Originally published in the Omega Letter, 2015
It was September of 2007, and I was sitting in a Baptist church in Tennessee. There was no one in the row in front of me, nor behind me. The lighting was somewhat dim as musicians were on the stage softly performing a worship song as people gave testimonials on giving beyond their ten-percent tithes. I was listening and yet not listening, because, at the time, I was still the wayward, black sheep prodigal churchgoer. I was just there hoping that something would inspire me to get back into my faith, but more often than not, I was just warming a pew. However, something peculiar happened to me on this particular Sunday that I have carried with me ever since.
I remember sitting there, and clear as day, I heard someone say three words right next to me almost in my ear. I know it wasn’t me, because it surprised me and I immediately sat up and looked around, thinking someone had come up behind me to speak to me. To my dismay, I was alone. At that moment, I prayed. I asked God that ‘if this is from you, please have the pastor contact me this week’. I don't know why I thought of that particular test.
Now, the church had on average, about 700-1000 members. At the time, the church was running three services, so I'm sure I was, to most people then, just a face in the crowd. I didn’t know the pastor on a personal level, so seeking God to validate this message by having the pastor contact me, seemed like a legit test. He had no reasonable reason to contact me, and I thought, that if this was from God, he would call. If it wasn’t from God, then I would know that this message was from someone or something else. Even as backslidden as I was, I knew enough to know that Satan can’t read minds, so I knew my authentication request was simply between God and me.
So it was on that following Wednesday, at 12:00 noon, the Pastor called me. He was calling to ask if I could sponsor some new Soldiers that had just arrived at the base and had visited the church. Needless to say, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor first before responding.
What were the three words I heard?
Prepare the underground
So it’s been some eight (14 as of 2021) long years now, and looking back, I have come to recognize that at that moment in time, God allowed a series of events to transpire in my life, which would fundamentally begin to transform me from that wayward prodigal son, into the man I am today.
The first was this ominously strange, audible message that I heard at the church, authenticated, and digested these past many years.
The next was that of the tragic suicide of a close friend who worked directly under me. This had a huge impact on me because I knew that I had neglected to share the Gospel with him.
The last was a positive thing, of which, was the marriage to my wife and subsequent deployment overseas a week later.
This all transpired in three months.
Assessment
“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Revelation 3:8
Honestly, being a staunch Pre-Trib believer, I have often struggled with the concept of ‘preparing the underground’ because, in one sense, it seems to lead to the idea that we will go through some or all of the Tribulation. But in reality, I think it simply was the trigger that God used, to reenergize some part of me that had long been dormant. We’d studied prophecy in my church youth group decades earlier when I was in High School, but I hadn’t really bothered with it since then, that is until this occurred. So it was that I began to study bible prophecy again, and since prophecy permeates almost every corner of the Bible, I ended up reading through the Bible again.
But as I matured in my faith, and in my understanding of the prophetic word, I began to realize that both concepts, preparing the underground and escaping the wrath to come, are not separate and incompatible ideas. The truth is, I didn’t understand the message fully, until just this past year (2015), when we have seen the restraints of the antichrist spirit being unleashed with a fury.
This ‘once Christian’ nation is increasingly becoming hostile to our Christian faith, and at some point, most likely prior to the Rapture, being a Christian is actually going to cost us something, and in fact, already is.
How bad things will get prior to the Rapture, is hard to say. If you talk to Christians in North Korea, things have been really bad for over sixty years now. If you ask Christians in the Middle East or Africa, things have gotten significantly worse over the last 10 years or so. I guess persecution and tribulation is all a matter of perspective. In other parts of the world, you could get your head cut off. Here in the west, you can get financially and personally ruined. And the day may come here in the west when they too will resort to cutting off heads, but we aren’t there… just yet.
So two things about the coming persecution, and the Rapture of the Church.
The first of which, is that the Bible never said it wouldn’t get worse before we are delivered. It only states that we are delivered before the highly chronicled seven-year period known as the time of Jacob’s Trouble or Daniel’s 70th week. The reason for that is, the Church has no time, reason, or business inside the 70th week. Since the Church wasn’t in the first 69 weeks, there is no reason to believe it will be in the 70th either.
In keeping with this understanding that there is a period of time, specifically set aside by God, to accomplish the two things listed in Jeremiah 30:11, there necessitates a buildup or stage-setting for those events to occur. IOW, the world isn’t just going to move along swimmingly, then all of a sudden, jump into the 70th Week of Daniel. The stage has to be set, and we are all witnesses of that today. The difference between us watchmen, and the rest of Christendom, is that we recognize the stage being set, while they are sitting back thinking the world is falling apart.
Secondly, when the Church is removed, it will leave a spiritual vacuum that must quickly get filled by an apostate, pseudo-Christianity that will absolutely look to explain away what just happened.
So how does one receive the truth after the Rapture?
Well, we know that there are two competing theories on this. The first of which is, that because of the great delusion, no one (or few) will come to faith in Christ after the Rapture. (See 2 Thess. 2:10-12) But we also know, according to Revelation 6:9-11, and 7:9-17, there will be many who come to faith after the Rapture of the Church. Aside from the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Two Witnesses, we aren’t told how the rest come to faith, but they will come from all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.
