Tribulation Outtakes

[Odë:hgöd]

.
Rev 16:17-18 predicts a global earthquake so powerful on the Richter scale that
cities all over the world will collapse at once.

Something like 2,829 lost their lives when the World Trade Center was demolished
by a terrorist attack in 2001. Well that was only a few acres of New York City. Just
imagine the body count when all of Manhattan comes down at once. along with
other major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City, Paris, Moscow,
Beijing, Tokyo, et al. The carnage will be beyond belief; and a great many of the
dead will be infants and underage children.

* The Bible says that we should consider not only God's benevolence, but also His
severity. (Rom 11:22) Folks in the tribulation will be dealing with a someone in
control far more terrifying than even the tyrants of North Korea, Communist China,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the awful regimes in Africa.

● Heb 12:29 . . For our God is a consuming fire.

That's a quote from Deut 4:24 which, in context, doesn't describe God's physical
characteristics, rather, it's a figure of speech illustrating rage: defined by Webster's
as violent and uncontrolled anger. It's hard to imagine Christianity's divine patron
ticked off to that extent, but there it is.

A consuming fire is one that cannot be extinguished, i.e. once it gets going, there's
no stopping till all that's aflame is utterly destroyed, viz: an unquenchable
conflagration.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Rev 16:21 . . And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone
about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of
the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

* Talents were gross units of gold weighing from 75-100 pounds. That would be a
preposterous amount of gold to own in our day when it's current market value is
nearly $1,870 an ounce, but not so bad back there when it was strictly money
instead of traded as a commodity. Gold coins were common, but try to find one in
somebody's pocket today.

Dropping lumps of ice that size from the sky all over the globe will be like a deadly
implosion smashing, bashing, and crushing most everything it touches: homes,
barns, super markets, strip malls, sports arenas, theaters, forests, pastures, crops,
vehicles, etc. Noah's rainfall was likely pretty destructive too, but not like this. That
was at least liquid; this will be solid.

The natural world will surely experience significant damage among the critters who
live above ground, e.g. hogs, deer, elk, ducks, geese, turkeys, cows, mustangs,
monkeys, gorillas, lions, tigers, hyenas, elephants, giraffes, butterflies, moths,
tortoises, etc.

Just imagine being caught out in the open when that hail starts. Finding adequate
shelter from such a bombardment of ice will be very difficult and no doubt
frightened people will be shrieking and screaming in mortal panic.

Curiously, numbers of people will know the hail is from God but it won't persuade
them to consider making peace with Him, instead; the hail will just make 'em
angry.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Rev 19:19-21 . .Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies
gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the
beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the
miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had
received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.

. . .The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest
of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the
horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

The potent weapon proceeding from that person's mouth is speech; which causes
me to wonder why more people weren't afraid of Jesus back in his day because if
by speech he could cure leprosy then by speech he could've caused someone to
come down with leprosy; and if by speech he could energize a crippled man's legs,
then by speech he could've put somebody in a wheel chair; and if by speech he
could restore someone's corpse to life, then by speech he could've made people
drop dead to the floor; and if by speech he could cure blindness, then by speech he
could've put people's eyes out; and if by speech he could multiply loaves and
fishes, then by speech he could've caused famine; and if by speech he could calm a
storm, then by speech he could've caused a hurricane, a typhoon, and/or a
tornado.

David's combat with Goliath was an encounter that was possible for David to win;
but I see no chance of anybody's success in a fight with Christ when he has at his
disposal all the miraculous abilities of the supreme being who, according to the
book of Genesis, created a fully functioning cosmos-- all its forms of life, matter,
and energy --by nothing more than His voice.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
God's patience is long-suffering. However, He's wise enough to know when to say
when and to stop throwing good money after bad, so to speak. For example:

● 2Thess 2:11-12 . . God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe
the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.

In other words: there's coming a time when God's patience will reach its reasonable
limits, and He will purposely, willfully, and deliberately make sure that a certain
category of people during the Tribulation have no chance whatsoever to be spared
the wrath of God.

Back when Noah was preparing the ark, no doubt his neighbors all mocked and
poked fun at him as if he were a deranged soul going around with a sandwich board
that reads: Repent; The End Is Near! But when the rain started, I bet those very
same neighbors panicked and tried to get Noah to open up and let them in. But
even had Noah wanted to; he couldn't. The hatch of the ark was sealed from the
outside: and God was the only one on earth who could open it-- He chose not to.

● Rev 1:18 . . I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

● Rev 3:7 . .These are the words of him who is holy and true: who holds the key of
David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Rev 19:11-16 . . I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who
sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages
war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and
He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is
clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.

. . . And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,
were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so
that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and
He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe
and on His thigh He has a name written, "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

* The winepress mentioned in that verse appears in Isa 63:1-6, and again in Rev
14:19-20.

The fierce wrath of God is interesting. For example:

● Isa 13:9 . . Behold, the day of The Lord comes-- cruel; with both wrath and fierce
anger

The Hebrew word for "wrath" in that statement is pertains to an outburst of
passion. In other words: the wrath of God won't be weeping big wet crocodile tears
while it's slamming the dead at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev
20:11-15; no, they will be terminated with extreme prejudice; viz: their judgment
will be administered with choler.

Webster's defines "fierce" as a behavior exhibited by humans and animals that
inspires terror because of the wild and menacing aspect of fury in attack. Ferocity is
an aspect commonly seen among carnivorous beasts savagely attacking prey.
There's neither sportsmanship nor sympathy in ferocity; only sheer terror, brutality,
and blood lust.

"cruel" is defined as: disposed to inflict pain or suffering; viz: devoid of humane
feelings

● Heb 10:27 . . A certain fearful expectation of . . . fiery indignation

"fiery indignation" is quite a bit more severe than ordinary indignation. It speaks of
someone who is seriously ticked off; and so angry that they're actually red in the
face.

There are people out there in pews all around the world who have been so coddled
by sappy versions of Christianity that they have no concept of the magnitude of the
lethal tsunami of rage and violence coming their way to get them.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Luke 21:25 . .There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth,
nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

I'd imagine that folks obsessed with climate change would find the roaring and
tossing of the sea a useful political advantage. But of course down the road when
that actually takes place, climate change will likely lose much of its popularity as
people will no doubt be far more interested in survival.

● Luke 21:25 . . Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the
world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

That will be a very dangerous time for elder citizens as anxiety attacks can be fatal
to folks in advanced age.
_