The Tribulation Saints

There is one group of people who are part of the end-time scenario that tends to pass under the eschatological radar in many ways. You've probably heard the term before, and if you've spent much time studying what the Bible teaches about the end times, you've probably been introduced to them.

They are not the Church. They are not part of the Church. They're not some slacker subdivision of the Church who needs to grind through the entire seven years of the Tribulation to get whipped into shape (sorry, all you partial-Rapturists out there, but I've written about this before and I can assure you that Scripture makes it crystal clear there ain't no such thing).

Neither are they the Jewish remnant, or Jewish people who come to faith in their true Messiah during the Tribulation. They are saved—they are washed in the blood of the Lamb and saved by grace through faith every bit as much as both the Church and the Jewish remnant, and will enjoy eternal life in heaven along with the rest of us. So who exactly are they?

They are Gentiles who come to faith in Christ after the Rapture.

(And maintain that faith, but we'll get to that later.) I felt led to discuss this group in a little greater depth, partly because there is so much errant teaching and misunderstanding concerning them. But I also wanted to discuss them for reasons that are tinged with a profound sense of urgency and intimacy:

Every single one of us has at least a few friends
and acquaintances—in some cases even family
members—who will be numbered among them.

Virtually every church in existence will have at least a handful, and for some it may be a significant portion of their congregations. And may a gracious God forbid, but even a couple of people reading this article could possibly be among those who don't come to a true, saving faith in Christ until after the Church has been removed via the Rapture.

As I have discussed before, it is my scriptural opinion that people (both Jews and Gentiles) will continue to get saved during the Tribulation up until the opening of the seventh seal (Rev. 8:1), which green-lights the rapid-fire series of cataclysmic trumpet judgments, which culminate with the even more cataclysmic bowl judgments.

I won't rehash it here, but I am convinced from Scripture that after the opening of the seventh seal, no more people are saved. Yes, there are millions of believers on earth who will struggle to survive the onslaught of God's judgments on the earth, as well as that of the forces of the Antichrist. Some will, some won't (the Jewish remnant will be protected by God, most believe in Petra). But it appears to me that no more additional people come to faith in Christ after the opening of the seventh seal, which may come not long after the midpoint of the Tribulation (but don't hold me to it). The precise timing of some of the events of the Tribulation can be notoriously difficult to pinpoint with a high degree of accuracy and are open to speculation.

Of course, as with many aspects of the end times, we invariably see things in the Old Testament that typify or foreshadow the end-time reality. So, the first question is this:

Q. Are there any events in the Old Testament that foreshadow the existence of a large group of Gentiles coming to faith in Christ or seeking the Messiah during the Tribulation?

A. In order to answer that one, let's saddle up for another trip back to Egypt during the days of Joseph.

got bread?

Two months ago I wrote an article about Joseph and the seven good years and the seven years of famine in Egypt, and in that article I discuss why I believe the seven years of famine foreshadow the Tribulation and the seven preceding good years are the last seven years of the Church Age and end with the Rapture. (I also discuss why I am inclined to believe the good years kicked off in 2017, so...you know—do the math.)

But in the process of writing that article, I casually glossed over what is in fact a crystal clear reference to the Tribulation saints. Looking back over it now, it's completely obvious.

In Genesis 41, we see Joseph interpret Pharaoh's dreams as depicting seven coming years of abundance, followed by seven years of famine. Joseph suggests that Pharaoh appoint someone to manage the storage of food during the coming good years in order to provide for the people during the years of famine, and Pharaoh is like...

"Wow, that's a great idea! You're my guy!"

So Joseph oversees a food storage program during the coming seven good years that successfully provides plenty of food and grain during the seven years of famine. This provides food not only for the Egyptians, but for people throughout that entire Middle Eastern region who stream into Egypt to purchase it. The famine is severe and widespread, and Egypt appears to be the only place in the whole region where food supplies are available.

It isn't long after the famine begins that Jacob decides to send Joseph's brothers down to Egypt to purchase grain (Gen. 42:1–3), and the same applies to other people (non-Jewish people, that is) throughout the entire region, who begin to stream into Egypt seeking the same:

In other words:

During the famine, we have huge numbers of
physically starving Gentiles flocking to the
only available source of bread, to receive it
from the only one who can provide it: Joseph.

So what does this translate to, eschatologically speaking?

