The Gap Period following the Rapture
As well as I can surmise from prophetic scripture and general common-sense supposition, after the Rapture, and prior to the seven-year Tribulation, the following will take place:
In Israel, a Psalm 83 war will occur, followed by the Gog/Magog war. After this, Antichrist tries to clean up the mess by signing a peace agreement with Israel. (This ends the gap period and starts the Tribulation period).
In the U.S. chaos, with an initial Muslim takeover attempt will occur as described below.
Worldwide, an economic collapse will occur, necessitating the rise of a world leader to organize it all and be a ‘savior’ for the world.
See a separate post on the ‘Bema Seat Judgement’ that that will take place at the same time. Please precede reading this post by reading the post, ‘The Rapture.’
As stated in other posts I think The Gap Period will be a three-year period of time. The actual Tribulation is seven years but the Yamin Noraim is a TEN-day period of time (days of repentance) after the Feast of Trumpets (which represents the Rapture). Ten (Yamin Noraim) minus seven (The Tribulation ‘part’) equals three.
This three-year period is necessary to help the memory of the Rapture fade in peoples’ minds (just like the U.S. quickly ‘forgot’ about 9/11 (see Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s The Harbinger for more explanation), which may be part of the ‘strong delusion’ God allows.
[On that note, it astounds me that only 17 years from that day, the left leaning people in the country, in their efforts to bring down their own nation out of a false sense of unworthiness and efforts to be politically correct, are trying vigorously to bring in as many Muslims as possible into our country, not aware that Mohammed’s mandate to his followers was to infiltrate other societies (starting with Medina for him after getting expelled from Mecca (see William Federer’s work), working to become a majority, then overthrowing the new nation.) What short memories we have! Then again, many of those politically active now were only small children in 2001. I welcome Muslims if they would make efforts to assimilate, but that would go against Mohammed’s teachings.]
In the same way, the memory of the Rapture’s effect on the world will fade.
In addition, during this gap period, technology, though very close already to serving the needs of the Antichrist, has to be further fine-tuned, mass produced, and widely distributed for every human on earth to have access, for the mark of the Beast and one-world government to get established.
A Psalm 83 war will likely take place immediately after the rapture. In Israel, the Israelis will realize the United States, their most reliable partner, is grievously weakened. Always intelligent and vigilant, they will immediately strike first against all of their regional enemies. See ‘End Times Sequence’ blog post for how I imagine this will play out.
‘Peace and safety’ will be declared immediately after, as Israel will defeat its regional enemies in a Psalm 83 war. It is uncertain if this is the event that leads Israel to declare ‘peace and safety’ or if that only occurs later, once the Antichrist (King of the West) strikes a deal with Israel as prophesied (officially enforcing a prior agreement) that promises Israel further safety and protection. I think the Gog/Magog war must occur prior to the tribulation, due to the seven years Israel will burn the weapons from that war (see below).
In either case, Gog will get a ‘wicked idea’ to attack Israel with its Persian (Iranian) allies.
The battle of Gog and Magog, essentially ‘the beginning of the end’ of Islam, must take place during the Gap Period. In heaven, the Bema Seat Judgements for the believers are occurring and much education and training is taking place for departed saints for how God wishes to use us in His Millennial kingdom and beyond. It will be a joyous time for believers. A Jewish wedding feast traditionally lasts seven days (seven years in this analogy) which corresponds to the seven-year Tribulation period during which God the Father is dealing once again with Israel. Christ the Son is marrying His bride, the Church. She (we) is/are receiving the pleasure of His intimacy. Not sure the details of this but we will find out.
After Gog/Magog, Israel ‘burns the weapons’ for seven years…
Ezekiel 39:9 ‘Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them. 10 They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” declares the Lord God.’
So, the ‘seven years’ includes a large part of the gap period. If all seven years of the Tribulation occurred immediately after the Rapture, then Gog/Magog has to occur simultaneously with the Rapture. This is possible but then Israel is burning weapons for fuel even after the Antichrist has declared himself Messiah (the abomination that brings desolation), and many have fled to Petra (Bosrah), Jordan to escape.
