There is a new iniquity in the canons of contemporary Christianity, an abomination comparable to the unpardonable sin. Some call it the sin of date-setting, others call it date-fixing. It is the sin someone commits when they claim that by any stroke of divine prerogative, they were allowed a peep into the calendar of God. The sin is more unforgivable if they should further claim that they have been privy to a mystical date that none is supposed to know, not even the angels in heaven. That iniquity is unpardonable because, by claiming such forbidden knowledge, the prophet or dreamer or whatever they are called, make themselves equal with God and place themselves not only above the angels of God but also above the weary Jesus of Galilee who longingly sought food from a fig tree one hungry afternoon (Mark 11:12-14), who sat thirsty by an unlikely well, asking an afternoon drink from a very unlikely woman (John 4:6-7), who fell so deeply asleep during a boat ride that even the boat-rocking waves and storms could not wake Him out of His wearied slumber (Mark 4:37-38).
This brings a critical balance to the very crucial topic of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. It fills a gaping void in church doctrines on the subject. Ignorance and inadequacy of church doctrines have caused men and women, as well as the Church, to pay a huge price. Some of the casualties over the years could have been avoided. This is one book that I wish I could personally put on the shelf of every church, in the hands of every pastor and marriage counsellor, on the curriculum of every Bible school, in every home, and in the hands of every intending couple. It is bold and audacious, daring to enter some hitherto uncharted territories to give uncommon illuminations. I salute the Author’s courage. It would, doubtless, be contended by the traditional and religious dogmatic camp, but be gladly embraced by every honest and humble seeker of truth in this sparsely navigated terrain where there isn’t much doctrine to give light to the Church. It would certainly SET CAPTIVES FREE. I am glad and privileged to have been impacted/illuminated by this uncommon work. Thank you, dear Preacher.
In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus gave the famous Parable of the Ten Virgins, five of whom were wise, and five of whom were foolish. In the conclusion to that parable, He warned, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (v.13). In other words, that parable was a caring Master’s earnest caution against the possibility of tragic carelessness, on His return, by a worrisome percentage of followers otherwise considered to be saints.
In that parable, the distinction between the two categories of virgins was not between sinners and saints, or the holy and the unclean; it was between the wise and the foolish – or between wisdom and foolishness. That takes me to a very worrisome question: Can someone be a virgin, be in the proper company of virgins, yet be shut out of the coming Great Wedding? The answer is a troubling Yes, according to the Parable. Why? We shall find out.
A woman was brought to the public court of Jesus one early morning. She had allegedly been caught in the act of adultery. By the extant law of Moses, she deserved to die by stoning. What was Jesus going to say or do? Respect for the law or deviation from it? Mercy, or justice and judgment? We know the story. He sided with mercy, to the disappointment of the murderous morning crowd. The woman was let go with another chance to live better (John 8:1-11).
That someone is guilty does not always mean that they must be condemned. We may condemn an act while sparing the actor. Rightness is not usually righteousness. Even to an adulteress allegedly caught in the act, with a crowd of first-hand witnesses against her, God gave another chance. Such enlightenment as this study offers is not a license to kill. Paul warns that “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1, NKJV). Love is what it takes to build. Not everyone who jumped off with a licensed parachute landed safely. No matter how right one might be, no matter how wrong the other, mercy still has a long rope, so long as it has not been dropped at the other end. But mercy must also go with wisdom, or mercy can be fooled.
Sometimes, sadly, the merciful patience of God is counted as weakness. Solomon addressed the same concern when he said, “Because God does not punish sinners instantly, people feel it is safe to do wrong” (1 Eccl 8:11-12, The Living Bible). In his opening prophecies and denunciations of sinful nations, Prophet Amos metaphorically focused on the same subject when he said, “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will NOT TURN AWAY the punishment thereof …” (Amos 1:3). The same was said of Gaza, Tyrus, Ammon, about a climax of “transgressions” after which “punishment” becomes imperative and “will not turn away,” no matter who tries then and how to turn it back. That refrain on the likely expiration of grace and the consequent inevitability of divine judgment occurs eight times in the first two chapters of his book.
It may have been too late to read this, if deferred unduly. Because it is lengthy, and not to bore you, this message has been divided into two parts. The Antichrist is here. Maranatha.
