JD Farag’s Mid-East Prophecy Update
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, Hawaii


[This is the word-for-word transcript (the looong version). I post these as soon as they’re ready, which is generally Monday night.]
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[This Prophecy Update opens in the middle of a sentence.]

... devote some time to Bible prophecy. We believe that we’re living not only in the last days, but really in the last moments of world history as we know it.

Today I want to begin by sharing with you an email that I received yesterday. I do so with the belief that it will both edify and encourage us as a church body beyond the four walls of this building. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but it seems that God has deemed it fit to choose and use this obscure small church on the Windward Side of Oahu, this church that we call Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, to reach the uttermost parts of the Earth, in areas that you would have never thought in your wildest imagination that God would use.

Let me share with you what he wrote:

“Dear Pastor JD Farag and congregation of Calvary Chapel: My family and myself have been employed in Saudi Arabia for almost 30 years. I want to give you all a capsule of how far your ministry is reaching. I am sure many times you receive similar correspondence, but localized.

“We have had an exciting ministry here, and when we found your outreach prophecy ministry, we began using your weekly Prophecy Updates as an added tool for reaching people here. As you all know, here in Saudi Arabia we live in a very strict Islamic society. One of the ways we have been able to witness is through Bible prophecy.

“The Muslims ask many questions concerning prophecy” -- Interesting! -- “and it has been a positive avenue for seed-planting. We have seen some results personally, but we’ll never know how many receive Jesus until we meet them when we are with our Lord and Savior in Heaven.

“As you have stated, Pastor JD, you research local news, newspaper articles, and the Web, as I have done for years. We are so grateful that our family can be a supporter of such a unique ministry. May this be an encouragement to you, Pastor JD, your family, and also to the congregation at Calvary Chapel Kaneohe” -- That would be you. **laughs and points to the congregation** -- “keeping the present ministry alive, reaching the lost, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

“P.S. Our very first Muslim convert here in Saudi Arabia is also now our adopted son.

“Also, please do not use our names, for obvious reasons. Over these years, God has protected us in so many ways, and blessed us and our witness for Him.”

This is fruit, as the apostle Paul would say, fruit added to your account -- **gesturing to the congregation** -- to our account, as a church body, here, reaching someplace like there -- in, of all places, Saudi Arabia.

So I just wanted to share that with you by way of an encouragement, and also by way of just a reminder of why it is that we do these Prophecy Updates and have been doing these Prophecy Updates weekly since 2006 -- seven years now. That was when the Lord had really impressed upon my heart that we were entering into a period of time in world history where it was really critical to start talking about the Return of Jesus Christ for His Church, and begin to devote time and a focus on Bible prophecy because of it.

Now please understand that these Prophecy Updates are not just for the purpose of us knowing Bible prophecy. It’s not just for the sake of us being in the know. Really the purpose, chiefly, is not just to know Bible prophecy, but to have it light that fire in our hearts to let others know about the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and eternal life as a free gift because of the payment in full on the cross.

And moreover, for us as believers who have been walking with the Lord, Bible prophecy has the effect of purifying us and sort of readying us and loosening our grip on this world and the things of this world.

One other thing and then we’ll get started.

One of the things that I’ve seen over the years with having done these Prophecy Updates here in this church is that it has been a source of much encouragement for many, especially those going through such difficult and painful and fiery trials. And simply put, Bible prophecy has this way of getting our eyes off of this world and the things of this world --

And my mike keeps cutting out and I don’t know why. **looks up toward the ceiling; then puts one hand over his eyes, the other upraised, as if he’s about to address God; then laughs and reaches down, apparently to check a connection behind the pulpit and looks around**

And the sound got -- are we okay? Just keep talking. I can do that, you know! Very easily: it’s a gift.

But it has the effect of encouraging us, those of us going through difficult trials, because it gets our eyes off of the trial and onto the Lord. And that this Earth is not our home; we’re just passing through.

And when you know what you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, have to look forward to, it makes whatever you’re going through easier to get through.

Isaiah the prophet writes, Happy is he whose mind is stayed on Thee. Another translation renders it, He will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee. [Isaiah 26:3]

And that’s what Bible prophecy really has the effect of doing. It doesn’t just reach the lost, it also reaches the found, if I can say it that way, in the sense that it is a much-needed reminder of the soon return of our Savior, Jesus Christ, for us as His Bride.

Okay, let’s get started. For today’s Update, we’re going to resume looking at the reasons we believe the Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ may in fact be closer than any of us even realize. We commenced this series of sorts a few months back because it seems that, more recently, Bible prophecy has, as one said it, “been put on fast-forward.” It seems that things have been revving up and ratcheted up things prophetic.

