Aliens and the Antichrist: Unveiling the End Times Deception (30 page)

The saints who are killed during this first three and one-half years are told to rest until the remaining tribulation saints are killed in the second half of the great tribulation (Revelation 14:13). Then vengeance will be taken out on those who will kill them.

Revelation 14:13

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.

The tribulation saints, therefore, will be ruthlessly slaughtered during the entire seven-year reign of terror of the Antichrist. Near the very tail end of the great tribulation, the saints who were killed will be resurrected. Then the saints who are still alive at that time, along with those who will be resurrected, will all be
taken up
to heaven. There, they will be present for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:1-9 states that the wife is ready, and the “wife,” the city of God’s people in heaven, could not be ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb, if some of them are still stuck down on Earth and might not even believe in Jesus yet. Being ready means everyone who will ever believe in Jesus must be present and accounted for. The rapture of these tribulation saints, therefore, will occur right at the tail end of the great tribulation, but before the return of Christ to Earth. In fact, shortly following this marriage supper of the Lamb, everyone will saddle up on their white horses (perhaps awaiting them in the first heaven) and ride off to make war at the second coming of Christ (Revelation 19:14-21).

Revelation 19:1-9
(bold emphasis added)

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Revelation 19:11-21
(bold emphasis added)

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True,
and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but Him. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth:
and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

2.3. Who Hinders the Antichrist?

I’ve already disclosed that I believe that the rapture of the church will occur before the great tribulation, but believe it or not, I haven’t discussed all of the details supporting this conclusion. For example, I referenced 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8; Revelation 1:19, 4:1 as scriptures that prove the rapture of the church will occur before the great tribulation, but I didn’t elaborate on how these scriptures tie together to meet this conclusion.

Starting with 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, note that someone must be taken out of the way before the Antichrist is revealed, and that someone (he) is referred to as a withholder (hinderer) of the Antichrist. Who could this be?

2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
(bold emphasis and bracketed comments added)

And now ye know what
withholds
that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until
he [the church] be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked [the .Antichrist] be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Some Christians say that this hinderer is the Holy Spirit, but this can’t be accurate, because the Holy Spirit is never taken out of the way of anything, much less the Antichrist. In fact the Holy Spirit is actually visibly active during the great tribulation, when the Antichrist will be wreaking havoc.

Others have postulated that this hinderer refers to government, but the Antichrist will be a mastermind at ruling and manipulating governments all through his reign of terror, so this can’t be right either. The only likely candidate this “he” can be is the church, who is a “he” in the sense of being the body of Christ. The church makes perfect sense, because the fervent prayers of the righteous have an extremely powerful effect (James 5:16). Suddenly removing all of the Christians from Earth will be the removal of every single voice against governmental authorities in all matters of righteousness, justice, and morality—everything with spiritual significance. The implications of such would be staggering; the world will be a spiritual vacuum, creating an oasis for any charismatic dictator to step forward and assume control. Many Christians think they have no power, voice, or effect in the world, but they couldn’t be more wrong. For those Christians who are inactive and ineffective—consider this a call to action!

A further clue pointing to the restrainer of the Antichrist being the church is found by analyzing references to the church in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is divided into three parts, and these parts are outlined in Revelation 1:19.

Revelation 1:19
(bold emphasis added)

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

First, “the things which thou hast seen” are the things in the vision of Christ in Revelation 1. Second, “the things which are” are the things concerning the churches, covered in Revelation 2-3, which John himself could see were in the world in his day. Third, “the things which shall be hereafter” refer to the time that comes after the churches.

I’ve read Revelation a million times and never noticed this clear outline until Finis Dake pointed it out to me. Now that I know about it, I don’t know why I never saw it before, because it’s obvious. Everything in chapter 1 of Revelation is about the vision of Christ; everything about the churches is listed in chapters 2 and 3; and everything after the churches comes after Revelation 4:1.

