Tag / end times

by The Monahans

Apocalypse

The rapture of the church is coming. The Bible is very clear about that and, while it is very true that no one knows the day or the hour, there are sure signs of its approaching. Looking around us at events of the last 75 or so years, such as the rebirth of the nation of Israel, as well as more current events in the last 12 months, and there are indications that the rapture is closer than ever before. I’ve written about this previously, and if you’d like a refresher, please check out the link below:

In The Blink of An Eye

Today I am not focusing on the coming rapture itself but, rather, I want to draw a picture of what the events immediately following the rapture might look like. The Bible speaks of the horribleness of this time: “For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.” (Matthew 24:21-22) That is a grim outlook for sure, but since the Bible doesn’t give explicit details, drawing a picture of this future time requires a bit of the imagination. None-the-less, I think simple logic allows us to formulate a pretty good idea. So let’s dive in.

Zero hour: the rapture has just happened. Somewhere around 1.5 – 2 billion people, who were genuine Christ followers, just disappeared. Along with them, all children under the age of accountability are also missing. Gone in an instant. Among the missing are local and world leaders, doctors, pastors, pilots, taxi cab drivers, truck drivers, ship captains, military personnel, business leaders, police and emergency responders, and more. Since many of the people who just disappeared were actively driving trucks, cars, planes, and ships, we can be sure that in the seconds following the rapture there are massive automobile crashes, plane crashes, train wrecks, ships aimlessly adrift without their captains. Further, planes that haven’t yet crashed may be flying without a pilot in control, destined to crash when the fuel runs out. As you can imagine, these events happen all around the world, in copious numbers, almost simultaneously.

And there aren’t enough emergency responders, hospitals, doctors, nurses, etc. to handle the sudden influx of injured and dying. The chaos at this moment on a worldwide scale will be unimaginable. And not even an hour has passed since the rapture! With so many local and world leaders suddenly missing, confusion and chaos will reign to even the highest ranks of governments around the world. Countries will blame each other, they will not trust each other, and they will almost certainly go into the highest states of war readiness. Within just a few hours, certainly within 24 hours, the world will stand on the brink.

Meanwhile, theories about what really happened will swirl with a voracity never seen before. There will be those with some religious or Biblical knowledge who will possibly recognize the events as the rapture and subsequent beginning of the great tribulation, but many of them will deny it because they can’t imagine they were left behind. Governments will offer explanations in an effort to suppress the looming chaos. And as those explanations start to multiply, the world economy is already coming to a standstill as financial markets the world over crash, manufacturing all but ceases, prices skyrocket, and rationing is implemented. Massive, worldwide unemployment may be just a few days away.

In the coming days and weeks immediately following the rapture, the supply of food dwindles rapidly, and with dwindling resources among those now out of work; large scale, worldwide looting will erupt, overwhelming emergency responders already taxed to their limit. With military personnel throughout the world already on high alert, there will be few resources available to quell local tensions and tumult. Hungry people desperate for crucial supplies will begin to attack each other and many tens of thousands are likely to die in the ensuing civil unrest, that quickly reaches fever pitch, with riots and violence becoming the norm. 

As local governments around the world are increasingly unable to handle the burgeoning crisis, mob rule starts to take root in some areas, whereas martial law may be the norm in others. Brutality will be increasingly common as the struggle to assume control facilitates the rise of competing factions. It hasn’t been 3 weeks since the rapture occurred, and already the world is a completely different place. Hostile and unyielding. The weaker begin to die off, either from lack of sustenance, or having been killed trying to fight for what they need. With all Christians gone, the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit is absent, so the lawlessness has reached levels never before seen on earth.

Over the next several months, the world becomes more and more merciless. Wives are raped in front of their husbands, husbands are tortured and killed in front of their wives. Governments impose ever more restrictive levels of control; consequences for disobedience become ever more dire. Corruption takes hold and new allegiances form. War has likely broken out in many parts of the world, with some nuclear weapons possibly already detonated. World power shifts occur rapidly, but with no real leadership, genocide may become commonplace. Chemical & germ warfare may very well be occurring. Suffering among people has reached inconceivable levels never seen or imagined before.

If you have ever watched the movie “Left Behind”, I can tell you that it in no way captured the true horror of this period in time. It will be far more ghastly than anything I can write here or any movie can portray. Mankind simply hasn’t experienced this level of utter upheaval in all of history. It is far, far beyond what we can truly imagine or communicate. This is why, if the Lord does not cut the time short, all mankind will simply die out. And it is in the midst of this anarchy that the antichrist will rise to power. People will be so desperate for a man with a plan that they will eagerly follow this power figure who emerges with such charisma and seeming peaceful intent.

