| Selected Articles | |
The purpose of this manual is twofold:
(a) First of all, it is to warn those who receive this manual prior to the "rapture" of the soon to occur events that will take place in the "last days" as foretold in the Bible. Based on what the Bible has to say about future events, nobody in their right mind would want live on earth after the rapture. Hopefully many will read, believe, seek God, repent and be saved. Salvation is very simple, so simple to attain that most people cannot accept it. However, it is complex because it is life changing and based on that which we cannot see; it is based on faith. Simple, because Jesus does all the work. If you want to be saved and have eternal life, simply pray in belief and humility to Lord Jesus:
"Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and ask you to forgive me of my sins and prepare for me a new heart. I surrender my life to you."
Now change the way you live your life so that it is in accordance with God's laws.
If you have done this prior to the rapture, get a Bible and start reading and studying it. Go to the Lord in prayer every day asking for guidance as to how to live.
b) Second, to those left behind after the rapture, this is indeed a survival manual. You still have an opportunity to repent and have eternal life. The same prayer of salvation is applicable to you; the only difference is that you will spend a little time experiencing a taste of hell while you remain on earth.
Let me be really frank with you. If you are reading this manual and the rapture has already occurred, then you probably are not going to physically survive; you most likely will die. This manual is about the survival of your soul. You are going to go through terrible suffering. The only question is whether you will go to Heaven or go to hell when you die.
1. Definition: Rapture
This is the event that will occur when Jesus calls His followers (both gentile and Jewish believers) with a trumpet blast, and in the "twinkling of an eye" they will be removed from the earth and transported to be with Jesus in the heavens. For those of Jewish heritage who are familiar with the seven feasts of the Old Testament that are celebrated each year, the rapture is portrayed by the feast of trumpets described at Leviticus 23:24. The Jewish feast of trumpets symbolized a regathering. At the trumpet call of the rapture, it will be a regathering of believers to be with Jesus, and for the Jews left behind on earth it will be the final regathering to the physical nation of Israel.
Interestingly, those who have died and are followers of Jesus will respond first to the call (I Thess 4:16). It very well may be that, as it happened when Jesus was crucified and resurrected, when the dead saints arose from the dead and walked amongst the living (Matthew chapter 27), that at the rapture the dead saints may walk briefly on earth again.
"Take notice, I am telling you a secret. We shall not all die but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet call. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed." I Corinthians 15:51-52
"For with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven, and those who died in Christ will rise first. Afterward we, the living who remain, will be caught up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall forever be with the Lord." I Thessalonians 4:16-17
"...For I am going away to prepare a place for you. And when I have gone and have prepared a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself so that where I am, you also will be." John 14:2-3
At the time that this manual is being written, and for the remainder of the time left in this age, the one word that describes the condition of the world is change. All this change is being accomplished through the work of Satan, as he cannot tolerate anything that originated from God's creation. Originally, the Bible tells us that when God created the world He declared that it was "good." That means that it was perfect and no changes were necessary. Included in His creation were standards to live by that He gave to Adam and Eve. These standards covered everything from how to live in our private lives to domestic relationships to principles for governing a community. Satan seeks to change everything that God has created and established, thus he has used his power and influence in the world to make changes. None of these changes are good for humankind because all of these changes are opposed to God's original intent. Satan's goal is to establish a world order headed by his protege (the world dictator known in the Bible as the Beast and anti-christ) who will spend his time and effort changing everything to be in opposition to God's will as expressed in the Bible. This is predicted in the Bible in the book of Daniel, "and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law."
In today's political environment there is no effective leadership in the world. Every nation lacks strong and competent leaders able to deal with the problems at home and abroad. The United States, which has been the world leader for the last 50 years, has steadily lost its influence among other nations because of political leaders in the United States who have no moral center to direct their decision making process. However, this distrust and dislike of government and government leaders is not just an American phenomenon but is a common theme worldwide: Europe, South America and Asia. Because of this leadership vacuum in the world, there is now an opportunity for a man to arise who is very charismatic, strong, and attractive to peoples of all nations. Based on the prophecies in the Bible such a man will arise, and he will be successful in uniting the various nations to rule as a dictator.
The move to unite the world under one government has been active since the early 1950's, and in recent years this became more of a reality as the nations of this world began to give up their sovereignty to the United Nations during armed intervention of conflicts between nations (Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia). In these conflicts, the nations of the world contributed manpower and machinery to be used under the flag of the United Nations. The United States of America surrendered its sovereignty in these situations too much weaker nations by allowing its military to be controlled by these nations. In addition to these military actions the nations of the world also agreed to controlled trade and labor practices with international treaties such as NAFTA and GATT.
There is no dominant nation to provide leadership to the world setting the stage for a man to arise out of the masses to unite the world as dictator.
The foundational building block of society, that element which has always been responsible for social order and peace, is the family, and it has been virtually destroyed. The family is to be a man, his wife and their children. The man provides for the wife and children, the wife nurtures and educates the children, and the children obey their parents. In a community of families, each adult holds the other adults and children accountable for their actions. The family is based on marriage.
