Dr. Ron Rhodes is a bonafide prophecy pro. He is the president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, is heard regularly on nationwide radio and is the author of The End Times in Chronological Order, The 8 Great Debates of Bible Prophecy, and 40 Days Through Revelation. He periodically teaches at Dallas Theological Seminary and several other seminaries. In this episode, we discuss the renewed interest in prophecy within the church, the rise in globalism, and the prophecies given to us from Christ Himself.

 

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Transcript

Todd: Today, you’re going to be so glad you tuned in. We are interviewing an absolute bona fide Prophecy Pro. You do not want to miss today’s episode.

Jeff: I’m Jeff Kinley, welcome to the Prophecy Pros Podcast. We are excited today, for our very special guest, Dr. Ron Rhodes. You know, we’re the Prophecy Pros, but this guy is a real Prophecy Pro. I mean, he was a professional at prophecy long before we were, and we’re so excited to have Dr. Ron Rhodes with us here today. He’s the president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, he’s the author of over 60 books, and is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. As I am, our alma mater. Go DTS. He also teaches there on occasion, as well as several other known seminaries, and has had various seasons of prominent ministry since 1988. I mean, this guy’s been around. He’s there, he’s a pro.

So, Dr. Ron Rhodes, welcome to the Prophecy Pros Podcast.

Ron: Well, thank you so much. It’s an honor to talk to you guys.

Jeff: Yeah, well we’re very excited to have you on. We’ve had the privilege of co-teaching at various prophecy conferences over the years, and seen you around, but never really got a chance to hang out with you. But, I know that your love of Bible prophecy goes way back.
In fact, I heard that Bible prophecy actually played a role in your conversion to Christ. Is that true?

Ron: Well, that is true. You know what’s interesting is that I grew up in a showbiz family, and we were on the Hollywood scene quite a bit. We used to do a lot of the big TV shows. Did The Tonight Show, and The Merv Griffin Show, and The Mike Douglas Show, and Jerry Lewis Telethon, and American Bandstand with Dick Clark, just all kind of shows. And, we had been attending a liberal church, so I didn’t know anything about prophecy at all. As far as I knew, going to church made you a Christian.
But, they also taught weird things about prophecy. For example, they said that the Second Coming refers to whenever a person find God in their heart, so that can happen many times in a person’s life.

Well, as it happened we were working with Pat Boone and his family, and they were very much into Bible prophecy, having read Hal Lindsay’s book The Late, Great Planet Earth. That’s the first I’d ever heard of that. I had never heard of the Rapture, of the tribulation, or the Anti-Christ, or anything. The long story short is that that made a big impact on me, I became a Christian. I dumbed Hollywood and went to Dallas Theological Seminary, and I haven’t looked back.
My wife, Carrie, likes to tell people that she thought she was marrying a rock star, and she got a seminary student. It’s funny the way things work out.

Jeff: That’s incredible.

Todd: Absolutely.

Ron: God definitely has a sense of humor, who He calls into ministry.

Jeff: Well, it’s like Abraham Lincoln said, “God must love ordinary people, He made so many of them.”

Ron: That’s right, that’s exactly right. I know if God can use me, He can use anybody.

Jeff: Amen. Amen to that. We believe that as well.

Todd: Amen. Yeah I was going to say, we definitely feel the same, and we’re blown away at how God opens ministry doors when you’re willing to follow them. It’s pretty exciting.

You know, speaking of that, this year in particular, 2020, obviously with COVID-19 and civil unrest, and all kinds of stuff, all of these global problems, Jeff and I have seen a grassroots questioning from a lot of people who have never studied Bible prophecy before. Do you think, Ron, that there’s a resurgence, or a new interest in Bible prophecy today?

Ron: Well, I think that there is. You know, I look back to maybe the ’70s and the early part of the ’80s, there was a lot of interest. You might remember, after Hal Lindsey wrote his book, a whole lot of people started writing prophecy books. That’s when I started to read books by the Dallas Seminary faculty. People like John Walvoord, and Dwight Pentecost, some of my heroes. You know, it seems like prophecy waned after that. I think a lot of people got impatient with the Rapture not happening soon enough. People started to think that because there’s so many different opinions out there, maybe you really shouldn’t spend too much time on prophecy. I think that prophetic agnosticism swept the country, at that time.

