And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Acts 2:17-21, KJV

Last year, in the spring of 2020, I had a dream. I wrote it down but have moved houses since then and have not come across the notebook the dream was recorded in. I would like to share it with you now with this disclaimer: Since I am writing this from recall, I may have changed a few details in my mind over the months. If (hopefully when) I find my notebook, I will add a paragraph or two to the end of this post with anything I accidentally changed.

The dream started with me walking in Walden, NY, the town that I lived in from age 9 until I graduated high school. I was walking down a hill towards the town library/police station/fire station/court house (the building served all four functions.) I had an interaction with an individual while I was walking, but I do not feel at liberty to share that portion of the dream.

After that, I turned towards the elementary school. There was a large crowd walking in that direction. A woman told me the school had been rebuilt and that I needed to come and see. However, when I got there, the old elementary school was still on the left side of the street. The new school instead stood across the street where a large church used to sit. The building was massive. The outer walls were constructed of dark stone or concrete. It looked like a cross between a factory and an old prison or a mental hospital from a bad horror film, but it had turrets like a castle. The walls were wide with ramps and walkways. The whole complex was electrically charged and you could smell electricity in the air. There were dark storm clouds and weird bolts of blue lighting in the sky that looked fake, man made, like something from a low budget movie. The first thing I noticed as I was entering the school complex was that there were no stairs. Instead, there were ramps with handrails so that people could walk around safely without tripping. However, the handrails were made of copper. I thought I remembered that copper was conductive and wished that my husband was there to ask since he was a metals fabricator in the Air Force and would know the answer. It seemed odd to me that someone, knowing that the area was electrically charged, designed the safety handrails out of a conductive material that put the user in danger of receiving an electric shock that would be more harmful than a fall.

I walked farther into the complex and came to a courtyard that had small playground with a spiral plastic slide. I climbed up the slide so I could get a better view of the school. On my way up, I noticed the slide had a thin ribbon of metal that ran down the center. I somehow knew that it was placed there to protect children from getting a static electric shock while sliding. However, the strip was sharp on the edges. If a child slid down the slide while wearing shorts, they would risk receiving nasty cuts on the back of their thighs. I again found it odd that someone had designed a safety measure that presented a more dangerous problem than the one it sought to solve. I got to the top of the slide and looked out over the complex. I realized the school was not just a school but an entire city. The city stretched so far into the distance that I could not see the end of it. I saw many courtyards with identical play sets to the one I had climbed, all containing spiral slides with matching metal protective strips, every building looked the same, there were copper handrails along all the paths, the sky was dotted with dark storm clouds, and the air was pulsing with blue electricity.

I looked out on the endless city with its identical buildings, play sets, and pathways and I knew that something was not right. I ripped off the metal strip attached to the top of the slide and climbed down. I went to warn others of the dangers I had seen. I found myself in a department store where the cash registers were spread throughout the store in the center of the different departments. I walked up to a group that was waiting in line and tried to show them the metal strip I had taken from the slide. The cashier came from around the counter and assured everyone that everything was fine and that I was mistaken. The strip in my hand was simply a piece of fabric ribbon. Even if it didn’t stop children from receiving an electric shock, it certainly wouldn’t hurt them, so what was the harm in attaching it to the slide? She then pointed at a display rack and told everyone on line that the store sold the exact same ribbon. Although I initially had everyone’s attention, the patrons all turned away and ignored me at the words of the cashier. I took one of the ribbons from the display, held it up in front of the cashier’s face, and showed her that the two ribbons were not the same. The one from the store was fabric. The one from the slide was metal. At first she refused to look. When she finally did, her eyes grew wide with realization and fear. She then closed her eyes, shook her head, and insisted that they were the same thing and that I was crazy to think otherwise.

After that I found myself inside a government building with many offices. I went from office to office trying to find out who I needed to speak with in order to warn them of the conductive handrails and the sharp metal strips on the slides. Since the school was new and everyone had just begun working there, no one truly understood how things were to be run or what they needed to accomplish in their new jobs. They simply did as they were told. I ran into my uncle and showed him the metal strip from the slide. He said that he knew there was a problem and that he didn’t trust this new system, but that he wasn’t sure of what he should or could do about it. He did not want to make any waves, but he agreed to help me find the correct office so that I could file a complaint. People were more willing to talk to him since he worked inside the system and we were finally told the location of the head office. My uncle then left and went back to his job.

