Who Will Be Left Behind?
In my last letter, I warned you to be aware of any variation on “the lie” that will be put forth to try to explain away the disappearances of what could conceivably be upwards of one billion people worldwide. This includes pre- and post-born babies, all young children, and all those who are mentally incompetent and unable to comprehend their sin guilt, thus their need of a Savior.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
All of us are guilty sinners; however, the people groups who are not held accountable for their sin because of their inability to understand their sin guilt are covered by God’s grace, since one must be able to understand one’s guilt before a holy God and one’s need of a Savior. Only God knows the age of accountability, depending on each individual’s understanding. And only He knows those who, for whatever reason, do not have the mental capacity to understand and appreciate the sinful guilt under which we are all born and which infects us all since Adam’s rebellion.
Only God knows the exact number of those who will have been taken in the rapture, but what you must know is this: all of the taken ones were either among the first group I mentioned — guilty sinners but safe because of their inability to be accountable, or those who are guilty sinners but saved (made justified before God) because they believed in Christ alone for salvation according to the scriptures.
Those who are a part of the second group consist of all adults (young and old) and all older children who came to an understanding of sin and salvation – all who had at some prior time placed their belief, their faith and trust in the sinless life, crucified and atoning death, and bodily resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Each and every older child and adult taken via the rapture were genuine believers in Christ, and as such, were a part of His true Church.
There will be many left behind who may have claimed to be part of this or that church or religion, and there will be many so-called “pastors” or other “religious leaders” who will be among the “left-behind ones,” but you must know this: all who were left behind, regardless of who they are, were never genuine believers in the first place; for had they been, then they too would have been taken in the rapture when Jesus called to Heaven His Church (both the living believers and those who had died “in Christ”).
You have now been made fully aware of these things:
(1) WHO has been taken: the safe and the saved – all those whom the Bible describes as being “in Christ” (both the living and the dead who died “in Christ”).
(2) WHAT has happened: the resurrection of all the “dead in Christ” – believers who have died from Jesus’ resurrection up through the day of the rapture, along with all living believers alive and instantaneously changed from mortal to immortal at the instant the rapture occurred.
(3) WHERE THE TAKEN ONES ARE NOW: in Heaven in the Father’s House with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that you understand the truth of who was taken and the why regarding those of you who were not taken, let me move on to explain to you exactly what you need to know regarding that which will now begin to take place for those of you left here on Earth.
Again, I repeat, it is no longer your physical life that matters. You will almost certainly not live through these last seven years. That is the plain, unvarnished truth. You need to come to terms with this and accept it. All that matters now is where your immortal soul will spend eternity after the death of your physical body.
These last seven years will be divided into two halves of 3 ½ years each. The first 3 ½ years will be horrific. The last 3 ½ years will be unprecedented and will make the first half pale in comparison. The entirety of this seven-year time period is usually referred to as “The Tribulation”; however, the latter half was designated by Jesus Himself as being “GREAT tribulation.” In fact, Jesus stated that if He personally did not return to intervene, then no flesh (no living thing) would be left alive. Very sobering words.
For now, let’s look at the first 3 ½ years of what you, who have been left behind, are going to have to endure according to God’s Word.
Keep this truth front and center in your mind and heart, though: Jesus loves you. He shed His blood for you just as He did for all sinners. He wants you to be with Him for all eternity. Even in the midst of His terrible judgment coming upon this wicked world, God is continuing to extend His mercy and grace to you – to all who will come to Him by faith – even during this awful time of the Tribulation.
“For God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Everything that is waiting for believers in our eternal Home is beyond our ability to comprehend in our fallen, sinful state. Those of you who become Tribulation believers will receive your new and glorified bodies at the end of these last seven years. Therefore, upon any Tribulation believer’s death, his/her spirit will go immediately to Heaven to await their new and glorified, immortal bodies.