(On another note, if this Gog/Magog war is the same as the Gog/Magog war in Revelation 20:7-8, which it isn’t, then Israel is burning weapons after the Millennial Reign of Christ, when all will be restored and perfect. I don’t see that as possible. In the Revelation Gog/Magog war, there will be no need to bury the dead, as immediately after is the Great White Throne judgement and the earth is destroyed by fire. For more on this question, see below…)
From gotquestions.org…
[It is important to recognize that the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39 is quite different from the one in Revelation 20:7-8. Below are some of the more obvious reasons why these refer to different people and battles.
- In the battle of Ezekiel 38-39, the armies come primarily from the north and involve only a few nations of the earth (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2). The battle in Revelation 20:7-9 will involve all nations, so armies will come from all directions, not just from the north.
- There is no mention of Satan in the context of Ezekiel 38-39. In Revelation 20:7 the context clearly places the battle at the end of the millennium with Satan as the primary character.
- Ezekiel 39:11-12 states that the dead will be buried for seven months. There would be no need to bury the dead if the battle in Ezekiel 38-39 is the one described in Revelation 20:8-9, for immediately following Revelation 20:8-9 is the Great White Throne judgment (20:11-15) and then the current or present heaven and earth are destroyed, replaced by a new heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1). There obviously will be a need to bury the dead if the battle takes place in the early part of the tribulation, for the land of Israel will be occupied for another 1,000 years, the length of the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:4-6).
- The battle in Ezekiel 38-39 is used by God to bring Israel back to Him (Ezekiel 39:21-29). In Revelation 20, Israel has been faithful to God for 1,000 years (the millennial kingdom). Those in Revelation 20:7-10 who are rebellious are destroyed without any more opportunity for repentance.]
Read Bill Salus’ Apocalypse Road (especially the second part, the research section) for a deeper understanding of the Gap Period happenings on earth.
*Think hard now. How many Christians (those sealed with the Holy Spirit who have confessed Christ as Savior and Lord) do you imagine there are around the world? In the US, Christians, even nominal Christians, are in every level of government and business.
One cannot lose salvation. There are many scriptural supports for the concept of eternal security. ‘Once saved, always saved’. (I sense a separate post will have to be made concerning this as I can already hear the protesting screeches of those who disagree, as I have heard them many times before). Yes, even those who once genuinely gave their hearts to Jesus in a Bible School somewhere, then walked away in their adolescence never to return, still belong to Jesus. Here are just a couple to start with:
John 10:28-29 American Standard Bible (NASB)
‘28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.’
II Timothy 2:13 ‘If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.’
So even weak, or very immature Christians will be taken.
Currently our president (arguably a baby-Christian), vice-president, and Speaker of the House (first two in succession to the presidency) are all believers and will be gone. The president pro-tempore of the Senate (third in line, Orrin Hatch) may be as well, but though he may be a high-ranking Mormon, only Christ knows if he has surrendered his life to Him at some point in His life. Much of the president’s cabinet will be gone. (Orrin Hatch just announced his desire to retire when his term expires in 2019. If the Rapture occurs prior, he will be the new president if he is unsaved. He is old and ready to quit though, so his effectiveness in the face of the enormous stress a post-rapture USA will bring, is questionable at best.)
I’m pretty certain the ninth in line, Sonny Perdue is a believer in Christ (Secretary of Agriculture), as is Ben Carson (# 13 after the president, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.). I’m pretty sure #14 is (Rick Perry, Sec’y of Energy). The others I am not sure about.
Many in our military, of all ranks, are saved and will be gone. Many bureaucrats and civilian employees of the military will be gone. Many executives and entry level workers will be gone, disrupting industry (including the defense industry). Many police will be gone adding to the bedlam that will follow. Many doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics, etc. will be gone. Veterinarians (of which I am one) that are unsaved will be called upon to transfer use of their trauma treatment, surgical and internal medicine skills to human application, demand will be so high. Fortunately, veterinarians are already thoroughly versed in most aspects of medicine they will need to know. This will provide them an excellent bartering tool in the new economy. Unfortunately, they will suffer along with everyone else as these rejected Christ.
