Message 4

For those not informed about the subject, the "End Times" refers to the last few years leading to the long-prophesied return of "Yeshua the Messiah"--Jesus Christ, who predicted in his lifetime that he would return in the distant future, in physical form, just as he was then. He said a number of mysterious things on this, when his disciples asked him about it:

"Tell us, what will be the signs indicating your return, and

the end of the age?"

"There will be many deceivers, false prophets, who will claim

to be me," Jesus said. "Don't be fooled by them. There will be

wars and rumors of wars, around the world, there will eventually be fighting between nations, tribes--ethnic group will rise against ethnic

group. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places,

but don't be troubled, these are the necessary beginnings, and

the end is not yet.

"Not long after that, there will be the beginning of persecution

of you, my followers--you will be apprehended, and taken to be

put to death, and all the nations of the world will be unanimous

in their condemnation and hatred of you, because you are my

followers. There will have been a great falling away from

my religion at that time, and the appearance of many false

prophets who will lead many people astray. The world will be

very evil at that time, in general--the humanity and kindness of

many will have grown cold. But my gospel message will finally be preached to the entire world, and then the end will arrive.

"Now, when you see the horrible abomination, spoken of by

Daniel, standing in the Temple...then will begin a Great Tribulation,

a distress of nations like nothing ever before, or ever to be seen

again, so bad that if its days were not reduced, no one would be

left alive. But for the sake of my followers, those days will be

reduced...

"As soon as that Great Tribulation is at an end, the sun and

moon will be darkened, and there will be a miraculous sign in

the skies, and all the people of the earth will mourn, knowing

that what they heard from my followers was true..."

There are alot of other prophecies about this time, elsewhere in the Bible. Having studied this for many years, this is how I think the End Times will be:

Prophecy scholars generally agree on these things:

The prophetic countdown to the Return of Christ begins when the nation of Israel is re-established, in 1948, after about 1,900 years of exile. It was destroyed in 70 AD by Rome. About one million Israelites were killed and the rest were dispersed to other parts of the world. Some fled to other areas in the Middle East, others to Europe, eastern and western. In these other nations they survived as isolated minorities, often persecuted, but maintained their culture and their ethnic integrity for the most part.

Not long after this there will be a great social revolution against traditional values and institutions, and a great increase in science, technology and learning. Around this same time would arise a new federation of European nations--they would band together as a superstate, and soon rise to preeminent world power. Soon a virulently anti-Christian and anti-semitic leader will rise to power in this European federation, who the Book of Revelation calls the Antichrist.

A series of events will lead to the Antichrist's reign, which will only be for seven years. First will be a catastrophic stock market crash, like the 1929 market crash, which will lead to global meltdown. Economic disaster will soon lead to the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse": food shortages, outbreaks of war and other violence, global plagues and possibly environmental pollution and other chemical hazards. The world will be devastated for about three years and then the Antichrist will appear on the scene claiming to be able to solve all these problems. The nations will be in such dire straits that they will agree to giving the Antichrist supreme world executive authority, believing there isn't really any better alternative. The world will be amazed as the Antichrist quickly resolves one crisis after another--gets the economy going again, stops all the fighting and lawlessness, restores the world to peace and harmony and prosperity. After ruling exactly three and a half years, this individual, having secretly consolidated total dictatorial power worldwide, will suddenly announce that everyone in the world must take some kind of biometric mark on the right hand or forehead and worship him as some kind of "god", a New Age "messiah" figure or deity, and that anyone who refuses to do this will be put to death. Thus begins a worldwide reign of terror as the Antichrist and his government agents track down everyone in the world who refuses to take the mark. But at this same time will begin the "Great Tribulation", spoken of by Jesus in Mathew 24, in which divine powers will wreak untold havoc on the Antichrist and his followers. The Tribulation will continue for three and a half years, getting worse and worse, until there is a major natural disaster or other catastrophe almost daily. The people with the "Mark of the Beast" will be tormented by strange diseases, giant hailstones, earthquakes, terrible storms, etc. Then, as perhaps one last desperate attempt at revenge, the Antichrist will decide to attack Israel. He will send his remaining military forces to the Middle East. But at about that same time there is sudden news that the "Kings of the East", a vast Asian military force of about 200 million soldiers, has begun marching westward directly toward the Middle East. Eventually these European and Asian military forces surround Israel, but just as they are about to strike they are destroyed by divine intervention. Then follows the return of the real Jesus Christ who, according to scripture, will institute a thousand year reign over the earth.

