Oct 24
Something Even Better Than the Rapture Index
During the past couple of weeks, a rash of natural disasters has caused various
media outlets to feature Rapture Ready in various articles. The Rapture
Index has been a particular focus of attention.
Over the years, the liberal media has developed a deep love for the RI. It
is an easy concept to understand, and the media can use it to explain the
end times without having to mess with the complex issues related to Bible
prophecy.
When I created the Rapture Index in 1987, my intention was to provide some
way of standardizing the way we view the end-time warning signs. I see the RI
as more of prophetic speedometer than an end-time predictor. Christ could
come at any level, but the higher the number, the sooner we'll arrive at
the rapture event.
The upgrades or downgrades are based on simple levels of news activity
related to each category. If the number of reported droughts around the
world declines, the drought category also will decline.
In recent years, I've noticed that the RI has run into problems with the
pace of prophecy-related current events. So much is going on, the
index remains stuck in the "fasten your seatbelt" range. If you can remember
back far enough, there once was a time when categories like "hurricane,"
"earthquake," and "terrorism" would occasionally indicate low activity.
It is possible that we are so close to the tribulation hour that the index will
remain fixed at high levels until the rapture occurs. Prophecy is at such an
advanced state, for many components little further development is required.
I am often asked why I don't list "preaching the gospel to the world"
as a category. Jesus actually pointed to global evangelism as the
greatest sign of His return. Because we've reached the point at which the gospel
has reached all corners of the globe, nothing is left to fulfill in that category. If it was
a category on the index, it would be at 5 today, next week, and a year from
now.
Having the index constantly in the red zone for at least seven years now makes
it rather difficult to use it to warn people about the need to be ready.
Apathy thrives when conditions remain the same. This fact is true even in
the worst of situations. During World War II, fresh soldiers were typically
distressed by the sound of distant gunfire. As they became battle hardened,
they could eventually sleep through the heaviest artillery bombardment.
At this point, I think monitoring the birth pangs is the best way to
know the season. Jesus talked about birth pangs in Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8 as
key signals of His return. As time goes by, the increased frequency
of calamities would give us a measure of how close we are to the end.
I've been contemplating adding a "Birth Pangs Log" to the site to track the
frequency of disasters ranked by their historical importance. If the birth
pangs truly follow the pattern seen in natural childbirth, we may
eventually reach a point where the pace of events will demand the rapture's soon
occurrence.
A couple of weeks ago, I said it looks like we are headed for a record year regarding
the number of tropical storms for the Atlantic. I never would have guessed
that three other records would be shattered by the same storm. Hurricane Wilma
achieved the lowest pressure reading, it was the quickest storm ever
to develop into a Category 5, and it marked the first time that three major
hurricanes formed in the same season. Tropical storm Alpha only compounded
the freakishness of the season by setting a record by being the 22nd tropical
storm in a season.
As if the weather front hasn't been busy enough, another record was set in the
area of earthquakes. The combined death toll from the Indonesia and Pakistan
quakes has made this the deadliest one-year period since the great Chinese quake
of 1556.
With 2004 and 2005 established as such astonishingly destructive years, I
wonder what the birth pangs have in store for 2006 and 2007.
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there
will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but
the beginning of the birth-pangs" (Mark 13:8 RVS).
--- Todd
Alpha Is Coming!
A week or so ago I was interviewed on a Denver, Colorado, Fox-affiliated morning TV program. Two gentlemen, one a science professor from some university who was called a “expert on catastrophes,” and the other a professor of theology from a different university, were in studio while I was doing the interview by phone. The theme of the live, half-hour program was something like: “What’s behind all of the natural disasters?”
The program’s host, as part of the mix, went to a woman reporter, who, also on live television, asked patrons of a Denver coffee shop their opinions about what was going on regarding the natural disasters. I believe one man and six women were asked to respond from the coffee shop.
I was chosen by the host for the first question and, as I recall, he asked something like, “Do you think there is something going on, with God having something to do with all these storms, earthquakes, fires, and so forth?”