Now using that metaphor, it also seems that now, because things have been on fast-forward, it’s just a matter of time, in that the final scene on the DVD of eschatology is fast approaching, and with it it’s bringing that final scene of Christ’s Return quickly for us, His Bride.

Revelation chapter 3, verse 11 records what Jesus said to the church in Philadelphia. He has John write to them, and He says to them:

“Behold, I am coming quickly!” Interesting word in the original language of the Greek New Testament: it’s the word in the Greek tachos, where we get “tachometer,” carrying with it the idea of things -- “When I come back,” Jesus is saying, “will be revving up. I come at a time when things are revving up and moving fast.”

“Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”

In other words, “Hold on! I’m coming! I’m coming quickly! Don’t lose heart! Take heart and hold on!”

In Revelation 22:7, He uses the same word when He says,

“Behold, I am coming quickly!” And listen to what He says: “Blessed is he who keeps” -- hangs on to, holds on to -- “the words of the prophecy of this book” -- speaking chiefly of the book of Revelation, which by the way, of all 66 books in the Bible, is the only book in all of the Bible that promises a blessing to those who read it, hear it, and take it to heart.

No other book has that promise but the book of Revelation: the one book that strikes terror in the hearts of many a Christian, because it’s so “apocalyptic.” Which actually -- apokalypsos, in the original language of the Greek, is where we get the word “revelation.” And apokalypsos means “It’s ... a revelation!” It’s a revealing -- an unveiling, if you prefer -- of events yet future.

Now, I’m keenly aware of those who would argue that Christ’s coming for His Bride is anything but “quickly.” In fact, if anything, it seems it’s “slowly.” He’s “slow” in keeping His promise: it’s not “quickly.”

This is probably as good of a time as any to -- pardon the pun -- “quickly” go through the reasons we believe the Rapture is “quicker,” “sooner” than we think: and this because the first reason that we looked at, as to why it is that the Rapture may be sooner than we think, addresses this very thing, of those who would say, “Every generation thought Jesus was coming back in their lifetime, yet He hasn’t come. Where is the promise of His coming?”

And Peter writes about how that His Return is not slow, as some consider slowness; rather, it’s because God does not will that any should perish, but that all should come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. [2 Peter 3:9]

Make no mistake about it: He is coming. He is coming soon. Don’t lose heart! Hold on: you’ll see.

Now in 2nd Peter chapter 3, we have this prophecy concerning not just that there’ll be scoffing, and mocking of those like us who believe in this -- still! **gives a short laugh** After all of these generations, we still hold on to that promise of His soon Return?

It’s not just that we’re going to be mocked and scoffed and ridiculed because of it, it’s that there will be an increase of those who scoff and mock and make spoofs, movies about the Rapture and the silliness and the folly of even such a belief.

I don’t know if you realize this, Christian, but you and I are the -- I won’t use the word -- the “rear end” of all of their jokes. We are those whom they laugh at, because we believe in this sound doctrine of the Rapture of the Church.

The second reason that we looked at is, sadly, the absence of the United States from the pages of Bible prophecy, which many believe, present company included, comes vis-à-vis the collapse or even the implosion of this nation, now a post-Christian nation. I think you would agree that we as believers who still hold fast to the Word of God and the God of the Word, are now fast-becoming the ones whom are the object of the attacks from those who would suggest that we’re the problem.

It reminds me of the verse that says, “In the end they’ll call good ‘evil’ and evil ‘good.’” It’s becoming increasingly more unpopular to be a Christian in this day and age. We are seen as, really, as the extemists, the terrorists: do you realize that? I think you would also agree that we as Christians have overstayed our welcome in this world -- not our home; we’re in it but not of it.

Our third reason is really most disturbing: it’s this blind acceptance of Islam as a peace-loving religion, which seems to fit -- and this is what we looked at -- it seems to fit with certain prophecies which will ultimately find their fulfillment in and during the seven-year Tribulation.

By way of an example, there is a the command in the Koran that correlates with Revelation, where those who reject the Mark of the Antichrist will be beheaded: that will be the form of death and execution. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that in the Koran it is a command, like we have commands in the Bible: the Muslim in the Koran is commanded to behead the unbeliever, the infidel, the one who does not submit to Allah and his prophet Mohammed.

And so, interesting form of execution, that those who reject the mark of the Antichrist -- and this is just one -- will be beheaded. I think the conclusion from this is that at the least, Islam plays a significant role in the End Times prophetic program during the seven-year Tribulation.

Well, that brought us to our fourth reason, which is the astonishing accuracy of Bible prophecy concerning specific modern-day Middle East nations, that of Egypt and Syria, found in Isaiah 19 and Isaiah 17. I mean, the details are so clear as to what will happen at the time of the End in Egypt and in Syria. And I think you know that if you look at what’s happening right now, today, in Egypt and in Syria, it is exactly what was foretold by the prophet of old in these two prophecies in these two chapters.