At the head office, a man in a suit was assigned to talk to me and hear my complaint. He took me to his “office” consisting of two padded folding chairs in the center of an otherwise empty school gym, to talk. He was prior military and kept distracting me by talking about his time in the military and asking me about my time in the Air Force. I kept bringing the topic back to the present. I remember us talking about how the Navy had the best chow halls out of the branches. In the middle of the conversation, I had a sensation of waking up, realized that I had been distracted again, and brought the topic back to the metal strip in my hand that I had taken from the slide. The man shook his head tiredly and told me to come with him so that I could talk to the people who were in charge. He took me to an office with a long reception desk, similar to a school’s main office. The women behind the desk told the man that he was going to be in trouble for bringing me there. Apparently he had brought others before me and had been reprimanded in the past for it. He responded by saying that he tried to distract me but that it didn’t work and that he didn’t get paid enough to deal with the hassle. I was told that I would be able to talk with those in charge as soon as they were available.

And then I woke up.

I know that this dream was given to me by God. I also know that there is absolutely no reason for anyone to believe me. This dream shows that the measures that are being put in place in our world of new normals are designed to hurt us, not to help us. Although they appear to have been put in place to keep us safe, they will instead cause harm. This is a deliberate deception. Those who will be hurt will be hurt by design. Most will follow along with the system of new norms. They will do as they are told without stopping to think about whether they should. Others, like my uncle in the dream, will recognize that something is off but will follow along anyway simply because they do not see another option. And some will outright avoid the truth of what is happening, even when evidence is presented to them directly. They will choose to believe the lies they are told because the truth scares them too much.

The Bible tells us that great tribulation will come when the words of the day are peace and safety.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a women with child; and they shall not escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:3, KJV

We are being told by those in authority that the drastic changes happening around us are for our safety and protection.

We know that the fearful and unbelieving are listed among those who will be thrown in the lake of fire.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Revelation 21:8, KJV

The unbelieving rely on man for their safety and protection rather than on God. It is the same with the fearful. They are often willfully blind to the true dangers around them choosing rather to believe lies that make them feel safe. They view any idea that challenges the lies that make them feel safe as dangerous and set out to silence anyone who tries to present the truth.

Jesus told us that we are to watch and wait for His return. He outlined the signs of His second coming in Matthew 24. God has warned us repeatedly throughout the Bible of what will happen in the end times. We are seeing Bible prophesy unfold around us. And yet, just as the people were at the first coming of Jesus, many of us are blind to the signs of the times.

And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

Luke 12:54-56, KJV

We have fallen asleep, which should not surprise us. In the parable of the ten virgins, all ten fell asleep. We are the bride. We all fell asleep. When the brides heard the sound of the bridegroom, they all woke up. Five were prepared for the coming of the bridegroom with oil in their lamps, and five were not. This parable did not speak of half the world not being prepared for the return of Jesus. The world is not the bride. Jesus was telling us that when He returns, half of his bride the church will not be prepared for His return. They will not have oil in their lamps. They will not be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now is the time to wake up and prepare. Prepare our hearts and our minds. Seek God. Pray. Repent. Now is not a time for fear. Now is not a time to rely on the wisdom of man. Fear seeks to destroy and the wisdom of man will fail.

Wake up church, the King is coming!!

2020 came in like a whirlwind. Every day brought more news from around the world. In the US, President Trump was facing impeachment. Australia was ablaze with wildfires. Crops in Africa were devastated by huge swarms of locusts. There was talk of a new virus spreading in China. And then the world stoped. Schools, churches, and restaurants closed their doors. Life as we knew it came to a grinding halt. The whole world was in the midst of a pandemic.

