God's Ultimate Judgement On Earth-The Tribulation

Hello everyone. Thanks for checking out this week's version of The Mixblog as we continue looking at "The End Times" at The Mix on Tuesday nights (The Mix is the high school youth ministry at Whittington Church). We are in the middle...well actually getting close to the end...of a huge teaching series we have been calling "Alpha & Omega". We looked at the beginning of the earth and humanity as we know it during the "Alpha" portion of the series, and now we are looking at the "Omega"...the end of the world and humanity as we know it, according to the Bible. This week, we talked about the period during the end times known as "The Tribulation" period.

As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, the end times basically will be kicked off by the rapture of Christians to Heaven (see the Oct 22 Mixblog). Once this takes place, the earth will immediately enter into a 7 year period of time often referred to as The Tribulation Period...which might not be strong enough words! It will be 7 years of absolute destruction and catastrophe on planet earth, brought about by God Himself. These "judgements" will crescendo over the 7 year period and will climax at a point when the earth will basically be left in shambles. Lets talk about why God would want to do this...

• The tribulation will be part of the process of God putting an end to sin once and for all.



• In addition, God will destroy this "sin-damaged" earth that we live on.



• This period of time will be very instrumental in drawing God's chosen people (the Jews) back to Himself.



• This period will pave the way for the final destruction of Satan and the ushering in of God's Kingdom on earth
  
  

Basically, God will go through a process of removing what is here so He can start over with perfection. And the cool part of it is, if you are a Christian, you will get to experience that perfection! But more on that in a couple of weeks...

This period of judgement or tribulation, will come about in 3 phases that are described in the book of Revelation...three sets of seven judgements, so 21 judgements in all. These judgements are described all thoughout the book of Revelation so for the sake of space in this blog, we will link to lots of different sections of scripture for you to read at your own pace. But described below is a BASIC, shorthand description of what those judgements will entail. You will notice right away that many of these judgements seem like they come right out of a science fiction movie! But this is no fiction. God, who created the natural world with it's natural laws, has always reserved the right to operate outside of those natural laws if He chose to. He has done this thoughout history in various ways so it shouldn't surprise us that He will do it during the end times as well. Again, reading about these judgements for yourself in the book of Revelation is the best way to find out more about them. So on to the first set of judgements...

THE SEVEN SEAL JUDGEMENTS: Revelation 6

1. 1st Seal: The rider on the white horse...the coming of the antichrist



2. 2nd Seal: The rider on the red horse...war across the world



3. 3rd Seal: The rider on the black horse...famine (lack of food)



4. 4th Seal: The rider on the pale horse...death (1/4 of the earth's population dies)



5. 5th Seal: A massive martyrdom of Christians..."a great multitude that no one could count"



6. 6th Seal: Earthquakes, volcanic activity, meteors shower the earth



7. 7th Seal: Silence in Heaven for "about half an hour"...initiate the next series of judgements

THE SEVEN TRUMPET JUDGEMENTS: Revelation 8 & 9

1. 1st Trumpet Judgement: Hail & fire mixed with blood...1/3 of the earth, 1/3 of the trees and all green grass burned up



2. 2nd Trumpet Judgement: A "Huge mountain all ablaze" is thrown into the sea...1/3 of the sea turns to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures die, 1/3 of the ships in the ocean are destroyed



3. 3rd Trumpet Judgement: Meteorite called "Wormwood" hits the earth...1/3 of all the rivers and springs turn bitter (Many die from the bitter water)



4. 4th Trumpet Judgement: 1/3 of the sun, moon & stars turns dark, 1/3 of the day and 1/3 of the night without light



5. 5th Trumpet Judgement: Smoke from the Abyss darkens the sun and the sky...locusts with the ability to sting like scorpions torment non-believers for 5 months



6. 6th Trumpet Judgement: 200 million mounted troops kill 1/3 of all mankind with fire from their mouths



7. 7th Trumpet Judgement: Angels and 24 elders around the thrown in Heaven praise God...this initiates the next series of judgements

