COVID-19 And The Second Coming Of Jesus Christ

There's currently a notion out there which says that a COVID-19 vaccine might actually be the make of the beast otherwise known as 666. While many who hold the idea base it on speculations that the vaccine will be forced on people, some say it can't be the mark of the beast because the rapture must take place before the Antichrist shows up with his 666.

While no one is certain what the vaccine is, I just want to correct a notion among Christians which says rapture must take place before the Antichrist comes. This is a false doctrine not found in the Bible but in Hollywood movies.

Christians will be here on Earth when the Antichrist shows up and enforcing his mark. That is what Jesus Christ himself said.

The concept of rapture before the Antichrist was made popular by movies like LEFT BEHIND and some America. televangelists. Before 1800, there was no church or preacher holding such doctrine. It was started by a man named John Darby who even wrote his own Bible which lacked key verses. Today, the doctrine is held by roughly 65% of Christians. The doctrine that we will escape the tribulation is false and not Biblical.

Jesus himself spoke of when the rapture will take place. Notice how his disciples asked him to tell them what the signs of his coming will be.

Mathew 24:3
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Now read the further

24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)
24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

In verse 9, Jesus spoke of Christians getting delievered up for persecution and are killed. That is the tribulation. But false teachers have taught that the people who will face such are unbelievers who are left behind after Christians have been raptured. Well, basically we all agree that the tribulation involves persecution. But the confusion here is who are the people to face the tribulation? Some believe it is unbelievers after Christians have been raptured, while some say it is Christians who will be persecuted by the Antichrist for failing to received the mark of the beast. Let's allow the Bible settle this confusion.

First, let us see whether Christians will be raptured before the tribulation or not.

[Mathew 24:29-31
24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Did you see the bold part in the passage above? Did you also see that the rapture takes place immediately after the tribulation of the end times? The events in verse 30 to 31 are the same as described by Apostle Paul in...

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

But some people have deceived many by saying that what Jesus said in Mathew 24 cannot be the rapture because he was talking to the Jews and not to Christians. Why is it not the rapture when it is the same event described by Paul? Trumpet, angels, God's people getting caught up to heaven etc.

Yes, Jesus was talking to the Jews because his disciples who asked him to tell them about the end time were still under Judaism. But if you read Mark 13 and Luke 21, you will see that it's the same thing Jesus said in Mathew 24. At the last verse of Mark 13, Jesus said what he's saying to the people whom some quarters are saying is not the church, he's saying to ALL which includes the church.

Mark 13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Now, we see that the tribulation occurs before the rapture, but who carries out the tribulation and what is it exactly? The tribulation is the persecution of Christians at the end time such as never was and never will be.

Mathew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Christians will be beheaded and persecuted all around the world. This persecution will be carried out by the Antichrist engineered by Satan himself.

Mathew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)


The Abomination of Desolation is the Antichrist who exhaust himself above everything called god and forces people to worship him.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Did you read the passage above? Did you see where it spoke about the coming of our Lord Jesus? Did you see in verse 3 that the day which Jesus will come will not exists until the man of sin (Antichrist) is revealed? Read verse 4 as well.

Yet some people say Christians won't face the tribulation even when the Bible says the Antichrist who will persecute during the tribulation will come first before Jesus Christ who will come and deliver Christians from his grip. Many will mistake him for Christ.

Mathew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.



This Antichrist will wage war against the saints.

Revelations 13:4-8

13 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

As you can see above, the Antichrist exhalst himself and blasphemes God's name. Is this not the same man Paul spoke of in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, whom he said must first come before Jesus Christ comes back?

Now as seen in verse 7 above, the Antichrist wages war against the saints and will overcome many. Why is he waging war against the saint if some people believe the saints wont be around during the tribulations? In verse 13, everyone on earth is seen worshiping the Antichrist. Those who won't worship him are those whose names are written in the book of life. This is what will anger the Antichrist and make him wage war against them with great tribulation and persecution.

Revelations 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ

What we see so far is that people with their names in the book of life won't worship the Antichrist. But I ask, what are they doing on earth? I thought some people said they would have been raptured and escaped.

The proponent of a pre-tribulation rapture doctrine have said that the people left behind will be unbelievers who will now have to pay with their blood to get saved. They are the ones the Antichrist will persecute. This is a lie. If all Christians will be raptured before the tribulation, then those left will be unbelievers who are already tools of Satan. Do you expect someone who doesn't give a damn about Jesus to stand with Jesus when a cutlass is placed on his neck? He will gladly received the mark of the beast because he's not used to suffering for Christ whom he never believed in.

In revelations 12:17, we see that Satan will make war against those who hold the testimony of Jesus Christ. How some people believe that the people that Satan will make war against are unbelievers is what baffles me. Do unbelievers hold the testimony of Jesus? No.

Basically, what we've seen so far is that the Antichrist comes first, then follows a great tribulation which involves the persecution of Christians. It is immediately after the tribulation that Jesus Christ will appear and will redeem his people through a rapture.

Don't let anyone deceive you. Prepare yourself for that day which is fast approaching.

For the unbelievers, if you happen to be alive during the Great Tribulation, you still have the chance to be saved. Just listen to the preaching of Christians which will be very widespread by then because Christians will perform more during that period.

The reason why true Christians have no fear of the tribulation and the mark of the beast is because they cannot receive the mark no matter. They have been saved by Jesus and sealed with the mark of Christ. It is those who aren't saved but called themselves Christians that are worried and praying to bail out through a false rapture doctrine.

So, if COVID-19 vaccine is the mark of the beast, I'm rest assured that it won't get to me. This may make me lose my job and so many things due to persecution, but not my love for God who has sealed me until the day of rapture when I will meet him in the sky when it is all over. Accept Jesus today by confessing your sins and relying on him. That's the only way to prevent yourself from receiving the 666 in whatever design it comes in.

Note:

As the lockdown period gets eased tomorrow, please beware of fake COVID-19 miracles from false prophets who have been looking for a way to cash in on the pandemic to safe face after discovering that their falsehood has been exposed for not seeing any vision about the coming of the virus. They are warming up, so beware.

source http://www.nairaland.com/5832297/covid-19-second-coming-jesus-christ