To God's believers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Son Jesus Christ, and specifically those who were taught in a Pre-Tribulation 'Rapture', I'll ask these questions:
Why the Great Tribulations?
Does God want to simply punish those who believe in another God, those who don't believe in anything, those who are lukewarm?
No, I don't think so, he has another purpose. If you believe he is a just God, a merciful God, a God who Love's his children (his creation), then there must be another reason.
It's to multiply the harvest of souls. Many will come to their knees and ask for Mercy, they will recognize God and his Son Jesus Christ.
They will turn to him for salvation. They will listen to his 144000 preaching the True Gospel. And hence will be saved.
Now for those who are anchored in the Pre-Tribulation stories, it is soon. The 144000 get a 'first installment' this coming month.
They will be sealed by November 2024. After that, you guessed it, it Starts.
I pray you all understand God's, Jesus Christ's purpose of the Great Tribulations, or the first 3 and 1/2 years.
My understanding is this:
Christians who will endure in faith to the End will be saved.
We will then see and realize the abomination of this desolation. By then, a quarter (1/4) of the population of the Earth will be killed. If this part happened today, it would translate into nearly 2 Billions dead.
The Son perdition will be revealed: Anti-Christ
The Gospel of the Kingdom will then be preached: The Two Witnesses. The 144000?
The Fourth Trumpet will sound. Then, the Sun and the Moon will loose their light. The stars will fall from Heaven, and Heaven will shake.
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.
That's when 'the Rapture' will occur. First, the dead in Christ will rise again. The harvest of souls will be complete, time to get out of dodge. Up, Up, Up you go.
Revelation 7:14 ...These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Three Trumpets have yet to sound
Another 3 1/2 years, to punish and destroy the wicked, the murderers, and all of Satan's minions.
The events from the Fifth to the Seventh Trumpet are so utterly NOT from this world.
Even the best Sci-fi or horror Hollywood movie doesn’t even come close.
Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
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.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
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.
29 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:
30 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.
31 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.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Revelation 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Revelation 8:1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
Revelation 9 is like a horror sci-fi movie, after the 5th trumpet.