But in recent days, I think it’s really picked up. I think that COVID-19 has caused a lot of people to come face-to-face with their own mortality. Suddenly, people have become interested in whether all this relates to prophecy. I was talking to Bob Hawkins, a friend of yours and mine, and he’s the president of Harvest House, and he told me that, based upon what he has seen, it seems like a lot of people have turned to prophecy, in terms of prophecy books in these days. So, I think that there is a renewed interest.

There was a poll taken not terribly long ago, which indicated that 44% of people believe that the Coronavirus is a wake up call to turn back to God, and may be a sign of coming Judgment.

Todd: Wow.

Ron: And then, 29% said that Coronavirus indicates that we’re living in the End Times.

Now, I’m glad to see that. I wish that people had been interested in prophecy all along. I think that that’s important, because over 25% of the Bible was prophetic when written.

Todd: That’s right.

Ron: And you simply can’t ignore 25% of the Bible. I’m coming from the position of knowing what it’s like to not have prophecy, because I went to church for about 16 years without hearing a single thing about prophecy. That’s that liberal church that I had attended. And I’m afraid a lot of churches are like that out there, and so I’m glad that God has been able to get people’s attention such that they are turning to prophecy. And even beyond that, they’re turning to the Bible, a lot of people are turning to the Bible for the first time.

Jeff: Yeah, that’s very true. We’re hearing that as well. It’s interesting you should mentioned both things, the grassroots movement, and also the churches, whereas the churches, on the whole, are ignoring prophecy, and a lot of pastors are either afraid or unequipped to address the topic. At the same time, ordinary Christians are just screaming for answers.

I’m sure you get it, too, Ron. We get emails every single week, sometimes every day, people just wanting answers and they’re not getting them in their churches. What do you think is causing that?

Ron: Well, that’s a good point. Let me just say, as a part of that point, that I was contacted by a church in a rather liberal denomination, and they contacted me and said, “You know what? Our denomination doesn’t talk about this at all. Our denomination does not produce materials, teaching materials, that cover this stuff. Therefore, would you come in and spend a week with us, and help us to understand what’s really going on?” And so as a result of that, I went in and I taught them, and for the first time, they got to hear what the Bible has to say about prophecy. So, I was very pleased about that.

You know, in terms of prophecy today, and the lack of interest in prophecy, I think it goes along with the overall lack of interest in the Bible itself. You know, the Bible has been issued out the backdoor, and experience has been invited in the front door. It seems like, today, people are basing their religious views all on experience. If it feels good, it must be right. Bible doctrine is no longer en vogue, it’s no longer popular today. People don’t want to hear about doctrine, people want to hear about experience. So, I think that’s a dangerous trend.

In fact, about 15 years ago, there was a president of a seminary who asked me what I saw coming down the pike in the next 10, 15 years. I told him that I thought that mysticism would probably be the big thing, and it would be all about experience. Indeed, that’s exactly what’s happened. What’s really sad is that even among those churches that use the Bible today, very often their sermons are either maybe 15 minutes long and that’s it, or they might just cite a verse and then use that as a launchpad to talk about some topic like how to raise your children, or how to have a successful financial year.

I’m not saying those things are unimportant, I think the church should address those issues, but not to the exclusion of Biblical doctrine. Who was Jesus Christ? What was his purpose? What is the Gospel? What does prophecy teach? All of those things are absolutely critical.

Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, those are the foundations, the moorings of our faith, the cornerstone of our faith, being Christ Himself. When we launch off into the stratosphere with just feel good sermons, self-help … As one pastor said that, “A lot of churches today are a light show and a concert, followed by a TED Talk.” That’s what we’re seeing a lot of today.

