If I am right about religion, then at some point, several hundreds of millions of people will randomly disappear.

If that occurs, this is a heads up for what's about to happen.

The Short Version

  1. The destruction of Damascus.
  2. An attack on Israel by Russian and Iran.
  3. A peace treaty between Israel and the Middle East.
  4. The man who achieved this treaty will begin a rapid ascent to becoming the Leader of the whole world.
  5. A massive war, potentially WWIII.
  6. A worldwide famine.
  7. The death of roughly 25% of the remaining world population.
  8. The deaths of many religious people at the hands of the rest of the world.
  9. A worldwide earthquake, the dimming of the sun and moon, and possibly a massive meteor shower.
  10. A third of the vegetation on Earth is burned up.
  11. Something happens to the sea that results in:
    1. A third of the sea turning to blood.
    2. A third of all sea life dying.
    3. A third of all ships sinking.
  12. A third of all freshwater becomes poisoned.
  13. The light of the sun, moon, and stars are all reduced by a third.
  14. A locust-like pestilence torments people for five months.
  15. A war that kills a third of the remaining population of Earth.
  16. The world leader dies and seems to come back to life.
  17. Two Jewish preachers are publicly killed, then come back to life.
  18. A global outbreak of sores and boils.
  19. The entire sea turns to blood, and all the sea life dies.
  20. All freshwater turns to blood.
  21. A worldwide heatwave that leaves the planet scorched.
  22. A thick and impenetrable darkness localized somewhere in Europe or the Middle East.
  23. The Euphrates dries up, and armies gather at Armageddon.
  24. A worldwide earthquake that:
    1. Levels every city.
    2. Levels every mountain.
    3. Floods every island.
  25. Jesus shows up in the flesh, defeats everyone at Armageddon, judges everyone else, and establishes a new worldwide kingdom from Jerusalem.

Disclaimers and Framing

Let me be upfront about a few things.

This document is operating under the assumption that I am right about religion. Or, more accurately, the Bible is right about religion. If it is right, then this is what it has to say about the future. I am reiterating this because, at a certain point, it will be easy to put this down and say, “that is absolutely ridiculous.” First, It’s only ridiculous if it doesn’t come true. Second, and more to the point, Christianity’s rightness or wrongness has absolutely nothing to do with the nature of events I am describing. It is neither the cause nor effect. But rather, both the truth of Christianity and the truth of these predictions lie on the same road. Therefore for one to be accurate, the other must be.

To this end, perhaps it is worth thinking of this as "In a universe where Christianity is true, this is what will happen." Whether or not that is this universe is a discussion for another time.

The purpose of this document is two-fold:

The first is to prepare you. A lot, though not all, of what will happen can be prepared for. Especially at the beginning. As you can see from the list above, things get pretty hairy. But for the first bit, at least, life will be made significantly more manageable with a little heads up and opportunity to get ready. Hopefully, the information in this document can help illuminate some of the proverbial highway signs so that you won't be surprised when the time comes.

The second purpose, admittedly, is to proselytize. I know I said that the discussion for which universe we are is for another time—and I mean that—however, what seems ridiculous looking forward will still be history looking backward. These prophecies are not the foundation of Christianity, not the pavement of our metaphorical road, but they are awfully demanding road signs that tell you which road we are on. They won't be a defense of Christianity until after they come true, but they can still serve as a warning. If you are interested in resources or discussion that can serve as a defense in the present, I am happy to provide both. I don't expect to be around for any of the events I am describing; therefore, any input I would want to offer must be (at risk of appearing to be a lunatic) provided before the fact.

All that being said, if the Bible is right about religion, this is what will happen...

