PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 242September 24, 2005
IF? HOW? WHEN? Those are the Questions? Part 4
Tribulation Begins – Sudden, Suddenly, In One Day!
The current outbreak of hurricane activity along the southern coastal sections of the United States, when considered individually, does not fit the description of “Sudden, Suddenly, In One Day!” They form, and usually long lead times of warning are given to the sections of the coast that could be affected. When the tribulation period begins it will be “Sudden, Suddenly, In One Day,” and the communications systems that allow us to be so well informed will be so severely affected by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, that warnings of shore arrivals will be little to nil after a few days into the tribulation period. They will come on the earth in many cities near the thousands of miles of interlinking fault lines stretched across the earth. The damage of surface equipment we use in communications, and the distortion of atmospheric transmission by volcanic pyroclastics, will make early warning of the great number of tribulation period hurricanes chaotic at best. The cities of the earth, near the boundaries of the tectonic plates, are going to experience day by day what suddenly happened to Sodom and Gomorrah in one hour on a certain day.
Luke 17:29,30 – But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. [30] EVEN THUS SHALL IT BE in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
The attitude that men and women hold worldwide is at least strongly influenced by whether or not they believe the Bible is the inspired Word of the living God, who sent Christ to earth as his only begotten Son. To those who believe it is, the question is never IF a prophesied event will occur, but rather HOW and WHEN it will occur. It is the HOW and WHEN that causes believers to disagree, not IF an event will occur. To believers IT will happen, but HOW and WHEN is open to a wide variance of interpretation, opinion, and speculation. In Luke 21:35, Jesus spoke these prophetic words to his first New Testament Church.
Luke 21:35 – For AS A SNARE shall it come on ALL them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
The word SNARE is “pages,” and it means “whatever makes or holds fast; hence, a trap – A creature was SUDDENLY caught in a cleverly laid snare or trap by its hunter, who had been able to deceive its senses into the belief it was in no danger.
Because I have taught the following things concerning the Second Coming, I have been branded a heretic, a revisionist, and a lunatic. One MB preacher at a local association told preachers I was a warlock. I am not really concerned about what people label me, but I am concerned for those who label me, yet have never really considered what I teach. It is no great concern to me if you disagree with it, but I do wish you would at least know what I teach because, if I am right, our people are in for a real surprise, and may suddenly be caught in a snare of great shock and consternation.
Let me assure you that what is being taught today in prophecy is a far cry from what was taught before the rise of the Great Evangelical Movement after 1740. I suppose I am as one born out of season. I assure you I would not have been considered a heretic, revisionist, or lunatic in the ages before 1740. So, please allow me to state once again what I believe because, if I am right, it is going to dramatically stun both the saved and the lost.
1. The catching out of the saints will not occur until the blowing of the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15. (Please see our Prophecy Archive Updates 73D, 74A, 76, 78A, 82A, 114A, 123B, 144A, 144F, 147D, 166C & 233A)
2. The three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 do not refer to the antichrist, but to Jesus Christ. This means we do not have a coming tribulation period of seven full years, and directly affects or completely changes the numerous ideas of prophetic interpretation based on it. (Please see our Prophecy Archive Numbers 230B, 231, 231A, 231B, 232, 232A, 232B, 232C & 233)
3. The antichrist will not come out of Europe. He will come out of Syria to lead 10 Arab nations against Israel. (Please see our Prophecy Archive Whole Numbered Updates 62 to 69)
4. The Temple will not be rebuilt on the Temple Mount until after Christ arrives. (Please see Prophecy Archive Updates 76D, 79 & 121B)
5. A False Peace will occur and, some 75 days later, Israel will be attacked from the North. (Please see our Prophecy Archive Updates 198A, 207B, 208, 209, 209A, 209B, 210, 210B, 211B, 213A, 213B, 214A, 214B, 215A, 215B, 215C & 216B)
6. Antichrist will not rule over the entire world as we know it today, but over those areas of it that were known at the time of the writing of Revelation. (Please see Prophecy Archive Updates 77, 77A, 77B, 77C & 135A)
TRIBULATION SUDDEN, SUDDENLY, IN ONE DAY
It shall be at an Instant in Israel’s Jordan River Valley!
Ariel is a Name for Jerusalem meaning Lioness of God!
There will be a great earthquake in the Jordan River Valley that will shake Jerusalem to begin the final 1260 days of the tribulation period. It will start a worldwide chain of rippling energy around the borders of the great tectonic plate structures of the earth that will continue until the Second Advent. This release of energy will be heard, seen, and/or felt near the tectonic plate faults in the form of thunderstorms, earthquakes, great noises from the grinding of the plates against one another, the generation of tsunami storm waves and great tempest along the shorelines, and great flames of devouring fire from hundreds of volcanic eruptions,
Isaiah 29:1-6 – Woe to Ariel (Jerusalem), to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. [2] Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. [3] And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. [4] And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. [5] Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall BE AT AN INSTANT SUDDENLY. [6] Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with THUNDER, and with EARTHQUAKE, and GREAT NOISE, with STORM AND TEMPEST, and THE FLAME OF DEVOURING FIRE. (For Exposition of Isaiah 29:1-5, See Archive Prophecy Update 175A)
Isaiah 30:8-13 – Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, THAT IT MAY BE FOR THE TIME TO COME FOR EVER AND EVER: [9] That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: [10] Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: [11] Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. [12] Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: [13] Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose BREAKING COMETH SUDDENLY AT AN INSTANT.
Luke 21:25,26 – And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; [26] Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Jeremiah 30:7 – Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Isaiah 47:11 – Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put if off: and desolation shall COME UPON THREE SUDDENLY, which thou shalt not know.
Mark 13:34-37 – For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch. [35] Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight or at the cockcrowing or in the morning: [36] LEST COMING SUDDENLY he find you sleeping. [37] And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Revelation 6:12 begins the last 1260 days of tribulation.
Revelation 6:12-15 – And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; [13] And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. [14] And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. [15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Revelation 16:21 ends the final 1260 days of tribulation.
Revelation 16:21 – And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
The Last 1260 Days Begin Suddenly, on a Certain Day!
Luke 17:27-30 – They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, UNTIL THE DAY that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. [28] Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; [29] But THE SAME DAY that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. [30] EVEN THUS SHALL IT BE in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
I do indeed believe that the bulk of tribulation period suffering and death will occur in what was the known world of the Book of Revelation, but I do expect the new world to have some part of the suffering and death. My concern is that many believers are so convinced they will not experience any of the tribulation period, that they will be in a state of absolute shock when they find they are still here, not “left behind,” but “still waiting.” If believers have never been advised that the post 1740 rapture positions might not be correct, just how much confidence will they have in the ones who taught them if they are still here during part of the tribulation period?
Luke 21:34,35 – And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so THAT DAY come upon you unawares. [35] For AS A SNARE shall it come on ALL them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.