There is a very good reason I am looking forward to the "Apocolypse." Popular Culture makes Armageddon look like a dreadful time for everyone...
What they won't tell you is that there is a good side of the apocolypse! Before the world ends, Jesus will return to take away the born again Christians who believe in him.
"For the lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of god, and the dead in christ shall rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air, and so we will be with the lord forever." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.This is the good news for those that accepted Christ... now for the bad news for those that don't...
There will be horrors at the end times, but Jesus doesn't want some people to be caught in the thick of it. The horrors being listed here, but I'd imagine they are by no means limited to these...
- Every building will be completely wiped out. (Mark 13:2)
- There will be wars (Matthew 24:7)
- Earthquakes, (Revelations 11:13) Famines, Plagues (Revelations 9:18, Luke 21:11)
- Humanity will become so horrible, they will make today's humanity look like boy scouts (Matthew 24:9, Mark 13:12,)
- People will wish they were never born. (Luke 21:23-24)
- It will be the worst suffering humanity will ever experience. (Matthew 24:21)
- The Four Horsemen will come (Revelations 6)
- A meteor will hit the earth. Revelations 8:5 says "Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, and an earthquake." I figure that means a meteor... of course I could be refering to Revelations 8:10 where stars fall from the sky.
- Forest Fires (Revelations 8:7)
- Sea will become blood (Revelations 8:8)
- The sun will be blotted out. (Revelations 9:2) with this comes the locusts. (revelations 9:7-11)
- Plagues will kill off a third of mankind (9:18)
He'll make people take the mark of the beast, which is described in Revelations 13:16-18 "He causes all people, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to recieve a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666." This mark might be anything, paint, a tatoo, or a microchip. This mark, tempting as it is, will doom humanity forever. "If any man worship the beast or his image, and recieve the mark in his hand or forehead, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels." Revelations 14:9-10
When Armageddon comes, Satan and his patsy, the Beast will come to Megiddo (a real town in Israel) to fight God and Jesus. Satan, from where I'm sitting, apparently has been hit in the head too many times and thinks he has a chance (Luke 10:18 "and he said to them 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'") Revelations 19:19-20 says that not only does Satan lose, but he and the beast are taken alive and put away for a thousand years.
After the thousand years comes the great white throne of judgement. Where those that died without Christ are judged. Everything is reviewed, and those that aren't in the book of life are thrown in the lake of fire. (Revelations 20:1-3) then Satan, and the beast, are shoved in there for good (revelations 20:10) and we'll never have to deal with that dirtbag ever again.
Good reader, I ask you... what part of Armageddon will *you* be a part of? Will you be taken with God, or will you burn in the lake of fire? The choice should be pretty obvious. Accept Jesus Christ as your savior, become born again, preach his word, and you'll be set.
For more information on Armageddon, go to RaptureReady.