Time and space do not allow me to dig into this much deeper, but hopefully I have fired your imagination to a degree with which you can see the agonizing reality that will be the great tribulation. While God will still be saving people during the tribulation period, I can assure you, this cruel and ghastly period in history is something you do not want to experience. And you are most likely not equipped to survive it, either. And even if you think you are, you may want to consider if your wife, brothers, sisters, friends, coworkers are. Because even if you do survive, you will almost certainly see many of those you know die. Quite possibly in brutal, violent, horrifying ways. As I stated, it will be a time of incomprehensible horror.

But for those who choose Christ now, it will be much different. We will not face God’s wrath. We will be raptured into perfect fellowship with our Savior. We will know peace and joy such as we cannot yet imagine here on Earth. And it is not too late for anyone to choose Christ. No one has sunk too low, or fallen too far, to be beyond the reach of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in the great tribulation people will still be getting saved, but so much better to make that decision now. Just admit you are a sinner, accept his forgiveness, and follow him. God wants everyone to be saved and to know the truth (see 1 Timothy 2:3-4), his desire is for you!

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

To learn more about becoming a Christian, or if you just have questions, please check out KnowGod.org. Do it today, before it is too late. For the hour is getting late.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
by The Monahans

Future Things

Future Things-532989_960_720

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)

As you look at the world around you, what do you see? Everywhere, people are going about their activities, rushing to and fro, seemingly with ant-like singleness of purpose. From a higher vantage point, perhaps that’s even what we look like, ants darting around. And while we hear stories on the news and have at least a casual awareness of international events, we seldom give them much thought, at least not enough to truly affect our plans. Wars, terrorist attacks, earthquakes, tsunamis, economic collapses, people dying of starvation or suffering persecution at the hands of oppressive regimes, and so many more things are happening all around the world but life goes on and those things fade into background noise as we focus on executing our own plans. We go forward with every expectation of living our lives to their fullest extent.

But it’s all coming to a climax. We don’t like to think about it, we don’t know much about it, and we mostly try to deny or dismiss it, but despite our ant-like bustling around, way deep down inside each of us knows that there has to be a day of reckoning; that this growing global chaos cannot continue forever; something has to give. Perhaps as evidence of a burgeoning concern for our collective future, attendance at the fall prophecy conference put on by Jan Markell and her Olive Tree Ministries last October was double expected levels. More than 6000 people attended, some waiting in traffic for more than an hour to get inside for this event. Indeed, it seems people are becoming at least more curious about what is to come.

But we don’t have to wonder too hard. God has made it clear in the Bible that the end will come and Jesus will return as he promised. The question really is: when? And Jesus answered that question in Matthew 24:36-44: “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

Of course, probably every generation since Jesus ascended to heaven has thought the end was near. So are there any signs right now that signal us we might be truly getting close to the end? Well, certainly the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 is a unique event of epic proportions and a signal we should not ignore. But a little closer look at the world today reveals certain situations that fit with Biblical prophecy as signs of the times. Space here doesn’t allow an exhaustive list, but let’s take a cursory look at some of them.

We’ll start with unrest and lawlessness in Europe. Greece’s fall into near financial ruin and the well-publicized Brexit vote both signal dissension and economic instability in the European union. Meanwhile in Switzerland, the opening ceremony for the Gotthard Base Tunnel showcased a bizarre and tasteless opening ceremony that featured a dancing goatman, which is often symbolic for Satan, with other dancers bowing down in what appears to be an act of mock satanic worship. And more open borders and mass refugee immigration from troubled areas of the world have led to increased terrorist activity leaving citizens and governments alike on edge. Many prophecy experts believe the Antichrist will arise from Europe and the current unrest there certainly seems to be the perfect breeding ground for such a thing to happen.

And we have wars and rumors of wars seemingly in every direction we turn. One country threatens another, terrorists seem to operate everywhere, and North Korea is stirring the pot in the biggest of ways. Rogue nations dabble in nuclear programs while the people of the world watch powerlessly. On December 23, 2016 the UN voted against Israel while Israel’s greatest ally, the United States, abstained from the vote. This seems to align with prophecy in Zechariah 12:3, which speaks of countries aligning against Israel. And, rather obviously, this only adds to the tension in the middle east.

And people are falling away from sound Christian teaching in large numbers. Just as the Apostle Paul prophesied in his second letter to Timothy: “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4) This is evident in so many ways all across the globe. Even some churches have become nothing more than social and political outreaches, promoting lifestyles and politics completely inconsistent with sound Biblical doctrine.

So we see that there are, indeed, many signs that the end could truly be much closer than any of us care to think. We are called to be watchmen on the wall, praying day and night and sounding the warning, and there seems to be plenty to warn the people about, for indeed, if that day draws near, and it sure looks like it does, then the time to get right with God is now. Right now.

To learn more about prophecy and eschatology, we are proud to recommend these resources to you:

Olive Tree Ministries

Behold Israel

Pastor Mark Hitchcock

We’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment or drop us an email at: ReignDropsBlog@gmail.com

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.