Catastrophic Events Before The Rapture?

Q

I want to start by saying that I really enjoyed reading your study on Ezekiel 38. It was very instructive and wonderfully written. I do however, have a question. You mentioned in the study as stated by Ezekiel that the Gog Magog battle will take place when Israel is living is safety in a land without walls (paraphrasing). Your postulation is that this event will take place after the rapture, My question is this, how forward in the future will this event take place after the rapture?

It is implausible to think that a world which could easily see over 1/3 of its 6 billion inhabitants vanish would be in any state other than that of heightened alert. This is specially true with a nation like Israel. This is the part of the study which raises a question for me as to the timing of the rapture and whether we will perhaps witness some catastrophic events before the rapture. I would love to hear your clarification on this.

A

Sorry but you’ll have to direct your first question to God. He hasn’t revealed the specifics of His time line yet. In my feature article this week I referred to a future battle prophesied in Psalm 83 and why I think it will create the conditions for Ezekiel 38.

As for catastrophic events before the Rapture, there are several in some stage of development in the world right now. War in the Middle East is widely expected this summer and a war between North and South Korea is also possible. There’s huge financial turmoil in Europe and some are predicting major problems for the dollar as well, with another recession just around the corner. Experts don’t know how to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and the hurricane season that begins this month could blow oil and water all over the place, causing billions more in damage. In short we could be in for quite a ride between now and the end of the year so you’d better fasten your seat belt and make sure your faith is strong. The world could soon be an entirely different place in which to live.