5. NASA Warns about Alien Invasion
Recently, astronomers have spotted what they described as an “alien mothership” approaching Earth from an unknown realm in outer space. They call it the “3i/Atlas,” with a size between 15 – 24 kilometres in diameter, travelling towards Earth at a speed of over 200,000 km/h. Some say that it is “aliens” coming to spy on Earth or ‘attack us.’ Two telescopes, one in space, are monitoring this strange ‘ship.’ At first, the scientists said that the object was expected near Earth sometime in October/November. Recently, they have moved the dates to September. September again!
This ‘alien spaceship,’ they say, is unlike a comet in many ways, so they have safely called it a ‘natural object.’ However, other discreet voices are beginning to warn about a Last Great Deception. Satan has also heard what we have heard, and he knows much more than mortals do. He understands the times in many ways, and he is monitoring the calendar to set up his game plan. He is, after all, the prince of the power of the air, controller of the second heavens. Watch out for more news and scares about more ‘alien ships’ in space approaching Earth.
When the Rapture happens as predicted, the ‘scientists,’ New Agers, the Illuminati, and all the sponsors of global wickedness, shall say that the raptured were abducted by the alien ships of which they had warned; that the ‘extremist’ enemies of humanism and inclusiveness have been safely removed at last by the invading aliens, as a form of judgment against them. It happened when Jesus resurrected. The press was bribed to announce that His body was stolen from the grave by His disciples while the guards were asleep. Strange guards those were, who could see so clearly while being deeply asleep, yet could do nothing to intercept the seen thieves at their duty post (Matthew 28:11-15). Some lies wear a hat; still, there will always be those to believe them.
6. A Visitor from Outer Space on April 13, 2029
Revelation 8:10-11 speaks of a star called Wormwood that shall impact the earth in the middle of the seven-year rule of the Antichrist, causing great and terrible global destruction. For many years now, that “star” has been spotted approaching Earth. According to NASA and other aeronautics and space authorities, that asteroid will “fly by” Earth. NASA has named it Apophis, after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction, death and darkness. Some are blunt that it will impact the earth, but because of the panic that such a disclosure could cause, that is not said.
Besides the scientific forecast, there was a prophetic witness. In 2019, Thomas Horn had a vision of the asteroid crashing into Earth, into the Pacific Ocean and part of it on land, on Friday, April 13, 2029, causing continental destruction and casualties in the billions. Then he heard the word, “Apophis.” As he investigated further, after the vision, he came upon the NASA findings. His book, The Wormwood Prophecy, details his encounter (https://youtu.be/7BeNvQ2k_9A?si=VWHwpsaRJ0KlfYdZ).
Considering Brother Joshua’s Rapture dates of September 23-24, 2025 and the Second coming on September 13, 2032, the Wormwood date sits properly in the midpoint of the Antichrist’s seven-year reign on earth. As the Antichrist will enter the Temple at about that time to desecrate it, Wormwood is expected to be divine judgment for that trespass.
Apophis is said to be about the size of four football stadiums, travelling at a speed of about 45,000 km/h, with an energy of over 65,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. It is hard to lightly dismiss Brother Joshua’s testimony. The convergence of so many things cannot be mere coincidence.
Many years ago, Thomas Hon also prophesied that “An individual will arrive by 2025,” who will be an agent of global change. He also mentioned the Essenes, the ancient Jewish holy men of Qumran, known for the Dead Sea Scrolls, who had predicted the birth and death of Jesus to the exact dates, among other things. They also predicted that mankind would enter its final age in 2025, ending the 6000 years (or 6 Creation days) of man. We shall later return to that scheme of time.
7. Alice Bailey Saw 2025
Not only scientists and prophets of God but also the occult world has predicted 2025 as the year that would mark a significant shift in human history. For example, the Aztec people of central Mexico in the 14th to the 16th centuries are said to have predicted 2025 as a time of worldwide change, a time of peace and the end of wars. Recall 1 Thessalonians 5:3: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety …”
More notably, Alice Bailey (1880-1945), the occult prophetess and one of the founders of the New Age Movement and was the inventor of the term “New Age,” predicted that 2025 would be a landmark year when demonic principalities and fallen angels, whom she described as “aliens” and “the great ascended masters,” will reveal themselves and bring in the “Cosmic Christ” – read, the Antichrist.