The Slightly Longer Version

I am not a prophet, and this document is not a new, unique revelation. Nor is it some great discovery I have uncovered. The stuff I am talking about is simply what is written in the Bible. What follows is my interpretation of what I have studied. Many Bible scholars agree with my views, and many do not. The fun part about prophecy is that we don't exactly know what was meant until after it happens, we can only speculate. The Prophecies in the Bible were recorded as a sort of general warning. Obviously, some are very specific, but others are also equally vague. I'll try to be clear which is which (based on my understanding), but as this is only the slightly longer version, I'll be presenting the information with minimal citations. If you want to test the accuracy of my interpretations, I have included some additional resources at the end to point you in the right direction. My goal here is to provide illumination and context so that the events prophesied are, to some degree, recognizable when they occur.

The Rapture

There is an event in Christian Eschatology called “The Rapture”. We believe that someday, every true believer will disappear from this Earth and be transported to Heaven. Currently, there are roughly 2.3 billion Christians on Earth, but the Bible is fairly clear that many people have fallen away from Faith (even if not out of the church). There are various ways, but it mostly seems to boil down to apathy, which God is not especially keen on. In addition to Christians, many scholars believe that children will also be Raptured. The Bible seems to teach that children are not held accountable until some arbitrary time around the young adult years. Based on studies of the Rapture, many think that children who are still “pure of heart” will be transported to Heaven as well, regardless of their family’s religion (or lack thereof).

A lot of people estimate that roughly 200 million people will vanish. If you included children, that number probably jumps closer to 700-800 million. The Bible says that the disappearance will happen “in the twinkling of an eye”. Since there will be no warning, I imagine that the first clue to those left behind that something happened will be an awful lot of accidents and house fires as vehicles and stoves are suddenly left unattended.

I have reason to believe—though I’m not particularly dogmatic about it—that the Rapture will occur within the next two years, possibly within the next couple months. But there is no reason it can’t happen later. The Bible is intentionally vague about the timing of the Rapture. So we don’t actually know when it will happen, just the general time frame. My speculations are based on the fact that the current international socio-political environment seems to be gearing up for events prophesied to occur after the disappearance. So, even if we don’t know when Christians will disappear, it seems like it’ll have to happen soon, or else some strange deescalations need to occur.

Damascus, Russia, and Iran

There are two reasonably significant events that I think will happen after The Rapture, though there is a good chance they may have occurred first.

  1. The destruction of Damascus
  2. An attack on Israel by Russian and Iran

They may not happen in this order, but I don't feasibly see them happening the other way around.

I assume the destruction of Damascus will be the end of the Syrian Civil War. The Bible is vague on the details, so it is unclear if this is a sudden event or more like what befell Aleppo, but at a larger scale. What we do know is that Damascus will become "a heap of ruins", and probably end up completely uninhabited.

The attack on Israel will be a much more significant event. Russia and Iran (and Turkey, Lybia, Sudan, and possibly Ethiopia) will attack Israel, we assume unexpectedly. They will lose catastrophically, and I'm pretty sure the Israelis will not have a single casualty. Most Bible scholars think this will happen fairly quickly, though some interpretations could see it as a dragged-out affair. I tend to agree with the former. According to the Bible, this is supposed to be God showing off and being glorified by it. The more miraculous the event, the easier it is to attribute supernatural powers.

I think this will happen soon (and thus first, the Rapture. see above) because Russian, Iran, and Turkey are already gathered in Syria. As I write this document, Russia and Turkey are interfering in Lybia. Iran and Turkey really don't like Israel. It seems like Israel is escalating its attacks against Iran's nuclear program, and if Iran can prove it, they will want retribution. Additionally, Iran is crumbling from the inside out, so if they're going to do anything, they will have to do it soon. There is an argument to be made that the state of Iran doesn't matter since the prophecy says that "Persia" will attack Israel, so technically any successor state to Persia (which Iran is right now), could be involved. However, there are enough other pieces current in play that I'm not entirely convinced.

The point, in any case, is that these two events will take place. Damascus might be before the Rapture, but I'm reasonably confident that the attack on Israel will be afterward. I'll explain why in a moment.

A tale of way too many calendars

Before I go any further, I need to take a moment to iron out a potential source of confusion. This whole handbasket of hell that I am talking about revolves around several different and simultaneous sequences of events. And the Bible is not particularly clear on how they relate.