SEVEN BOWL JUDGEMENTS: Revelation 16

1. 1st Bowl Judgement: Painful sores on everyone that has the mark of the beast



2. 2nd Bowl Judgement: Entire sea turns to blood...every sea creature dies



3. 3rd Bowl Judgement: Rivers and fountains turn to blood



4. 4th Bowl Judgement: Sun scorches people with fire and sears them with intense heat



5. 5th Bowl Judgement: The "Kingdom of the Beast" plunged into total darkness...possibly the city of Babylon



6. 6th Bowl Judgement: Euphrates River dries up



7. 7th Bowl Judgement: The most severe earthquake in history occurs and 100 pound hailstones fall from the sky
   

As you can tell, by the time these 21 judgements are completed, the earth will be an absolute mess and on the brink of total destruction in every way. Think about it...no grass, no sea life, all the water has been turned to blood (imagine the putrid stench of dead animals and plants and the rotting blood itself!), most if not all buildings and structures have been leveled (earthquakes, meteors, 100 lb hail stones, etc), at least 1/3 of all the trees are gone (probably means a lack of oxygen on the earth), and at least 1/2 of the earth's population is dead! Life as we know it on planet earth would no longer exist! I think the term "Tribulation Period" doesn't quite cut it!

But we have to remember a couple of things. First, those of you reading this who are Christians..who have turned your lives over to Christ...won't have to endure this! We will already be with God! Secondly, this is all very necessary in order for God to establish His Kingdom here on earth in absolute perfection. He has to remove what's broken before He can replace it. This Tribulation Period will culminate at the end of the 7 year period with the physical return of Jesus Christ to planet earth to take care business once and for all and begin to establish God's eternal Kingdom. So check back next week and find out more about the "story"! Thanks for reading.

-Bob

Who's In Charge?-Antichrist & False Prophet

Welcome to this week's entry on The Mixblog! We're glad you stopped to take a look. We've been discussing The End Times at The Mix on Tuesday nights, starting a couple of weeks ago with a discussion on the rapture (the event that will start the sequence of events that we call "the end times"...see the Oct 22 Mixblog entry). This week we started talking about some of the things that will take place after the rapture...specifically, who is going to be in charge? If God takes Christians home to be with Him, then that will leave mass chaos on the earth. With the salt removed (as Jesus referred to Christians as 'salt of the earth')...the rotting will begin soon after. And a major player in the entire "end times" course of events will be the being known in the Bible as The Antichrist.

The Antichrist is basically exactly what it sounds like...someone who will be the exact opposite of Jesus Christ in every way. It's important for us to stop for a second and remember who Satan is and where he came from. The Bible tells us that Satan used to be a beautiful angel named Lucifer (check out Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 for more on Lucifer). Lucifer became prideful and was thrown out of heaven by God Himself. He wanted to be like God...and he still wants to be like God. Satan wants to be worshipped and revered and admired because of the pride that still exists in him. And all of that pride and the desire to be like God will come rushing out during the end times within the being known as the Antichrist. Check out the comparison below between the Antichrist and Jesus:

The Bible describes in the verses below who the Antichrist is and what he will do. His main purpose is of course to try to take the place of Christ and set himself up as "lord" over the post-rapture earth. And of course he has a destiny but it isn't good!

• 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12



• Revelation 13:1-8
  

Referred to in the book of Revelation as "the beast out of the sea", the Antichrist will experience a rise to power. He will unite the world under his authority in 3 main ways: governally, economically and religiously...one world government, one world system of economics and one world religion. He will set himself up as the head of all that happens during the years after the rapture. Ultimately, the Bible seems to indicate in the verses above that the Antichrist will be fatally wounded (just like Jesus) and will resurrect (again, just like Jesus). After his resurrection, he will become inhabited by Satan himself and will perform all kinds of counterfeit signs, miracles and wonders...ultimately demanding the worship of every inhabitant of the earth and forcing them to do so.

During this time he will also have a sidekick...every "bad guy" needs a sidekick! The Bible calls this 'sidekick' the False Prophet or the beast out of the earth. He will basically be the enforcer and his job will be to ensure that all that the Antichrist seeks to accomplish will happen. You can read more about the False Prophet here.

