This portion of the blog is going to focus on the actual events of the tribulation. As I stated in a previous blog, the rise of the Anti-Christ is one event. At the beginning of the tribulation, the Anti-Christ will sign the seven year peace treaty and covenant with Israel. This is the event that is believed to be the start of the tribulation. This will be a period of peace and false security. There will be an invasion on Israel, many believe that Russia , Iran, Germany, and Libya will invade Israel and God will supernaturally destroy the invading army (some speculate this will actually occur prior to the tribulation).

The next period is the “Great Tribulation” is described as a period of great distress. Daniel 9:27 tells us that in that in the middle of the covenant with Israel, the Anti-Christ will break the covenant and set up the “abomination of Desolation”. The Anti-Christ sets up an image of himself in the Temple and demands the worship of all people. During these last 3 1/2 years, the Jews that believe in Christ will flee into the mountains away from the Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ has reign in the last years of the tribulation and God’s wrath is poured upon Earth. The events in the last 3 1/2 years are called the Seven Trumpets and the Seven Bowls found in the book of Revelation.

During the Seven Trumpet Judgments, fire rains upon the Earth and burns up one-third of the trees and grass. God also releases a huge mountain (meteor) into the sea and one-third of the sea turns to blood, and kills one-third of all living creatures in the sea, and destroying one-third of the ships on the sea. A huge abyss is opened releasing locusts that were given the power to sting like scorpions. The locusts were to attack all the people that did not have God’s seal on their foreheads, they did not kill these people, just tormented them, the people wanted to die, but could not. Next, 4 of satan’s angels are released from the Euphrates river to kill one third of the humans. They will lead an army of 200 million demonic spirits to carry out a mass slaughter of humans. The army was on horses that had the head of lions and spit fire and smoke from their mouth. Mankind was killed by their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and tails, their tails were like snakes having heads that inflicted injury. People still did not repent, they continued to worship false idols and gods, and they did not repent. The events of the latter part of the Tribulation are revealed in the Seven Bowl Judgments. That will be my next blog.

This post is a response to the “End Times” blog post “The dying wish of a six year old boy is Granted.” The blog post is about a six year old boy Billy, who suffers from leukemia. Billy wanted to be a Fireman when he grows up, so his mother arranged for him to experience the day of a fireman with the help of fireman Bob.

One day Billy started to take a turn for the worst, Billy’s mom called the fire department to get a fireman to come to the hospital to be there with Billy. 16 firemen came and hugged Billy. Billy asked the fire chief “am I really a fireman now?” The chief replied “Billy, you are, and The Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand.” Billy’s last words were “I know, He's been holding my hand all day, and the angels have been singing.”

This is an inspiring story. It shows God at work. It’s sad that Billy had leukemia and died, but Billy was given the chance to live his dream. It also shows that firemen should be held in high regard and really respected. They are really in the business of saving lives. They have to be a special kind of person to be in the business of risking their own lives to save others. This story shows that type of person, that these fireman went out of their way, above and beyond to make a little boy’s dreams come true. There is one good thing about this story and that when Billy died, he got to see his dream come true, there are many old men and women that die and never see their dream come true.

This portion of the blog will focus on some of the events that the bible says must occur before the tribulation will come about and some of the events that will happen during the first half of the tribulation.

1. It is believed that one of the events that must have happened before the tribulation is the rebirth of Israel. This has already happened. In 1948, Jewish people returned to Israel and re-established it as a state. Another event is that the Jewish would regain control of Jerusalem. This happened in 1967 after the Six Day War.
2. As I have said in a previous blog, some of the signs of the end times are false Christs and prophets will arise, wars and rumors of wars, and famines, pestilences and earthquakes, also nation will rise against nation.
   
3. The Bible tells us that some of the things that will occur during the seven-year tribulation. During the first half of the tribulation there will be war. Then, the bible tells us that the Antichrist will establish a peace treaty with Israel. This will be an agreement for false peace. There will also be famine. The Bible says that death will come to one fourth of the Earth’s people due to famine, war and wild animals. There will be a great earthquake, causing the moon to turn red and the sun to turn black. The two witnesses will appear on the scene. The Antichrist will require people to accept the mark of the beast in order to buy or sell. There will be a one-world government.
   

My first Presidential Election

The Bible talks about the second coming and reveals that no one knows the time or the hour that Jesus will come; however, the Bible gives signs that we are to watch out for. The Bible tells us that when we see these things happening, it is a sign that the end time is near.

Since Barack Obama became a candidate for the President of the United States, I am more convinced that we are living in the last days, because the Bible tells us the Anti-Christ will appear on the scene in the last days. My research tells me that we won’t know who the Anti-Christ is until the right time.

