That Day Shall Not Come Except

That Day Shall Not Come Except

Nathan Jones

Wayne Gaylord

After graduating from Wheaton College, I entered the financial world in Dallas. During my drive back and forth to work, I was intrigued by a radio program called “Christ in Prophecy” hosted by Dr. David Reagan of Lamb & Lion Ministries. I called Dr. Reagan afterwards, and he invited me to have breakfast with him at IHOP. It was a life-changing experience for me, as eventually he invited me to join the Board of Trustees of Lamb & Lion Ministries, where I served for more than 25 years.

I wondered why so many pastors did not preach about prophecy since so much of the Bible is prophetic in nature. One pastor told me he doesn’t preach on prophecy because there are so many theories and viewpoints that it is best to just ignore it. Bad advice! Especially since it is the only book in the Bible that promises a blessing to those who read and absorb it.

With Dr. Reagan as my mentor, I immersed myself in the study of prophecy. In 2017, I wrote the commentary entitled Finally Home, covering every verse in the book of Revelation with the express purpose of making it clearly understandable for the average layperson. By using Dr. Reagan’s literal approach and oft-quoted guideline, “When the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense or you will wind up with nonsense,” it clears up most of the conflicts and confusion in the book of Revelation.

Why I Believe in the Pre-Trib Rapture

When I began my study of prophecy, one of the first controversies that I encountered was the question, “Does the Rapture precede the Tribulation, or do Christians have to go through this terrible seven-year period in which the Antichrist holds sway over the world?” This controversy seems to never go away and is hotly debated in all theological circles today.

There are many scholarly books which clearly prove that the Church (composed of true believers) will be raptured prior to the Tribulation period. One of the best of such books is The Rapture written by Dr. Tim LaHaye. The timing of the Rapture was on the minds of the early believers in Thessalonica. No doubt, they dwelt on this because of the terrorism, abuses, and executions they were enduring by the Romans.

Some of their believing brethren were proclaiming that the Tribulation was already upon them and they had been left behind at the Rapture.

Paul wanted to assure them that the awful Tribulation had not occurred since the Rapture had not yet happened. Consequently, he wrote the letter, 2 Thessalonians, to set their minds at ease.

In chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, beginning with verse 1, Paul says, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus, and by our gathering together unto Him [a clear picture of the Rapture], that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ [a reference to the Tribulation period] is at hand.”

Scripture continues, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, EXCEPT [capitalization provided by author] there is a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [i.e., the Antichrist] who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he [the Antichrist] as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

So, the Tribulation period cannot begin before two major events occur. Some might say this is a sign for these believers. The Bible indicates that some signs are good, such as was given to the shepherds in Luke 2:12 “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” That is a good sign. But here is a sign that is not so good, Matthew 12:39: “He answered, ‘a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign.’“

Here is the difference. When God tells us to look for a sign, we can trust what He says, but when someone doubts what He says and asks for a sign to verify His assertions, that is when we are on thin ice. Here in 2 Thessalonians, I prefer to call them two events that must take place rather than a sign. The second event is quite clear. We will know who the Antichrist is when he stands in the temple and declares that he, himself, is God.

So, I want to ask you about this first event. Can this be a definite event for which we should look? I think not. There has been a falling away or apostasy in every generation. But here, God is trying to give them a definite event that will come about so that they can clearly be assured that the Tribulation has not come and that they have not been left behind at the Rapture.

So, this first event requires more digging. It uses the Greek word “apostasia” in which the original scriptures were written, and most translators translate this term as “a falling away,” meaning a falling away from the Christian faith.

In English and in almost every other language, there is a first and a secondary meaning of a particular word. For instance, in English, the primary word for “hide” is that you might hide from someone. The secondary meaning for the word “hide” could be referring to the skin or hide of an animal.

Also, consider the word “pen.” It might be referring to a writing instrument, or it could be referring to an enclosure in which to keep an animal. It all depends on the context.

The secondary meaning of “apostasia” is “departure.” Now consider this. In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he explained fully to them about the Rapture of the believers. He even detailed the fact that the dead in Christ would be resurrected first and then the believers living at that time would be resurrected after that.

So, when Paul mentioned the departure, in their minds they knew exactly what he was talking about—the departure would mean leaving this earth to meet the Lord in the air. In other words, The Rapture that he had previously written to them about!

Clearly, Paul is telling them that they are not in the seven-year Tribulation period because two things must happen first: the departure of Christians at the Rapture and the Antichrist must be identified.