As described in the verses linked to above, this False Prophet will also ensure that every inhabitant on the earth will worship the Antichrist by forcing everyone to receive a mark of some kind to establish their allegiance to the Antichrist. This mark will somehow involve the number 666, according to scripture. Anyone who receives the mark, will have chosen allegiance to the Antichrist and ultimately to Satan. If anyone refuses the mark, they will not be able to buy or sell or function in society and will eventually be killed. Again, Satan's main concern is that he be worshipped...even if it isn't genuine!

Ultimately, the Bible tells us that the Antichrist, the False Prophet and even Satan himself will be defeated and thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:19-20). But up until that time, the Antichrist will be a major focus of everything that happens on the earth in the years following the rapture. As we look at these years (referred to as 'The Tribulation') over the next couple of weeks, the Antichrist will be discussed a lot more.

Even today, there are many things that happen on a regular basis that seem to lead towards the time of the Antichrist. The adaptation of the euro (European money that has been adapted by 16 countries so far to try to unify the economics in Europe), the growing of the power of the United Nations (a form of world-wide government) and the establishment of councils and organizations like The World Council of Religious Leaders (a group consisting of leaders from many of the worlds most prominent religions) seem to fit right in with what the Bible says will eventually happen. The World Council of Religious Leaders is very intriguing as its stated purpose is to "form a community of different world religions in order to establish peace and mutual understanding" and to promote "human values shared by all religious traditions and by uniting the human community for times of world prayer and meditation." (From the World Council of Religious Leaders website.) Even their logo, displayed here, shows the "unifying of world religions into one".

The most important thing for us to remember is that right now, WE STILL HAVE A CHOICE!! We can personally choose Jesus on our own accord. Someday, we won't have a choice anymore!

Hope you can check out The Mixblog next week as we begin to discuss The Tribulation Period. See you next week!

-Bob

The Beginning Of The End

Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at various different issues surrounding the beginning of the world and humanity, up until the time of the Flood of Noah described in Genesis. That was the "Alpha" part...the beginning...of our teaching series we are calling "Alpha & Omega" at The Mix on Tuesday nights. Well this week we hit the fast-foward button...

We began talking about the "Omega" part of the series...the end of the world and humanity as we know it. And it starts with this event we call the Rapture. But before we understand the rapture and all the events that follow it, it's important for us to realize the importance of talking about the end times. Why even worry about it if we aren't going to be here? Well here are 3 good reasons:

1. It's important to God. More than 20 books of the Bible refer to or teach about the end times. Jesus talked about it a lot as well. If its important to God it should be important to us.
   
2. God promises anyone who reads the book of Revelation (where we find out a lot about the end times) a special blessing (See Rev 1:3). I'm all about God's blessings!
   
3. It helps us understand that God has had a plan all along for us as individuals and for humankind in general. We aren't just randomly bouncing off of one another on this big playground called planet Earth and life is not a big recipe of chance and happenstance and meaninglessness (is that a word?). Instead, God's plan involves a beginning (which we've talked about over the past few weeks) and it will involve an ending...its a complete package designed by a very intentional God who created you on purpose for a reason with an amazing plan for your life. Studying the end times helps us realize the purposeful-ness of God's plan for humanity! He has a destiny for you!
   

(Let me also take this time to make a quick disclaimer...there are many different ideas and theories, even within Christianity and Bible research, as to how the series of events that we refer to as "the end times" will play out. Most people agree on the ingredients, it's the order of those ingredients within the recipe that we sometimes disagree with. I'm teaching this series based on what I believe the Bible teaches concerning the end times...if you disagree, no problem. Let's at least agree that God's desire is to get all His kids back home to Him somehow...)

The beginning of what we might call the end times, I believe, will be the rapture (which literally means "caught up"). And the main purpose of the event called the rapture can be summed up in one word..."harvest". God is a farmer and He has been in a process of planting seeds for a very, very long time. But like any farmer, the excitement isn't just in planting seeds...you eventually want to harvest the fruit of those seeds and get a return on what you've sown! The rapture is God's return on what He has sown...His people. These verses give us an idea of what the rapture is (click on the links...)

