Interviewer: At what point will the coming Antichrist’s World Government curtail personal freedoms and demand complete compliance to its rules and dictates, and eventually even worship of the Antichrist?

God: Three and a half years after the signing of the Holy Covenant. The continuing squabbles and even wars between its signatory nations and entities will provide the pretext for the Antichrist, the arbiter, to declare the Covenant void and declare a type of international martial law. At that point, he will proclaim himself free from any constitutional restraints and assume dictatorial power. The Mark of the Beast will be declared mandatory, and anyone not receiving it will be regarded as an outlaw. It is at this point that the period called the Great Tribulation will begin.

Interviewer: Will that be a time of enormous trouble for everyone, or just these “outlaws”?

God: It will be a time of trouble for everyone. The Christians by now would have wised up to what is happening, but many of them will be in quite a state of shock. Many people of other religious persuasions will also be in active opposition to the Antichrist, as will libertarians who don’t want to have anything to do with his system. Whole nations will rebel, and there will be wars between the armies of the world government and these nations. There will also be an increase in natural disasters and plagues, as some of man’s genetic engineering projects go awry and produce mega-insects and other biological freaks. It will be a world in chaos and confusion.

Interviewer: But why let it happen?

God: Man will have achieved his ultimate civilization: a united world government and economy based on his technological wonders. Yet it will lead the world to the brink of ultimate disaster. It is man at his pinnacle, but it will show just what a lousy job he does. It is the ultimate demonstration that, left to his own devices, man will make a terrible mess out of things.

Interviewer: But this isn’t man on his own, right? I mean, we end up with the Devil for our leader. No wonder it is such a disaster.

God: Humanity as a whole chooses the Devil to be its leader.

Interviewer: But won’t humanity be forced into it?

God: Manipulated, but not forced. Each individual will have a choice, and many will choose not to follow him.

Interviewer: Well, there you go. Not everyone goes down the merry path to destruction, so the world is not all bad.

God: I didn’t say the world was all bad. I said that humanity as a whole, when left to its own devices, will make a hash of it. But there are those who will remain in resistance to the Antichrist and his government.

Interviewer: How will they survive if the regime is so totalitarian and the economy so controlled that they can’t buy or sell?

God: In some areas the situation will be looser than others. It is a big world, and the Antichrist and his government will have a hard time controlling it all.

Interviewer: Am I right in supposing that your sympathies are with the rebels?

God: Exactly. I will be helping them and will eventually rescue them.

Interviewer: Why “eventually” and not right away? You mentioned earlier that many Christians don’t expect to be in the middle of all of this. Why leave them in it?

God: For the same reasons there are Christians in the world today. Their purpose is to be an example of their faith, to tell others about Jesus and to bring them into My kingdom. During the Great Tribulation, this will be needed more than ever.

Interviewer: But a lot of them aren’t exactly good examples of their faith now.

God: Unfortunately not, but they really won’t have much choice then. They will have to either stand up for what they believe or become part of the Antichrist’s system. They will soon find out that the Antichrist won’t tolerate them, so they will have to cast their lot in with the rebels.

Interviewer: Okay, we have the Great Tribulation happening. What next? I hope there is a bit of an upswing.

God: The Great Tribulation will last for approximately three and a half years; one thousand two hundred and sixty days, to be precise. Then Jesus will return in the clouds with all the host of Heaven. Everyone will see Him as He circles the globe calling all His people to come to Him. Then will be the great Rapture I spoke of earlier, when all those who have received Jesus into their hearts, dead and alive, will rise to meet Him in the air.

Interviewer: I even have a bit of trouble flying in an airplane, but here you have people flying up to meet Jesus. I hope you do a number on me, otherwise I’m going to have to keep my eyes closed the whole time.

Don’t worry! You’ll find that you will have a new, transformed, superhuman body, similar in style to what you have now, but greatly improved and enhanced and impervious to harm. In these new and eternal bodies, all who believe will rise up into the sky in a mighty wave.

They will then be taken to the centerpiece of Heaven, the Heavenly City, where they will join with all those in Heaven to celebrate this great deliverance and victory in an event known as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It will truly be the most wonderful occasion to date held in Heaven.

Meanwhile on Earth, the troubles will intensify and multiply dramatically. Many people will die and still more will wish to die to get away from the horrible plagues and disasters that will be occurring.

Interviewer: What about those who were in the rebel resistance who were not Christians? It hardly sou nds fair if they get caught up in all this too.

God: I will protect them during this time. It is during this period that the Antichrist will amass his forces to try to annihilate the main force of the remaining rebels. Battle will be joined on the plain of Megiddo in Israel. This is the famous Battle of Armageddon, a battle so fierce and terrible as to dwarf all other battles in its ferocity and carnage. It is in the midst of this battle that the forces of Heaven, under the leadership of Jesus Himself, will intervene and annihilate the Antichrist and his forces. The Antichrist himself will be captured and cast alive into the very depths of Hell. The Devil also will be imprisoned in his own special jail known as the Bottomless Pit.

Interviewer: Gripping stuff! With those two baddies out of the way, I guess we all go back to heaven and live happily ever after.

God: We live happily ever after, but not just confined to Heaven.

Interviewer: How so?

God: It is at this point that Earth is given over to the personal rule of Jesus and those who follow and love Him. For the next thousand years, it will be run the best way. There will be much to do to restore its damaged environment and to try and turn the world back into the Edenic state that it was in the beginning.

Interviewer: I suppose the cities will need a lot of repair as well, after all that they would have gone through.

God: As a matter of fact, I am not so keen on fixing up the cities. At least the major ones. I think the world is better off without them.

Interviewer: Without them? Where will we live? Uh oh! I sense that the answer is obvious. We are not all going back to the farm, are we, for goodness sake?

God: You don’t like the farm?

Interviewer: Farm life is okay once in a while on a weekened maybe, but living there?

God: Don’t get too excited. There will still be urban centers, but they won’t be the huge, overcrowded cities of today. They will be smaller, more intimate, more humane, and I assure you much more pleasant to live in. If farm life really isn’t your cup of tea, there will be lots of alternatives.

Interviewer: And this lasts for a thousand years.

God: That’s right.

Interviewer: So this is the good news you talked about at the beginning?

God: The beginning of it.

Interviewer: There is more?

God: Goodness gracious, yes! A thousand years is a drop in the bucket of eternity. This thousand years of peace and plenty and love and happiness is only the prelude.

Interviewer: I assume things only get better from then on.

God: Yes. There is a minor hiccup at the end of the thousand years, but that is all in the plan.

Interviewer: A hiccup?

God: It’s all under control, so don’t worry.

Interviewer: But a hiccup? Want to elaborate on this? What happens after the thousand years?

God: Let’s just say the best is yet to come.

Continued in “Beyond the Hiccup”

Excerpted from the book God on God, by Scott MacGregor. Copyright © 2001. Published by Aurora Production AG, Switzerland.