Vet hospitals, numerous in many cities, will serve as ‘field hospitals’ before transfer to hospitals made for humans. Many vets (myself included) have a home stash of basic medications, surgery supplies, antibiotics, etc. in their ‘rapture box’ (behind my chair as I type this) to help those ‘left behind’. Euthanasia (not in my supplies) will be popular for humans, as will suicide.
Basically, gaping holes will be left at all levels of industry, medicine, academia, government, ministry, non-profits, and the military. Children and unborn babies will disappear adding to the panic and desperation.
The panic will be so widespread, I doubt anyone, including first responders, will feel the obligation to show up at work anyway. They will mostly stay put at home to physically defend their homes and families from gangs of looters, or be out looting themselves. Utilities such as electric power will go out and no one will show up to work to restore service. Most will realize they will no longer get paychecks anyway, as all the banks have crashed with the economy and bank employees are not showing up to work. People’s groceries in their homes will last a week or two before true panic sets in and neighbors start robbing neighbors. Disease will spread as hospitals will be closed. Doctors and nurses, lab techs, and janitors will not show up. People may resort to holding doctors as gunpoint to get them to help them. Again, this effect will be most profound in the US as despite our more recent rebellion, we still have more officially ‘saved’ Christians (though they may be very immature) than any other country. I imagine things will be like that Twilight Zone episode where only one neighbor, a doctor, had a bomb shelter. A radio announcement was heard that missiles were approaching. Only the doctor had prepared, but suddenly the whole neighborhood was beating down his shelter door to get in. At the end it turned out to be a false alarm, but several were physically injured and trust among neighbors was permanently shattered.
After a week or two (corresponding to when the groceries in peoples’ homes runs out), someone will try to form an emergency government at every level. Speaking of Mormons, they already have great supplies of foodstuffs stored away around the country. I have no doubt this emergency government will try to confiscate the firearms of all those who were raptured then of those who weren’t. Local efforts at firearm confiscation will set the stage for Antichrist when he takes center stage and forms a ‘one world government’.
Chaos will reign – Have you ever been to a grocery store right before a hurricane or blizzard is forecast to strike? If so, you have seen people at their near worst. Rudeness and selfishness abound. Same with ‘Black Friday’ sales. Everyone is keenly focused on ‘getting theirs’ and pity the saps who get in their way. Imagine this panic to the tenth power and you’ll have an idea how it will be following the Rapture. Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, other hardware stores, and all grocery stores, large and small will be thoroughly looted. Proprietors will shoot to kill and many people will die. Employees of these stores will be there to loot the back rooms or not show up to work at all. Again, police and other first responders will not be working – they will be at home defending their homes and families. The only people at any stores preventing thefts will be owners of private businesses.
Pharmacies will be looted for narcotics and all other controlled substances, antibiotics, and other supplies, for use or barter. Wal-Marts will be history, wiped clean, including the pharmacies. What can’t be used will be traded. Liquor stores will be toast.
If an EMP (electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear blast) occurs along with the Rapture (as part of the Great Delusion to explain away the disappearance of one-third of the citizens/residents) nothing electronic will work and most cars will be idled. Underground storage tanks will be robbed of gas though, for fuel, and for us in older model cars that do not rely on computers. Bicycles and horses will be in great demand, as will those who know how to take care of them (veterinarians again).
The Amish and Mennonite communities can expect hordes of people who don’t know how to live without modern power and conveniences to swamp their towns, kill for horses and buggies, hold them hostage for crops and hand spun wool yarn, hand churned butter, etc.
With the rise in the sickness of pedophilia we’ve witnessed around the world, lately, I am grateful that all children will be in heaven, safely protected from rape, prostitution, and sexual abuse of all kinds from those who would take advantage of such a global crisis to attempt to satisfy their lusts. The children will also be spared from injury, illness, and starvation that accompanies the Tribulation. The problem is, the bible says that during the Tribulation, ‘woe to them who are with child or nursing’ when the abomination of desolation takes place. So obviously people will retain the ability to conceive, even though children prior to the Tribulation were taken during the Rapture. Perhaps these children are those God will choose to repopulate earth during the Millennial Kingdom.