Everything changed overnight. People were terrified. Reason became a thing of the past. Big box stores kept the wine and chip aisles well stocked but allowed the sections with books, crafts, clothes, and gardening supplies to become empty. The grocery store put up plastic dividers at the registers and arrows on the floors. There was no toilet paper. I was confused. I prayed, ‘’God, I don’t understand. What is happening? Nothing makes sense.” He answered by leading me to Ezekiel.

“The word of the Lord came to me, saying, son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgements upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 14:12-23, KJV

Through this passage, God made four points clear to me.

1. This was God. No matter how it was accomplished, whether the wildfires were caused by global warming or lit by arsonists, whether the virus occurred naturally or was created in a lab, He was in control.
2. This was judgement. We have most certainly sinned against God by trespassing grievously on the land that He gave us to steward. We murder the unborn, capitalize on the poor, pollute the oceans, and poison the soil. Our entertainment is full of violence, murder, witchcraft, and sexual perversion. We make gods of our ambitions and hobbies. And not just the world. We who claim to be members of the body of Christ are almost indistinguishable from the world in our actions, pursuits, hobbies, and entertainment preferences.
3. We would not be rescued by any person, no matter how righteous they might be. We are each responsible for obtaining righteousness from God through faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
4. The end result of this time would be a remnant who would glorify God. Though it looks bad now, God knows the end. He does not act hastily and without purpose. He has a plan.

God does not change. These scriptures do not only apply to the pre-Jesus world. They do not only apply to Israel or Judah. In fact, it is not until verse 21 that God addressees Judah specifically. These scriptures are as relevant today as they were in the days of Ezekiel. God is not an angry, controlling parent who doles out empty punishments because He is offended by our disobedience. However, there are consequences when we trespass grievously against Him. God’s judgments are just and are executed with purpose. He will restore the land and leave it to a remnant who will walk righteously.

After Ezekiel, God led me to Revelation.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Revelation 21:4, KJV

At this point, I got a little nervous. Revelation is the end of the book, and the events that it foretells are not pleasant at the start. I started asking if this was a case where God was seeking intercessors to pray for redemption and healing. Ezekiel 22: 30-31 shows us that before God pours out His judgement, He first seeks out those who will humble themselves before Him and stand in the gap as an intercessor. If He does not find anyone, if all He receives are empty prayers of “God heal our land” from people who are not willing to repent and change, then He will pour out His judgement. So I opened my mouth to pray for revival, to pray for healing, and to pray for a delay. The words that came out surprised me, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”

The return of our King draws closer every day. Our King, who will rule and reign with a rod of iron and who’s kingdom will endure forever. He will not allow pain, or sin, or death to exist in His kingdom. When He returns, He will collect His holy remnant from the earth, the final remnant of this age. And so, like Peter in 2 Peter 3:12 and John in Revelation 22:20, we should be hastening the return of our Savior and our prayer should ever be “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”

But first, the birth pains. As we draw closer to that day, we will see more pain, more suffering, more violence, more persecution. We will see things that confuse us even though they have been foretold. Things that modern science will unsuccessfully attempt to explain. We will see evil increase as God separates the light from the darkness. But there should be no fear. We know who wins in the end. God is our salvation. We must draw closer to Him. He knows the beginning from the end. He will reign victoriously. And we will be with Him forever!

I want to end with the passage that God gave me when I started to fear the things that are coming.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hears and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-6, NKJV

Before I begin, I want to say that I am writing this not to incite fear. We know that God is in charge. He is our provider. He has promised us His peace. He is our shield and our fortress. He will give us what we need when we need it if we trust in Him and submit to His will. Saying that, it is important that we know the truth and recognize the time in which we are living.

We live in an interesting time, prophetically spoken of throughout the Bible. From the prophets of the Old Testament to the Revelation of Jesus given to the apostle John, over and over, we are warned that this time will be full of deception. We who? God’s children. Those of us who trust in the Word of God. It doesn’t do much good to warn those who believe the Bible is a fairy tale. Those who believe as such are already deceived and therefore cannot be warned against deception. It does no good to warn someone of a riptide if they are already stuck in a riptide. First, they must be rescued FROM the riptide. Once saved, they can be warned of future riptides. I make this point because the remainder of this post will center around end times prophecy, specifically the rapture, and I have often heard churchgoers argue that we should not focus on this subject because it is better to have unity in the body of Christ rather than discuss topics on which we disagree. However, God deems this subject to be so important that He began foretelling the events of this time thousands of years ago. As we rapidly approach the return of our Lord and Savior, the time in which we live demands that we take a closer look at this subject to ensure that we have not been deceived.

