The Last Plagues ...

Exactly how crazy am I? It may be difficult to quantify just how crazy I may be, given that a universal “scale” for measuring “crazy” seems to be still under development. For instance, if I told you I could predict the future, you might dismiss me as merely mildly delusional. If I told you that God had spoken directly to me, you might consider that a touch more alarming as direct communications from “God” usually accompany some self-destructive behavior in the nut-balls who claim to have heard from Him one-on-one. But then, how crazy do I remain, if I told you something was going to happen in the future and it did happen exactly as I predicted it. We could call that luck, perhaps even guess that I had somehow an inside knowledge of what was going to occur from other more reliable scientific sources and as such ease our concerns and logically founded mind. But what if what I predicted was outside all the scientific norms, and happened anyway? Can’t call that insider info, can’t really call it luck, it would begin to cause you to question whether I really was crazy, or just right? Perhaps then, it is your own sanity you begin to question.

No need to worry, I do not claim to have heard from God one-on-one; nor do I claim to be able to predict the future. I am no prophet, at least not yet. I do consider myself a conspiracy enthusiast as I can often trace the fingers of conspiracies in the actions that otherwise seem random in the world, perhaps that just makes me a bit paranoid. But it does not mean I am wrong.  In any case, the life of a prophet is never an easy thing. It is hard to tell sane people that you have heard a message directly from God. This idea alone is often enough to get you ostracized at best, and committed at worst. To follow your pronouncement of hearing from God with news of a disaster is to invite the strongest type of ridicule and criticism imaginable. And so for those few servants of God who had the courage to bare their lives in scripture to we who read the accounts of their lives and stories, I wish to honor them as I am humbled by their sacrifice.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to have to take news of a dire consequence that will almost certainly get you killed into the governing palace of Kim Jung Ile, or Saddam Hussein, or Adolph Hitler when they were in power. It is hard enough for me to imagine taking in “God’s warnings” to our president Obama who I admire and respect, let alone to an all-powerful dictator with malevolent designs on my life. But such was the case for Noah to an angry world, Joseph to an egomaniac pharaoh, Moses to another even more egomaniac, Elijah to a wicked king, Jonah to an angry city, Daniel to a worldwide monarch, just to name a few. But to think that prophesy has all but been forgotten or fulfilled is to ignore one of the final writers of the gospel whose name was John the Beloved of Christ. For John also known as the Revelator penned a few prophesies that have yet to be fulfilled. We have at our disposal messages directly from God. Given to us, one-to-one, if you will – that we should be able to give to the world who still needs to hear them.

And so I ask the question once again, just how crazy am I? If I begin by telling you about a series of events that are to captivate the world’s attention, would you dismiss me once again as just another nut-ball who takes the Bible too seriously? Many would. You may. I would not hold it against you, as I myself have often wondered at the purpose of prophecy for those who believe. So if you read my council and decide I am crazy; that would be the norm. But if you remember my words, or rather His words, and then see them fulfilled in your lifetime, will you remember ALL of His words, or just those that had to do with the supernatural.

Take the life of Noah once again for consideration. If Noah had predicted regional floods instead of a worldwide phenomenon that wiped everyone off the planet at once, would those in the surviving regions had accepted Noah’s calls to repentance? If you lived in India for example at the time of Noah, and you saw Japan, China, and Indonesia wiped away by floods, would you start believing in Noah? Or would it take the further destruction of North America, Mexico, down to Panama for you to begin to believe. Or perhaps would you wind up staring at the ark as the door closed and realize you would never be on board as your logical mind would simply not allow you to believe what you see. After all the idea of flooding on this scale was “against science” to that point in time.

There are many today, both inside and outside the church who question the Bible’s more miraculous stories as authentic. They believe them to be more allegories designed to teach us a moral lesson, rather than accurate depictions of facts of the ground as they occurred. The idea that miraculous events have ever occurred forces one to accept the idea that God is real, and perhaps even that Satan is real, and even more importantly to me, I am not the center of the known universe. But then to witness a miracle first hand is intensely more personal than to simply read about one that took place before you were born. Apathy has grown great within the Christian community for just such reasons. Believers have all but stopped submitting their will to Christ and therefore lost the witness of miracles He works within us changing the core of who we are into His image once again. Believers have long ago forsaken testing their faith by requiring miracles of God in healing, raising the dead, curing disease, etc. And most prophesies have been fulfilled more than 120 years ago. So apathy grows in our hearts. What a waste, and what a disappointment to those who need to hear the living word.

But to wake our Laodicean minds from the spiritual slumber we foolish virgins have engaged in, world events will once again become very intense. Before the end of time, just before the orders to kill all those who do not follow the beast (or the Anti-Christ if you will) worshipping him as he commands rather than as God has laid out in scripture, a series of plagues will be poured out upon the world. This is not done to torture evil people, or punish those who sin for the fact that they sin. This is the unfortunate consequence required to wake even the most evil and steadfast doubting mind up to the possibility that the Bible may be correct, God may exist, and that while late, perhaps Salvation is not yet out of reach. This is the purpose for pouring out the “wrath” of God on the world. Many will die in this process. Again unfortunate, but the messages of love will have already been rejected. Great death is about the only thing left that captures the attention of the world. And so it will be.

The details of the plagues can be found in Revelations chapter 16. John uses language that would appear to affect the entire world. We do not know if the plagues themselves will fall over the entire face of the earth, or just in very large regions, with the news of the events being carried on every TV news outlet capable of running the stories. John also speaks about two references to time in chapter 17 that may be a reference to the plagues. The first reference is a day which in prophetic time period generally equals a year. The second reference is an hour, which doing the math generally lasts about a week. We are not certain if John intended the pouring out of the plagues to take about a year to complete, or the final “burning of Babylon” to take about a week to complete. So there are a few unknowns related to these prophecies. But with the unknown is also what we do know.

