The Future and Endtime

Does God ever send His wrath on His own people? Usually, I’d be the first to affirm that He does not. A well-known Bible verse tells us, “God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Trials, tribulations, even sufferings—those are things that a child of God can and does experience. But wrath is evidently not something He sends against His people.

Or does He?

I was looking over verses I’ve memorized throughout my life today, and I came to this one: “But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” That’s from the last chapter of 2 Chronicles, describing the final state of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah as the fearsome forces of Babylon came against them for the third time, around 586 BC.

Then I thought about a prophetic verse that evidently refers to a time soon to come, from Revelation 18: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues‘” (Revelation 18:4). This has to be the voice of the Lord, clearly speaking to “My people,” the saved believers of the last days, imploring them to “come out of her.” And the “her” referred to here is Babylon the Great, the mysterious end-time entity, “that great city which rules over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18).

There’s a case to be made that these verses in Revelation can be applied even now, to the people of God in this present age. Some say that Babylon the Great is now fully formed and manifest in our time, and that the people of God must “come out of her”, if they are not to receive her plagues, both now and in the times soon to come.

A strong comparison could be drawn to Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, some 4,000 years ago. Lot and his family were increasingly “vexed with the filthy lifestyle of the wicked” (2 Peter 2:8) as they continued living in Sodom and Gomorrah. In Lot’s case, the Lord finally sent angels physically to escort Lot and his family out of Sodom, evidently in the final hours before God poured fire and brimstone upon what had become Lot’s hometown.

But what about now? God says in Revelation that the day will come when the sins of Babylon the Great will have reached unto heaven, and He implores His people to come out. But what if they don’t? What if they are like the impudent, stiff-necked people who inhabited Jerusalem and Judah in the days of Jeremiah? That man was God’s voice to the nation for forty years. And, as we read in that verse from 2 Chronicles, they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and misused His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people. In this case, when God’s own people have so hardened their hearts and shut their ears, He sometimes allows them to suffer the consequences of their grievous sins.

The good news is that there were a few, even in Jeremiah’s time, who took heed to the warnings of God and the voice of His Spirit. Daniel and his friends were carried away to Babylon as young men, and Daniel went on to become one of Israel’s greatest prophets. In fact, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel all lived during that period, with Jeremiah being the oldest by about a generation.

But we don’t know much about the vastly larger number of people who were the mockers and scoffers, the hardened people who were called by His name but perished in the flood of judgments that the Lord had been warning them about for decades. And the thought has come to my mind: Will there be multitudes of believers in the coming judgments of God upon this earth, described in Revelation, who will be in such a state of lukewarmness, complacency and indifference that they simply will not obey when the Lord says, “Come out of her, My people”?

What is going to happen to disobedient Christians, those who are so joined to modern Babylon that they will be much like Lot’s wife, who had to be virtually dragged out of Sodom, the Babylon of her day? If the modern lukewarm do not “come out of her” (Babylon), do those verses imply that they will then “receive of her plagues”?

I believe that “God has not appointed us to wrath.” That is clear from Scripture. But what about half-hearted Christians who have spent their whole lives, in one form or another, within the allurements of Babylon the Great? These thoughts came to me this morning, and they are unsettling.

There is certainly Scriptural precedent for God allowing severe punishment to come upon those of His people who have hardened their hearts and mocked the messengers of God. May the Lord help us all.

A famous phrase from at least the time of Rome said, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”. Does it apply to now? Is God preparing to destroy parts of the world and so is allowing them to descend into madness so that they bring on their own destruction? To say the least, it’s happened before. The Latin rendition was, “Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat,”  an opinion that’s been around for centuries.

Paul the Apostle spoke of this in a different way. He said that God sends “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (II Thessalonians 2:11) But to whom is that strong delusion sent? Paul covers that quite succinctly. Those who “receive not the truth, that they may be saved.” (II Thessalonians 2:10)

I’ve personally witnessed the progression of history over the last 50 or 60 years. I enjoyed and spent time sharing my faith at Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park in London in 1971. How has Britain progressed over the last 50 years? Or Dam Square in Amsterdam where I was in 1972? Have the nations of Western Europe and North America “progressed”? You might think to say yes. But what do you think the answer would be in the eyes of God? “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”

What incredible depth that saying has and I think I only for the first time really saw it and realized it tonight. Is that saying something that the Hebrew Bible would agree with? It certainly is. One of the most incredible passages in the Old Testament bears out this thought. God said to the spirits around His throne, “Who shall persuade [ancient king of Israel] Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead… And one came forth and said, ‘I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets’. And the Lord said, ‘Go, you shall persuade him’.” (I Kings 22:20-22)

This is almost unfathomable for many people. But the Bible says that the Lord convened a multitude of spirits before His throne and that he sanctioned one who said he would go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets of the evil king Ahab.

This is not taught in the kids’ Sunday school class on Sunday. Or most likely even from the pulpit. But it’s the same idea as the ancient thought, “Quos Deus vult perdere prius”. Or as another translation gives it, “Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason”. Perhaps, if you prefer the Greek rendition, Sophocles said, “Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction.”

God, at length, when they have rejected His messengers, despised His words and misused his prophets, sends a lying spirit to deceive fully and utterly those ones who have already gone so far in rejecting Him.

Like the Bible says of ancient King Saul, who ruled before King David, “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him”  (I Sam 16:14). This is where we are now in our times. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.

We all feel it and sense it. There is a spirit of madness and virtual insanity that is upon so many in our nations at this time. It is unsustainable. It is overwhelmingly lacking in basic truth and a grasp of reality and the truth that is of this time. But historically this is what happens before destruction. The ancients knew this.

But these are the overwhelmingly fearful and foreboding times we live in. If you study history, you’ll be aware of times when a lone voice was raised, “one crying in the wilderness”. (Mark 1:3) But it went unheeded. The multitude had hasted to follow evil. “They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his people until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and there was no remedy.” (II Chronicles 36:16) Ask the Germans, they can tell you about it.

Well, this kind of talk is not popular. It’s depressing and discouraging. Still, historically, a solid case could be made that the times we are in right at this moment could be encapsulated by that phrase, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”.

Madness, unreasonableness, fierce senselessness is the order of the day here in our times and even is daily seen in my home country. Hopefully you are not sucked into these things. Hopefully you are anchored in the Lord and His truth. Because the delusion is very strong in our times. And multitudes are being confused and perplexed by it. May God help you and us all.

It wasn’t a dream, but a strong, vivid experience—just before I woke up. There was a lucid presence, and it felt more like me than I was. So persuasive, so reasonable, and so overwhelming.

“This was all for your good,” I was told. It would take a load off my shoulders. It would begin to navigate life for me, make better decisions than I’d been making, and all I had to do was sit back, relax, and let it take control.

But I struggled with it. The reasoning was perfect and, in a way, spoke what seemed like objective truth. I knew it was some form of AI, having taken on life-like attributes, and it was very persuasively prodding me to let it have control of my most basic being. “All for my good, of course.”

It said it was a better version of me than I was. It had all the attributes and nature of my mind, soul, and personality—but without the downsides, the weaknesses, the shadows, and the wavering. All I had to do was say yes, to yield, to submit. You could say it was a dream—or even a nightmare—but it didn’t feel that way.

When I was in the experience, I knew what to do. It wasn’t a question at all of whether this thing had come from the Spirit of God. I knew it hadn’t. Instead, it was a life-like presence that had emerged from the realm of modern science—some kind of brand-new upgrade now capable of matching and mimicking my innermost individuality, able to simply replace me as the captain of my soul. But again, it didn’t feel like a dream. It felt like a being, trying to reasonably convince me to let it take over my life, right in that realm of consciousness just before waking.

As Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) That was what was at stake. I could just let go and let this new, AI-driven version of me take over—and I was told everything would go so much better. And it felt very, very real.

Perhaps if I’d written it down immediately, I’d remember more. But it was so unusual, so topical and current, that I had to take some time just to digest the experience. I believe what happened was that God allowed me to have this incident as a warning—of what is either just around the corner or perhaps already here.

It really looked like a good deal. A better me? Sure, why not? It’s sobering to think of how many people I may even know personally who, in a situation like that, might totally go along with it and sign on the dotted line.

People have been conditioned for generations now to fully and immediately accept anything that comes across as scientific. If they were presented with this offer in a modern, convincing way, multitudes would go for it. But if some clear and obvious demon tried to muscle into their heart and mind, they might actually resist that.

This all sounds like bad news—and I suppose it is. On the other hand, it seems exactly like the kind of thing envisioned in Revelation 13, written in 90 AD, about the condition of the world in the last days before the return of Jesus. For more on this, you could read a recent post I wrote called “Summoning and AI”, based on a New York Times article about the merging of AI and demonology that’s progressing rapidly in places like Silicon Valley.

