Tribulation Trivia

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● Matt 24:21 . . For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the
beginning of the world until now-- and never to be equaled again.

Some of the individual events in the book of Revelation may not seem all
that significant by themselves, but when the entire scenario is compiled, the
era depicted becomes spectacular.
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Rev 16:17-18 predicts a global earthquake so powerful on the Richter scale
that cities all over the world will collapse at once.

Something like 2,829 lost their lives when the World Trade Center was
demolished by a terrorist attack in 2001. Well that was only a few acres of
New York City. Just imagine the body count when all of Manhattan comes
down at once. along with other major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Mexico City, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, et al. The carnage will be beyond
belief; and a great many of the dead will be infants and underage children.

The Bible says that we should consider not only God's benevolence, but also
His severity. (Rom 11:22) We're dealing with a someone in control far more
terrifying than even the tyrants of North Korea, Communist China, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the awful regimes in Africa.

● Heb 12:29 . . For our God is a consuming fire.

That's a quote from Deut 4:24 which, in context, doesn't describe God's
physical characteristics, rather, it's a figure of speech illustrating rage:
defined by Webster's as violent and uncontrolled anger. It's hard to imagine
Christianity's divine patron ticked off to that extent, but there it is.

* A consuming fire is one that cannot be extinguished, i.e. once it gets
going, there's no stopping till all that's aflame is utterly destroyed, viz: an
unquenchable conflagration.
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[Jay Ross]

Sadly my friend, Rev 16:17-21 speaks of two periods of great turmoil that has already been experienced during the 20th century. There are a number of confirmation signs given in the 7th Bowl Judgement that happened in 1926, the remembrance of Babylon, and 1948 when Jerusalem was partitioned into three portions to be controlled by Brittian, Jordan and the UN.

The understanding of "Seismos" given in Strong's 4578 definition is "earthquake" but the reality is that you cannot have and earthquake in water, but the disciples were afraid of the turmoil in the wave that were crashing into and over their boat. However in Matt 27:51 we do have an earthquake described because the earth did shake and this Greek root word is found embedded in these verses: -



If the context of the scriptures is flawed we will come to the wrong understanding of what is being described.

Shalom

 

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• Rev 8:7 . .The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and
fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the
earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green
grass was burned up.

There's quite a bit of destruction depicted in that verse; and I suspect it's all
aimed at agriculture.

First a portion of the soil's organic material is destroyed which will greatly
impact its fertility.

Next a portion of the trees are destroyed so that foods derived from trees--
e.g. nuts, and fruits-- will become in short supply.

And finally all the green grass; which is translated from words that suggest
crops will be just starting to mature and produce grain, e.g. corn, beans,
wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rice; et al.

* Rice is a staple food for over ½ of the world's human population,
particularly in Asia and Africa.

NOTE: Although crops will be burned, they'll bounce back. (Rev 9:1-4)

Anyway, when the availability of food stuffs is limited; demand exceeds
supply; and with that prices go up.
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[Jay Ross]

Something like 2,829 lost their lives when the World Trade Center was
demolished by a terrorist attack in 2001.

For your trivia file, 9/11 was spoken about in the Sixth Bowl Judgement. The three unclean frog like spirits that come out of the mouths of Satan, the Beast and the False Prophet, are demons that perform signs seen, already, by the people and kings of the whole earth to begin gathering the kings of the earth at Armageddon in out near future to be judged on the great day of the Lord.

The tribulation trivia is that the Bowl judgements are given to us in reverse order with the last bowl judgement that is going to be performed before the GWTR judgement, being the first recorded bowl judgement.

 

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● Rev 16:8-11 . .Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun,
causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. Everyone was burned by this blast
of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who sent all of these plagues.
They did not repent and give him glory.

. . .Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and
his kingdom was plunged into darkness. And his subjects ground their teeth
in anguish, and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But
they refused to repent of all their evil deeds.