During the Tribulation, we have huge numbers of
spiritually starving Gentiles flocking to the only
available source of the bread of life, to receive
it from the only one who can provide it: Jesus.

And voilà: There are your Tribulation saints—Old Testament and New.

Now, I don't mean to try and squeeze too much out of any particular passage of Scripture and I won't press this point any further, but it seems to me that you could interpret the last phrase of verse 57 ("...because the famine was severe in all the earth") as prefiguring the restricted availability of the gospel during the Tribulation.

True, the gospel will be preached by the 144,000 Jewish apostle Pauls that God seals early in the Tribulation and millions will be saved; but think of it: All over the globe, the gospel will be widely viewed as a threat to mankind that must be stamped out at all costs—so much so that believers will literally be hunted down, rounded up, and executed.

The narrative that will be pushed and pushed hard is that the dark, negative energy that infuses mythical, archaic (not to mention profoundly politically incorrect) ways of thinking exemplified by biblical Christianity must be rooted out and eliminated if mankind is ever going to be able to successfully evolve spiritually and assuage the frightening "earth changes" (i.e. God's judgments) that are occurring as our Earth Mother Gaia attempts to cleanse herself of such negative energy. In other words:

The "spiritual famine" that will exist during the Tribulation will indeed be severe in all the earth.

Missing in action

One of the biggest mistakes people make in regard to the Gentiles saved during the Tribulation—assuming they are biblically astute enough to see that there actually are saved Gentiles in the Tribulation—is to conclude that they must be the Church (or possibly part of the Church), still on earth and slugging through the judgments of the Tribulation.

A number of various groups tend to view things this way, and they waste no time in brandishing it as a sword to slay the hated pre-trib dragon:

"Looky here, hoss: You've got believers on earth during the Tribulation in Revelation 7, and you still think they all got 'raptured' before the Tribulation even started. Hey, you know what? How 'bout you go peddle your pre-trib fib somewhere else? We got a Bible study goin' here."

OK, so why aren't the Gentiles saved during the Tribulation the Church? Why aren't they part of the Church? It's a perfectly valid question, and it warrants a scriptural answer.

First of all, it is clear that the people we are talking about get saved as a result of the preaching of the 144,000. These Jewish evangelists are sealed by God and go out to preach the gospel during the first part of the Tribulation (Rev. 7:1–8). And the very next image John describes in the very next verse tells us everything we need to know about the fruit of their efforts:

This is one reason why it makes no sense whatsoever to consider this group as the Church. The Church includes millions of people who are saved now (not to mention the dead in Christ), before the Tribulation ever gets off the ground. This entire group of Gentiles gets saved during the Tribulation, and so they cannot be the entire Church—that simply makes no sense.

"Oh, really? Well, thanks for pointing that one out, Captain Obvious."

I'm not finished, Captain Buttinsky. Although they cannot be the entire Church, there are those who see this group of Gentiles getting saved during the Tribulation as becoming part of the Church. In other words, they see the current Church entering the Tribulation, and then see these Gentiles getting saved in Revelation 7 as being added to the Church's numbers.

But there is one thunderingly obvious reason why it is virtually impossible to believe that the Gentiles getting saved during the Tribulation are being added to the current Church—a Church that has been plunged into this seven-year period of judgment, and it comes down to one simple observation:

If the Church enters the Tribulation and
these Gentiles get saved and are added to
its numbers, then why is it that they get
saved as a result of the preaching of JEWS?

Take your time, Captain CatGotYourTongue. To be perfectly blunt, it seems the Church is missing in action not just in the huge evangelistic drive in Revelation 7 that brings "a great multitude, which no man could number" into the kingdom, but throughout the entire Tribulation. In the book of Revelation, the Church is mentioned repeatedly in chapters 1–3 before the judgments of the Tribulation are launched in chapter 6, and the next time the Holy Spirit mentions the Church is in Revelation 19:7, where we are preparing for the marriage of the Lamb following the Tribulation. That is, the Church is never mentioned during the entire Tribulational narrative. So...

If the Church is still here on earth during
Daniel's 70th Week, then where are they and
what in heaven's name are they doing?!

Sitting at home watching TBN? Pardon me for asking, but whatever became of the Great Commission? Whatever happened to that "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" thing? If the current Church or even part of the current Church enters into the Tribulation, then why have they apparently gone MIA in Revelation 7, during what is clearly one of the greatest evangelistic outreaches in the history of mankind?