Revelation 4:1
(bold emphasis added)

After this I looked, and, behold,
a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said,
Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.

The transition that takes place in Revelation 4:1 is significant because it reveals the rapture of the church in two ways. First, before Revelation 4:1, the church is mentioned eighteen times, but then after Revelation 4:1, the church isn’t mentioned anymore until the very tail end of the last chapter of Revelation, after the revelation is complete—and Jesus is simply telling John that the revelation was given to him to give to the churches.

Revelation 22:16

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

The second way that everything after the churches points to the rapture of the church is indirectly, by the fact that John himself is taken up to heaven at the exact point in time when the rapture of the church will happen—after the churches, in Revelation 4:1. As the revelation unfolds, John is hearing messages for the churches in chapter 3, and then suddenly after these things—that is, after the churches—John is caught up to heaven to see the rest of the vision unfold.

2.4. What Signs Point to the Nearness of the Rapture of the Church?

While there are no signs that must occur before the rapture of the church, it is known that the rapture of the church occurs approximately seven years before the second coming of Christ (Daniel 9:27—each day represents one year in the seventieth week of Daniel’s vision, and all weeks but the seventieth week have been fulfilled). The nearness of the rapture of the church can therefore be gauged by looking for signs that must happen before the second coming of Christ. However close we are to the second coming of Christ, we are seven years closer to the rapture of the church.

Most of the signs that must occur before the second coming of Christ have already occurred, though their relevance is more noticeable these days. Wars and rumors of wars, for example, constitute a somewhat vague prophecy that could apply to any time in Earth’s history. However, there have been more wars fought and more people killed in the past hundred years than all of the wars fought in the rest of all known history combined.
⁹
Wars and rumors of wars, therefore, is a sign that bears unique relevance in this generation.

What about the increase of knowledge and traveling in the end times that the prophet Daniel prophesied?

Daniel 12:4
(bold emphasis added)

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end:
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Does not this current generation see more travel than any generation preceding it? Has not this current generation increased in knowledge (especially with the advent of computers, the Internet, and advanced communications systems), more than any generation preceding it? These things are not only increasing; they are also accelerating at an exponential rate unlike ever before in the history of humanity. Again this prophecy in Daniel bears unique relevance in this current generation, more than any generation prior.

As for specific prophecies that must happen, when Israel became a nation again in 1948, the entire world was shocked. Nothing could have been more unlikely prior to the nineteenth century, during the days of the Ottoman Empire. The nation of Israel was an ancient legend passed down from Jewish elders—an almost mythical past of the Jews. As for the Hebrew language, it was a relic of antiquity; yet within a few scant years, this entire nation rose from the dust of a forsaken land, and the Hebrew language was revived again to become the national language of the Jewish people.
¹⁰
That’s about as likely as NATO declaring the Cherokee Native American tribe to be the new rulers of America, and everyone in America learning to speak Cherokee—and then it actually happens!

The Jews were the underdogs of the entire world. Right after the Holocaust, which claimed the lives of over six million Jews, the British mandate over the region of Israel-Palestine ended, and the Jews declared Israel to be an independent nation again, in accordance with the established boundaries of the British partition plan.
¹¹
While the rest of the world silently concurred with Israel’s declaration, primarily out of sympathy for the anti-Semitism the Jews endured, the nations surrounding Israel didn’t share in that same sympathy. No sooner had Israel been declared a nation did all the countries surrounding Israel (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Arabia), declare war against the Jews—Holocaust or no Holocaust.
¹²

Apparently the sentiment of approval expressed to the Jews at that time from the global community didn’t mean much because the Jews didn’t receive much help in defending themselves. As if the Holocaust weren’t bad enough, now the Jews had to fight for their parcel of territory to call home—a battle against a half- dozen armies, with clear superiority in heavy arms and firepower.
¹³
(I only referenced a few sources for this information, but these facts can easily be obtained from literally hundreds of Web sites, books, documentaries, and the like.)