Pharaoh stiffened his resolve during those miraculous events in the book of
Exodus, but to my knowledge he never once cursed God. Well these folks in
Revelation show just how hostile and militant the human heart can really get
in its resistance to God's demands. Pretty amazing.
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When I was a developing Christian back in the decade of the 1970's, a radio
Bible teacher recommended a book by J. Dwight Pentecost titled "Things To
Come" (ISBN 0-310-30890-9)

It proved an excellent resource at the time because I was very interested in
Israel's future and all the end time events. The book is still in print and can
be had from Amazon dot com. I'd guess that most book stores can order it
too if it's not on their shelves.
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● Rev 16:12 . . And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of
the east might be prepared.

That is curious because in modern warfare; rivers, and even oceans, present
no obstacle to military aircraft. But where are the airplanes in Revelation;
and where are all the mechanized conveyances? Well; there are none, and in
point of fact, war in Revelation is portrayed as fought on horseback and
armies move on foot. I have an uneasy feeling that the way of life with
which us modern folks are accustomed is coming to an end.
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● Rev 6:12 . . I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great
earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the
whole moon turned blood red

Astronomically, that depicts a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse
simultaneously; which nature by itself cannot produce due to specific
alignment requirements.

● Rev 6:13 . . and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a
fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.

Those will likely be shooting stars (a.k.a. meteors) and possibly asteroids
too, rather than solar bodies like Polaris, Sirius, Betelgeuse, and/or Rigel
which would cause impacts that the Earth simply cannot accommodate due
to its Lilliputian size compared to the mass of those kinds of celestial
objects. Many of the stars seen in the sky are quite a bit larger than the
Sun; whose diameter is 109x and its volume 1,300,000x the Earth's.

● Rev 6:14a . .The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up

Whether that pertains to the entire cosmos or limited to the Earth's
atmosphere is uncertain, although it does seem a preview of Rev 20:11.

● Rev 6:14b . . and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

No doubt previous centuries of theologians were curious about that
prediction, but thanks to the relatively new science of plate tectonics, we
now know that the movement of mountains and islands has been occurring
all along; just not as noticeable as the shuffle depicted by Rev 16:14b.

Anyway, those events will quite naturally cause a world-wide panic.

● Rev 6:15-17 . . .Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the
rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and
among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the
rocks: Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne
and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come,
and who can stand?
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[Jay Ross]

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● Rev 16:12 . . And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of
the east might be prepared.

That is curious because in modern warfare; rivers, and even oceans, present
no obstacle to military aircraft. But where are the airplanes in Revelation;
and where are all the mechanized conveyances? Well; there are none, and in
point of fact, war in Revelation is portrayed as fought on horseback and
armies move on foot. I have an uneasy feeling that the way of life with
which us modern folks are accustomed is coming to an end.
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My Friend, how would you describe a silhouette of a plane flying high up in the sky against references from the time of John nearly 2,000 years ago. I think that the silhouette of a frog jumping stretched out in full flight from one branch to another, in John's era, when viewed from below would match the silhouette of a commercial passenger plane of today's era reasonably accurately.

The description of the Euphrates River drying up is representative of the demise of the Baal worship that came out of Babylon, and as we are told that three of the ten horns, i.e. religions, of the fourth beast of Daniel 7:1-12.

The three kings mentioned in this Bowl Judgement are Satan, the Beast and the False Prophet and the demise of the "Baal" religion has meant that the way of these kings, i.e. another religious horn could rise up so that these three kings could come from the east when they are released from the Bottomless pit after a 1,000-year imprisonment.

Now in the Seventh Bowl judgement, it speaks of the hail that falls down from heaven like a plague. An apt description of modern warfare of Bombs and artillery shell falling down on people in the cities sheltering in Bomb shelters and in the trenches where the troops often sheltered in holes dug in the ground adjacent to their trenches.

The painted word pictures in the book of Revelation do describe warfare in our era. Jerusalem was taken by a charge of the Australian Light Horse charging the Turkish gun batteries in WW1.

