After the Rapture – Part 18
Introduction to the Final 1,007 Years
This might be the most important and useful article thus far in this “After the Rapture” series for you crazy uncles to use in your prayerful quest to influence family, friends, loved ones and total strangers to not miss the rapture. And it is especially important for those who are in danger of being left behind.
I will begin before the fast approaching time of the rapture and follow with events and situations during the tribulation period, and end with the one-thousand-year millennial reign of Jesus Christ on Earth that will start after the Second Coming of Our Lord and Savior to erase evil and hate from the face of the earth.
After that, it is all decided by God as to who goes where forever!
These days you hear more followers of literal Bible prophecy saying things like, “The end is coming! The end is near!” Even though I respect that line of thought in their witnessing efforts, I do wish they would change it to, “The BEGINNING is coming! The BEGINNING is near!”
Eternity will have a beginning in both heaven and hell. There are no endings. If only we could get the lukewarm (Revelation 3:16) and unbelievers to accept that biblical fact.
I personally don’t believe true Bible-believing Americans will see another national election (November 2018). The rapture could come at any time. Too many Bible prophecies, especially in the Middle East and in Israel, are falling into place.
And all the national polls say the Democrats are highly favored to win the 2018 mid-term elections, thus sweeping into being the controlling power in both the Senate and the House. The rapture would surely guarantee that. This wouldn’t be a good thing, but Hillary Clinton was supposed to overwhelmingly sweep the 2016 presidential election, which definitely wouldn’t have been anywhere near being a good thing. Maybe God has other plans for the mid-term? Or else He just might have run out of patience.
But if the rapture does happen before the next election, then you will see one heckuva cat fight amongst the left-behind liberal progressives over upcoming elections. Can you say, “President Pelosi?”
I keep thinking God has had enough of mankind’s disobedience to Him. So the end of sin and hate is growing very near. We have a very patient God who is 100% just and righteous.
You might say that preparing the left behind for the fast-approaching end times is what this series has been doing for the first seventeen “After the Rapture” articles. This article will reference frequently from the in-depth and biblically accurate gotquestions.org website. I’ll even throw in a small handful of my speculations. However, the Bible is still the main, overwhelming source for putting together these articles.
In this piece I will summarize their articles, so if you want them in their entirety, you can go to their “church’s” category in their website: gotquestions.org.
There will be no “Reader Feedback” and “Prayer Requests” in this issue, but they will return in #19.
The Rapture: Before & After
Those who have not received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are about to enter seven years of pure hell on Earth under the unhindered control of Satan. I say “unhindered” because when Christ raptures His Church from the earth, He will also lift the Holy Spirit’s restraining power over Satan’s actions. The rapture insures Satan’s enemy opposition will now be in heaven and out of his way. God is still in control over everything, but He is going to allow Satan to get away with a lot during those seven years.
This is a strong, true test for those left behind where many will realize just how easy they had it before the rapture. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent and can’t be removed. He will be present for the left behind everywhere for those who seek His comfort and to engage with, if they so choose. The Holy Spirit of God will also be the power behind the 144,000 missionaries and two witnesses in Revelation 7:4; 11:3 and 14:1.
The rapture is a future event with a time and date that is only known to God. This is when Jesus Christ will “snatch up” His Church out of this sin-infested world and bring them to their eternal home in heaven.
Only believers in Jesus Christ will be taken up (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54), and after the rapture there will be NO born-again believers left on Earth. The left behind will have to endure the difficult and dangerous 7-year tribulation period under the rule of Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet (the fake trinity).
Some of the left behind will have memories of their crazy uncles plus the left behind boxes; supplies and gear; ready-made Bug-Out bags; and plenty of survival manuals, instructions and Bibles. The main thing they won’t see is the tons of prayers already prayed for them by many before the rapture. And all of those prayers are stored “on account” with God.
It appears that a large number will survive the seven years of hell on Earth and will find peace in the thousand-year millennial kingdom.
God will resurrect all living and deceased born-again believers (John 3:5-7), giving them all new, glorified, eternal bodies. This instantaneous transformation of the raptured bodies will fit them with perfect health and free them from aging for all of eternity. I really look forward to my new body as the one I’ve got now is about shot!