If the glorious, victorious Church is still alive and kicking and on earth during Daniel's 70th Week as so many wish to believe, then can someone please explain to me why they aren't the ones out preaching the gospel and bringing this huge multitude to faith in Christ? Why does God deem it necessary to seal 144,000 Jewish men to complete the Church's stated mission?

"Well, those people who get saved during the Tribulation must be part of the Church—Revelation 7:9 says they come 'out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages.' And that describes the Church!"

Actually you're right, Captain NiceTry—that does describe the Church. But it proves no such thing. The fact that they come "out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages" doesn't prove they're part of the Church—all it proves is that they're Gentiles!

How did you get in here? It saddens me to say it, but there are multitudes of people in the Church today who are sufficiently ignorant of what the Bible teaches that when they get to heaven, they will shocked to discover that there are millions of people there who were never part of the Church. Understand that the Church is a blessed group—we are "those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). The body of Christ has a unique origin, a unique purpose, and a unique destiny in the overall framework of God's plan for the ages—and that's not a pride thing...that's a Scripture thing.

Hors d'oeuvres for thought

There are several interesting tidbits that occurred to me as I worked on this article, and I thought I'd just sort of sweep them together into a neat little pile for your consideration.

1. Same promise for the Tribulation saints and the Jewish remnant.

There is an intriguing passage near the end of Revelation 7 that I want to draw your attention to, because it has some interesting implications for the idea of trying to make the Tribulation saints out to be part of the Church.

After John describes the great multitude of Gentiles who have recently been saved—many of whom are now in heaven as a result of being martyred (Rev. 7:9–12), John has a brief exchange with one of the 24 elders concerning them. Let's pick up the action in verse 13:

The elder describes what lies in store for these people, and note with care the manner in which the elder characterizes it.

Now, let's flip over to the book of Isaiah, where the prophet is foretelling the future restoration of the nation of Israel (in the form of the believing Jewish remnant) when Christ gathers them into their promised kingdom:

No, don't bother to blink and read it again—God promised the Jewish remnant the exact same thing in the Old Testament that the elder says awaits these Gentiles who have been led to faith in Christ during the Tribulation.

So...why is this interesting? It's interesting because as far as I'm concerned it gives us yet another reason to see this group of Gentiles who are saved during the Tribulation as NOT being part of the Church. And why is that?

As I have said in the past, throughout Scripture God deals with the Church and Israel separately. Now, I'm not going to dig any deeper into this because it's a minor detail and I could certainly be overlooking something. But I am struggling to recall any place in Scripture where God promises the Church and Israel the exact same thing in the exact same terms the way He does in these two different passages. Just a tidbit to gnaw on.

What restoration? Note that in chapter 49 Isaiah is prophesying about the restoration of Israel, which will be ushered into their promised kingdom in the form of the Jewish remnant that comes to faith in the Messiah during the Tribulation and is protected from the forces of the Antichrist during the worst of it. But there are also those who see a "restoration" of the Church in the latter days, before Christ returns to rule in His kingdom. To which I respond:

"Uhh...what restoration?"

Sorry, but I don't see that in my Bible. What I see in my Bible is a Church with a little strength in the end times being removed from the time and place of the seven-year period of judgment that God has ordained to unleash on His stiff-necked people to bring forth a believing remnant who will finally find salvation in their promised Messiah and on a world that has rejected His grace and mercy and persecuted His people Israel. At the climax of that period of judgment, I see a Church in their glorified bodies returning with Christ at the Second Coming, to rule and reign with Him in the Millennial Kingdom.

Many of the groups that teach some type of "restoration" of the Church normally espouse such a thing based on the teachings of a phony prophet (or prophetess) and equally phony extra-biblical writings. One of the classic examples would be Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but this idea also rears its unscriptural head with the likes of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the New Apostolic Reformation, and others.

I might also point out that these promises to both the Tribulation saints in Revelation 7:16–17 and the Jewish remnant in Isaiah 49:10, if taken at face value, appear to boil down to lives characterized by physical and emotional comfort and security. And that's great—ain't nothing wrong with that at all. You could do a lot worse. Besides, there could be a bit more to it than that.