So, Paul makes it very clear that the Rapture must precede the Tribulation period. And as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:18: “Comfort one another with these words.”

Strait of Hormuz Nearly Deserted

Strait of Hormuz Nearly Deserted

Martin Armstrong

We are now watching another supply-chain shock develop, except this time the source is not government lockdowns. It is WAR, and the Strait of Hormuz is rapidly becoming the choke point through which the economic consequences will spread.

Reuters reported that only SIX vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. That compares with an average of about 11 during the previous 10 days, which is already disastrous when you understand what normal traffic looked like. Before this war, roughly 130 to 140 ships crossed the Strait every day.

The Strait of Hormuz is not merely about crude oil. The Persian Gulf is an artery connecting the global economy to oil, LNG, LPG, refined petroleum products, petrochemicals, fertilizers, aluminum, industrial materials, and countless products whose manufacturing costs depend upon cheap energy. Reuters reported that of the mere six vessels crossing Monday, four commodity vessels entered while only two departed. The outbound ships were carrying liquefied petroleum gas and residual fuels. This is becoming a bottleneck at the very foundation of industrial production.

Oil exports through Hormuz have already been severely reduced. Reuters reported separately that weekly oil exports through the Strait recently fell to about 3 million barrels per day from 4.4 million. Brent briefly touched $90.03 on Tuesday before pulling back, while WTI reached $84.61. Markets are still trading every rumor concerning negotiations between Iran, Oman, and the United States as if politicians can simply announce peace and everything instantly returns to normal. That is not how supply chains function.

Everything moves through transportation. Companies compensate by carrying additional inventory, which ties up capital. Manufacturers pay more for inputs and ultimately pass those costs downstream. Governments will blame corporations for “price gouging” because admitting that geopolitics created the inflation would require admitting responsibility for the policies that helped create the crisis.

Then there is LNG. Europe spent years destroying its relationship with Russia and restructuring its energy supply under the assumption that replacement energy could simply be purchased somewhere else. Qatar became critically important to that strategy, particularly for LNG. Japan and other Asian economies are likewise heavily dependent upon imported energy. If Gulf LNG shipments remain constrained, Europe and Asia will increasingly compete for alternative cargoes, and that competition does not magically create additional natural gas. It simply raises the price.

The economic consequences extend far beyond gasoline. Natural gas is critical to fertilizer production. Petrochemicals feed plastics, packaging, pharmaceuticals, textiles, electronics, construction materials, and manufacturing. Energy is embedded in virtually everything you purchase. A sustained disruption therefore moves through the economy in waves. First energy. Then transportation. Then industrial inputs. Then manufacturing. Then food. Finally consumer prices.

This is why wars become economic events regardless of whether the fighting occurs thousands of miles away. There is also another major problem that few politicians understand. The world never truly rebuilt resilient supply chains after the pandemic. Corporations diversified some suppliers and governments suddenly discovered the phrase “supply-chain security,” but the fundamental structure remains dependent upon enormous volumes of goods moving through a handful of maritime choke points. Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, Suez, Malacca, and Panama are arteries of globalization. Disrupt one and costs rise. Disrupt several simultaneously and globalization itself begins to fracture.

Bab el-Mandeb remains operational for now. Reuters reported 25 vessels crossed there Monday, close to its 10-day average of 24. That does not eliminate the danger. The Houthis have already demonstrated that commercial shipping in the Red Sea can become a military target. We therefore have instability surrounding TWO critical maritime corridors connected to the Middle East while the Ukraine war continues disrupting another major source of energy, grain, fertilizer, and commodities.

The world should be paying attention to the ships, not the speeches. When normal traffic is 130 to 140 vessels per day and suddenly we are counting SIX, something is profoundly wrong. If this persists, inventories will tighten and shortages will emerge unevenly across industries and countries. The public will probably not recognize the connection immediately. They will simply notice that another product takes longer to arrive, another manufacturer announces a surcharge, another utility bill rises, another airline increases fares, another food producer raises prices, and another government statistic claims inflation is somehow under control.

The next supply-chain crisis does not need to resemble 2020. There does not need to be empty toilet-paper aisles for the economic damage to be severe. This version can manifest through energy shortages, freight bottlenecks, fertilizer prices, industrial inputs, shipping delays, insurance costs, and another wave of inflation hitting households that have never recovered from the last one.

Watch Hormuz very carefully. Six ships where there were once 130 to 140 is not normal commerce. It is a warning.

Could the Crashing Yen Trigger Hyperinflation in the U.S.?

Could the Crashing Yen Trigger Hyperinflation in the U.S.?

Mike Whitney

A cratering yen has set off alarms on Wall Street and in financial centers around the world. If the Bank of Japan sells its behemoth stockpile US Treasuries (now exceeding $1.2 trillion) to support its sagging currency, the US bond market could go into a nosedive dragging the global economy off a cliff. 

That is why on Friday, July 31, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched an unprecedented currency intervention to prop up the anemic yen and to forestall an impending financial meltdown. 

Surprisingly, Bessent implemented a euros-for-yen trade via the New York Fed so as not to weaken the dollar or trigger a selloff in bonds. The gravity of the intervention, however, was not lost on jumpy investors who have connected the dots and understand that America’s $40 trillion debt Ponzi is growing increasingly unstable and could trigger another financial crisis. In short, the teetering yen is merely the canary in the coalmine signaling deeper structural issues that could take down the entire dollar-based house of cards. 

This is from Forbes:

The wobbling Japanese yen could trigger a global financial crisis…. The yen recently reached a 40-year low against the dollar. The fear is that a further fall in the currency’s value will precipitate a crisis of confidence that will not only set off a serious bout of inflation inside Japan…. but also adversely impact financial markets around the world.

That’s why the U.S. and Japan just undertook a very rare joint intervention in currency markets to prop up the yen. In other words, both countries used dollars to buy the yen.

The intervention has had success. However , most experts believe the relief will be short-lived because of adverse fundamentals in Japan: a too-low short-term interest rate, which is 1% vs. around 3.5% in the U.S.; a national debt that is proportionately twice that of the U.S.; rising energy prices; and a declining and aging population.

The immediate worry for U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is that in an effort to save the yen from collapse, Japan will start liquidating its $1.1 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and bills, not to mention its holdings of German and British bonds. 

Simply put, it’s a bailout facility. The Fed is issuing dollar-backed loans to prevent the market from rebalancing and to avoid a catastrophic sell-off of US debt that could put the global financial system into downward death spiral.

But will all this meddling work?

Investors don’t think so. Look at this blurb from Reuters:

“Intervention … can be effective in slowing the pace of depreciation, reducing excessive market moves and providing short-term support, but history suggests without a change in ​the underlying fundamentals, its impact fades relatively quickly,” said Ales Koutny, head of international rates at Vanguard. Reuters

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Putin Threatens Seizures Of European Ships Over EU's "Piracy & Banditry"

Putin Threatens Seizures Of European Ships Over EU's "Piracy & Banditry"

 TYLER DURDEN

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday addressed the persisting issue of European governments and navies seizing what they deem Russian 'shadow fleet' vessels off Europe's coast.

The past year alone has seen several examples, sometimes involving French or Swedish commandos descending onto a tanker's deck from helicopters and arresting crew members. The seized vessels are then taken to nearby European ports.

The latest European Union sanctions package passed last month stipulates that EU members can sell the oil or any seized cargo obtained from these 'shadow fleet' vessels.

Putin has reiterated Kremlin outrage at this scheme, condemning it as "piracy and banditry". This after Sweden has lately declared its intent to hand seized Russian grain over to Ukraine.

The Russian leader's patience has reached its limit, apparently, as he is now putting European governments that their own ships become at risk of seizure in return.

"We will be forced to respond in kind," Putin said while overseeing naval drills in Russia's Far East, aboard the Russian cruiser Varyag off the island of Sakhalin.

Russian forces will act "wherever we ourselves deem necessary and appropriate — anywhere," he added.

According to some of his fuller remarks as translated and presented in Reuters:

"We can see that the authorities of certain countries, in violation of international maritime law, are attempting to restrict the movement of our economic operators’ vessels..., and ​have recently gone so far as to consider the possibility of seizing our vessels and selling off ⁠the ⁠property they have plundered from ⁠us," said Putin.

"Naturally, ​this is nothing less than piracy and robbery. And if this begins to be put into ​practice, we shall be forced ⁠to respond in kind. And not necessarily in those waters where raids on our ships and vessels are planned, but wherever we ourselves deem it necessary and appropriate."

So while Russia would not likely act in European waters, such a scenario would be more likely to go down in places like the Black Sea or Baltic region, or perhaps the faraway Indian Ocean.

Putin also took the opportunity to address broader tensions with NATO and spillover from the Ukraine conflict, but also as it specifically impacts the Pacific and Arctic regions...

"We can see that, unfortunately, the potential for conflict is growing here; NATO is making inroads here; new military-political blocs are being formed; and new weapons systems are being deployed here, or are planned for deployment, which ​also pose a threat to our country," the president said.

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Iran's Military Command Reshuffle Digs In For 'Hardline' Confrontation

Iran's Military Command Reshuffle Digs In For 'Hardline' Confrontation: US Must Meet All Demands For Hormuz Opening

TYLER DURDEN

Pakistan started the day by floating optimistic reports of the warring sides reverting to 'moving toward peace efforts' - however that appears very short-lived, or really was probably never a reality, given soon on the heels of these claims a top Iranian official has reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US corrects its 'behavior'. According to fresh reports out of state media sources:

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Rezaei says Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US changes its behavior and accepts Iran's conditions.

This comes amid widespread reports that Iran has just undergone a significant military shuffling of top command leadership, which points to the ascent of the 'hardliner' crowd - as in those who are against signing an MoU deal with Washington...

Iran’s Leader has appointed 6 top military commanders:

• Ali Abdollahi: Chief of Staff
• Ahmad Vahidi: IRGC Commander
• Kiumars Heydari: Deputy Chief of Staff
• Mostafa Izadi: Deputy IRGC Commander
• Ali Ozmayi: IRGC-Navy Commander
• Hossein Taeb: Chief of Basij. pic.twitter.com/3usuJwSm1y

— Arya Yadegaar (@AryJeayBackup) August 10, 2026

The Wall Street Journal and others are picking up on Tehran's obvious shift away from negotiations, and toward a more permanent state of military resistance. It writes: "Now, the new supreme leader, Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, is putting his own stamp on the country’s national-security policy amid a confrontation with the U.S. that could last months or even years."

According to more of WSJ's analysis:

In a sweeping overhaul of the government’s top echelon on Sunday and Monday, Iran named seasoned hard-liners to run the country’s security policies and institutions of repression.

It marked the most significant government reshuffle under Mojtaba Khamenei, who hasn’t been seen in public since the war began. U.S. intelligence agencies say he is alive but severely injured, and top Iranian cabinet members say they have never met him since he took office. Iranian officials say he was injured but in good health.

Analysts said the appointments signaled Khamenei’s determination to hold fast in a showdown with President Trump, who is seeking concessions on Iran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz. 

“The regime is preparing for a more confrontational posture at home and abroad,”said Kasra Aarabi, an expert on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a powerful paramilitary force, at United Against Nuclear Iran, a policy organization that opposes Iran’s government.  

For some - especially the non-interventionists, it was obvious the war would take this course from day one.

Despite what are clearly ongoing attacks on international vessels in regional waters, suddenly mediators are feeling optimism again, and decided to float another apparent round of pre-US market open headlines suggesting peace could return.

Though there's as yet no evidence of this, the Pakistani Defense Minister has signaled that the US and Iran are close to some agreement and that the situation is moving towards peace. Oil prices promptly plummeted ahead of market open. Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi, has also just arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials amid going mediation efforts, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.

This came ironically just as reports of more serious shipping incidents, at least one of them deadly, emerged in regional waters, but perhaps the brief 'peace is near' headline redux had its intended effect on markets.

And significantly, the US is clearly still enforcing its military blockade of Iranian ports - and so no, the warring sides do not seem 'close' to a return to deal-making, instead the ground reality is quite the opposite:

US forces reportedly fired on a Panama-flagged ship that attempted to run the American blockade of Iranian ports early Tuesday, according to WSJ citing a US official.

"A U.S. military helicopter fired at the rudder of the ship after its crew ignored warnings from American personnel working to enforce the naval blockade of Iran’s ports, the official said," The Wall Street Journal details:

"There were no immediate reports of any casualties in the incident, which took place before dawn on Tuesday. The U.S. official said the ship appeared to be attempting to transfer its crew to another civilian vessel after the attack," the report adds.

There's been a major deadly attack on a commercial ship in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait region off Yemen on Tuesday, amid the ongoing escalation against Saudi shipping by the Houthis.

Yemen's internationally recognized government has announced that at least three people have been killed in a Houthi attackon an unidentified commercial ship in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, however there's been no immediate confirmation forthcoming from the Houthis themselves.

The small vessel has been identified as the Tanzania-flagged Tihamah, and reports say this marks the first deaths from Houthi maritime attacks since the start of the Iran war in February.

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