• John 14:1-3
  
• Matthew 24:36-42
  
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
  

We know from these verses that the rapture is the event that will occur when Jesus comes to gather all Christians who are still alive at that time, and take them to be with God. It will occur without warning and no one knows when it will happen...not even Jesus! We also know that not every person will be taken to Heaven...only those who have committed their lives to Christ. Some will be taken and some will be left. It's our responsibility to make sure we are ready for the rapture when it happens. The good thing is, we also know that God wants all of us to be with Him (see 2 Peter 3:9). But we have to make that decision and invite Christ into our lives. Click here to watch one of the most realistic videos I have seen concerning the rapture...

The rapture will start the time clock ticking for the rest of the end times...it is literally 'the beginning of the end'. What might life be like immediately after the rapture? That's tough to comprehend. We can imagine some of what it might be like. First, there will be no Christians which means that the "salt" of the earth will be gone. The rotting of society will happen very quickly. There will be no children...at least children who haven't reached a maturity level of realizing their sinfulness. There will be massive holes in society where Christians once were. There will be wide-spread depression, fear, hysteria and eventually anarchy...at least until the rise of the anti-christ (more on the anti-christ in coming weeks...). The earth will not be a fun place to be. Once the rapture occurs, a series of events will begin that will eventually destroy the earth and its inhabitants so that God can re-establish what He initially desired for all of us...perfection in every sense of the word and being in the constant presence of God Himself! More on all of this in the weeks ahead. Hope you check back weekly and jump into the discussion with us. See you next time...

-Bob

All In The Family

This is the last week of the "Alpha" part of the "Alpha and Omega" series at The Mix! This week we looked at how all races of people came from one family. We know from the Bible that only 8 people survived the flood in Genesis...Noah and his wife, and the their 3 sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth...and their wives. This means that the diversity of people in the world today all came from these 8 people! At first glance, this sounds pretty amazing. But when you take a closer look at the human race and the genetic possibilities, it isn't that hard to believe. First, we look at what the Bible says...

In Genesis 10, the Bible gives us an extensive geneology of the descendents of Noah. One the amazing things about the Bible is that it does give us dates and ages and geneologies, and this adds to the credibility and reliability of the Bible. The Bible tells us that the descendents of Noah went different directions...

• Ham's descendents traveled south and east...to what would later become Africa and southeast Asia...and would later become the dark skinned races of these regions



• Shem's descendents basically stayed in the middle east area...and would become the olive-skinned races of that area



• Japheth's descendents traveled north and west to what would later become europe and northern asia...and would later become the lighter skinned people of these regions.

Through adaptation in their various environments and through the amazing diversity in human genetics, the different skin colors began to surface...maybe within a few years after the flood! Reseachers tell us that the potential for all skin colors resides in the genetics of all of us...some just never surface. For example, there have been documented cases of fraternal twins born to darker skinned couples where one twin was dark skinned and one twin was light skinned! (Check out this picture of these twins and their parents!)

Its amazing what God has built into our bodies and genetics! Obviously in our modern world of travel, immigration and technology, we realize that the races aren't as segmented as they were after the flood...and that has allowed even more diversity! But we all are descendents of the same family...the family of Noah that God decided to save.

Next week, we begin to look at the future...to the end of time. We will check out a lot of what the Bible has to say about it and try to make sense of it all. Our goal is to simply realize that God has had a plan and purpose for human-kind all along...and He will finish what He started! See you all next week...

--Bob

Lucy, Cavemen & Mannequins

We are moving right along with our "Alpha & Omega" series at The Mix and this week we looked at the idea of "pre-human" humans. How do we make sense of the idea of "cavemen" and all the things we read and hear about "missing links" and the evolution of humans from ape-like creatures? Maybe they drove cars like this one? Obviously there is way more concerning this topic than what we could discuss in 1 night, but here's the scoop on the discussion last Tuesday night...

