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Know the Future!--From God's Word, the Bible! '[EDITED: "tract"] (Based on ML #1658) GP 1658T 10/92
The Bible and the words of God's prophets are actually the only real newspapers or news books in the world! All other newspapers tell you what already happened yesterday, so they are not really newspapers, they are history papers! But the Bible tells us what is going to happen tomorrow. It is full of thousands of detailed prophecies, actually describing specific people, places, times, situations and events thousands of years before they came into being. (Isaiah 34:16; 42:9; 2Peter 1:19-21.)*
Many of these prophecies are about the final period of world history, just before Jesus will return to put an end to all of today's injustices and to set up His own Kingdom of love and peace on earth. These last final days of man's kingdoms on earth are known in the Bible as the "Time of the End," the "Latter Days," the "Last Days," etc.--The time in which you and I are now living! (Daniel 2:28; 8:23; 12:4.)
{\b \i 1. Signs of the Times!}
When Jesus' disciples wanted to know the future and asked Him, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?", He didn't reply with only one sign, but with dozens! In fact, the Bible gives us scores of "signs of the times," signs and signals that we are to look out for so that we can know exactly how close to the very end we are. (See Matthew 24.)
These signs include: A dramatic upsurge in "famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places" (Matthew 24:7); "the Gospel being preached in all the world for a witness to all nations" (Matthew 24:14); a drastic increase in international travel, with "many running to and fro, wandering from sea to sea, as knowledge is greatly increased" (Daniel 12:4; Amos 8:11,12); a great "falling away" (2Thessalonians 2:3) from the Lord as "evil men and seducers grow worse and worse, deceiving many" (2Timothy 3:13); "the love of many growing cold" (Matthew 24:12), resulting in "distress of nations upon the earth and men's hearts failing them for fear!" (Luke 21:25,26).--Signs which are all obviously being fulfilled today more than ever before!
{\b \i 2. One-World Government!}
One of the most important and final signs of the very end that many prophets predicted is the rise of a totally godless world government led by a demonic dictator known as "the Beast" or the Antichrist, who will be possessed and controlled by Satan himself! This man will come to power with a 7-year agreement, a covenant (which could already be in effect secretly) in which he will promise the world peace and religious freedom, and will settle the Middle East crisis, working out a compromise between the Jews and the Arabs to enable the Jews to re-institute their traditional temple worship in Jerusalem. (Daniel 8:23-25; 2Thessalonians 2:1-4; Daniel 9:27.) He will also undoubtedly be instrumental in restoring the world's economy after the soon-coming global economic crash takes place!
{\b \i 3. Israel Invaded!}
For a while, most of the world is going to think that this man, the Antichrist, is wonderful, as he will have brought peace, restored the world's economy, solved the Middle East crisis, etc. But suddenly, toward the end of his reign, after having broken the covenant, he will invade Israel from the north, and will forbid and abolish all traditional religious worship, declaring that he himself is God and demanding that all the world worship him! (Daniel 9:27; 8:9-12; 11:21-24,28-31,36; 2Thessalonians 2:3,4,8,9.)
At this time he will place an idol, an image of himself, in the temple area in Jerusalem, the "Abomination of Desolation," which could very likely be some kind of a computerised robot or telecommunications system for his Antichrist regime, as it will speak and somehow even cause those who refuse to worship it to be killed. Jesus Himself said that when you see this image, this Abomination of Desolation, standing there in the temple, then would begin a time of "Great Tribulation." (Daniel 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 13:14,15.)
{\b \i 4. The Mark of the Beast--666!}
During the last part of the Antichrist's reign, people won't use paper money any more because the Antichrist government is going to introduce a one-world credit system, and all members of the System who reject Jesus and worship the Antichrist will be issued a credit number, marked in their right hand or forehead--666! The Antichrist government will use this new credit system to try to force everybody to worship the Antichrist or face starvation, because no one will be able to buy or sell without this number or "Mark of the Beast."--But God's children will refuse to worship him or receive his Mark.--And the Lord will take care of us, even if He has to supernaturally drop bread from Heaven to feed us! (Revelation 13:16-18; 12:6,14.)