And yet, you see these churches that, those that are preaching the word, that are grounding people in the scripture, those are the believers that are going out in the world, and they’re not just surviving, they’re thriving because they’ve been equipped with the word of God according the Ephesians Four, and they’re able to not be tossed back and forth with every winded doctrine.

And speaking of that, when this whole Corona thing exploded, Ron, a lot of people were wondering how this particularly related. I mean, we know that obviously we have lessons we can learn from it. Do you see the Coronavirus something, because it’s hung on? It’s not something that’s been like the Ebola blip on the radar, this thing is hanging on. How is this contributing, if at all, towards a movement towards globalism today? Do you think it has any relationship to that?

Ron: Well, I think it’s one contributing factor. It’s not the only thing, but there’s a number of things, I think, that are contributing towards the movement towards globalism today.

The fact is, is that hundreds of nations have been infected by Coronavirus. Countless people within those nations have been infected. And just as the US economy has been greatly wounded by the Coronavirus, so the economies of hundreds of nations around the world have been injured. Now, you guys know enough about economics to know that what happens with one economy in one nation affects what happens in another nation. We have a globally connected economy, and that means that if our stock market goes down, the likelihood is that the stock market in other countries will also go down. And so, everything is interconnected today.

Now, there have been many people who believe that we need a global solution for a global problem, and this global solution must come from a global leader who can chart a clear course for the future. The idea is that maybe the nation state system is no longer working, maybe individual nation states and their individual solutions are not really addressing the global problems that we face today. And so to me, this may be one contributing factor that is setting the stage for the eventual global rise of the Anti-Christ.
Guys, you’ve also heard about track and trace technology. This track and trace technology is used to analyze potential hot zones of the Coronavirus. Well, I think that this kind of technology and other similar technologies can be part and partial of the movement towards globalism. To me, this kind of technology means a loss of privacy. You can potentially be tracked wherever you go. Now, that kind of technology is a dream technology for any leader who wants to control the world. So again, I think that’s setting the stage for the future.

Todd: Yeah, absolutely. We’re seeing so many things like that, that do affect things globally. And, it’s funny, all this relates together. The fact that people aren’t learning Biblically why there’s nations, why globalism apart from God is a bad thing, and how all that’s going to culminate in the future tribulation period. The Anti-Chris will arise on the scene, and take hold of all that technology and those systems.

And along with that … It’s funny. Every one of these questions could probably be an entire podcast episode.

Ron: Yes.

Todd: We appreciate you handling all that we’re throwing at you. But, these are the questions that we wonder about and we study. And also, these are the questions that a lot of our listeners have as well.

One of those, related to global events, is this whole thing with the Abraham Accords. You know, there’s been different takes on that. We’re just curious, what’s your take on the Abraham Accords and how it relates to end time prophecy?

Ron: Well, to begin with there’s been a lot of people who have contacted me and asked me if the Abraham Accords … Which, if you’re out of the loop on all this, it’s the peace agreement in the Middle East between Israel and some Arab nations. So, a lot of people have contacted me saying, “Is this the covenant that’s prophesied in Daniel 9:27?” And, it’s my personal feeling that no, it is not.

I say that because we know that this Daniel 9:27 covenant will be that the Roman Anti-Christ sides with Israel. We know he will be a Roman, because he will be of the people that destroyed Jerusalem and it’s temple. That’s what Daniel 9:26 says about the Anti-Christ. He is from the people that destroyed the temple and Jerusalem. This is going to be a Roman, the head of a revived Roman Empire, or the United States of Europe, will sign this ultimate covenant.

You know, against this idea that this is the covenant of Daniel 9:27 is the temple sacrifices. You see, in Daniel we are told that when this covenant is signed, temple sacrifices begin in the Jewish temple right after the signing. And then, these temple sacrifices will be disallowed in the second half of the tribulation period. Well, you know the temple’s not even built yet, guys. Preparations are now being made for the building of the temple, money is being raised for the building of the temple, architectural plans have been called for by the Sanhedrin. But, it’s not built yet and it doesn’t even have to be built until that future, first part of the tribulation period.

All of that simply indicates to me that this is not the same as the covenant that is mentioned in Daniel 9:27. The Abraham Accords might be setting the stage for that, but it’s not the same covenant.

You know, what I wonder about, guys, is why would a covenant from the Anti-Christ be necessary, in view of the Abraham Accords? Have you thought about that? Well, I’ve thought about it. I think there’s a number of possibilities, and I know that we’ve got time limits so I’ll just give you the quick summary.

It could be that the Arabs and Israel backslide into new hostilities. But, what about the after effects of the Rapture? You know, with the Rapture, all Israel supporting Christians will be removed from the Earth, including Israel supporting Christians who are politicians. Maybe the Arabs get a little bit hungry for the attack, at that point. Or, it could be that the hard line nations over in the Arab areas will not sign the covenant. I’m talking about nations like Iran, the nations that are part of the Ezekiel Invasion, maybe they won’t sign this covenant. Or, it could be they sign this covenant and then double cross Israel. You know, there’s all kinds of possibilities there.
But, for whatever reason, there will be a future covenant signed by the Anti-Christ with Israel.

Todd: The fact that we’re seeing a push for that now, or a desire for that now, like you said, Ron, I think just shows it’s a foreshadowing. It’s showing us that those conditions worldwide are also in place.

Ron: Well, I think it’s also … It may relate to the Ezekiel Invasion itself.

Todd: Yeah.

Ron: Because one of the things that we know from Ezekiel is that this invasion into Israel by Russia and some Muslim nations cannot happen unless Israel is dwelling in peace and security. We see that in Ezekiel 38.

So, is it possible that the Abraham Accords will make Israel feels at peace, and living securely?

Todd: It seems like it.

Ron: It might be meeting that precondition.

Jeff: Yeah. Also, Satan is always wanting to jumpstart the tribulation, because he knows that’s his time to shine. I mean, that’s his time to bring his man on the scene, and so throughout history he’s tried to get this thing going in several different ways. Obviously, the biggest being during World War II, with Hitler.

But, Satan doesn’t know God’s timetable, and I think he arrogantly believes that he can somehow get this thing going without God’s permission. And yet, God says, “No, no, it’s got to happen after I take my bride home.”

Ron: Well, that’s right. One thing we do know for certain is that Israel will be a sore spot in the world, in the End Times. I mean, that’s an absolute. But, I do find it interesting to see what’s going on today, even when you just look at the Ezekiel prophecies.

Ezekiel first prophesied that Israel would become a nation again. That happened in 1948. And then, Ezekiel prophesied that Jewish people from every nation in the world, the Jewish people would stream back to the Holy Land. That’s been happening every year, since 1948. And then, Ezekiel prophesied that there would be a coalition that arises between Russia, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Turkey, and all the nations around the Black and Caspian Seas. You know, that’s all the Stan nations, like Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. All of those would join together, and one day attack Israel, but this can’t happen until Israel’s dwelling in peace and security.

So it just seems to me that what we’re seeing in our world today is exactly what Ezekiel outlined, either prophecies have been fulfilled, or the stage is being set for a future fulfillment.

Jeff: Amen. Well, the word of God always comes true, every jot and tittle be fulfilled according to Jesus, His words will never pass away. So, we know all these future prophecies will be fulfilled, literally, in exactly the way that they’re predicted, because all the previous ones were done the same way. Jesus was the one who spoke about those, and He spoke about all those. In Matthew 24, we see this huge discourse, the Olivet discourse about the End Times.

And that leads me to the next question, Ron, is that one of your latest books is called Jesus and the End Times, and the subtitle is What He Said, and What the Future Holds. Now, when you’ve written 60 books, and many of them on Bible prophecy, at some point … I’ve only written, I think 35 or 36 books, but at some point you just go, “What’s my next book going to be about?” How did you come to this whole point of I want to focus in on Christ and the End Times. What brought you to that intersection?