In my opinion, the only way to reconcile these two conflicting ideas is to say that those who have already hardened their heart against Christ today, will only have that magnified after the Rapture happens. Those who remain undecided though, given the right circumstances, will recognize what the Rapture was, and will become what we commonly refer to as Tribulation Saints. We know that there will be Tribulation Saints because we are told in Revelation 13:7, that the Antichrist will be given the ability to overcome them, which is how they become this huge body of martyred believers seen in Rev. 6 and 7.
Some think that there will be so few true Christians left in the world when the Rapture happens, that the world would barely notice our absence. I think that is foolish.
First of all, if only 10% of the current 315 million Americans in the United States were raptured, that is still 31.5 million American’s who are gone in an instant. That’s 31.5 million people not showing up to work or school the next day, not paying bills, not buying, and not selling. Besides the chaos it will cause, it will absolutely wreck what’s left of our fragile economy.
And while the total number of Christians raptured may not make a huge difference worldwide, the US is currently the head economy in the world. Our currency serves in many regards, as the current reserve currency the world depends on for its own economic stabilization. So if our economy gets wrecked, the world is going to feel it in a bad way. Consider how Greece is collapsing (collapsed) and all the hand wringing that is currently going on because of that. Now magnify that by 1,000%, and that is what the world is going to feel once the US collapses.
So what we see now, with the global trade plans, emerging currencies, and America teetering economically (2008 for example) all serve as prophetic tremors that are forecasting to us, that something ominous, is close on the horizon.
Side note: When the US collapses, that vacuum, will force Europe (via the EU/NATO/UofM) to become the future, juggernaut that Bible prophecy foretold us it will be.
But immediately after the rapture, the mainstream media will launch into their 24/7 news blitz coverage (as they usually do after a major event) and try to explain what just happened. They will bring the experts and pontificate on the likely theories. Of course, the rapture will be one of many theories they speculate on, but because only a reprobate and apostate “Christianity” will remain behind, they will seek to dismiss it because it invalidates their own faith.
And because the world has begun to turn so rapidly against true, biblical Christianity, the truth (hate speech?) will get smothered in political correctness and double speak, which will just leave the masses even more confused. The Rapture may or may not coincide directly with some form of satanic delusion. It may be as we go up through the atmosphere (Satan’s domain), that the demonic horde finally gets the restraints lifted and they come down in a very visible show of force via UFO’s, unusual natural phenomenon, or something else.
This may be why the Vatican is pushing so hard for an aliens/UFO angle these days
Remember, God didn’t have to ‘catch us up’ in the air. He could have just arranged it that we disappeared and immediately appeared in Heaven. Having us going through the air (heavens) must signal to the demonic hordes, that our departure is their cue that the final time has arrived.
Conclusion
So after four years of writing and not speaking about what I heard that Sunday in September many years ago, I think I am finally ready to come out and share what that message from the Lord means. I’ve been pretty guarded as to who I’ve told about it, simply because it seems a little crazy. I’ve never been one to subscribe to these types of personal revelations but seeing as it happened to me, I can’t dismiss it either.
That was the first and only time I ever heard an audible speaking that I couldn’t attribute to some type of rational explanation. But heard it I did, and I would put my hand on a stack of Bible’s and swear on all that was holy, that that was what I heard…and had confirmed.
First, let me say what I don’t think it means; i.e…that we go all ‘prepper’. Nor do we encourage those who we witness, to go ‘prepper’ as if they can somehow survive the Tribulation. Revelation 6, 7, and 13 argue strongly against that. What I think ‘prepare the underground’ means, is that we do what Christ often did…
“And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. John 14:29
Our primary responsibility in this age is to be the light bearers to a lost and darkened world. We are to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them, through both word and deed. And while most will reject the message, some will come to the faith. But I would include something in my message. For those that will not believe, or are being resistant to the drawing of the Holy Spirit, let them know about the Rapture. Let them know that Christ is soon returning for His Church, the Bride of Christ. The reason is, you never know when the next opportunity is going to be to share with them, and if the Rapture occurs before that time arrives, at the least, they will know where and why Christians are gone.
Your job isn’t to get them to believe you, your job is simply to tell them what is going to happen before it happens so that when it happens, they will know and might believe. Now, this is not to negate our responsibility to share the Gospel with them, but if they are not ready to believe, don’t leave them without telling them also about the Blessed Hope.
We often say that the Doctrine of the Rapture isn’t a ‘salvific’ issue, and people often like to relegate it to a second or third-tier discussion. While I agree that knowing about the timing of the Rapture of the Church doesn’t save one’s soul from eternal damnation, I do think that is wrong not to share it.
Salvation then is a matter of life or death. If you die before being born again, you will never get the opportunity to accept God’s gracious gift of eternal life. But if that person is still here after the Rapture happens, then at least they will have that message confirmed, because it was given to them before it happened.
So while there still may be more revelation forthcoming as to what exactly it means to prepare the underground, I think at least for now, that both sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and His soon return for His Church, is a good place to start. Echoing the Apostle Paul, who never shunned from teaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) to those he taught, that we include not only our Lord’s free gift of salvation but that our time here is running out. And if those who will not yet heed the gift of eternal life, may at the least, be prepared for what is coming on the earth.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. Titus 2:11-15