What's Next?

As we approach 2026, it seems to me that something happens every day that appears to be related to Bible prophecy.

The Rapture? The Rise of the Ten Kings? The Battle of Gog of Magog? A digital ID in the U.S. A covenant with many for seven years of peace in the Middle East. The judgment of God on America over Pres. Trump’s efforts to appease Muslim intolerance of other religions by dividing Israel. Democrats retaking the House and/Senate in the mid-term elections. More wars and rumors of wars. More frequent and intense natural disasters. Very little surprises me anymore, and I believe we can expect almost anything.

Every jot and tittle of His Word must be fulfilled, and we are watching it play out on a daily basis.

One, concerning an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters at the end of the age (and possibly Pres. Trump’s efforts to appease the Muslims by dividing Israel): on Dec. 19, 2025, it was reported that:

A powerful windstorm with gusts reaching 144 mph (50-80 mph in lower elevations) battered parts of the Pacific Northwest and Rockies this week, leaving one dead, two injured, and hundreds of thousands without power. The deep low-pressure system continues moving east toward the northern Plains and Midwest, sustaining severe winds and wildfire risks. Two, concerning an increase in earthquakes at the end of the age: on Dec. 20, 2025, Prophecy News Watch (PNW) posted an article by Michael Snyder (Economic Collapse Blog) that said:

Here in the United States, we have been experiencing lots and lots of little earthquakes, but thankfully, we have not been hit by a really bad one yet. Will our luck run out in 2026? According to the Daily Mail, the dozens of earthquakes that have been rattling the New Madrid fault zone since the middle of November are “renewing fears of a catastrophic natural disaster soon.” Experts are also urging us to keep an eye on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Beneath Cascadia’s forests and coastlines lies a 600-mile fault capable of producing a magnitude-9 earthquake. The last one struck in 1700, shaking the region for minutes and sending a massive tsunami all the way to Japan. Today, nearly 17 million people live on top of the same silent threat. Scientists warn that when it breaks again, the Pacific Northwest could change in a matter of minutes. Sediment cores extracted from the Pacific seafloor suggest that two major fault systems along the western coast of the United States and Canada might be partially synchronized. New findings reveal that after an earthquake on the southern part of the Cascadia subduction zone, an earthquake soon after on the northern part of the San Andreas fault appears to occur roughly half of the time. These results, published in Geosphere, provide evidence of stress triggering, which has long been invoked to explain how activity on one fault might lead to activity on another nearby. (My opinion: I am not predicting a major earthquake along the New Madrid, or Cascadia, or San Andreas fault zones in 2026, but I want to remind everyone that God warned the nations against dividing the Promised Land, and He can cause or allow natural disasters anytime He wants.)

Three, concerning wars and rumors of wars: on Dec. 13, 2025, ISIS terrorists in Syria killed three U.S. citizens (two U.S. soldiers and one civilian interpreter), and Pres. Trump said the U.S. would retaliate.

The U.S. struck 70 targets in areas across central Syria that had ISIS infrastructure and weapons, and more strikes should be expected. The U.S. Sec. of War, Pete Hegseth, said, “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance.”

(More: Following the U.S. strike, Al-Qaeda’s leader posted the following on Telegram: I bless and commend all the heroic operations carried out against Jews and Americans throughout the world. And I call upon every honorable and zealous Muslim, and every free, courageous, and notable person in this world, to take the initiative and hasten to eradicate the dual evil (Jews and Americans) wherever they are found.)

Four, concerning an increase in wickedness (days of Noah) at the end of the age: last year a Muslim terrorist from Saudi Arabia drove a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas Market that killed six and injured hundreds.

About one week ago, a Muslim father and son killed 16 and injured dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia.

This week, a Muslim terrorist attack was foiled at the same Christmas Market in Germany, and another was foiled at a Christmas Market in Poland.

(FYI: Muslim terrorist attacks on Christian and Jewish holidays are becoming a global problem. This article contains several reports on Muslim terrorist attacks all over the world, and I could have easily recorded two or three times as many reports as I have.)

Five, on Dec. 20, 2025, it was reported that Pres. Trump has released a plan called “Project Sunrise” to rebuild Gaza as a high-tech, luxury coastal entity over the next 20 years.