Alice Bailey wrote over twenty books, which have influenced the United Nations and provided the anti-Christ architecture of much of Western culture and governance. She acknowledged that the majority of her works were telepathically dictated to her by a “Master of Wisdom” or spirit entity identified as Djwal Khul, abbreviated sometimes as DK. Of course, that was a demon. Britannica describes her theosophy movement as “an occult movement.” Her Satanic prophetic status is better highlighted by the fact that she wrote “The 10 Point Agenda,” which I describe as the Satanic Ten Commandments – her counter Commandments to destroy Christianity, although she had grown up a Christian in England, before she moved to the United States. According to Wikipedia, she had “received a thorough Christian education.” Her Agenda, among other things, included the following: taking God and prayer out of the education system, making sex and abortion free, making homosexuality an alternative lifestyle, creating an interfaith movement, and so on, which are the principles that have damaged much of Western society and set it on the anti-Christ path.
In her book, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, published posthumously in 1957, she predicted that “a new spiritual energy will begin to manifest after 2025, this is anticipated to culminate during a significant assembly of the Hierarchy, where new stages of spiritual work will be set in stage.” Wow!
Given her influence in connection with the occult Globalist foundations of the United Nations, her predicted “new spiritual energy” could have been referring to the Antichrist who would “manifest” in that year, and the “SIGNIFICANT assembly of the Hierarchy” could be a veiled Satanic prophetic reference to the 80th General Session of the UN coming up in September, which Bible watchers are also expecting, as she put it, to kick off “new stages of spiritual work” on the global stage. Another coincidence?
In case you are worried that an occult authority should be cited in buttressing the present case, Paul also did. In Titus 1:12, writing to Titus, his spiritual protégée, about the people of Crete, he noted that even one of “their own” prophets, Epimenides, one of “their own” respected authorities, had described the Cretans as a kind of people: “alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.”
8. Prophecy, Dreams, Visions and More
Prophet Joel spoke not only about signs in the sky but also about signs among men; not only of celestial signs but also of spiritual signs and wonders: sons and daughters prophesying, old men dreaming dreams, young men seeing visions, even servants and maids inspired in unusual ways to unveil mysteries and confirm prophecy (Joel 2:28-31). In the past two months, there has been an avalanche of dreams and visions and supernatural encounters and other strange insights, all pointing to September as a month to watch, especially the dates that Brother Joshua has given. The Bible says to receive truth in the mouth of “two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16). This matter has garnered tons of “witnesses” worldwide, all within these few days. Maybe it’s another coincidence. Maybe.
Sister Lauren told of her 15-year-old autistic son who is non-verbal, who spells to communicate. He had a trip to Heaven where he had encounters that he could not have fabricated. He wrote the names of people he had met in heaven, departed relations of whom he had no prior knowledge. One of them was an aborted sister, who told him that Jesus was coming to bring them home in September (
).
Pastor Alain was caught up to heaven where he saw the clock of the world stopped at 11.59.58pm, that is, just two seconds before midnight, with Michael the archangel holding up a large trumpet to the mouth, ready to blow it (https://youtu.be/njL8er5HXl8?si=aH8Xv0IiRf7JgsF4).
Jimmy was seven years old when he had his first supernatural Rapture encounter. At sixteen, he was caught up to the presence of God and heard Jesus say, “My return is so soon. You will not die before I come. I will return in your lifetime.” A week later, he met his friend who had had the very same encounter. Three years ago, as he wondered when the Rapture would be, Jesus told him, “You will be 66 when I return.” Jimmy was 66 in May this year, and he is persuaded that the Rapture could be at the Feast of Trumpets in September this year, yet he hadn’t known about Brother Joshua (
).
Hann is a Muslim woman in Egypt. She had a Rapture dream in which her child was taken up, but she was not. Very traumatised, she wondered why she was left behind. She was told that the child was innocent, but she did not know Jesus. Then she saw a large calendar and an angel tearing off the year 2026 and throwing it away. Now she’s seeking Jesus.
There is an abundance of videos on social media, of children who have had startling Rapture dreams and other experiences in which Jesus has told them that He is coming soon; videos of men and women with remarkable Rapture encounters, several of them pointing to the exact dates in September. It has not always been so. As should be expected at such times, there are also narrations that appear to be taking advantage of the present Rapture hype; narrations that the discerning will not easily swallow.
Many witnesses, apart from dreams and visions by old men and their children, are reaffirming the September message. ‘Servants’ have also been inspired to unveil remarkable codes pointing in the same direction. For example, someone was amazed to discover, among other things, that the Feast of Trumpets is found in Leviticus 23:23-24, connecting to September 23-24. That perfect match was hard to find in previous and future years, given the lunisolar calendar that guides those dates.
