Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign

I've been thinking a lot about the weird weather all over the world, the so called "natural disasters", as well as the terrorist attacks, and the political and economic problems around the world. The Lord told us about the many signs there would be that would show us that the time was near for the tribulation to start and of course that would mean that it was also time for the rapture to happen as well. I'm sure you all noticed long before now that many of the signs are simply milder versions of the actual judgments that God will send on the earth during the tribulation right? The signs that didn't have to do with that, seem to be signs of how people will react toward everything.

Anyway, every sign the Lord gave us seems to be getting stronger lately. There seem to be more of them and each one is often "bigger' then the one before. That too is scriptural and no surprise to any of us I'm sure. I thought it might be interesting though, to look at the tribulation judgments and see if there had indeed been a "sign" showing that yet.

What I did was look up each judgment during the tribulation and whittle it down to as few words as possible to describe the effect it would have, such as "famine" and also the cause, such as "earthquake". Then I put all the effects in one list, and the causes in another. Next with each repeated effect or cause, I put the word "more" in front of it. I then deleted all the extra "mores". leaving only one, since that's all we need one to know more will be coming.

Before I show you the lists themselves, let me share 4 scriptures that I think describe "why" all this happens:

Matthew 24:12 —Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, *

Matthew 24:37 —As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. *

What was it like in Noah's time?

Genesis 6:5 —The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. *

Genesis 6:11 —Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. *

Ok, here's the lists, which I've kind of combined, but note that Everything listed just keeps getting worse and worse with each succeeding judgment.

people killed for their belief in Christ
people torturing and killing just for the sake of doing so
terrorism
war(s)
Grief and mourning
jobs lost
Economic disaster
famine
thirst
The gap between the rich and the poor becomes constantly wider.
disease
unusually painful sores, stings and bites
animals killing people
earthquakes
soil erosion,
wildfires,
floods
mudslides
Air pollution
tidal waves
meteors
ecology will be in chaos
Extreme heat
severe worldwide earthquake
100 pound hailstones falling
Extreme cold
fear
more wars
more lost jobs
More deaths
more severe weather
more famine
more thirst
more disease
more painful sores etc for unbelievers that last for months
more fear
etc.

When I look at all of that, I can honestly see that I've not only seen "signs" of each of those, but the signs I've seen have been getting progressively worse over the last year or so.

I think the one that surprised me the most though, was the recent talk of meteors and that there are now official groups who are trying to get government funding in order to locate all that are in earths vicinity in order to destroy any that might threaten us.

People aren't as friendly toward others anymore and that would be easily covered in the fact that God says their love will turn cold. That's very obviously happening. In fact, I'd say you could say it's already happened and is happening more so every day. I'm blessed in that I also live in a very good neighborhood, but that's just the immediate homes next to me. Not far down, we've got drug dealers who sell to children and other stuff just as bad.

As far as diseases go, not only are their new illnesses, but old ones that were wiped out have returned with a vengeance and many diseases that were only seen in third world countries are now running rampant here in the US and other advanced countries! On top of that, old diseases or maybe you could call them "regular known diseases" have become even worse then they were originally. Also some that were considered for most people minor nuisances are now major problems that affect people's ability to work and live their lives normally. Allergies are one of those I've noticed like that. I've always known people that have had allergies. I have them myself. In fact, when I was a child, even the doctors would have said mine were pretty bad. Not by today's standards though! It seems as though a huge number of people don't just "have allergies", but have them so badly that they can't function without getting regular injections for them! Illnesses and diseases that existed, but were rarely seen when I was a child or young adult, are now rampant all over the world and considered "normal". On top of all of that, we have diseases from all those categories that medicine can't cure, and many that are killing people. I've also seen that "normal" things like bug bites and insect stings are affecting many people differently now days then they did before. All my life until the last couple of years, a bite or sting bothered me because it itched or stung, but it was only a nuisance - no big deal. And except for people who happened to be allergic to bee stings or something, that's how it was for everyone. Not anymore though. More and more people are reporting bites and stings that really hurt and or itch terribly for a week or even weeks instead of days! I sure hate to see what it's going to be like during the tribulation, although the Lord gives us hints with the stings that cause severe pain and last for 5 months etc.

Because of all this and everything else that's happening in the world, I no longer say we're living in the end times. Instead, I say and believe that we're living in the last days - the last days of the end times to be exact. I say that because the end times actually started when the church was born and have been progressing ever since then. Now, however, the birth pangs of the next age have become very obvious and are happening faster and harder then ever. Just like a woman in labor. Labor can last a very long time, but when it gets to this stage, every woman knows her time is at hand. And so is ours.

The sinkholes are another sign and even that's going nuts lately, happening more often, and with them getting larger and larger and people losing their lives because of them.

And then of course there's the wild fires too. Those too seem to be happening more frequently and cover more ground then ever too. Even happening in places that it doesn't normally.

 

We can all say that the weather has been very unusual for the last few years and instead of going back to "normal", each year seems worse then the year before it.  Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear about some so called "natural disaster" that's happening somewhere in the world, and often it's right here in the US.