So, again I tell you, do not fear what will happen to your physical body. It only houses your immortal soul, and God has reserved for you a brand new body just like the ones we of the Church Age, post-rapture, now have – an immortal body that will never hunger, never grow old, never tire, and which can never be hurt again.
Those of you who become believers during these last seven years are called Tribulation saints. You are the “saints” referred to in chapters 6-19 of Revelation. If you remain faithful “even unto death,” all of Heaven awaits you once your soul leaves your body. Be encouraged and remain faithful to Jesus no matter what.
What is coming upon Earth is this: There will arise from somewhere within the confines of what was once the Old Roman Empire, a man of unusual charisma, superb military cunning, and unequaled, political brilliance. This man will come via peaceful means (or what will appear to be peaceful means). Most likely, this man will appear on the scene after two events that I will mention only in passing here but will detail in a later chronicle. These two precursor events to this man’s appearance on the global scene will be:
(1) the complete, overnight destruction of the city of Damascus (Isaiah 17).
(2) the invasion of Israel by a coalition of nations led by Russia (named Magog in the Bible), Iran (called Persia in the Bible), and Turkey (called Togarmah in the Bible) along with a few other countries such as Libya (Put) and Sudan.
You can read about this invasion in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, chapters 38-39. This invasion will most likely not be WWIII but will eventually trigger what will become WWIII. The main aftermath of this Russian-led invasion will be the utter destruction of the Russian-led coalition and the rise to power of this new charismatic world leader about whom I will now tell you.
As a result of the destruction of this Russo/Iranian/Turkish-led invasion of Israel (which God Himself will destroy on the mountains of Israel), this new global leader will “confirm a covenant with many” between Israel and those surrounding her. (See the Old Testament book of Daniel in chapter 9, verse 27.)
Watch out for this man and for this event. I cannot give you the name of this man because none of us on this side of the rapture know who he will be. You, however, will be able to identify him because it will be he who will “confirm” a covenant between Israel and many others. His brokered arrangement will allow Israel to rebuild her Temple on its ancient site. The man who accomplishes these things will be the Antichrist.
His negotiating skills will be astounding and his rhetoric powerful (reminiscent of the oratorical skills of Adolph Hitler, but much more powerful and persuasive). He will use craft and deception to attain his goals. This man will accomplish what no other global leader will have ever been able to do; he will bring what appears to be “peace” to the seething cauldron that is the Middle East through this “Peace Initiative.”
He “confirms” this “covenant” with “many” for seven years (what the Old Testament book of Daniel chapter 9 calls a “week” of years, i.e., seven years). It is the confirmation of this covenant (not the rapture) that will be the event that begins the final seven-year countdown. All events count down from this one event.
Either simultaneously or not long afterward, war will erupt. This war will be a global conflict, and its aftermath will be horrendous. Keep your eyes on Israel, for she is the key to everything that will happen.
The conflicts recorded in Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38 will take place very soon, possibly before the rapture occurs, but most probably just after or simultaneously with the rapture. But this I cannot say with certainty.
The overarching events taking place during this first half of the last seven years are these:
(1) Damascus will be utterly destroyed (Isaiah 17).
(2) A Russian/Iranian/Turkish-led coalition will invade the land of Israel on the Golan Heights (Ezekiel 38-39).
(3) Somewhere around this time, either just before, during, or simultaneously with the destruction of Damascus, Syria and/or the Russian led-invasion of Israel, the rapture will occur (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54; Revelation 3:10 & 4:1).
(4) A charismatic leader will arise and will confirm a covenant with Israel. This covenant confirmation will begin the countdown to the last seven years.
(5) A global war will begin, WWIII if you want to call it that. It will be massive in scale and devastating in its consequences.
(6) In the wake of this global war, famine on a global scale will quickly ensue. No country will be spared.
(7) The death toll from this war and its aftermath will be staggering. Diseases and pestilences will be especially overwhelming: pathogens such as typhus, cholera, along with all manner of both known and new and unknown diseases will run rampant and unchecked. They will be pandemic (global instead of regional) in scope and severity.
