It has been widely reported in national news media that the world’s elites—the wealthiest of the wealthy and the most dominant of the dominators—are investing vast sums in modern-day bomb shelters for themselves and their loved ones.  These hardened shelters are said to be fortified against most any danger, from riot to invasion and are built to withstand any threat short of a direct hit by a thermonuclear missile.

Most of these strongholds are at least partially buried and the best are completely subterranean, covered not only with earthworks, but layers of steel and reinforced concrete.  Ironically, the concept is not unlike the much smaller vaults the rich and powerful already use to protect their money and other valuables.  Safe deposit boxes are simply going family-sized.

For those of you yawning, “So what?  Who cares what the high and mighty blow their money on?” here’s a little tip, free of charge: generally speaking, it is not a good sign when the ruling class heads for the hills and starts pouring fortunes into a refuge for itself in which to hide out and ride out some enormous coming storm.  It is a storm which they obviously fear but have somehow neglected to mention to you.  What do they know that you don’t know?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you may also wish to consider that these very people are the movers and shakers of this world.  It is their worldview, their policies and their ideas which get pushed, and it is their decisions and their orders that get implemented.  When they bolt for the door and run screaming for the redoubt, it’s a sure sign that they have no answers to the problems they promised to solve and have themselves created new problems for which they have no solutions to offer.

This writer has no intent to be cruel, but if you think for one moment that the masters of disaster will let you into their retreat when you finally figure it out and come banging on the blast doors, you had better lie down, because you my friend, are dreaming.

Unfortunately for the upper crust, so are they.  Although they may have identified and assessed many possible threats and factored them into the design and construction of their castle keeps, there is one scenario which is sure to materialize.  Yet that one guarantee they have chosen to ignore, preferring to remain in deep denial.  They are hoping that if they do, the inevitable will be prevented.  It will not.  No amount of self-delusion or more kindly, magical thinking will change that.  On the contrary, God’s word foretells just the opposite: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (I Thessalonians 5:3).

The inescapable here referred to, is the judgment and wrath of Almighty God.  It is His judgment of a Christ-rejecting world that results in “sudden destruction.”  Although God has warned the rebellious about this judgment countless times over thousands of years, when the axe finally falls, it will seem sudden to those who had discounted its reality.  Because of their disbelief, it will take them by surprise.  Like multitudes of sinners before them, they will mistake God’s patient waiting for repentance as evidence of His non-existence, impotence, or indifference. 

What will this sudden destruction look like?   Here is a vivid description of but one of many judgments to be meted out as Jesus Christ breaks seven seals on the scroll containing God’s plan for last days.  As each seal is broken, more of the plan is revealed and activated.  

“And I [the Apostle John] beheld when he [Jesus] had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” __Revelation 6:12-17 (emphasis added)

Yes, you read it right.  The elites that today are busily planning their escape routes and frantically “prepping”—building and stocking their doomsday fortresses—will belatedly discover that the one eventuality that they refused to take seriously is the one that will penetrate all their careful and costly defenses. They will realize too late that no bulwark against God’s wrath will endure for a moment.  In their desperation, they will cry out to be crushed by landslides, in the forlorn hope that this will somehow conceal and shield them from being confronted by God.

Notice that consciously or unconsciously, the godless had been expecting a day of reckoning, despite their insistence that it would never happen.  In exclaiming, “the great day of his wrath is come,” they make at least three damning admissions: 1) awareness that this day was coming, 2) recognition that the only possible verdict for persistence in stubborn opposition to Christ is “wrath” and 3) knowledge of the source of the disasters overtaking them: “him that sitteth on the throne [God the Father], and…the Lamb [Jesus].”  

Note too, that they understand that facing God’s displeasure is truly a fate worse than death, for as the scriptures say, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  The question, “and who shall be able to stand?” is rhetorical and in context, carries a negative connotation.  Who shall be able to stand on his or her record and be acquitted in God’s court?  No one.   

How about you?  Do you want to try your luck with a Judge who has the power to compel you to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  Are you planning on acting as your own defense attorney, facing a Judge who knows your every thought, word and deed and has been an eyewitness to every moment of your life?  Are you not only confident but absolutely certain you can prove that you have always kept the letter of the law to perfection?  Before you answer, remember that the Judge will also consider sins of omission—any failure to think, say or do what you should have.  Still feeling sure of a favorable verdict?  Don’t forget the final legal challenge—motive.

“…for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (I Samuel 16:7b).  There is such a thing as the Spirit of the law, that is, the royal law of love—love for God and love for others—which is the only legitimate and satisfactory basis for acceptable conduct.  Have you unfailingly kept this law, too?

We both know the answer to these questions.  Don’t feel ashamed.  The answers for me are the same as for you and the same as they are for every human being (but Jesus) who has ever lived or will ever live.  God has answered them: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

If you have repented of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, you have a Mediator between you and God (Jesus).  You have an Advocate with the Father (Jesus Christ the Righteous).  You have a great High Priest who can save to the uttermost because He lives forever to intercede for us.  You have Christ’s own emphatic assurance: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).  Praise God!  Hallelujah! 

If you do not have Jesus, you have none of these things (and no hope, either).  Ready or not, Jesus is returning.  Judgment is coming.  The world is 100% flat guaranteed to end in your lifetime (for you, that is).  There is no time like the present to get prepared, for “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). Here’s how:

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)