The children are safe from God’s wrath which is what the Tribulation is about. Prior to the Tribulation, they were obviously NOT protected from Mankind’s sin however as we all saw and read the stories of unspeakable abuse against children taking place around the world.
There may be a zombie panic too. Yes seriously. When Christ rose from the dead, Matthew says,
‘And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.’
Back then there were no zombie movies, video games, or TV shows. Today, they abound. (Plants vs Zombies was one of my favorite games, and I remember seeing ‘Return of the Living Dead’ twice in theaters, once at a drive-in (showing my age now)).
Nowadays popular culture is rife with zombie stories (‘The Walking Dead’ for instance). Constant drug use (flakka, ‘bath salts’) have turned people into literal flesh-eating monsters (read the news).
I Thessalonians 4:15-18 (underlines are my additions)
‘15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.’
Though the graves of believers will be emptied at the Rapture (before believers are taken up even), there will be no one walking around. They will be with Christ. Some have been cremated which won’t matter to God. For those who were buried, it is anyone’s guess whether the soil over the grave sites will actually be disrupted. There are undoubtedly many buildings and roads built over old cemeteries that be damaged if this is the case.
I remember a poster depicting the Rapture from my week at Camp Good News near Houston that depicted open graves and souls shooting from them towards heaven like lasers, souls like lasers shooting from drivers’ seats of now out of control cars, and cockpits of now out of control airplanes. (That poster was a cartoonish depiction however. I believe only the saved will hear the last trumpet of God during the Rapture, and no one else, and certainly no ‘lasers’ will be seen as it will occur in the ‘twinkling of an eye’ – the time it takes for light to hit the retina. But I understand the illustration was meant to depict to us what God and His angels might see). I don’t even know if clothes and implants will be left behind, like in the ‘Left Behind’ movies and their abundant knockoffs, as we can presume Jesus was clothed when He met with the disciples for the 40 days after His resurrection. There is no mention of Him taking off His clothes prior to His ascension into Heaven. (I can’t imagine Him telling his audience to ‘hold on a sec’ while He gets his clothes off before finally ascending). But even then, there is no mention of the disciples picking up His clothes He left behind. Or perhaps He was clothed in pure light, as it is supposed Adam and Eve were before they sinned.
The stock market will do what it always does when people panic – it is guaranteed to crash so hard this time it will never recover, which will lead to crashing of other markets and a worldwide economic depression. Money will be next to worthless. Only food, ammunition, medical supplies, controlled drugs, tobacco, firearms, knives, axes, survival gear, or barterable skills (medical, hunting, and agricultural skills especially, though prostitution will abound), will have any value.
The world, who has loaned money to the US for years based on our ‘intrinsic’ wealth and ability to repay will panic, knowing they will never get paid now. Our credit rating will fall to less than junk status overnight. Most of US debt is owed to ourselves in various ways and will never be repaid either. (The antichrist will use this fact as a major leverage when he comes calling to get the US to give up sovereignty).
On one hand, many of the elderly on Social Security and retired military on pensions will be gone, that the US will eventually see a break on those financial commitments. I say eventually because the checks may keep getting printed and mailed automatically. People will steal them from mail boxes (including from post-office boxes by postal workers) and cash them (if the banks are even operational), until eventually the government will require people to check in ‘in-person’ someplace as ‘proof of life’ to continue getting payments. Chances are though, the treasury will soon be bankrupt as we can borrow no more, and those formerly iron-clad treasury checks will start to bounce, worsening the panic.
