Avraham approached and said, ‘Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is just?’ ~ Genesis 18:23-25, CJB
For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, CJB
In necessary things unity; in uncertain things freedom; in everything compassion. ~ Unknown Author; most often misattributed to Augustine
God help us all who call ourselves Christians, for even in a time such as this we still remain unable to become ONE. We primarily are divided by doctrines, issues, and practices. As a result, we who profess to be Your holy and righteous sons and daughters, joint-heirs with Your only begotten Son (Jesus the Christ), frequently end up treating each other like notorious enemies instead of like venerable brothers and sisters in Your Household of Faith.
There continues to be too much arguing among followers of Christ Jesus over doctrines, issues, and practices that neither are crucial to the Gospel of Christ nor to how anyone obtains eternal life (how someone is saved). Christians’ most commonly debated doctrines, issues, and practices include, but are not limited to: the Rapture, the Millennium, the Earth’s Age, Life on Other Planets, Food and Drink, Female Pastors, Observing the Sabbath vs. Worshipping on Sunday, Speaking in Tongues, Performing Miracles, and various legalistic Do’s and Don’ts (like going to the movies, dancing, smoking, drinking, playing cards, wearing makeup, and so forth).
How horrible our arguing with and our mistreatment of Body of Christ members must look to the unsaved world. No wonder the masses of lost souls in today’s world are not coming to Christ Jesus. Why would any of them want to be a part of this current 21st century body of believers who vehemently disagree with each other? These quarrelsome believers not only refuse to tolerate but also choose not to be civil to their brothers or sisters in Christ Jesus who think differently about things that usually have nothing to do with a person’s salvation nor with the Gospel of Christ!
If we agree on the essentials, yet disagree on the non-essentials, then let us learn how to agree to disagree without becoming/being disagreeable (unloving, compassionless, coldhearted, intolerable, argumentative, hostile, inhospitable, bad-tempered, grouchy, snarky, sarcastic, stubborn, nasty, offensive, unpleasant, unfriendly, rude, legalistic, insulting, disrespectful, and the list goes on). Let us learn how to remain loving, caring, and kind to each other. After all, one of the most crucial lessons Christ Jesus taught is this one: “This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” (John 13:35, MSG).
Having said that, let me say this: Because I know that the Rapture is one of the most commonly debated doctrines, I would like to share, strictly from a general theological perspective, two biblical proofs favoring a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Not only do I find these proofs to be two of the best but also I agree with them, as do so many theologians, countless other followers of Christ, and even copious churchgoers. For this reason, I am certain that numerous individuals who will read this blog entry probably already know these proofs, and I equally am certain that various other individuals who will read this blog entry neither had read nor had heard of these proofs before now. My hope then is that the end result of having read this article will be that those readers who didn’t believe will have come to believe what so many present-day followers of Christ already accept to be true about the Bride of Christ’s pre-Tribulation Rapture.
Biblical Proof Number One—from the Old Testament:
Anyone who believes that there is a radical and ESSENTIAL difference between the righteous and the wicked should agree that God knows the difference, and he or she should agree that God is the One who makes the distinction between those who are “righteous” and those who are “wicked.” Additionally, anyone who believes that there is a radical and ESSENTIAL difference between the righteous and the wicked also should agree that righteousness and wickedness are exact opposite spiritual (heavenly vs. hellish) characteristics, which is why God never wanted His righteous children and the world’s wicked persons to mix.
Furthermore, since God knew there would be a nonstop righteous vs. wicked battle taking place on this Earth, that is why He had some undeniable proof of His timeless pattern of Judgment placed in His Word. Biblical proof number one, therefore, is that God does not judge His truly righteous believers with the world’s very wicked unbelievers. This biblical pattern is most noticeable in the Scriptures describing the time of Noah, and it continues to become more evident throughout the rest of the Old Testament. God’s pattern of Judgment also is found in the New Testament, especially in end-times verses. That’s why there really can be no denying that God clearly is represented throughout the Holy Bible as a righteous Judge who pronounces Judgment that always is correct and fair.
For example, in the Old Testament, Abraham, who is one of Noah’s after-the-Flood descendants, knew quite well that God never would judge the righteous with the wicked, and that is why Abraham doesn’t shy away from reminding God of His existing Judgment pattern. Abraham says to God:
…Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Maybe there are fifty righteous people in the city; will you actually sweep the place away, and not forgive it for the sake of the fifty righteous who are there? Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is just? ~ Genesis 18:23-25, CJB
The point here is that it had been established before Noah’s day that God is a just and righteous Judge who only punishes (pours out His Wrath only upon those whom He has judged as) the wicked, and then only AFTER He has removed (separated) the righteous from mingling with the wicked. Righteous Noah, his sons, and his sons’ wives were saved from God’s 40 days and 40 nights of the falling rain Flood Judgment, while God poured out His promised diluvial Wrath upon all of the Earth’s wicked inhabitants, as well as upon the Earth itself!
As already mentioned, this pattern of God’s Judgment runs all through the Testaments. Of course, there always is an exception, and the exception that must be noted here is that, although there are many New Testament verses that chiefly emphasize God’s Judgment, there is NO mention of God’s Judgment in the New Testament passages considered as Rapture passages. This observation leads to the second biblical proof.
Biblical Proof Number Two—from the New Testament:
Since there is no mention of God’s Judgment in the New Testament’s Rapture verses, then it is decidedly possible that the Rapture of the Bride of Christ happens at a separate time from when God judges and then punishes the Earth and the left-behind wicked, many who are followers of the Antichrist, with His fiery Wrath. The apostle John writes:
Then I saw another sign in heaven, a great and wonderful one — seven angels with the seven plagues that are the final ones; because with them, God’s fury is finished. ~ Revelation 15:1, CJB
Apostle John most assuredly is describing the last Judgments—the last of God’s judiciary righteous Judgments issued against the left-behind ungodly (His Wrath or Fury). The apostle also is describing God’s righteous Punishment for committed crimes His enemies are guilty of (His Wrath or Fury). Without doubt, these seven plagues (seven bowl judgments) are the last of all of God’s promised righteous end-times Punishment (His Wrath or Fury).
All the same, it must be noted here that apostle Paul says when Christ Jesus died on the Cross, His atoning sacrifice not only had made the gift of eternal life (Salvation) available, but also He had saved (rescued, delivered) believers from God’s end-times Judgments and Punishment (outpouring of Wrath). In other words, so that God’s righteous would not experience any of His end-times Wrath, Christ Jesus’ sacrificial dying absorbed it ALL. Thus, biblical proof number two is Christ Jesus already took the Wrath of God in place of God’s Household of Faith believers—bore the FULL brunt of God’s Wrath for the Body of Christ, also known as the Bride of Christ (both saved Christian Jews and Gentiles). Apostle Paul writes:
…you turned to God from idols, to serve the true God, the one who is alive, and to wait for his Son Yeshua, whom he raised from the dead, to appear from heaven and rescue us from the impending fury of God’s judgment. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10, CJB
~ and ~
For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, CJB
The point here is that it already had been established before Christ Jesus’ day that God still is a just and righteous Judge who only punishes (pours out His Wrath only upon those whom He has judged as) the wicked, and then only AFTER He has removed (separated) the righteous from mingling with the wicked. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Lord’s righteous Bride first will be saved (rescued, delivered) from any part of God’s seven years of the end-times Tribulation Judgments, after which God then will pour out all of His promised fiery Wrath upon all of the Earth’s left-behind inhabitants!
The bottom line is this: As it was in Noah and Abraham’s days, so will it be in these current last days. God will NOT have His spiritually renewed, saved, and reconciled back to Himself sons and daughters endure any of His prophesied end-times Judgments and Punishment that are reserved for His and Israel’s enemies. There is absolutely no way that God could explain or defend why He would let those individuals, whom the beaten and crucified Christ Jesus’ Blood has justified as righteous, and whom the mighty workings of the Holy Spirit completely has sanctified as holy (sinless), go through any of the seven years of the end-times Tribulation. That is why the Bride of Christ will NOT be in the Tribulation Period!
Once again, the two biblical proofs favoring a pre-Tribulation Rapture for the Bride of Christ are that God never would judge His righteous when He judges the wicked, and Christ Jesus already has emptied God’s full cup of Wrath so that born again, saved, justified, and fully sanctified followers of Christ would never have to experience any Wrath of God. AMEN!
For a detailed explanation about God’s Wrath, please read my blog entry Lost In Translation.
Greetings from the Lord’s followers in Babylon. They are God’s chosen ones. Mark, who is like a son to me, sends his greetings too. ~ 1 Peter 5:13, CEV
The apostle Peter was in prison in Rome when he wrote the above verse. The King James’ translation of this same verse is: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.” This particular verse is used when many end times’ prophecy scholars want to prove that Revelation’s Babylon is not the rebuilt ancient city of Babylon but rather an allegorical reference about the spirit in the literal and physical Rome that was satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist in nature.
Now, there is no denying that the Roman Empire, globally, historically, biblically, and symbolically, is one of seven successive empires that attempted to annihilate the Jews. The Roman Empire is the sixth successive empire—the sixth head of the seven-headed beast apostle John describes (cf. Revelation 12:3; 13:1; 17:3, 7, 10 and 11). However, what most people who read the book of Revelation seem to forget is the fact that the city of Rome isn’t the rebuilt Babylon of Genesis 11, nor is Rome the rebuilt Babylon of Jeremiah 51. For sure, the literal, physical city of Babylon, which began on the Plain of Shinar with Nimrod and became the capital city of the great empire Nebuchadnezzar ruled, was utterly destroyed by the Persian King Xerxes in 478 B.C., and, according to God through the prophetic words spoken by prophet Jeremiah, is NEVER to be inhabited again (cf. Jeremiah 51:64)!
Certainly, it is true that the Roman Empire controlled apostle Peter’s world (that is, this empire controlled the parts of the Earth that the Romans had conquered by first century A.D.). This truth, however, is why it also is evident that in this first-century apostle’s day his allegorical Babylon reference really is speaking about the literal and physical ROME—the capital city of the united Roman Empire that a couple of centuries later is demoted to the capital city of only the Roman Empire’s western leg.
More important, what Peter is saying by referencing an allegorical Babylon is that the Roman Empire’s Rome, like this city’s predecessors, had an ever-present spirit that was satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist in nature. This is that demonic/beast spirit that has influenced every one of the capital cities of the global, biblical, and historical empires to date that have tried to destroy the nation of Israel and God’s chosen Jewish people. Furthermore, this demonic/beast spirit actually began with Nimrod, who is the first world leader after the Flood.
For this last reason, this ever-present spirit that was satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist in nature is the reason why there can be no doubt that the allegorical Babylon Peter refers to in 1 Peter 5:13 is the literal, physical ROME of his day, which to him actually symbolizes the Babel of Nimrod’s day. For sure, like the literal, physical city of ROME, the city of Babel (“Babylon”) was a city of great confusion: mysterious symbols . . . false religion (worship of Nimrod and his mother shrouded in divine secrets that pertained to their practiced mysterious rites); idolatry . . . false religion (the objects of worship in this cult were the Supreme Father, the Incarnate Female, who was Nimrod’s mother or “Queen of Heaven,” and her Son); occult . . . false religion (included black magic, demon contact, séances, perverted astrology [eventually became spiritism, soothsaying, and the misuse of the stars to predict future events and dates], and witchcraft); ancestor worship . . . false religion (worship of the dead); pantheism . . . false religion (belief that God and nature are the same); polytheism . . . false religion (belief in multiple gods); prostitution, tyranny, murders, and human sacrifices . . . false worship (shedding of innocent blood, killing of newborn babies, etc.); corruption, evil, and rebellion against Jehovah God . . . false worship (Nimrod proclaimed himself to be god).
When God confounded the people of Babel’s tongues and scatter them, they took with them their ungodly beliefs, idolatrous practices, and rebellious nature, which is why centuries later the empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, and Turkey are guilty of having the same satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist spirit that influences evil and immoral spiritual, political, and economic standards. This truth, thus, explains why apostle Peter calls his Rome, BABYLON. He is making an allegorically reference to ancient Babel, which was the most corrupt seat of idolatry and the worst enemy of God. Thus, compared to Babel, it is easy to understand why this first-century follower of Jesus the Christ saw his Rome as the most corrupt seat of idolatry and the enemy of Christianity.
Once again, there is no doubt that apostle Peter’s Rome is the historical and biblical sixth empire of the seven successive empires that try to wipe Israel off of the map. Therefore, it is clear that the context in which the apostle John, Peter’s contemporary, speaks of Mystery Babylon (cf. Revelation 17:5) also suggests Mystery Babylon refers to the reigning spiritual, political, and economic empire that has an ever-present satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist spirit. The logical conclusion, then, is that the last reigning earthly empire also will have corrupt laws, idol worshippers, and Christianity haters in them.
In these last days of the 21st century, it is obvious to the observant individual that the 4th Beast empire predicted to rule in the end times is the one that is rising right now before this modern generation’s eyes, and this Beast empire, which is head number eight, will be the last empire to come against Israel (cf. Daniel 2:35-36; Revelation 17:11, 14). This rising world empire is going to be true to form. Like those that came before it, as previously stated, this last empire also will have satanic, anti-Semitic, and an antichrist spirit; it also will have corrupt laws; it also will have idol worshippers; and it also will have Christianity haters in it. This last days and end-times’ empire is the Islamic Empire, specifically the Umayyad Caliphate/dynasty (661-750 A.D.), which in its short reign did the most to expand the Islamic religion and the Arabian/Islamic Empire. The Ottoman/Turkish Empire, which is the fourth major Islamic Caliphate/dynasty that followed the three major Islamic Caliphates (Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid) of the Arabian/Islamic Empire, used the Caliphate system of government, which consists of the fundamental political and religious concepts that are inherent in Sharia Law, to expand Islam throughout its empire. Thus, the Islamic Caliphate is the revived seventh head or seventh empire (cf. Revelation 17:10-11).
Concerning Islam and/or the Islamic Caliphate being linked to Mystery Babylon, as well as linked to the prophesied 4th Beast empire, in the 21st century, more and more end times’ prophecy teachers are declaring that the kingdom or empire that ushers in the Antichrist will be a kingdom made up of Muslim nations. The only past empires that fit this prediction’s criteria are the Islamic and Ottoman/Turkish Empires. Furthermore, the Islamic Caliphate, which began with the Islamic Empire and continued with the Ottoman/Turkish Empire, truly is what makes the revived Islamic Caliphate the prophesied kingdom of corrupt laws, idol worshippers, and enemies of Christianity, because Islam, the religion of the Islamic Caliphate, is a twisted version of the Gospel of Christ. Therefore, there can be no doubt that Islam is the quintessential false religion!
Now, it is very clear that Jesus the Christ, the Messiah in the Christian Holy Bible, is not the messiah in Islamic literature. The Muslims’ Mahdi, their messiah who is mentioned in six of the five canonical books of the Hadith, is really the Antichrist in the Christian Holy Bible. Hadith literature contains Muhammad’s sayings, reports about what he did, and Islamic beliefs about the end times. Thus, since Hadith literature mentions the Mahdi in the context of the end times, then either Christians’ eschatology or Muslims’ eschatology is twisted—one or the other is ALL wrong.
A thorough comparison of the Antichrist described in the Christian Holy Bible and the Mahdi described in the authentic Hadith literature does show striking similarities between Christianity’s Antichrist and Islam’s Mahdi. Ironically though, Christians and Muslims need to understand the principal messages in each other’s sacred writings before either group can connect the dots to what it is that their messages have in common. Even if Christians and Muslims, as a whole, never come to a full understanding of each other’s sacred writings, that will not diminish or erase this truth: It is the Muslims’ Hadith literature that makes the connecting of the dots about how the Antichrist in the Christian Holy Bible will rise to global recognition much easier to see.
Furthermore, while many Christians do believe that a major end-time sign is the Rapture (the first stage of their Messiah’s Second Coming), there are denominational and sectarian issues about whether the Rapture is before the end-time period (Tribulation) begins, in the middle of the Tribulation, or at the end of the Tribulation. On the other hand, the majority of Muslins believe that the one major sign that points to the beginning of the end times is the appearance of the Mahdi. There are some variations of this belief, and a few Sunnis completely reject the idea of a Mahdi, but the general belief in the Mahdi is neither a Sunni nor a Shi’a sect issue within Islam. For sure, the general belief in the Mahdi’s return being the first major sign is universal among most Muslims, and they believe that he will ascend to power after the fourth and final agreement between the Arabs and the West (possibly Christians) has been signed. In Islamic literature, this is a prophesied seven-year agreement that is to be mediated through a Jewish priest from the lineage of Aaron!
One of the first tasks Muslims’ Mahdi, their messiah, will accomplish is a restoration of the Caliphate (the old governing Islamic political and religious systems, and the Islamic defined sovereign territory that implements this government). The Caliphate was first established after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Caliphate was created to guarantee the purity of the Islamic faith so that Islam would become the standard for all nations. Therefore, Islam’s Mahdi (Christianity’s Antichrist) will be a Caliph who is a descendant of Muhammad, which is the reason why he will restore the purity of the Islamic faith. As the final Caliph, the Mahdi will act as Allah’s vice-regent on earth, leading the revolution that establishes a new Islamic world order.
Historically, the Caliph’s position is based on the notion of a successor to the Prophet Muhammad’s political authority, so Islam’s Mahdi (Christianity’s Antichrist)has to establish a new Islamic world order. As the Mahdi pushes for his one-world religion and his one-world government, he will wage multiple military campaigns (jihads . . . holy wars) that will include the invasion of many non-Muslim countries, which he will achieve when he makes Islam’s Sharia law a global practice.
Various Muslim sacred writings describe their Mahdi as follows:
The Mahdi is Islam’s primary messiah figure.
He will be a descendant of Muhammad and will bear Muhammad’s name (Muhammad bin Abdullah).
He will be a very devout Muslim.
He will be an unparalleled spiritual, political, and military world leader.
He will emerge after a period of great turmoil and suffering upon the earth.
He will establish justice and righteousness throughout the world and eradicate tyranny and oppression.
He will be the Caliph and Imam (vice-regent and leader) of Muslims worldwide.
He will lead a world revolution and establish a new world order.
He will lead military action against all those who oppose him.
He will invade many countries.
He will make a seven year peace treaty with a Jew of priestly lineage.
He will conquer Israel for Islam and lead the “faithful Muslims” in a final slaughter/battle against Jews.
He will establish the new Islamic world headquarters from Jerusalem.
He will rule for seven years (possibly as much as eight or nine).
He will cause Islam to be the only religion practiced on the earth.
He will appear riding a white horse (possibly just symbolic).
He will discover some previously undiscovered biblical manuscripts that he will use to argue with the Jews and cause some Jews to convert to Islam.
He will re-discover the Ark of the Covenant from the Sea of Galilee, which he will bring to Jerusalem.
He will have supernatural power from Allah over the wind and the rain and crops.
He will posses and distribute enormous amounts of wealth.
He will be loved by every human.
Contrary to the Muslims’ rosy view of their Mahdi (Antichrist), the biblical Antichrist is described in the Scriptures as the Beast, the abomination that causes desolation, the desolator, the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, the little horn, the Assyrian, the King of Babylon, the King of the North, and Gog. He also is described as a global leader who is a political, military, and religious world leader who comes from the Middle East, out of a Muslim country rather than any European country! Then too, although this global leader might be liked by the people on earth, not everyone will love him, because after his attempt to convert the Jews to Islam fails he wars against God’s chosen people. The bottom line is that his ultimate goal always has been to destroy the Jews, and this desired outcome is predicted to be the Jews’ final holocaust that will take place within Israel.
Similarly, this global leader also will come against Christians and try to force them to accept Islam. Again, since one of his goals is to establish a one-world Islamic religion, in order to achieve this goal this global leader (Antichrist/Mahdi) will have to be anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and purely satanic. Indeed, the Christian Antichrist or the Muslim Mahdi world leader not only will be an enemy of Jews and Christians but also an enemy of women, and an enemy of humanity, as a whole. As such, he eventually will become the leader of the army that invades the land of Israel and eventually establishes the most corrupt seat of authority on the Temple Mount.
Christian Scriptures also say the following about their Antichrist: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:4, NIV. Similarly, the Shi’a Muslims refer to their Mahdi as Sahib Al-Zaman (“The Lord of the Age”) or Al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar (“The Guided/Awaited One”), but it is obvious that the Muslims do not understand that their Mahdi will be bad news for everyone.
Christians, however, do understand how horrific the Antichrist will be, and they know that only Jesus the Christ can save them from his terror, which he uses to control the world during the last half of the seven-year Tribulation. The true Savior of the world, on the other hand, is not the Muslim Mahdi, but the very One Muslims believe was just one of Prophet Muhammad’s messengers. Because the left behinders will be given a STRONG delusion so that they (Muslims and non-Muslims) will believe the Antichrist’s lies that flood the Tribulation world, RIGHT NOW is the only time that Muslims will be able to see the Light. The apostle Paul taught this end-time truth, for he writes:
Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you? And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes. For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming. This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, NLT
The point that the apostle makes in the above-cited Scriptures is that, if people do no believe that Jesus the Christ is the ONLY begotten Son of God, the Second person in the Trinity, and the ONLY Savior of this world, then these people are following the spirit of antichrist. In the Tribulation period, the spirit of antichrist will be Islam, and the human manifestation of this antichrist spirit will be the Antichrist (Mahdi)! No one who has been observant and who can discern biblical truths from blatantly outrageous lies, no matter who is spouting them, will disagree with this statement: Islam not only still denies the trinity and the divinity of Jesus the Christ but also radical Muslims still oppose and persecute non-Muslims, particularly Christians.
Aside from using Christians and Jews for material gain, Muslims truly have no religious tolerance. They are anti-Semitic, too, and they do not hide the fact that they hate Jews. Therefore, Islam is really the only probable source for Prophet Daniel’s 4th Beast, and the Beast is the corrupt and immoral empire, as a whole, as well as the empire’s satanic world leaders (the Antichrist and the False Prophet)!
To devout Muslims, every non-Muslim is evil personified, which is why they declare that their belief about who or what is evil is the reason why their Quran, their collections of Hadith, and their Sharia Law not only justify their use of terror, but also mandate that the terror they use can be achieved by any means necessary. Therefore, besides bombings, beheadings also are a known Islamic terrorist strategy.
As already mentioned, Muslims’ own sacred writings and Sharia Law have given them the green light on terrorism. The Quran makes it clear that the beheading of infidels is a recommended method of killing. Quran 008.012 reads:
Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): ‘I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them.’
Concerning beheadings, in this century, it is a fact that Islamic radicals in Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have beheaded non-Christian and Christian foreigners. Moreover, there are biblical Scriptures that point to the Islamic jihad that will be taking place during the Tribulation. The main way infidels will be killed at that time is by beheadings. The apostle John provides one of the most famous Tribulation Period descriptions on Islamic jihad in the Holy Bible. The apostle writes:
Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ~ Revelation 20:4, NLT
Even though these beheaded infidels, those who reject Islam and the mark of the Beast during the Tribulation Period, will be resurrected, these left behinders will suffer the worst kind of persecution. In short, they suffer because, before the Tribulation Period started, they either weren’t saved, or they were saved but were choosing to continue to live like the world.