Jesus was asked by his disciples what signs would accompany His return and signal the end of the world. His answer is recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. I am going to walk through the passage in Matthew 24, starting on verse 4. “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying , I am Christ: and shall deceive many” Who is Jesus talking to? He is talking to His disciples, those who believe in Him. He is warning us not to be deceived and tells us the coming deception will fool many.

Jesus continues in verse 6 by saying “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” I recently had a friend tell me it is arrogant to think that we are the generation that will see His return and that the hardships of our day are those that have been prophesied for thousands of years. She told me that many who lived through World War I and World War II thought that the events of their day must be the end and that they were wrong. However, Jesus was clear that wars will come, but that they do NOT signal the end. If we instead turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:3, we read the end will come when the world proclaims “Peace and safety.”

If we return to Matthew, verses 7-8 tell us, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” We have always had famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and political and civil unrest in our world. But the past year has brought wave after wave of disaster. 2020 was marked by wildfires, famines, swarms of locusts, political unrest around the globe, riots, race wars, a worldwide pandemic, an economic depression, and 30 named storms in the Atlantic. 2021 appears to be following suit. We are experiencing the beginning of sorrows.

Jesus goes on to tell us that we as believers will be hated and killed for Christ’s sake. We are warned that many false prophets will come and that they WILL be believed. Verses 12-13 tell us, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Many will harden their hearts and walk away from their faith because of the wickedness around them. Jesus tells us the one who endures until the end will be saved. Whether you live until the end of this age or you go home early is irrelevant. To be saved we must endure until the end of our days here on earth.

Jesus continues in verse 14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place. Who is Jesus talking to? Is He talking to the world who rejects Him? No, He is talking to His followers. He is talking to us. When we see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place. Now, some say that this portion of the prophecy was specifically for the Jews and that it was fulfilled when the second temple was destroyed. However, Jesus continues in verse 21 with, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The event of the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place will be accompanied by the worst tribulation the world has ever, or will ever, see. This is not speaking of an event that has already occurred.

At this point, many stop to say that we don’t need to concern ourselves with these things because we won’t be here to see them, even though the words Jesus spoke were when YOU see the abomination stand in the holy place. They believe we will have been raptured by this point and jump down to verse 30 to back that claim. But if we continue reading, verse 22 goes on to say, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” For who’s sake? The elect’s sake. The elect are us, God’s people who follow Christ and recognize Him as messiah. Christ’s followers are subsequently referred to as the elect in both Romans 8:33 and Titus 1:1.

Continuing on in this passage, Jesus again warns us against deceit. He tells us that many will come saying that they are Him. However, His coming will be obvious and seen by all. Verse 27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Revelation 1:7 says, “Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” If every eye sees His return, the rapture can’t happen in secret without the world knowing it has occurred.

Now we come to the verses that make the timing of His coming clear. Verses 29-31, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Immediately AFTER…

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, not before, He will come in the clouds to gather His elect at the sound of a trumpet, the same elect that the days of tribulation were shortened for. This aligns with Revelation 14:14 where we are told of Jesus coming on a cloud to reap the harvest of the earth; “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.” We know this passage refers to Jesus because we read in Daniel 7:13, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” God does not give an everlasting dominion that will not pass away to anyone other than Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is on the cloud in Revelation. After Jesus reaps the earth, an angel who also carries a sickle reaps the remainder of the inhabitants of the earth and casts them into the winepress of God’s wrath.

In Mark 13:24-27 we read “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” Although it is worded differently, Jesus still tells us in this passage that He will return after the tribulation. Immediately preceding this statement, in verses 22-23 Jesus says, “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.” False prophets have come and are already among us. They have fed us seductive lies. However, Jesus told us everything that would happen. All we need to do is trust in what He has told us and we will not be deceived.