The first plague will be one of grievous sores that fall upon men who worship the Beast and his image. This means for those who reject the Bible and embrace the teachings of men over the teachings of God, they will be susceptible to the plagues of God. If in tumultuous times you find yourself infected with the grievous sores of the first plague, you are worshipping the WRONG way, or to the WRONG god. This is your first wake up call, that something has gone wrong. Very wrong. And sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the False Christ or Anti-Christ or Satan who is impersonating Christ will tell you lies, that these things come from him as punishment because he has NOT been universally recognized as the only true god. In short he wants you to get mad to true believers and take your anger out on them for the sores you could have avoided if you chose not to worship the false god in the first place.

The second plague sounds even more daunting, as it is poured out on the sea, and “every living soul” in the sea dies as the water is turned to blood. We can infer from the first plague that this will only affect those who worship the beast, but there is no guarantee of this protection. It is possible when this plague is poured out on the sea, all will die who are on it at the time. The third plague is also related as the turning to blood phenomenon occurs in the lakes, rivers, and streams as well. The intention is to offer the wicked blood to drink, as they seem bent on shedding the blood of the saints. I am sure that devout atheist scientists will formulate opinions, hypothesis, and theories on how this is all explainable without supernatural influences to comfort themselves, but it will not quench their thirst.

The fourth plague sounds like global warming run amok. The sun was given power to scorch men, and rather than come to repentance they choose to blaspheme the name of God; perhaps by continuing to offer worship to the fake gods of science and the Anti-Christ rather than to the creator of all things. No doubt people will simply say Al Gore was right all along. But happening in this order, with these exact effects, is designed to show people the validity of the God of scriptures, and the way of Salvation. Alas will there be any who see, remember, and repent before time itself runs out for them?

The fifth plague is poured out on the seat of the beast and is a great darkness. This would be a welcome relief from the scorching rays of the Sun, and defies scientific logic as to why the Sun would suddenly “go dark” even if only in a particular region of the planet. The seat of the beast could infer the headquarters location of the beast. Some have speculated this may mean Rome, where the papacy was long claimed equality with God in religious standing. Some say Washington D.C. as our nation seems bent on dictating morality to others in the forms the majority sees fit denying the rights of the minorities to worship God as they choose. Some say Beijing as the communist capital has long denied even the existence of God to its people and has restricted anyone from Biblical worship outside a rigorous state approved process. But wherever the darkness falls, people will chew on their own tongues for the pain in order to remind themselves they are still alive. And more bad news, the sores from the first plague are still there with them as well.

The sixth plague is decidedly a regional one, as the water of the river Euphrates is dried up, preparing the way of the kings of the east. I should imagine this will cause a massive drought around the areas where the river’s waters once flowed. But this plague appears to be a precursor to something even more terrible, a final war called Armageddon which we will discuss in more detail in another section. None the less the sequence of plagues seems a bit interrupted after the sixth plague with many events seeming to take place all at once.

It is possible that the seventh plague takes place immediately before the coming of the Lord in the clouds. It is possible that the effects of this plague will be felt less as there may not be anyone left on planet earth to talk about it. The righteous gone to heaven, the wicked killed in the final chaotic events. But the final plague of hail will fall from the heavens, every stone about the weight of a talent. Depending on whose version of a talent John was referring to, the current weight estimates would range from 57 pounds on the low end to 130 pounds on the high end. Falling from the sky like rain, the destruction of ice weighing this much would literally crush everything it comes into contact with. Even if this plague is regional falling only where the final war might occur, the devastation would be immeasurable. And worst of all, it appears that if one has not found Salvation by plague number 6, number 7 is already too late.

There is one point that the falling of these plagues makes above all else – evil itself is on a time clock. Evil will NOT be permitted to endure until it can self-destruct and take the world with it. Evil will be cut short, miraculously, and permanently by the God who has no evil in Him. The plagues may be labeled with flimsy scientific explanations designed to placate the masses, but the truth of their foretelling in every KJV Bible in print will be hard to deny. And I imagine that since the plagues are designed to prove the authenticity of the God who is their originator, they will be beyond the normal bounds of scientific theory. For years the siren cry of the Atheists is “show me proof”, how sad that even when this proof is offered it will not be enough for the minds bent on rejecting it.

I ask a final time, just how crazy am I? Am I so crazy you will simply reject these predictions as misplaced faith in a literal version of the Bible that could never come true … until it does. Or is possible that the entire reason for John’s foretelling of the horror of these events was for YOU specifically to be able to avoid them, by accepting the Salvation that Christ longs to offer you? Think about it, why else would a loving God given such a detailed accounting of last day events, including the violence and horror of some of them – if not to warn you on how to avoid these things – staying nestled in the loving protection of a God who is eager to bring you home with Him again. These plagues are not threats to change or die, they are the proof some required that God does exist, and the consequences to evil actions illustrated in the lives of all who remain to see such times. The only reason why we know about them now, is for the purpose of being sheltered from them. If God were out to “punish the guilty” why bother to announce what He is going to do, just do it quietly and effectively. But by writing all this in detail, He shows His purpose is not to destroy but to help as many as possible avoid destruction. Will you be saved from the cataclysm that is to come, or will you follow the edicts of man, science, and logic over the still small voice of love that tugs at your heart strings?