I can’t imagine it happening, but here is a link to the article for those who want to check it out:

Here are some Scriptures that may refer to Gaza’s future: Amos 1:6-8; Jer. 25:17-20, 47:1-7; Zeph. 2:4-7, and Zech. 9:5-7.

Six, concerning the spread of Islam and antisemitism in Germany: on Dec. 21, 2025, it was reported that:

In 1975, there were 10 mosques in Germany. In 2025, there are 2,750 mosques in Germany. (My comment: Beware America, the Islamic camel has its nose under the edge of the U.S. tent. Beware Church, militant Islam forces non-Muslims to submit.)

Seven, concerning Islamic intolerance of other religions and a falling away in the Church at the end of the age: on Dec. 20, 2025, The Gateway Pundit reported that:

Europe is increasingly restricting public Christmas celebrationsas political and cultural elites retreat from the continent’s Judeo-Christian identity while simultaneously caving to liberal pressure to embrace Islam and aggressive secularism. Public displays of Christmas, once understood as inclusive and unifying, are now treated as controversial in countries such as France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and others.

Eight, concerning the Islamic threat to America: on Dec. 21, 2025, the Daily Caller reported that the U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard said:

Islamist ideology is the greatest near and long-term threat to American freedom and security. At its core, Islam is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America. It is threatening Western civilization by promoting governance by Sharia law. A free society cannot survive if it refuses to defend itself. (More: On Dec. 22, 2025, The Christian Post reported that “Five Iranian Christians have been sentenced to a combined 50 years in prison for religious activities, including prayer, baptism and distributing Bibles.”)

Nine, on Dec. 17, 2025, the U.S. Dept. of War hosted the Pentagon’s first “Christmas Worship Service” with both military and civilians gathering in the center courtyard to sing songs of praise to God and hear a presentation of the Gospel message from evangelist Franklin Graham.

The Dept. of War started holding monthly worship services in May of 2025; this was the first Christmas service.

Ten, concerning the return of Jews to Israel, the expansion of Israel’s borders, and Jews living in Judea at the end of the age: on Dec. 21, 2025, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the establishment of 11 new towns and legalization of 8 Jewish existing communities across Judea and Samaria.

Within three years, we have legalized 69 new settlements – a record like no other. The people of Israel are returning to their land, building it, and strengthening their hold on it.

Eleven, concerning the hatred of the Jews and their return to the Promised Land at the end of the age: on Dec. 23, 2025, it was reported that Israel’s Foreign Min. Gideon Saar:

Issued an emotional and urgent call: come home. Saar implored Jews from the diaspora to make aliyah, warning that antisemitic violence has reached alarming new heights globally while foreign governments fail to offer meaningful protection. (My comment: It is my understanding that the Jews would return to Israel in two great waves: one in unbelief over a period of time before the Tribulation Period, and the other in a matter of days as believers in Jesus at His Second Coming; Ezek. 36:24-27; Ezek. 37:5; Rom. 11:1, 26.)

Twelve, concerning wars and rumors of wars, and the use of nuclear weapons during the Tribulation Period: on Dec. 23, 2025, U.S. Vice-Pres. J.D. Vance said:

The mass migration agenda could risk nuclear weapons in Europe falling under the control of Islamist politicians. There is a “direct American interest” in preventing countries like France and the UK from being “overwhelmed with very destructive moral ideas” and allowing “nuclear weapons to fall in the hands of people who can actually cause very, very serious harm to the United States.” (My comment: Militant Muslims often shout, “death to Israel” and “death to America.” America should be concerned about Islam taking over nuclear powers, having access to nuclear secrets, controlling the militaries and weapons of France, the UK, etc.).