Well, we saw after that our fifth reason, found in 2nd Timothy, chapter 3, verses 1 through 5, which is the prophecy about the perilous times of, specifically, moral decay within the Church, and how that this moral decay within the Church would be a marker that we are indeed living in the Last Days. I don’t think we need look any further to the condition of the Church today, here, in the US of A.

Well, this dovetailed into our sixth reason, found in the next chapter of 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, which is a prophecy about these perilous times of not just moral decay, but with it, spiritual decay within the Church, and how that this also would be a marker that we were living in the Last Days.

It’s a very sobering prophecy, especially for a pastor such as myself, because it’s just a reminder, like James said, for those who desire a noble position, that of being a teacher and a pastor of God’s word. But there’s a warning that comes packaged with it, and the warning is you’d better be very careful and prayerful about this calling, because it comes packaged with a stricter judgment, because you’re handling the eternal Word of God.

And you better be found faithful in preaching the Word in and out of season, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Because you’re going to be standing before God one day as a pastor-teacher, and you’ll have to give an account for what you told God’s people, what you taught God’s people on Sunday mornings when you had the privilege to stand behind the pulpit and open the Word of God.

I don’t take that lightly; I take that very seriously, and that’s I think one of the reasons I’m so committed, till my last breath, if that should happen prior to the Rapture. As long as God gives me breath and a voice and the privilege that I have of being the pastor of this church, I’m going to proclaim this truth and preach the Word. Even if the Lord’s Return isn’t another ten years from now, I’m going to occupy until He comes, so that when He comes, He can say to me those words that all of us long to hear, “Well done, good job, good and faithful servant: enter in!”

I can’t wait to enter in, by the way! **laughs** My line, when I’m standing before God, is going to move a lot slower than your line. I always jokingly ask, if you see me up there and I’m in that “Pastors - Teachers” line to have to give a stricter account, and you’re just let in, you enter in before I enter in, would you at least just wave -- **waves** -- and say “Hi. How ya doing?”

Just ... please? It would make me feel a lot better, because I’m going to be there for a while, as I’m giving an account, but when He says, “Enter in!,” man, I’m going to enter in!

And it’s just going to be -- you know, we joke about -- **in a self-important voice** -- “When I get to Heaven, I’m going to ask God about such-and-thus --”

**disbelieving** Really? No, you’re not!

Let me tell you what’s going to happen. When you get there, you first response is just going to be-- **leaning back, hands spread open at his sides, mouth fallen open, eyes wide, speechless -- to much congregational laughter**

I mean, you will be truly speechless!

Why?

Because your first thought is -- **again leaning back, hands open to either side, mouth agape, eyes wide, looking to either side** -- “I’m here!”

Here’s your second thought: “Where are they?”

And here’s your third thought. **leans forward, peering in disbelief** “Uh -- they’re here?” **congregation laughs**

And you know who the “they” here are, so I’ll just leave it at that! And leave that between you and the Lord. **laughs** You might need to repent on that one too!

Well, this brought us to our seventh reason. It’s found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 17, verses 26 through 30. It’s a prophecy from the Savior Himself, where He likens the Last Days to the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

In other words, there’ll be this parallel between what it was like in the days of Noah and what it was like in the days of Lot, the common denominator being it was a time of exceeding wickedness. A time of exceeding wickedness.

Well, this brought us to our eighth reason, which is the profound increase of knowledge -- not just in terms of technology, but Biblically -- that is prophesied in the Old Testament book of Daniel, the 12th chapter and verse 4. We took an in-depth look at how rapidly, quickly technology and knowledge in general across the board has increased just in the last few years.

Then, our ninth reason, which was the swiftness with which the Ezekiel 38 prophecy is coming together. And we looked at this as it relates to Turkey, which by the way is just one aspect of this multi-faceted prophecy, this fascinating prophecy in Ezekiel 38. Lord willing, we’ll talk more about Ezekiel 38, but suffice it to say -- at least for now, anyway -- what we see happening now with Russian and Iran and Turkey and Ethiopia and Libya, et al, is all exactly as God said it would be. They’re all now coming together, and more recently, especially as it relates to Turkey in just the last couple of years.

That brought us to our tenth reason, which is the lateness of the hour for this final generation on God’s prophetic clock, which is Israel, since their rebirth as a nation in May of 1948. Again, Jesus said that the generation that witnesses the fig leaves returning to the fig tree -- a type of the Jewish people returning to their land -- that generation would be the generation that would see the coming of the Son of Man.

And that’s when I believe the clock really started ticking. And then it started going faster: it sped up, was revved up in 1967 in the miraculous Six-Day War. And that’s our eleventh reason: I see Jerusalem as the second hand on that clock, which is the prophecy that’s found in Zechariah chapter 12 concerning the world’s obsession -- and even intoxication -- with this one city, the city that as we’ve seen is the very place that God said, “I will put My Name” -- carrying with it the idea of His ownership.

“I put My Name on Jerusalem. That’s My Name of ownership on Jerusalem.” And quite literally it may very well be that He did exactly that.

So all of a sudden now we see -- and we’re going to talk more about this with our twelfth reason today -- but all of a sudden now we see the entire world just focused on, completely obsessed with, and even intoxicated because of Jerusalem.

Now for our twelfth reason the Rapture may in fact be closer than any of us may realize. It’s because of this insatiable push for, quote, “peace and security,” such that the entire world is saying these exact two words.

Now by the way, the picture here on the screen at the top is the banner from the United Nations Peace and Security website. This is just one aspect of the United Nations. They have a Peace and Security Council, and so do many other countries, as we’ll see here momentarily.

[Graphic shows a white background with a small version of the UN logo (world map with olive wreath) in UN blue at the upper left, the title “PEACE AND SECURITY” to its right across the top in black (those are from the banner on the UN website).

Below that is a very large circular 60s peace symbol superimposed over a simplified representation of the Atlantic Ocean side of the planet, in shades of blue, centered between the western bulge of Africa and northernmost Brazil. (Oddly, most of Nigeria is occupied by a huge lake -- though the large lakes of eastern Africa are missing.)

Here is the United Nations Peace and Security page:
http://www.un.org/en/peace/ ]

Now I also on the slide have this world peace graphic, and here’s why, as an FYI. I don’t know if you realize this or not.

This is not on the UN Peace and Security site, but I picture it here because:

This famous peace sign? Do you realize that it is actually a Satanic symbol? It is an upside-down broken cross. I’lll give you a moment while you heads are bowed and eyes are closed to remove the peace sign you have somewhere on your body. I don’t know if you realize this or not -- that’s what it is.

This is going to date me, but many of the Satanic musicians, rock groups -- i.e. Blue Oyster Cult: remember them? I told you this was going to date me. Some of you young people are going “Huh?”

But Blue Oyster Cult, they had their symbol: do you realize that’s an upside-down cross in the shape of a question mark?

You’ll notice all of these musicians -- who by the way, and please, I know maybe you won’t agree with me, but I can prove it, that these musicians have sold their soul to the Devil for all the fame, all the money, all the sex they could possibly ever imagine.

And they have sold their soul to the Devil. And you’ll notice when you see them they’re wearing necklaces with upside-down crosses.

A lot of their icons and symbols are upside-down crosses.

This is a Satanic symbol of an upside-down cross that has been broken -- and that’s what the peace sign is.

Okay. Now that I’ve completely ruined your afternoon, let’s get back to this Peace and Security prophecy as I’ll call it. I think most of you know that this was prophesied by none other than the apostle Paul, who writes of it in his letter to the Church of Thessalonika, but in the context of the Rapture, which was the reason for both his first and second letter. And I want to read chapter 5, verses 1 through 5 (1st Thessalonians 5, 1 through 5) and listen to what Paul writes by the Holy Spirit. He says, verse 1:

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for -- verse 2 -- you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. -- Now listen to verse 3 -- While people are saying, “Peace and security” -- Now some of your translations render it “peace and safety;” in the original language of the Greek New Testament, it’s the Greek word asphaleia, which is translated either “security” or “safety,” so -- While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come on them suddenly -- quickly! -- as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and -- listen! -- they will not escape.

But -- verse 4 -- you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You -- verse 5 -- are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

Okay. Those of us who’ve been students of Bible prophecy have paid particular attention to this one particular prophecy because of how specific it is to track, and easy it is to identify. And by that I mean this is one of those prophecies that you can easily get your mind around and your hands on, because every time you hear these two words spoken, “Peace and security,” it can trigger this prophecy from the apostle Paul, that while they’re saying it, destruction will come suddenly, and it’s likened unto a woman who will experience the birth pains coming on her suddenly as well.

Personally, I’ve been following this specific prophecy for over 20 years now, and like you I’ve noticed a marked increase of those who are saying these two words, “Peace and security.”

I literally -- and I’m not exaggerating here -- I literally have hundreds of articles and reports and even videos of interviews with world leaders where numerous times they will say these exact two words, “Peace and security.” And that was from 15 years ago.

And so now you fast-forward -- pardon the pun -- to the present day, and it has seemingly increased, such that it has really revved up. You cannot just about read a news report or watch a news broadcast without hearing these two words, and in a variety of contexts. The most often-heard context is as it relates to Jews and Palestinians living side by side in, quote, “peace and security.”