Marriage is an institution of God and therefore hated by Satan. Satan has worked very hard, primarily through communications media such as TV, movies, news journalists, and entertainment in general to convince women that marriage is detrimental to their freedom and fulfillment in life. Satan has deceived women into believing that they are the same as men and that all differences are the result of culture. Satan has worked very hard to convince women that their sexual gratification should come from outside of marriage, preferably with other women. Satan has worked hard to divide men and women and have them at war with one another, and because of this, the violence between men and women dramatically increased beginning in the 1980's. After the rapture, more than likely, the family as it is known today will be eliminated. Children will become wards of the state and marriage will be discouraged.
Civil war has been a constant theme of this age the and unrest will continue into the end times: man vs. women, black vs. white, Moslem vs. Jew, Catholic vs. Protestant, Moslem vs. Christian, one Moslem faction vs. another Moslem faction, one black African tribe vs. another black African tribe, nation vs. nation, people vs. people. Whatever divides people into different groups Satan uses to inspire hate, strife and violence.
Homosexuality and all sorts of perverse behavior have come to be accepted as normal. The world dictator(anti-christ) himself will not have the normal sexual attraction to women and may be asexual. Many theologians believe that he will probably be openly homosexual as indicated in the Bible in the book of Daniel 11:37; "and he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women...". And therefore after the rapture more than likely marriage will be discouraged or illegal, and homosexual and lesbian relationships highly encouraged.
On the economic scene the trend is toward poverty for the masses with wealth concentrated into the hands of very few people. These controllers of the wealth will be the kings of commerce and banking and also be the power behind politics of the world. Small businesses are merged into larger companies and the larger companies merge with themselves to increase profits. The result is huge multi-national companies that have no allegiance to any community, state, nation or people, whose only allegiance is to increased profits for management and shareholders. The result is workers who are little more than peasants and presidents of companies who are more and more kings. It will be these "kings" who usher in the world dictator to protect their wealth and power. Expect all commerce, buying and selling, to be controlled by a mark on the right hand or forehead of every person who wants to participate in the economy. Only those people with the mark will be able to buy and sell, but the consequences of taking the mark is eternal damnation. Therefore don't take that mark. You will have a very difficult time surviving, and probably won't, but you will save your soul. Again, don't take the mark on your right hand or forehead.
Another thing that will come back into vogue after the rapture will be slavery. The book of Revelation speaks of the slave trade after the rapture. The slaves will more than likely be Jews and Christians (those who converted after the rapture) but there will also be many children and poor that will be caught into slavery.
In the gospel of Matthew chapter 24 Jesus spoke to his disciples and indicated to them that one of the signs of the time of the end of the world would be, "...as it were in the days of Noah so will the coming of the son of man be..." We read in Genesis that in the days of Noah that "the earth was filled with violence...". This speaks not only of the violence that men inflict on one another for certainly the earth is filled with that kind of violence; wars, civil wars, rape, brutality, murder, abortion, indiscriminate random acts of violence but the earth itself is also filled with violence. We see increasing earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, draught, lightening storms and unusual atmospheric phenomena. While all of these have existed in the past, over the last 50 years the number and intensity of these conditions and the property damage associated with these natural catastrophes has increased. As the level of violence that the human species has inflicted on one another has increased, so has the violent reaction of the earth increased.
When Jesus disciples asked Him about the signs that would be a precursor to His coming and the end of the age He responded that there would be (Matthew chapter 24):
This is an event that will not be hidden. The concept of the rapture will be made known to the disbelieving masses (those of you who do not know Jesus as your Lord and Messiah) before it occurs. It will be treated with ridicule, contempt and mockery by the world's media, but God will see to it that it will be highly publicized before it occurs just so that those left behind might still come to their senses. It will occur in the open, and everybody left behind will know somebody that was raptured. It will happen suddenly, unexpectedly, and lightning fast--"in the twinkling of an eye" as the Bible puts it. And there will be evidence all over the world that this event occurred. Some national leaders will disappear, celebrities in entertainment and professional sports will disappear, entire families will disappear, disbelieving spouses will see their mates vanish, children will disappear. Bank accounts, homes, cars, businesses and relationships will be left behind. The problem for the world's leaders will be trying to convince people that it didn't happen. Because if the world's leaders admit that it did happen then logically everything Christians preached about Jesus Christ being the Son of God, the Savior, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings and everything that Jesus preached and taught must be true. And if all of this is true, then the only logical response would be to fall on one's knees before God in confession and repentance and absolute submission to every word of God (as revealed in the Bible). But all of this is diametrically opposed to the way of the world which preaches freedom from the constraints of God's word, perverse sex, materialism and the devaluation of human life. So, although the rapture will shock everybody and will be covered in the media and everybody left will be aware of someone who is gone the leaders of the world will begin their great deception, that is convincing the population left behind that there was no rapture. How is this going to be accomplished? Well, pretty easily because most of the people left behind are already in a state of deception. They have been deceived into believing that Jesus is not the Messiah; they have been deceived into believing that the word of God is not true; they have been deceived into living in a lifestyle that only brings constant pain and suffering instead of the freedom and paradise that God offers. The world's leaders will declare that there was no rapture, that a mass hysteria took place, and the news media will follow the party line. Then to make things easier, shortly after the rapture, one-fourth of the world's population will be decimated due to wars, famine and plague. Those who were raptured will be counted as amongst the dead.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |