Sometime in the future.....
Veteran SkyCopter News pilot Tommy Jackson slowly turns his helicopter southward as he heads back toward the Los Angeles airport. No sudden turns, since in the seat beside him is newly-minted reporter Sean Thompson, on his first helicopter reporting trip. Tommy has cleaned up after newbie reporters before, so he has learned that lesson well. After a quick run northward over the San Gabriel mountain range to obtain aerial video for an upcoming report on the Angeles National Forest, the SkyCopter News crew is heading back to LAX airport to refuel and get their afternoon assignment. As they pass over the last of the mountain peaks, the LA basin scene comes into full view, and today they can actually see all the way to the ocean. Pilot Tommy Jackson has done this many times, and always looks forward to the moment he crests the last peaks of the mountain range and sees the spectacular LA basin view. As he does, this time the scene is disturbing. Wait -- why all the black smoke, and in so many locations? It was just normal LA traffic when the crew left the airport only an hour ago. On closer inspection they see the nearest freeway, the I-210, is shut down in both directions, with multiple accidents, some vehicles burning. As they gaze further into the LA basin and head toward downtown, the scene becomes clearer as one of complete chaos. Tommy turns on the police scanner which had been turned off while filming, and it is erupting with chaotic calls for assistance. Tommy pushes the helicopter to maximum speed while reporter Sean Thompson reaches to turn on his outboard cameras, and then relays an urgent message to the LANX News producer: "This is SkyCopter 1 -- quick, you need to air this live video right now!"
In the studio LANX News producer Jack Ford takes one look at the footage coming in from SkyCopter 1 and shouts into the earpiece of on-air news anchor Jill Steiner, who is doing a live interview with a local politician. "Jill, cut off the interview -- urgent breaking news. Cover the SkyCopter footage I am putting up now. Do it right now." Jill stops talking in mid-sentence as footage appears on the screen behind her. She gasps as she struggles to orient to what it shows. The live helicopter video pans across the Los Angeles basin showing traffic snarled, many overturned cars, freeways clogged, black smoke rising from multiple areas, police cars and ambulances everywhere. There is mass chaos and city highways are at a virtual stand-still. The producer tells Jill to let the SkyCopter News reporter cover the story. She shakes her head in disbelief and then her veteran anchor skills kick in. She instinctively goes into her breaking news routine.
LANX anchor Jill Steiner: "We have breaking news, and are going straight to our SkyCopter Reporter over the I-5 freeway north of downtown....Sean, the video is frightening...what is going on?"
SkyCopter Reporter Sean Thompson's voice comes on-air as he struggles to decide what to cover first: "Jill, we have an enormous mess down there. The freeways are absolutely shut down. Accidents are everywhere, and many vehicles are burning. Hundreds of accidents, maybe over a thousand, we just don't know. Multiple ambulances are moving as best they can, and if they can, but it won't be enough. The police and EMS crews report they are overwhelmed and a number of their own vehicles have crashed. I see at least one gasoline tanker on fire on I-5 just north of downtown. There are reports of two Metro Rail train accidents. Police are reporting that many of the accidents were caused when vehicles just seemed to crash without any reason, and all over the city. And another odd thing, initial reports state there are very few survivors of all the freeway crashes."
Jill to SkyCopter 1: "What happened, Sean? That many vehicles don't just...um...crash, for...for no good reason..." Jill stumbles as she tries to find the right words while still watching the live video feed. "What else do you see? And what do you mean, very few survivors?"
SkyCopter News Reporter: "Jill, it's just a mess, and I can't tell what is actually going on down there." Sean struggles to catch his breath...and also think of something useful to say. "Let me just say that we need eyes on the ground to tell both of us. We will try to get lower for a better view, but air traffic control is overwhelmed, and there is thick black smoke coming from the airport area. We are heading that way next to check it out."
"Give me just a moment" Jill says into the camera as she listens to her producer through her earpiece..."We are getting reports that this is happening all over the U.S. Something very strange is going on here and elsewhere....so now we will...hold on a moment..." Jill says as she presses on her earpiece "...and now my producer is telling me this may even be a worldwide event. What the hell is going on? OK, we are cutting over to our Washington D.C. news affiliate DCNX as they report on this breaking news..."
