The Perfect Storm Is Coming – Part X

A STORM IS COMING

A ‘time of trouble such as never was,” is soon to open upon us. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation that in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. 

We are living in the most solemn period of this world’s history. The destiny of earth’s teeming billions of inhabitants is about to be decided. When the testing time shall come, during the Great Tribulation, those who have made God’s word their rule of life will be revealed. The false-hearted professor may not be distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just upon us when the difference will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the half-hearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith; but the true follower of Christ will stand like a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in the days of prosperity.

 

“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Daniel 12:1.

 

When the third angel’s message closes, mercy no longer pleads for the guilty inhabitants of the earth. Then Christ ceases His intercession in the sanctuary above. He lifts His hands, and with a loud voice cries, “It is done. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Revelation 22:11.

Every case has been decided for eternal life or eternal death. As our great High Priest, Christ has made a final atonement for His people, and blotted out their sins. “The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,” is about to be given to the heirs of salvation, and Jesus Christ is to reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords.

As Christ leaves the heavenly sanctuary, darkness covers the inhabitants of the earth. The restraint that has been upon the wicked is removed, and Satan will have entire control of the finally impenitent. God’s long-suffering has ended. The world has rejected His mercy, despised His love, and trampled upon His law. Isaiah 24: 1-6. The wicked has passed the boundary of their probation, and the Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn. Unsheltered by divine grace, they have no protection.

Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that that came upon Jerusalem of old.

The apostle John in vision heard a loud voice in heaven exclaiming, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Revelation 12:12. Fearful are the scenes that call forth this exclamation from the heavenly voice. We are to prepare for that time. We should now acquaint ourselves with God by proving His promises.   

Satan’s wrath increases as his time grows short, and his work of deceit and destruction will reach its culmination in the time of trouble. While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now, he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hail storms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become increasingly frequent and disastrous.

Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in the last struggle against the government of Heaven.

 By these agencies, leaders and the people will alike be deceived.  Persons will arise pretending to be Christ Himself, and claiming the title and worship that belong to the worlds’ Redeemer. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing, and will profess to have revelations from Heaven contradicting the testimony of Scripture.

The church has long professed to look to the Savior’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the book of Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15.

The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out, “Christ has come! Christ has come!” People will prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands, and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is a strong, almost overmastering delusion.

However, the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false Christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class upon whom the Bible declares that God’s unmingled wrath shall be poured out.

Furthermore, Satan is not permitted to counterfeit the manner of Christ’s advent. The Savior warned against deception upon this point, and he has clearly foretold the manner of His second coming.

“There shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect…. Wherefore if they shall say unto you…He is in the desert; go not forth…He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as lightening cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24: 24-27, 31.

When Christ shall cease His intercession in the heavenly sanctuary, after the seventh trumpet sounds, the unmingled wrath threatened against those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark (Revelation 14: 9, 10) will be poured out. The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments that are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God’s people. Say the Revelator, in describing these terrible scourges; “There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.” The sea ‘became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea.” ‘And the rivers and fountains of waters became blood.” Terrible as these inflictions are, God’s justice stands fully vindicated. The angel of God declares, “They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou has given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.” Revelation 16: 2-6, 8, 9.

Satan is not permitted to counterfeit the manner of Christ’s advent; Christ’s coming will be witnessed by the whole world! Revelation 1:7 

As Jesus approaches the earth from space, everyone in the world will see the cloud coming from the east because the Earth is spinning in counterclockwise manner.

How the Tribulation Begins

So that Bible students of Scripture can adequately understand the last moments of earth’s history in succession, please let me back up for a moment to give you a detailed order of progression of the seven first trumpets and the last seven plagues.  The Great Tribulation will begin suddenly. It will begin with a global earthquake that effectively disrupts the activities of the whole world. (Revelation 8:5) God has a few things to say to the human race, and He intends to arrest the attention of the world with a massive earthquake that literally stops everything and everyone in their tracks. The sudden cessation of life as we know it will force everyone to stop and wonder what is going on. This coming earthquake is particularly interesting because geologists theorized a “global earthquake” was physically impossible until the early 1990’s. Now, physical evidence is proving that Earth’s tectonic plates go much deeper into the core of Earth than previously thought, and this information has caused geoscientists to change their thinking. The book of Revelation predicts there will be a total of four global earthquakes. (Revelation 8:5; 11:13; 11:19; 16:18) These earthquakes will increasingly rip up the surface of the world, and the infrastructures of travel, communication and manufacturing will collapse during the Great Tribulation. These earthquakes have no equal in recorded history. Each earthquake will have greater strength than the one before it. The final earthquake will be so violent that it will literally move all of the mountains and islands from their places. (Revelation 16:20; 6:14)

Trumpet #1.  Shortly (perhaps 30 days) after the first global earthquake, showers of white-hot hailstones will rain down from the sky. Meteoric firestorms will ignite unquenchable fires all over the world and the accompanying windstorms will destroy billions of acres of trees, food crops and vegetation within a few days. Of course, millions of people will be left homeless and many more will suffer and die during this “rain of terror.” (Revelation 8:7)    

Trumpet #2.  A few days after the meteoric showers of burning hail, Earth will experience two horrific asteroid impacts. The first asteroid will impact an ocean; the second will impact a continent. (Revelation 8: 8-11) The first impact will create a series of tidal waves that will inundate coastal cities around the perimeter of the ocean. Seaports and coastal cities, well known for their immoral behavior, will completely disappear with overwhelming loss of life. Survivors will be frightened and distressed by the angry tossing of the sea. (Luke 21:25) Ships will not be able to cross the ocean and men will be powerless to do anything about the churning of the deep.