On the other hand, the Church is promised to be kings and priests who will rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years in the Millennial Kingdom (1 Cor. 6:2; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6).

Hmmm...I think I'll take one from column B.

2. Tribulation saints are mentioned separately from the Church.

I couldn't help but notice one other minor detail that I believe works against the idea of the saved Gentiles in Revelation 7 being part of the Church, and that is the fact that they are mentioned as a separate, distinct group from the 24 elders. In addition to the exchange John has with one of the elders in verses 13–17 concerning them, right after these Gentile Tribulation saints are first introduced in verse 9, we have the following:

As I have discussed previously, I am 100 percent convinced the 24 elders can be absolutely no one but the raptured Church, home and dry in heaven in Revelation 4 before the judgments of the Tribulation are launched in chapter 6. And Scripture clearly distinguishes them from these Gentiles who were saved during the Tribulation.

Haste to the wedding: Note that the 24 elders are mentioned for the last time in Scripture as joining in with the celestial fist-pumping at the climax of the Tribulation:

I mention this because it comes in close proximity to the first mention of the Church since before the Tribulation even begins, and it comes just three verses later in verse 7:

So before anyone jumps up and down and hollers that the 24 elders cannot be the Church because they are mentioned separately from and in close proximity to the body of Christ in the form of the bride of the Lamb, notice that there is a distinct shift in the action after verse 5 with the announcement of the upcoming marriage of the Lamb. And in my view, there is certainly no reason, figuratively speaking, why the 24 elders can't get off their duffs and "haste to the wedding," as expressed in the title of a popular Irish jig.

3. The Sheep and Goat Judgment.

This last hors d'oeuvre pertains to something I wrote about eight years ago that the Lord brought to my mind, and it has to do with the Sheep and Goat Judgment in Matthew 25:

It is my belief that in the Sheep and Goat Judgment, where "the nations" (Gentiles) stand before Christ after the Second Coming, the Tribulation saints are the sheep who are invited to enter the kingdom.

They can't be the Church, who has already returned with Christ in their brand-new glorified bodies to prepare to assume their assigned duties in said kingdom. Besides, since when is our admittance to Christ's kingdom based on our actions toward others? Since...never. We are guaranteed admittance to His kingdom the moment we believe the gospel in faith and trust Him for our salvation—and I've said it before and I'm going to keep on saying it:

That is only the case for the Church.
That's one way the Church is blessed.

Not seeing is believing: Only members of the Church—those who "have not seen and yet have believed"—are sealed with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit the moment we believe, which assures us of our salvation during the current Church Age. And the Church Age is about to come to an abrupt end, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. But you can search the pages of Scripture until God creates a new heavens and a new earth and find no such promise for those who come to faith in Christ after the Rapture.

Note that their invitation to enter the kingdom is based on how they treated Christ's "brothers," which refers to Jews. Those Gentiles who enter the kingdom will be those who not only came to faith in Christ during the unleashing of God's judgments, but also maintained a faithful testimony by aiding and supporting Jewish believers—possibly both members of the Jewish remnant as well as members of the 144,000 (capital criminals to a man).

True, the Jewish remnant will be protected by God in the wilderness from the forces of the Antichrist, but that appears to come a bit later in the Tribulation, presumably during the trumpet and bowl judgments. Earlier in the Tribulation, especially during the gap between the sixth and seventh seal judgments, I believe they will be out in society, but still subject to persecution.

The sobering reality is that Gentiles who come to believe the gospel during the Tribulation but ultimately cave and fail to put their faith into action will be denied entrance into the kingdom and sent off to eternal punishment. They will spend eternity knowing they had their chance, and they blew it.

And before God, if that doesn't make us appreciate what we have in Christ now, I don't know what will.

Hors d'oeuvres are little things—but sometimes little things speak loudly.

Surveying the landscape

The final aspect of this topic of the Tribulation saints I want to discuss is probably the most important, because at this point you might say it gets up close and personal.

The question of paramount importance at this juncture, with the Rapture very nearly upon us, is this:

Q. Do we see any signs of the congealing of a large group of Gentiles from whom the lion's share of the Tribulation saints would likely be drawn?

A. Yeah, and those MAGA extremists are a threat to democracy!

(You know, just once I'd love to see someone from the liberal left just come out and candidly admit the excruciatingly obvious—that a lot of the things Joe Biden says are stupid to the point of being delusional.)