And that’s where then-President George W. Bush, on 9/11, Tuesday evening, after the horrific attack on this country, uttered those two words on the heels of 9/11, and from then on I saw, really, in my studies and research of this particular prophecy, a [sic] increase even from that time. And that was 12 years ago now.

This is also one of those prophecies that makes being a Berean -- as it were -- infinitely easier, because of how easy it is to pinpoint. And I say that because, again: don’t take my word for it!

You know, I spend a lot of time preparing these Prophecy Updates, so much so that we’re not going to have the time -- **laughs briefly** -- to get into Romans today -- and for that I do sincerely apologize; I trust you’ll forgive me -- but ... actually, I had every intention of getting into Romans today, but yesterday this thing just began to grow, and there was so much more coming in -- as I’ll share with you here in a moment -- regarding this one prophecy.

But I say that to say this: please don’t take my word for it. Please be a Berean and search this on your own to see if what I am sharing with you is true.

But one need look no further than to the news reports from around the world, and in light of this prophecy in God’s Word, to find that this prophecy is in fact coming to pass in real time, right before our very eyes, exactly as God’s Word tells us it will.

Now I’m not going to take the time to list all that I’ve collected over the years. This because we prior in previous updates looked at this particular prophecy, but I do want to sort of update more recently, more currently why it is that this prophecy has now, I believe, risen to the level of being yet another marker for us as to the soon Return of Jesus Christ.

I want to take just a little bit of time to talk about four of these, four current events and news stories. And I’m going to start with the situation in Egypt, which we addressed last week as it relates to Isaiah chapter 19 and the prophecy concerning Egypt in that entire chapter.

This was from AllAfrica Global Media; they posted this article a little over a week ago, on Friday, July 11th, and the headline read, “Egypt Rejects AU Peace and Security Council Decision to Suspend Membership.”

[Graphic gives this url:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201307111518.html ]

I just want to read for you a couple of excerpts from this most interesting report, quote:

“Egypt has officially rejected a decision by the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council to suspend its membership.

“The Foreign Ministry sent letters to the AU Commission and all member States regretting the decision, which, it said, did not take into consideration the people's revolt on June 30th to demand early presidential polls” -- which of course as you know led to the overthrow of Mohamed Mursi. It goes on to say:

“The Peace and Security Council did not respond to an Egyptian suggestion to send a delegation to Cairo to get firsthand information about the situation in Cairo.”

Interesting. So you have this overlap, this intersect if you prefer, between these prophecies. And in this case you have this intersect between a prophecy in the Old Testament, in Isaiah, with a prophecy in the New Testament, in 1st Thessalonians.

I learned of this second one by way of another email I received yesterday. It was a link to a YouTube video in which one Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali addresses the Peace and Security Forum 2013. It was held on May 16th in Malaysia.

[Graphic shows this url:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjBsDhUebqM ]

Listen to some of what he had to say:

“The relevance and urgency of the team we have chosen for this event, “Peace and Security in Islam” -- in Islam! -- “is all too obvious to require elaboration. This is admittedly a momentous task, very broad and wide-ranging, which is why I believe it should be a collective concern to all of us, and we appeal for support and encouragement of all peace-loving people to promote this noble cause of peace and security, especially of Islam.

“We started on a moderate note about four years ago with a website feature of “Peace and Security in Islam.” We hope to widen the scope and establish an Islamic forum for peace and security.”

It’s this third one that I just ... am still kind of scratching my head. I don’t know how many of you heard this, but on Friday the President of the United States, in an unprecedented move, surprisingly interrupts Friday’s press conference to talk candidly about the most pressing issue facing this nation today: the George Zimmerman verdict.

[Graphic gives this link:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/07/201371919122792631.html ]

You’ll forgive my ... cynicism, but this is just ... I don’t have a word for it. Use your imagination; fill in the blank. You pick a word. It’s probably not as bad as the word I have.

A move so ... incredible that it would rise to the level of the Arabic news agency Al Jazeera publishing a report on it. Now listen to what they have to say in their article:

“The president declined to wade into the detail of legal questions about the Florida case, saying, ‘Once the jury has spoken, that is how our system works.’

“But he said state and local laws, such as Florida's ‘stand your ground’ statute” -- which the case had nothing to do with....

“He questioned whether a law that sends the message that someone who is armed ‘has the right to use those firearms even if there is a way for them to exit from a situation’ really promotes the peace and security that people want.”

Would you believe that these two words, in this context, is spoken as it is in all of the other contexts? And by the way, this, the one prior, and the one next are all within -- close in proximity, just being within the last couple-three days.