The Gospel of Luke also records Jesus telling us of His return. In Luke 21:25-27, we read “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Again, we see Jesus coming in a cloud after the tribulation. We are told to look up after these things have begun to happen because we will soon be raptured. A rapture that occurs soon after these things begin cannot happen before they begin.

In Daniel 7:19-28, Daniel received the interpretation of a vision he saw pertaining to the end times. In the vision, Daniel saw a beast with 10 horns. The horns are kings. One horn was stronger than the rest and has eyes and a mouth. In verses 21 and 25, we learn that this horn, or king, will make war with the saints and that he will overcome them. We read the same thing in Revelation 13:7, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.” How can the saints be overcome if they are no longer on the earth.

1 Thessalonians 4:5-17 tells us, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 we read, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” These two passages show us that those of us who are alive when Jesus returns will be raptured AFTER the dead in Christ are risen and that this will take place at the sound of the last trumpet. In Revelation 8:2, we are told of seven angels that are given seven trumpets. They sound their trumpets throughout the tribulation period. The seventh angel sounds the seventh trumpet after plagues are released on the earth, the beast rises to power, the anti-christ is revealed, and after the two witnesses have completed their assignment. If we are raptured at the sound of the last trumpet, angels one through six must sound their trumpets before we are taken from the earth.

Here is why this matters. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 we read, “Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day (the day of Christ) shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” Many Christians believe that we will be raptured before the tribulation. I have heard some say that it is futile to even study end times prophecy since we will not be around to see it come about. But what if we are here? What if the rapture comes after the tribulation? Will Christians recognize an anti-christ that they don’t expect to be on earth to see? Will they recognize the mark of the beast for what it is? If they do, will they refuse the mark if it means starving? What if it means their children will starve? Jesus will return after there is a great falling away in the church. But why will many fall away? Perhaps they fall away out of anger when they are faced with hardships they did not expect and were not prepared for. Or perhaps they will justify taking the mark and obeying the beast by telling themselves that God wouldn’t want them to suffer. God would want them to provide for their families. He understands our frailty and loves us no matter what we do. After all, we are covered in the blood of the Lamb and our sins will not be remembered. But to obey is to worship. We read in Revelation 13:4, “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” When we picture worship, we picture a people bowing down and praising. Romans 12:1 tells us that offering our life as a living sacrifice is true worship. When we die to self, when we submit our will to God, we worship Him. So when we read of the world worshiping the beast and the dragon, the picture in our mind should be of a people acting in submission to the beast and obeying the ordinances that the beast puts forth.

Again, I say all these things not so that you will be frightened, but so that you will know the truth and seek God for guidance in the days ahead.

Before I close, I would like to address two more scriptures. They are the main scriptures that I have heard used to justify a pre-tribulation rapture. The first is 2 Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” In the NIV it is worded this way, “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” Many say the one who holds back, or he who restrains, is the church. Others say the restrainer is the Holy Spirit. They say this scripture proves that the church must be raptured in order for the anti-christ to be revealed. However, they then say that people will come to Christ during the tribulation period. We read in John 16:8 that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of their sin leading them to repent and turn to Christ. If the Holy Spirit is removed, He cannot fulfill this role. And nowhere in this passage of scripture are we told that the restrainer is the church. We are not given the identity of the restrainer. But we are told a few scriptures before this that Jesus will not come and we will not be gathered to him until after the man of lawlessness is revealed. Verses 1-3, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us-whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter-asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.” The day of the Lord mentioned in verse 2 is described in verse 1 as the day Jesus comes and gathers the apostles to Him.

The second verse is Revelation 3:10, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” In John 17:15, Jesus prays, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Take and keep do not mean the same thing. They are not interchangeable. The children’s prayer goes as such, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to KEEP. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to TAKE.” We put things in a refrigerator so that they will be preserved, or so that they will keep. Jesus promises that He will keep those who keep the word of His patience. He does not say that He will take us out of the world before the days of tribulation.

