To
Mathman,
I always
enjoy reading your
posts, and your 28th Feb. letter was no
exception. I agree
wholeheartedly with your cautionary stance against the “must
& can’t”
view on those points you highlighted. Included were the
Rapture, anti-Christ,
Tribulation, False Prophet and third Temple. Wow! If you
lived near me, I’d
be having a tea or coffee with you often, and would sift
through the evidence,
like Sherlock Holmes.
I see the
Great Tribulation
as that time after the two asteroids of Rev. 8:8-11 hit.
Keep in mind that the
v8 asteroid is as big as a mountain. (Note! Mountain is not
kingdom here.) In
my opinion, the Earth, after Rev.8:8-11, may be
without all
communication satellites, and my guess is that over 90% of
the world may
be without electricity, petrol and clean running water; food
will be scarce,
and air will be thick and unpleasant to breathe, if not
poisonous.
Even the
Sun will not shine,
probably for three straight days, then after that, the Sun
will be intermittent;
clouded one day and scorching the next. These
interpretations (and others) are
prophesied by Isaiah in Is.13:10-13 and Is.24:1-3 &
17-23, and by Jesus in
Mt.24:22&29.
The
approaching asteroids may
be the things that prompt the anti-Christ to enter into the
Temple, declare himself
to be the world’s god and inspire the whole unbelieving
world to join in
a global meditation to steer the asteroids away from the
Earth.
I see
Rev.11:12 as a type of
the second (main-harvest) Rapture, which would occur just
prior to the two
asteroids hitting Earth, because v9 says that the whole
world will look at the
two slain witnesses, and v10 says the world will rejoice
over the slaying and “make merry and
exchange presents” (RSV). I think this can only
happen if the
global communication and satellite network is still
operational.
Inbetween
the first and
second Raptures, the underground-church preaching and
witnessing is done by the
144,000 plus the 2 Witnesses. This period of time will be
bad for those who
become true Christians in that time. That is, those who
dedicate or re-dedicate
their lives to the Lord. They will suffer martyrdom for
Jesus.
On the
other side, the
non-Christian world will rejoice and be happy, because
(according to their point
of view), aliens, fate or karma took those “pesky”
Christians away,
so the new-age humans can have the whole planet to
themselves, which is what
they’ve wanted for a very long time. And any new Christian
found will be dealt
with.
I think
that the
infrastructure of civilisation will still be in place in the
first part (3.5yrs??)of
that alleged 7-year period, so that men, women and demons
can do their thing
together (like they did before the Flood), and this will be
a demonstration to
the inhabitants of Heaven at how quickly a society goes bad
without the Spirit
of God restraining. Jesus alluded to this in Mt.24:28,
calling the world at
that time, a dead carcass.
That first
bit of time is
also when the cup of abominations must reach the full mark
before the asteroids
hit. Also, the time between the Raptures will be the very,
very last time to
repent. The choice at that time will be; either death by
martyrdom for Jesus
and then go straight to Heaven, or try to live a little bit
longer(by serving
anti-Christ), only to suffer death by violence, war or
asteroid strike; and
then suffer God’s damnation, because they got the Mark of
the Beast, and
denied Jesus, the Saviour.
This is a
snippet of the way
I see it unfolding, according to the study I’ve done, so
we’ll see,
in time, how it actually does transpire.
Perhaps we
will meet in the
Glory, and over a heavenly brew, compare notes as the events
unfold on Earth,
This may even occur, because in 1st Pet.
1:12, it says that
the workings of God on Earth are “things
into which angels desire to look.” (NCV)
I look
forward to reading
your next post. Regards, Andrew B.