Concerning today’s terrorism, most observant and informed people know that Saudi Arabia openly provides financial support for Islamic terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda. As a result, Muslims’ jihad has been making tremendous strides, especially in the 21st century. The problem is that these Saudi Arabians, and Arabs from all over the world who follow Islam, do not know that they are sealing their own souls’ eternity.
The Holy Bible is very clear that Jesus the Christ is coming back to destroy ALL of the enemies of the Jewish nation of Israel and all of the enemies of God’s chosen people, the Jews. Today, these enemies are Islam-believing Arabs! A very famous biblical passage in which an Arabic ten-nation confederacy is listed is Psalm 83:6-8. Another less familiar passage about what Jesus the Christ is going to do for the Jews who have been persecuted by Islamic Arabs is found in the book of Micah. Chapter 5 of Micah is all about the Jews’ Warrior King, who is the Messiah Jesus the Christ, their peacemaker. This minor prophet writes the following about the prophesied Jewish Messiah:
And he will be the source of peace. When the Assyrians invade our land and break through our defenses, we will appoint seven rulers to watch over us, eight princes to lead us. They will rule Assyria with drawn swords and enter the gates of the land of Nimrod. He will rescue us from the Assyrians when they pour over the borders to invade our land. …The people of Israel will stand up to their foes, and all their enemies will be wiped out. ‘In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will slaughter your horses and destroy your chariots. I will tear down your walls and demolish your defenses. I will put an end to all witchcraft, and there will be no more fortune-tellers. I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars, so you will never again worship the work of your own hands. I will abolish your idol shrines with their Asherah poles and destroy your pagan cities. I will pour out my vengeance on all the nations that refuse to obey me.’ ~ Micah 5:5-6, 9-15, NLT
The above quote is about what Jesus the Christ is going to do to the Antichrist (Muslims’ Mahdi) and every one of Israel’s Arabic foes. The evil, corrupt, and immoral Islamic political and religious systems, as used by Mystery Babylon, also will be destroyed!
Here’s where a connect-the-dots activity clearly would show how the biblical Antichrist and Islamic Mahdi are one in the same. As mentioned earlier, Rome is the Babylon that apostle Peter allegorically refers to in 1 Peter 5:13, and this allegorical Babylon is the old, literal Babel, which was founded by Nimrod. In countless literary works, Nimrod is described as a rebel chief. In countless works by many Bible scholars, the Nimrod from antiquity is accredited with establishing the wicked-ruler standard that every Nimrod-like ruler has emulated. These same Bible scholars also claim that the satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist spirit that not only permeated the seven consecutive empires that have come against Israel but also continues to be that spirit that floods this world today started with Nimrod.
The particular Scripture that supports the claim that a satanic, anti-Semitic, and antichrist spirit would be that spirit that floods the end-time world is prophesied by the prophet Daniel. Concerning an end-time “flood” in Jerusalem, the prophet writes:
After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. ~ Daniel 9:26, NLT
It is clear that the “flood” the prophet refers to in this above verse is not a literal flood of water, and not necessarily a flood of armies, but rather he speaks metaphorically about the lies that the Nimrod-like Antichrist will spew out of his mouth in his attempt to get Jerusalem Jews to accept his one-world religion and his one-world government, which by the way are one and the same for Muslims; their one-world religion and one-world government is Islam!
For sure, Nimrod was the prototype “rebel,” and the word “rebel” means he was a man of lawlessness, disobedience, willfulness, and apostasy. This Nimrod also was an imposture, for his mother’s false claim that he was born of a virgin caused many to worship him as a god. Then too, he was not elected to the position of king. On the contrary, he elevated himself; he shot up above his equals . . . then towered above them (pun intended). He becomes so great that he not only demanded allegiance from other men but also he demanded that they worship him.
In comparison, the Antichrist of the Christian Holy Bible (who also happens to be the Muslims’ Mahdi) will be the end times’ truest of all of the past Nimrod-like rulers. In fact, He will be worse than the original Nimrod, for the Antichrist will be the worst and boldest “rebel” that this world has ever seen, and will never see again, for he will be the man of sin and the son of perdition (a Satan-controlled Beast)! The prophet Daniel says that this man of lawlessness . . . this future world ruler:
…will do as he pleases, exalting himself and claiming to be greater than every god, even blaspheming the God of gods. He will succeed, but only until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place. ~ Daniel 11:36
Before the Lord utterly destroys the Antichrist, this man will rise to power just like Nimrod did . . . he will exalt himself. He will exercise his power by demanding that the world’s other leaders not only pledge their allegiance to him but also demand that they worship him. The apostle Paul says:
He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:4, NLT
Then too, the prophet Daniel compares the Antichrist’s rise to power to a little horn that suddenly comes up among the other ten horns. He is a little horn who speaks pompous and blasphemous words. Like Nimrod, it appears as though the Antichrist also will shoot up and tower above the world’s well-known rulers. It is as if he will be viewed as something new and great, as if he were the best thing since sliced bread. The prophet Daniel writes:
As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. ~ Daniel 7:8, NLT
and
Then from one of the prominent horns came a small horn whose power grew very great. It extended toward the south and the east and toward the glorious land of Israel. ~ Daniel 8:9, NLT
It is interesting to see just how significant this horn symbol really is and how, incidentally, Nimrod’s kingdom relates to the Antichrist’s empire. According to some scholars, Nimrod’s governors wore leather bands with a single horn attached to them.
Now, it should be clear that the little horn on prophet Daniel’s 4th Beast represents a false ruler. It also should be evident that prophet Daniel’s 4th Beast and apostle John’s Beast that rises from the sea both represent a group of people who follow a false religion. Indeed, just as it is understood that the last earthly empire is Beast number 4 of Daniel 7:7 and the Beast in Revelation 13:3, it also should be understood that in Revelation 13:3 this Beast is waiting for its seventh head to heal from its fatal wound so that the little horn of Daniel 7:8 can push through and create the revived version of empire number 7 that will follow in its predecessor’s footsteps. Furthermore, it should be evident that this little horn also relates to the Muslims’ Mahdi whom they are waiting for so that he can follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, the Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, while this little horn refers to the Antichrist, it is important to note here that the Antichrist is not the mortally wounded one. The Beast (or more accurate) the Beast System, in particular the Islamic Caliphate, is what is mortally wounded, when the Islamic Caliphate finally was dismantled in 1924.
Indeed, the Antichrist is the Muslim Mahdi, and this man “…will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25, NLT). The Muslims’ Mahdi, according to the Hadith, will change Mosaic Law by instituting the Islamic Sharia Law. He also will change the Jewish festivals’ calendar . . . change the times by making it mandatory for everyone who is subject to his rule to observe the Islamic Hijri (the Muslim calendar),which means a week, from that time until the end of the Tribulation, will run from Saturday to Thursday, with Friday being the sacred day of prayer.
Everything that has been said about the Antichrist and the Mahdi is to show that after the dots have been connected the end result always will be this truth: Mystery Babylon is linked to both the Islamic Caliphate and Islam—a false religion! This last statement just underscores the irony in the Prophet Muhammad’s choice to call the religion he founded, Islam, especially since Prophet Muhammad and his followers have been hell-bent on making non-Muslims submit to, surrender to, and accept Islam as the world’s ONLY true religion. Indeed, historically and biblically, the two religions that Islam has been the biggest threat to are Judaism and Christianity!
Perhaps the most undisputed source that supports the claim that the Mystery Babylon phrase used in Revelation 17:5, KJV is connected with the Old Testament prophetic references to the Islamic Caliphate and Islam is the end-time prophecies that are found in the book of Zechariah. This minor prophet writes:
Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, ‘Look up and see what’s coming.’ ‘What is it?’ I asked. He replied, ‘It is a basket for measuring grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land.’ Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. The angel said, ‘The woman’s name is Wickedness,’ and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again. Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky. ‘Where are they taking the basket?’ I asked the angel. He replied, ‘To the land of Babylonia, where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.’ ~ Zechariah 5:5-11, NLT
Described in this Scripture is the Kaaba, which is the huge black cube-shaped structure in Mecca, the spiritual center of Islam. The Kaaba is located in the center of the Masjid Al-Haram, which was built around the Kaaba. The Masjid Al-Haram is the world’s largest Mosque. Moreover, to the Muslims, the Kaaba is the holiest place in Islam, but long before the Prophet Muhammad had a vision about Islam the Kaaba was in Mecca.
Legend has it that the Kaaba dates back to the time of Adam and Eve. Another belief is that Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba, and since Ishmael was an Arab then that’s why the Kaaba became Arabs’ reason for making an annual pilgrimage (“Hajj”) to Mecca.
Abraham and Ishmael also are alleged to be the ones who found the Kaaba’s black cornerstone that is surrounded by a silver frame. Legend has it that this black stone was white, when it came down from Heaven, but it turned black from the heaviness of the world’s countless sins. Because of the sacredness of the Kaaba, during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims walk around and around the Kaaba, in a counter-clockwise direction (the Muslim ritual known as “tawaf”), while they point at the Kaaba, and even try to get near it to kiss it.
In case it might have been overlooked, there are so many similarities between the Kaaba and Great Mosque and the Jewish Temple and the Temple’s Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Since the Jews were commanded by God to make three annual pilgrimages to the Jerusalem Temple to celebrate mandatory festivals, and since the Jews’ God had made these commandments thousands of years before Islam began, then there can be no doubt that Prophet Muhammad, who founded Islam, and who instituted pilgrimages to the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, was merely mimicking Jewish customs. Likewise, just as the Holy of Holies place is inside the Temple the Jewish God commanded Solomon to build, the Kaaba being inside the Great Mosque is an additional counterfeit. Lastly, it was annually that the Jewish high priests would sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the Mercy Seat to atone for the sins the entire Jewish population committed during the past year. Apparently, the black stone on the Kaaba is serving in the same capacity as the Mercy Seat—as divine forgiveness; the fact that the original white stone is now black from the weight of the Muslims’ sins supports this view.
Returning to the Zechariah 5:5-11 biblical passage, to tie it all together, this passage is a picture of Mystery Babylon andthe evil, scarlet-clad woman who represents those specific religious, political, and economic world systems that generate the previously mentioned demonic/beast spirit that is prevalent in the seven consecutive empires that come against Israel. At the time that the prophet Zechariah is having this vision, the Medo-Persian Empire has conquered the Babylonian Empire and Babylon is one of Medo-Persia’s capital cities. In fact, Babylon remained a capital city of the Medo-Persian Empire until King Xerxes, in an attempt to end the rebellion in Babylon, destroyed Babylon’s walls and temples in 478 B.C.
Now, contrary to popular opinion, Babylon’s evil, corrupt, and immoral influence did not die, though the city itself was in ruin. As stated earlier, the confusion and the evil that were in the original Babel resurfaces in all of the seven consecutive empires that persecute Israel. This truth would mean that after Medo-Persia has defeated the Babylonian Empire, the evil and immoral capital seat of the Babylonian Empire eventually changed from the literal, physical city of Babylon to the allegorical Babylon, which the capital cities of the Persian, Grecian, and Roman Empires represent.
For this reason, Zechariah’s measuring basket represents the allegorical Babylonian end times’ economic and financial systems that will be supporting the Antichrist and False Prophet’s political empire, and the wicked woman inside the basket represents the union between her evil religious system and the Antichrist and False Prophet’s corrupt political and economic systems. She represents all of the mysterious ancient false religious systems that existed in Nimrod’s kingdom, and in every one of the seven consecutive empires that have come against Israel. That is why special attention should be given to the heavy lead lid. That it does not hold this woman down indicates just how powerfully corrupt and dreadfully evil she is—she’s a Beast!