Someone else approached the case with the gematria key and had an amazing discovery. Mostly Hebraic but applicable to other languages, gematria is a numerological system of computing the numerical value of words based on their constituent letters. In the English alphabet, for example, the 1st letter is A, the 2nd is B, the 3rd is C, and the 4th is D. According to that order, the name or word “Aba” would be 1+2+1 =4; and “Ada Aba” would be 1+4+1+1+2+1 = 10. This fellow calculated the gematria for the Hebrew phrase for Feast of Trumpets. It equalled 923, which he saw as 9/23, that is, September 23. Again, it was unique to the Feast dates in 2025. In 2024, Rosh Hashanah was October 2-4; in 2023, it was September 15-17; in 2026, it will be September 12-13.
Prophecy predicts that the Beast will rule for seven years, which will also mark the Great Tribulation on earth. The Bible records that during that period, he will sign a seven-year peace agreement with Israel, which he will break in the middle of those years (Daniel 9:27). The Bible gives the exact number of days in the first and second halves of the Beast’s seven-year reign: it is 1,260 days in the first half (Revelation 11:3; 12:6) and 1,290 days in the second half (Daniel 12:11), making a total of 2,550 days in the seven years.
A brother whose name I cannot recall, found something compelling. While he worried about the noise of a September Rapture, he asked ChatGPT to calculate for him the number of days from the Feast of Trumpets in September 2025 to the Day of Atonement on September 15, 2032. It was exactly 2,550 (seven years). In case that was a coincidence, he asked the same software to find other times in the past 200 years, from 1800, when the same pattern occurred, of exactly 2,550 days (as the Bible predicted) between those two feasts. Very interestingly, it had occurred only six times in the past, and all those times were since Israel became a nation in 1948. Ok, maybe that was another strange coincidence. He asked it to check if the same pattern would occur in the foreseeable future, in the next 200 years. There were none. In other words, the next occurrence of the pattern of 2,550 days as predicted in the Bible, between the two feasts, will be between the Feast of Trumpet in September this year and the Day of Atonement in September 2032, the dates announced by Brother Joshua. That will be the 7th and the last (
). I need not teach you the significance of the number 7 in spiritual numerology.
Someone said that Israel is in its 70th Jubilee this year. I couldn’t take it for granted. I checked from 1490 BC, when Israel departed from Egypt (1 Kings 6:1), when God said to them, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months” (Exodus 12:2), to 2025 AD. I got 3524 years. Dividing that by 50, gave me 70.48, which is 70 Jubilees indeed. Again, I need not teach anyone the spiritual significance of the number and patterns of 7s. God is up to something in 2025.
9. The Dispensational Case
God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. Many Bible scholars have shown that human history follows the same divine pattern, so they speak of 6000 years of work and man, which should lead to the last millennium of rest. According to that pattern, from Adam to Abraham was 2,000 years; from Abraham to Jesus was 2,000 years; from Jesus to now, is 2,000 years. Accordingly, the 6-day circle of 6,000 years ending soon, the 7th day, corresponding to the 1,000-year (millennial) reign of Jesus, should commence. According to 2 Peter 3:8, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” From AD 32, when Jesus was crucified and resurrected, to the year 2032, is 2,000 years, completing the 6,000 years of man. If we should count the seven years of the Great Tribulation off from that, when the Antichrist rules, it brings us to 2025, this year. In other words, from September this year, the world is about to enter the last seven years of man’s 6,000 years on the earth, and those years are given to the Antichrist. Very interesting times these are. Well, as it is said, ‘No one knows the day or the hour.’
10. The Pattern of the Jewish Feasts
Bible scholars have usually highlighted the pattern in the life and ministry of Jesus in relation to the Jewish feasts. After all, those feasts and the tabernacle were patterned after a heavenly order. In other words, the earthly forms we see are merely a model of the heavenly forms (Hebrews 8:5; Colossians 2:16-17). The Bible scholars who teach so, show how Jesus’ life significantly fulfilled the Jewish feasts, which are outlined in Leviticus 23. Accordingly, Jesus the Passover Lamb was crucified at Passover; buried at the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the sinless One (John 1:29; 19:14); resurrected as “first fruit” to God at the Feast of First Fruits (1 Cor 15:20); and anointed His disciples with the Holy Ghost at the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3). Thus, this High Priest has fulfilled four of the seven feasts, with three remaining.
The next Feast in line is the Feast of Trumpets, which should align with the Rapture, for the Bible says, “at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). After that, it will be the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), when He comes a second time to the earth (Second Coming), to reign as King for 1,000 years, during which time we shall enter the feast of rest, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). According to this pattern also, the upcoming Feast of Trumpets this year is very significant.