First off, if you read the Biblical account of all this, it is based on the Jewish Religious Calendar, which is a Lunar calendar. So its year is 360 days long. The idea of "7 years" will become important later, because for once, the Bible gives us an exact count of days between certain events. Specifically, there are 3 signpost events that all occur with 1260 day gaps between each other. Obviously, this adds to 2520 total days, which is roughly 6 years and 11 months long.

However, for reasons, these "7 years" are what everything else revolves around. And the Bible is quite specific about the duration.

Secondly, despite this shining example of specificity, the Bible is not clear on how everything else revolves around it. There are some examples of things that must happen before other things, but not enough to solve the logic puzzle.

Revelations comes to life

Imagine, if you will, that you gave an 80-year-old Jewish man from the first century AD an iPad with the most important international news stories of the last decade and then told him to write it all down. It's probably going to get a little garbled in translation. That is basically what happened with Revelations. So just keep in mind that a lot of the super weird stuff is just some guy named John trying to figure out how to describe technology 1900 years in the future. However, I'll do what I can to break it down in a relatively straightforward manner.

As discussed, at some point after the Rapture, the Russia-Israel war should occur. The result will be the neutering, if not the outright dissolution of radical Islam (see combatants above, and imagine what happens if they are utterly defeated). Some guy from Europe will make peace in the Middle East. This event is probably the official peace treaty of the Russian-Israel war, though we don't know for sure. This assumption is based on some slight jiggering of events and looking at the logical progression based on the assumed timespan.

However, the critical part is that the minute this peace deal is signed, a 7-year timer begins. This event is the first of the 3 signpost events and marks the start of the 2520 days mentioned above. During this time, called The Tribulation, everything will literally and figuratively hit the fan.

In Revelations, there are 3 sets of 7 significant events that will occur. These are called:

  1. The Seal Judgments
  2. The Trumpet Judgments
  3. The Bowl Judgments

The Seal Judgments

In Revelations, John sees a scroll with seven seals on it. Each breaking of a seal is one of the following events.

The first four are where we get the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first "horseman" (the rider of the white horse, specifically) is some sort of conquering king sent out to subjugate the world. It is thought that this is the guy who successfully brought peace to the Middle East since other prophecies say that guy will eventually take over the whole world and become the leader of a one-world government. This horseman may be a precursor, though.

The next three horsemen follow logically. The second Horseman is War, so expect a war to break out, possibly WWIII. The Third is Famine, probably coming as a natural result of a world war pillaging everything. Stuff will get expensive, so its probably best to stock up for this. The Fourth is Death. Likely a result of the famine and pestilence. Roughly 25% of the remaining world population will die as a result of this Fourth one. However, while the Bible attributes the 25% deaths to the Fourth Horseman, some speculate it might be a culmination of the events thus far. War leads to famine; famine leads to death; and so on.

The Fifth Seal is thought to be a worldwide martyring of anyone who has converted to Christianity since the Rapture. In the Bible, it is represented as the crying out of "Saints" to be avenged. It is implied that these are the Tribulation Saints. Consequently, many think that some sort of Holocaust style event will occur. On the other hand, some argue that this Seal is the general cry of Saints to be avenged against a world that has treated them poorly since forever. If that were the case, and I think it to be more likely, this Seal has no direct effect on Earth.

The Sixth Seal is some sort of natural or manmade disaster (or both) that results in the sun going black, the moon going red, the stars falling to Earth, and a worldwide earthquake that will "remove" every mountain and island from its "place". Many Bible scholars suspect that something will trigger a shock that will somehow produce a feedback loop that will trigger every single fault line. The resulting earthquake will, in turn, cause a lot of volcanic ash to get pumped in the air to effectively black-out the sun and make the moon red. Some think the "stars" is a meteor shower of some sort, or maybe a Kessler syndrome scenario triggered by an asteroid (which, in that case, might be the trigger for the earthquake). However, nobody actually knows for sure outside of the fact there is an earthquake, and that something happens that causes the sun, moon, and stars to behave strangely.

