It is with great expectation and thankfulness that I read through the many contributions made to the Rapture Ready website. Through Todd Strandberg and Terry James, along with the staff and many talented writers who work continually brings increasing light to an ever darkening world, the readership is able to grasp subjects that are so pertinent to today’s Christian.
As we are admonished not to be wise in our own eyes, it is our responsibility to change our viewpoint when the Spirit working through others brings us convincing revelations. I have read about and written articles in the past about the coming Magog war and why I believe the trumpet judgments are a vision of a meteor/comet impact and the rapture of the church. Two recent articles, one by Pete Garcia and the other by Ronda Lane, got me to thinking how those two events may be linked.
For a vivid picture of what the prophecy outlined in Revelation 8 through 11 looks like, you must see the DVD from National Geographic called “24 Hours After Asteroid Impact.” I didn’t see the connection to God’s judgment on Magog until the article from Ronda Lane who stated that she believed the rapture would occur during that time. She drew the conclusion from the reference to the massive earthquake in Ezekiel 38:18-23. Pete Garcia concluded that the final events that force the world into a single government under the antichrist would be the rapture of the church and world war.
“And it will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ declares the Lord God, ‘that my fury will mount up in My anger. And in My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. And the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence. The mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.
“And I shall call for a sword against him on all My mountains,’ declares the Lord God. ‘Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And with pestilence and with blood I shall enter into judgment with him; and I shall rain on him, and on his troops and the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone. And I shall magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.”
In Revelation, the trumpet judgments of chapters 8 through 11, we see the same celestial originating catastrophe: A ‘great mountain burning with fire’ blasts into one of the oceans causing earthquakes, tidal waves, burning of a third of trees and all grasses, pollution of drinking water and obstruction of sunlight. The rapture of the church has happened concurrently with this event:
Revelation 10:7 “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”
I Corinthians 15:51-53 “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable…and this mortal must put on immortality.”
I Thessalonians 4:15-17 “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Revelation 11:15 “And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.’” Verse 18: “And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
I stand by my previous statement that Ezekiel 39:6 “And I shall send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they shall know that I am the Lord,” refers to Russia and the USA. The two major super powers will no longer exist, not because of nuclear exchange, but from the effects of heavenly judgment in the form of an impact event from a comet or asteroid, and the unrecognized rapture of the church. Decimation of food and water sources cause ‘every man’s sword to be against his brother.’
Some of the remaining nations will form into the blocks comprising the Revived Roman Empire under the antichrist. The ‘Kings of the East’ block will be led by China.
The true and complete picture, as with any human attempts at interpreting Bible prophecy, will not be recognized until after the event. We can only hope that some of our unsaved friends and family might have read about these prophecies and change their minds about the Lord and His Christ. We know that many will be saved during the tribulation, so that is why we continue to warn and pray for those who still stubbornly refuse to accept His grace.