As I'm sure you know, our great country has always had divisions. But one thing that has helped make us (and keep us) a great nation is the fact that throughout our history, we as Americans have normally done our best to find ways to deal with those divisions, overcome them to the best of our ability, and get past them in the best interest of the country. And although we haven't always succeeded to a spectacular degree, in the final analysis the country and its bedrock principles have come first and typically prevailed in the end.

But everything I just said is history at this point. It's gone—and I hate to say this and sound all pessimistic and everything, but we need to understand that it ain't comin' back. The vicious, borderline psychotic rancor that has exploded between liberals and conservatives over the last six years (and that recently culminated in the man who occupies the Oval Office publicly declaring half the country enemies of the state) continues to metastasize into a division that dwarfs anything we have ever witnessed.

And it shows no signs of abating.

Much of the groundwork was already in place prior to the 2016 election campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton; but when Trump assumed the presidency in January 2017 instead of a woman who had been groomed to be the new Globalist Queen to follow on the heels of the Globalist King, the proverbial dam broke.

Ever since then, the United States has
morphed into the land of Us vs. Them
in ways that would make the Founding
Fathers weep...and tremble for our future.

And it has done so at such a frightening pace and to such a frightening degree that it's got Satan's name written all over it—this can only be attributed to Satan and his demonic administration.

Satan knows his time is approaching, and is seizing the moment.

Understand a few things about the frightening upheaval that is raging in the world today, particularly in the United States:

• It's not due to the delusional left-wing rhetoric of liberals.

• It's not happening because there are those who wish to see America toppled from its superpower pedestal and trampled underfoot in the mad rush towards a global government.

• It didn't spring from the minds of those who naively believe that all paths lead to God and so should be merged into one pseudo-spiritual fairytale.

• It wasn't concocted by those who fraudulently installed a cardboard cut-out in the White House so they could manipulate him into doing their bidding.

• It's not the idea of people who want to change over to a digital global currency that will prevent those who don't toe the line from buying anything.

• And it's not the fault of those who wish to use a virus created in a lab as an excuse to push phony "vaccines" that will help put a (reduced) population under even greater control in the coming years.

And if we blame any of the above, we are missing the point (just as we are intended to). The point is that all of this is being orchestrated by none other than Satan himself, because he knows that his moment in the sun is rapidly approaching and so he is clearly involved in an all-out blitz to establish the infrastructure for his short-lived kingdom.

And I feel compelled to just come right out and say this point blank:

The Church's job is not to stop him.

The rise of Satan's brief kingdom is part of God's plan for Daniel's 70th Week, and rise it shall. Satan's kingdom, through his proxy the Antichrist, is a vehicle for the judgment God will unleash on the portion of His people and of the world who have persistently rejected the grace and mercy He expressed to them through Christ—and that judgment must be carried out before Christ can assume His throne in the kingdom.

So, it is not the Church's job to somehow thwart Satan's efforts and prevent these things from coming to pass, and to naively expect God to get things back to normal. We can't and He won't, because we can't change the fact that it is God's sovereign will stated in His Word. The Church's job is to live lives that honor Christ and glorify God and to promulgate the gospel, and bring those last few souls into the body of Christ before it's too late.

Notice I said "into the body of Christ"—not "into the kingdom." I've said things like that on occasion, but I caught myself this time. There's going to be a massive number of people brought "into the kingdom" after the Church has been removed from this sin-infested world and while we are preparing to return to rule and reign in that kingdom with our Lord and Savior.

Now, don't misunderstand me: Obviously every member of the body of Christ will be part of the kingdom. But think of it this way:

There is a huge difference between being born again and being a member of the body of Christ today and being raptured before the judgments of a holy God fall during the Tribulation, and blowing off God's grace and mercy until your eyes and heart are opened in the midst of those judgments—and then having to fight tooth and nail to survive before being ushered into that kingdom. (And quite possibly failing on the "survive" bit.)

Wouldn't you agree?

So, as we survey the landscape across the country, what do we see? Although I am focusing on the United States, many of the same things apply to millions of people around the world in many other countries, perhaps with a different bit of window dressing.