11. Let’s Reason Together
In Isaiah 1:18, God calls mortals to use their head and “reason together” with Him on crucial matters of their soul. That struck me. What is my IQ that I should ‘reason’ with the Almighty, all-knowing God? But it is He that has said, Use your heads sometimes. So, let’s think together: Could so many things lining up so perfectly have been mere coincidences? There have been false dates in the past, but should that mean that every other date is therefore false? Should the past become such a hindrance to a critical future? Can all of these voices from the heavens, from visions and dreams, from political events, all converging in this season, be dismissed as just coincidences, because of one verse of the Bible not properly interpreted, or because someone is unprepared to leave their present pleasures? With all these, could the Rapture be happening in September 2025? Your answer could determine many things.
Sometimes, mindset can be a stronghold. Some think that speaking about a rapture before the Tribulation means that one is being ‘escapist’ and afraid of suffering for Jesus. If they want to remain, as proof that they are tough for God, good luck to them when others have gone. That will be a great time to argue “pre-trib” and “post-trib,” and get prizes from the Antichrist for who made the most points. Proudly unbendable theologies are dangerous. Religious pride sometimes wears reprehensible holy caps.
12. The Mystery of the Day and the Hour
There are usually patterns in the Bible to guide us. Even for the future Rapture, there are previous patterns. Jesus Himself found a pattern in Jonah for His death and Resurrection (Matthew 12:40). For example, Elijah’s ‘rapture’ to heaven (which was certainly a kind of Old Testament rapture) was not entirely a secret to the people of God. In consecutive cities, even young prophets were announcing that God had told them the day and manner that Elijah was going to depart, although they did not know the specific ‘airport’ or the exact time of the departure (2 Kings 2:1-12).
When these matters are raised, the only Bible verse that some people seem to remember is, “Nobody knows the day or the hour.” Some of them do not even know where that is in the Bible. It appears that the enemy of our souls has put a veil over the minds of many, with one verse so badly misunderstood that they would not be properly warned. What does that passage mean, after all? Let’s unveil it.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36, 25:13).
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father (Mark 13:32).
1. The Tense: Let’s start with the verb “knoweth,” and the fact that it is in the present tense. Nobody knows does not mean that nobody shouldknow, or nobody can know, or nobody will ever know, but that is how the Church has interpreted that passage over the years. At the time when Jesus was making that statement, nobody knew, not even Himself, as man; but that was then. If you asked my children on Monday when their father was returning from his trip, and they said, “Nobody in the house knows yet,” does that mean that by Tuesday, they could not have known? Does the fact that they did not know on Monday mean that they should never know? I could have told them after your Monday meeting with them.
2. Jesus’ Divinity: Jesus was still flesh at the time of that report. If He is also God, and God is omniscient, is it inconsistent with the nature of God to know all things? Must He, now in Heaven, still carry the limitations of humanity?
3. The Father’s Prerogative: That verse is also interpreted to mean that the Father who knows will not or should not tell anyone, not even Jesus. Where did God sign that agreement with those misinterpreters of the verse? Is it against the nature of God, Who wants none to perish, to reveal time frames that should save more?
4. The Amos 3:7 Principle: According to Amos 3:7, “the Lord GOD will do nothing[on the earth], but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” That He did not reveal a matter to ‘our’ revered prophets does not mean that He has not done so, or should not. Jesus did not say that God was never going to reveal those details. That it was sealed at a time did not mean that it was going to be sealed forever (Matthew 11:25; Daniel 12:9), but that is what everyone reads into the verse.
5. The Time Range: Brother Joshua did not ‘set’ a date, as some falsely accuse him. He only announced a narrowed range of days, within which nobody still knows the day or the hour, so, technically, he or the God that sent him broke no scripture. After all, all the prophets, even Jesus, also gave a range of days, called “season.” The exception this time is merely that Brother Joshua announced a narrower ‘range’ of two days.
6. A Seeable Day: It says in Hebrews 10:25 that we can “see the day approaching.” What does it mean to “see” the day? How could the Day be unseeable and seeable at the same time? To the ancients, it was hidden, but from the time of the apostles, they had begun to say that it was a Day whose approach could be seen. Why should that pain our fixed theologies?
7. A Thief in the Night: Some have argued that because the Bible says Jesus would come as a thief in the night, and someone does not usually know when a thief is coming, we cannot know when Jesus is coming, and whatever we ‘know,’ therefore, is false. Those interpreters haven’t read their Bible properly. Let’s see the passage:
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2-7).