It was interesting: just yesterday Greta Van Susteren of Fox News’s On the Record, commenting on the President’s remarks, asked the question, quote, “Do the Stand Your Ground laws really contribute to peace and security?”

You know, one of the things that I think of when I think of “peace and security” on a practical level is, you have this insatiable quest for peace in the Middle East, and here at home in the United States, Homeland Security. So it’s all about peace and security, really globally.

I sort of saved the best for last in a way, because it has to do with John Kerry’s Mid-East trip. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, if you’ve been following the news, but he was in the Middle East to try to resurrect the stalled peace talks.

I want to share with you two news reports, the first of which was from The Jerusalem Post. This was from Wednesday, July 17th, with the headline, “PA officials say Kerry making real progress, predict resumption of peace talks in August.” That’s next month!

[Graphic gives this url:
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/PA-officials-say-Kerry-making-real-progress-predict-resumption-of-peace-talks-in-August-320173 ]

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

“The League’s delegation ‘expressed hope that this will lead to a launch of serious negotiations to address all final status issues to end the conflict and achieve a just and comprehensive peace between the Palestinians and Israelis which will bless the region with security, stability and prosperity.’”

It’s this New York Times report, the New York Times, that bastion of -- you know -- credible and balanced news reporting. Two days ago, Friday, July 19th: I think their article says it all. The headline read “Kerry Achieves Deal to Revive Mideast Talks.”

[Graphic shows this url:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/world/middleeast/kerry-extends-stay-in-mideast-to-push-for-talks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 ]

Here’s what they had to say:

“‘The representatives of two proud peoples today have decided that the difficult road ahead is worth traveling and that the daunting challenges that we face are worth tackling,’ Mr. Kerry said in Amman, the Jordanian capital, on Friday night before flying back to Washington.” Quote, “‘They have courageously recognized that in order for Israelis and Palestinians to live together side by side in peace and security, they must begin by sitting at the table together in direct talks.’”

And apparently this is going to happen. Now. Next month. Interesting.

Okay. Let’s turn a corner. I want to talk about why this specific prophecy may in fact point to the Rapture happening sooner than any of us may realize.

Notice first in what Paul says to the Thessalonians, that it’s while they’re saying “peace and security” that this destruction comes upon them so suddenly and quickly. It’s not after they’re saying it; it’s during that time in which they’re saying it. And then notice also how Paul, like Jesus, uses the analogy of a woman experiencing labor pains to describe just how sudden it will be.

A couple of thoughts here, the first of which is labor pains do come on suddenly. Right, ladies? I asked my wife about this: I had her permission before I talk so knowledgeably about labor pains. But they do come on suddenly. But they increase in intensity and frequency. Thus the revving up and the increasing of those labor pains.

But here’s the second thought: perhaps more importantly, once labor pains start, you can’t stop them. Think about that. Once labor pains start, you can’t push the pause button. (As much as, perhaps, some of you ladies may have wished you could have. “Give me just a breather. Let me catch my breath.” )

No, once they start -- and once they start to increase in intensity and frequency, you cannot stop it. Do you see the picture here, using that analogy?

Now here’s what I’m thinking: if it’s while they’re saying “peace and security” that the destruction comes suddenly, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that the Rapture may also come just as suddenly?

We have a sort of a companion analogy with the suddenness of labor pains and the suddenness and unexpectedness-- (Is “unexpectedness” a word? Let’s just say it is.)

The unexpectedness of a thief in the night. And that’s what the Rapture is likened unto. So wouldn’t it stand to reason that if while they’re saying “peace and security” the sudden destruction comes, that maybe the Rapture also comes just as suddenly and unexpectedly?

In other words, it’s certainly a plausible scenario that nothing cataclysmic happens before the Rapture happens, as a thief in the night. Which could indicate that both -- the sudden destruction and the unexpected thief-in-the-night Rapture -- come at the same time: suddenly.

Now if that’s the case -- and it may very well be -- then the next thing to happen globally is this sudden destruction -- unexpected! -- and with it the Rapture of the Church, perhaps one in concert with the other.

And here’s how I get there: Notice also that Paul says, “They will not escape.” He does not say, “We will not escape.” No, he’s talking about “They will not escape.”

They who say “peace and security.”

And also he says “We are not in darkness, so that the unexpected thief in the night will not be so sudden for us or so unexpected for us.”

Why? Because we’re watching and we’re ready. And later on he’ll say, “We who are alive and remain.”

Now I point this out because it seems to indicate -- and even delineate -- how that we are the ones who will escape.

Now I know this is a firm grasp of the obvious, but why would Paul use the word “escape” if there wasn’t something that we would want to escape from?

And is this not something that our well-intentioned brothers and sisters in Christ rub our face in, when it comes to the pre-Tribulation Rapture? “You just want to escape!”

