The Great Tribulation
Revelation chapters 8-18
As I finished the previous article, I had brought you from the beginning events post-rapture to the midpoint of this last 7-year time period under the usurper Satan’s regime. After this point, things will deteriorate rapidly. The judgments that are to come will be far worse than anything that will have happened so far.
You need to prepare yourself to either accept Christ now if you are still lost (that is, if you have still not accepted the fact that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and have not as yet believed in Jesus Christ alone for salvation according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Once you do believe, you must remain faithful EVEN UNTO DEATH. You will not have to rely on your own failing efforts; the Holy Spirit of God will be with you to enable you to withstand whatever comes your way – including your martyrdom if it comes to that.
From here on out, until King Jesus the Messiah returns, the loss of life and complete planetary devastation that has commenced, and will continue to ramp up, will be the outpouring of wrath from a merciful God whose cup of indignation has finally been filled to overflowing, and whose awesome righteous wrath has finally been kindled.
The Ancient of Days is about to fully unleash His wrath, mete out His justice, and avenge the blood of all of His saints from every era and dispensation. He is now going to avenge all those who have endured the hatred of the Great Deceiver – that slandering, murderous, rebellious Dragon – the fallen cherub Satan, along with all those who have willingly chosen to follow this Deceiver in his rebellion in such a vile, sin-saturated world.
The risen Lamb – the Lion of Judah – is about to roar out the terrifying culmination of His vengeance from the throne room of Heaven, and the atmospheric heavens along with the very foundations of Planet Earth are about to be shaken as never before in human history.
But before we proceed any further, let me once again, for just a moment, back up to the instant right after the rapture has occurred, to remind you yet again of some truths of which I’ve already told you but which bear repeating. Never forget that the hallmark of Satan is deception.
Remember that I told you in earlier epistles that there will be many “religious” people who will have been left behind. Religion is always man’s attempt to reconcile himself to God on his (man’s) own terms apart from God’s terms. True Christianity, as defined by the Bible, is not and never has been a “religion.” In fact, Christianity, as defined by the Bible, stands diametrically opposed to every “religion” on earth, including all that calls itself “Christian” but which is, in reality, a false Christianity, bearing NO resemblance to true Biblical Christianity.
There will be religious leaders from every religion, denomination, and cult known to man (including, sad to say, many well-known and big-name evangelical leaders who call themselves “Christians” but who are not true Christians as defined by the Bible).
These apostate religions and religious leaders will still be here post- rapture, and they will band together under one ecumenical religious umbrella, overseen by a great and powerful world religious leader (pay particular attention to the Roman Catholic Church).
Religious diversity and tolerance will be the popular rallying cry, at least during the first half of the Tribulation period, just as it is today. Do you recall the oh-so-tolerant sounding cry of COEXIST? Well, that will be the very banner under which all of the left-behind false religions (including a milder form of Islam) will unite.
Do not be at all surprised to find that most, if not all, of the most well-known “prosperity” and/or “social gospel” preachers and teachers – the false “Word of Faith/name-it-and-claim-it teachers and preachers (who are nothing more than slick, religious snake oil salesmen who have spent their lives swelling their obscenely fat bank accounts by fleecing the elderly, the foolish, and the undiscerning of the majority of their money) – the “seeker-sensitive,” all-inclusive, let’s-just-all-coexist Christian-in-name-only groups and leaders will also have been left behind.
It will only be those whose Christianity followed the Bible – the Biblical “fundamentalists” as we were derisively called – those of us who believed and took the Bible literally, who followed Christ literally according to the scriptures, that will have been taken in the great vanishing that was the rapture of the Church.
These false CINOs (Christians in name only) will be left here after the rapture because they NEVER believed in Christ alone for their salvation. This is why they are still here post-rapture and why they did not go with the genuine Church of Jesus Christ when He came to catch away His body/bride, when the rapture occurred.
These false, left-behind religious ones will join themselves with the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the Hindus, the Buddhists, the New Agers, the Mormons, and ALL of the other myriad of false religions to bring DECEPTION to those of you left behind after the rapture of the true Church has occurred. Do not be deceived by them, and do not follow them under any circumstances. They themselves are deceived and will only lead you further into deception and into an eternity in Hell.
The first half of the Tribulation will be filled with this false religious system that has its roots in ancient Babylonian paganism. All of these false religions had their beginnings in ancient Babylon under the first “world ruler” named Nimrod. Nimrod ruled ancient Babylon, located on the Plains of Shinar, thousands and thousands of years ago. However, when the GREAT Tribulation begins (the last 3 ½ years I am about to address further), God is going to bring all of that ancient paganism and perversion in its many and varied forms to its complete and final end.
Keep this in mind, for as you shall soon see, God is going to bring this entire false religious travesty down as well as the kingdom of Satan ruled by the Antichrist and his False Prophet, the religious leader who will head up the false world religion in its myriad of forms.
Prepare now, for this is what is coming during these last 3 ½ years – the time Jesus Himself termed the GREAT Tribulation:
(1) There will be continued ecological events such as unprecedentedly violent earthquakes on a scale never before recorded and in places never before affected by them, as well as in the expected places along known fault lines. There will be volcanic eruptions of unheard-of severity, tsunamis, and other geological upheavals on an unprecedented and previously unknown scale. These will be in diverse places and will rise exponentially in both frequency and severity.
This geological devastation will be GLOBAL in scope. Not one place on earth will be immune from it. A THIRD PART OF THE TREES AND GRASS WILL BE BURNED UP. The famine, already global in scope, will worsen dramatically as a result of these things (Revelation 6:12; 8:7).
(2) There will be astronomical events that will occur: asteroids, meteors, comets, and something that the Apostle John recorded as being “something like a great burning mountain” (whatever that will be) that will strike the oceans. As a result, ONE-THIRD PART OF THE SEA “BECAME (will become) BLOOD” as ONE-THIRD OF ALL SEA LIFE IS KILLED, AND ONE-THIRD OF ALL SHIPS ARE DESTROYED (Revelation 8: 8-9).
(3) A “burning star from heaven” will strike the freshwater sources such as lakes, rivers, creeks, and streams, etc. ONE-THIRD OF ALL FRESHWATER SOURCES WILL BECOME POISONED AND CONTAMINATED. Think about this! What a calamity it will be for man and animals not to be able to find sufficient, unpolluted and safe drinking water! This catastrophic devastation will result in even more loss of life (Revelation 8:10-11).
(4) As a direct result of the above catastrophic events, THE SUN AND MOON WILL BE DARKENED FOR ONE-THIRD PART OF THE DAY AND NIGHT. The atmosphere and the amount of breathable air will be so polluted, the atmosphere so obscured, that the very light of the sun and moon will be diminished by ONE THIRD. One’s ability to breathe will be seriously impaired from the thickly poisoned and polluted air that will pollute ONE-THIRD of the Planet. MANY MORE WILL DIE (Revelation 8:12-13).
This is only the beginning. I will pick up in the next entry with the next series of judgments that will swiftly follow these in the 2nd part of The Great Tribulation.
Keep reading.