Ron: Well, that’s kind of funny. I read a magazine that said, “Somebody has locked Ron Rhodes in a close with a typewriter.” But, that’s not true, I just love to write.
The truth is that I think about nine out of 10 people are more interested in what Jesus says than any prophet or apostle. And as you guys know, Jesus had three primary roles in the New Testament, Prophet, Priest, and King. And in his role as a prophet, he gave three major sermons, and two of those contain prophecies of the future. One is the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 and 25. And then, in the Upper Room discourse, Jesus talked about the Rapture in John 14, verses one to three. So, I find that extremely significant, and I believe that people want to know about what Jesus says about the End Times.

One of the reasons that I wrote the book is my growing conviction that Jesus is the heart and center of Bible prophecy, and that He is the true source of Bible prophecy. Let me just tell you what I mean by that.

First of all, I believe that it was Jesus who spoke through the Old Testament prophets. First Peter 1:11 says of the prophets that “the Spirit of Christ within them set forth prophecies of the future.” Now guys, you know that there’s some debate on this verse, whether that’s talking about the Spirit of Christ, or the Holy Spirit. You know, from the original Greek, it could be translated to Spirit of Christ, or the Spirit from Christ. You know, it’s the same in the original Greek. In agreement with the early church fathers, I believe that this is talking literally about Christ, and so that means that Christ was speaking through the Old Testament prophets.

Furthermore, the revelations that John gave in the Book of Revelation came from Jesus. In Revelation 1:1 we read, “This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that will soon take place. And then, Jesus’ angle communicated this to John.” So, all the prophecies in the Book of Revelation came from Jesus. Likewise, the prophecies from the apostle Paul. Keep in mind that, in Acts 9:15 Jesus said of Paul, “Paul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.” So, all the prophecies that Paul gave were part of Christ’s message. And so, that’s why I believe that Christ is the ultimate source of Bible prophecy. That’s why I wanted to write this book, I don’t think a lot of people think about that.

Jeff: Absolutely.

Todd: No, that’s really compelling. Even as a Bible prophecy teacher and student myself, I’ve studied the Olivet discourse several times and it is complex. It’s like fitting a puzzle piece together, when you read Olivet discourse, the Old Testament prophets that you mentioned, Paul’s writings, and of course the Book of Revelation, and see how it all fits together. With Jesus’ Olivet discourse right there, that’s the key thing.

I’ve even been talking to Jeff lately, I’m taking a fresh look at that now. So I have not had a chance to read this book of yours, Jesus and the End Times, but I am ordering it today because it’s perfectly timely for me.

Ron: Just contact the publisher, and have them send you a review copy.

Todd: Yeah, there you go.

Ron: Get it for free.

Todd: That’s it, when you can.

Ron: One of the things that strikes me is how, if you compare the teachings of Jesus with those in Revelation, they’re so parallel. Jesus and the Olivet discourse warned the rise of false Christs, just as Revelation warned of the rise of the Anti-Christ. Jesus and the Olivet discourse talked about the rise of false prophets, Revelation talks about the false prophet. Jesus and the Olivet discourse warned of wars and rumors of wars, Revelation talks about peace taken from the Earth. Jesus warned about famine, just as Revelation warns about famine. I mean, I could just go on and on, but there’s one parallel after the other. And it makes good sense that they agree with each other, because all of it came from Jesus.

Todd: Yeah, that’s a great, fantastic … I love how you tied that together, I had never thought about that before, specifically how Jesus is the author of all of those. That makes a lot of sense. Now, what does Jesus indicate about the course of the present age with his prophetic parables, related to and following the Olivet discourse? Do you cover that in that book as well?

Ron: Well, yes I do. You know, the course of the present age, I believe, takes place primarily in the parables of Jesus Christ. Now, I love the parables, the parables are so loaded with prophetic truth. I say this because so many people skip over the parables. And you shouldn’t do it, there’s so much good stuff there.

A parable is basically a teaching tool, and Jesus often told the story from the real world to illustrate a prophetic truth, or some other kind of truth. So just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, the Parable of the Sower teaches that our current age will be characterized by the sowing of the Gospel onto different kinds of soil. You know, some of the soil is good, and those people will become Christians. Other soil is bad, it’s characterized by the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Those people, they’re not going to bear any fruit, they’re not going to really come to know the Lord.

