“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various
places. Matthew 24:7 NKJV
I am sure many
of you have visited or are failiar with the Rapture Ready website. I visit it every day at least once, and often
more, simply because it’s content is so helpful and enlightening for those of
us who choose to watch. This commentary
by the founder, Terry James, is just such an article. I have had questions concerning the outbreak
in China and this article says much about that and more in a much better way
than I ever could. Read and be
encouraged that our deliverance is drawing near.
Prophetic Pandemic? :: By Terry James
The entire world is on high alert because of
the coronavirus that is spreading quickly. More than six hundred have died from
the disease as of this writing. China, the country from which it emanates, has
millions of people under quarantine.
There is no known cure, and experts report that
it will possibly take years to develop a vaccine to cure or prevent its spread.
Agencies responsible for controlling the virus fear a pandemic—a worldwide
spread of the deadly disease.
Air travel makes the spread of the virus
almost impossible to curtail. American Airlines is reportedly being sued by its
employees in order to prevent the company from sending crews around the world,
placing them at risk for exposure.
The fear generated by the spread of
coronavirus affected not only the worldwide medical industry, but also the
global economy.
Friday, January 31, the Dow Jones Industrial
Averages closed down around 600 points. This generated anxiety among some who
are already predicting any-moment global financial collapse. It caused one
observer to weigh in with increased forewarnings. The day before the 600-point
decline, he wrote:
In the light of the Coronavirus, which is
spreading with no end in sight, more people are feeling compelled to ask the
question, will the global economy fail? Some are predicting that the global
economy, including the US economy will fail due to the introduction of new
factors such as the Coronavirus…
Before the introduction of the Coronavirus,
the global economy was already in deep trouble. What people should know is that
back in December of 2019, before the Coronavirus went active, the global
economy was on the verge of collapse…
Many economists that I have spoken to are
concerned that the global economy will continue to decline as a result of the
Coronavirus. Do these fears have merit? It does not matter. Perception drives
reality. If the people on this planet believe that their health is threatened
by this virus, the global economy, already on thin ice, will collapse. (Dave
Hodges, “Will the Coronavirus Cause a Global Economic Collapse? The BDI Says
Yes!” January 30, 2020)
The economy snapped back in an almost
flabbergasting way this week. It seems even this world-wide threat can’t hold
back the tremendous perception that a profound economic boom is still on
the upswing.
It is my belief more intensely than ever that
the Rapture will occur in the midst of just such an economic boom as is
presently perceived.
To some prophecy watchers, this newest of the
threats to millions around the world is yet another of the converging signs that
the end of the age is at hand. It ranks up there with earthquakes taking place
daily, like the one a couple of weeks ago so powerful that it was felt strongly
in Miami.
Bible prophecy, of course, tells that such
virulent diseases will be prevalent during the Tribulation, the last seven
years preceding Christ’s Second Advent. Jesus briefed His disciples
about this coming assault as He sat on the Mount of Olives just before His
crucifixion:
For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew
24:7, 8)
My friend Chuck Missler, one of the great
prophecy teachers, spoke about this passage. I remember listening with fascination
while he waxed eloquent on what he thought the word “pestilence” in
Jesus’ foretelling might mean. He equated the term to one found in another
prophetic Scripture:
I looked, and there before me was a pale
horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.
They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and
plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.(Revelation 6: 8)
Chuck, as I recall, postulated that the word
“pestilence” in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse might be the same as the
words “wild beasts” in the Revelation 6: 8 passage about the four
horsemen of the Apocalypse.
He put forth the thought that “wild beasts”
could well mean what he termed “micro-beasts”—i.e., not necessarily only
literal, four-footed animals like lions and bears, but perhaps voracious,
flesh-eating and destroying entities that can be seen only under powerful
microscopes. He suggested the term might indicate microbes—germs—of such
virulence that they could not be detected or destroyed before they have done
their deadly work.
Missler wrote:
There was a time not long ago when the medical
profession felt they had most of the major diseases licked, and for the rest it
was just a matter of time.
Now that former optimism appears tragically
premature. Many of the previously “defeated” diseases are making a comeback, in
hardier strains which are resisting our former treatments.…
The rapidity with which diseases, emergent or
deliberate, can pass through our “global village” is terrifyingly real.
With modern air travel and global commerce, as
well as our present understanding of modern biotechnology, the Biblical
predictions now seem frighteningly imminent. (“Emergent and Deliberate
Diseases,” Koinonia House, February 1, 1998)
The world’s top biological scientists and
medical professionals have done much to defeat new and mutating bacteria and
viruses since Missler wrote about these matters years ago. However, rather than
stopping the progress of these “micro-beasts,” all efforts have been ineffective.
for the most part. The ”beasts” are proliferating and are becoming more
virulent.
Daniel’s prophecy about exponential travel
(Daniel 12: 4) is now on an ever-increasing pathway to fulfillment, greatly
escalating the ability of the micro-beasts to invade new human
hosts around the globe Yet, we haven’t reached that time of Tribulation
forewarned by Jesus while He answered the disciple’s questions about what the
future holds.
Nonetheless, the coronavirus is certainly an
indicator to add to all the other signals of that time just ahead, about which
Jesus declared:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as
was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
(Matthew 24:21)
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/02/07/prophetic-pandemic-terry-james/
There is no doubt in my mind that all believers in the
death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be going home
soon. My prayer is that you have made
the choice to believe and give your life to Him so you can join us as we make
that journey to our eternal home in the blink of an eye.
Keep watching.