(8) On the heels of this will be attacks by both wild and domesticated animals who, as a result of the severity of this war and its aftermath, will also be starving. All manner of animals, both wild and domesticated, will have lost all fear of man and will attack, both alone and in packs.
(9) In addition to all of this, there will be unprecedentedly strong and frequent earthquakes, much stronger than any heretofore experienced. These quakes will occur all over the earth, along with increasing volcanic activity and ensuing tsunamis spawned from them, as the very earth itself is rocked on its foundations with the ferocity of the armed conflicts that most likely will involve nuclear events.
(10) Murder and unrestrained violence will become the norm, even as this coldness of heart is beginning now. Unprecedented violence and brutality will be loosed on a global scale never known before. Very little law and order will be left intact anywhere in the world. Love and natural affection among people, including family members, will continue to erode to the point of non-existence.
(11) Those who do become believers during this time will be hated, hunted, and executed en masse because of their faith. The overwhelming majority of people left behind will be God-haters, who hate and despise all those who follow Christ. Murder and violence will be exponentially greater than it is right now as I write this pre-rapture.
Just how great will the death toll be from war, famine, pandemic diseases, murder, animal attacks, earthquakes, and a world gone mad?
The world’s population, as I write this pre-rapture, stands at 7.4 billion people (according to the World Population Clock as calculated in August 2016). Estimating conservatively that roughly one billion or so worldwide leave in the rapture, this will leave around six billion people after the Church is gone. One fourth of those will die during the first half of the Tribulation. That equals 1-1½ billion people. (Read chapter 6 of Revelation up through the 5th “seal judgment,” and on to the 2nd of the three “woes.” These passages chronicle the 1st half of the Tribulation.)
This number is merely a drop in the bucket compared to those who will die during the last 3 ½ years.
Please, do not make the grave mistake of thinking that you will be safe because you live in America, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or any one of the more modern or “first world” countries. Every single nation on every single continent will be affected by these trans-global catastrophes. It may very well be that America, which was once a God-fearing and blessed nation, will suffer the most loss of life as a judgment for the vast amounts of every conceivable sin that this nation has embraced and eagerly committed in these last days in the sight of Almighty God.
Do not think for one second that God will not avenge the blood of the 60 million babies who have been slaughtered within the wombs of their mothers; or the millions of children and mentally handicapped individuals who have been abandoned, neglected, abused, tortured, molested, brainwashed, and thrown aside like garbage; or the myriads of women and children worldwide who have been abducted and sold as sex slaves; or the plethora of sexual perversions including homosexuality, pedophilia, and even bestiality that have been openly embraced flaunted, celebrated, and forced upon society; along with thousands upon thousands of wanton murders, thefts, deceptions, lies, rampant drug abuse, unmitigated narcissism, and the utter and absolute vileness and outright evil that has been flaunted in defiance and contempt in the face of Almighty God and those who belong to Him.
I implore you – come to the only one who can save your immortal soul. Place your complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. Accept that you are a justly condemned sinner. Believe that Jesus Christ is God come to Earth in human flesh and that He lived a perfect, sinless life which qualified Him alone to offer His life up in our place to satisfy God’s infinite justice. Believe that Jesus’ death on the cross atoned for/paid in full man’s sin debt, that He was buried, and that He arose bodily from the grave on the third day so that all who are willing to call upon the name of the Lord might be saved (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
Do this before it is eternally too late. Once your last breath is taken and your last heartbeat is stilled, then your eternal destiny is forever set; and if you should die in your sins, you will spend all eternity in a literal place called the Lake of Fire—forever separated from God in eternal torment. Remember, you do not have to go there. The choice is yours to make.
Keep reading. In the next chronicle, I will tell you of the importance that tiny Israel and her people, the Jews, will play and of the most dreadful time that is still to come.