Signs that we are very very close to the Rapture and Tribulation - Part 2

This is part 2 highlighting a list of prophetic and current world events that provide further proof that we are living at the very end of end times and extremely close to the rapture and tribulation that is about to come upon the whole earth. If you have not read Signs that we are very very close to the Rapture and Tribulation - Part 1, please do so before proceeding to read this.

Wars and Rumors of Wars & Cries for Peace and Security

One of the signs that Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 24 that point toward the end of the age is the increase in wars and rumors of wars with nations rising against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms. Now you might say that since the existence of man, we have always been at war with one another. While that is true, there has never been a time in history as in roughly the last 100 years that has seen a proliferation of these conflicts at a much larger, global scale. Since the beginning of the 20^th century, we have been in 2 world wars that have had devastating effects on humanity especially with the aid of modern weapons. As I write this article, the high level 80^th annual United Nations general assembly debates involving all nations have just concluded in New York. As per standard practice, the high-level delegate of each nation utilizes the roughly 20 to 30 minutes of their speech time towards touting successes, addressing concerns etc. that their country faces in the present time. However, the ever-increasing trend over the past decade that you just cannot miss if you listen to any speaker is the expression of open hostility towards nation(s) they are in conflict with. The tone of civility and dialogue to resolve conflicts have given way to open threats of wars and even annihilation. While almost every nation has grievances about another, some of these conflicts involving high level players with superior technology has the capability and very strong potential to drag us into World War III. United States, the world’s most powerful nation currently, is facing growing opposition across the world. Although not currently engaged in a major military conflict yet, that can easily change with Russia, China, North Korea, Iran etc. all forming a loose alliance and openly condemning USA and its influence and even voicing that they will not shy away from using nuclear weapons, EMP attack etc. if needed. Many of us may feel invincible living in the United States currently. However, I would like to remind you that multiple super power empires and kingdoms have existed throughout the past millennias. What you will see in the history books is that not one group have established its dominance and maintained it to present date. A coordinated and sudden nuclear or EMP attack on U.S. soil, or even the rapture, can easily topple the U.S. stronghold and put it back by centuries. BRICS alliance has been formed recently to negate and diminish the U.S. dominance in the world scene. This could be the forerunner or the global entity that could give rise to the 10 kings as described in Daniel 7:24. Russia (the best candidate for Gog/Magog described in the bible) is currently on a mission to take over territories of other countries that it feels is theirs in Europe. This could easily devolve into NATO involvement and starting World War III. India and Pakistan are always at risk of a nuclear showdown and were recently involved a mini conflict that could easily escalate to a grander scale in the near future. China is threating to take over Taiwan and will most likely do so. North Korea always pose a looming threat in the region. Iran is the biggest contributor of terrorism in the middle east and is always ramping up efforts to become a nuclear power (which in secret it probably already is). The current nuclear powers have the capability to destroy the whole world hundreds of times over. While the lip service of global disarmament will continue from politicians’ mouth, the reality is no country will ever give up its power. There are hundreds of nation vs nation, or ethnic and racial based conflicts that I can list out, but then I would have to go on for hours and hours.

Despite the conflicts across the world that many nations are embroiled in, there is one common enemy that most of the countries seem to agree on… Israel. It is highly amusing that the same countries who have no qualms in taking over other regions and even resort to whatever extend to defend their territories from their enemies without thinking twice or batting an eye lid are extremely vocal and critical of a tiny nation who is defending itself from their sworn enemies who have taken an oath to wipe it off the face of the earth. The reason for this, as mentioned in the previous blog, is satanically inspired and prophetically foretold to happen in the last days. (Please refer to the first blog for more context and details).