The same with earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and everything else! Just look at the recent past at all the tornadoes and that alone should be enough to make people think! Those too are happening in places they don't normally happen, like New Hampshire! In fact, we've had several actually sighted this year already and some have touched down and caused damage. It got so bad that the local weatherman in trying to calm people's fears, made the statement that it wasn't "really" true that we never had tornadoes here in NH, because we normally had one every year somewhere in the state. When pressed on it though, he had to admit that they didn't normally touch down or cause damage, but were more often just that they would form and then break up right away. Up until last year, in the 25 years I'd lived here, I could honestly say I'd only seen one and was concerned a second time that one would form, but it didn't. We've had a number of them in the last year alone though!

There's also been a lot of activity in the heavens as well. And all of this is again pointing (strongly) toward the end of this age. Soon, the Father will be sending Jesus to come and get us. I honestly cannot imagine Him allowing us to stay here for "years" longer.

 

(I originally wrote this well over a year ago) 

What the first Three and a Half years of the Trib will be like

I know some people seem to think that the first half of the Trib will be peaceful but that's simply not biblical.  People generally get that idea from movies and books, but not from the Bible. Think of it this way. I wouldn't even call the way things are now entirely "peaceful" and these things aren't going to get better, they're going to get worse! If nothing else just reading the judgements that are going to happen during this time show it's going to be far from peaceful.  Think about it...between a third and half of the worlds population are going to die during these first 3 and a half years!  And that's AFTER all the people have disappeared from the rapture!  Just realizing that one fact alone should be enough to show that the world is going to be in complete chaos.  If it wasn't, they wouldn't need a "savior"; they wouldn't think they needed the antichrist!  I think another reason that causes some people to think that the first half of the Tribulation will be relatively peaceful is because Jesus called the second half of it the "Great Tribulation". You have to realize why He did that though.  For one thing, the second half will be worse then the first half for everyone, but it will be especially worse for the Jews and that's who Jesus was talking to at that time.  He was letting them know that as bad as the first half is going to be, the second will be even worse.  

Another way you could look at it is this:  Human beings might just be able to survive as a race if we only had to go through the first half of the Tribulation.  I say, "might", because honestly, with all the devastation both supernatural as well as that done by men that the earth itself is going to go through, it's also possible that we could do enough damage even in the first half that could cause enough chain reactions for the earth to be eventually uninhabitable.  But I think it's more likely that we could survive it. But there is no way humans could survive the second half of the Tribulation. If Jesus did not return and make the earth habitable again, all life would soon die off on the earth by the end of the Tribulation.  That's one reason Jesus tells us that no one would survive if the Lord doesn't shorten it. (Matthew 24:22)

The AC will get elected because the people are so afraid, so tired of being afraid and hungry and sick etc that they'll be snatching at straws, they'll be desperate for someone to help them. Of course, we know he's not going to help them, he's only going to make promises to help. The only thing he will do that will make people "think" he's just wonderful and that he CAN help, will be to sign the treaty between Israel and her neighbors. We already know he isn't going to keep that treaty though, and we know he isn't even going to totally enforce it either, even at the beginning. Like I said, that will last only long enough to get him into power.

Let's see what the Bible says will happen during that first half of the trib.

The 7 seals will come first: keep in mind that this is occurring during the FIRST 3 years of the Trib:

Revelation 6:1-17 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. 


During the first part of the Tribulation then, we have the AntiChrist coming on the scene promising peace but giving people war instead.  That's another thing people are often mistaken about.  They think the AC will actually bring peace during the first half, but he won't.  The bible tells us that he lies to the people making them believe that he wants peace and that it's not his fault that the wars break out all over the world.  These wars will affect the entire world, not just parts of it.  Yes, that means even here in the US! No one and no place will be exempt. 

  When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” 

Now, because of the wars and other problems, we now have famine all over the world.  This is most likely due to the economy failing as well as crops being destroyed by the wars.  The Bible says that the rich people will be OK, but the rest of the world is going to be pretty miserable and hungry.  Hungry, miserable people often start riots, loot stores, and are violent. They rob others to get what they want. (now keep in mind that a huge number of the population has recently disappeared in the rapture, and many of them are in law enforcement agencies. Plus there could be a lot of chaos left from when the rapture happened that will still be a problem.  So now we have a whole lot more crime, plus wars that are quite possibly nuclear, and a lot of hungry, scared, people all over the world, many of which will be the ones behind all the crime, with little to no police available to help stop it all.  Does that sound peaceful to you?  it sure doesn't to me!
 
When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.