The Parable of the Terrors indicates that the true sowing of the Gospel seed will be imitated by a false counter-sowing. Satan is busy at work, sowing his seeds out there as well. The Parable of the Mustard Seed indicates that God’s spiritual Kingdom would begin very small, but it would grow to become very, very big. When you look at, back in New Testament times, that Kingdom was small, but, look at how Christianity now engulfs the entire Earth. The Parable of the Net indicates that, up until the Second Coming when judgment takes place, there will be genuine Christians and phony Christians that co-exist in the Kingdom. But, at the end of the age, there will be a separation of the righteous from the unrighteous.

In the Parable of the Fig Tree, one of my favorites, Jesus indicates that God has revealed certain things through prophecy that ought to cause people who know prophecy to understand that a fulfillment of prophecy is taking place. Or, perhaps in our present day, that the stage is being set for an eventual fulfillment of prophecy. So Jesus is informing his followers to be accurate observers of the times, so that when Biblical prophecies are fulfilled, they’ll recognize it. Guys, that’s one of the reasons why we ought to study prophecy. We cannot possibly recognize the signs of the times, unless we first know what those signs are.

Todd: Yes, so well put. I think a lot of times people think when you say, “Oh, I’m studying Bible prophecy,” they immediately think of sensationalism, or that you’re setting a date for the Rapture. I love what you’re pointing out is that no, it’s much broader than that, and it’s much more integrated to the entirety of scripture than that.
Earlier, you used a phrase that I’m totally going to steal, prophetic agnosticism. I love that.

Ron: Well, you know it’s sad because, I’ll let you know, a lot of people do think that because there’s so many different views, we can’t trust prophecy.

Todd: Yeah.

Ron: But, the thing that makes sense to me is simply this, and this has been my guiding light, my guiding principle. When the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you end up in nonsense.

Todd: I love it.

Ron: That’s what it comes down to. When the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you end up in nonsense.
It’s like you guys pointed out earlier, if you want to know how God is going to fulfill prophecy in the future, take a look how He’s fulfilled prophecy in the past.

Todd: Amen.

Ron: Because all those past prophecies were fulfilled, literally. It was prophesied of Jesus to “be born of a virgin,” Isaiah 7:14. “In Bethlehem,” Micah 5:2. “Pierced for our sins,” Zachariah 12:10. I mean, I could go on and on, there’s over 100 prophecies literally fulfilled. And, all the Second Coming prophecies will be just as literally fulfilled.

Todd: Amen. And speaking of that, and another phrased that you used and I’m really interested to hear about this one, you say that there’s a “grand reversal is coming.” Can you talk about that a little bit?

Ron: Well, I teach this everywhere because there’s a lot of people that are discouraged today. Whether it’s from the Coronavirus, or some of the unrest that exists in the world today, so I like to talk about a grand reversal.

What I mean is simply this. In Genesis, we witnessed God creating the heavens and the Earth. But in Revelation, God creates the new heavens and the new Earth. In Genesis, the sun and the moon were created as great lights, but in Revelation, in the Eternal City there is no longer any need for such light, because God’s glory lights up the Eternal City. In Genesis, God created the night, but in the Book of Revelation, in the Eternal State there is no longer any night. In Genesis, human beings succumbed to the temptations of Satan, but in Revelation, in the Eternal State, Satan is eternally quarantined away from the people of God. In Genesis, the first man and woman sinned against God, in Revelation redeemed humans are free from sin forever, and live in a perfectly holy environment.

In Genesis, as a result of sin, a curse was pronounced by God. But in Revelation, in the Eternal State, there is no more curse. In Genesis, paradise was lost, but in Revelation, in the Eternal State, paradise is gloriously restored. In Genesis, the first man and woman were barred from the Tree of Life, but in Revelation, in the Eternal City redeemed humans are restored to the Tree of Life. And then finally, in Genesis, tears, death, and mourning came into human existence. But in Revelation, in the Eternal State, tears, death, and mourning are forever absent from the redeemed.

