The Apocalypse

End Times and the Book of Revelation

Dictionary.com gives three definitions for the word Apocalypse that interest us:

• Any of a class of Jewish or Christian writings that appeared from about 200 b.c. to a.d. 350 and were assumed to make revelations of the ultimate divine purpose.
• A prophetic revelation, especially concerning a cataclysm in which the forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil.
• Any universal or widespread destruction or disaster.

The Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible, is called the Apocalypse and is the source of the preceding definitions. The Book speaks of dimensions outside of time. To see how, go to the Revelation and Genesis post in this blog.

By volume, The Revelation to John is mostly the story of the second coming of Jesus Christ to Planet Earth, to conquer evil and and set the world right. Earthly existence as we know it will be completely changed to something much better. But the birth pangs (using Jesus’ own expression) that accompany that change will cause the worst times ever in the history of humanity.

The End Times events in the Book of Revelation revolve around the Jewish state of israel, at war for survival against a hostile world. This scenario only became possible after the re-birth of Israel in 1948, after 1900 years with no Jewish homeland on Earth.

Up to now, the worldwide Church of true believers in Christ has acted as a brake. A brake on human worldwide evil, and on God’s response to it. This brake will be released by the Rapture. Millions of Christians will be supernaturally and instantly removed from Earth, to escape God’s coming wrath.

Post Rapture events will move swiftly. The Devil will have his own perfectly possessed human proxy for his business on Earth. The Antichrist will rise to undisputed personal domination of a one world government. With Christians mostly removed by the Rapture, the Beast will be backed by the majority of people who remain. And the Apocalypse will happen. The Antichrist will lead the world against Israel and God, and God will pour out His wrath upon a sin-dominated, defiant humanity.

The Book of Revelation states that even under the Antichrist’s reign, Jewish Christians will arise to preach God’s word. People will still have an opportunity to accept Jesus as Lord. But the Antichrist will unleash merciless persecution against those who do.

According to Jesus’ own words, it will be “business as usual” throughout the world, right up to the Rapture. This event is the most likely reason that the United States does not figure significantly in the Book of Revelation’s end time predictions. In this country with the most true Christians, between 50 to 100 million should disappear. This shock will gut the US economy and armed services. America will become a bit player in world events.

Christ’s removal of His faithful will have less impact in the European Union, Russia, China and Muslim countries. But among those, the political-economic jolt will pave the way for the rise of Antichrist. The center of world affairs will shift to those countries and the Middle East. International geopolitics will revolve around worldwide enmity towards Israel.

At the turn of the 21st century, it looked like the End Times were still generations away.

A list of fulfilled end times prophecies and world conditions in the year 2000:

• The re-birth of Israel in 1948 – the biggie that started the End Times countdown.
• Jerusalem 100% under Jewish control after the 1967 Six Days War, for the first time since the Romans dispersed the Jewish people in AD70.
• Increase in knowledge and world travel.
• Electronic screen communication limited to the well-off in advanced economies.
• The internet was just breaking out from being limited to the military and academia.
• Islam at war with Israel only.
• Western political tradition and morals under assault by secular humanism, but holding.
• The nation state provided the dominant social organization platform.

Changes by the year 2021:

• Word knowledge increasing exponentially.
• World Travel capacity greatly increased, though now slowed by pandemic.
• Electronic screen communication for 90% of the world population due to smartphones (iphone introduced in 2007).
• The internet has become the dominant social and economic force in human communication, commerce and governance.
• Islam at war with the entire West, and the West too decadent to acknowledge it.
• Western political tradition and morals routed by radical left ideologies and popular culture depravity.
• Globalism, controlled by atheist technocratic elites responsible to no one, eroding national identities.

A list of prophesied political End Times events not yet realized.

• The Rapture – The undeniable sign that the Wrath of God is coming.
• The Gog and Magog War. An alliance of countries led by Russia and Iran will invade Israel and be defeated by direct intervention from God. (Ezekiel 38-39).
• The Antichrist will be revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
• The Antichrist will perform counterfeit miracles and deceive people throughout the world. (2 Thessalonians 2: 9-12)
• World government under the Antichrist. (Revelation 13:7)
• Economic tyranny. The Antichrist will require a bodily implant, the Mark of the Beast, on all who accept him as leader. Nobody without the mark will be allowed to buy or sell anything. (Revelation 13:16-17)
• Israel will sign a treaty with the Antichrist (Daniel 9:27)
• The Jewish Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt. The Antichrist will desecrate the Temple by proclaiming himself as god in it, and demand worldwide worship. (Matthew 24:15)
• Two Old Testament witnesses sent by God (either Elijah and Enoch or Elijah and Moses) will preach Jesus Christ to the world. Both will be killed by the Antichrist. Their bodies will lie in a street in Jerusalem and be viewed by the entire world. On the third day they will be raised to life and ascend to Heaven. (Revelation 11:1-12)
• Led by Antichrist, the armies of the world will gather at Armageddon to fight Israel and Jesus Christ. (Revelation 16:6). Christ will win, vanquishing the Antichrist and Satan. Judaism and Christianity will merge within a thousand year reign by Jesus Christ.