First of all we looked at some of the common high school Biology text books that are out there. Basically, we have to be very cautious what we read even in text books! For example...

"But all researchers agree on certain basic facts. We know, for example, that humans evolved from ancestors we share with other living primates such as chimpanzees and apes."

-Miller & Levine, BIOLOGY, 2000, p. 757

All researchers agree? Really? Obviously this is not a true statement, but the idea here is that there are certain beliefs that are going to be forced on us and our children (regardless of the truthfulness of the claims) and those that force this belief will do anything they can to "prove" it correct...even lie, or at least refuse to recognize the falsehoods that exist. For example...

• Nebraska Man discovered in 1922 and was used to support evolution in the 1925 Scopes Trial...later found to be the tooth of a pig.



• Java Man found in 1891. A small piece of the top of the skull, fragments of the left thigh bone and 3 molar teeth all found in a 70 foot radius area, mixed in with numerous other bones from other creatures and the bones were not petrified led researchers to believe they had found a new "pre-human"...later found to be the bones of an extinct elephant



• The Piltdown Man Hoax-Supposed 1 million year old fossil of "pre-human" that was later revealed to be a manipulated jaw bone of an ape, treated with acid and made to look "old" so the discoverer could gain some glory and fame.



• Or take for instance Neanderthal man. Originally thought to be very primitive and "un-human", now we know that Neanderthals used jewelry, played musical instruments, painted, talked and even buried their dead...sounds very human to me! In addition, researchers have gone to great lengths to prove that DNA testing reveals that the very small sample of neanderthal skeletons we have found have different DNA than humans. In reality, those few skeletons that were found had different DNA than 92% of humans. That means that 8% of you reading this blog have similar DNA to a Neanderthal! When we look at the diversity of the way humans look on earth today, is it that hard to believe that a few people in Germany a few thousand years ago might have looked a little different than most of us do? What if we had found these bones in Australia where the Aboriginal people live (who share some different physical characteristics than we might be accustomed to)? Or in the arctic north, where some of the Inuit people have some different physical characteristics than most? The diversity of human appearance is amazing...and a nod to the awesome creativity of our God. Neanderthals aren't that "un-human" after all.



• And lastly, we have the "Lucy" debacle. Lucy is, of course, the common name given to a skeleton found in the 1970's in Africa. The creature has been given the name Australopithecus afarensis and has been dated at 3.5 million years old...a "pre-human" link to humans through the evolutionary line of the apes. The only problem is that the skeleton of Lucy actually shows her to be a knuckle walking, tree dwelling creature with ape-like hands and feet as well as other parts of her anatomy. She would have acted and lived like an ape... But many in the science world do not want her to viewed as such because it destroys the idea of humans evolving from apes so she is always depicted (falsely) very human-like. Notice the picture here of a model of Lucy from the St Louis Zoo. The zoo has admitted that the model is wrong but has said that if they depict her as she really would have been, then it wouldn't give off the message that they want to send...that we evolved from apes.
  
  

Time and time again, supposed "evidence" that we evolved from apes has been called into question and dis-proven. The Bible gives us the account in Genesis of how we...humans...were made in the image of God on the 6th day of creation. We have encouraged the students at The Mix to study and research for themselves concerning evolution. In the end, we will find out something very amazing. YOU were created, intentionally, on purpose, by an awesome God who has a purpose for your life.

Next week...Many Races From One Family. How did every race on earth descend from the family of Noah?

See you then...Bob

Lucy, Cavemen & Mannequins-Part 1

This week at The Mix we took a break from the "Alpha & Omega" discussion and did ministry instead of talking about it. We helped in the HELPS ministry at Whittington Church...sorting clothes, organizing clothes and basically saving the HELPS ministry team 3 weeks of work. Great time...great experience...and great for the kids to do some things to help some people that they will never meet. If we aren't careful, we can all get to inward focused...God calls us to more. But next week...