The two women who carry this basket to an allegorical Babylonia, or allegorical land of Shinar, are bringing the exact same evil and immoral religious, political, and economic world systems that existed in Nimrod’s day down throughout the ages to the allegorical end-time Babylon, which today is represented as Mecca—the political, economic, and religious capital of modern-day Islam(or the Harlot)! That there are two women carrying the evil woman in the basket, who represents a religious system, does suggest that these two-winged women represent two specific religious systems, as well. That the basket is taken to an allegorical end-time Babylon does suggest that the three women’s religions are the three major world religions. There should be no doubt, then, that the wicked woman symbolizes Islam and that the other two women symbolize Christianity and Judaism. For sure, both Islam and Christianity are spin-offs of Judaism, and this truth suggests that all three of these religions have been contaminated to some degree by ancient Babel’s ungodly political, economic and religious systems!
Again, historically speaking, the seventh successive empire of Revelation 17:10-11, which is the Islamic/Ottoman/Turkish Empire, moved its Islamic political and military capital (the capital of the Caliphate) twice under the Islamic Empire—once, when the Umayyad Caliphate/dynasty moved from Mecca, Saudi Arabia to Damascus, Syria; and then again when then Abbasid Caliphate/dynasty rose to power, in 750 A.D., and moved the Islamic capital from Damascus, Syria to Baghdad, Iraq (which is located about 50 miles north of ancient Babylon). Baghdad remained the Islamic capital for 508 years, until the Abbasids’ rule ended in 1258 A.D. Eventually, the Ottoman/Turkish Empire relocated the Islamic political and military capital to Constantinople or Istanbul, Turkey.
Having said that, it is important to note here that right now Mecca is once again the Islamic political and military capital. The union between the religious, political, and economic systems, which is held together by miraculous exploits that includes seducing and deluding the world into accepting the Antichrist as world leader, is the reason why all three of these mentioned systems are at one geographical location—the allegorical Babylon, which once again is today’s Mecca located in Saudi Arabia. For a while, the Mystery Babylon, which the Bible says is the Mother of everything filthy and abominable, is going to be in charge of the allegorical Babylon. The Scriptures even say that every world leader, especially every one of the 10 horns (powerful kings/rulers) on the revived seven heads (7 kingdoms) of the Great Beast Empire, will willingly participate in the Great Harlot’s corruption and immorality (get drunk from the city’s wine—the true Mystery Babylon—which is her “oil”/pitch).
Thus, it should be evident to Christians that Islam and the Islamic Caliphate are linked to Mystery Babylon, and this last statement is true simply because Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, and opulent (Harlot) Mecca is the sacred city of Islam, and the Kaaba is the center of the Muslim world. That at least five times a day nearly two billion Muslims from all around the world are “facing the qiblah”—they are turning toward their holiest shrine, the Kaaba, and are praying to their idol god—should leave no doubt that this commanded behavior, this strictest form of legalism, also will be the reason why Islam and the Islamic Caliphate will be connected to Mystery Babylon (the oil that lures the nations to the Great Harlot [city] that sits on the people of the world, and causes them to commit adultery with her). This truth means Mecca not only is the present allegorical Babylon, but also, via Islam and Muslims’ oil, Mecca is spreading its “evil and immoral” influence—the kind of influence that leads to the lust of eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life filling this world (cf. 1 John 2:16).
Indeed, Islamic Saudis daily speak blasphemous words against the Christian trinity doctrine, against the fact the Jesus the Christ IS the SON of God, and against the fact that the Jewish God is the One and only true God. Then too, these same blaspheming Islamic Saudis support a global revival of jihad, a holy war that sanctions the killing of Christians, Jews, and every infidel (anyone who doesn’t worship Islam), all while performing their totally corrupt and totally immoral desires in the name of their Allah.
The apostle John writesthe following about Mystery Babylon (oil system) and the Great Harlot (city):
‘Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.’ Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, ‘Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.’ ~ Revelation 18:2-4, NLT
First, the word Babylon in the above quotation is another allegorical reference, in this case, to Islam being the major corrupt system of government in control throughout the 10/40 Window (regions in the eastern hemisphere where Christianity is met with much opposition, where Christian resources are lacking, where poverty is unrelenting, and where the quality of life is insignificant).
Furthermore, although a common definition for fornication is to commit adultery . . . sexual immorality with a person who is not a spouse, the word “fornication” in Revelation 18:3, KJV, refers to idolatry. In fact, the KJV of Revelation 18:3 actually metaphorically uses the word “fornication” to describe idol worship, which refers to someone committing idolatry.
It is because of Islam’s false religion of today, in which idol worship of the Muslim god Allah is mandatory, that apostle John uses the word Babylon in conjunction with the phrase “slept with her” (committed fornication with her), when he speaks about the corruption and spiritual immorality existing during the end times. This corruption and spiritual immorality are symbolized by the prostitute of Revelation 17:1-5, who is sitting on the horrible looking seven-headed, ten-horned Beast. She has been given the names of Mystery Babylon and Great Harlot. The apostle writes:
So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. A mysterious name was written on her forehead: ‘Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.’ ~ Revelation 17:3-5, NLT
The reason why the apostle is writing about modern-day Islam in this passage is because Muslim believers are not only increasing like wildfire but also, if the trend continues as it has been, Islam is predicted to become the number one world religion before the middle of the 21st century.
Prophecy critics worldwide are saying that Saudi Arabia is the perfect example of Islamic faith, and this statement leaves no doubt that Islam’s idolatry also will include Mystery Babylon (oil), and the worship of this idol/Mystery Babylon will take place in the Harlot (city), which presently is the most obvious: Saudi Arabia’s Mecca. For sure, there can be no doubt that Saudi Arabia’s Islamic faith will continue to spread throughout the world until the prophecy concerning the Great Harlot being the mother of “EVERY IMMORAL AND FILTHY THING ON EARTH” has been fulfilled.
Once again, this degree of global evil and immorality begins with deceptive Islam. According to Sharia Law, and based on the Quran’s doctrine of Taqiyya, deception is not only permitted in certain situations but also is sometimes deemed obligatory.For this reason, deception is of fundamental importance in Islam. Every Islamic terrorist sect agrees to it and practices it.
Muslims’ deception is achieved by using murwa (stealth, flexibility), and by using two forms of lying: (1) taqiyya (translated as “deception” . . . saying something that isn’t true; guarding the faith); and (2) kitman (lying by omission; concealing the true intent), all for the purpose of advancing the cause of Islam, and that cause is to defeat Muslims’ enemies. For example, the Prophet Muhammad clearly used deception when he signed a 10-year treaty (The Treaty of Hudaibiya) with the Meccans (Qurayashi troops, Muhammad’s former tribe turned enemies) that allowed Muhammad access to their city, while he secretly prepared his own forces for a takeover. In the two years after Muhammad entered into this treaty with the Meccans, Muhammad plundered, raided, pillaged, and massacred the Jews in the attacked villages located near Medina. Because he promised those men who joined in on the raids that they would get a percentage of the booty, this offer helped his 1500-member band of men grow to a 10,000-member army. He was now stronger in number than his Meccan enemies. Thus, when Muhammad broke the treaty two years after it was signed, the unsuspecting residents were conquered in easy fashion.
The real truth is that Islam is merely the façade of a religion. It actually is a system of government that Muslims believe will control the entire world. Under this system of government, nearly two billion people today already are COMMANDED to pray five times a day in the direction of Mecca’s Kaaba, the shrine (black cube) that sits in the middle of the Muslims’ sacred mosque, Masjid al-Haram!
Moreover, once the Islamic/Ottoman/Turkish Empire is revived and the Caliphate, the Islamic form of government representing the leaders of the Muslim world’s political, economic, military, and religious union, is re-established, the Antichrist also will use Islam as his political, economic, military, and religious systems! In essence, Islam is Muslims’ Sharia Law, for Sharia Law imposes obligatory duties that Muslims who are devoted to their Islamic faith must do. Since most devout Muslims consider Sharia Law to be the expression of Allah’s divine will, they allow Sharia Law to guide all aspects of their lives, including their daily routines, familial and religious obligations, and financial dealings.
Furthermore, Mystery Babylon’s identity cannot be connected to any nation other than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because Saudi Arabia is the only kingdom that fits all of the HolyBible’s conditions for the existence of the seductive harlot who sits upon the Great Beast. First, The Great Whore sits on seven hills. Now these are empires, but they also are the literal seven hills surrounding the city (Great Harlot, Mecca) from which the merchants of the world engage in idolatry (get drunk off of Saudi Arabia’s oil). Secondly, Revelation 17:3 says that apostle John is taken to the desert (in the Greek language, Eremos), where he sees the harlot who is dressed in purple and scarlet and sitting on the Great Beast (the oil system and the Sharia Law system, which is political, religious, financial, and etc.). Based on the abovementioned Scripture’s description of the place where the harlot is, there cannot be a revived Roman Empire, because the Roman Empire didn’t sit in a desert! However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is 95% desert. Furthermore, after 1517 the Islamic/Ottoman/Turkish Empire dominated the Arabian Peninsula (or Arabia)!
Finally, the Good News is that Mystery Babylon (oil; Islam and Sharia Law’s financial system), the Antichrist (Muslim Mahdi), and every follower of the Beast (Islamic Empire . . . Daniel’s 4th Beast, which is both the leader of this last earthly empire, the Antichrist, and the world systems he uses to deceive and seduce the left-behind world) will be wiped off this Earth. Therefore, to not be one of those people who will be wiped off this Earth, human beings have to put their trust in the Christian Holy Bible, the true Word of God,which declares that ONLY the Gospel’s Truth will set the listeners FREE who believe and receive the Gospel Truth about Father God, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit being ONE, about Jesus Christ being God’s ONLY begotten Son, and about God’s Son being the ONLY Savior of this world.
In other words, to be free from eternal damnation, to be free from the Tribulation, and to be free from sin, unbelievers must change their current wrong thinking, confess their sins, and accept Jesus the Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Anyone who hasn’t done so before Jesus the Christ comes to Earth on a cloud and raptures His Bride, or before He returns to this Earth and places His feet on the Mount of Olives, will suffer the wrath of Almighty God, will suffer a physical death, and will suffer the spiritual, eternal second death!
Anyone who has an ear. . .!!!
Please view the following added YouTube video, added 12-22-2013: Babylon the Great & The Turkish Antichrist:
“So when all these things begin to happen, stand straight and look up, for your salvation is near!” (Luke 21:28, NLT)
NOTE: Unless otherwise notated, the cited biblical Scriptures in this work are taken from the New Living Translation Bible (NLT).
More than ever before, true Christian believers can say that they are living in the prophesied last and evil days. Although there are many who argue that the world has been in these last and evil days since the time of the first century A.D. apostles, it is doubtful that the majority of these people will disagree with this writer’s observation: there NEVER has been such a preponderance of the end of the CHURCH Age signs as those that are appearing today.
Yes, since the time of Jesus the Christ, who addressed the issue of the last and evil days’ signs with His disciples (cf. Matthew 24:4-44), there have been wars and rumors of wars. Certainly, there have been scores of nations rising up against nations; there also have been countless natural disasters, and there have been numerous and various diseases and epidemics. However, it should be accepted as fact that the people who lived in centuries past NEVER had seen as many prophesied end of the CHURCH Age signs occurring simultaneously like the people who lived in the latter half of the twentieth century and on into this twenty-first century. Furthermore, some of the signs that resemble the last and evil days’ signs, especially those signs that have been occurring simultaneously andwithincreased frequency and intensity from the middle of the twentieth century and on into this twenty-first century, are merely false labor pains. Like Braxton Hicks contractions, which can happen as early as the second trimester but mostly happen in the third trimester of a woman’s pregnancy, mainly to prepare her body for the “real thing,” these false labor pains are just getting the Earth ready for the “real thing”— the Tribulation Period.