Those raptured will be with the Lord forever. Everyone else will be left behind but have the opportunity to become “born again” during the tribulation period. Evil in this world is being restrained by the Holy Spirit, but after the rapture God will remove the restrainer. The Holy Spirit will be present as “the comforter” (John 14:26; 2 Thessalonians 2:7). God has not forsaken those left behind and will give them numerous opportunities to repent and accept Him.
God can give you a perfect count as to the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12: 6-7; Matthew 10:30). He also knows without error who are the believers and who are not. All-knowing God has perfect knowledge of all things past, present and future. So if a person is not a believer today, God knows without error if that person will change tomorrow. So it isn’t too late for those left behind to come out of the darkness and into the light.
With all the believing Christians gone after the rapture, Satan’s rule will be a complete monopoly. The Bible calls it the “power of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). Presently, evil is being restrained. You wouldn’t know it if you turn on today’s news! But wait until after the rapture when God removes the restrainer and all hell literally breaks loose?
The Lord will not leave His own behind to suffer the tribulation period’s wrath and judgments (John 10:14) without providing them with a light at the end of the tunnel. God doesn’t wish that any of His creation should perish (John 3:16-17). Now is the time for all to place their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior (Acts 16:31). Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Out of the tribulation period will come a multitude of tribulation saints (Revelation 7:9-17). These are those who were martyred by the antichrist for not taking his satanic 666 mark. But it is also the new, born-again believers who died during the 21 judgments of Revelation and by other forms of death.
These tribulation saints will have heard the Gospel through reading and studying the Bible (maybe in their wilderness caves?), or from the two witnesses or the 144,000 Jewish missionaries (Revelation 7:1-8; 11:1-13). Their tribulations will be over and God will wipe the tears from their eyes (Revelation 7:15-17).
The first seventeen articles in this series have provided the reader with a variety of ways to survive the tribulation period and evade the antichrist and his gestapo. It isn’t foolproof as there are so many unknowns, plus the unexpected. But the main message was to flee from high population cities and their urban locations for the rural wilderness areas.
Antichrist will focus on major population centers at first because the bigger numbers of people mean more souls for him to steal from God. And in the big population areas he will also control food, water, living conditions, etc. It will be easier for him to “persuade” people to take his deadly 666 mark if you can control their life and its needs.
But no matter where you hide or how well you prepare, God will be pouring out His wrath in the form of 21 judgments (7 scroll, 7 trumpet, 7 bowl). Two of the scariest we will mention here are both bowl judgments near the end of the tribulation period. Scientists predict a massive Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the sun (article #15), and that is probably the fourth bowl judgment (Revelation 16:6-7). God will also rain down an avalanche of 100-pound hailstones from the sky (Revelation 16:21), which ought to keep the left-behind roof repair people busy for part of eternity.
Christ will return to Earth on a magnificent white stallion accompanied by the raptured saints in their eternal, glorified bodies (Revelation 19:11-21). He will wipe out Satan’s antichrist army of lost souls very quickly, even though antichrist’s army will have guns blazing, bombs and nukes exploding, jets zooming and poisonous nerve gas bombs exploding and filling the air with death. But the Lord and His Army will all be in glorified, eternal bodies (along with their horses!); so no number of bombs and bullets can cause harm.
Satan and his war plan will be a gigantic loser flop!
Crazy uncles are also urged to stockpile books, manuals, supplies and equipment so those left behind can learn survival methods from 200 years ago when the native American Indians and the pioneers and settlers learned to live off the land with nature’s vast supply of raw resources. It will be tough for them at first but many will catch-on quickly.
But most importantly are the efforts to motivate those left behind into developing a regular pattern of prayer, Bible study and worship to thank and praise the Lord. This is the reason they were left behind to begin with, so they need to change their spiritual lifestyle or else they will be damned to hell for eternity.
Most of those who will be left behind aren’t concerned at the present time about the end times and the Bible prophecies. So it is necessary for the crazy uncles to do it for them ahead of time. But leave plenty of instructions as this will be an all new world for them.