As we approach the very end, the middle east will once again take the center stage with Israel being the heavy burdensome stone the world will obsess over as prophesied in Zechariah 12:3. Scriptures point out several war scenarios that will play out in the very near or not so distant future as we see prophecy and current events starting to align at a rapid rate. Jeremiah 49: 34-39 foretells a judgement on the kingdom of Elam that will take place causing a disaster that will make it necessary for the people in the region to scatter to all parts of the earth. Interestingly, the modern-day location of Elam is located around the Khuzestan province in Iran. This location, along with other sites in Iran, currently possess nuclear plants. We know Iran is breaking their promise and enriching uranium at a level way more than they agreed upon as we speak and may already have it at the level needed to make a nuclear bomb. While Israel, with United States’ help, attacked and caused severe damage to some of Iran’s nuclear sites earlier this year, the job was not completed. With the tension between Israel and Iran being at an all time high, I can easily see another attack in the Elam region that could potentially cause a radiation leak type of disaster scenario that makes it uninhabitable for the people in the region forcing them to scatter all over as prophesied by Jeremiah. Similarly, Isaiah 17:1 states “the burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap.” Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front war with surrounding enemy nations / proxy groups powered by Iran. The rebel forces in Syria, who has the current backing of its government although they deny it, are among the enemy group. It is no secret that Iran flies in a lot of weapons to Syria, which is then ground transported to the PLO backed terrorists in “West Bank” (actual name Judea and Samaria which rightfully is Israel’s) and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It will not come as any surprise in the current climate that Damascus, Syria can become a ruinous heap within minutes. As mentioned in the previous blog, Ezekiel 38 talks about the upcoming invasion leg by Gog Magog, Gomer, Persia etc. (Russian, Turkey, Iran etc.) against Israel and God supernaturally coming to Israel’s rescue to defeat the powerful juggernaut alliance. There is a possible China reference as the ‘kings of the east’ mentioned in Revelation 16:12 along with many other nations mentioned through out scripture. I won’t go into all the different passages for brevity’s sake. What is clear though is that wars will continue to increase leading up to the rapture, and will be rampant during the tribulation time leading to the battle of Armageddon and 2^nd coming. The writers of the scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prophesied and called out the specific nations that will be involved more than a couple of thousand years ago and we are starting to see the conflicts and alliances shape place exactly as they were foretold.

As I have listened to the UN general debates over the past few years, the common goals expressed by each delegate, and especially this year, was a call for global “peace and security.” 1^st Thessalonians 5: 1-4 states, “Now as to the periods and times, brothers and sisters, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that the day would overtake you like a thief.” One of the main themes for this year’s UN annual meeting was peace and safety as parroted by almost all the delegates during their speech. There were even a couple of UN High Level Security ‘peace and security’ meetings that took place over the past few days with a special emphasis on Israel and the middle east. There are constant talks about needing to find solutions and implement peace and security throughout the region and the broader world. Could the sudden destruction that Paul is referring to be a broader scale nuclear war around the corner? Could it be the rapture that would undoubtedly unleash chaos all over the world with millions and millions disappearing? Trump, Nethanyahu and some Arab leaders are currently discussing the possibility of expanding alliances in the middle east via the Abrahamic Accords. Could the current Abrahamic Accords be the forerunner or eventually pave way towards to being the covenant with many nations that will be strengthened by the antichrist for 7 years as mentioned in Daniel 9:27 that officially starts the tribulation? I suspect the world will find out very soon.

Technology and the Mark of the Beast

I was born in the mid-1980s. Compared to the general population worldwide, I consider myself to be very fortunate to grow up with colored television with 1 or 2 channels, a single land dial phone, and radio that sometimes work in our household. As I have journeyed through the past 4 decades, I cannot even begin to make sense of all that is technologically possible now in 2025. The things that were considered as cool concepts such as robots in the 90s movies, are now a reality. I no longer need to go to a theater or rent a cassette and pop it in the VCR, but can watch whatever I want on my phone or stream it instantly at the click of a button. I am able to check and see who is ringing my door bell while I am away vacationing in a different country, or close the garage remotely which I suddenly remembered that I forgot to do while at the grocery store. It has gotten to a point now where I can’t even pretend to know what I am talking about while talking to a teenager technical ‘geek’ who has taken to modern technology like duck takes to water. Now, despite growing up around modern technology, if I feel like a stranger in a strange world with the rapidly changing and evolving technology, imagine the shock and bewilderment of someone from the BC era or even the early 1800s suddenly being transported to our current age and seeing things like a car or a computer. This is perhaps why when the early prophets were given visions more than a few thousand years ago of what the end times would look like, they may have struggled to identify what they were seeing and had to use similes and metaphors to possibly describe those things. So, does the current state of our modern technology describe what the prophets visioned at the end times? Yes, and allow me to explain why.