Thirteen, concerning a recent snow in the desert in Saudi Arabia and natural disasters: on Dec. 25, 2025, Adam Berkowitz wrote:

The Bible presents snow not as a meteorological surprise but as something fully under Divine control. In Job, God confronts human certainty about the natural world: “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail?” (Job 38:22). Snow is described not as an accident of nature but as something stored and released by God at His discretion. The Sages taught that the weather is not background noise to history. It is one of the instruments through which God governs the world. When snow falls in a desert known for heat and drought, it exposes how fragile human expectations really are. The landscape people assume will always remain the same can be overturned overnight. Fourteen, concerning wars and rumors of wars: on Dec. 22, 2025, the Prophecy News Watch (PNW) staff wrote:

Hamas is rearming and refusing to surrender its weapons. Hezbollah, under growing internal pressure inside Lebanon, continues to resist disarmament. And Iran, the gravitational force behind both groups, is steadily rebuilding its ballistic missile stockpiles. Now comes the political signal that suggests the current moment may be only an intermission, not an ending: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is widely expected to approach President Trump later this month with a renewed, comprehensive plan to confront all three actors. If that happens, it will mark a recognition of an uncomfortable truth–piecemeal solutions have failed, and the region is, once again, back to square one. Despite the world’s desire for peace, history suggests peace without decisive outcomes is an illusion. As 2026 approaches, the signs are troublingly clear. The players are rearming. The grievances remain. And the lesson–that unresolved wars always return–has once again gone unheeded. FYI: God does not send anyone to Hell (all of us are born with a sin nature and destined to go to Hell because we sin), but God has provided a way (Jesus) for everyone to go to Heaven (and He is the only way to get there; John 14:6).

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God, who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

I don’t know if dispensationalist weavings of independent events affects anyone’s salvation, but it might lead to problematic results. At the very least that’s a huge waste of time and energy that can be better spent elsewhere. Some facts to consider from Jim Brown:

“Almost every essay I have written in recent months has focused on eschatology, aiming to highlight the distinction between dispensationalism, which places most prophecy in the future, and preterism, which understands the majority of prophecy as fulfilled in AD 70.

When placed under historical scrutiny, dispensationalism completely falls apart because it cannot produce a single apostolic, patristic, medieval, or Reformation witness in its favor. The apostles themselves present a unified eschatology:

*Paul speaks of one resurrection and one coming of Christ in 1 Thess. 4–5 and 1 Cor. 15, never a secret coming or a pre-tribulation event.

*Peter affirms in Acts 3:21 that Christ remains in heaven until the restoration of all things—one climax, not two.

*Jesus repeatedly states that believers are resurrected “on the last day” (John 6), which contradicts any idea of a resurrection occurring seven years before the last day.

This creates a powerful line of cross-examination:
Where do the apostles ever teach a pre, mid, post-trib rapture? Where do they divide the coming of Christ into two phases? Where do they split God’s people into Israel and the Church? Where is Daniel’s 70th week detached from the first 69 by 2,000 years? No dispensationalist can answer these questions from Scripture.

The early church fathers likewise present unanimous testimony against dispensational categories. Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, and the Didache all teach a singular appearing of Christ after tribulation, not a secret event. Justin Martyr explicitly identifies the Church as “the true spiritual Israel,” eliminating the alleged Israel–Church divide. Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus are premillennial, but not dispensational—they all affirm one return of Christ and expect the Church to face Antichrist rather than escape him. Origen, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Jerome, Chrysostom, and Augustine repeatedly reject any notion of two second comings, emphasizing one resurrection and one final judgment. Chrysostom directly links 1 Thessalonians 4 to the final resurrection, destroying the dispensational separation of “rapture” and “second coming.” The Nicene Creed itself—crafted and defended by Athanasius—proclaims belief in “the resurrection of the dead” (singular) and one future appearing of Christ.

In cross-examination form: Which early father (before A.D. 400) taught a rapture? Which one taught a rebuilt 3rd Jewish temple as God’s end-time focus? Which one placed a seven-year tribulation after a secret removal of the Church? Which one taught two stages of Christ’s return? The answer is none—no church father supports these claims.

The medieval theologians continue the same united testimony. John of Damascus, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Thomas Aquinas all describe the end of the world as a single event involving one return of Christ, one resurrection, and one judgment. They never mention a future state in which God resumes a separate plan for national Israel, nor do they insert a prophetic parenthesis between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel. Their writings reinforce the continuity of Christian eschatology: the Church is the people of God, and Christ returns once at the end of the age to present his Father a glorious Kingdom.

