This page describes with those implications as much as it does the personal impact of the Rapture on those who missed it but realized it had happened.
For the first minute or so after the Rapture there will be a stunned silence across the world. People, rich and poor, will suddenly just disappear, often in front of others, in the middle of conversations, while working with others, etc. In other words, the Rapture will not be a secret event. It will only be secret in that the world will not see that it was Jesus who came to the half-way point in the sky, and called His people to Himself.
Some disappearances will have fatal impacts on others. For example, the disappearance of some pilots and car drivers will lead to air crashes and car crashes. Some emergency response personnel will disappear, resulting in emergency rooms, ambulance services, etc., suddenly finding themselves short-staffed and unable to cope. Babies will disappear causing distress to their mothers. Panic will shortly follow.
The questions on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s mind will be: Where did the people go? How did it happen? Why did just those people go?
The news channels will be full of reports from all over the world, reports of disappearances in the thousands, and deaths, and full of speculation of “experts” and “authorities” trying to explain the inexplicable and calm the rising panic. News commentators will offer theory after theory, from space abduction to a masses of people gone into hiding. None will suggest the predicted Rapture has just happened.
Many Christians who have heard of the Rapture from believing friends and relatives, will pack the churches to capacity within hours. The rush for Christian literature will create riots; the homes of ministers, their offices and churches will be stripped of anything that could reveal what will happen next. The shelves in bookstores will be stripped of books about Biblical prophecy. The people left behind will be in a frenzy to know what to do now. Some will ask, “Why didn’t I go?”
Over a period of several days there will be pandemonium. Looting, robbery, murder, rape and violent criminal activity will be the order of the day. Worldwide, the economies of all nations will be in chaos when the sudden disappearance of experienced people in commerce will result in sudden shortage of everything. The distress and confusion will demand stern measures to bring things under control. Within weeks, a method to control and maintain security will be suggested. A universal compulsory identification system. It will probably start as a method to keep track of people who migrate, but will soon turn into a case that all people will be required to have the international identification.
Almost immediately some hard to detect method of forgery will be invented. Everyone will feel they are the mercy of the forgers. At this point the identification will be made a permanent non-removable method of identification such as a tattoo or microchip (a technology that already exists and has been tested). For ease of access the ID will be placed on the forehead or wrist. Those who refuse to be marked will be ostracised.
Eventually, all of these Christians will lose their legal rights, the right to own property, the right to self-defense. Special taxation will be levied on them, and their homes and business destroyed or confiscated. The lack of the mark that some will refuse will be tantamount to their death sentence as they will be considered to be an enemy of the state and executed.
Within months, natural disasters will spike steeply: hurricanes, heat waves, cold snaps, earthquakes, volcanic action and tornadoes. Wildfires will run unchecked and out of control, flooding, nuclear radiation leaks, starvation and war.
In the midst of this one man will step forward, a man who appears to have all the answers. Peace and security will finally seem to be within reach. He will offer answers which the new church will endorse. Many governments will accept his suggestions placing him in control of their countries. Governments will shift focus and attempt to eliminate the last of the Christians who do not carry the mark.
Meanwhile, natural disasters, pestilence, disease and economic hardship will continue to increase to epic proportions such as the world has never seen before.
For the average person, life with its violence and uncertainty will be totally chaotic.
People will search for what was once thought to be normal, but will discover that nothing will ever be normal again.
Virtually all their money will be spent in meeting expenses, and they will have a meager diet of the cheapest food available. Small things once taken for granted will become luxuries, items like coffee, clean water, untainted food and fuel for a vehicle. If a person is able to find them, those items will have to be bought in small quantities because of the cost. Even with the military, any personal property will have to be guarded to prevent theft, and even then people will be murdered for the most meager of possessions. Families, neighborhoods, communities, cities and states will turn on each other.
Does all this read like the synopsis of a horror movie? The day is coming when we will all find out.
The only question will be: Will you be in it? Or out of it, enjoying love, joy, and peace with your Savior in His home above?
Only you can decide the outcome. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Do it now, because these events could overtake you like a thief in the night, when you least expect the Rapture to occur.
Bibloscope 