{\b \i 5. Plagues and Protection!}
And while the Antichrist and his followers are persecuting and trying to destroy God's children, God is going to let loose pestilences and plagues and even strange monsters which will attack these wicked people of the Devil! These days of the Great Tribulation will be like the last days of the children of Israel in Egypt.--God's prophets will be doing great and mighty signs, wonders and miracles to defend the Gospel and God's children! (Revelation 7:3; 9:1-11; 11:3-6.)
{\b \i 6. Nuclear War!}
Near the end of the Tribulation period, 10 "Kings" will join the Antichrist and together they will destroy and "devour with fire Babylon, the Great Whore."--A final judgement which, according to many Scriptures, sounds like the 10 leading nations of Europe uniting with the Antichrist and turning on America in a nuclear first strike that will destroy her in one hour! (Daniel 11:38,39; Revelation 17:12,16,17; 18:1-10,17-19; Isaiah 25:2-5.)
The Antichrist's worldwide suppression and persecution of all who refuse to worship him, plus the horrific nuclear war, will make this Great Tribulation period a time of trouble such as the world has never known. In fact, Jesus said, "Except those days be shortened [EDITED: "come to an end"], there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's [EDITED: "Christians'"] sake, those days shall be shortened" (Matthew 24:21,22).
{\b \i 7. Jesus Returns!}
Seven years after coming to power, just when the fiendish Antichrist thinks he has the world in his grasp, then suddenly--BOOM!--Like a bolt from the blue, Jesus will return and snatch all of His children out of this world!--A climatic event known as the Rapture. Just after that darkest night in world history we are going to have the brightest dawn! Jesus is going to come back and rescue His own, His people, everyone who loves Him and knows Him and has received Him in their hearts! (Matthew 24:29-31.)
All of the Christians who have already died and gone on to be with Jesus will come back with Him to pick up their new resurrection bodies.--And "the earth shall cast out the dead!" (Isaiah 26:19). Then we who are alive and remain, having miraculously survived and kept witnessing for Jesus throughout the Antichrist's reign of terror, will instantly be changed, transformed, as we receive our new, miraculous, powerful, supernatural, resurrection bodies--just like Jesus' body after He was resurrected!--And up we'll sail towards the sky, "to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord!" (1Thessalonians 4:14-17; 1Corinthians 15:51-57; Philippians 3:21).
All of our anti-Christ enemies will be shocked as they see the Lord coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory, lighting up the whole sky like permanent lightning!--The powers of the heavens shaken!--The Lord descending with a great shout!--A terrific blast on the trumpet of God!--Graves of the saints bursting open as the dead are raised!--And all of God's children who are still alive, transformed before their eyes, flying upwards to meet Jesus! "Every eye shall see Him and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him!" (Matthew 24:27-31; Revelation 1:7).
{\b \i 8. Feast in Heaven, but Hell on Earth!}
Jesus will come back to catch His Bride, His people, out of the evil clutches of the Enemy and then whisk us away to the grandest, most glorious and thrilling wedding party that's ever been held, the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven!--At which time we will witness the awesome spectacle of God's judgements being poured out upon the unrepentant, wicked world below. Right after the Lord has rescued and raptured us to be with Him, the horrific vials of the great Wrath of God are going to be poured out upon the Antichrist and his people in horrible, terrible plagues such as the world has never known! (Revelation 19:6-9; 14:14-20; 16:11-21.)
