The Past or The Coming Future Read online

CHAPTER 1

  The day began just like any other day, but this day was going to be a very special day, a day that would be spoken of for hundreds of years to come. The topic I was going to speak about had not been spoken of for almost 300 years. As a matter of fact, it had been forbidden to even mention this topic. On this day, June 23, 2387, all teachers were allowed to teach and answer any questions that might be asked concerning this topic.

  As I started my descent to earth, I knew there would be so many questions it would take more time than I had figured, but what was time? The people on earth had plenty of time. They would have another 600 years to think about what I was going to say.

  I remembered how the world was before the tribulation started. I remembered the day the trumpet sounded and all Christians were caught up in the air to meet the LORD. That was the second greatest day of my life. The greatest was the day I became a Christian. The descent only took seconds, so I didn’t really have a lot of time to think about the past, but that would change today. This day, I would tell about the past.

  It was 7:00 in the morning, earth time, and a very cool day for June, but with the canopy around the world it kept the mornings cool and damp. Even though I could not be seen yet, I could see all of the people on the lawn, and within seconds I would become visible to them. My thoughts raced through my mind while I stood there waiting for the talking to stop and I could begin. No one in the crowd knew we had been given permission by the LORD to talk about the years just prior to the rapture and what had occurred during the tribulation.

  The people who became Christians during the tribulation and made it all the way through the seven years talked about how bad it was during that time. They had children, and their children had children, and so on until now. About 80 years into the millennium, the parents stopped telling the new generations how terrible the tribulation was and how millions of people died for their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Since the parents do not want to tell the new generations about the tribulation, the subject is forbidden to be spoken of until one day in the coming future.” Almost 300 years have passed, and now the LORD said, “It is time to remember what happened in the tribulation and never to forget, unless they let history repeat itself.”

  My group of followers, that make up the township of Clearmount, is small in number compared to other towns the immortals are responsible for; I started with a mere 44 people. The 44 turned into 100, then 200, and now there are so many I can hardly remember all the names. I really do enjoy teaching, no matter how small or how large the group may get. The 44 people who started this small community in 2018 are the largest community within 200 miles.

  When the LORD put the canopy around the world, the way it was before the flood, the population of the world started to sky-rocket. One of the main reasons why the population sky-rocketed was because the harmful sun’s rays that cause cancer could not penetrate the canopy. Everyone who made it through the tribulation is almost 400 years old or older. I can only remember a few deaths since the canopy went around the earth, and that was because of sin. The Bible says people can live to be 1,000 years old in the millennium.

  I decided I would start telling the group about my life, how I was saved, and then tell about the events that led up to the rapture. I also wanted to tell them of Tom and Debbie Hale’s life during the tribulation.

  Tom and Debbie were such great people, I could use no better examples to show the love of Christ. Also, with Tom being 92 years old when the tribulation began and Debbie being 93, it was a miracle they made it through the tribulation without dying. I guess you could say Tom and Debbie were two of the very first believers after the rapture. Their two sons, two daughters, 14 grandchildren, and all their great-grandchildren had already accepted Christ as their Savior prior to the rapture. Tom and Debbie did not believe there was going to be a rapture or a tribulation or a man called the Antichrist.

  Tom’s oldest son, Charlie, had gone to a youth rally at the age of 14 and believed what he heard and became a Christian. Charlie told his brother Sam, who was two years younger than he was. The next day at the next rally, Sam also became a Christian. Charlie, being the oldest, always felt he should be the one to set the example. If he did something he thought was right, he would talk Sam, Connie, and Candy into it also. When he became a Christian, he knew the others would become Christians also, and they did. He told his parents, Tom and Debbie, about Christ and how He died for the sins of the world and how they needed a Savior. Charlie never could talk Tom and Debbie into becoming Christians. Charlie showed them all the predictions of Christ’s first coming--even though it appeared they were not listening --and what the Bible said about his second coming, but Tom and Debbie would not believe, until that one day in February.

  On February 17, 2011 all of those beliefs came to a sudden halt. Tom and Debbie were celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary with all of their family members, when everyone disappeared. There was no one left except them. They knew exactly what had happened because of what Charlie had told them about the rapture. Before the day was over, they were on their knees asking forgiveness and asking Christ to come into their hearts. Tom told Debbie he wished he would have listened to what Charlie was saying, instead of letting it go in one ear and out the other. Before this time, Tom had questioned, “What does a teenage boy know?”

  Tom and Debbie were too busy to listen to things about God and the Bible. They both believed there was a God, but to have a personal relationship with him and to know that he was Jesus Christ, the only Savior for the world, was incomprehensible to them.

  They knew things were going to get worse from this point on. They also knew, from what Charlie had said, that 45 days after the rapture, the tribulation would begin. They had to tell as many people as would listen to them that the day had come that the Bible had predicted. How many people would listen, and how many people would think they were crazy, no one knew. It did not make any difference, they had to tell as many as would listen. If only a handful of people believed, they might tell their friends and just maybe it would start to snowball, and many, many people would accept Christ before it was eternally too late.

  Many preachers taught that if anyone heard the Gospel before the rapture, during the tribulation, they could not and would not accept Christ as their Savior. That was true to a point. Those people who were in church and heard the gospel every Sunday and knew they had to accept, but chose not to, would not accept Christ in the tribulation.

  Tom and Debbie had no idea how many souls would come to Christ because of them. Sometimes it was just a word or just an act of kindness that changed people’s hearts. Some people said they had lost their minds and it was just a matter of time before they would die of old age. I guess those people were really fooled. Tom and Debbie made some decisions that changed people’s lives forever.

  Living in the same house with the Antichrist and almost going completely through the tribulation without him knowing they were Christians was a miracle. The results of food and water Tom gave to people who were starving and dying from thirst could not be measured. He always gave a little tract about Christ and how a person could become a Christian. Most of the people he never saw again. But that little bit of kindness was all it took for people to accept. Tom and Debbie knew if they were caught giving food or water to anyone who had not taken the number, 666, they would be executed immediately. It did not make any difference, they would die for Christ. Many, many times they were so close to being caught they figured it was their time to die. But the Lord had other plans; they would make it through the tribulation and they would bring a multitude to a saving knowledge of Christ. However, I am getting a little ahead of myself.

  I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I will share with everyone. I am not going to leave anything out; I am going to tell the whole story. Even though I am going to start with my life, I am going to focus more on the things that happened before the rapture
and during the 45-day lull period. Then I will tell the people of the things that happened in the tribulation. I want to tell them about the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Also they need to know about the falling away and the setting up of the false religion.

  Now that the talking has died down I can now begin to tell everyone how it was before the rapture. I know as I tell about the past, memories will come back to those who went through the tribulation, and there may be some tears as they think back. If those who took the number of the Antichrist could hear me teaching about the past they would be wishing they had a second chance, but it is not so. They had their chance and they refused to accept Christ. The things I am going to tell should make everyone thank the LORD for what He did over 2,300 years ago on the cross. As I look around, I wonder to myself, how many of these people will be in that number that will reject Christ at the end of the millennium, when the Devil is let loose for a little while?

  THE LIFE OF

  PROFESSOR STEVEN L. WILSON