We really need eyes to see and ears to hear to be able to visualise God's Prophetic word.

Your claim that planes and tanks are not described in the Bible, but the Roman army's tactic of using shields to protect them from arrows while they advanced is very similar to the modern-day troop carriers.

The Sixth Bowl Judgement spans many years from the time that the religions represented by the Euphrates River drying up, up and until the time that the Kings of the Earth are assembled at Armageddon to be judged and punished for their deeds against God's Sanctuary and His earthly Hosts. It is my belief that the events around the assembling of the kings of the earth at Armageddon is still a near future event that will occur at the time of the transition from this present age to the next age, in around 20-25 years' time.

This is also the time that Israel will be gather unto the Lord God and when God will fulfil His Promise in: -

Ezekiel 34:28: - 28 And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land/earth devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid.​

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The beasts of the earth described in the above verse are the three kings from the east, mention in Revelation 16:12-16 who will be imprisoned, (Isaiah 24:21-22), in a pit for many days to await the time of their punishment.

The Prophecies in the Book of Revelation lines up with the prophecies found in the Old Testament.

I have a sense that your imagination is limited to only what you can understand.

Shalom
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● Rev 6:5 . . And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living
creature saying: Come! And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who
sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

Scales (a.k.a. balances) were mechanical devices used in the application of
commercial weights and measures. Modern electronic scales are quite a bit
more sophisticated.

The black horse in this case indicates hunger. (compare the pale horse's
assignment in Rev 6:8)

● Rev 6:6a . . And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living
creatures saying: A measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of
of barley for a denarius;

The Greek word translated "measure" is roughly equal to 1.09 liters or 2.3
US pints. The denarius is widely assumed to have been equivalent to a day's
pay for soldiers and/or laborers.

It's a pretty good guess that what we're looking at is hand-to-mouth
existence due to inflationary pricing caused by the simple fact that there just
won't be enough to go around; for example:

"When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your
bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat,
but you will not be satisfied." (Lev 26:26)

● Rev 6:6b . . do not damage the oil and the wine!

Oil made from olives was common in just about everybody's kitchen and
served as a shortening. (cf. 1Kngs 17:8-12) Wine was a common first aid
treatment, likely due to its alcohol content (e.g. Luke 10:34) and also useful
as a sedative (Prov 31:6-7)

NOTE: The oil used in Luke 10:34 was likely an essential oil rather olive, e.g.
Myrrh, Clove, and/or Frankincense.
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● Rev 6:7-8 . .When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of
the fourth living creature say: Come!

. . . I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named
Death, and hades was following close behind him. They were given power
over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the
wild beasts of the earth.

* The lethal sources listed are common throughout the world today; but
never have they harvested so many souls as they will in the future. For
example:

The current global population is roughly 7,964,189,000 i.e. 7.96 billion. By
the time Mr. Death finishes his work, something like 1.99 billion of those
people would be rubbed out by war, hunger, disease, and the animal
kingdom; which consists of a fair number of poisonous species along with
toxic critters like vampire bats and mosquitoes.

* In perspective: 1.99 billion people adds up to nearly 6x the USA's current
population.

We don't usually notice someone's passing unless they're famous or one of
our friends, associates, and relatives. Well; when Mr. Death goes to work,
the dead will be all around us and impossible to overlook. I rather suspect
funeral homes will be overwhelmed; if open for business at all.

And ER? Well, it's Mr. Death's intention that people die rather than survive,
so I should think that any and all medical attention the hospitals are able to
provide will be quite ineffective, viz: they'll likely serve as morgues instead
of treatment centers.
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● Rev 13:8 . . All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-- all whose
names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that
was slain from the world.