The Reformation adds its own decisive witness. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zwingli, Melanchthon, and the Westminster writers all affirm a single, climactic return of Christ. Calvin teaches that Scripture “uniformly applies the coming of Christ to the final day of judgment.” Luther insists that Christ will return “once, visibly, as He ascended.” The Westminster Confession (1646) explicitly affirms one resurrection and one final coming, fully contradicting any rapture-tribulation divide. The Reformers were either amillennial or historicist; none of them were dispensational. Thus the next cross-examination: Where do Luther or Calvin teach a secret rapture? Where do the Reformers separate Israel and the Church? Where do any of them teach a two-stage return of Christ or a future Jewish temple? Again, no such quotes exist.

Only in the 1830s does dispensationalism enter Christian history. John Nelson Darby is the first person ever to propose a pre-tribulation rapture, a revived prophetic plan for ethnic Israel, and a parenthesis church age lasting thousands of years. These ideas are not ancient—they are modern innovations of the 19th century, later spread by C. I. Scofield in 1909. Each core tenet of dispensationalism emerges at this time and has no precedent in the previous 1,800 years.

This leads to the final and fatal cross-examination question:
If dispensationalism is apostolic Christianity, why does it appear only after the Industrial Revolution? Why does no Christian writer teach it until Darby? Do you believe the Holy Spirit allowed every Christian for eighteen centuries to misunderstand the return of Christ?

Therefore, the historical record is overwhelming and unanimous: no apostle, no early church father, no medieval theologian, and no Reformation leader ever taught dispensationalism. Not one affirmed a pre, mid or post tribulation rapture, a prophetic parenthesis, a permanent Israel–Church division, or a two-stage second coming. Every major Christian voice for eighteen centuries contradicts the system. Dispensationalism is not ancient, not apostolic, not patristic, not medieval, not Reformation—it is a 19th-century invention.

The cumulative weight of history sides squarely against it. If the early Church is the measuring rod of orthodoxy, then dispensationalism does not simply have weaknesses—it has no roots, no precedent, and no historical credibility whatsoever. The conclusion is inescapable: a doctrine absent from eighteen centuries of Christian teaching cannot be the original faith of the Church.

Dispensationalism Cannot Be “Restored Revelation”

I once asked a friend who was a staunch dispensationalist about the origins of that eschatology. His answer was, it is a restored Revelation from God.
The idea that dispensationalism is a “restored revelation” ranks among the most creative theological innovations of the last two centuries—creative in the same way fan fiction is creative. It is ambitious, imaginative, and wholly unconnected to the original source material. The moment a dispensationalist claims their system is a rediscovered truth from God, the entire theological, historical, and biblical record coughs politely and whispers, “No, it wasn’t.”

First, the claim fails at the most basic level of Christian theology: revelation is closed. Hebrews 1:1–2, Jude 3, and Revelation 22:18–19 all insist that divine revelation ended with the apostles. Christianity is not an ongoing-season Netflix series where God releases new plot twists every few centuries because viewers got bored. When Jude said the faith was “once for all delivered,” he did not add a footnote: “See John Nelson Darby for bonus content.” The claim that God withheld “the real eschatology” until the 1830s would require us to believe that the Church spent eighteen centuries reading the Bible the way someone reads IKEA instructions—completely wrong until someone finally flipped the page over.
Second, the historical evidence is even less forgiving. For 1,800 years, no apostle, no apostolic father, no church father, no medieval theologian, no Reformer, no Puritan, and no council taught a pre-tribulation rapture, a two-phase return of Jesus, a 2,000-year prophetic gap, or an Israel–Church separation. If dispensationalism is a “restored revelation,” then apparently every single Christian everywhere had amnesia simultaneously, from Clement of Rome all the way to Charles Spurgeon.

This would be the only time in Church history where the entire global body of believers collectively forgot a doctrine so thoroughly that not a single manuscript, sermon, commentary, creed, or confession mentioned it—not even accidentally. For a teaching that supposedly came from God, it sure left zero footprints in eighteen centuries of Christian sand.

Third, the claim stumbles logically. If God intended the true eschatology to be hidden until 1830, one must ask: Why that year? Was God waiting for the invention of the railway? The telegraph? English tea culture? Why skip over Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, and the Westminster Divines—all brilliant theologians begging for biblical clarity—only to deliver the “real meaning of prophecy” to a man in the 19th century whose system spread faster than the flu because of a study Bible with catchy footnotes?
If this was “restored revelation,” it was restored with all the timing and subtlety of a plot twist delivered 18 chapters after the book ended.

