That day started out like any other. The morning hustle and bustle of modern people living in a modern age began as they boarded their motorized chariots and underwent the hellish voyage into the urban sprawl amidst a sea of red lights. Tens of thousands of their fellow citizens made their way to each of their respective livelihoods, all thinking today was likely to be identical to the day before. The normalcy bias of the modern era was not so much indicative of the lack of perspective this generation held too, but that the overload of daily information made it much easier to not think about it than to process the almost hourly pace of change the world was presently undergoing.
The day was Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, and by any reasonable estimation, was scheduled by most people’s reckoning, to be not much different than Monday, September the 10th, but by 8:46 AM Eastern Standard Time, the world would change forever when the first plane struck the North Tower.
The eyes of the world began to focus exclusively on New York City in uninterrupted broadcasts across every news channel, all showing a commercial passenger plane crashing into the North Tower followed by a spectacular explosion. News reporters and television pundits alike began to speculate on the cause of the crash, assuming initially that some terrible mishap must have occurred which would cause such a horrific turn of events. However, 17 minutes later, another commercial passenger plane crashed into the South Tower at 9:03 AM, quickly removing any doubt that this was anything other than intentional.
Aside from the first responders and a few quick-thinking citizens who sacrificially ran into the twin towers to begin their evacuation efforts, most people stood by in a haze of disbelief that such an event was happening. In less than two hours, both towers would collapse, along with building seven, covering New York City in a cloud of dust, smoke, and ash. The images of ash and dust-covered New Yorkers running panicked down the streets of New York City soon filled the airwaves. Adding insult to injury was the subsequent strike on the Pentagon (9:37 AM) and the downing of Passenger flight UA 93 outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 AM.
For those of us old enough to have witnessed it firsthand, or watched it on television, it was beyond the pale of anything we’d ever seen before. I suppose, the only appropriate comparison would be that of December 7th, 1941 (Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), which would have been sixty years earlier. Still, it was a day that would come to change the course of events of not just American history, but world history. As horrific as these two events were, they are not the only ones in recent memory that have caused the world to stop and gawk at the cataclysmic events transpiring. Here are some other notable mentions:
December 26, 2004: Indonesian Tsunami killing 230,000
August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina makes landfall as a power category 4 hurricane, killing 1,800 +
January 12, 2010: Haitian earthquake killing an estimated 300,000 +
March 11, 2011: Japanese earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 19,300
February 26, 2023: Turkish-Syrian earthquake killing an estimated 59,259
But let me tell you in all earnestness and honesty that there is a day coming, which will make 9/11, Pearl Harbor, the earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and even the pandemics, all pale in comparison. It is called the Day of Christ, which is when the Rapture of the Church will take place.
For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 1 Thess. 5:3-4
Ordo Ab Chao
In a moment, in the blink of an eye, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of vehicles will crash and or be left abandoned where their drivers once remained. People performing jobs, many of which are critical to the safety of their cities and communities, will no longer be doing them. Schools and nurseries will be emptied. Hospitals and medical centers will be undermanned and over-tasked. Stores will be looted in every city. Banks will be robbed or broken into in every possible way. Law enforcement and the military will face severe personnel shortages at precisely the most critical time they are most needed. Every conceivable scenario will be taken advantage of in the hours shortly after the rapture as the world is rocked and reeling from the sudden disappearance of so many people.
It is in these moments of severe crisis, that man’s nature can either be that of sacrificial altruist, or survivalist kicks in. And with the removal of all Christians and children from the planet by the removal (or stepping aside) of the Holy Spirit’s restraint, I believe the latter (survival instincts) kicks into high gear, and it will be every man for himself.
Furthermore, at this moment, all the modern trivialities like pronouns, gender identity, political persuasions, micro-aggressions, and even civility will go out the window. The removal of the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit upon the earth will mean that evil will be amplified to such a degree that just the chaos alone in the wake of the Rapture will result in the collapse of the present world order and the deaths of millions.
I imagine those trapped in the urban scenarios will fare worse in the more immediate sense, but as people begin to flee the cities for the rural countryside, the violence and mayhem will spread outward like a freshly disturbed fire ant mound. Everyone will be scrambling for a safe place to hold up with a fortress mentality. The fragile normalcy of modern society will quickly crumble as basic services such as water, electricity, internet, sanitation, emergency services, etc. begin to become dysfunctional and unavailable.
The remaining political and military leaders will seek shelter in their secured compounds (presumably DUMBs), while other better-prepared groups (such as LDS and other close-knit groups) circle the wagons. I expect the chaos to last from days to weeks, but no more than a couple of months. We are at that stage now (militarily speaking) where we have enough unmanned weapon systems to be able to begin securing sections of cities, states, military, and government bases, to begin curbing the Mad Max-like chaos around those areas.