**pauses incredulously** Yeah! And you don’t? Really? Wow. I don’t want to be here.

It is a snatching away, and there is an escaping of this destruction that comes suddenly. Another reason that I believe that it’s very plausible that we escape this sudden destruction and this cataclysmic event that’s apparently coming, like a woman in labor, is because of the description that Jesus gives us of what the world is going to look like right before this sudden destuction. Right before He takes us out and we escape.

And by the way, might I say -- and we’re going to bring this in for a close, so just bear with me, but I don’t want you to miss this. It’s so very important because if you’re one who is prone to be what they call a prepper -- and there’s nothing wrong with that. It is -- you know -- prudence. As long as it’s prudence and not paranoia, I think we living her on an island should be prepared.

I mean -- we live on an island. We should be prepared for some sort of catastrophic event. We’re just one earthquake away from no electricity, no food, no water, for who knows how long.

So I think there is a balanced and reasoned approach under the banner of prudence when it comes to this, but personally -- and this is just me -- I am a prepper, but I’m not prepping for doomsday. I’m actually prepping for my wedding day, because my Bridegroom is coming, and He’s going to snatch me away.

And He’s going to take me away to that place that He prepared for me, that place that He prepared for you, in His Father’s house, where there are many mansions, and if it were not so, He would not have told you that He goes and comes again. And He will.

And this is very real. This is very real. And it will happen. It absolutely will happen.

Now, this is what calms me, centers me, focuses me, and keeps me sane: knowing what it’s going to be like.

That doesn’t mean it’s not going to get worse before the Rapture. That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to suffer more intense persecution before the Rapture. That doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be difficult times ahead before the Rapture.

But I cannot reconcile a scenario where the Church will go through any part of the catastrophic events foretold in the Scriptures, chief amongst them being this sudden destruction we’re going to escape.

He’s going to snatch us away, and here’s why, and here’s where we’re told that He will. It’s in Matthew’s gospel, the 24th chapter. I encourage you to turn there; I’m going to read verses 36 through 42, and then we’ll close.

Jesus is speaking, and says, “No one knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

This cannot be talking about the Second Coming, because you could know the day and even the hour, because we know that it’s seven years -- or even three and a half years -- from the time that the Abomination that Causes Desolation is committed in the rebuilt Temple, there in Jerusalem.

You can count, so you can know. This is not talking about the Second Coming, this is talking about the Rapture.

”As it was” -- verse 37 -- “in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For” -- verse 38 -- “in the days before the Flood” -- listen! -- “people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark.”

In other words, it was business as usual. If there’s a catastrophic global collapse -- economically -- you might say the wedding is cancelled? That building project is cancelled? The buying and selling is cancelled?

So that’s not a description that can be reconciled or fits with this notion that the Church -- the Bride of Christ -- will go through anything related to this judgment that’s coming.

Now He says in verse 39, “And they knew nothing about what would happen until the Flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

Now listen to what He says. Verse 40: “Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left. Two” -- verse 41 -- “women will be grinding with a hand mill. One will be taken and the other left.”

Verse 42: “Therefore, keep watch.” Why? “Because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

You always have to have your wedding dress on, you always have to have oil in your lamp, and you always have to be watching, and you always have to be ready. And if you are, then this Rapture, this snatching away, will not be for you as a thief in the night.

One final thought: to the question of or the argument about “Well, just as Noah went into the Flood, so too will God’s people go into the seven-year Tribulation.”

Now I, with no disrespect, want to refute that absolutely, resolutely, and finally. Here’s how:

Noah is not a type of the Church. Noah is a type of the Jew, not me and you.

Do you know who is a type of me and you? His name? **with a big smile** Enoch! (Can’t wait to meet this guy.) I just want to hear what was that like? I guess it would be like what it’s going to be for us.

We’re going to be walking in the store one day, right? Or we’re walking -- we’re at work one day. We’re just walking. **walks away from the pulpit to where he’s out of camera range**

All of a sudden, we’re no more. Because God took us. **returns to the pulpit**

Enoch is a picture of the Church -- pre-Flood! Like Daniel is a picture of the Church pre-Furnace! He was taken up to a high position prior to Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego being put in that seven-times-hotter Furnace.

So let me connect the dots. Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego are a type (or a picture) of Israel. They go into the Tribulation, they find salvation in the Tribulation as a nation in the Tribulation. (That was a variation on “The purpose for the Tribulation is for the salvation of the Jewish nation.” ) Just as they were saved in the Furnace, so too as Noah and his family were saved in the Flood, so too will the whole house of Israel be saved in the Tribulation.

One last question and I will close in prayer.