Whatever national government does try to form from the ashes of the US will confiscate the departed believers’ assets in order to fund the government, and possibly pay down the national debt to appease its creditors. With the loss of a hundred million citizens, each having assets of an average of say, $75,000 in bank accounts, stocks (now worthless), real estate, jewelry, automobiles, precious metals, businesses, etc., the assets seized will be about 7.5 trillion dollars. (best guess), unclaimed mostly, the government will use it as long as possible. Of course, banks will foreclose on properties once mortgage payments haven’t been made in a while, then counties will place liens on properties after taxes haven’t been paid. The federal government trumps all though, and will have final say in how confiscated assets are distributed. In the meantime, survivors and scavengers will run amok, looting for all they’re worth. With the dollar valueless, a barter system will be king. Ammunition, medical supplies, medical skills, hunting skills, food, clean water, and possibly precious metals will be king. And of course, the vices of sex, alcohol, drugs, tobacco will be in demand as always. Those left behind who have stashed away a quantity of liquor, ammunition, canned food, and such will be in the best position to survive awhile, but when those run out, they will have to join the system set up by Antichrist or perish.
Again, the dollar may be near worthless, so trying to repay the national debt in dollars will be futile. Other nations will be glad they moved to a different base currency, such as the yuan or renminbi.
We will lose so many in our population compared to other nations because God has blessed the US for our commitment to Israel over the years. From Jews fleeing persecution with Christopher Columbus, to Harry Truman supporting the re-forming of Israel post WW2, to Donald Trump and Nikki Haley recognizing Jerusalem as its capital against the overwhelming wishes of the UN, to the many billions we’ve provided them in defense, God has blessed us in return. Though they are Jews and reject Christ, they are still God’s chosen (think of them as the natural child who is resentful of his dad, and Christians as the adopted child that is grateful to his dad).
Therefore, God has caused the truth of the gospel to be preached from coast to coast and border to border in our country in countless churches and radio stations for many years. This has been our blessing to be a bastion of Christianity despite Satan’s ceaseless efforts to the contrary. This blessing has resulted in a strong faith tradition (the most recent decline started in the late1960s) and many of our citizens being ‘in the Light’ and being among the elect of God. As a result, probably a third of us will be taken along with many more around the world. That one-hundred million people or so from the US includes all adult believers and all who have not reached a moment of accountability to God. (Many mentally handicapped, all little children, and the unborn – are in this latter class.)
*Note – Don’t get me wrong, everyone still must bow the knee to Christ to receive Salvation, for by no other name is salvation possible, and all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. (Acts 4:12 and Romans 3:23) But I believe those in this class will be given new minds that can comprehend truth, and the truth will be revealed to them. They will then ask Christ to be their Lord, accept His atonement of the cross, and be welcomed into heaven.
The gospel has saturated this country. If any adult has not heard the gospel by now, it is by his or her choice. It is abundantly available on stations such as CSN, BBN, and others. One has to really ‘try’ not to know what the gospel says in this country. Sadly, Satan has successfully diluted and perverted the message in many ‘churches’ and ‘church leaders’ and they are accountable to God Himself for their heresy and failing to lead people to the Truth. Anyone crying out to God for wisdom will be heard by Him and He will answer accordingly (see blog post ‘Peace with God’ and ‘You Must Choose a Faith System’) for scripture references)
Satan has waged war against Christianity in the US through the ACLU, through liberal emotional weaklings seeking ‘political correctness’, and a subsequent embrace of Islam (by the very liberals many Muslims want to kill – LGBTQ people, feminists, and such) (Islam has zero tolerance for people who identify as homosexual, transsexual, liberated women, etc.), and most of all by weak and backslidden Christians who have proclaimed Christ, yet lived lives of hypocrisy which have turned off those who do not believe, and given them plenty of ammunition against having a Christian faith.
The Democratic party, in general, under Satan’s direction, has worked tirelessly to bring down this country and suffocate the spread of the gospel, the gospel that says there is only ONE way to God and that is belief in and acceptance of Jesus Christ. They protested that ‘the gospel was too exclusive to be allowed in schools’, citing what they think the Constitution says about separation of Church and State (it doesn’t). The truth is always exclusive of those who reject it. Many Republicans have been hypocritical ‘CHRINOs’ as I call them – Christians in Name Only, and are just as bad if not worse than God’s outspoken enemies.
(Revelation 3:13-16
‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.’)
Those rebellious to God will inherit a Christ-less nation of their own design and desire, until a ruler comes along and tells them they must believe in him alone for salvation and take a mark to prove their loyalty. Should they refuse to submit, they will die, either by execution, denial of medical care, or starvation.