Next week, we will jump back in with the "Alpha & Omega" discussions and we will be tackling "Lucy, Cavemen & Mannequins"...sounds like the name of a punk band doesn't it? We'll be talking about the whole idea of "pre-humans" and "cavemen" from a Biblical perspective. Should be great stuff. Here's a 'pre-look' at some stuff we may cover...in question format:

• What are we to make of the fossilized remains of all of the supposed "pre-human" hominids...cavemen?


• Have the claims of discoveries of "missing links", "ape-men" and lesser evolved human-like creatures always been accurate?


• What about "Lucy" (the 40% complete skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis found in Ethiopia in 1974 supposedly dated at 3.2 million years old)? Does she prove anything at all? Are the claims made about her actually supported by the evidence?


• What about Neandertals? Maybe the Geico commercials are on to something?


• Is there a deeper issue with all of the "pre-human" claims besides just cavemen and evolution?


• And the most important question...what does the Bible have to say about all of this, if anything?

So check back next week! Or better yet...if you are a high school student within driving distance of Whittington Church, come check out The Mix next Tuesday (7 PM)! Should be an interesting discussion!

See you next week...

--Bob

Dinosaurs & People-Is It Possible?

First of all let me say 2 things...


First, I never get tired of talking about this stuff (pre-flood earth, creation, extinction, fossils, flood theories, etc.)

Second, I am very encouraged by the Godly wisdom of many high school students to figure some things out on their own and not be fooled by the comfort of what is commonly thought to be 'truth'. In short, these kids are on the right track and that comforts me greatly! Lots of great questions last night and lots of great, Godly, thoughtful deductions by our high school kids. They're using the minds God gave them rather than just buying everything they've been told..."hook, line and sinker"...as the saying goes. So last night...




We talked about dinosaurs and the Bible...two things normally not lumped into the same conversation in most discussions. Here's the VERY short version of what was discussed...

• The study of dinosaurs is relatively new (1st fossil discovered in 1822 and the word 'dinosaur' contrived in 1840) and therefore, the things we think we "know to be true" about them seems to change VERY often. The truth...we don't as much about them as we think we do and that leaves the door wide open for some other things to be "true".


• Even though it is commonly taught that dinosaurs lived millions of years before humans, there is evidence (even outside the Bible) that seems to indicate that humans and dinosaurs might have crossed paths...cave drawings of extinct animals (how did those early humans know what they looked like? They didn't get to watch "Jurassic Park" or "The Flintstones"?)...fossils showing up in rock layers that put them in the wrong "evolutionary timetable"...OR



• What about the "dinosaur lore" that is out there (Loch Ness Monster...Medievil dragon tales...Native American Thunderbird...Mokele Mbembe in The Congo-sketched here by a native of that area.)? Could some of it be due to the fact that at some point in history, a human actually saw a dinosaur and the tale was told verbally through the centuries? If not, how did some of these native, indigenous people know what these things looked like? They describe them and draw them out to be very similar to some of the fossilized dinosaurs that we know existed. Again, these people couldn't see what they looked like on the Discover channel.

So then we talked extinction...

• Science tells us there have been 9 major extinction events in history of the world. Of course most evolutionary biologists will say these events took place spread out over millions and millions of years.
  
• The interesting thing is that the Flood of Noah could have (and probably did) cause EVERY one of these events...within a few months or years after the flood! Such as: sea levels going up down, drastic changes in climate, ice glaciers, an ice age, cooling & heating of the seas...even a meteor impact (how did God choose to initiate the "fountains of the great deep" bursting forth that is described in Genesis 7...meteor striking the earth possibly)?


• Couple this with the Biblical account of 2 different creatures described in the book of Job (the behemoth and the leviathon) that aren't like anything that is alive today (Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible...possible within 200 years of the flood), and it seems to be reasonable that Dinosaurs and man co-existed before the flood. And just like many other species of animals, they couldn't survive the changes in the world's environments after the flood and became extinct.
  

And the coolest part of this whole discussion has been that the high school students we are talking with have been wise enough to "see" some of this on thier own...and that is the beginning of wisdom.

NEXT WEEK: We will be talking about "cavemen", early humans and the origins of the many races of people on the earth, according to the Bible...should be interesting!

We welcome your comments below!