Thus, the signs that Jesus the Christ refers to in Matthew 24:8 as the “beginning of sorrows” will be those signs that have effects (birth pangs) that resemble the inevitable process that leads to the birth of a child. Like false birth pangs, the “beginning of sorrows” (the true labor pains that happen during the first half of the Tribulation Period) also will start slowly and almost without notice. Then these birth pangs will come faster and be more unbearable, until the Great Tribulation (the second half of the Tribulation Period) has reached its climax, which is the time of the Battle of Armageddon and the inevitable Second Coming of Jesus the Christ.
Now, there are many biblical end of the CHURCH Age signs that signal the nearness of the end times. However, most of the signs Jesus the Christ mentions and some of the end of the CHURCH Age signs apostles Paul and Peter mention, which together are appearing in the same time frame (from around the middle of the 20th century through this present day in the 21st century), will be mentioned here. These signs have been false birth pangs, which began slowly and almost imperceptibly, and then increased in frequency and intensity. However, it should be emphasized that the decisive end times’ signs (those that are symbolic of childbirth’s true labor pains) will be ALL of the global signs of wars, famines, deceptions, false prophets, and other disturbing and catastrophic troubles, which Jesus the Christ and His apostles mention, that not only will happen simultaneously but also will increase in frequency and intensity simultaneously until they lead to (give birth to) the fulfillment of the prophesied parousia—the Second Coming of Jesus the Christ.
What causes this writer to believe that the signs soon to be discussed in full detail are indeed the end of the CHURCH Age signs that lead to the Rapture of the Body of Christ and the end times’ signs known as the “beginning of sorrows” (the first half of the Tribulation Period that follows the Rapture) is the fact that God uses the apostles Peter and Paul, and James the brother of Jesus, to make distinctions between the last days’ signs and the end times’ signs that are recorded in the Holy Bible. For clarity, everyone who reads these listed signs should note that the phrases “last and evil days” and “last days” refer to the soon-coming end of the Age of Grace or the present day CHURCH Age. In contrast, the phrase “end times” refers to the “Day of the Lord,” which is the seven years of the Tribulation Period. Having said that, the list of last and evil days’ signs is as follows:
SIGN # 1: We are living in an era in which there is an unhealthy emphasis on New Age spiritualism, which often is erroneously compared to Christianity. True Christians define spiritual people as people who are born again, saved believers in Jesus the Christ and believers who also are indwelled and infilled with the Holy Spirit of Creator God. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is the One who justifies and sanctifies these blood-bought believers, and He oversees their conversions—makes sure that they are transformed into the image of Jesus the Christ. On the other hand, followers of New Age spiritualism define spiritual people as people who are self-confident, self-pleased, self-disciplined, self-improved, and self-made individuals. In reality, these kinds of spiritual people are merely self-centered individuals who see themselves as “believers” who do not need a priest, pastor, evangelist, missionary, or any other “traditional” church leader to help them know the true and living God, because these followers of the New Age spiritualism have become their own god.
Now, not only is today’s unhealthy emphasis on New Age spiritualism prophesied in the Holy Bible (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 2:1-2; 1 John 4:1-3; Jude v. 18), but also there are prophecies that allude to the 21st century’s rise in technological discoveries, like those that make it possible for televised, celebrity supported false prophets, psychics, ghost whisperers, occultists, and tele-evangelists to saturate the airways (cf. Daniel 12:4; Revelation 11:8-9, 11; and Revelation 13:16-17). Indeed, Jesus the Christ, Himself, prophesies to His disciples that in the last days “…many false prophets will appear and will lead many people astray” (Matthew 24:11). He also says that in the last and evil days, “…false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones” (Matthew 24:24). Therefore, it is undeniable that our modern-day technologies (i.e. television, satellites, Internet, computers, iPods, and so forth), have made it possible for 21st century people to witness the rapid increase in the number of individuals who are being deceived by the New Age spiritualism fed to them by intentionally conspicuous, well-publicized celebrities, tele-evangelists, and the like!
SIGN # 2: Although there have been wars and rumors of wars down throughout the centuries, we NOW are living in a time when there are universal wars, conflicts and distresses happening on grand scales. Not only is our generation able to read about these historical accounts, but also in our century, unlike none other, billions are able to watch the moment-by-moment LIVE devastations via their televisions, satellites, and their Internet connections. For example, the wars, conflicts and distresses that have happened in France, Iraq, Myanmar (Burma), Afghanistan, Turkey, the Sudan, and Israel have been transmitted globally, and their worldwide transmissions (broadcasts) are the reasons why the prophetic last and evil days’ second sign can now be witnessed by an astronomical number of 21st century viewers. Once again, it is Jesus the Christ who prophesies about this sign. He tells His disciples that “…wars will break out near and far, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must come, but the end won’t follow immediately. The nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other…(Matthew 24:6-7a), and, yet, because of our modern-day technologies, it is in our time that God has allowed the greatest number of people to be coexisting eyewitnesses of this second last days’ prophetic sign!
SIGN # 3: With the rise of nuclear weapons in Third World countries, along with the already existing nuclear weapons of the major world powers, it is apparent that we now have the capacity, unlike in any other time in history, to destroy ourselves. Total world destruction is obtainable. Jesus the Christ says in a Scripture parallel to Matthew 24:29 that in the end times:
…there will be strange events in the skies—signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And down here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. The courage of many people will falter because of the fearful fate they see coming upon the earth, because the stability of the very heavens will be broken up. (Luke 21:25-26)
During the end times, which is the “Day of the Lord” (or the Tribulation Period), mankind’s ability to destroy this Earth with nuclear weapons will reach its peak. Jesus the Christ describes that catastrophic time by saying that “In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, the entire human race will be destroyed. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones”(Matthew 24:22).
We should note here that when Jesus the Christ speaks of the Tribulation time being “shortened” (a King James English word translated from the Greek word kolobovw, which is transliterated as koloboo), He is NOT saying that the full course of the seven year Tribulation in which God and the Antichrist’s wraths are poured out on the Earth will NOT take place. What our Lord is saying is that God will koloboo (cut short) the time of Jacob’s Trouble by making the Tribulation Period’s affliction to be less effective than Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet had intended. In essence, God will make it possible for Jesus the Christ’s “Wheat” (His elect) to be preserved from physical destruction—to survive the intended global annihilation so that not all of the left-behind humans will be wiped off the face of the Earth. As we know from the Scriptures, the “Wheat,” the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it harvest, consists of the surviving Tribulation humans who enter into Jesus the Christ’s Kingdom of God on Earth (the 1,000 years kingdom) in their unglorified bodies. These are the ones God has chosen from the foundation of the Earth to be the people who will repopulate the Earth; therefore, they should not be confused with the CHURCH (Bride of Christ)!
SIGN # 4: Today, we also are able to witness a time of fragile peace agreements that are broken quickly after they are made. On a larger scale, we see several quarrelling or warring nations breaking their peace agreements as early as 24 hours after putting pen to paper, or after shaking hands. On a smaller scale, we hear of and often see the many broken agreements made between individuals. For example, we see and/or hear about the rise in broken alimony and child support agreements that result from the numerous broken marital agreements. It is the Apostle Paul who mentions this fourth last days’ sign. He writes about what the global peace climate will be like just before the Tribulation Period begins. The apostle says that the people in the last and evil days will declare that “‘…All is well; everything is peaceful and secure,’ then disaster will fall upon them as suddenly as a woman’s birth pains begin when her child is about to be born. And there will be no escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
SIGN # 5: The sign that is staring 21st century individuals in the face is the increasing world famine dilemma. Throughout today’s world, billions are feeling the effect of the growing decrease in bountiful harvests. Therefore, Jesus the Christ’s predictions about famines prevailing in the last times should hit home with all of us, especially Americans, since most of the world still looks up to us as being the land flowing with milk and honey. For sure, now that we Americans are facing our own economic crisis, most of us can understand clearly what Jesus the Christ meant when He compared the last days (the beginning of birth pains [sorrows]) to the time of increased “…famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7b, KJV).
SIGN # 6: Growing proportionate to today’s worldwide famines are fear-provoking diseases like the pandemic Mad Cow, West Nile Virus, HIV and AIDS, and the pandemic contagions like the Salmonella, E. Coli, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, MRSA and SARS. We should keep in mind that this “pestilences” sign and all of the other signs mentioned here in this work have been happening for centuries; what makes these signs so important is the fact that never before in history have they all occurred together, at the same time and with the same high levels of frequency and intensity, until NOW. Once again, Jesus the Christ predicts that diseases and plagues would prevail in the last times. He says that “…there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7b, KJV).
SIGN # 7: We are living in a time when there is an increase in worldwide water, air, and land pollutions. Now, this prophesied last days’ sign comes from the Old Testament, but since Jesus the Christ is the Word–the whole Bible made flesh—the fulfilling of this prophecy during our time is what makes this sign relevant to us. Although the Prophet Isaiah is speaking for God to ancient Israel, he is nonetheless also prophesying about our present day toxic situations and, thus, is commanding us to:
Look up to the skies above, and gaze down on the earth beneath. For the skies will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing. The people of the earth will die like flies…. (Isaiah 51:6)
This very day, billions of people are experiencing the effects from having to drink from a growing number of contaminated water sources, or from eating fish full of mercury, or from breathing in traffic emissions, or from breathing in toxic chemicals (hazardous waste) from landfills, and the list of global pollution problems continues to grow. Without a doubt, Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled in our time!
SIGN # 8: Also growing in large proportions are global earthquakes, some of which occur in strange places. Again, for centuries, people have seen and/or heard about such happenings; thus, the real significance is the fact that today’s increase in earthquakes in “divers places” is happening right along with all of the other aforesaid last and evil days’ signs. As mentioned previously, Jesus the Christ also predicts that “earthquakes” would prevail in the last times. He says that “…there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7b, KJV).
A few of the most notable earthquakes that have happened in divers places, which 21st century people have witnessed, include the second largest ever-recorded earthquake of December 2004. This Indian Ocean Tsunami, between a 9.1 and 9.3 magnitude, happened off the coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. This earthquake’s tsunamis (tidal waves) caused a disaster of extraordinary proportions, including causing about 187,000 deaths! In February 2005, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake flattened buildings in central Iran, destroyed many Iranian villages, forced people to live in tents, and injured hundreds while killing around 400 people. In March 2005, a 8.6magnitude earthquake happened off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, and it collapsed hundreds of buildings and killed around 2,000 people. In June 2005, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Tarapaca, Chile. Widespread damage occurred throughout the mountain villages near the epicenter, but because this huge earthquake happened in a sparsely populated area only 11 people lost their lives. Lastly, the May 2008 earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan, a mountainous region in Western China, is described as being the 19th deadliest earthquake of all time. It was a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that was responsible for killing at least 69,195 people (with an additional 18,392 people who were missing and presumed dead). Also, at least 374,177 were injured in this earthquake, and an estimated 5.36 million buildings were completely destroyed while an additional 21 million buildings suffered major damage!
SIGN # 9: We NOW are witnessing an upsurge (rise) and an upheaval (cataclysm) in nature, as natural disasters like tsunamis, hurricanes, and unusual hot or cold spells are increasing all over the world. However, after the CHURCH is raptured, and the end of the Tribulation Period (the end of the world as we know it) grows nearer, the increase in intensity and frequency of natural disasters will create the scenario Jesus the Christ describes, when He says: “Immediately after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken”(Matthew 24:29).
This Scripture pertains to the effect God’s wrath will have upon the Earth, including nature, herself. These signs in nature, then, not only will be so dramatic and cataclysmic that men’s hearts will fail them—meaning people will literally drop dead from witnessing the terror—but these signs will precede the physical bodily return of Jesus the Christ. Indeed, the One who holds EVERYTHING together will relax His power (control) over the universe, and this relinquishing of control is what sends nature, and the world, spinning out of control until the sign of the Son of Man (Jesus the Christ, Himself,) appears in the Heavens, as our Lord comes on the clouds with ALL Power and Great Glory (cf. Matthew 24:30).