Jesus wasn't a stand-by paramedic sent to an unexpected train wreck,
rather; he was designated, and scheduled, to die on a cross prior to God
creating even a single atom for the current cosmos. (1Pet 1:18-21)

Everything is a foregone conclusion with God; nothing surprises Him. God
foresaw the forbidden fruit incident, He foresaw Cain and Abel, He foresaw
the Flood, He foresaw the Tower of Babel, He foresaw Sodom and Gomorrah,
He foresaw the Holocaust, He foresaw all the folks who won't bow to the
Beast, and He has seen the Lake of Fire and the end of the world as we
know it.

There are no new believers to God. He's already foreseen every one of them
back at the very beginning just as He's seen everything else ahead of time
before it comes to pass. Ergo: if somebody's name isn't already in the lamb's
book of life, then their name is never going to be in there.

● Eph 1:3-5 . . Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
For He chose us in him before the creation of the world . . . in love He
predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with His pleasure and will.
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● Rev 13:4 . . 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?

* The Dragon is identified at Rev 12:9 as the Serpent, the Devil, and Satan; so
there can be no doubt who this creature really is. (cf. Rev 20:2)

It's quite possible that the people of that day will honestly believe the Beast is
empowered by a divine being; and unaware they are actually giving glory to a
demonic being instead. For example:

● 2Thess 2:9-12 . . .This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with
counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of wicked
deception to fool those who are on their way to destruction because they refuse to
believe the truth that would save them. So God will send great deception upon
them, and they will believe all these lies.

Worship of the Beast will be universal, mandatory, and strictly enforced regardless
of age, race, gender, and/or ethnic identity-- a one-world mega religion that blows
all others out of the water, e.g. Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism,
Baha'i, Buddhism, etc.
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● Rev 13:5a . . And there was given unto the Beast a mouth speaking great
things

That's pretty much describes the rhetoric of most every politician, viz:
promises of a better world under the auspices of their own administrative
practices.

● Rev 13:5b . . and blasphemies

In this scenario, the Beast is God's political opponent. Well political
opponents in today's world make it their mission in life to destroy the other
guy's reputation and call into question his motives. I suspect the Beast's
tactics will be no different because it's to his advantage to emphasize the old
God's perceived faults and failures and show how himself as the new God
can do a much better job managing the world's affairs.

"He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is
worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to
be God." (2Thess 2:3-4)

NOTE: I would imagine that a first order of business for the Beast will be to
come up with a plausible explanation for the world-wide extraction described
by 1Thess 4:13-18 wherein nigh unto 2,000 years of deceased Christians will
appear out of thin air all over the globe and join those alive to go up and
rendezvous with Christ in the clouds.
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● Rev 13:5c . . and power was given unto him to continue forty and two
months.

Prophetic months aren't the same as calendar months. Prophetic months are
thirty days each; so that forty-two such months add up to 1,260 days, i.e.
3½ prophetic years, e.g. Rev 11:2 & Rev 12:6

Prophetic months are sort of like a baker's dozen. Though a baker's dozen
isn't a dozen of twelve; it's nonetheless a dozen in its own right: the same
with solar time vs sidereal time, and true north vs magnetic north.

* Scripture introduces prophetic months in Genesis relative to the Flood
where a period of five months adds up to exactly 150 days.
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● Rev 13:7-8 . . 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. 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.

Because we're talking about all kindreds, and tongues, and nations; then I
think we may safely assume that the "saints" in this case are possibly
anyone and everybody that can be counted as loyal to God; both Jew and
Gentile. This may or may not refer to armed conflict but for sure it's related
to oppression; and it's going to be very effective if we reckon these saints to
be the innumerable crowd depicted at Rev 7:9-17.

The Beast's management practices are extreme, but not all that unusual.
Take for example modern communist China. It's very dangerous to be
openly religious in that country, and/or hold values that differ with the
regime's, where they harvest the organs of Falun Gong adherents without
their consent. The situation in North Korea is little better where God is
second place to Kim Jong-Un.