So my friends, there’s a grand reversal coming. And if that does not put wind in your sails, then we need to get those shockers that the hospital uses and put them on your chest and bring you back to life.

Todd: Amen.

Jeff: That’s like we say here in Arkansas, if that doesn’t fire you up your wood is wet. You know, that you just quoted that verse from Revelation 21:4 about no longer any tears, or mourning, or crying, or pain. The very next verse says, “He who sits on the throne says behold, I am making all things new.” And that is exactly who our God is.
I know one of the things that Bible prophecy does, Ron, is instill us with great hope. It’s not a feeling, it’s not a wish, it’s a real confident expectation. Can you just speak just a moment, as we close out just how does prophecy give us that kind of hope?

Ron: Well, it gives us a very powerful hope. I think, first of all, prophecy is the motivation to live expectantly. What is it that we’re expecting? Well, we live expectantly because the Rapture is imminent, it could take place at any moment. Paul said, “Time is running out. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed,” because the Rapture is imminent.

Secondly, we live expectantly because we will be with Christ following the moment of death. Even if we don’t take part in the Rapture, if we die before the Rapture, not a problem, we go straight to Heaven. And we are fully confident that, when we are away from this body, we are at home with the Lord, so we can live expectantly of that.
We can also live expectantly because we’re going to get a body upgrade. It’s a resurrection body, and it’s a body that will never again get sick, no more heart problems, no more kidney failure, no more hairs falling out of your head. One of the best things is that in your resurrection body, you can still eat. Jesus ate food four times after he resurrected from the dead, and scripture indicates that our resurrection bodies will be much like his.

And then finally, guys, prophecy’s a motivation for us to live right. If you’re really expecting the Lord to show up at any moment at the Rapture, that’s going to motivate us to want to live for Him. I have found that to be very true in my own life.

Todd: Amen, amen. Wow, well put. That’s good to hear, and looking forward to that new body. And, thankful that we’ll be able to eat and it’s not going to be just a boring time of hanging out on clouds, playing harps.

Ron: Amen. That would be more like Hell, to me.

Todd: Yes, exactly. Well Ron, before we wrap it up, first of all we just thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us, and let us pick your brain. We literally could do this for hours but we’ve got to wrap it up. But before we go, please share with our listeners where they can learn more about you and your ministry.

Ron: Well, you can just go over to ronrhodes.org, R-O-N-R-H-O-D-E-S.org. You can download lots of free articles, you can sign up for a free newsletter. I don’t ask for a red cent from anybody on keeping all this going. So if you want a lot of free stuff, my website’s the place to go. Of course, I can’t give out free books. I wish I could.
But nevertheless, a lot of the books are listed there, and they’re there if you want them. But everything else is free, and so we exist to serve the Body of Christ. If we can help you, stop by, let us know. There’s a place where you can contact me, and send me an email. As hard as it sometimes, I do make an effort to eventually get back with everyone.

Todd: Yeah, that can be a challenge sometimes.

Ron: It can be, especially after you do some national radio show and you get a billion emails.

Todd: Yeah.

Ron: It might take a month or two to get to all those, but eventually.

Todd: Again, we cannot thank you enough, we just really appreciate it. We know that many people were blessed by today, and also to learn about your ministry. I pray that a lot of people will go there to get those resources. We really appreciate you joining us today.

Ron: Well, thank you so much. You guys keep up your excellent work with this podcast, and your excellent books.

Todd: Thank you so much, appreciate that.

Hey, well thanks for listening to today’s episode. To find out more information, visit prophecyprospodcast.com. There, you can find out more about Jeff’s ministry, my ministry, the books we write, and you can also ask us any questions you want and we’ll be glad to respond.
Also, please share this with as many people as you can, we want to get the word out about this podcast as widely as we can because it’s really impacting lives. Thanks again for tuning in, and visit prophecyprospodcast.com.