Robert Jeffress - Countdown to the Apocalypse: Why ISIS and Ebola Are Only the Beginning

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To Jack and Kay Brady: Thank you for your many decades of faithful service to our First Baptist Church in Dallas. I will be eternally indebted to you for introducing me as a teenager to the subject of Bible prophecy and for partnering with me in spreading Gods Word throughout the world as we anticipate Christs return.

I will be forever indebted to four people who made this book a reality in record time:

Dr. Ray Pritchard, a gifted speaker and author himself, who was an immeasurable help in assisting me in crafting this manuscript.

Joey Paul at FaithWords who first envisioned this project after reading my Fox News op-ed.

Sealy Yates, my literary agent and friend for twenty years, who worked out the innumerable details in putting this project together.

Carrilyn Baker, my assistant for fifteen years, who has never complained once when asked to do the impossible.

T heres a sense possibly that the world is spinning so fast and nobody is able to control it. Thats what President Obama said in October 2014 at a fund-raiser in New York City. Its easy to see why. Check out some recent headlines:

• Ebola Hits New York City
• 4 Jihad Attacks in 4 Days
• Ukraine Could Explode in 48 Hours
• ISIS Tortured Hostages Before Beheading Them
• Muslim Terror Rivals Unite Under ISIS Banner
• As Ebola Spreads, Asia Senses Vulnerability
• Ebola Crisis On Same Scale as AIDS Epidemic
• Houston Demands Pastors Turn Over Sermons
• The Criminalization of Christianity Is Here

Then there was a column in the New York Times by veteran journalist Roger Cohen called The Great Unraveling. It begins this way: It was the time of unraveling. Long afterward, in the ruins, people asked: How could it happen?

The succeeding paragraphs each begin with the phrase It was a time of followed by beheadings, aggression, breakups, weakness, fever, and disorientation, each one recording the ways in which the world is unraveling before our eyes. Here is the closing paragraph: It was a time of disorientation. Nobody connected the dots Until it was too late and people could see the Great Unraveling for what it was and what it had wrought.

Its fairly amazing to read something like that in the New York Times , which specializes in All the News Thats Fit to Print. As the newspaper of record for America, thats a sobering assessment of the state of the world at this moment in history. Most telling is the assertion that no one connected the dots. In a very deep sense, Roger Cohen is right.

We all see the problems in the world.

We understand that something has gone badly wrong.

We all wait to see what will happen next.

Never in my lifetime have I sensed so much unrest in the air. It seems that every day brings another set of unsettling headlines. Everywhere I go, I hear people saying that they expect something is about to happen but they dont know what it is.

Will there be another 9/11-style attack on America?

Will ISIS create a Muslim Caliphate in the Middle East?

Will an Ebola epidemic or an outbreak of some other super virus spread across America?

Will Christians be jailed for their faith?

Will we ever trust our own government again?

Is the world itself unraveling before our eyes?

Author David Jeremiah frames the question this way:

The events unfolding in todays world are ominously threatening to unsettle institutions, reorder national political alignments, change the balance of world power, and destabilize the equitable distribution of resources. People everywhere are beginning to live in a state of fear and anxiety. Serious people are asking, If these things are happening today, what will the future be like for my children and grandchildren? Do current headlines give us any signs about what is coming next?

Two well-known Christian leaders recently addressed these questions. After recounting the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19, psychologist and author Dr. James Dobson explained the connection to current events:

Why have I chosen to recount this biblical story from so long ago? Because I am convinced that America and other Western Nations are sliding in the same direction. We have not yet reached the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that appears to be where we are headed. Judge Robert Bork, the brilliant jurist who was shamefully denied a seat on the Supreme Court, wrote a book about this danger 18 years ago. It was titled, Slouching Towards Gomorrah . I think he had it right.

In looking at a world in crisis, Billy Graham used words that sound very much like what President Obama said:

Today the world is being carried on a rushing torrent of history that is sweeping out of control. There is but one power available to redeem the course of events, and that is the power of prayer by God-fearing, Christ-believing people.

Then Reverend Graham added this analysis, which sounds very much like James Dobsons comments:

Even though America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah ever were, and as deserving of the judgment of God, God would spare us if we were earnestly praying, with hearts that had been cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ.

If Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven (Genesis 19:23-29), what can we in America expect?

President Obama is right. The world does seem to be spinning out of control.

Dr. Dobson is right. We are in trouble morally and spiritually.

Billy Graham is right. As a nation, we desperately need to turn to God.

Thats why I have written this book. I want to examine the world situation today in the light of Bible prophecy. If we understand where we are on Gods calendar, then we will realize that we are closer to the end of days than we have ever been.

In the pages ahead, we will examine ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), Ebola, the Middle East crisis, the breakdown of the family, the redefinition of marriage, the loss of religious freedom, and the moral decline that has led to an avalanche of immorality in our day. I think youll be amazed at how many things that are happening today were predicted in the Bible. I believe we are living in a specific period of time the Bible calls the last days. Although I have no idea where we are on Gods clock, the countdown to the apocalypse has begun.

What Difference Does It Make?

I realize that many people react with skepticism whenever anyone mentions Bible prophecy. In one sense, it seems unrelated to modern life. Who cares about the Mark of the Beast when we still have bills to pay and meetings to attend, not to mention making sure the kids get to soccer practice on time? Life is already so full that we dont have any extra energy to study the meaning of some obscure vision in the Book of Revelation. It might be fascinating to ponder the strange statue in Daniel 2, but were just too tired to think about it. Plus the headlines we see are frightening enough without wondering about the last days.

What difference does it make?

Knowing the future ought to make a big difference in the way we live today. Consider what happens when the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning. That happens every year in Texas and Oklahoma. A warning means that severe weather is imminent and you must take cover immediately. Every year people are injured or killed because they did not take the warning seriously. Sometimes they didnt get the message, but in many cases they ignored it. You disregard a tornado warning at your own peril.

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