Those are the basic "stats" on the "End Times", according to the world's leading prophecy scholars (that would probably be Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsey, Texe Marrs, Grant R. Jeffrey and a few others). There's alot of confusion now about "the end of the world", because of all these prophecies about a world apocalypse. I don't think it means, somehow, the end of everything on the planet, no, just the end of a particular "age", or civilization, to be followed by a new and better world. Good evidence indicates that there will be some kind of worldwide apocalypse (Christian biblical scholars say that Bible prophecy indicates that about one fourth of the world population will perish in the End Times), but not the complete or permanent destruction of the planet. It will all be controlled. A certain amount of destruction will be allowed, but that's it. I've read that nuclear weapons will not be allowed to be used. You need to remember that there's a spirit world, which is in complete control of the material world. That spirit world will be using all this to destroy all evil on the planet, for a greater good--it will usher us through the havoc, carefully, leading us to a new and better life. The main purpose of it all is to bring about the "Kingdom of Christ", who, according to prophecy, will "rule the nations with a rod of iron", from Jerusalem as capitol city. This will complete all the prophecies about Jesus Christ being a worldly ruler and "king", ruling all the "gentiles" (nations other than Israel). The messiah would appear two times, not just one. The first time as the "suffering servant", who would be the "lamb of God", which means sacrifice subject--he would be sacrificed by God as a payment for human sin and evil, which would enable human beings to return to God and escape the dominion of Satan, which they were under since their apostasy and rebellion against the supreme being some time in the dateless past. But the second lifetime of the messiah would be the "Final Conflict" between good and evil, an all-out last war between Christ and Satan. I think that's where we are now.

So, on the one hand, the End Times will be carefully monitored and controlled by the spirit world. But on the other hand, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. Any more than WWII was easy, in which the same spirit world was at work. The Bible says the End Days will be a time of "distress"--of nations and, therefore, individuals--such as never was before, or ever shall be, also, a time which will "try men's souls", and in which people's hearts "will fail them for fear". That sounds pretty bad. Don't want to be an alarmist, but on the other hand, don't want to be like these fools who are suggesting it's all nonsense. Hysteria and fear aren't the right response, I don't think, but prudent and reasonable preparation are.

Recently I've been watching alot of "action/disaster" movies and documentaries, with great interest . Alot of them are really good, I think, and are on target on alot of issues. You can learn valuable things from them. Pondering this subject intensely, and for a while, I think it's a good idea to do whatever reasonable things you can to prepare--for "hard times". The more people who do that, the fewer there will be who are caught off guard and empty handed, if and when hard times arrive. The people who don't take this seriously and don't do anything will be a major problem later--they'll be the ones who panic, "lose it" and cause trouble for everyone else. In preparing for hard times, let reasonableness be the rule--don't go in for extremes. You can't prepare for every possible thing that could happen, but you can prepare for the most obvious and likely things that would happen.

One last thing--many Protestants are talking about what they call "The Rapture", which is the idea that before the Antichrist institutes the "Mark of the Beast" system and begins his worldwide reign of terror, all true Christians will be miraculously taken off the planet. I think this is totally false and ridiculous, one of the many falsehoods and errors of today's "Christian" religious establishment. This establishment is a huge and lucrative industry. Alot of money is being made, alot of these people are living posh lifestyles, mostly built on donations from the public, who are constantly brow-beaten, cajoled and pressured for money, and I think this "Rapture" idea is part of that, because it's giving people a "safe" religion in which there is no sacrifice, no real principle that you have to live up to, to the point of real danger. It's a "cushy", materialist, bourgeois religion that is good for business because it doesn't require of anyone anything real, anything that might entail risking one's life. It's "coward friendly" religion. The preachers and scholars who are promoting this idea are, I think, in total denial of the situation that was faced by Peter, Paul and the other apostles and many other Christians throughout history--they think, "It can't happen to us--all that's in the past.". But even now, thousands of Christians in other parts of the world are martyred every year. I think there's just something wrong with the people who are promoting this idea--they're irrational and in denial and are in their own little world. But even if Christians aren't miraculously rescued from the Antichrist's clutches I don't think that means certain death and doom. I think we'll all have a fighting chance, because the good spirit powers will be there helping us, every step of the way. They can always reach out and grab us, any time, in any situation, which is why, maybe, there won't be any need for any kind of "Rapture". The good spirit powers can help us here, on this planet, just as easily as they can in some "paradisical country club" which I guess is where those "Rapture" theorists think they'll be, sipping martinis, while the rest of us fight and struggle here on earth. I think the real God is confident in his ability to help those he cares about without resort to odd measures like this "Rapture" idea.