Trumpet #3.  The second asteroid will impact one of Earth’s continents with devastating results. The impact will contaminate water supplies and cause extensive death. Ground waves from the impact will fracture geologic strata for thousands of square miles. Sewage, deadly bacteria, toxic chemicals and other garbage buried in the Earth will seep into underground aquifers. Underground rivers will become contaminated and they will carry the deadly mixture for thousands of miles. Revelation predicts that many people will die of drinking poisonous water.  

Trumpet #4.  Shortly after the second asteroid impact, the world will hear a terrible roar. Hundreds of powerful violent volcanic eruptions will occur. These will be numerous and powerful and cause great damage. Millions of people will perish. Revelation predicts there will be great darkness. (Revelation 8:12) The jet stream will carry megatons of volcanic ejecta and soot around the world in dense clouds that cause complete darkness. Scientists have observed this phenomenon in recent times. The extended absence of sunlight over the middle third of Earth (the breadbasket of the world) will prevent surviving crops from reaching maturity. Worldwide famine will begin.

In short, the first four judgments will create a horrible domino effect radiating into every aspect of life. Illness of all kinds will appear. Clean water and food will become scarce overnight and the misery index will be “off the scale.” According to Revelation, 25% of Earth’s population will perish from these four judgments. (Revelation 6:8) think about this. The population of Earth currently is about 7 billion people. Twenty-five percent of 7 billion is two billion eight hundred million people!

Trumpet #5.  By the time, the fifth trumpet sounds, Earth will have experienced a worldwide situation that is so desperate that we can only compare it to the flood in Noah’s day.  God deliberately puts the whole world in a desperate situation because He knows it is the best way to get everyone’s undivided attention. From a parental perspective, God puts the warring nations of Earth in a type of “time out.” God wants everyone to consider several issues. For example, God wants the world to know that the time has come for the nations of Earth to end. (See Daniel 2.) He wants everyone to know that he is about to establish His kingdom and He wants everyone to know the terms ands conditions of being part of His coming kingdom.

A few days before the Great Tribulation begins, God will anoint 144,000 servant messengers with exceptional Holy Spirit power. These people, from every nation, kindred, tongue and people will speak for God for 1,260 days. The 144,000 will be ordinary people who will come from every religious background, and they will harmoniously proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the human race. As strange as it may sound, most of the world’s population will reject the terms and conditions of salvation.

About two and half years after the Great Tribulation begins, God permits that ancient serpent, the devil himself, to appear on Earth physically. The devil will come with millions of angels and he will masquerade as Almighty God. (Revelation 9: 1-11; 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12; Revelation 13: 11-18) The devil is the dreaded Antichrist. Deceptively cloaked in brilliant light and charming benevolence, the devil will claim that he is God. The devil will declare that he has come to establish a thousand years of peace on Earth. At this time, there will be three identifiable groups of people. The first groups are those who have rejected the devil and decided to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The other group of people will readily receive the devil as God because of the miracles he performs. The third group of people will defy both the devil’s demands and the prompting of the Holy Spirit because they refuse to obey anyone. Since God is separating the people of Earth into two camps, sheep and goats, He will allow the devil to inflict great pain and suffering upon the third group of people who have chosen to defy both God’s and the devil’s authority. Fortunately, the devil will not harm the saints with this affliction. Many of the devil’s victims will eventually relent and join the devil’s camp. However, a few of his victims will come to their senses, repent of their defiance against the gospel of Jesus and receive salvation. The devil will even call fire down from Heaven to prove his assumed divinity. Consequently, millions of people will ultimately conclude that the devil is God and they will obey him with astounding zeal and devotion.  

Trumpet #6.  When the devil’s popularity and control of Earth reach a sufficient level, he will tell his followers that everyone who refuses to recognize him as God must be annihilated. I call the events of Trumpet #6, World War III. During this time, God will allow the devil and his angels to kill one-third of the world’s population. (Revelation 9:15) The devil will establish a one-world government and he will exalt himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. He will control all of the necessities of life and if a person wants to buy or sell items for survival, that person must be a member of the devil’s kingdom. To demonstrate citizenship in his one-world government, the devil will force the inhabitants of Earth to receive a tattoo on their right hand. This tattoo will be the number “666.” People who serve as officials in the kingdom of the devil will receive a tattoo on their foreheads to show their superior rank. The tattoo on the foreheads of the devil’s lieutenants will be the chose name that the devil uses. (Revelation 13:17) The placement of a tattoo on the forehead of Satan’s lieutenants is a blatant counterfeit of what God intends to do for His faithful servants, the 144,000, after He takes them to Heaven. (See Revelation 14:1; 22:4.) 

Trumpet #7.  Before Satan implements the mark of the beast, everyone on Earth will have heard the gospel and everyone will have made an informed decision for it or against it. When every person has made a decision, Jesus will close Heaven’s door of mercy. Jesus will announce that the offer of salvation is closed by saying, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22:11) Then, the second global earthquake occurs. (Revelation 11:19)

Seven ‘First” Plagues – Seven Trumpets

Global Earthquake

1 Meteoric Firestorms

2 Asteroid Impact in a Sea

3 Asteroid Impact on Land

4 Great Darkness

5 The Devil Appears

6 Mark of the Beast Set Up

7 Door to Salvation Closed

Global Earthquake #2

 

1260 Days – The Gospel Proclaimed in All the World

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