DCNX News feed starts while their reporter is in mid-sentence: "...and so it seems there are mass casualty events occurring all over the U.S. But they are spread out, not localized as in a terrorist attack. Additionally, reports out of several European countries show it is a global event, but exactly what has happened, no one seems to know. The main issues reported so far have been mass vehicle accidents, including numerous car and commercial truck accidents, several airplane crashes, freight train derailments, and a Washington Metro train accident in the underground near downtown. Emergency services and first responders are overwhelmed and cannot handle the multiple incidents. It is mass chaos out there. In related news, several well-known people seem to be missing. Requests for a statement from the White House have so far gone unanswered. There seems to be an unusual amount of confusion over there and staffers refuse to say anything. Whatever this is, whether some new form of diffused terrorism or mass technological glitches or whatever else, I can only say that the scale of this disastrous event has never before been seen. Back to you in the studio...."
As the DCNX report ends, LANX anchor Jill Steiner comes back on-air: "As we have just seen, this is not a local LA event. And whatever it is, it is very big and highly unusual. We going to a break to try to sort this out as best we can, and will be right back..."
The Producer keeps the SkyCopter News live feed going, with the SkyCopter News crew now over south LA as Jill goes off air. Jill and her news staff discuss the events and the limited information available. A couple of her staff members who were seen just before the breaking news are now missing from the studio. Jill looks at their boss and tells him "Either find them or fire them. This is no time to be running off without permission!"
News Producer Jack Ford relays to Jill that police radio scanner reports indicate the cars that crashed had no drivers. Jill tells her news staff "get an automated driver-less car expert on the line and tell us if there has been some type of systemic software malfunction. And get a terrorism expert in here ASAP for me to interview. Also check for experts on any other types of technological glitches that might explain some of this. Just get me some people to interview. Now!!!"
Several news staff members report cell phone coverage problems as Jill is forced to go back on air without much information. She wings it and stalls for time. All she can do is cover what she sees on the SkyCopter News video, which shows a scene of freeways at a standstill, multiple smoking accident scenes, emergency vehicles which cannot move through the stalled traffic jams, and thick black smoke coming from the airport which has been confirmed as an inbound airplane crash just short of the runway on the beach along the ocean.
As Jill talks on-air about the live video feed from SkyCopter News she gets new inputs from her Producer, then tells the audience: "We now have reports that many of the cars were NOT the driver-less models. Also, many of the cars which crashed did not have a driver at the crash site. What does that even mean? Going now to our on-scene reporter Don who is near downtown and stuck on the I-10 freeway. Don – what can you tell us?"
Don: "Jill, I am not able to move my car out here since the I-10 is a parking lot. But I ventured out on foot and have seen several crash scenes where there was no one in the car at all, and no one near them. Driver-less or driver-controlled is not the issue here. Many of these cars simply had no one in them at all when they crashed."
Jill: "I'm not sure I understand what you mean the cars had no one in them. You mean the people were thrown clear?"
Don: "No, no, no...Jill, there was no one anywhere near the accident scenes. Not in them, not around them, not thrown from them. There were no drivers found. Just clothing in the driver's seat, and shoes on the floor. Beyond that I have no explanation. Some had passengers who survived but they report their driver just vanished...they were there in the car one moment, and then gone the next. Drivers disappeared, and then the cars crashed, or at least that is what I have heard from multiple crash sites I have personally seen. Very odd, but I am just reporting what I have heard and seen out here."
At LA Police HQ the Chief and his leadership staff are watching LANX news coverage while trying to figure out what is happening with their officers out on the streets. LA Police Chief Washburn is watching the news while also monitoring incoming reports from his officers. He asks his Watch Captain: "What have we got here? No drivers in the crashed cars? Are you kidding me?" As the Captain shrugs, Desk Sergeant Thornton breaks in: "Sir, it's just as reported. My officers on-scene are reporting no people in or around many of the crashed cars. Or if there are crash survivors, they were passengers, and were not driving at the time of the crash. So sometimes there was a passenger or two who survived, but no drivers were found. Something very strange has happened here, Chief. One of our guys mentioned Revelation."
Chief Washburn: "Revelation? Revelation of what?"