Fourth, Scripture itself refutes the claim. Paul warns the Galatians that any new doctrine—no matter how shiny, persuasive, or angelically marketed—should be rejected if it differs from the apostolic teaching (Gal. 1:8–9). Christianity isn’t Pokémon; doctrines don’t evolve into their final form in the Victorian era. When a teaching appears out of nowhere after 1,800 years, wearing a nametag that says “Hi, I’m Original Apostolic Truth,” Christians don’t embrace it; they slowly back away and call the theological authorities.

The Bible explicitly warns that any doctrine unknown to the apostles and unheld by the Church is to be rejected (Gal. 1:8–9; 2 Thess. 2:15). Paul argues that the Church is protected through continuity, not innovation. This is why the historic Christian faith has always rejected teachings that arise suddenly and claim divine authority. When the Book of Mormon appeared, the Church rejected it. When Charles Taze Russell created the doctrines of the Watchtower, the Church rejected it. When nineteenth-century Adventist date-setters arose, the Church rejected their claims of “new revelation.” Dispensationalism belongs to this same class of post-biblical doctrinal innovations, not to the apostolic deposit.

Finally, calling dispensationalism a “restored revelation” concedes the entire argument—if it had to be restored, then it clearly didn’t exist in the first place. This is like claiming you “restored” Shakespeare’s lost sequel to Hamlet by writing it last weekend. Restoration requires prior existence. You cannot restore what never was.

The bottom line is simple: Christianity does not play hide-and-seek with truth for eighteen centuries. A doctrine unknown to the apostles, unfound in the fathers, missing from the medievals, unheard of by the Reformers, and undiscovered until the 1830s is not “restored revelation”—it is religious innovation wearing a fake mustache. Dispensationalism is many things—creative, modern, popular, even intriguing—but it is not apostolic, historical, or divinely restored. If God intended the Church to know dispensational eschatology, He would not have waited eighteen centuries for Darby to show up with what amounts to the director’s cut of prophecy. The faith was delivered once for all, not patched and updated like software. In the end, dispensationalism isn’t restored revelation—it’s a 19th-century invention with really confident marketing.
Just Sayin’”

TL;DR Version:

1. “This creates a powerful line of cross-examination:
Where do the apostles ever teach a pre, mid, post-trib rapture? Where do they divide the coming of Christ into two phases? Where do they split God’s people into Israel and the Church? Where is Daniel’s 70th week detached from the first 69 by 2,000 years? No dispensationalist can answer these questions from Scripture.”

2.”In cross-examination form: Which early father (before A.D. 400) taught a rapture? Which one taught a rebuilt 3rd Jewish temple as God’s end-time focus? Which one placed a seven-year tribulation after a secret removal of the Church? Which one taught two stages of Christ’s return? The answer is none—no church father supports these claims?”

3. “Thus the next cross-examination: Where do Luther or Calvin teach a secret rapture? Where do the Reformers separate Israel and the Church? Where do any of them teach a two-stage return of Christ or a future Jewish temple? Again, no such quotes exist.”

1. “This leads to the final and fatal cross-examination question: If dispensationalism is apostolic Christianity, why does it appear only after the Industrial Revolution? Why does no Christian writer teach it until Darby? Do you believe the Holy Spirit allowed every Christian for eighteen centuries to misunderstand the return of Christ?”

“The Bible explicitly warns that any doctrine unknown to the apostles and unheld by the Church is to be rejected (Gal. 1:8–9; 2 Thess. 2:15). Paul argues that the Church is protected through continuity, not innovation. This is why the historic Christian faith has always rejected teachings that arise suddenly and claim divine authority. When the Book of Mormon appeared, the Church rejected it. When Charles Taze Russell created the doctrines of the Watchtower, the Church rejected it. When nineteenth-century Adventist date-setters arose, the Church rejected their claims of “new revelation.” Dispensationalism belongs to this same class of post-biblical doctrinal innovations, not to the apostolic deposit.”

In short, Darby’s Dispensationalism is simply another non-biblical invention of the 19th C. Age of Cults arising at the end of the Second Great Awakening.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.