There is a small interlude here in Revelations that talks about 144,000 Israelites being consecrated and supernaturally protected so that they can minister to people. Some of the language in question seems to hint that perhaps a great calm will fall on the Earth and that the winds will cease blowing. I think the duration of this calm will be the length of time it takes to "seal" (though "brand" might be a better word in modern parlance) these 144,000.

The Seventh Seal is not an Earthly event so much as a cutscene preparing for the Trumpet Judgments. Upon its breaking, there is supposed to be a 30-minute silence in Heaven. Then there will be thunder and lightning and earthquakes on Earth. There are no details provided about the severity. I think it will be more of a sense of impending doom, rather than some cataclysmic event.

The Trumpet Judgments

Whereas the Seal Judgments were more along the lines of things "just getting worse", albeit at an accelerated rate, the Trumpet Judgments will be more supernatural in effect. Also, these are called Trumpet Judgments because seven Angels are supposed to be blowing seven Trumpets.

The sounding of the First Trumpet will cause hail, fire, and blood to fall from the sky and burn up a third of the vegetation on Earth. Blood is going to be a commonly used ingredient going forward. I don't know if this blood is human or not, or even from where it is supposed to come. I don't think it will be natural in origin, though.

The Second Trumpet involves something described as "a great mountain burning with fire" plunging into the sea. Speculation ranges from an asteroid to a nuclear weapon. No one is sure the cause, but the effect will be a third of the sea turning to blood, a third of the sea life dying, and a third of the ships sinking.

The Third Trumpet is a "star" falling to Earth and poisoning a third of the freshwater sources. Again, no one is quite sure what it is, but the Bible takes the time to name it "Wormwood" and says it will turn the water into "wormwood".

The Fourth Trumpet is something causing the sun, moon, and stars to all have their light reduced by a third, and for a third of the day and a third of the night to be without light. Part of this may just be the natural result of a bunch of things having just "fallen to the earth" in rapid succession, but the weird part about a third of the day and night being without light makes it seem like something supernatural is at play.

Before the Fifth Trumpet is sounded, an angel (sometimes represented as an eagle) is supposed to appear on Earth, shouting, "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!". I imagine there will be some physical manifestation of this, though how literal it is meant to be taken is anyone's guess.

The Fifth Trumpet (and First Woe) is a plague of weird locust-sized scorpion-tailed warhorses that have a man's face with lion's teeth. To be honest, no one has any idea what John is talking about. We are not sure if he was literally describing some demon, or really struggling to describe some sort of technology. They will torment anyone who is not a Christian for five months, but they won't kill anyone. There is some language here that implies no one will die at all for these five months.

The Sixth Trumpet (and Second Woe) is some sort of war. An army of 200 million soldiers will wage war against the world leader. This war will kill a third of Earth's remaining population (and notably not succeed in its purpose). There is an implication that most of the non-combat casualties will be by some sort of chemical means. Many people speculate this army will be led by individuals who are currently (circa 2020) very powerful and don't like the idea of surrendering sovereignty to a one-world government.

A moment to rewind

At this point in the list, we are about to reach a point where we at least have some idea of how the various timelines sync up, so I'm going to back up and address some of the other moving pieces so that we have some context.

As an aside, many scholars think that this is the mid-point of the Tribulation, but only with something like 60% confidence. John seems to hint at it because, in the middle of some explanations, he is randomly like, "The Seventh Trumpet sounded," then he goes back to talking about mid-tribulation stuff (which we know is mid-tribulation stuff because of some prophecies from other books of the Bible). That said, I won't present it in quite the same order as John for the sake of bringing you up to speed on some context I glossed over earlier.