The Lamb slain "from the foundation of the world" reveals that Jesus wasn't
a stand-by paramedic sent to an unexpected train wreck, rather; he was
designated, and scheduled, to die on a cross for the sins of the world prior to
God creating even a single atom for the current cosmos. (cf. 1Pet 1:18-21)
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● Rev 13:9 . . He who has an ear, let him hear.

This particular ear refers to paying serious attention rather than merely
auditory perception. For example:

● Deut 29:2-5 . . Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

. . .Your eyes have seen all that The Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his
officials and to all his land. With your own eyes you saw those great trials,
those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day The Lord has not
given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.

In other words: Moses' people were attentive to God's providence; and at
times even took it for granted, but were indifferent to His counseling--
oftentimes His words went in one ear and right out the other, so to speak.
Samuel was just the opposite.

● 1Sam 3:20 . . And Samuel grew, and The Lord was with him, and did let
none of His words fall to the ground.

During the awful circumstances depicted and described in the book of
Revelation, quite a few folks are going to wake up and begin looking to the
Bible for answers. I'm guessing it will be difficult, and dangerous, trying to
locate copies as I suspect the Beast will initiate something similar to Mao
Zedong's cultural revolution and/or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to
eradicate competing ideologies.

Nevertheless; just as certain agencies at the Federal level have failed to
totally suppress so-called misinformation relative to the Covid thingy, so the
Beast will fail to prevent every last ear from hearing.
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● Rev 13:9-10 . . If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if
anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the
perseverance and the faith of the saints.

I think that just might be a reiteration of the perseverance and the faith of
Job; where it's said:

"In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." (Job 1:22)

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15

That of the prophet Habakkuk:

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines;
the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I
will rejoice in The Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (Hab 3:17-18)

And that of the apostle Paul:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For
your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered." (Rom 8:35-36)

It's generally agreed among conservative Christians that no saved person
will enter the Tribulation; but there will be a large number of lost souls
saved out of it; though at great cost to their welfare. They mustn't allow
their misfortunes during that era to persuade them that they've bought into
a fraud.

* Believers are not a protected species; nor are they insulated from the slings
and arrows of outrageous fortune.

When there's a pandemic, they get sick the same as everybody else. When
there's war, they get caught up in it. When there are economic catastrophes
like the Great Depression and the housing bubble of 2008, they lose their
jobs and sometimes their nest eggs. When there are shortages of goods and
services, they have to make do with what there is the same as everybody
else. When the weather becomes disagreeable with tornadoes, hurricanes,
and flooding, they lose their homes right along with non believers. Wild fires
in California burn the homes of believers the same as everybody else's
homes. Believers get cancer, they get in car wrecks, they get taken by
crime, nature drops tree limbs on them, and the postman delivers their mail
to the wrong address, etc. etc. etc.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say:
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
(Horatio P. Spafford, 1828-1888)
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[St. Joseph]

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Rev 16:17-18 predicts a global earthquake so powerful on the Richter scale
that cities all over the world will collapse at once.

Something like 2,829 lost their lives when the World Trade Center was
demolished by a terrorist attack in 2001. Well that was only a few acres of
New York City. Just imagine the body count when all of Manhattan comes
down at once. along with other major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Mexico City, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, et al. The carnage will be beyond
belief; and a great many of the dead will be infants and underage children.

The Bible says that we should consider not only God's benevolence, but also
His severity. (Rom 11:22) We're dealing with a someone in control far more
terrifying than even the tyrants of North Korea, Communist China, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the awful regimes in Africa.

● Heb 12:29 . . For our God is a consuming fire.

That's a quote from Deut 4:24 which, in context, doesn't describe God's
physical characteristics, rather, it's a figure of speech illustrating rage:
defined by Webster's as violent and uncontrolled anger. It's hard to imagine
Christianity's divine patron ticked off to that extent, but there it is.

* A consuming fire is one that cannot be extinguished, i.e. once it gets
going, there's no stopping till all that's aflame is utterly destroyed, viz: an
unquenchable conflagration.
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I will be raptured or passed on before the tribulation,so i dont waste my time on worrying about it.