In this author’s opinion, the latest feasible timing for the Rapture would be shortly after the Gog and Magog War. But more likely, the Rapture will precede that first round of End Times military action.

Technology has changed the world to make fulfillment of End Times predictions possible.

The Mark of the Beast will prevent those who refuse to bow to the Antichrist from buying and selling, worldwide. Nowadays, such a policy would only be an extension of systems already in place. Similarly, now we know how the whole world will be able to see the bodies of the dead prophets that the Antichrist kills – on television and smartphones. These two details were physically impossible when the Apostle John wrote down his Revelation from Jesus Christ nineteen centuries ago. Now both are easily doable under everyday technology. Another validation of the Bible as the Word of God.

The Book of Revelation also gives an apocalyptic preview of natural disasters for Planet Earth. Among the plagues God will unleash are:

• Earthquakes stronger than any in history. For a start, the destruction of the Gog-Magog invasion will unleash a worldwide earthquake.
• Rains of fire and brimstone (may refer to volcanic eruptions or nuclear strikes)
• Hail storms with 100 pound hailstones.
• Solar flares that will cause deep sunburn to anyone exposed.
• Painful sores on those who accept the Mark of the Beast.
• An asteroid hit to Earth that will poison the oceans and most drinking water worldwide.
• Clouds of locusts capable of painful stings that will torture but not kill.
• Darkness. No daylight for extended periods.

These disasters, known collectively as the Tribulation, will last seven years. Jesus warned that “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). It will be seven years of Hell on Earth. Around 60% of humanity will die due to the wars and natural disasters, or be killed by the Antichrist’s persecutions.

Is all this too far out to take seriously?

It’s no doubt too much, and the subject of ridicule, for modern secular minds. Basically, after “gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” it’s a return to the wrathful God of the Old Testament. But consider. Most of humanity will be on the side of Antichrist, against Israel and Jesus Christ. Each person will have made his or her choice between Christ and Antichrist, and the time for outreach to the other side will be over.

If we look around, for anyone not willfully blind, the seeds of the Gog-Magog war are already sown.

Iran is allied with Russia against Israel. Iran’s radical islamic political leadership states that they are determined to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Russia’s economy is built on energy exports. Israel’s newly discovered, massive offshore natural gas reserves make the Jewish state a direct competitor to Russia. It’s not hard to imagine Godfather Putin making Israel an offer it can’t refuse. And Israel refusing.

Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons. Israel will not let Iran get the bomb. In the U.S., the Biden administration has backed away from Donald Trump’s unprecedented support for Israel. So the Jewish state will most likely have to go it alone with pre-emptive strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. These will likely result in an expansion of the Gog-Magog alliance of Russia and Middle Eastern states against Israel. Not-so-eventual attack against the Jewish homeland should follow. To prevent this likely scenario from coming true, something other than Israel has to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Do the odds of that happening look good to you?

Why Apocalypse In Our Times?

For hundreds of years, Christians have preached that the end is near. Why should now be different? Well, look around. Israel exists, restored in 1948 after a worldwide dispersal that lasted 1900 years. And the world has never been in the shape it’s in now, for economic good but especially for moral evil.

People need to discern the times. We live in a world with millions of abortions every year, to satisfy state or private convenience. Forced human organ harvesting in China, and plunder of aborted babies’ body parts in the West, are business as usual. The worst imaginable porn is available on smartphones to grammar schoolers, for free. What did Sodom and Gomorrah have over our modern world, in terms of evil?

The Rapture is the key. If it happens, the world will be on notice that it’s too late to stop the Apocalypse.

How should we go forward in view of what the Book of Revelation predicts? Preacher Jimmy Evans (book and video cited below) gives what I think is the best advice. Plan as if you knew Jesus won’t come for another hundred years – work, study, save, invest. Be as productive as you can be in as many areas as you can. But live and love day to day, as if Jesus will come tomorrow.

Sources for this Post:

• The Late Great Planet Earth – Hal Lindsay – First published in 1970 and more relevant every day. The grand-daddy of popular End Times prediction books.
• Tipping Point: The End is Here – Jimmy Evans – 2020 – An excellent update 50 years after The Late Great Planet Earth

Related Video Link: Jimmy Evans – Israel in the End Times