Before this rise of the one world religion though, Islam will try to rise.
Sensing its chance to seize power and thinking Allah has miraculously removed obstacles toward the goal of a worldwide Ummah (community), initially, Islam will quickly rise up from their sleeper cells in every state in this country, and start establishing and enforcing sharia law in the US.
This follows the example of ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Taliban in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Afghanistan, then throughout Europe as the ‘oppressed’ refugees (all fighting age males) did recently. Muslims who have previously been lukewarm will quickly fall into line supporting their more aggressive cousins (a looming middle east war will decide whether Shia or Sunni predominates).
These lukewarm Muslims’ ability to recite passages of the Koran and their willingness to bow to Allah five times daily will give them some degree of safety and make them candidates for ‘re-commitment’ to the Islamic faith, as many lukewarm Muslims in the Middle East experienced when Isis rolled through. Terrified of the consequences, they will gratefully and readily agree to demonstrate their refreshed loyalty to Islam and the Koran by obeying passages such as…
Koran 2:191 ‘Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them’
3:28 ‘Muslims must not take the infidels as friends.’
3:85 ‘Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable’
5:33 ‘Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam’
8:12 ‘Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Koran
8:60 ‘Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels’
8:65 ‘The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.’
9:5 ‘when the opportunity arises kill the infidels wherever you find them.’
9:30 ‘the Jews and Christians are perverts, fight them.’
9:123 ‘make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.’
22:19 ‘Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water, melt their skin and bellies.’
47:4 ‘Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them.’
Some say these are taken out of context as people often take the Christian bible or Jewish Tanakh out of context to make the whole faith sound evil. That may be. However, the ‘proof is in the pudding’. ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas, Wahabis, and the Taliban all actually do these things that the Koran orders, following these verses to the letter, out of context as they may be.
One does not see Christians or Jews routinely following their scriptures out of context. The actions of militant Islamists show they believe in following the ‘out of context’ Koran, and they will easily get all ‘lukewarm’ Muslims around the world to do so as well, out of fear of reprisal by their more radical cousins in the faith. Just like the Nazi’s terrorized regular Germans into submission and obedience and complicity in their merciless schemes, so radical Muslims will pull lukewarm Muslims into a more wicked interpretation of their faith.
Many Americans remember the gruesome headlines and videos of people having hands, feet, legs and arms, amputated, people being burned alive, and beheaded, civilians hung in slaughter houses to be bled and gutted like cattle, people being encaged then drowned in swimming pools, people having eyes gouged out while people shouted Allahu Akbar! In praise to their demon, and children being thrown into dough mixers to be crushed to death.
Many Americans curiously or even gleefully watched these videos online for the ‘shock’ value, but will have spontaneous bowel movements as they realize what was once happening on the other side of the world is now happening overnight in their own town centers. Those who identify as homosexual will be tossed from rooftops (even skyscrapers), televised of course, because that is their M.O. to spread terror and subjugate the masses. In response, people will either mount protests, submit/surrender, fight back, die, commit suicide, or flee for the countryside (then when surrounded, do one of the other options).
In a battle for hegemony and power/rivalry with Antichrist, the ‘Kings of the North’ (the alliance of Russia, Turkey, and Iran and other former Soviet states (Gog, leading Magog) will take advantage of this and try to attack Israel from the north, while Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, and Sudan, will attack from the south (Kings of the South). (Ezekiel 38 and 39). (See Russia Rising by Mark Hitchcock for more info).
First, people will think they can protest as they were used to doing in a free America, but will be machine-gunned ruthlessly in the streets or otherwise exterminated in mass, graphic fashion as an example to others. This will cause the rest to choose one of the other options.
Many will surrender/submit, as many Jews did in WW2 to save their own skins (also reminiscent of Jews such as Matthew and Zacchaeus who sided with the Romans to collect taxes from fellow Jews during the Roman occupation). As the bible says…
Matthew 10:21 and Mark 13:12…
‘Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death’
The first requirement of these traitors will be to turn in anyone they know who will cause a problem for the new Muslim government. Betrayals will occur. Many will be tortured and executed for not living a lifestyle considered Haram (compatible with the Koran). Many will be allowed to pay a ‘jizrah’ (tax for non-Muslims who want to stay non-Muslim)
Others will commit suicide to escape the horrors of Islamic rule.
