnitude of what has transpired recently in this regard:
Last year's record hurricane season didn't just change life for humans. It changed nature, too. Everywhere scientists look, they see disrupted patterns in and along the Gulf of Mexico. Coral reefs, flocks of sea birds, crab- and shrimp-filled meadows and dune-crowned beaches were wrapped up in — and altered by — the force of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Dennis.
...the changes are mind-boggling: Some barrier islands are nearly gone; on others, beaches are scattered like bags of dropped flour.
The seas are rising, the planet is getting hotter and commercial and residential development is snowballing. Add those factors to a predicted increase in nasty hurricanes and what results is a recipe for potentially serious natural degradation, some say.
Luke 21:25, the words of Christ: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Europe emerges from its 'darkened room'
2005 was a rough year for the revived Roman empire of Bible prophecy, today's 25-nation European Union which will someday be led by the Antichrist, but things are looking up in 2006 if are to believe an EUBusiness.com article. The article quotes British Prime Minister Tony Blair as saying Europe has emerged from "its darkened room" with the arrival of a new generation of leaders and a new consensus.
The following is an excerpt from a speech Blair is reportedly going to give at Oxford University, as seen in EUBusiness.com's article: "The irony is that, after the shock of enlargement, the crisis of the referendums, the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey and the agreement of the budget with a firm process of reform midway through the next financial term, after all these alarms and excursions there has never been a better time to be optimistic in Europe or enthusiastic about Britain's part in it."
I'm getting a lot of feedback from readers who believe the EU's next seven-year budgetary term, due to begin on 1-1-07, may eventually be tied in with a peace initiative associated with Middle East peace. Those of this opinion look at the "firm process of reform" Tony Blair's speech refers to as coming midway through that term as a potential point for the prophesied abomination of desolation to take place. While I would never dismiss out of hand the possibility this line of thought may turn out to be accurate in terms of God's prophetic plan, there is no one who knows that to be true, for we are told in Matthew 24:36: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
A literal belief that the EU's upcoming seven-year budgetary cycle is going to mark the beginning of the Tribulation Period amounts to date-setting, rendering the Word of God's statement concerning the onset of the Tribulation Period being an hour no man knows null and void. That's a no no, Christians! As such, I strongly caution the Church not to engage in spreading this theory presently making its rounds in some circles of the prophetic community as fact. Consider it as a possibility, in light of other events taking place toward Middle East peace and other signs indicative of Christ's return? Certainly! Present it as fact? Absolutely not!
That the revived Roman empire is emerging from its 'darkened room' is indicative that the prophesied Beast government which will eventually be headed by the Antichrist, whose advent will occur when he somehow confirms (or makes strong) a seven-year covenant of peace in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies "with many" (Daniel 9:27), is BIG news from a prophetic point of view! Prophecy makes it clear this rising power is going to continue to rise, ultimately to swallow up the entire world in its dominance.Daniel 7:23: Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Iran's nuclear ambitions
Matthew 24:36: And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
The Associated Press is reporting that the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency has said in a report that Iran has obtained documents and drawings on the black market that serve no other purpose than to make an atomic warhead.
Many people wonder how what is presently going on in Iran is going to play into Bible prophecy. Clearly, Russia, as I've documented from way, way back, long before this crisis became what it presently is, is up to its eyeballs in collusion with Iran.
Bible prophecy places Iran and Russia as allies in the future Gog-Magog attack which will take place against the nation of Israel, as seen in Ezekiel 38 & 39. What does this tell us about present events? No matter what takes place in the days and months ahead, Persia (modern Iran) is going to remain a viable military threat to Israel and the West in order that Ezekiel's prophecy be fulfilled.
Clearly, the news of our world today demonstrates the stage is being set for major conflict to continue taking place in the Middle East, leading us closer to the culminative battle of Armageddon, at which Christ will literally, visibly, physically and majestically return (accompanied by His Bride, the Church) to the earth to vanquish the armies gathered in the Middle East for battle.
Goodbye to paper money; hello to the mark of the beast!
A NEWSFACTOR article poses the following question in its headline: Is It Time To Say Goodbye to Paper Money? How interesting in light of Bible prophecy, huh? The article opens as follows:
Since the late 1990s, when the expansion and adoption of the Internet created a bona fide Mecca for retailers and shoppers, people have looked forward to the day when physical cash would no longer be the mainstay of payment transactions.
Well before the 1990s, the Word of God foretold that a day would come when one's financial transactions would be tied to something other than physical currency when it was prophesied the False Prophet of the Antichrist will, in a time yet to come, as seen in Revelation 13:16-17, "causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
When you think about it, what we're seeing take place right now is clearly laying the groundwork for that to come to pass. Once physical currency is eliminated, governmental powers will be able to isolate and financially starve groups or individuals that oppose them. In such a system, an Osama Bin Laden, for example, couldn't be handed money under the table to buy groceries to stock whichever cave he is dwelling in from one moment to the next.
I use Osama Bin Laden as an example because Christians will be thrown under the same blanket as today's terrorists are once the Antichrist rises to power. Utilizing the same logic that President Bush used when calling the world to battle radical Islamic fanatics like Osama, the cry of the new world order of Antichrist will be, "You are either with us or against us." What will be markedly different at that time, however, will be that those who accept the Antichrist's mark in order to buy and sell will, in doing so, be pledging their allegiance to the Antichrist, who will have "opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." (Revelation 13:6)
And nonbelievers wonder why Christians, like a 70 year-old woman who chunked her Bible - literally - at a Piggly Wiggly store employee trying to enroll her as a customer in the store's biometric payment system, are beginning to resist the use of retail biometrics, as seen in a extremerfid.com article! Christians who understand Bible prophecy are concerned by what they're seeing take place and with good cause! Amen?
Note: RaptureAlert.com, although identifying greatly with the frustration Christians are presently experiencing everywhere, does not endorse the throwing of Bibles at people. Bibles should, instead, be held onto --- and read often.
End times darkness will give way to victory!
While the topics discussed here are often frightening, both to nonbelievers and even Christians, God is not willing that any should be left behind to endure the horrors of the seven-year Tribulation Period to come.
Nonbelievers still have time to come to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to avoid the Tribulation Period and should do so right away!
The Church has nothing to fear as it isn't going to be here for the most frightening horrors to come, although it is a certainty that those of us who adhere to a strict, literal interpretation of the Word of God are going to become more and more the enemies of the ungodly, potentially to points of hardship we haven't, as of yet, conceived could come this side of the Tribulation Period.
In the end, all those who are receptive to the truths contained in the prophetic Word of God and acceptive of the call to salvation presented in the gospel, which is obtained by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior alone, are going to be victorious.