Next comes disease and more death.  My guess is that due to the wars obliterating and or poisoning the crops, the animals are going to get sick, possibly rabid and begin attacking people a lot more often then ever before.  Keep in mind too that evil is on the rise.  More and more people will be giving up all restraint and doing anything that pleases them, meaning sin, no matter who it hurts. It will be a time of "anything goes" on the earth. At this point one fourth of the people who were left behind after the rapture will die.  Let's pretend there were only 100,000 people left on the earth after the rapture.  If that were true, then out of that number, 25,000 of them would die!  Now that's not taking into account the number of people who had already died from wars, famine and crime!  What do you think would be a good guess for that number on a world with little police force left?  Let's say 5% of the population which would be another 5,000 people.  So that would leave only 70,000 people left.  The reason I'm using such low numbers is because we can grasp those numbers a lot easier then the actual numbers of the population. So this allows us to at least grasp the huge number of deaths that will be happening.
 
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.



And now we come to the martyrs being killed and a huge number of them as well.  Yet more violence.  As you can easily see by now, the world has become a very violent and ugly place to live in.  It's nothing like what we know it as now. Well nothing like what most of us know it as.  Perhaps those people who currently live in places where ISIS is terrorizing and killing so many people can imagine a whole world like that, where there is no safe place to live. 
 
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”



Finally, we know that a great earthquake will happen during the first half of the Tribulation as well, which will kill and maim a huge number of the population.  Keep in mind now that none of the other things have stopped happening.  There are still wars, famine, disease, crime, people being killed for their faith in Jesus, and wholesale sin going on constantly.  And we haven't even gotten to any of the Trumpet judgments yet! Scholars differ in just how many of them will happen during the first half of the Tribulation, and a few think they'll all happen in the second half.  So I'm not even going to count any of them, although I do believe that at least the first few of them will happen during the first half of the Tribulation.  So what I'll do is simply list them for you at the end so you can check them out for yourself.

As you can see, during the first 3 and a half years, that's just 42 months, millions of people are going to die! There will be wars, not peace, famine, disease, disasters, unemployment, etc. Food will be scarce and so will money.  People will be living in fear - fear that someone will rob them or kill them, or rape them or beat them. Domestic violence and crime will rise tremendously, as will riots and looting, in part because of all the stress.. This doesn't sound peaceful to me at all! The whole earth will be in utter chaos! I think I can honestly say that the only people on the earth who could be said to be "comfortable" would be those foolish souls who sell out to the Antichrist and work directly for him, staying near him all the time.  While they wouldn't be immune to the judgments, they'd have more money and be part of the rich who would at least still be eating and have a decent roof over their heads, if nothing else.

Remember what happened when Rome fell?  The same kind of things only in smaller measure, just like what's happening now really.  What did Rome do to try to control the masses?  They provided them with "entertainment".  Entertainment that was full of death in the Colosseum. They made it easier for the people to get booze and drugs, and passed laws making it legal for homosexuals to marry.  Homosexuality became the "in" thing after awhile.  Women's lib was introduced as was abortion.  Sounds a lot like us doesn't it?  I've always believed that what happened to Rome was a picture of what was going to happen not just to the US, but ultimately to the world. .

Going back to the Judgements though, if you start at the beginning, each judgment adds to the next and is carried over; in other words, things get progressively worse. How can all of these things have happened and yet everyone is still "comfortable". It simply can't be! People are falling for fantasy rather then reality in this. I think the reason for that is that it's so hard for us to imagine the world being that bad.  We think things are horrible now, but really, compared to the way they'll be then, they're not at all.   Think for a moment about what God said about the people on earth during Noah's time.  He said that every single thought and feeling they had was evil.  Not "most of them", but ALL of them.  Not most of the people, but "all of them" except for Noah and his family.  That's how it will be after the rapture.  All of their thoughts and desires will be evil, except for those of the people who are saved or are being saved. .

The first 3 and a half years won't be as bad as the last 3 and a half but that doesn't mean that people will be comfortable. One reason it will be even worse in the last half of the trib is because the people will still be dealing with the effect all of the previous judgments have had on them as well as with the next new judgments. Plus you have to take into account how things are right this minute. Even now with the problems with the economy, and with the tension in the mid east, and the current wars, and the threats of more wars, the unemployment etc. most of the people are not as "comfortable" as they were before and we know from the financial advisers and well as from the bible that these things are going to get worse, not better. Remember, that one of the things that will happen is the economy will continue to get much worse.  The rich will get richer and the middle class will become the new poor (just like is already beginning to happen) and the poor will get even poorer.  But even the rich won't be living in peace.  They're going to need that wine and booze they can afford to buy, to calm their nerves, because they'll be in constant fear; fear for their lives and fear that their money will be stolen or lost and they'll become one of the poor. 
  
So knowing how things are now and having read some of what is going to happen in the first half of the Trib, there is simply no way that people are going to be at peace and nice and comfy during the first half of it. It's not a pretty picture and certainly not something comfortable to think about, but if we tell people the Truth about it, perhaps then it will be enough to plant some seeds about salvation, and perhaps, if we face the truth about it, it will give us the courage to actually speak up to people who need to hear about Jesus.  

Finally, here are the Trumpet judgments, some or all of which may also happen during the first half of the tribulation. 

Revelation 7:1-4 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

Revelation 8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
 
Revelation 8:7-12 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

Revelation 9:1-6 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
 
Revelation 9:13-19 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury