As I type these words, there are only three days left in the decade of 2010. Most everyone will read this column after the start of the 2020s.

United States Presidents are in the news all the time, but President Trump has been in the news every time. Either he has said or done something, or someone is talking about him. Because of this endless barrage of news coverage, the 2016 Presidential election is the news story of the decade. His election was a surprise to all the pundits, politicians, and most of the public. Many over-thought the Trump victory. It boils down to this – he said a lot of things voters were already thinking, but no one else was saying. Example: Since Nixon and Watergate, many people believe all politicians are crooks in some way. What phrase did Trump repeat throughout the campaign? – “Crooked Hillary.” Whether true or not, many people believe it, and no one else with a public microphone was saying it. Americans love it when someone plays John Wayne and stands up and speaks his mind.

What happens in 2020? It looks like Trump will win reelection, but everyone thought Mrs. Clinton was going to win until vote tallies started rolling in. We’ll see. If Trump does win, what happens in 2024 and beyond?

Enough of the body politic, let us talk about Bible prophecy. What Bible prophecies will come to pass during the 2020s? I have no idea, but there are things to watch.

Pay attention to any news about the Temple in Jerusalem. There is no specific prophecy about the rebuilding of the Temple. Still, there are unfulfilled prophecies yet to occur inside the Temple. Therefore, the reconstruction of the Temple will take place. Could it be constructed before the rapture? Yes, most definitely, but it is not necessary. The specific prophecy about the Temple happens halfway through the tribulation period, a little more than three and a half years after the rapture (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14).

The rapture is the first phase of the second coming of Christ. At an unknown time, Christ will appear in the sky, the trumpet will sound, and He will take all true believers with Him to glory. Christians who have died before this event will receive their resurrected bodies at this time. Those that are alive and taken up will also receive their eternal bodies at that moment.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (see also 1 Corinthians 15:50-58).

Watch the continued decline of the moral code. 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

Scoffers will say these things have been happening since the beginning of time. Yes, they have, but the emphasis in the passage is, “in the last days.” Therefore, these heart conditions will intensify throughout society as we approach the rapture, becoming more frequent and commonplace.

Watch for weird things in outer space, nations getting into problems that seem unsolvable, and the weather to get more extreme. The Bible prophecizes all of these things in one verse; Luke 21:25, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;”

Will Christ rapture out the believers within the next decade? I hope so. Christ said that only God the Father knows when it will happen (Matthew 24:36).

I leave you with the words of Jesus Christ, Mark 13:37, “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

Preacher Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in northern Parke County Indiana. Webpage: www.preacherspoint.wordpress.com; email: preacherspoint@gmail.com; mail: 410 S. Jefferson St. Rockville IN 47872.