SIGN # 10: Moral decay is spreading to the degree that it was in Noah’s day. In Genesis we find these words recorded: “Now the LORD observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil” (Genesis 6:5). The specific moral decay that has become widespread today is sexual exploitation. It is no big thing, today, to turn on the television to the movie channels and see naked men and women engaging in sexual activities, or hear some of the most vulgar profanity. Likewise, it also is so easy to surf the Internet and view pornographic pictures and videos, view R and X-rated movies, and read filthy communications.
Moreover, primetime television now carries some programs that have profanity and nudity in them. The television networks really are pushing the envelope where televised vulgarity and sexual intercourse are concerned. Then too there are those NOT SO discreet telephone hotline advertisements that insinuate sex is the ultimate goal. These late night televised advertisements specifically target degenerate men and women. What is equally despicable are those televised advertisements about pills that correct any erectile dysfunction, and other pills that enhance male genitals.
These once taboo subjects were not only unacceptable topics for polite conversations but also unacceptable material for most “public” media formats, which today include a wide range of recorded soundtracks, music videos, the silver screen, and almost every kind of magazine and book. Once again, the Internet is perhaps the most abused “public” media format. Contrary to how people used to respond to the public television and radio stations that aired nudity and profanity, where electronic mail is concerned, most modern-day individuals hardly raise an eyebrow when moral decay finds its way into their email “In Boxes,” even though the filthy communications in most of the unwelcome SPAM emails are dreadful.
For sure, we are bombarded with moral decay, and the saddest thing about this truth is that so many so-called Christians are some of the persons responsible for and/or patrons of America’s, as well as the world’s, steady diet of wicked lasciviousness (lustfulness). Therefore, since our generation is compared to the generation in Noah’s day, then we must not forget that in Genesis the wrath of God comes upon Noah’s wicked generation. These words are recorded:
So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. And the LORD said, ‘I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them.’ (Genesis 6:6-7)
The significance of the above Scriptures is that, in the New Testament, our Savior tells His disciples, and modern-day believers, that the sign of Noah is one way they will know when our Lord is about to make His second appearance on this Earth. Then, Jesus the Christ makes this following comment about Noah’s day: “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day”(Matthew 24:37). That’s right! As it was with Noah’s generation, so is it going to be with today’s diseased sectors of the CHURCH, as well as the way it will be for the world’s unbelievers who continue to reject Jesus the Christ and who continue with business as usual. Today’s masses are behaving just like the people of Noah’s generation were behaving while Noah built the Ark. Noah’s generation was eating, drinking, and marrying right up until the time that Noah entered the Ark.
Let there be no doubt about it. God is going to unleash His wrath upon the idol worshipping Laodicean Christians of today. He also will be unleashing His wrath upon every apparent unbeliever. However, before He does He will do the same thing for our generation that He did for Noah’s generation. God will warn us that His judgment is coming.
In today’s world, God not only warns us through these signs that are being discussed, but also He offers Jesus the Christ for the forgiveness of our wicked and sinful behaviors. All of the signs of the times definitely indicate that God soon will remove His spotless and blemish-free CHURCH. After this Rapture happens, then God’s judgment will fall upon the left-behind people and this old Earth.
SIGN # 11: Also in Noah’s day, there was a sudden increase in crime and violence—an increase in lawlessness. Likewise, the same is true of our twenty-first century’s generations. Therefore, a word to the wise should be sufficient. Today’s Word to the wise is from Genesis. The writer of Genesis says: “Now the earth had become corrupt in God’s sight, and it was filled with violence…and depravity everywhere” (Genesis 6:11, 12b).
In the New Testament, Jesus the Christ’s words parallel those in Genesis. Our Savior tells His disciples that in the last and evil days, prior to and after the Rapture, that the following signs would be present: “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will wax cold” (Matthew 24:12). Thus, this worldwide increase in lawlessness (crime and violence) sign will come to pass when the sign of a worldwide decrease in the number of people who show love for the sanctity of life also is evident.
SIGN # 12: In the last days, there will be an increase in skepticism, expressly in the CHURCH, and this skepticism will concern: (1) the inerrancy of the Scriptures; (2) who God really is; (3) what God expects from His spiritual sons and daughters; (4) who Jesus the Christ really is; and (5) how Jesus’ blood affects His believers’ lives. Moreover, what is evident today is that there are too many people who will NOT believe what is going to happen next on the prophetic timetable until the Rapture is over and the Tribulation Period has begun. For example, since many will not believe in the pre-tribulation departure of the CHURCH, as a result, there will be far too many unprepared, unaware and careless believers, as well as unbelievers in Jesus the Christ, who will not pay attention to the signs that point to Jesus the Christ’s return. Our Savior confirms this analysis of the last and evil days’ people, especially the Left Behinders, when He makes this statement: “People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the Flood came and swept them all away. This is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 24:39).
Then too, the Apostle Peter also speaks about the increased skepticism that will be in the world before the coming “Day of the Lord.” He writes:
First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire. This will be their argument: ‘Jesus promisedto come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created.’ (2 Peter 3:3-4)
SIGN # 13: The apostasy (falling away) from the biblical and historic truths that pertain to Christianity is yet another last and evil days’ sign happening right now in many local Christian churches. According to Jesus the Christ, apostasy is the act of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (refusing to be convicted by the Holy Spirit about the Grace of God, the Divine Word of God, and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus the Christ). In other words, every one who once accepted God’s gifts but then decides to reject God’s saving Grace, which He has extended to the entire world through Jesus the Christ’s atoning sacrifice, is guilty of apostasy (falling away). Jesus the Christ says:
Every sin or blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which can never be forgiven. Anyone who blasphemes against me, the Son of Man, can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. (Mathew 12:31-32)
The writer of Hebrews explains apostasy (falling away) another way. That writer says:
For it is impossible to restore to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people to repentance again because they are nailing the Son of God to the cross again by rejecting him, holding him up to public shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
SIGN # 14: In the last and evil days, people will be lovers of pleasure more than they are lovers of God. Regardless of how God has instructed them to live, these last days people will choose to seek thrills, a buzz, a need to push the envelope, and a hunger to live a free-spirited life. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy that in the last days, as the CHURCH Age draws to a close, that “…there will be very difficult times” (2 Timothy 3:1). Then the Apostle Paul warns Timothy about the kinds of people who will be living near the end of the CHURCH Age—the kinds of people a young Timothy should avoid. Apostle Paul writes:
…people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)
SIGN # 15: In the last days, God will pour out His Holy Spirit once again. Since the 1960s, the Holy Spirit’s prophesied second outpouring has been happening, city-by-city and country-by-country. As a result, more and more people are accepting and using ALL of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (e.g., gifts of healing, miracles, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, prophesy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirit, special faith, the laying on of hands, administration, helps, apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, and so forth). Furthermore, there are more local churches, as a whole, that are now following the FULL Gospel—the unadulterated Word of God—and these churches involve those that are not Pentecostal, Apostolic, and Full Gospel churches. In short, more of the “traditional” denominations—Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Brethren, and so forth—are becoming “charismatic.”
The Old Testament mentions the Holy Spirit’s outpourings several times. For example, the Prophet Isaiah speaks for God saying, “For I will give you abundant water to quench your thirst and to moisten your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit and my blessings on your children” (Isaiah 44:3). Then, in another very famous Old Testament passage, the Prophet Joel writes these prophetic words:
Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike. (Joel 2:28-29)
In the book of John, the apostle quotes Jesus the Christ, who makes a prediction or two about the Holy Spirit’s outpourings. John writes, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”(John 7:37b-38, KJV).
On the Day of Pentecost, the original 11 disciples, plus one newly elected disciple, and 108 additional Jewish believers, who were tarrying in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit, received the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Their baptism by the Holy Spirit is considered to be the Former Rain, and from this first outpouring came the birth of the CHURCH. Today’s believers are waiting on the Latter Rain to be fulfilled. As previously stated, the Latter Rain is pouring out, but not all at once—rather it is falling from city-to-city and country-to-country. Therefore, the fact that the second outpouring can be witnessed in many believers living in numerous countries today serves as indisputable evidence that proves that we are the generation who will not perish unto all of the remaining prophecies are fulfilled! (For more information on the Latter Rain outpouring, see “Is It Revival Time Again.”)
There are more signs happening today that will not be addressed in detail in this work. Some of those signs are: (1) the return of the dispersed Jewish people to Israel, which results in Israel becoming a nation in one 24-hour day, on May 14, 1998; (2) the Jewish people’s regained control of Jerusalem, which happened in June of 1967; (3) the rise of Russia—an enemy of Israel; (4) the formulation of an Islamic confederation that is against the State of Israel; (5) the revival of the ten-nation Holy Roman Empire; (6) the rise of the 200 million man Chinese army; (7) the revival of ancient Babylon’s dark occult practices; (8) an unprecedented turn to drugs and alcohol; (9) the move toward a one-world religion; (10) the move toward a one-world government; (11) the move toward a one-world economy; (12) the deterioration of the family unit—mother and father, and their children; and (13) the decline of the United States as a major world power!
If we take the time to examine all of the major and minor biblical last and evil days’ signs (and the end times’ signs) that are occurring simultaneously in our twenty-first century A.D., then we would see how expedient it is for us to pay close attention to what has been prophesied to happen next. Our ignorance of the signs and their meanings can cause us to be like the people in Noah’s day (full of unbelief, skepticism and scoffing). This ignorance also will cause us to be left outside of the Ark!
In contrast, our genuine seeking and obtaining of the spiritual wisdom, knowledge and understanding that pertain to all of the biblical last days and end times’ signs that relate to the prophetic events that already have taken place during our time period, as well as those prophetic events yet to happen, without a doubt, will help us to be prepared, careful, and watchful believers who are looking up, when the beginning of sorrows (birth pains) increase all the more. We must be looking attentively for the signs of the Rapture—the time when Jesus the Christ, our Bridegroom, will alert us (His Bride) with a SHOUT and then beam us up to Heaven (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:52-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
What can anyone lose from believing the Word of God? Is it their clout? Their friends? Their bank accounts? Their homes, cars, or clothes? Their life? For non-believers as well as believers, God neither expects nor asks us to give up anything that is essential for ensuring that we live an abundant life—a born again, saved, Holy Spirit filled life. Furthermore, there is nothing that we can do, in and of ourselves, to ensure that, after we are dead, we will be able to keep what we now have. When it is our time to die, all of our earthly titles, positions, jobs, relationships, money, possessions, and especially our human life will cease to belong to us, no matter what we plan to do to prevent ANY loss from ever happening. Therefore, if we all are going to die one type of death or another (physical and/or spiritual), if we all are going to lose EVERYTHING worldly that we have acquired in this life, then isn’t it more profitable for us to believe the Holy Bible’s promises about the spiritual/heavenly gains we will receive?
If God’s Word is NOT true, then we just die and the world goes on as it has been doing for the past millenniums. But, if the Word of God is true, then we are promised that we will receive eternal life and live in God’s presence for eternity; we are promised that the treasures we lay up in Heaven will NEVER rust, fade away, get stolen, or revoked; we also are promised a loving marital relationship and a honeymoon experience that NEVER will end; we are promised a mansion and the experience of walking on streets made of transparent gold; and we are promised that we never, ever will grow old.
If the Word of God IS true, and we have denied our Creator and Savior the life the Father and Son have asked us to live, what will we be able to offer for our wasted life? NOTHING! It, then, should be much easier NOW for us to take God at His Word—the total unadulterated Word—much easier NOW than it would be to come to a moment in time when we are denied any opportunities to make the “right” choice (to choose God’s salvation plan, which means choosing Jesus the Christ to be our Lord and Savior). How sad it will be for us if we run out of time—if God no longer warns us, and He no longer offers His everlasting saving Grace and eternal forgiveness to us.
