If Hollywood is any measure, people are fascinated with the topic of the apocalypse. On both the big and small screen, a dystopian future peaks our curiosity.

The apocalypse is something we, as Christians, have a great deal of information about. In fact, I’d say we’re the experts:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book of the Bible, describes the future of earth in great detail. The word “revelation” in that title is apocalypse. The word apocalypse has been hijacked by the world to mean catastrophe. In fact, apocalypse means a revealing, or an unveiling. It is the unveiling of Jesus Christ as He prepares the earth for His Second Coming.

Including the Revelation, the Bible is 30% prophecy. Some 2000 have already been fulfilled, with about 500 prophecies remaining to be fulfilled. The remaining prophecies tell us exactly what the future holds. We can expect things in the world to be trending towards the fulfillment of prophecy.

That’s why just about every Sunday for the past ten years we have set aside five-minutes to present what we call a ‘prophecy update.’

We expect a world leader to emerge who will have the power to demand absolute loyalty, even worship, from his citizens.

We arrive at that from the apostle John predicting that in the middle of the seven year Great Tribulation, the antichrist will demand allegiance amounting to worship. Any person refusing to swear allegiance will no longer be able to buy or sell anything.

In light of that, I found the following article to be both exciting and terrifying. It was posted by BBC News and titled, China ‘social credit’: Beijing sets up huge system.

Excerpts:

In most countries, the existence of a credit system isn’t controversial. Past financial information is used to predict whether individuals will pay their mortgages or credit card bill in the future.

But China is taking the whole concept a few steps further. The Chinese government is building an omnipotent “social credit” system that is meant to rate each citizen’s trustworthiness.

By 2020, everyone in China will be enrolled in a vast national database that compiles fiscal and government information, including minor traffic violations, and distills it into a single number ranking each citizen.

A national database will merge a wide variety of information on every citizen, assessing whether taxes and traffic tickets have been paid, whether academic degrees have been rightly earned and even, it seems, whether females have been instructed to take birth control.

A lengthy planning document from China’s elite State Council explains that social credit will “forge a public opinion environment that trust-keeping is glorious,” warning that the “new system will reward those who report acts of breach of trust.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34592186

China’s current president is Xi Jinping. Another article stated, “Perhaps the grand Beijing Exhibition Center should be renamed the grand Xi Jinping Adoration Palace. That’s because the giant complex has been transformed into a showcase promoting the accomplishments of China’s president.”

Another article stated, “while he is still in power, Xi has ensured that anyone who opposes him will henceforth be deemed an enemy of the party.”

Then there was this report:

There are several recipes for going from ambitious player to dictator. Here’s one: First, become president for life, even if you don’t officially carry the title. Then, be known as a god.

Every Chinese emperor since the third century BC has been known as a “son of heaven,” but none have claimed the mantle of bodhisattva. Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, is a trailblazer in many ways. He could be the first Chinese leader to be declared a Buddhist deity – at least, that’s the story being told by one party boss.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-xi-jinping-became-a-god-at-least-to-goatherders

In the news, right now, today, we have a powerful dictatorial strongman receiving near adoration, who is implementing a system by which he can effectively demand and enforce loyalty bordering on worship.

It’s exactly what you’d expect from reading the Bible.

We are not looking for any particular sign, or prophecy to be fulfilled. Jesus promised He’d return to rapture His church – which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent event.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!