This is a shortened version of chapter 15 from my (unpublished) novel, "The Visionary."
Chapter #15
Answers
Jubilee had brought out a Bible as he had requested and held it in her lap.
“You asked for a King James Bible, but I only have NIV,” she said as she rubbed her fingers over the smooth maroon leather cover. She suddenly felt self-conscious that, in spite of her having owned it for at least twenty years, this Bible still looked new.
“King James is proven to be more historically accurate, and the newer versions of the Bible leave out important verses, but I digress,” he said before getting off on a tangent, “The NIV will do for now.”
“We could just use our phones to look up verses,” she pointed out.
“I thought of that,” he admitted, “but I’m too comfortable to even stand up to get my phone out of my pocket.” He again petted Dakota’s head and Jubilee laughed.
“I don’t want to overwhelm you by throwing too much at you at once,” Peter began.
“I’m already overwhelmed,” she returned, “So please just say whatever you want to say, and if I feel my brain can’t keep up, I’ll let you know.”
“Deal,” he agreed, and then took a deep breath as he contemplated where to begin. “To make things clear, I want to address your question about what time frame of the world’s history we have been dreaming of. Although only the Lord knows when the last day of this world will be, I strongly believe we will live to see the beginning and end of the tribulation. In other words, yes, I believe the end of this planet will come during our lifetime. In fact, I doubt most children will live to see thirty birthdays, maybe not even twenty.”
"What do you mean that we will see the ‘end of the tribulation?’ Aren’t the Christians supposed to be raptured off the earth before the tribulation?”
"Open your Bible to Luke 17:26-37. Go ahead and read it out loud if you want.”
“Alright,” Jubilee agreed. She took less time than Peter had expected to find the passage he recommended, and read, “’Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.’ ‘Where, Lord?’ they asked. He replied, ‘Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather..’” She finished the verses and looked at him, “See, right there it says one person will be ‘taken and the other left.’ The rapture, right?”
Peter shook his head. “That’s what the churches are teaching because they don’t read the entire passage. Notice that neither Noah nor Lot were removed from the earth, but God removed them from danger when He passed His judgements. Those passages say that the time of the Son of Man, in other words the end of the age, will be just as those times,” he explained, “Also please notice that when one of Jesus’ disciples ask him where those taken will be going, Jesus does not say, ‘raptured to heaven.’ He says those taken are going “where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.’ That means they are taken in death. The book of Revelation mentions all the many ways people will die in the end days. But now turn backwards from Luke to Matthew 24:29-31. And actually,” he paused and wriggled over on to his hip so he could reach his phone out of his pocket without disturbing Dakota, “Let’s switch to the King James Version. You’ll see I have a Bible app on my phone.”
Jubilee reached around Kailey and placed the Bible on the other side of the couch. She opened the Bible app and found the verses he mentioned, her mind already feeling more enlightened.
Again, she read aloud, “’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: 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. 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.’”
“Did you notice the first seven words?”
“’Immediately after the tribulation of those days,’” she repeated, “It says “’after the tribulation,’ doesn’t it? These verses and the ones in Luke all show Jesus will return after the earth has been judged, not before. I see now that the rapture is real but will not occur until the end. The very end.”
He nodded; pleased she caught on so quickly.
“So why are the churches still teaching it backwards if it’s so clear? As you just said, I’m assuming if we continued to read, we would find the same message in other books as well.”
“Absolutely! These verses I am showing you tonight are just a small sample of how many verses in the Old and New Testaments prove that Jesus will return at the end of the tribulation, not seven years before it,” he said, “And as to the reasons why so few ministers choose to preach it wrong, I have several theories. Some are ignorant because they are lazy and refuse to do their own Bible study and just parrot all they were incorrectly taught. Others may know the truth but also know if they speak out against the lies being taught, they will lose their congregations and therefore, lose the money that pays for their necessities as well as their luxuries. Still others are afraid and in denial that we are all going to go through the terror of the tribulation period. It is, after all, going to be so terrifying that the Bible says in Luke 21:26 that ‘men's hearts’ will ‘fail them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.’”
“I dreamt about concentration camps for Christians,” Jubilee stated in a near-whisper, “I know you have too. Does that mean that those of us that refuse the Mark of the Beast are all doomed to suffer?”
Her eyes were so round and expression so fearful, Peter instinctively wanted to comfort her. “Don’t worry, J.B., there’s hope for all who follow the instructions. Right after Jesus tells His disciples that hearts will fail from fear, He goes on to say in Luke 21:27-28, ‘Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.’ If you then read Revelation 12, verse 6 mentions a woman who flees to the wilderness, ‘where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.’ The woman represents the True church and the Christians who are being persecuted by the Anti-Christ, the one referred to as the dragon in this chapter. Although Revelation is full of symbolism, we can take verse six literally. If we flee to remote locations and make certain to stockpile enough food for a minimum of 1,260 days, or roughly three and a half years, we stand a good chance of surviving to see the Lord’s return where we will be transformed and meet Him in the air. Turn now to Revelation 12 and read verses 13-17.”
She read, “’Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’” She silently reread the verses again before saying, “I see the symbolism again of the Antichrist and the woman’s child representing believers. I’m guessing that the ‘time and times and half a time’ also refers to three and a half years of safety in the wilderness areas.”
“Honestly, I’ve heard many theories about the meaning behind ‘time and times and half a time,’ but when you compare it with the above 1,260 days as you just did, logic states this also means three and a half years,” he agreed.
“What you are saying makes so much sense. You’ve cleared up a lot for me, but I still feel like I have a million more questions,” she said with a sigh.
“I know there’s a lot to discuss, but we don’t have to talk about it all in one night,” Peter reminded.
“You say seven years of the tribulation just as Revelation suggests, but why are only the last three and half years the most dangerous?” Jubilee wondered.
“The entire seven years will be fraught with danger, including the time before the official start of the tribulation. In Mark 13:8 Jesus says, ‘For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.’ So even before the beginning of the end, this world will be in great peril,” Peter answered, “I don’t know exactly when during the actual tribulation period that we’ll move, only that the last half is when the Bible mentions fleeing for safety’s sake. All I know is that God has promised to make it clear to let me know when the time is right. If I had to guess, the move will happen one and a half to three years into the tribulation so that we have time to prepare the area for the people we will help feed and protect,” Peter went on to explain, “I also believe the reason why the last half of the tribulation will be the worst part for believers is because of what those verses in Revelation 12 tell us, that the dragon will be warring his worst against us, and it will be crucial to flee before the Mark of the Beast is mandatory.”
“The earthquake and tsunami in Brazil, do you think they are what Jesus was referring to in Mark 13?” Jubilee pondered.
“Possibly.”
Jubilee leaned forward and placed the Bible on the coffee table. “I don’t think I can take any more tonight,” she confessed.
“I understand. I hope I have been able to help and not add to your confusion,” he said.
“You have helped more than you know,” she replied with a smile.
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