The Antichrist

First, we have the World Leader I've previously mentioned. This is the guy Christians call "The Antichrist," though technically Revelations refers to him as "The Beast of the Sea" (or just "The Beast"). This man will be a political figure of some sort. I have my suspicions about who this individual will be, but I am not dogmatic about it. I am mostly basing them on the answer to the question, "Who, in current international politics, is in a position to check off X, Y, and Z boxes in the near future?" I could be wrong by merely having an incorrect timetable. But either way, the Bible is clear that this guy can't rise to power until "the Restrainer" is out of the way. Rather than down a rabbit hole, I'll simply leave it at this: We believe that the Holy Spirit (one of the members of the Trinity) is the Restrainer. We also believe the Holy Spirit indwells every Christian and that when all the true believers are taken away from this Earth, the Holy Spirit will step back and let Satan have free rein. I'll go into more detail about this later. Suffice to say, the point here is that the Antichrist will not be revealed until Post-Rapture.

Anyway, the Tribulation starts when the Antichrist successfully brings peace to the Middle East. The Bible says that he will be a charming and charismatic political figure and will rise to power quickly (and probably not through conventional means). It is unclear exactly how quickly he will rise to power, but at the mid-point of the Tribulation (after the first 1260 days), he will die (probably an assassination), seem to come back to life, and demand to be worshiped as God. This is the second signpost event. This demand will piss off the Jews because they will have claimed him as their Messiah. So he will turn on them and start persecuting them to the point the Holocaust looks benign. Luckily, however, a significant portion of the Jews will escape and be supernaturally protected for the next three and a half years.

The False Prophet

The Antichrist will spend the next three and a half years exercising total control over the world and putting to death anyone who refuses to worship him. Aiding in this endeavor is a religious figure known as the "False Prophet" to Christians and is referenced in scripture as the "Beast of the Earth." It is unclear where this guy comes from, but he will be on the scene by the mid-point of the Tribulation and working for the Antichrist in a religious capacity.

Many scholars speculate that there will be a world religion that rises during the first half of the Tribulation (or morphs out of one or more existing religions) and that at the mid-point will turn instead to worship the Antichrist. This whole thing is undoubtedly a bait and switch. It is unclear how closely the False Prophet and the Antichrist will be working together before the mid-point, but afterward, he will be the Antichrist's first lieutenant.

Once this religious organization sets up the Antichrist as its god, The False Prophet will be the individual responsible for making everyone worship the Antichrist. He will also be the one who forces everyone to accept the "Mark of the Beast" and will behead anyone who does not comply. Eventually, the Antichrist will subsume the headship of the religion away from the False Prophet. Still, the False Prophet will continue to work for him in some capacity as we know that he survives the Tribulation.

The Mark of the Beast

The Mark of the Beast isn't a player so much as a critical piece in the game. As just mentioned, the False Prophet is going to compel everyone to take the Mark of the Beast. He will accomplish this through several means. First, no one will be allowed to buy or sell anything unless they have this Mark. Second, anyone who doesn't accept the Mark will be beheaded.

Most importantly, once someone takes the Mark of the Beast, they will have arrived at the point of no return and can no longer be Saved, which is why so many Christians are terrified of it and worry that this or that technology is actually the Mark of the Beast. However, I think that when the moment comes, people will know what they are choosing. I don't think anyone will be tricked into being Marked. To take the Mark will be a choice to turn one's back on God and worship the Antichrist instead.

The Two Witnesses

Another set of figures relevant around this time is a pair known in the Bible as the "Two Witnesses". These guys will spend 1260 days preaching Christianity in Jerusalem, though we are not sure if it lines up with either half of the Tribulation exactly, or is slightly offset. These guys are supposed to be able to prevent rain from falling while they are around, though it is unclear if they will prevent it in general while they are around, or if it is something that they exercise periodically. They will also be able to strike down with fire anyone who tries to harm them, turn water into blood, and brings plagues upon the Earth whenever they want.

Basically, they will be a very annoying thorn in the side of anyone who is not a Christian. They will likely get blamed for many of the ecological effects of the Seal and Trumpet Judgments that occur while they are still around. At the end of the 1260 days, the Antichrist will finally be able to kill them (without getting burned up), and the whole world will rejoice at their death. After three and a half days, they will be raised from the dead, and then fly up to Heaven. As soon as they leave, Jerusalem will be struck by an earthquake that will destroy a tenth of the city and kill 7000 people.

Most scholars think that killing the Two Witnesses will occur shortly after the Antichrist appears to come back to life then claims to be God. However, we really don't have anything to go on, and this is mostly based on the assumption that they will show up after the Tribulation starts.

The Jews

As you may have noticed, the Jews play a pretty integral role, given the event that starts the Tribulation will be a peace treaty with them. For the first half of the Tribulation, they will be in a state of peace. Something in the peace treaty will allow them to rebuild their Temple (something that needs to be done on the site of the Muslim Dome of the Rock, which, in turn, is built on the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples). They will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah (which, by the way, they've always seen as a political figure, never a religious or deific one). At the mid-point of the Tribulation, after the Antichrist seems to come back to life, he will walk into the Temple and declare himself god. Given that this was one of the primary reasons the Jews were not big fans of Jesus when He came around, they are not going to be very happy about this either. As mentioned above, following this event, the Antichrist will try to eradicate the Jews, and many will escape. At this point, they kind of bow out of the picture until the end of the Tribulation.

A Random Angel

According to the Revelations, a random angel is going to show up and say something. And then some things described as "the seven thunders" will say something. And that is all we know because John was told he could not write it down. This is an intriguing piece of scripture because as vague as Revelations can be, it is some of the most highly detailed prophecies in the Bible. And so to have this thing deliberately left obscured is frustrating.

That said, based on context, many scholars speculate that the angel in question might be Jesus and that this announcement is tantamount to Him saying, "Enough is enough". The Bible implies that where God previously showed Grace to give people time to believe in Him, now that time is up and He is going to punish the world.

And that's when the Seventh Trumpet (and Third Woe) is blown, heralding in the Seven Bowls of God's Wrath.

The Bowl Judgments

The First Bowl is sores and boils on anyone who has taken The Mark of the Beast. It is unknown if this is a by-product of the means or method of obtaining the Mark, or if this is just God making it so. This punishment will naturally pass over the Christians since taking the Mark will automatically make someone forever unable to become a Christian.

The Second Bowl turns the entire sea into blood, and all the sea life dies.

The Third Bowl turns all the freshwater to blood.

The Fourth Bowl is an intense heatwave (possibly caused by solar activity that will scorch the Earth and burn people alive.

The Fifth Bowl is thick and impenetrable darkness over "the kingdom of the Beast". Given that he will be ruling the whole world at this point, it is unclear the boundaries of this darkness. However, most scholars assume that it will be localized around the Antichrist's seat of power. Also, there is an implication that the sores and boils from the First Bowl may still be around at this point in time.

The Sixth Bowl is the drying up of the Euphrates. The Bible says this is to make way for the "kings from the east". At the same time, there will be a demonic influence on all the kings of the world to gather their armies in the Valley of Meddigo (Armageddon).

The Seventh Bowl of Wrath is another global earthquake. This one will be so strong that cities collapse, mountains crumble, and islands cease to exist. Also, massive 100-pound hailstones will be involved. Apparently, at the same time, a separate special "cup filled with the wine of [God's] fierce anger" will be poured out on "Babylon" (we assume "Babylon" is the Antichrist's capital city) and the city will be completely and utterly destroyed.

Judgment

Upon the destruction of Babylon, the Bible says that God declares that "It is done". So while punishments will still be meted out, the implication is that we are transitioning from a period of wrath and retribution to one of judgment.

Exactly 2520 days after the signing of the (now broken) peace treaty, Jesus will show up in the sky surrounded by the armies of Heaven, come down to Earth, and singlehandedly defeat the armies at Armageddon. This is the third signpost event. Then comes is a 75 day period, during which Jesus will clean house and set up His kingdom. I'm not sure the exact order of events, but here is the gist of it.

