The Tribulation


"So when you see standing in the holy place the 'abomination that causes desolation,'* spoken of through the prophet Daniel- let the reader understand- then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak... Pray your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now- and never to be equaled again... At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, 'There he is out in the desert,' do not go out there; or 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it."



Matthew 24:15-28
* Stands for Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11



Note to everyone: Tribber is a nickname for tribulationist.


Introduction



The Tribulation will be the worst time period of all time. The Tribulation will last 7 years, according to Daniel 9:27. There will be so much death and pain in the time period. Some people say that they'll wait until after the Rapture to become a Christian, but I wouldn't advise that. Did you know that if you are left behind, that only one in four people would be able to live until the end? If you read things about Europe during WW2 and you think that was bad, the Tribulation will be a million times worse. So my advice would be to get saved now, so that way if anything does happen, you'll be safe.

Some people say that we're living in the tribulation now, but I'm not so sure. I am a pre-tribber. That means I believe that Jesus will take the Christians away from the Earth before the Tribulation occurs. That is called the "Rapture". Pre-Tribber believes that the Christians who are taken away from the Earth will never see the Rapture. Mid-Tribber believes that the Christians will be raptured in the middle of the tribulation. And Post-Tribber believes that there won't be a Rapture and that there will only be a Second Coming. But to be honest, we will never be sure when Jesus comes back. The Bible gives us hints, but it never right out says when. Either way (if we are taken before, or in the middle, or not even at all) here's an outline of the Tribulation.






The book of Revelation starts by speaking to the churches, telling them what they're doing wrong and right. Then in Chapter 4 it tells of John being taken up to Heaven and into the future. John will be shown all that will happen in the future. Some think that is the chapter that talks about the Rapture and all the Christians being taken to Heaven too. Others think it is only John.

Chapter 5 begins with there being a scroll and no one could open it except the Lamb. And of course that is Jesus. Pre-Tribbers believe that the tribulation doesn't start until a treaty is signed (Daniel 9:27). The Antichrist is the one who brings forth the idea of a treaty. This world has been through so many wars and battles and he uses this to make a treaty for peace. In actuality only war will come from it. There will be no peace.

Chapter 6:1-2 is the beginning of the Tribulation that will last for seven years. Jesus opened the first of Seven Seal Judgements. It is a rider on a white horse. The rider held a bow and was given a crown, and he went onto conquer the world. This conqueror is the Antichrist. His popularity is soaring and he is winning the hearts of many by his charming attitude. The Left Behind Movie gives a very good portrayal of what the Antichrist will be like. People will follow him and eventually worship him.

In Chapter 6:3-4, the second seal is opened and it is a fiery read horse. The rider on this horse was given power to cause war. He caused people to want to kill each other. This will probably be a world war, since all the nations will be involved. World War 1 was bad, World War 2 was horrible, but this war will be worse than both of them combined. It's hard to imagine anything worse than WW2. But think about it, back in WW2 they didn't have nuclear weapons or the technology the we have now. Unfortunately horrible things can be done with what we have now. And remember Israel will have it the worst. The Jewish people will be singled out once again in this war, along with the Christians.

In Chapter 6:5-6, the third seal was opened and the next horse came out, it was a black one. The rider of this horse was holding a pair of scales in his hand. This horse caused famine. He was told to make the price of grain equal to a day's wages. But to leave the oil and the wine alone, those are rich people's food.

In Chapter 6:7-8, the next seal opened is the forth, and it was a pale horse. The rider was named Death and Hades followed behind him. They killed one-forth of the world's population by the sword, famine and plagues. We're not sure what types of plagues that John is talking about. It could be things like we're fighting today. Like Aids, Ecoli, the West Nile Virus, etc.

In Chapter 6:9-11, the fifth seal is opened and John saw all the Christian martyrs murdered. The Christians were given white robes and they wanted God to avenge their deaths. He will but they must wait a little longer.

In Chapter 6:12-17, the sixth seal is opened and there is a great Earthquake. The sun turned black, the moon turned to blood, and the stars fell from the sky. Mountains and islands were removed from the Earth. Everyone hid in caves and they wanted to hide from God's wrath. But no one could hide from something that horrible.

The next thing that happens is not the seventh sealed judgement; it is 144,000 people being sealed. God placed a seal on his people, on their foreheads to be exact. It doesn't say what the seal looks like, it just says that they were sealed.

In Chapter 8:1-7, the next seal, the seventh was opened. The seventh seal opened the next seven judgements. These judgements were called the "Trumpet Judgements". There was silence in Heaven for a half an hour because what was about to happen was so awful. The ending of the sealed judgements also ended the first 21 months of the Tribulation. That means we aren't even two years into the tribulation yet and there has been so many awful things happening. The first trumpet judgement sounded and hail and fire mixed with blood was thrown into the earth. A third of the people left on the earth were killed. A third of the trees were burnt up, as were a third of the grass.

In Chapter 8:8-9, the second angel sounded his trumpet and something as big as a mountain was thrown into the sea. A third of sea was turned to blood, a third of the ships were destroyed and a third of the sea creatures died. This thing that is as big as a mountain might be an asteroid or maybe a meteorite. This one is very likely to happen right now. Asteroids and meteors are also coming very close to the Earth, and then they don't hit us. Most times the Scientists don't even know one is close to the Earth until it passes us.

In Chapter 8:10-11, the third trumpet sounded and a star fell from the sky and into a third of the world's rivers and springs. The star's name was Wormwood and the waters turned bitter. People who drank from the waters that turned bitter died. It must be poisonous.

In Chapter 8:12, the forth trumpet sounded and a third of the sun, moon and stars went without light. A third of the day and night went without light. This will not be like Elnino or Lanina; this world will not be able to get the sunlight it gets now. God created the Earth to get a certain amount of light all the time. Even when we have hard winters, like 30 below 0, God is still given us some heating to survive. In those types of winters, will still get the same amount of light that was should. But this will be worse than 30 below 0. There is just no imagining how cold it will be. This will also be the end of the earlier judgements of the Tribulation. It will be much worse and harder to survive from then on.

In Chapter 9:1-11, the fifth trumpet was sounded and a star fell into the earth. The star was able to open the Abyss. When it opened, the sky went dark and smoke came out of the Abyss. Locusts came onto the Earth and were told not to harm the plants and trees or those who had the seal of God. They couldn't kill anyone, but once they stung the people, the pain is unbearable. People will want to die, but they won't. These creatures are the most weird sounding things. Chapter 9:7-11 gives this weird detail of these creatures. They have a name, two actually. In Hebrew they are called Abbadon and in Greek they are called, Apollyon. Both names mean "destroyer".

In Chapter 9:13-21, the sixth angel sounded his trumpet and four angels were released to kill a third of mankind. The horses and riders that John saw had blue, red, and yellow breastplates, like sulfur. The heads of the horses were like lions and fire, smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. Those who weren't killed by these 200 million horses went on to do evil things: demon worshipping, murdering, sexual immorality, stealing, and much, much more.

During this time there have been two witnesses who have been prophesying about the tribulation. Telling what was true and what wasn't. People didn't like the witnesses so they tried to kill them. But every time they tried, fire would come out of their mouths and kill their enemies. The Antichrist gets angry with them and kills them and their bodies lay in the streets for three days and a half. God breathed life into them and took them back to heaven. After he took them up, a severe earthquake happened and the city collapsed. And seven thousand people died. You can read more about these two witnesses in Chapter 11.

In the seventh trumpet is sounded and that trumpet begins a new set of judgments, called the Bowl Judgements. This also begins something new. The Great Tribulation begins, a time so awful and horrible, worse than the first three years. We are now at the midpoint in the Tribulation. This is when the Antichrist decides it is time to make the people decide whom to worship. He wants everyone to worship him, instead of God. And that would be Satan worship, after all he is the Devil's Advocate. This is also when the Antichrist was shot and healed by Satan. He went on a wild rampage to kill all the Tribulation Saints (Christians) and the Jewish people. The Antichrist decided that if his followers were loyal to him, they would need to get a Mark to prove their loyalty. So he forced everyone to take his number 666 and anyone who didn't was killed. To buy and sell you needed to have this mark. It will be very difficult for Christians to survive during this time period. And you have to use a certain type of money too. Go to http://www.geocities.com/godluvsusoshea/worldcurrency.html and find out more about the World Currency.

Chapter 16:1-2 continues along with the plagues. The first bowl judgement was that everyone who took the mark of the beast and worshipped his image, received very ugly, painful sores on their bodies. But the Christians who didn't take the mark were perfectly safe in this judgement. Well, maybe not. They could be blamed for the fact that they weren't harmed by this judgement. I'm sure it will be that way through out most of the Tribulation.

In Chapter 16:3, the second bowl judgement released into the seas, the seas were turned to blood. And the living things in the seas died. The third judgement was similar to the second. The rivers and springs were also turned to blood.

In Chapter 16:8-9, the fourth bowl judgement was released and the sun released terrible heat that scorched people with fire. The heat was very intense and people cursed the God and they wouldn't turn to him.

In Chapter 16:10-11, the fifth bowl judgement was again released on the Antichrist and his kingdom. Darkness surrounded them and they cursed God because of this and their nasty sores. Kind of like the darkness that was released on Pharaoh and his kingdom in Exodus 10:21-29.

In Chapter 16:12-14, the sixth judgment was released and the Euphrates' river was dried up. Evil spirits came out of the Antichrist and his false prophet and went out into the world. They gathered people getting ready for the great battle (Armageddon).

In Chapter 16:17-21, the seventh judgement was released and huge earthquake came upon the earth. This earthquake will be very, very, horrible. There has never been an earthquake like this before and never again. The great city split into three parts and the nations' cities also split up. Hailstones, weighing 100 pounds, came on to the Earth. The non-believers cursed God.

The judgments ended, as did the one world religion. The battle of Armageddon will take place after this. Jesus will come back with his church and fight in the battle. Jesus will then conquer the Earth and set up his glorious Kingdom.


And that is the end of the Tribulation! Scary, right? It's even a little hard to believe. I know what you mean; it's hard to imagine that this might be the future of your unsaved brother, sister or friend. I'm lucky, all my family is saved, but there are a lot of people I care about that aren't. So all of us Christians are going to have to work very hard to spread the word of Christ.

If anyone who has read this and is not a Christian, I just want to tell you something. I don't want to scare you into being saved. Don't take my word for it. But if you have decided to ask Jesus into your heart, just go to http://www.geocities.com/godluvsusoshea/salvation.html to find out how you can do that.




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