{\b \i 9. Armageddon!}
God's going to pour out His judgements and horrors and wrath upon the Antichrist and his forces to punish and sock it to them with what they deserve!--Until the final Wrath of all, when the wicked gather together at a place called Armageddon in Israel to try to crush those remaining nations who are still trying to resist the Antichrist's evil rule. Then Jesus Himself, along with His resurrected, glorified, heavenly forces, will return to earth again on majestic white horses out of Heaven to utterly defeat and destroy the Antichrist and totally annihilate his forces in the supernatural, catastrophic Battle of Armageddon, and to rescue the unsaved people who were resisting the bestial Antichrist! Though they had not previously believed in and received Jesus, He will mercifully allow them to live on into the coming Golden Age of the Millennium so they can have a chance to know Him. (Revelation 9:13-21; 19:11-21; 17:14; 16:12-21.)
{\b \i 10. God's New World Order!}
Then we, the saints of God, along with our King, Jesus Christ, will take over the world and organise it and rule it and run it the way it should have been run if man had yielded to God! We are going to set up the Kingdom of God on earth and restore the earth to the beauty of the Garden of Eden again. This amazing period will last for one thousand years and therefore it is known as The Millennium. (Daniel 2:44; 7:18,26,27; Revelation 20:4.)
The Lord says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection (the Rapture): On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6). Jesus also promised to His faithful ones, "He that overcomes, and keeps My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations [EDITED: "of surviving unsaved people"]: And He shall rule them with a rod of iron [EDITED: "firm benign rule"]" (Revelation 2:26,27).
{\b \i 11. Satan Bound!}
The Devil will be bound and cast as a prisoner into the bottomless pit for this thousand-year period, and God is going to be supreme and Jesus will reign from shore to shore and we will rule and reign with Him!--And those surviving unsaved people who live on into the Millennium will learn to do what's right during this thousand years. Then and only then, under the supreme and powerful rule and reign of Jesus Christ and God's children, will all wars finally cease and the world will at last be governed fairly and well with true justice, liberty, peace, plenty and happiness for all! (Revelation 20:1-3; Isaiah 2:2-4; Psalm 22:27,28; 47:2,3,7,8.)
{\b \i 12. No More Pollution!}
The earth will be restored to the way it was during the days of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden! "And nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all His holy Kingdom!"--No more stinking automobiles belching fumes, nor foul smoke-belching factories! The world is going to go back to animal transportation and carriages, wagons and beautiful, majestic, wind-powered sailing vessels! (Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:20-25.)
{\b \i 13. Super Powers!}
During the Millennium, all of God's born-again, saved, resurrected people will be in new supernatural bodies, with amazing miraculous powers such as indestructibility, imperviousness to pain, sickness or death; possessing the abilities to appear and disappear, to fly, to communicate with each other by mental telepathy without speaking a word, etc.! So it will be fairly easy to rule over the unsaved inhabitants of earth with the wisdom, power, justice and love of Jesus and His personal leadership.
{\b \i 14. No Unbelievers!}
But the rest of the world, those who have been spared and blessed enough to survive into the Millennium, are going to still be in their old natural bodies. Everyone on earth will see God's glorious power and kingdom and everybody will believe then. So there won't be any unbelievers, but there will still be some un-receivers who won't yield and won't obey and will still be stubborn and rebellious and defiant. These wicked rejectors will probably move to distant corners of the earth in order to try to live independent of Jesus' benign rule, and as long as they do not bother the receivers--the good citizens of Jesus' Kingdom--we will probably leave them to their own devices. (Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 29:18,19; 32:1; 40:5.)
{\b \i 15. A Final Test!}
Then, as a final test and a final sifting, at the end of the Millennium, Satan is going to be released from his prison in the heart of the earth for a "little season," just long enough to deceive the unconverted wicked who have rejected Christ's Kingdom of love. These rebels will again follow him to the full, in open rebellion against the Lord and His government, and will attack "the camp of the saints," the normal earthlings who have become loyal citizens of Jesus' Millennial Kingdom. This will result in the catastrophic "Battle of Gog and Magog," at which point God is so fed up with the rebels that He rescues all of the loyal believers and then sends down fire out of Heaven to completely devour the wicked! (Psalm 2:1-12; Isaiah 26:9-11; Revelation 20:7-10.)
