One day soon the Lord Jesus Christ will come. He will gather all
those millions who know Him into the clouds in
the rapture. Because so many will disappear,
cars will be without drivers, planes will be
without pilots, and infrastructure will come to
a standstill. So many people will be missing
that the world will be forced to unite.
How many of us have been taught something like this? How many of us
have been told that the only thing that will
bring Planet Earth together under a world
government will be the rapture?
In recent days, especially during the late 1990s, speculation about
world government among Believers has been at an
all time high. Following World War II and with
the inauguration of the Cold War, it seemed
unlikely that world government could occur. The
Cold War polarized the world between the power
centers of Washington and Moscow. The United
Nations was nothing less than a debating chamber
for the two superpowers and their proxy states.
Western European integration might have been
occurring at the same time, but this was largely
due to post-World War II devastation and an
effort to revitalize Europe’s economies through
integration. Suffice it to say, world government
was the last thing on anyone’s minds.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, nation-states of the
world are now in a more viable position to seek
greater unity. The prime element behind
globalization and the global community is a
drive to see greater exchange of goods and an
expanse of trade. With global communications and
the Internet people all over the world are able
to share information and ideas. With the
initiation of the euro, there is now a single
currency for the world’s largest market, the
European Union. We are definitely moving toward
greater world integration. One day, as the
Scriptures tell us, there will be world
government and a single world leader:
“Thus
he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth
kingdom on the earth, which will be different
from all the other kingdoms and will
devour the whole earth and tread it down and
crush it. As for the ten horns, out of this
kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will
arise after them, and he will be different from
the previous ones and will subdue three kings.
He will speak out against the Most High and wear
down the saints of the Highest One, and he will
intend to make alterations in times and in law;
and they will be given into his hand for a time,
times, and half a time’” (Daniel 7:23-25).
The question that is being asked by many prophecy teachers right
now is not necessarily “Will the world come
together?” This much should be obvious if you
read the Bible and believe in the literal
fulfillment of prophecy. The question being
asked is “How will the world come together?”
Suffice it to say, everyone has their own theory
or opinion about how the world will come
together.
The predominant view in evangelical Christianity right now is that
the rapture will happen, millions of people will
suddenly disappear, and societal anarchy will
ensue thus causing the world to unite under the
antimessiah/antichrist.
Is there a problem with this scenario? Other than the fact that
Yeshua the Messiah plainly tells us that He
returns “after the tribulation” (Matthew
24:29-31) and Paul says He returns at “the last
trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)—yes, there is
a serious problem. Other than the fact that the
pre-tribulation rapture is not supported
by Scripture, how do we know that in the event
that a pre-trib rapture were to occur that there
would be enough people missing for it to even
matter? This is not a trick question. How many
people in Christianity are even “saved” so that
they would be taken up into the clouds to meet
Yeshua? If you were thinking billions, then I
believe you are mistaken. Many Christians today
are unwilling to experience the Tribulation
or hard times, which speaks volumes as to
their salvation experience and if they truly
have faith in God.
Many popular pre-tribulationists have done a good job at making
people think that the pre-trib rapture is what
is needed to cause societal anarchy and thus the
rise of the antimessiah. But must it be the
rapture that causes problems that lead to world
unity? I do not believe so. I believe that there
can be something much worse happen than the
rapture that leads to chaos:
“For
this reason in one day her plagues will come,
pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will
be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who
judges her is strong. And the kings of the
earth, who committed acts of immorality
and lived sensuously with her, will weep and
lament over her when they see the smoke of her
burning, standing at a distance because of the
fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the
great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one
hour your judgment has come’” (Revelation 18:8-10).
There are many prophecy teachers who believe that the end-time
Babylonian phenomenon is more than just a
world-wide system. There are those who believe
that Revelation 18 speaks of a literal city, in
fact, some believe that it speaks of New York
City. The implication among some prophecy
teachers is that the city which is destroyed in
one hour is New York—a city that is a center of
world trade, industry, and diplomacy.
If September 11, 2001 has proven anything, it has proven that the
world has new threats—like global terrorism.
Terrorists want to do more than fly airplanes
into buildings, because the more people they
kill, the more people they scare, and the more
they scare, the more they get an audience and a
platform for their beliefs. Terrorists, be they
Islamic terrorists or otherwise, want weapons of
mass destruction. Consider an even worse
scenario than the rapture taking millions of
people to Heaven prior to the Tribulation
period:
Leaders from all the United Nations member states were assembled in
New York. They sat down at the conference, ready
to discuss the issues at hand. Every one of them
was prepared. And then it happened. We did not
think it would happen, but it did. Terrorists
exploded a nuclear bomb in the city of New York
killing millions—including the world leaders,
presidents, prime ministers, chancellors,
executives, at the United Nations. The world is
in a total state of shock and disarray as the
leaders of the United States, Britain, France,
Germany, Japan, Russia, India, China, and other
countries were all slaughtered in a blink
instant. The world will move on, but can there
be a tragedy that tops this? Who was
responsible? Whomever they are we will be a
united world around ________ and we will make
them pay.
Considering our times, this is a plausible possibility on how the
world will come together. More anarchy will be
caused if world leaders are slaughtered all at
once in a nuclear blast then if people just
disappear via the pre-trib rapture.