And be sure to use the “prayer kit” for the left behind in article #14.
Seven Years Down, One Thousand to Go!
After seven years of hell on Earth, Satan and his “dynamic duo” will be dealt with. The antichrist and false prophet are cast into hell and Satan to the bottomless pit, chained and sealed by angels for the next one thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3).
The 1,000-year millennium is “nearly heaven” for its new inhabitants with Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of David and ruling as King (Isaiah 9:5; 11:1-10; Luke 1:32-33)). It will be a perfect environment both physically and spiritually for those new arrivals (Micah 4:1-4; Isaiah 32:17-18; 40:1-2; 61:7, 10).
The new arrivals in their mortal human bodies will need food and drink. No one will die of hunger or thirst as the tree of life and the river of life provides more than enough for everyone. And the leaves on the tree are for healing, so there will be no sickness, disease or injuries (Revelation 22:1-2).
Those in glorified bodies don’t need food and drink but they partake any time they wish. All are waiting for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). The resurrected Jesus Himself cooked and ate food (fish and bread) just after His three days in a tomb (John 21:8-14), along the seashore with some of His mortal, human apostles.
He could appear instantly a great distance away, and then disappear immediately to reappear somewhere else. He could walk through walls (John 20:17-19) which anyone can do in glorified bodies, since the raptured will all be like Christ (1 John 3:2).
The millennium is a literal one thousand years. Revelation says “one thousand years” six times in Revelation 20:2-7 and the word “millennium” is translated as the same.
A thousand years seems like a very long time; but if you look at early biblical times, it was fairly normal. The Bible tells us that Adam lived to be 930 years of age (Genesis 5:5) and that he and Eve had their third son (Seth) when they were both 130 (Genesis 5:3), and Adam had sons and daughters for 800 years after that (Genesis 5:4).
Up until the flood in Noah’s day, an average age was reportedly about 777 years and women were giving birth at age 350 years. God gave the Garden couple and their sons the command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:22; 9:7), and so it seems as if they did just that, as 200 B.C. historical writings claim Adam had 33 sons and 23 daughters.
Incest wasn’t a sin back then as it was the only way to “be fruitful and multiply,” and I know for sure that God wouldn’t command anyone to sin. With the lengthy ages of people and their healthy condition before sin got out of hand, many families were very large. Adam & Eve’s immediate family reportedly numbered 58.
But I do wonder about Noah and his wife only having the three sons? Those sons had wives yet none had children on and before the ark? Maybe Noah and the boys were spending too many hours out working on that ark?
The only initial citizens of the millennium will be saved people. They include the raptured saints who will be changed to have spiritual and glorified bodies (Revelation 20:4-6) like Jesus (1 John 3:2) and the angels. The raptured saints will not reproduce.
Out of the tribulation period will come three groups of people. The first is those new believers that were martyred in the Name of the Lord who will now be in heaven. They received their glorified bodies (Revelation 20:4-6). It is also believed that this is the time the Old Testament saints are resurrected from their graves and receive their glorified bodies (Daniel 12:2).
The second group will also be new believers who survived and lived through the horrendous 7-year tribulation period. They will enter the millennium as human men and women; thus, will ”be fruitful and multiply.” And they will teach their children about the Lord God.
Everyone else out of the tribulation period, living or dead, are lost and will await the Great White Throne judgment where ALL will be condemned to hell for all of eternity. It will include antichrist’s gestapo, turncoats, tattletales, followers of false religions, all deceivers and liars, etc.
Both Gentiles and Jews that have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before the rapture will be raptured and will enter the millennium in glorified bodies. Other Gentiles and Jews will also be left behind, but those that are saved during the tribulation period will enter the millennium in human bodies to “be fruitful and multiply.”
There will be a population explosion during the millennium. We know about there being little children there (Isaiah 11), and it appears that many alive, new believers will come out of the tribulation period. But the subject of babies under the age of reason, before and after the rapture, isn’t clear.
There will be many new marriages between spouses of raptured mates but were left behind; thus, had to find new mates. There will also be single people who were left behind. Plus there will be married couples where both were left behind. All who became saved during the tribulation period will populate the millennial kingdom for a thousand years. And there will be NO same-sex “marriages” after the millennium starts.