Just hear me out: Why is it -- and I have yet to get an answer (and I know that I’m asking for it now; I’m going to get 5,000 posts on YouTube and Facebook for this, but -- oh, well! Bring it! Let’s go! **laughs**

Here’s the question I have yet to get an answer from anyone who would dispute a pre-Tribulation Rapture: Why would we need to go through the Tribulation? **pauses**

**pompous voice ** Oh, you’ve got to prove yourself worthy!

**surprised look, one hand on his chest ** Really? Are you suggesting that salvation is not of grace through faith, but of works: me working to prove myself worthy? **pats himself on the chest in self-congratulation** Are you suggesting -- and I’m not -- I’ll try to calm down; I won’t get too animated here. **congregation laughs**

This -- I get Palestinian on this one, man!

Are you suggesting that when Jesus on the cross said, “It is finished!,” He should have said, “It is finished if ... you prove yourself worthy?” That sounds sort of tentative to me. Now it’s not “the finished work on the cross,” it’s “the tentative work on the cross” -- contingent upon me showing myself worthy.

No. There’s no purpose for us to go into the seven-year Tribulation. The purpose for Israel to go into the seven-year Tribulation is because they need salvation. And just as Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego found salvation in the midst of that seven-times-hotter Furnace, so too will the whole house of Israel, in the midst of the seven-year Tribulation, when they realize:

“This is not our Messiah. We have been deceived, and believed that he is the Christ. And he’s not, because the Christ would never commit such an abomination in the Temple and sacrifice an unclean animal there in the Holy of Holies. This is not-- he’s an imposter. He’s a false Christ.”

And they will flee for the last three and a half years of the seven-year Tribulation, I believe to Petra in modern-day Jordan, where God says, “I will protect them for the last three and a half years.”

And by the way, did you know this, that at the end of the seven years, Jesus, their Messiah whom they pierced, can’t come back till Israel calls for Him and calls upon Him. And interesting to note, that’s one of the reasons why Satan, from the beginning of time, starting with Cain and Abel, has tried to annihilate and eliminate the Jewish people, God’s Chosen People. Because if he could have succeeded, he could have in effect thwarted the First Coming. And when he failed, he has now re-directed his focus to thwart the Second Coming.

And that’s why the final attempt. The Antichrist, possessed by Satan himelf, will try to annihilate God’s Chosen People for the last time. He will not succeed. And at the end, the whole house of Israel -- we’re coming up to that, by the way, in our study of Romans, if we ever get to Romans on one of these Sundays. But they’re going to call upon their true Messiah, and the whole house of Israel will be saved.

And that is the purpose of the Tribulation. Because, see, after the Time of the Gentiles is complete and fulfilled, that last Gentile gets saved, the number’s complete -- **claps his hands once** -- we’re out of here! And then God re-directs all of His attention on Israel and their salvation during the seven-year Tribulation.

Why don’t you all stand?

Lord, thank You.

I don’t think it’s even possible, this side of eternity, to ever express to You how thankful we are to You for the more sure word of prophecy and the effect that it has, the impact that it has, on our lives.

Lord, if there’s anyone here or listening or watching this by some other media, that doesn’t know You, Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit will be allowed to take that which we’ve seen here today and begin that process of working it and building it into their hearts that they might choose this day whom they will serve, before it’s too late.

And for those of us who do know You, Lord, I pray that this would be that much-needed encouragement in our lives, that re-kindling of the fire of urgency on the altar of our lives, that we might be found faithful doing Kingdom work, busy about Your business.

Lord, thank You. In Jesus’s Name, amen.

And here's the video for those who prefer video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BE9LJHDbu-0

And a link to the video discussion thread:
http://pub48.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=4086901292&frmid=13&msgid=1101986&cmd=show

And Pastor JD's sermon notes (otherwise known as the short version) from Calvary Chapel Kaneohe. It’s not posted yet; look at this link and click on “Prophecy Update 2013-07-21” when they get that up:
http://www.calvarychapelkaneohe.com/index.php?option=com_sermonspeaker&view=sermons&Itemid=136

At the link above -- once it’s posted -- you will also be able to find a downloadable audio file (at the bottom of the page for the particular Sunday Update you’re looking for, on the left).

Thanks Perian. Your faithfulness is greatly appreciated.

Email: victorychanter@raptureintheairnow.com

Website: Rapture In The Air

Perian thank you for the transcript. I liked this one! Especially the part about "it is finished!" Thank you Yeshuah!

Thanks so much!

Thank you for doing this! Bless you! This was really good!
Patti : )

Thank You very much for posting these.

Perian, thanks for faithfully making and posting the transcript. It is a lot of work but appreciated very much.

Perian,


for your dedication posting your transcripts ~~ we appreciate you and RITA is blessed!