{\b \i 16. God's Meltdown!}
In fact, He will cause such a horrible fire to come down that it will completely wipe out the entire surface of the earth and the atmospheric heavens will be rolled back like a scroll and depart with a great noise! It's all going to explode and be burned up, and the entire surface of this planet is going to be completely melted. After the world has been totally cleansed, it will be recreated into a beautiful New Earth! (2Peter 3:10-13.)
{\b \i 17. Final Judgement!}
After this climactic Battle of Gog and Magog, all the unsaved of all ages will be resurrected for the final Great White Throne Judgement! All of the unsaved dead will finally be raised to stand before God Himself in the final Judgement in which "the books are opened," and they will all be given their final sentences according to their works, and will be assigned to their final places in the hereafter. (Revelation 20:11-15.)
{\b \i 18. Space City!}
God's great heavenly city will then descend from above to the beautiful, recreated, Garden-of-Eden-like new earth.--And God Himself will dwell with us right here on earth! It will be like God taking over the world by invading it from outer space--bringing down His heavenly city and restoring Himself as the King of kings forever! This great Space City is 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide and 1,500 miles high! (1,500 miles = 2,414 kilometres!)--The greatest space vehicle ever created, the most wonderful spaceship ever conceived, built by the Lord! (Revelation 21:All.)
{\b \i 19. The Wonderful World to Come!}
The entire "city is pure gold, like unto clear glass"! (Revelation 21:18). It's like clear golden-coloured glass, a beautiful crystal gold. So you'll be able to see out of the city through those transparent walls, out onto a beautiful, fully-restored and recreated new earth which will be populated by new nations and kings and peoples who will then learn the righteousness, goodness and love of God, even though they will be outside the golden city and its jewelled walls! (Revelation 21:24-26.)
It will be a better world then with better people who will have learned their lessons of the law of the love of God and will be happier than ever before, because at last they will be purged and purified of their sins of rebellion against Him and healed by the leaves of the trees of life which we shall minister to them from where they grow by the river of life within the city. (Revelation 22:1,2.)
{\b \i 20. No More Wicked!}
Only the most wicked of all, such as Satan, the Antichrist, his false prophet and their most ardent Christ-rejecting followers will have been sent to the Lake of Fire to be punished and purged of their diabolical rebelliousness! If they repent even there, perhaps they may be released and allowed to live on the surface of the new earth. But if they do not repent, God may see fit to just completely destroy them! (Revelation 21:8; 22:14,15; Philippians 2:10,11; 1Timothy 2:4; Ephesians 1:10; 2Peter 2:12.)
{\b \i 21. You Are Invited!}
Some of this may be a shock to you, but it's the truth of God's word! You can read it in the Bible for yourself if you wish, if you truly want to know the things that will shortly come to pass, and if you hunger for the righteousness of God and thirst for His living waters that bring Eternal Life through His love and the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ! For He has promised that if you do, you too shall be filled and satisfied to overflowing upon others who need Him also! (Acts 17:11; Matthew 5:6.)
So if you want a new world and a new life under a new good government by God Himself, with peace and plenty and happiness for all, and would even like to help run it, why not ask Jesus into your heart today? Then join us and work with us to tell the world of His love, and show them what a wonderful world it's going to be from the Bible and your own happy smiling face and heavenly living together in love, a present-day sample of the Heaven to come! (John 1:12; Revelation 3:20; Matthew 5:16.)
Prepare for the future today by receiving Jesus now! Simply pray, "Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and forgive me for all my sins. Help me to love and live for You, to hunger for Your truth, to learn Your word and to tell others about Your love.--In Your name I pray, amen."
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* The references in parentheses throughout this text indicate the books, chapters and verses in the Bible that describe the events preceding such references.
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