But where will they live? Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Are these “mansions” in the millennium or after? I believe they could be, or else in “the new Jerusalem” (Revelation 3:12; 21:2) but definitely a part of the “new heaven and new earth” (Revelation 21:1).
It appears that the only ones who will be lost will be some of the newborns who grow up and don’t accept the Lord (who will be present in glorified, bodily form on David’s Throne). There will still be a choice to be made between choosing or rejecting Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by matured newborns.
All of us raptured saints will be present to help those parents by ganging-up on those hardheaded and rebellious kids.
There won’t be as many obstacles and distractions to prevent childbirth as we have had during this life on Earth.
Most importantly, there will be no abortion clinics, condoms and “the pill.” Even if there were an abortion clinic, no butcher doctors and nurses would be there to do their dirty work. They’ll be someplace else where they really belong!
Also absent will be the NFL, big screen TV, late night shopping at the mall, sports bars, FOX News, etc., which should lead to a population explosion. But I’m not sure about the common excuse, “I have a headache?” Will that be present during the millennium?
Satan makes his final bow
The one-thousand years is up and a gigantic number of births have resulted in a huge population of mortal human beings. God will release Satan out of the bottomless pit for a short time (Revelation 20:7) to tempt and recruit the new, huge population. After his release, many millennial new births who grew to the age of reason will believe Satan’s lies and reject Jesus Christ. Their numbers will be “as the sand of the sea” (verse 8) but God will destroy them all with fire and brimstone out of heaven (verse 9).
Then God will cast Satan into the lake of fire where the antichrist and the false prophet are (verse 9-10). The evil trinity will then be tortured and tormented continuously without end for ever and ever.
It is now time for the Great White Throne judgment where all lost souls (verse 11) are judged from the books. All the dead, free and poor, from the sea, hell, the wars with God, etc., are judged for their works. Those whose names are not written in the book of life are cast into hell. This is the Second Death (verse 14-15).
There is a saying, “A believer and follower of Christ is born twice and dies once while non-believers in Christ are born once and die twice.”
But the second death in hell is not being pronounced dead physically. It is a conscious state of being 24/7 without ever sleeping, in the tormenting sulfur and brimstone fires in solitary confinement with no water forever (Luke 16:20-31). Jesus tells how the condemned rich man can see all of the happenings and activities in paradise (heaven), which I believe would include the river of life flowing freely out of the throne of God. I also believe that seeing the happiness of those in heaven is part of the torment of being in hell for all time.
Don’t believe the lie from some lost folks who say, “I can’t wait to get to hell because that is where all of my friends are. We will party and have a good time down there!” All of their friends might be there, but there will definitely be no partying!”
Jesus states three times in rapid succession that in hell the condemned are being eaten by maggots and worms continuously but never consumed (Mark 9:44, 46, 48). Those worms and maggots NEVER die. They just eat away forever.
Evil and sin is now locked away with the fake trinity forever in hell. A new heaven and new earth now replaces the old and a New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21:1-3). God will then wipe all the tears from the Children of God’s eyes, and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, for those former things are passed away (verse 4).
He has made all things new.
It’s your decision
This #18 article gives a brief look at what the final 1,007 years on Earth will surely be like. It gives brief looks at both heaven and hell. All of you who will be left behind will definitely spend everlasting eternity in one or the other of those two places.
And the best way for you to miss the horrendous 7-year tribulation period is to go to heaven. PERIOD.
The crazy uncles of this world mean you no harm. They want the very best for you, and going to heaven for eternity is the very best. If you get bored and tiresome over a crazy uncle’s talk and efforts aimed at your salvation and eternal happiness, it is Satan putting those disturbing thoughts in your head and heart to lure you away from listening. Satan definitely doesn’t want what’s best for you.
So cut the crazy uncles a little slack and listen to what they have to say, plus read through the materials that they give to you. They definitely KNOW where complete 24/7 everlasting happiness is and how to get it. They just want to pass that Good News on to you.
Dick Ainsworth
FOCUS ON JESUS Ministry
PO Box 156
New Franklin, MO 65274