Some people believe that President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. This has me questioning, will the world as we know it be here in 2010, 2012, or 2015? Will Jesus come back by then, no one knows, but the fact that some people are even questioning whether President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ convinces me that we are fast approaching the end of time. For this reason and others, the 2008 presidential election is one like America has never experienced.

The 2008 presidential election was the first time I got to vote for the president, because I turned 18 in December 2007. This was a great election to be a part of, it was a historic election. In one night, the United States forever changed. Its image has changed, its makeup has changed and the color of its leader has changed. The theme of Barack Obama’s campaign was “change” and with his presidential win, that theme has come true. With such an historic election, people couldn't help but vote, resulting in a record turnout. I have heard stories of people waiting for hours to vote. My whole family was excited and anxious to vote, but I was especially excited since I was voting for the first time, and in such an important election. It is a very exciting time to be alive.

My mom has always told me that we have to vote, because people have died for that right My mom, dad, and myself went to vote together. My underage brother also went, just so he could experience a part of history and see what it is like to vote, when he is old enough. We voted before election day, thinking that we wouldn’t have such a long line. My mom said that she has waited for two or three hours in recent elections, so she figured that the lines would be crazy. And she was right.

I took my mom to work on a Tuesday. My dad, brother and myself picked my mom up from work and went straight to Veteran’s Memorial to vote. We thought that we could go right after my mom got off work at 3:00 p.m. and avoid ridiculous, long lines. So we did the early absentee voting at the polls. But, we were surprised to see all the vehicles leaving and coming in the parking lot, we were lucky to find a half-way decent parking space.

We had to go a long way in Vets Memorial, we had to go up several flights of stairs and we saw a long zigzag line from the door from which we walked in to the door leading to the voting booths. It didn’t look good for us getting in and out quickly. I was very impatient, I was ready to leave already. My mom is also not very patient when waiting in line, so she was pacing and complaining. She kept looking ahead trying to figure out where the line was going. Every time we thought we were making head way, we found out that the line made another twist or turn. The lines seemed like they were moving so slowly, to help pass time we talked and goofed off amongst each other.

As we’re moving my mom notices one of her friends from work exiting the voting area, they began to socialize with one another for a minute or two. My brother and dad were horse playing with one another like they always do. I was hungry and thirsty. The pop in the soda machines were two dollars and fifty cents if I remember correctly, so that was out of the question.

Slowly, we were progressing in line. Finally we made it to the beginning of the line. We were almost ready to enter the voting booth. I was both excited and nervous, I thought to myself, what if I voted for the wrong person, what if I marked the wrong box. We get in the voting area and there’s another line but it’s moving faster than the line outside.

When we get inside we show our slips to the people coordinating the voting areas and they tell me I have to go to a different section than my family since it was my first time voting. The lady kept asking me questions. My mom kept looking over at me, I could tell she was wondering if something was wrong. Finally, she broke down and came over to hear what the lady was saying. After she finished asking me the questions, I could finally go vote. A man that worked the polls was talking to my mom and told her that we came on a good day because the weekend before, the lines were winding down the stairs and out the doors, and all the way down Broad Street, over the bridge.

So then, the moment of truth. I got in the booth, made my choices and turned in my ballot. I had just participated in the election that changed America. I don’t believe that President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ, but is the 2008 presidential election another sign that we are living in the last days?

During the tribulation the world will have one government. It is predicted two world leaders will rule the world. The main leader will be the beast or the Antichrist, while the other will be the false prophet. Some say that the false prophet will have the power to perform miracles, similar to the ones performed by Jesus Christ. The false prophet will attempt to get people to worship the beast. The focus will be to get everyone to get a satanic mark on their right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell. This is called the Mark of the Beast. God warns us if we take the Mark of the Beast, we will be under the control of Satan and destined for hell.

The one world government will probably look like a good idea, probably because of some global crisis. The Antichrist and the false prophet will deceive people into thinking they are good. They are able to gain control, probably because the world is in desperate need of peace, which the Antichrist will pretend to give. They will get people to sign a treaty allowing them to reign for seven years. This is an agreement of false peace. This will happen at the start of the seven year tribulation. In the middle of the tribulation, 1260 days after the agreement was signed, the Beast will break the agreement, enter his temple, and claim to be God and begin blaspheming against God.

At the end of the tribulation the battle of Armageddon will occur. Jesus will battle the two Antichrists, defeat them, and then take them to Hell. Jesus will then restore his kingdom here on earth.