We see millions of people who are distressed over what is happening to America—who are sick and tired of listening to the lies of left-wing liberals who seek to tear down and destroy everything that is good and right and replace it with something twisted and perverse. We see millions of people who know full well that the last election was hijacked, and want nothing more than to see things put right...somehow. We see millions of people who are passionate about rooting out the bad guys and thwarting their evil plans and helping the country get back on track, and they ache to see God put things back the way they were before all this craziness got started.

Speaking of God, by and large these are people who believe in Him, and at least have a healthy respect His Word. Many of them grew up in church-going families, and many may attend church themselves. They love their country, and are traumatized at the sight of America careening down a path that can only be described as one characterized by evil, greed, corruption, lies, and liberal lunacy. Many of them desperately cling to the hope that if they stand firm and support the right people (such as Donald Trump, in spite of his flaws and failings), the damage can be undone and things will be OK again.

And as I discussed in my last article:

Some even flock to so-called prophets, who
reassure them that the bad guys will fall and
fail, and the good guys will rise and prevail.

After the Rapture, great numbers of these people will have enough horse sense (and maybe a sufficient grasp of some of the Bible's basic teachings) that they will see right through and reject Satan's alluring explanation of the Rapture, which will involve an alien race that has safely and temporarily transported those people off the planet because they were deemed unprepared to ascend to a higher level of consciousness along with the rest of humanity. Of course, that would be because their minds have been corrupted by the dark, negative energy from the archaic myths they foolishly persist in believing (which, as I said, is a lie from the father of lies that has Christ in its crosshairs).

As a result, these people will realize the world-shattering, supernatural event that occurred was in fact the catching away of the Church they may have heard spoken of in the past (and luckily for all concerned, the Pre-trib vs. Post-trib Rapture Wars that have plagued the Church for nearly two centuries will have mercifully come to a screeching halt).

The point is that many of these people will figure out soon enough what it was, why they missed it, what is coming on its heels, and what they need to do.

End-time prophecy is gonna get
real simple real quick, and these
folks are gonna be neck-deep in it.

And their hearts will be primed to seek
God like they never sought Him before.

As a result of all this, when the 144,000 Jewish evangelists are sealed by God and sent out to preach the gospel to the post-Rapture world, there will be no shortage of open ears and hungry hearts anxious to receive that Good News—and the response will be nothing short of phenomenal.

It was you!

The point I'm driving at is that although most of these people may be good, God-fearing individuals with a sense of what is right and good, who ache to see the evil that is destroying our country and the world stopped and things returned to the way they were before all this lunacy got started a few years ago, one simple fact needs to be emphasized:

They remain unsaved.

They never let it in. They may have been in the shadow of the cross, but they never quite made it to the foot of the cross. They crossed that path, but never made it through the narrow gate. And they will remain in this condition until after Christ calls His Church away in the Rapture, and the bottom falls out.

It is a biblical truth that only God knows who will be saved and who will be lost, and who will be part of the Church and who will be among the Tribulation saints who make it into the kingdom even as God's judgments fall. As Church Age believers, there is really only one thing we can do—and maybe this sounds overly simple, but nobody said it was going to be complicated:

Give them Christ and Him crucified,
which gives us our hope of heaven.

And let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Of course, we're not going to get through to those people who will ultimately become Tribulation saints. But it just may be that if we let some individual know that it's our belief in what Christ did for us on the cross two thousand years ago that gives us our confidence that we will spend eternity in heaven—and then we turn out to be one of those who turn up missing after that earth-shattering, supernatural event that some are calling the biblical Rapture, that just might provide the spark that an omniscient God uses to draw that person to a saving faith in Christ during the Tribulation.

It comes down to this:

That's it:

Honor God in your heart, and be ready to give an answer to those who ask you why you have the hope of heaven.

I know it sounds silly, but I have this fantasy where after we return with Christ and are established in the kingdom in whatever roles we are ordained to fill, someone I knew or met at some point during my lifetime—someone in their mortal body who has survived the Tribulation—rushes up to me and excitedly shakes my hand or gives me a big bear hug and says:

"It was you! You were the one!"

And it is at that moment I suddenly recognize that person as being someone to whom I gave an honest answer about what I believed about life after death or why I believed I was going to heaven or something pertaining to Christ and the message of the gospel.

And the only thing I can do is gaze at them through tear-filled eyes and say:

"No, it was Him! He was the one!"

Greg Lauer — SEP '22

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