There are many prophecies in the scriptures that allude to modern technology that bible believers over the previous centuries would have had no way of knowing how they would see their fulfillment. There was not anything remotely close to what is described in the book of Revelation (or most other books for that matter) being available in their era, but just had to exercise faith to know that it will happen since the scriptures says so. Let me illustrate a few. Revelation 11:7-10 describes the whole world celebrating the death of two witnesses during the tribulation. A bible believer more than 150 years ago would have struggled with the concept of how one event could simultaneously be seen all over the word. However, we currently know with the advent of television and cell phones, this is easily possible. Likewise, there is a passage that may even be referring to modern nuclear weapon technology. Zechariah 14:12 refers to “their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.” Could this be referring to a supernatural plague brought forth by God or could it possibly be talking about side effects from the incredible heat of a nuclear war? There are several verses where the writer uses the word ‘like’ to describe an imagery. This is most likely due to the lack of knowledge or vocabulary needed to accurately describe what they were seeing in vision. God will use a combination of direct supernatural methods and modern warfare technology to bring forth His judgement and wrath during the tribulation. Similarly, Revelation 13:11-18 illustrates how the image of the beast will be set up and it was given power to speak. It further describes how the mark of the beast will be implemented and how it “forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” The implementation of such a worldwide system may have been hard to fathom before. However, with the rise of AI, it is easy to see how an image is given power to speak. Likewise, with something like an RFID chip (which can even be made as small as the size of a grain of sand), it is not difficult to imagine an implant with your identity, health, financial, and other data etc. can be stored, monitored and controlled by the eventual antichrist system. Your ability to buy, sell, and just to simply function in society can easily be approved or cut off worldwide depending on whether you take whatever the form of this ‘mark’ will be. The governments are already talking about digitalizing everything, removing cash etc. Some businesses even now have the capability to allow customers to identify themselves and make payments utilizing unique palm signatures. Of course, the powers that be may sell this to the masses initially touting the positive elements such as convenience, identity theft protection, uniqueness etc.; however, this is just the sinister plot to further control and watch your every moment. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself why you have an ad pop up on your phone about the soda you and your friend were just discussing over the phone. Ask yourself how easy it was for the Canadian government to freeze the bank account of the truckers who refuse to take the mandated vaccine.

An acquaintance I once knew (who used to work for the government) told me an interesting fact more than a decade ago. He was bound by contract to not share any specific details; however, one thing he told me always stuck with me. He mentioned whatever technology that we currently see in society as being ‘possible’ is in infact 15 to 20 years behind what the governments actually possess. We also know that technology is accelerating at a very rapid pace right now. What is relevant and applicable now will be considered outdated 10 years down the road. As Pastor J.D. Farag often mentions, prophecy, including technology, has a shelf life. We are already at the stage where the technological infrastructure required for the soon coming antichrist, empowered by satan, to control the whole world is readily available. If we go too far into the future, the technology described during the end times will be superseded by something even greater that would make the technology described in Revelation seem obsolete. Satan, although a very highly intelligent being, is not even remotely equal to God and cannot be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Thus, he will need the power of technology to implement the mark of the beast through the antichrist and will definitely use it.

Lawlessness and Wickedness and Persecution

Scriptures indicate a very steep decline in morality in society as another sign of the last days. Jesus states that “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.”  “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.” (Matthew 24: 9-10&12). Per Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 writes, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power: avoid such people as these.” Jesus further elaborates that, “For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37-39). Genesis 6:5 describes the days of Noah as the following, “But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.” The days of Lot are compared to the days of Noah in its similarities to their societies embedded in sins such as extreme violence, disregard and disobedience to God’s laws, homosexuality and other sexual deviations, etc. running rampant those days. Luke 27: 26-30 further affirms this point. “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man: people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building; but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” Sodom and Gomorrah serve as other examples of the type of debauchery that exists currently. Jude 1:7 warns of the judgement that awaits such people, “ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire” unless they repent and turn to Christ. 2 Peter 2:4-10 further drives home the point by stating, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.”

I do not need to explain what each of these verses mean as they are self-evident and easy to understand. Just opening today’s newspaper, or as is the trend now scrolling through your news feed on the cellphone, and turning on the television would make one realize that our current societal state is exactly what is described as above. Christians are persecuted all over the world despite some authorities trying to silence the truth. Wickedness and lawlessness are increasing at a staggering level. There are mass shootings, and other forms of murders, political violence due to ideological differences, racial attacks, all happening all over the world at an overwhelming frequency. Violent assassinations of people one may not agree with politically or religiously etc. are openly celebrated without any fear of consequence. Riots and lootings have apparently become common and acceptable expressions of grief and protest. People are self-obsessed and devoid of empathy towards one another to a level not seen before. Sexual sins such as homosexuality that Jesus have called an abomination are now being celebrated. What was considered once as the decent and moral standard of marriage between one man and one woman has now given way to divorces, infidelities, and even 'open marriages' being part of the acceptable norm. Some have lost the ability to differentiate between a man and a woman. Paul warns in Romans 1: 28-32, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.” The depraved condition of current society is ripe for God’s judgement. Just like Noah and his family was rescued before the flood, and just as Lot was removed, those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ will also be removed via the rapture before the tribulation that is about to fall on this earth.