I answered “Yes,” that I thought it was the beginning of sorrows that Jesus spoke to in the Olivet Discourse accounts from the Bible. I said I felt this was the case based primarily on the fact that so many other things were happening simultaneously. I listed Israel being at the center of world controversy, with a peace process being forced on that nation, and being back in the land promised it by God. Also, I said, the EU represents, in my view, the reviving Roman Empire as prophesied in Daniel 9: 26-27.
The host, a young man with a friendly, upbeat personality, just the kind of person you would expect an early morning TV host to be, then turned to the theology professor, asking him if he thought God was involved in these storms, earthquakes, etc. The doctor of theology said, no, of course not. God wasn’t a part of these things, because these sorts of things have been happening for the millions of years the earth has been in existence. God, he assured, does nothing to harm mankind because God loves people, and wants only good for them. God, he said, doesn’t involve himself with these matters.
Next, the host asked the professor who was a scientist the question, the “catastrophe expert” said he agreed wholeheartedly with the good doctor of theology. Then he listed his well-rehearsed statistics on years and numbers of hurricanes over the past century and a half, since statistics first began being recorded (in the 1850s, I think he said).
Next, the program went to the young lady reporter, who asked a young man what he thought. I couldn’t see the man’s face, of course, because 1) I was on the phone, and 2) I’m totally blind, and couldn’t have seen him in any case.
He did have an angry tone, and declared those who think as I do insane in his opinion. Several women in the coffee shop agreed that God had nothing to do with the natural chaos, but admitted the frequent occurrences very much troubled them.
When the host came again to me, he asked: “Do you believe God is condemning the people where these things have struck? Is he picking on these people for judgment?”
My answer was, no, God was not picking on the particular people. God is trying to get the attention of the whole world. I said further that God is not an existential God –that is, He didn’t just start the world in motion, then forsake it, like the professor of theology had said. He is a hands-on God, who does love us. He loves each of us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us. I said that He is calling people to repentance, and acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ.
I added that the pious leaders demanded of Jesus, while He rode into Jerusalem on the little donkey just before His crucifixion, that He stop the people from praising Him. Jesus had this answer:
“…I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40).
I told the program’s host and his audience that the people are not praising God, or His Son, Jesus, rather are for the most part rebelling against the Lord. I’m convinced the very elements are beginning to cry out, like birth pangs of a woman about to deliver.
The host said to the doctor of theology, “I guess you, a theologian, would agree with Terry that the rapture will happen.” The doctor was stunned. He knew nothing about a rapture, he assured, and said again that all of these things were just a result of nature, nothing more.
The show’s host then sounded perplexed. “But, don’t you believe that Bible prophecy will take place? And, don’t you believe the Bible is the word of God?”
The theological professor said, “No. these things are all to be taken as symbolic.”
The other professor, anxious to be heard, said again that the doctor of theology was right. The catastrophes are because of global warming due to ozone depletion and flourocarbons and green house emissions from our burning fossil fuels, etc. He went into how these things were cyclical, having recurred over millennia. My history classes never taught that there were automobiles, jet aircraft, and smoke-belching factories in those long past eons. I didn’t think quickly enough, but thought of it immediately after the program. If these catastrophes have recurred over millennia, it doesn’t follow that emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is responsible for the current outbreak of record-breaking storms, etc.
The bottom line, I said, being given the final say, is that God wants all to come to repentance. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
We face another Category 5 hurricane while I sit pounding out this commentary on my keyboard. It, at this moment, has the lowest millibar reading ever recorded for a hurricane in the Atlantic Basin. We will know the place of landfall, and the damage it inflicts, by the time this is read. But, regardless of whether it hits as a category 5, or something less –as probably will be the case—any thinking person has to admit that these are unusual times so far as natural catastrophes are concerned.
Wilma is the 21st storm to be named this hurricane season. They’ve apparently run out of names for this year. The next storm to reach the strength that requires a name will be designated “Alpha,” as they now must get into the Greek alphabet. We don’t know if that particular storm will come forth. The Word of God, however, does guarantee that “Alpha” is on His way.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).
It is past time that the peoples of the world begin to recognize Him. The consequences of refusing to do so will indeed be cataclysmic!
--Terry