The Millennial Kingdom

The Millennial Kingdom is a little outside the scope of this document, but I'll address it to wrap up some loose ends. For 1000 years, Jesus will rule from and over Earth. At the end of the 1000 years, Satan is released from the bottomless pit, and he will wage war against Jesus again. This time he will be defeated for good and thrown into the Lake of Fire along with everyone who fought alongside him. Everyone else who has ever lived will be raised from the dead, judged, and unbelievers will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Then God will remake Heaven and Earth, and we all enter eternity, whatever that may entail.

Takeaways and Miscellaneous Thoughts

That is the narrative of what is about to happen. Here are some additional thoughts and speculations that I think would be helpful to know, but there wasn't a great place to include them in what became The Significantly Longer Version.

The odds of surviving all seven years are quite low

Between the Fourth Bowl and Sixth Trumpet Judgments, 50% of the world's population will die. But on top of that, almost every judgment comes will decent odds of collateral damage. Wars, famines, plagues, worldwide earthquakes, hail, heatwaves. Not to mention water turning to blood, or getting poisoned, or the deaths of first a third, then all, sea life. Between all this, some scholars put the odds of surviving at just under 25%.

And then there is the persecution of anyone who becomes a Christian or otherwise refuses to take the Mark of the Beast. Though an argument could be made that getting beheaded for being a Christian is getting a free pass to skip to the end. So that survival rate is quite lower, though, at that point, it doesn't really matter.

Reality won't be this black and white

The Bible says that as soon as the Church is Raptured, the world will be subject to a Great Deception. People these days work so hard to discount the supernatural, so when the supernatural happens, they will latch onto whatever they can. This deception is one of the ways the Antichrist will rise to power. He will be a smooth-talking leader with all the answers.

If you recall, the Seal Judgments seem like natural extensions of each other. It will be easy for everyone to keep explaining things away. The Bible appears to indicate that it is not really until the latter half of the Bowl judgments that the world will be divided into Christians and people who are actively blaspheming God.

Once an individual is Marked, the deception is no longer necessary since Satan will have won the battle for their soul, so I think at that point, he (Satan) will fill them with so much anger and hate that they will willfully and knowingly give God the finger. Until that point, however, as long as the person has the chance to turn to Jesus, Satan will be trying to deceive and cajole them to his side.

I hope that by providing this document, I can help you see through the lies and deception. Logically, there should be no way I'd know any of this, but it is in the Bible (albeit vague), so as it starts to come true, hopefully, that provides proof that God exists, and He knows what's up. In the additional resources section, I'll also provide some resources that look at Christianity from a lens other than prophecy.

The cultural interpretations of Heaven and Hell are really annoying

Over the millennia, there has been a certain amount of dramatizing, embellishing, and simplification of the ideas of Heaven and Hell (actually, many cycles of this resulting in a strange eschatological game of telephone). But if you get into the theology of it all, it boils down to this. Heaven is where God, the source of all love, joy, peace, and comfort, lives. And Hell is where God is not. Logically, therefore, Hell will have no love, joy, peace, or comfort.

Right now, there is a thing Christians call "Common Grace". This basically means there is a helping of love, joy, peace, comfort, etc. that God has given to the whole Earth, at large, with no regard for merit. Then we believe that Christians have a little extra helping because we have a piece of the Holy Spirit inside us. Additionally, we believe that at some point, God will also withdraw His Common Grace. Possibly at the beginning of the Tribulation. Definitely by the mid-point

The purpose of the Church Age and Common Grace, in general, was to give people time to make their way back towards God, but as time goes on and humans walk further and further away from Him, eventually God is going to withdraw His Grace. The Tribulation is meant to be a final reckoning. Sorta like a last chance, like God is saying, "This is what a world looks like without Me." And then at the end of the Tribulation, once everyone has made up their minds, He will separate those who want to be with Him into Heaven, and those who don't want to be with Him into Hell.