Sgt Thornton: "Not of what. The Bible. The Book of Revelation. Sergeant Fowler used to talk about this at lunch. He said some day people would just disappear. Believers “gone to be with the Lord” he would say. He was supposed to be here at work today but he never showed up. He's a very religious guy, and he is also never late to work."
Chief Washburn: "I don't care what he said, I need facts."
Sgt Thornton: "Well sir, then you tell me. All the officers who I know are Christians are missing. Some were out on patrol when their cruisers crashed, others did not show up for their shift, and some were at their stations and vanished. Reports say there were uniforms in seats of the wrecked police cars. That's what I know."
Chief Washburn: "I'm going out there to see for myself." He exits for his police helicopter which is already running and waiting for him. As they lift off Chief Washburn wonders to himself if his family is safe. How many families are asking that question right now? But he returns his focus to the task at hand. An impossible one, for certain.
Back at the LANX studio, on-air anchor Jill Steiner has been reporting for over an hour now. “We now have reports of multiple airplane crashes around the country coming into the studio, including the one here near LAX"...She pauses to listen to her earpiece...."My Producer says we have someone who will try to explain what is going on. Actually, not live, but an online video. Really? Well, if that's all we have, then OK. We don't have much else, so roll that video now.”
The online video starts playing:
"Sometime in the future people will be searching for answers, trying to figure out why millions of people suddenly vanished. People were there one moment and then just disappeared, while many others did not show up where they were expected to be. Vehicles crashed and no driver was found, and these were not self-driving. Airplanes crashed and the pilot's body was not at the crash site. People just disappeared, mainly in areas where Christianity has been more widely accepted. Many will be asking: "Where did all those people go?" "Why did people just vanish?" "What happened to their bodies?"
I am the author of the book "The Future Times" and other books about the Bible. My books are free, just as salvation is a free gift from God to those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. I am not selling anything -- I am merely providing information from the Bible, where the answers you seek were written over 2000 years ago.
This catastrophic event is called by various names, one is the "Rapture" which means carried away, but "Rapture" is not a Biblical word. More precisely it is called the Resurrection of the Church, with the Church being all believers in Jesus Christ during the current Age of Biblical time. The Bible says believers are not given their eternal bodies immediately after death, but must wait with patience for a resurrection event to occur in the future. For the Church Age all believers in Jesus Christ who are alive when the Resurrection occurs will be given an eternal resurrection body, which is why the bodies disappear on earth as the mortal takes on immortality. At the same time Church Age believers who had died prior to the Resurrection are brought back from Heaven into the atmosphere and also given their eternal bodies. These are immortal bodies far more powerful than the bodies of angels. The Bible reveals this in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 which says:
"The Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. We who are alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever."
And 1 Corinthians 15:50 says:
"...flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”
It is likely only believers will hear that "shout and trumpet" since it is intended to call them home, but possibly it could be heard more widely on the earth.
But why did this happen now? What does this mean? And what comes next? The short answer is: intense judgment is coming, and time is very short.
Let me provide the timeline:
1) This resurrection event ends the Church Age and begins a period called the Great Tribulation (a term from Revelation 7:14), namely a 7 year period of great judgments on the earth which will intensify during that time. It also starts a 7 year clock ticking toward the 2nd Advent of Christ and Armageddon. The Tribulation is divided into two parts, each 3 1/2 years long. The first part will be bad, but not nearly as bad as the last 3 1/2 years, which will be the worst period in all human history.
While that online video is rolling, the news crew talk among themselves:
Jill: “We need someone to interview live."
Producer: "We can't seem to get any church leaders on the phone right now to talk with us. So we need to just keep this You Tube video rolling to give us time to sort things out."
The video continues rolling....
"The resurrection event leaves only unbelievers on the earth. For those of you who are unbelievers when the Rapture occurs, meaning you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have no more than 7 years remaining to live unless you become a believer in Jesus Christ. At the end of the Tribulation all unbelievers will die. Every last one. But most will die before that time due to the magnitude of the coming judgments. But those who become believers in Christ after the Rapture and survive the Tribulation will go into the Millennium, a 1000 year period of perfect environment on this same earth, which will be healed by God after the devastation of the Tribulation. Those surviving believers will live for another 1000 years in a paradise on earth, so if you believe in Jesus Christ as Savior immediately after the Rapture, you might live another 1007 years since there will be almost no death during the Millennium.
But what will happen during the 7 years of the Tribulation? During the first 3 1/2 years there will be increased warfare and economic disaster. Some nations will take advantage of the Rapture to attack other nations due to the chaos. Soon after, the Western nations will consolidate power under a new leader called in the Bible the Antichrist, an evil dictator disguised as a god-like savior of the world. He will deceive the world and ascend as ruler over the western nations, first taking over three of them, then another seven will capitulate to him forming a multi-nation Western alliance. He will display false miracles, and also appear to die, only to live again -- a phony "resurrection." This Antichrist will even be treated as a god, and a statue of him will be put into the new temple in Jerusalem after the first 3 1/2 years have passed.
During the last 3 1/2 years the judgments on the earth will become nearly unbearable. People will die by the billions. Yes, billions. By the end of the Tribulation probably 90% of the population of the earth will be dead from the judgments and warfare. These judgments during the final 3 1/2 years will be brutal. There will be massive earthquakes, huge tsunamis, explosive volcanoes, fireballs from the sky, destruction of the worldwide food chain and water supply, widespread famine and disease, nuclear war, and other disasters, with judgment upon judgment, and the earth will become a stinking mess with very little food or drinking water. These are not metaphors. This will all be very real. Misery and death will be the norm. Israel will be attacked several times. Then after seven years the armies of the world will meet at Armageddon where they will be destroyed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself at His Second Advent as He prepares to take over rulership of the earth, and then He will institute the Millennium.
Those who become new believers will be persecuted during the Tribulation as never before. Many will become martyrs, and this will become the primary reason for the judgments on the earth. Jews will generally lose their blinders about Jesus Christ and will accept Him as their Messiah-Savior in much greater numbers. There will immediately be 144,000 Jews who will see the Rapture for what it is, and will believe in Jesus Christ and then begin to evangelize the world. Believers must resist the Antichrist and his Mark of the Beast system of economic and social control if they want to survive. The faith of believers will be tested to the breaking point. It must be this way. The lost and dying world can only be evangelized by their suffering, but their reward will be great in Heaven. Families will be ripped apart by the evil of the world. But believers must study and follow the Word of God.
There will be some confusion about the Rapture, as many high level clergy in some established denominations will be left behind. These were not true believers, even if they were high-ranking leaders of their church denominations. A believer relies on faith in Jesus Christ to provide salvation through the work of Christ on the cross rather than their own work, while those who try to work their way into heaven actually reject the salvation work of Jesus Christ the only Savior. These so-called pious workers will be left behind since they did not accept salvation as a free gift but rather sought to work for salvation. And others who were considered very sinful people will be taken up to heaven, since they believed in Christ at a young age, but then departed from their faith later. Salvation is a one-time event, and it is permanent.
We do not know what will happen to children who are too young to have made a salvation decision. Will the children of believers who are taken to heaven also be taken? We do not know the answer, so that could go either way.
This has been a brief overview. For more detailed information you can read my book "The Future Times". This is not a commercial...I never sold any of my books, and I certainly do not need anything from you now. But people on the earth need truth from the Bible so that you may believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal salvation, which is available to you right now. The Bible says:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved"
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" and
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
However bad you think the Tribulation might be, it will be much worse. It would be wise to heed the Bible and accept Jesus Christ as Savior. Don't delay. 90% of the people on earth at the time of the Rapture will die in fewer than 7 years. Time is very short, severe judgment is at your doorstep, and then Eternity is forever. Choose wisely."
Camera crew motioning to Jill who is talking to her Producer: "Back live in 3, 2, 1......"
Jill: "That was an online video by a book writer talking about what he called "the Rapture of the Church" also known as the "Resurrection of the Church," and how -- as he says -- it would result in worldwide events like those we have been reporting. As the video said, the events are concentrated in the mostly Christian regions of the world, while other areas were mostly unaffected, or not affected at all. Take that for what it is worth. But still very puzzling. We have heard some reporters calling this a "Vanishment." Whatever you call this, we are obviously overwhelmed here as more and more reports are coming in to us of strange events and chaos in multiple locations around the world. Rapture? Resurrection? Vanishment? We'll be back in just a minute...so stay tuned.”