Don’t underestimate the impact of the Rapture

There have been many articles written over the years about the Rapture addressing who will go, when it will happen and the international implications of the rapture. This column does not deal with those implications as much as it does the personal impact — what each person will have to deal with and what to expect.

For the first minute or so after the Rapture there will be a stunned silence across the world. People will disappear in the middle of conversations in front of co-workers as well as pilots, drivers, babies, emergency response personnel, etc. Across the spectrum, rich and poor alike will suddenly just vanish. Panic will shortly follow.

Where did the people go? How did it happen? Why did just those people go? The news will be full of reports, speculation will run rampant. Reports of deaths as a result will be in the thousands worldwide. Commentators of the news will come up with theory after theory, from space abduction to a mass organization of people just hiding. But none will suggest the Rapture just happened.

Within hours, churches and places of worship will be packed to capacity. The rush for Christian literature will create riots; the homes of ministers, their offices and churches will be stripped of anything that could reveal what will happen next. The shelves in bookstores will be stripped of religious material. The desire of these left behind to know what to do will be in a fury. Some of those left behind will ask, “Why didn’t I go?”

Over a period of several days there will be pandemonium. Looting, robbery, murder, rape and violent criminal activity will be the order of the day. Worldwide, the economies of all nations will be in chaos when the sudden disappearance of experienced people in commerce will create shortages of everything from fuel to food. Within weeks, a method to control and maintain security of nations — an international identification method — will come to light at the suggestion of one man. It will probably start as a method to keep track of people who migrate, but will soon turn into a case that all people will be required to have the international identification.

Almost immediately there will be some method of forgery. At this point the identification will be made a permanent non-removable method of identification such as a tattoo or microchip (this technology is already in existence and has been tested). For ease of access the option will be to place it on the forehead or wrist. Those who refuse to be marked will at first be shunned.

Eventually, all of these Christians will lose their legal rights, the right to own property, self-defense, special taxation, their homes and business destroyed or confiscated. The lack of the mark that they will refuse will eventually be their death sentence as shortly thereafter they will be considered to be an enemy of the state and executed.

Revelation 13:15 says, “and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”

Their reason for not taking the mark of the beast can be found in Revelation 14:11: “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest, day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

Over the next few months, anti-Semitism will grow at an extraordinary rate, as well as crime, corruption, sexual devaluation to such an extent that the news will stop reporting on it to only report on the latest number of Christians who were caught and executed. A new state-accepted church will be established to comfort those who carry the mark, but still want to put on the facade of being religious.

Within months, natural disasters will happen at an unprecedented pace hurricanes, heat waves, cold snaps, earthquakes, volcanic action and tornadoes. Wildfires will run unchecked and out of control, flooding, starvation and war — in short, the world will be turned upside down and inside out.

In the midst of this one man will step forward seeming to have all the answers. Peace and security will finally seem to be within reach.

He will offer answers and the new church will endorse him, many governments will embrace his suggestions essentially placing him in control of their countries to be a part of his answer to all their problems primarily of an economic nature. The focus of the government will shift in an attempt to eliminate the last of the Christians who do not carry the mark. Natural disasters, pestilence, disease and hardship will continue to increase at epic proportions that the world has never seen before.

For the average person, life will be a chaos, violence and uncertainty. As people search for what was once thought to be normal, they will discover that nothing will ever be normal again. Virtually all their money will be spent to heat their homes and have a meager diet of the cheapest food available. Small things once taken for granted will become luxurious, items like coffee, clean water, untainted food and fuel for a vehicle. If a person is able to find them those items will have to be bought in small quantities because of the cost. Even with the military, any personal property will have to be guarded to prevent theft, and even then people will be murdered for the most meager of possessions. Families, neighborhoods, communities, cities and states will turn on each other.

Sound like science fiction? The day is coming when we will all find out. The only question is will you be an observer of the tribulation or a participant?

Mike Blodgett is chaplain at Lighthouse Chapel. Contact him at 373-5866 or email lighthouse_chapelak@yahoo.com.

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