Why a lower survival rate for Christians doesn't matter

A Christian, by definition, is someone who wants to be with God. Once God removes His Common Grace, He will live only in the hearts of the Tribulation Saints (as the Bible calls post-rapture Christians). The world will be turned over to Satan. If someone is a Christian, the Tribulation will be particularly rough. But for them, it is not God's Wrath they are suffering, just Satan and the World's Wrath. Not to say that their wrath won't be significant, but it will be finite and short. The Tribulation Saints will also have to deal with collateral damage from God's Wrath. This is why God raptures the Church before the Tribulation, because He does not want us to have to suffer His Wrath. But anyone who converts after the Rapture will have to tough it out. Therefore, to die during the Tribulation means skipping all the wrath, and being able to leave the world and join God. That said, even if a Christian has to live through all 7 years of the Tribulation, God has promised to be with them. He has promised peace and joy and to surround them with His never-ending love. Make no mistake, life will be neither easy nor comfortable, but when all is said and done, no matter what the survival rate of Christians will be, we will all be with our God for the rest of eternity.

The Holy Spirit and Its restraining

The Holy Spirit is one of the three members of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. As mentioned above (in the section about The Antichrist), we believe that the Holy Spirit is acting as a restraining force against the evils of the world. Specifically against Satan and his machinations. This restraining force is part of the Common Grace that God has given everyone. When the Church is Raptured, the Holy Spirit will not leave the Earth since It will still be around for the Tribulation Saints, but It will no longer restrain Satan. Instead of providing a Common Grace, It will offer a Special Grace, and those who refuse it will be turned over to Satan and suffer the Wrath of God. One of the more ambiguous parts of studying prophecy is that a lot of what is prophesied is not going to occur until after the Antichrist is revealed, which the Bible very clearly says can not happen until after the Restrainer is taken out of the way. Since this event correlates with the Rapture, the timing of which is deliberately kept from us, we are left looking at shadows, trying to judge what is causing them and how far away they are.

You should probably prepare

If you take nothing else away from this whole document, at least look into preparing for it all. It wasn't in the scope of this document, so I left most of it out, but other prophecies in the Bible hint that the Rapture will be very soon. Adopting a prepper life-style would not be unwarranted. If you thought the coronavirus chaos was terrible, this will make it seem like a walk in the park. And unlike corona, there is no hope for it to blow over in a couple of months. The Economy is going to be wrecked by the Rapture, especially in America. Then by a global war, then a worldwide famine, then a full quarter of the Earth's population dying. And that's just the beginning. Unless God, in His Grace, allows a breather between Corona and the Rapture, business will literally never be going back to normal.

I don't mean to be sensationalistic or fear-mongering. If I am right about religion, these are the simple facts. I may be wrong, but I really don't think I am. There are plenty of entirely unrelated areas of Christian theology that hold water and independently prove the truth of Christianity to me. If those are true, then how can I dismiss any of this? Ultimately it is up to you, though.

Additional Resources

As long as this document is, I have simplified many things to the point of being potentially misleading. Not to say that I'm intentionally wrong, just that I've presented a lot of statements as fact when in actuality, it is somewhat nuanced. While the Bible is 100% correct, I may be wrong in how I've understood some of the finer details and thereby wrong in how I've presented it. I'm not trying to make excuses, but rather show that I've barely scratched the surface. To that end, if you are interested in getting a little more in-depth, I recommend the following books.

The Tribulation/Revelations

Christianity

Pre-Rapture In case you are interested in further information before the Rapture occurs:

I also probably gave you this document with a flashdrive. On that flashdrive is a wealth of information from people who have put much more time than I into preparing it. Whereas this document is more for warning, preparation, and a general overview of the Tribulation, the purpose of that drive is to be a resource directly following the Rapture. It has information and guides on Christianity, as well as much more in-depth explanations about what is going on.

In the event that I am still on this earth, either by virtue of the rapture not yet occurring or (God forbid) I get left behind, I am happy to serve as an additional resource and attempt to answer any questions you may have. And if you like, I would also be delighted to send you copies of any and all of the books I've recommended.