Donation Drive September to November
It has now been 39 years that Rapture Ready has been an online resource for end-times information. I started the site sometime in September of 1987 while I was an airman stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. My computer was an Apple II clone made by Franklin Computer Co. It featured all green text, and there was no mouse.
A few weeks ago, I was talking with Terry, and I actually thought we were only coming up on our third decade. I did some quick math in my head and realized the big 4-0 was coming up. I was also shocked that I’ve been retired from the military for nearly as long as my 20-year service.
There was no grand opening for the site because, for the first few years, few people cared what I posted in the global newsgroups system–now extinct. When the graphic Internet came along with the 1994 release of Netscape Navigator, I switched to posting the site on a stand-alone domain.
The changes I find most amazing are Rapture Ready’s growth. In the early days, I could go on a two-week trip and come back without anyone noticing my absence. Today, I have to check something related to the site at least six times a day. The traffic went from zero to one thousand in the ’90s, to tens of thousands in the 00s, and to hundreds of thousands in the past few years. Today we measure our traffic in millions of hits.
I was recently watching a YouTube video, which made me realize that the current AI craze could be very helpful to the site. It has long been obvious that once the rapture takes place, there will be no one left to manage the Rapture Ready domain. I once jokingly asked for someone to volunteer to stay behind to manage the site.
For decades, computer programs have required manual labor to tell them what to do at each stage. We input the information, and the program would produce results. Now, there are AI agents that will quickly be able to act as free agents. They will do work that once required humans.
Computers would have to advance by many orders of magnitude before I would ever let one run the site unsupervised. There is one simple task that AI could do at any time. Once the rapture occurs, there will be a massive surge in our server traffic. An AI agent could help by significantly increasing the site’s bandwidth.
We are currently on a server that can handle ten times the daily traffic load. We could program AI to upgrade our host plan if traffic surges past a given level. We could tell AI to go crazy with credit cards if news of millions of people missing hit the news feeds.
Another way AI is helping RR is by enabling a vast amount of money to be spent on creating better chips. Servers are getting more and more powerful because AI is used to advance the technology that makes them run. It used to take several years for a new generation of a software program to be released. Because AI helps design itself, these releases come out every few months.
We could be approaching the point where bandwidth is no longer a factor. It has been several years since I’ve had to deal with any limits on my personal internet use. We will eventually reach the point where web hosting providers will have equally endless resources.
Our first use of AI will likely be a plugin that will answer people’s questions. Visitors who are new to prophecy don’t know where to go. RR runs on WordPress, and the latest version has options for AI providers like OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini.
We have a page that explains how to create mirrors of Rapture Ready. Because the post-rapture world will be a time of panic, people might be too distracted to share the contents of this site. Also, time will be very limited. All prophecy sites will likely be scrubbed from the internet within a few days.
As we get closer to the tribulation hour, every Christian needs an end-times mindset. If you truly believe the rapture is drawing near, you should be more focused on endeavors that will contribute to the Kingdom of God.
There are three ways you can contribute to RR: Send a financial gift via our PO Box address; make a one-time donation; or make monthly donations. If you’re interested in signing up, find the links on the Donation Depot page. Donations can be sent to our PO Box at:
Rapture Ready
P.O. Box 969
Benton, AR 72018
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“Burdensome Stone” Blocking Pernicious Peace
Israel has long been at the center of observation as we watch issues and events unfold in Bible prophecy. God’s Word tells us that Israel, His chosen nation and people, will be at the center of hatred by the entire world at the climax of history leading to Christ’s return.
We’ve looked numerous times at the key Scripture that provides this truth for the wrap-up of the age:
“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:1-3).
While the evil coming against Israel and the Jewish people alive today might, to much of the world, be inexplicable, it is all understandable from the perspective of biblical prophecy. Well, it is at least becoming clearer with each passing day.
We watched what happened on October 7, 2023. The Muslim terrorists of Hamas invaded Israel with a heinous and ferocious assault on Jews and attending Gentiles as well, during the celebration by young people. Here is Google’s brief statement about the attack:
On October 7th, 2023, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel—The Nova Music Festival was one of the central targets of the attack, where at least 364 civilians were killed and 40 hostages were reportedly taken.
The very fact that Google grossly underreports the numbers and atrociousness involved in the murderous assault by Hamas points to the purpose of this commentary. The reporting was thus light for the most part throughout all mainstream news media throughout the world.
The weeks that unfolded from the assault brought world sympathy—not to Israel, but to the people of Palestine. For much of the reporting, the emphasis was that peace could come of this if the Jewish state would give Palestine a state within its territory—i.e., give up land for peace, which has been a decades-long lament by the Islamists surrounding Israel. The anti-Semites throughout the world claim that genocide is perpetrated by Israel against those the Jewish state has to defend against when Israel is viciously attacked.
Israel and the Jewish people, from that October 7, 2023, point, have become the recipient of anti-Semitism that might soon rival that of the days of Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s.
The following story shows God’s prophetic Word coming into focus at this very time:
The foreign ministers of eight Muslim countries on Sunday condemned Israel’s rejection of a roadmap for implementing US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, accusing Israel of obstructing efforts to end the conflict as Hamas and US officials held talks in Cairo on the framework. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates said Israel’s opposition amounted to a “direct repudiation” of the peace plan that “jeopardizes its implementation, and fundamentally undermines the collective efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace.” (“8 Muslim countries blame Israel for ‘obstructing’ Gaza framework,” World Israel News, August 17, 2026)
Make no mistake: Even though President Trump hasn’t made the stipulation, at the heart of that protest is the demand that Israel give up part of its land so a Palestinian state can be established. Israel, with territory about the size of New Jersey, is expected to allow an Islamic nation within those tiny borders, a thing that would put those who hate Israel and Jews the most—Islamist terrorists—within God’s chosen nation.
The Lord, of course, has described this satanic development for the end of things leading to Christ’s Second Advent. Nothing takes our Lord by surprise. As a matter of fact, Zechariah the prophet was commissioned to let this generation of believers know that He—God Himself—is directing all of this. His magisterial orchestration is bringing all into view as we anticipate Christ’s call to all believers in the Rapture.
Israel is becoming increasingly hated, as are the Jewish people. They are accused of being at the root of all of Earth’s troubles that might lead to a final nuclear war. Before all is finished, a peace of sorts will come from this war.
It will be a pernicious peace—that is, a peace that will destroy many (Read Isaiah 28:16–18). It will be the false peace made in the covenant of Daniel 9:27.
But the real peace will be made by the Prince of Peace, the returning King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords, to put an end to war-making at Armageddon (Revelation 9:11).
Our God is absolutely faithful to do what He has promised, and He has promised to put His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the throne for the millennial (thousand-year) reign.
“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations of Jeremiah 3:22-23).
His faithfulness extends to all individuals whom He calls to repentance. And He calls everyone to repentance.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31b).
—Terry
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Then the Rains Came
Although we have come to expect such sights, it was still quite shocking to watch the recent celebration that ensued after the Massachusetts governor signed a law permitting the murder of children up to the time of birth. How much longer can it be until the Lord returns for us?
The barbaric atrocity of abortion is just one sign of an increasingly widespread mindset whereby the masses approve a wide range of evil behavior (see Romans 1:28-32). I have long read about the lawlessness that the antichrist will bring with him after the Rapture. However, I never imagined I would see so much of it before our departure.
As I thought about these things this morning, my attention turned to 2 Peter 3, where the apostle wrote about the scoffers who would come in the last days. In particular, I thought about what the apostle wrote about the Noahic flood:
“They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:4-7).
I find it more than a little informative that the predicted mocking of the last days would include a purposeful forgetfulness of another time when God judged all of humanity. The Lord also linked those days to the time just before the flood of Genesis 6-8.
The Days of Noah
In Matthew 24:37-40, Jesus compared the time before His return to the “days of Noah.” The Lord’s comparison was not just with the evil of the world before the flood, but with the complete unawareness that judgment was imminent. They lived as though nothing could possibly interfere with their lives and future aspirations. Then the rains came.
Those outside the faith don’t believe that the flood recorded in Genesis ever happened. Although most Christians accept the account’s authenticity, many don’t believe the Lord will again judge humanity as He did in Noah’s day. They believe that the next event of God’s prophetic calendar is the end of the age and the Second Coming, when Jesus wraps up history and judges the living and the dead. They find alternative interpretations for the Scriptures that predict Jesus’ dramatic intervention in human history to destroy Satan’s kingdom and gloriously inaugurate His worldwide reign over all the nations.
Just as the Lord predicted through His apostle, the scoffing of the last days, in which we now live, includes a disbelief in Jesus’ warning concerning the fast-approaching time of God’s wrath that lies ahead for the entire earth and an unawareness of what lies ahead for the world.
The Rains Will Come
I imagine that the waiting was difficult for Noah and his family as they built the ark in preparation for something that had never happened before. Can you imagine the mocking they endured? The day came, however, when the rains arrived just as God said.
We live at just such a time, do we not? We know that the start of the Day of the Lord is ever so near, which will begin with sudden destruction upon the world soon after the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). We recognize the many signs pointing to the start of this time of God’s wrath upon the earth and look for the Rapture to occur soon. We believe the judgments recorded in Revelation chapters 6-18 are real and imminent.
Yet we wait and wait. That’s where the message of 2 Peter 3:4-7 hits home. It’s not just a warning about the scoffers of our day; it’s an encouragement to all of us who long for Jesus’ appearing. The passage assures us that just as the rains came to the ancient world, so they will surely come to the world of our day. Those who now celebrate the murder of innocent children will pay a great price after Jesus takes us home to glory. The rains will come.
I understand how the realization of Jesus’ imminent appearing troubles those who have loved ones caught up in today’s rebellious mindset. I share that concern for many of my close family members, and I plead daily for their salvation.
Unlike Noah’s day, when the closing of the ark’s door sealed the fate of unbelievers, a great multitude of people will come to saving faith after God’s wrath begins to sweep through the earth. The good news is that they will receive eternal life and experience a future resurrection despite missing the rapture. The bad news is that most in this group will experience martyrdom for their faith. I often pray that my unsaved family members will have the opportunity to turn to the Lord then, should they not do so beforehand.
Until the day we meet Jesus in the air, we pray and warn others as the Lord gives us the opportunity. We know that just as the rains came to the ancient world, so they will come to the unbelieving world.
Maranatha!!
-Jonathan
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