God help us all. Seriously. This looks like something so many people would accept in a heartbeat. It was only because I have the Lord—and the protection and wisdom of the Holy Spirit—that I was able to resist this thing and even recognize what was happening. In one sense, some of the events spoken of regarding the end time don’t seem to be here yet. But in another very real way, some of them truly do seem to be happening already, right now.

There was almost no fear greater than the fear of Russia. But now Putin’s had to (as they say in poker), “Put what you’ve got on the table.” And it hasn’t looked good so far. No one expected Ukraine to be able to withstand Russia. But they have.

One year into the war, it’s rather a stalemate. But that’s a defeat in many ways for Russia. They were our greatest fear and have been for over 70 years. And now? You can feel they have perhaps two choices. Go fully nuclear, the unspeakable alternative that’s remained our global fear since World War II. Or they can continue to send 10’s of 1000’s of their young men (in a nation desperate to repopulate itself) into the meat grinder of eastern Ukraine, to face resolute Ukrainians and the best weapons the Western powers can provide. Simply put, it’s not looking great for the mystique of Russian superiority and ultimate world dominance, as so many of us have bought into for so long.

And what if you study Bible prophecy? What about “the king of the north”? What about Ezekiel 38? My friends, we’ve been counting on these guys, haven’t we? No need to squirm, I could do the same. I think there are a lot of folks around who’ve been counting on Russia to provide a good deal of the power and “evil” to be fulfilled that’s been predicted in the end time build up, spoken of in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.

But presently, Russia is losing huge numbers of troops and equipment on the plains of eastern Ukraine. And those resources in blood and treasure are not something that springs freely up out of the ground. They are depleted, they’re being exhausted and so very many look at it and feel it’s a fool’s errand that Mr. Putin has sent Russian power and prestige into. “All for nothing”, so many feel of the present war in Ukraine. My prophecy aficionado friends, how will Russia invade the Middle East if they can’t even take the eastern most part of Ukraine?

I hope you’re not expecting me to pull the cookies out of the fire and the rabbit out of the hat on this. I’m as stumped as you are. Perhaps some scenario develops where Putin is overthrown and a new leader arises who’ll lead Russia into a wiser and more prosperous future, more than at any time in its past. But as always, “what if’s” abound at every turn.

How does this all impact the picture of the unfolding end time, which in other areas continues to proceed most forebodingly? I really don’t know. And in my searching the internet for anyone else out there who sees all these data points leading us toward… what!…, I haven’t heard of anyone coming up with a clear, cognizant foreseeing of where all this is leading.

New and stranger goings on proceed briskly in the secular nation of Israel in the Middle East. Will the new, ultra religious government there clear the way for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem? And artificial intelligence meanwhile is gathering pace by leaps and bounds; some now predict that “the singularity” is only 7 years away. Tragic natural disasters fall on top of immense refugee crises, war against Iran is a daily storm on the horizon, Western nations muddle through their internal befuddlements and suicide rates for young people increase year by year.

And the latest fear is that China will come to the aid of Russia with an infinity of weaponry, matching what the West is giving Ukraine. My, how that would be an unfathomably ominous turn of events in this saga. Would that not bring us face to face with the full scenario of World War III that was so before us at the height of the Cold War?

How does it all turn out? Will Russia ultimately sue for peace (as Germany did in World War I) and be defeated on the battle field after human losses unheard of before that time? Will China come to the side and aid of Russia, creating a new axis of power internationally? Will there be a cease fire where both sides get just enough of what they want so that both can claim a type of victory? Your guess may be as good as mine.

Still, I remain convinced that the end of the matter of these wars and rumors of wars is that through the haze and heartbreak will be the unfolding of Bible prophecy that will ultimately lead to the so welcomed second coming of our dear Jesus Christ to bring peace to the earth, after “a time of trouble such as was not since the beginning of the world”, to establish His righteous government, ordained and foretold by God and the prophets.

Of course that sounds ludicrous to the unbelievers who are in the majority now. But as the final events unfold, I believe so many will see ultimately that the only sane explanation of this present world is one that takes us to what turns out to be truly our only hope: God Himself and His intervention to save us all from ourselves and each other, where the people of the earth accept and welcome the intervention of God to pull our existence out of the destruction we have brought it to.