That passage addresses two categories of people: “ye” and “they”; the “children of light” and those “of the night.” It does say that Jesus would come “as a thief in the night,” but that referred to those in the night. The same passage makes it clear that “that day” was not going to “overtake’ those in the light, or take them by surprise, as it would surprise the children of darkness, who sleep in the night. Paul then warns us not to sleep or be drunken with the lusts and distracting pleasures of this world, “as do others” who are of the night. If anyone insists that they do not know the day and the hour, and should not know, maybe they are merely announcing that they are of the night, and have been distracted by the drunkenness of the times.
8. Another Name: Those who say, “No one knows the day or the hour,” should know that that phrase was actually how the Feast of Trumpets was described. It is the only Feast that they have to wait to sight the new moon before the day is announced. That is why there are two days, any of which could be the day of the feast when the moon is sighted. So, Jesus was actually naming the day in the very expression by which it seemed He was coding it.
Some have been very careful about the dates, not because they do not believe the message, but because they are cowards, afraid of being called ‘date setters.’ They are earnestly preparing, but are shamefully apologetic when they have to call the month of September this year and the dates of the Feast of Trumpets. Fear of men? Fear of being wrong? It is repulsive cowardice. As for me, I have begun to prepare practically.
These are my final words. I have done my part.
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel … He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches … He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still … behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be …Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand (Mark 1:15; Revelation 1:3; 2:7; 22:11-12). Amen.
It may have been too late to read this, if deferred unduly. Because it is lengthy, and not to bore you, this message has been divided into two parts. The Antichrist is here. Maranatha.
1. The Many Witnesses
Regarding the end times, it is no longer prophecies but fulfilments that stare us starkly in the face. Global politics is screaming out with apocalyptic episodes that make the Bible seem like tomorrow’s headlines. We shall unpack them gradually.
So much seems to be in a hurry to happen very soon; very, very soon. The voices are everywhere: in the skies above and among mortals below. In nature, space is raising alarms to which scientists are starting to draw serious attention. Even the animal kingdom seems to have sensed something about to happen, and is reacting in strange ways around the world: strange migrations, some sadly tragic. In geopolitics, the end time players have begun to define their alliances in remarkable ways. There are now two clear adversarial apocalyptic camps, waiting for the trigger to be pulled. Recently, their nuclear rhetoric
I have often wondered about Jesus’ prayer at the tomb of Lazarus, not only about its brevity (given the seriousness of the matter at hand) but especially that He would say, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41). We would usually thank someone for what they have done, not for what we hope that they would do; and you can only say that someone has heard you after you have said something, not before.
When and where did Jesus say the prayer to which He was referring when He said, “thou hast heard me”? It’s not there in the chapter. How could He have been “heard” before He had said anything?
I watched a video recently, a very sobering video, of a pastor and his wife in hell. He was an active pastor, who often spoke to others about the Holy Spirit, about God, and so on, but there may have been something hidden that only they and God knew, despite their flamboyant spirituality. Then they moved to a different city, and their neighbours heard, after a silent while, that they had both died. It was a shock, but those neighbours consoled themselves that they would, after all, meet that pastor and the wife in Heaven. To their surprise, God said that the couple was in hell. Very disturbed, one of the grieving neighbours asked God to show her that that was the case. God granted her a very disturbing trip to hell. They were there. Sad. Unfortunately, such woeful tales have not been few.
A preacher told a similar experience. He attended the funeral of a great pastor, who was a prophet and an acclaimed holiness preacher. Sadly, when he got to the elaborate funeral service, with many dignitaries there to honour the dead,
An object can be so far that it is almost invisible, yet not seeing it from one’s standpoint does not mean that it is not there. As you draw closer to it, it could become visible but indistinct; then clearer and clearer the closer it approaches, or the closer you approach to it. That something can be seen or not seen may be a function of how close you are to it, rather than because the object is unseeable. Visibility, then, may sometimes be a factor of proximity.
Hebrews 10:25 employs the metaphor of proximity to speak about a certain historic “day” that then was far; a day considered unseeable by many because it was distant. The writer of Hebrews cautioned believers to be mindful how they lived, especially “as ye see the day approaching,” implying that the day is ‘seeable,’ although then far.
Prophet Joel spoke of a season that he called “afterward,” when God would pour His Spirit “upon all flesh” (Joel 2:28). The word translated “afterward” in that verse is ‘achar, which is explained by Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary as