Although the Rapture of the Church will be a global event, it will not impact the planet equally with regard to the total breakdown of each nation’s respective societies. For instance, from a societal perspective, Predominantly Muslim and non-Christian nations will not feel the brunt of this as severely as the United States. That is not to say because we have more born-again believers than they do, but that we have more Christians spread throughout the entirety of our social strata than they do.
The same can be said for post-Christian nations like much of Europe, which has long since abandoned true, biblical Christianity for that of atheism, agnosticism, paganism, humanism, etc. Again, that’s not to say they don’t have Christians there, but just not as many and not as predominantly as we do here. On that Day, the Rapture of the Church will present the world with its greatest crisis as the world is violently transformed from the way it was, to the way it is after the fact.
“And in the latter time of their kingdom, When the transgressors have reached their fullness, A king shall arise, Having fierce features, Who understands sinister schemes.
Daniel 8:23-25
I’ve long held the belief that the coming Antichrist will not be some weak-kneed, woke, progressive politician of our day. He will be decisive. Charismatic. Pragmatic. He will have to be because when the Rapture strikes the earth, it will cause the world’s status quo to be turned on its head. Whatever the final tally is that Day with regard to those caught up, it will upend Western Civilization by destabilizing the United States, triggering an economic collapse worse than 1929 and 2008 combined.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (my emphasis)
However, it is in precisely these moments that the overly ambitious, like this coming Antichrist, pray they find themselves. He will take full advantage of the chaos and use it for his meteoric rise to power. As Rahm Emanuel once infamously quipped, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” and this coming Man of Sin will absolutely exploit this situation to his gain. It will be after and because of the Rapture that this Man of Sin will be able to rise up and exude some sense of control that people will be drawn to him. Other leaders will quickly recognize his pragmatic prowess (something that has been lacking here in the past 20 years) and will seek counsel from him, not understanding what are his true intentions.
For a moment of time, he will have the Midas Touch, and in everything he seeks to do, he will succeed in doing as he has all the power and backing of hell behind him. He will implement a biotechnological system so diabolical and powerful that no one on the planet will be able to buy or sell without it.
And he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, and he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. Revelation 13:16-18
But…if you take the mark, you damn yourself for all eternity to the fiery torments of hell. Is seven years (if you even last that long) worth eternal damnation?
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” Revelation 14:9-11 (NASB)
Survivor Type
Clearly, this article is aimed at anyone who rejects Christ’s free offer of salvation by grace through faith in this present dispensation. If you think you will finally believe in Jesus once the Rapture happens, what makes you think you will? I mean, salvation is free today with little risk to health, wealth, and life (at least here in the West). What makes you think you will believe when it costs you everything? And if you’re still reading this and you still haven’t become born again by believing in Christ's finished redemptive work on the cross, you must ask yourself one question.
What would you do to survive?
Because if you miss the Rapture, you are going to find yourself in that very situation.
You know if you take the mark of the beast, you will be damned for all eternity. So, what will you do when you cannot buy or sell anything? Would you go days on end without food? Would you beg for food and water on the street corner? Would scrounge through trash bins in the alley for food? Would you catch and eat stray dogs and cats? Would you drink water from puddles? A creek? A toilet? Would you sleep in abandoned houses for shelter? Would you loot a house or rob a store? Would you kill another person to avoid being killed? Would you be imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately killed for believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? Again, this is not to scare you, but if you want to wait until after the Rapture to believe, that is what you’re going to have to do to survive.
If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. Revelation 13:9-10 (NASB)
Look, nobody thought that the Japanese would launch a massive military strike against the naval base at Pearl Harbor killing thousands until they did. Nobody thought that 19 Islamic terrorists would hijack four planes and fly them into buildings killing thousands, until they did. Nobody believed that a massive earthquake would be powerful enough to move the island of Japan off its foundation by 8 feet triggering, one of the worst tsunamis in modern history, until it did. Nobody believed the entire world would shut down over a virus with a 99% survivability rate until we did. And nobody thinks the Rapture of the Church will happen, instantly removing millions of people from the planet, until it does.
This world is passing away. This age is coming to its inevitable conclusion. We are all pressing into eternity one heartbeat at a time. If you are not born again by the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit sealing you until the Day of Redemption, then you risk it all by delaying. You do not know when your last breath will be, any more than you know what tomorrow will bring. If history has shown us anything, it’s that we cannot control what is coming any more than we can change what is past. As Paul notes in 2 Cor. 6:2, Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:34-36