While preparing to write this, I made a post on Facebook asking my friends who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture to help me understand why by sending me scriptures that back up their belief. I only had one person reach out to me. I truly appreciate her willingness to not only share her reasoning and thought process with me, but to also allow me the opportunity to explain why I believe in a post-tribulation rapture. However, she was not able to give me scriptural backing for a pre-tribulation rapture. So I will pose the same question to you. If you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, a rapture that happens almost in secret that is explained away by world leaders using science, what are the scriptures you turn to to support your belief?

Before life changed, I took a trip to New York City. Often, trips to the city involved excited chaos as my husband and I planned, packed, wrangled our three sons, loaded up the minivan, and headed out on the road. This trip was different. My father was having surgery. The boys stayed home with their father and, rather than drive, I took the bus. Despite the nature of my trip, as we neared Manhattan the familiar scene brought welcome butterflies of nostalgia. Looking out the window, I noticed a woman standing on the corner holding the hand of a little girl wearing a school uniform. While I watched them wait to cross the street a thought went through my mind, “This will all end in an instant? A moment?” I can’t remember the exact word. It was as if the words stopped but the meaning was there, both words heard but not spoken. With that thought, the excitement of entering the city, the nostalgia, the butterflies, the feeling of waking up, of coming home, of being alive in the midst of the bustle, they all disappeared. And I fell deep into thought.

I grew up in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s attending churches that both believed and acted in the power of the Holy Spirit as written in Acts 2:17-18, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit; and they shall prophesy.” One prophesy that I had heard at various times was that New York City would end in flames. A member of one church I attended dreamed a bomb would explode over the city. The late David Wilkerson of Times Square Church spoke of a vision he had of flames bursting from the buildings and apartments. And so, when I heard God’s words on the bus, instead of asking Him what He was trying to tell me, I assumed His meaning and stopped listening.

During that trip I had hours of downtime while I waited to visit my father in the hospital. I chose to distract myself by taking in the sites. It was November, almost the Christmas season, and I visited Macy’s and Rockefeller Center with hopes that the tree would be up and the windows decorated. I took in the sights of Times Square and 5th Avenue, and walked the streets surrounding my childhood home of Greenwich Village. Though surrounded by crowds everywhere I went, the city felt empty. Dull. Lifeless. Godless. The city had lost its glimmer and I had the odd sense that I was saying goodbye, but I didn’t know why.

Other than a short weekend visit in February of 2020, that was my last visit to Manhattan. By March, the city was shutting down. God had tried to warn me on the bus that life as I knew it would soon come to a grinding halt. No more would a mother walking her child home from school be a familiar scene. The schools would soon close their doors. Macy’s would board up their windows. The restaurants and shops would shut down. The daily hustle and bustle would end. The city that never sleeps would have a curfew. New York City would be a ghost town. Even though I did not listen to His warning, God showed me grace and allowed me the chance to say goodbye to the city of my childhood. He loved me enough to speak to me even though He knew I would tune Him out. In the following months, whenever I began to doubt hearing His voice, I was reminded of the words He spoke to me on the bus, “This will all end in an instant.” I was reminded of the truth of those words. And that gave me comfort when the chaos hit and life changed.

Hello friends! For the past eight months or so, God has been asking me to write and share certain things and I have been dragging my feet. I have procrastinated for long enough that the task is now overwhelming. I am starting a blog so I can tackle this project in the bite sized chunks that God intended me to. I plan to write a little each day until I have caught up. I can only assume that it would have been much easier if I had been obedient from the start.

That covers the questions why now and why a blog. As for why me only God knows the answer to that. But if He has the grace to still be willing to use me after months of disobedience, I think it’s time for me to stop asking this question and simply obey.

If you find the notion that that God speaks to us unbelievable, please read John 8:27, John 10:27, and Jeremiah 33:3. There are many other scriptures that talk of God speaking to His children, but these are a good starting point.

If you find the Bible unbelievable, along with the existence of God, then you will most likely find this blog ridiculous. 1 Corinthians 1:18 states, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” I ask that you pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you, even if you don’t yet believe, because the hour is soon coming when every eye shall see Him and every knee will bow down before Him.