Finally, won’t it be a tragedy if we let our own skeptical, non-believing, scoffing attitudes and ungodly ways of living (our own unrighteous deeds) make our choice for us—be the reason why we are sent to our place in the Lake of Fire, which is the eternity that God ONLY intended for Satan and his fallen angels to experience. Jesus the Christ Himself says this Divine Truth about His final judgment of the centuries of unbelievers. Our just and righteous judge and millennial “…King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his demons. ’” (Matthew 25:41).
Why not secure our eternal place in Heaven with God rather than secure our everlasting place in the Lake of Fire with Satan and his demons? Why don’t we choose this day whether we will serve God or serve Satan’s corrupt economic, political, and religious systems?
As for my choice, I choose the Lord and all of His benefits. It is my prayer that my family, friends and readers will join me and make the same choice.
“Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith, so do.” (1 Timothy 1:4, KJV)
“… Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth … And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 3:7 and 4:4, KJV)
Perhaps it is safe to say that it would be impossible to find any educated person from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries who does not have a high regard for education. Moreover, those who study and keep up with the biblical predictions that have happened in the twentieth century, and are happening in the twenty-first century, know without a shadow of a doubt that this world of ours is experiencing the end times, as prophesied by ancient Hebrew prophets, Jesus the Christ, and first-century apostles. For sure, because of the heavy importance that is placed upon education, the entire world has experienced the prophesied increase in knowledge. Yet, as predicted by the prophet Daniel in sixth century B.C. (see Daniel 12:4), and as reiterated by Apostle Paul in first century A.D. (see 2 Timothy 3:7 and 4:3-4), even though people in the end times would see an increase in knowledge, masses of people would still remain ignorant about God’s absolute TRUTH.
In spite of the fact that billions of people have a ravenous appetite for knowledge, the prophetic words spoken by Prophet Daniel and Apostle Paul concerning the ignorance of mankind is being fulfilled as twenty-first century Christians live and move and have their being. Yes, they indeed want to know more and more, but they continue to refuse to accept God’s TRUTH—His sound doctrine—preferring instead to believe the lies that are in New-Age fables, myths and fairy tales. Hence, the world has produced an abundance of educated fools.
Worldwide today, from Head Starts through kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools to post-secondary institutions of higher learning, fables, myths and fairy tales are the tasty but deceitful knowledge morsels that educational systems are spoon feeding to toddlers, youth, preteens, teenagers, and adults. Moreover, at the heart of these fabrications that are masqueraded as “facts” are the New Age interpretations of spiritual living that are sweeping the world, infiltrating Christ’s CHURCH with their deadly messages. Thus, instead of learning and accepting God’s Word, as His TRUTH pertains to Him, His Son, His Holy Spirit, His Creation and the meaning of human life, today’s knowledge seekers (born-again believers and the unsaved and unchurched world) are accepting the New Age interpretations of spiritual living for mankind, which primarily are based upon nothing more than a mixture of ancient Greek, Roman, Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese fables, myths and fairy tales that have been combined with modern-day perspectives.
As a result, the generation that Christ says will not pass away until ALL that He has prophesied in Matthew Chapters 24-25 comes true is our present twenty/twenty-first century generation, especially those who were born just before and after May 14, 1948, when the Jews declared independence for Israel. This is the CHURCH-Age generation that has become so saturated with the enticing pap of the New Age drivel that, daily, tremendous numbers of believing Christians are turning away from God’s TRUTH. These people are those who no longer can endure sound doctrine, but rather they have ears that itch for any kind of “truth” that differs from God’s absolute Divine TRUTH as revealed by His Holy Spirit. Ultimately, they have chosen to accept those teachings that appeal more to their fleshly desires and wishes—to their ME-first appetites. For sure, they have become ensnared (enslaved) by New Age fables, myths and fairy tales that have given them something that they can easily swallow without having to attempt to digest it fully.
These hoodwinked “truth” seekers have been taught beliefs and practices that are a combination of ancient myths, established traditional religions and new religious movements, plus scientific and philosophical thoughts. While New Age beliefs and practices seem to satisfy these deceived “truth” seekers’ intellectual, religious, and economic pursuits in search of alternative approaches to Western beliefs and practices, the truth is that they have been duped into thinking that they have discovered a “new” and more effective spirituality. New Age believers, thus, have been blinded to the fact that all they have accepted is an age-old system promoted by Satan and his imps—one that is nothing more than the ancient mysteries of Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations on earth (cf. Revelation 17:5-18). Christ, Apostles Paul, Peter, and John, and the writer of Hebrews describe this world’s ancient false “religious” traditions as a form of “godliness” that denies the genuine power of God—an unsound doctrine followed by infidels/blasphemers of the Holy Spirit, who are perpetrators of the unforgivable “sin” unto death (cf. 1 John 5:16, 2 Peter 2:20, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Hebrews 6:4-6, Matthew 12:31-32) .
Whatever “spiritual” quality these believers have claimed to have found in the literature and teachings of New Age fables, myths and fairy tales, this “spirituality” can never be a substitute for the guidance that ONLY God’s Holy Spirit can give. Whatever “truth” and “wisdom” that could be gleaned from New Age fables, myths, and fairy tales, this “truth” and “wisdom” can never be a substitute for the absolute Divine TRUTH and Wisdom that ONLY can be found in God’s Word—the Holy Bible. Unfortunately, too many of this “last” generation will perish without having accepted, or returned back to, God’s Divine TRUTH, which is His sound doctrine of the Holy Bible.
In fact, even after these wayward individuals are standing before the Great White Throne of God, where He will judge them in their bodies, souls and spirits for their rejection of Christ and His Gospel, many of these deceived humans still will not accept or fully understand the folly of their ways. However, by then there will be no way to adjust their imminent sentence.
The heavy emphasis on education and knowledge in the twenty-first century cannot be denied. Unstable world economies and ever-changing technologies are just two major reasons why the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, unlike as with past centuries, have stressed the need to increase education and knowledge. These world events make it compulsory for people who want to find satisfactory employment—positions that pay well and have adequate benefits—to acquire as much training and knowledge about his or her career field in order to be seriously considered for any job. Nepotism and other forms of preferential treatment are nearly extinct. Worldly knowledge is what rules!
As prophesied, this keen emphasis on education and an increase in knowledge have resulted in both the world and the CHURCH being filled with educated fools—a culture/generation of biblically ignorant yet eager seekers of “truth” and new revelations. These are the ones who have become desensitized to spiritual deceptions, and, as such, they have very little, if any, know-how or strength to resist dishonest, non-spiritual leaders and/or authority figures who are only saying what people want to hear rather than giving them the absolute TRUTH. However, in this time of increased education and knowledge, there will be NO excuses for not hearing and accepting the Gospel of Christ. Ignorance cannot be used as a Wildcard or a Get of Jail “Free” pass, because short of obtaining the TRUTH the old fashion way—by FAITH (trusting in God’s Word)—there can be no escaping eternal damnation.
And another angel came out from the altar,the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, ‘Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth,for its grapes are ripe.’So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the greatwinepress of the wrath of God. Andthe winepress was troddenoutside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high asa horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia. ~ Revelation 14:18-20, ESV
The Spirit of prophecy (or the Light of Divine Revelation), which refers to the Holy Spirit’s illuminations about the evil conditions in the world that prompt God’s judgment and punishment (Daniel’s 70th Week; God’s Wrath) upon the Earth, declares that believers are living in the time when the end of the Lord’s ekklesia AGE soon will happen. What is the proof of this opening statement? Jesus the Christ’s famous teaching known as the Olivet Discourse provides the evidence, which confirms for this current century of believers that they NOW are living when the promised Raptures will take place.
That’s right! The Word of God does mention more than one Rapture. However, even though the Rapture of the Bride of Christ is not discussed in the Olivet Discourse, it is alluded to; more important, the Rapture of the Bride of Christ will be the initial last days and end times’ RAPTURE that will take place long before the remnant of Judah signs the Turkish Antichrist’s proposed “covenant of death,” after which Daniel’s 70th Week starts (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Isaiah 28:15, 18;Daniel 9:27).
Be that as it may; the primary passage and the parallel passages of Jesus the Christ’s Olivet Discourse are found in Matthew 24 through Matthew 25, Mark 13:1-37, and Luke 21:5-36. In His Olivet Discourse, Jesus the Christ catalogs for His disciples the various signs that will indicate the prevailing evil conditions that will be in the world prior to His Second Coming (His bodily return, when His feet touch the Mount of Olives; see Zechariah 14:1-4). Jesus the Christ specifically makes it clear that although these signs of the times will begin before Daniel’s 70thWeekstarts, the ultimate fulfillment of every one of these signs will take place during the last 7 years of Daniel’s 70 Weeks of Years, or the missing 7 years of his 490 years! Moreover, Jesus the Christ makes it clear that these signs (“beginning of sorrows”) are primarily for alerting ALL of His genuine believers/disciples, but primarily His Jewish disciples, about being prepared to depart from this Earth so that they will not have to face God’s Wrath, which will not stop until all of God and Jesus the Christ’s enemies are defeated at the Battle of Armageddon.
Once again, in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus the Christ is describing the Rapture to His original Jewish disciples. That’s right. Despite the fact that many last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars argue that, since no Hebrew prior to this point in time was aware of God’s mystery concerning the Body of Christ, and since no Hebrew was aware of God’s mystery concerning Jesus the Christ living inside every Body of Christ member, these are the main reasons why He, thus, isn’t talking at all about any Rapture, especially NOT the completion of God’s saved by Grace program (the Rapture of the Bride of Christ). Indeed, many of these same last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars say that the only Scriptures that address any possible Rapture of the Bride of Christ are John 14:1-4, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.
Then too, there are those last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars who believe and teach that Matthew 24:1-2 primarily describes the 70 A.D. events, which were the fulfillment of all the biblical prophecies concerning the destruction of the Jewish Temple, Jerusalem, and the scattering of Israel’s Jews. Now, while the Romans did destroy the Temple and Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D., as well as slaughtered and scattered the Jews in this same year, 70 A.D. was NOT the last time Jerusalem would be trampled under by Gentiles, nor the last time the Jews would be slaughtered and scattered. In the year 135 A.D., the Romans once again slaughtered and banned/scattered the Jerusalem Jews, ran a plow over Jerusalem, started rebuilding the city as a Roman colony, changed Jerusalem’s name to Aelia Capitolina, and changed Israel and Judea’s names to Palestine.
Additionally, there are those last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars who believe and teach that Matthew 24:40-41 and the parallel passage in Luke 17:34-36 are not about any Rapture, but rather these verses are just about the end of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. In particular, said scholars believe and teach that these mentioned Scriptures are about the “Tribulation” survivors, who will be taken off the Earth, and those who will remain on the Earth near the Lord. The only problem with this belief and teaching is that these end times biblical prophecy scholars say the ones who are TAKEN off the Earth (or received near Jesus Christ, as another verse says) are those who will take the Mark of the Beast, and the ones who are LEFT on the Earth are those who will NOT take the Beast’s Mark. These abovementioned beliefs and teachings will be explained a little later.
It should be noted here that these believed and taught last days and end times biblical prophecies that deny any Raptures and deny that Israel’s scatterings continue after 70 A.D., and/or contradict the “Tribulation’s” taken and left individuals all fall apart, when they are examined in light of Jesus the Christ’s Olivet Discourse. How so? Well, because in His Olivet Discourse, Jesus the Christ positively shows the similarities between a watchful, prepared believer and the watchful, prepared homeowner. The Lord says that if the good homeowner knew when his house would be burglarized, he would have been prepared and would have stayed alert, while he waited for the intruder, so that the good homeowner could stop the thief from entering his house.
In essence, the Lord is saying that the thief in the night only catches the unprepared, unwatchful, and extremely careless stewards (servants) by surprise! Contextually speaking, for example, in the Scriptures that describe two in the field and two at the mill, with one of each pair being “taken” and the other of each pair being “left” (cf. Matthew 24:40-44), the Lord most definitely is saying that when His true believers are prepared and alert, watching for His return, they will not be caught off guard! That is to say, the Lord is making it clear that His true believers can be understood to be the Bride of Christ (the resurrected dead in Christ, which would include the Lord’s Olivet Discourse hearers—His first century Jewish disciples—who in the future would be lifted up to meet Christ Jesus in the air right before the alive in Christ would be raptured), as well as understood to be Daniel’s 70th Week’s 144,000 Jewish evangelists, the alive sifted like wheat left behind unprepared believers in Christ, and the “Tribulation’s” converted but martyred Jewish and Gentile believers.
Here is why the above statements about what Jesus the Christ is teaching in Matthew 24:40 and 41 are true. In these Scriptures, the English word “taken” is translated from the Greek word paralambano, and paralambano means to “receive close or near to”; moreover, this paralambano is the same word used for the English word “receive,” which is found in John 14:3. In this last mentioned Scripture, Jesus the Christ specifically uses the same paralambano word that He uses in His Olivet Discourse, when He tells His Last Supper disciples that He will “…come again and receive…” them unto Himself. Thus, if the ones in Matthew 24:40 and 41 are indeed the ones some last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars believe are never raptured, but were LEFT on Earth after never taking the Mark of the Beast, while the Mark of Beast recipients are the ones Jesus the Christ TOOK off the Earth, then that would mean that this paralambano word in John 14:3 would have a totally different meaning. Yet, it doesn’t, because the meaning of paralambano is the same in Matthew 24:40 and 41, and John 14:3.
Jesus the Christ, thus, is saying in both His Olivet Discourse and in His Upper Room’s Last Supper message that He will: paralambano the field and mill workers right along with His original disciples (those who, once again, by the last days, will have become the dead in Christ who will be resurrected and taken or snatched out of harm’s way right before the alive in Christ are raptured. The Lord will “take” off the Earth AND “receive” “close or near to” Himself the resurrected dead and raptured alive in Christ Bride of Christ, the raptured alive 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and the resurrected martyred converted and/or sifted like wheat Tribulation believers!
Now it should be obvious that the apostle Paul also is using a similar meaning of taken or paralambano, when he speaks of the Rapture (harpazo) of the Bride of Christ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). She (His Bride) will be taken or snatched out of harm’s way, and without doubt the greatest harm’s way will be the unparalleled Wrath of God, which takes place during Daniel’s missing 70th Week (the last 7 years of Daniel’s prophesied 490 years).
For this reason, it is extremely important for people to understand that the English word “left” in Matthew 24:40 and 41 is translated from the Greek word aphiemi, and aphiemi means to forsake. This aphiemi word, then, is the reason why Jesus the Christ would NOT be keeping those near to Him (would not be receiving unto Himself) those whom He has “forsaken” or LEFT behind. In other words, Jesus the Christ isn’t saying that He is going to keep the ones near to Him on Earth He has forsaken, because the forsaken ones are the ones that He intentionally LEFT on Earth because they were not holy and righteous enough to be raptured (taken). If He, in the context of the above-stated Matthew verses, is NOT coming back to receive close to Himself those people He LEFT behind who didn’t take the Mark of the Beast, then that means that said Scriptures are not about the end-time survivors of the Tribulation (wheat/sheep and tares/goats), but rather about the Rapture and Resurrection that take place in end times AND, by extension, the Rapture and Resurrection that take place in the last days!
In other words, without doubt, those last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars, who are teaching that the ones “taken” in Matthew 24:40 and 41 (and the parallel Scriptures) are the unbelieving “Tribulation” tare and goat survivors who received the Mark of the Beast, are without doubt also saying that the ones who are “left” (forsaken) are be the ones the Lord will “receive” to Himself on Earth. Said scholars certainly have it twisted, to put it mildly!
There can be no doubt that these last days and end times biblical prophecy scholars’ understanding of the words “taken” and “left,” thus, is not biblically sound! For this reason, in the full context of Matthew 24:40-51, it is clear that Jesus the Christ, first and foremost, specifically is prophesying about God’s prepared and watchful Bride, the remnant of Israel (the pure and holy elect 144,000 evangelists), who will be the ones “taken” (or raptured) off of this Earth so that they can remain near to God in Heaven, while the Time of Jacob’s Trouble happens on Earth (see Jeremiah 30:3-11)! Moreover, there can be no doubt that Jesus the Christ also is alluding to the Bride of Christ (the resurrected dead in Christ who have been lifted up to meet Him in the air before the alive in Christ are raptured), because the Word of God describes this Rapture as the initial Rapture that takes place in the last days. These believers will depart from this Earth before Daniel’s 70th Week ever begins. The apostle Paul writes:
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come and the man who separates himself from Torahhas been revealed, the one destined for doom. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:3, CJB
The word Apostasy, which is Apostasia in the Greek language, has been poorly translated in many English translations as rebellion and/or the falling away, when its primary meaning is “departure” which, in context, refers to the gathering of the Lord’s Bride, or the Rapture of the alive in Christ Body of believers. Indeed, prior to the “authorized” King James Version of the Bible, “departure” was the accepted translation for Apostasia. For this last reason, based on context, it should be clear that the apostle Paul definitely is saying that the “departure” (Apostasia, in Greek) of the Bride of Christ (or Rapture) will precede the revelation of the Antichrist! Since the revelation of the Antichrist happens within the first half of Daniel’s 70th Week, this alone proves that the Bride of Christ experiences the initial last days’ Rapture, especially since apostle Paul mentions four distinct times in the Word of God about how the Lord’s Bride is not supposed to suffer from the Wrath of God, which begins during the first half of the seven year “Tribulation” Period.
Perhaps this above-stated Divine Truth about the Rapture of the Bride of Christ is why, before Jesus the Christ gets to the Matthew Rapture verses, He says that believers who spiritually are able to discern the signs of the time will be the ones who will recognize His end-time signs and, therefore, will know that the end of the Age (NOT the end of the world) is near (see Matthew 24:32-34). There can be no doubt that the believers Jesus Christ says will be able to discern the signs of the times are both God’s Bride (the Jewish remnant who will be living in Israel when Daniel’s 70th Week begins) AND the genuine Bride of Christ. Once again, Daniel’s 70th Week includes the horrific Time of Jacob’s Trouble AND the Battle of Armageddon.
For the record, this end of the Age Jesus the Christ prophesies about refers to the end of the years that God has determined He would deal with mankind. Furthermore, the end-time signs that Jesus the Christ says will indicate that the end of this Age is drawing near are: increases in the number of wars and rumors of wars; increases in the number of ethnic groups rising up against other ethnic groups, and kingdoms against kingdoms; increases in the number of famines, epidemics, diseases, earthquakes in diverse places, abnormal weather patterns, and other pattern abnormalities in nature; increases in the number of false Christs, false prophets, and false teachers; and increases in the number of Jesus the Christ haters, Christian haters, and human race haters. Additionally, Jesus the Christ says that when the ones who are able to discern spiritual matters see these aforesaid INCREASES happening in the world SIMULTANEOUSLY, then they will know that the end of the Age is near!
Concerning the Bride of Christ’s departure, the Scriptures also are clear about what happens after Her departure (Rapture). There will be a brief interval, and during this time, the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple will take place, AFTER the signing of a bogus peace agreement between Israel and the Antichrist (see Daniel 9:27). Since the Jewish Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., then there has to be a new Temple that will be built before Daniel’s 70th Week begins, because halfway into the 70th Week the Antichrist takes his seat in the Jewish Temple and declares himself to be god, and he also puts a stop to Temple sacrifices and offerings (see Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4).
When the seven year Wrath of God begins, which is the final years of God’s dealings with mankind in this world, it will involve God’s poured-out Wrath that begins with His seven seal judgments. Next will be His seven trumpet judgments, and finally His seven vials (or bowls) judgments. All of these judgments magnify in intensity and frequency, just like Jesus the Christ prophesies in His Olivet Discourse. When the Time of Jacob’s Trouble or the last half of Daniel’s 70th Week, which is filled with unprecedented horrors, closes out with the Lord’s Second Coming on the Day of Judgment, there also will be a huge Feast for the Vultures (God’s banquet for the fowls of the air). These vultures will feast off of the carnage from the granddaddy of all wars (the Battle of Armageddon).
Apostle John’s second harvest vision, as depicted in Revelation 14:17-20, metaphorically describes the Battle of Armageddon as a grape harvest ripe for Divine or Righteous Judgment and Punishment. In the apostle’s vision of this second harvest, the destined to be destroyed unsaved individuals are the ones being crushed in God’s winepress. As a result, the carnage from the Battle of Armageddon (God’s winepress) will cause the spilt blood to rise up to the horses’ bridles, and flow two hundred miles from Jerusalem!
Furthermore, the Battle of Armageddon is the end result of the initial war that the Antichrist wages against Israel and the Jewish saints (primarily those converted during Daniel’s 70th Week or Tribulation Period), a war that swiftly snatches the peace from the world that the Antichrist first convinces the world to believe he wants the nations he leads to have. This initial war with Israel and the Jewish saints will escalate until all of the Antichrist-ruled nations of the world, and those nations that are against the Antichrist, will take part in the greatest battle that this world will ever know—the Battle of Armageddon.
Once again, there will be much bloodshed, much butchery, during this final war on Earth! Humans will kill one another without giving a person’s life a second thought. Men and women will live like there is no tomorrow, and, sad to say, for too many, there will be no tomorrow (not another chance to be convicted about accepting the Word of God’s Truth, which is that ONLY Jesus the Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of this world, and the people in it). Indeed, the left behinders (the ones “left” behind or “forsaken” at the time of the initial Rapture—the Rapture of the Bride of Christ—who choose to worship the Beast (the Antichrist and his wicked political, religious, and economic systems) never will know peace again, for they will be thrown in the Lake of Fire!
Before experiencing an eternal life in the Lake of Fire, these committed unbelievers, as well as the converted/sifted Tribulation believers, will experience God’s righteous punishments and judgments (His Wrath), which cause the unmatched famine, starvation, food and water rationing, and inflationary prices that will come upon the Earth during Daniel’s 70th Week’s horrors. In other words, once God’s seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments are pour out, and after all of the nations in the world start participating in the Battle of Armageddon, fighting on one side or the other, the end-time amounts of food, water, gasoline, and other day-to-day necessities will become very scarce.
During the Battle of Armageddon, which primarily is about the Arabic Middle Eastern countries’ war against Israel, the food shortages, for example, will cause the end-time prices for a day’s ration of wheat and barley to skyrocket. The Bible suggests that a working-class family who pays the requested day’s salary for wheat only will be able to feed one person, while the day’s salary cost of barley will feed three persons! Needless to say, these starvation, thirst, and lack of comfort circumstances will make many people eager to pull the trigger (eager to kill more and more people so that there will be more for food, water, and so forth, for them)!
Again, prepared and watchful believers will not be troubled or perplexed by these horrific times that Jesus the Christ prophesies would be happening in the end times, because the Lord has assured His Bride (Body of Believers) that His Bride will be rescued (saved) from the end-time Wrath of God. That’s why He instructs His true believers to look up and know that their Savior’s return is near. Still, all of the end-time signs Jesus the Christ speaks about in His Olivet Discourse will be fulfilled before Jesus the Christ returns to this Earth as its rightful King and Lord.
Though no person who is of “sound” mind would want to experience any of the Daniel’s 70th Week’s horrors, the truth is that too many vacillating believers and way too many committed unbelievers will be left behind to live or die during this prophesied seven-year Tribulation. That’s why those individuals who need to do so should get their own “house” in order, NOW, because Daniel’s 70th Week, which also includes the Time of Jacob’s Trouble and time when the Battle of Armageddon will happen, is just around the corner!