Many will naturally want to escape into drugs and alcohol, leading to overdoses or execution one discovered due to disobedience to the Koran.
Others will form resistance armies and fight back. These will eventually defeat Islam once Islam is defeated in Israel at the Gog/Magog war, killing 80% of the attacking Muslims. Weakened and abandoned, the Muslims in the US will soon fall to the resistance armies, who will fight with renewed vigor, sensing victory is in sight. These armies will make use of the plentiful firearms and ammunition left behind by believers, plus those ‘stolen’ form military depots. Many militias are already well armed, well trained and well stocked around the country and will prove worthy opponents to the Muslim armies cut off from their overseas benefactors.
This will take some time to play out, and the judgements of God have not necessarily commenced (Jesus has not yet removed the first seal from the scroll).
As posted in ‘The Rapture/(harpazo)’ blog post…
[The following passage likely predicts what occurs just after the rapture during the gap period, in the mass confusion that will be occurring….
Matthew 24:4 – 8 ‘And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.’ (Revelation judgements take place following this).]
In the first year following the Rapture, in all the confusion, many false Christs will arise, with demonically derived power to be convincing. This is the ‘beginning of the end’, the birth pangs. Things will accelerate rapidly from here as the next verses describe (reread The Rapture blogpost if you need to).
Antichrist can be revealed now, after the Rapture, and he will be the king of the West. He has many names (the ‘little horn’ of Daniel and Revelation, and ‘the Assyrian’, ‘the Idol Shepherd’, for instance).
Antichrist will use the massive debt of the U.S. as leverage to get our remaining citizens to vote to join the New World Order and give its power over to a UN type body. Debt forgiveness and economic rescue will be dangled as a prize in return for subservience.
Gog (leader of the Russia coalition that includes Turkey and Iran) will see the leader in Europe as a rival and will make a move against Israel to establish dominance and garner continued support from its allies in north Africa, Turkey and Iran. Its treaties with Iran and lust for Israel’s gas and oil reserves (or associated pipelines) will be the ‘hook in the jaws’ that brings Gog into the fight.
God will supernaturally destroy Gog, Iran (Persia), Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya and Turkey so that Israel can ‘burn the weapons for seven years, and it will take seven months for them to bury all the dead in the Valley of Hamon-Gog. (Ezekiel 39:10-15)
‘10 They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those who despoiled them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,” declares the Lord God. 11 “On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 Even all the people of the land will bury them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself,” declares the Lord God. 14 “They will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. 15 As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. ‘
The wording here possibly alludes to nuclear power and nuclear contamination of the corpses OR perhaps biological agents in that people mark bones they find, possibly so as not to touch them. People in hazmat suits may come by later to find all the bones that were marked to dispose of them properly.
In any case, the Kings of the North and South are essentially gone, leaving the King of the West (Antichrist) to rule solely He has absorbed the military might and resources of the US. Perhaps Antichrist (king of the west) will try to take credit for the miraculous Israeli victory over its attackers, and use this to help fuel the belief that he is indeed the messiah they’ve been waiting for.
The Kings of the East (China, North Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam possibly) will seek compromise now with the world’s only other remaining economic and military power. Antichrist will cater to them by crafting his one world religion out of a hybrid of eastern beliefs and those of the ‘strong delusion’ that God has allowed on mankind. Perhaps, as Bill Salus has proffered, visions of a demon pretending to be Mary will convince many of the False Prophet’s legitimacy.
II Thessalonians 2:11,12
‘11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.’
I believe it is now that the gap period ends and the seven-year tribulation begins. The Great Tribulation (last 3.5 years of the Tribulation) does not begin until Antichrist defiles the Third Temple by declaring himself god of the world. But the seven-year tribulation (beginning of Daniel’s 70th week) starts when Antichrist signs a seven-year peace agreement with Israel. (Daniel 9:27)