It's The End Of The World (As Tapper Knows It)

One day Empath was sitting with Tapper at the counter of the tavern reading his holy book together. There was something in it that was on Empath's mind to ask his friend about.

"What exactly is the point of the book of Revelation?" Empath asked.

"That, my friend, is the closing chapter of the Almighty's story about Himself and His relationship with mankind," Tapper answered. "It is the revelation of Jesus Christ as He truly is, as both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. And more importantly, it is about the end of this world and the beginning of a new creation."

"It seems like a very frightening, graphic, and yet somewhat cryptic story of the events leading to that particular conclusion, Tapper," Empath said. "How is it that you can stand reading this material without making your skin crawl?"

"I hardly read anything from this book without help from the Holy Spirit," Tapper said. "What you smurfed about the book is very true, and it's something that I wouldn't wish my fellow Smurfs to suffer through, including you of all Smurfs. But you shouldn't feel frightened by the Almighty warning you of the things to smurf in the days leading to His Son's return. His warnings are mostly for our sakes because He doesn't want to see anyone perish and suffer forever in Hades paying for their sins."

"And you truly believe that the Almighty's Son will return at any time?" Empath asked.

"That's correct, Empath," Tapper said. "It's why I always prepare myself for that day because nobody knows when that might happen except for the Almighty Himself. Anyone else claiming to know exactly when is just asking for trouble and trying to proclaim themselves as being God. And Jesus Himself warns us not to follow after those people, because false prophets and false messiahs will rise and smurf great wonders that can deceive the very elect, if possible."

"We may not know when He may appear, Tapper, but judging from what your book says, it does tell us where He's going to appear, which is near Jerusalem, in the land of Israel," Empath said. "This smurf wonders why this is so important."

"Jerusalem is where the Almighty through His Son plans to rule the world from when He sets up His kingdom here on earth, my good Empath," Tapper said. "The devil doesn't want that to happen because he knows where he's headed for, which is the Lake of Fire. That is why he will deceive so many people into believing that he is God and that he will smurf all the people of the world together in one place in the hope of defeating the Almighty...which as you know is impossible, because if death and Hades couldn't conquer Him, what hope does the world have in smurfing so?"

"This smurf figures that they would try their best, even if in the end their attempts turn out to be futile," Empath said. "So how does this whole mess even start out, with the Lamb opening the seven seals and all?"

"It smurfs off with an event that Jokey might say is the Almighty smurfing His Son to smurf His sheep together and smurf the flock out of here," Tapper said with a slight laugh. "The joke is actually mine, but the truth behind it is that it's called the Rapture, which is when the Lord appears in the clouds to receive His own unto Himself, with the dead raised up first and the living smurfed up together with them, and they shall always smurf with Him forever."

"You mean the Almighty's Son appears, and you just vanish?" Empath asked.

"The Word says that it will happen in 'the twinkling of an eye', which means it's so fast that the believers just vanish in the smurf of the unbelieving," Tapper said.

"But why does He just come for the believers before He comes again for this 'battle of Armageddon'? This smurf is not certain about understanding that part," Empath asked.

"It's part of the Almighty's promise to the believers, that as long as they keep the Word of His patience, He will also keep them from 'the hour of trial' that will smurf upon the earth to test those who smurf upon it," Tapper said. "That 'hour of trial' is what would be smurfed as the Great Tribulation, a time of unsmurfy suffering that the Almighty's Son says if those days weren't shortened, no flesh would ever survive it. Just think of what would happen if the Almighty didn't smurf up a time limit for all that suffering."

Empath pondered what was being said. "That would truly be the end of the world as anybody knew it."

"Indeed it would, Empath," Tapper said. "What's terrible about those days is not just all the suffering that will smurf from the judgments in the book of Revelation, especially upon those who don't believe, but the suffering that the Almighty's people, both the Christians and the Jews, will smurf through at the hands of those who believe that this Beast Of The Earth...the one who is smurfed the Antichrist...is truly God in the flesh."

"But in truth, he is really being used by Lucifer, who is his true father, if this smurf understands it correctly," Empath said.

"The holy book says his smurfing will be displayed with all kinds of power, signs, and lying wonders, and with every smurf of evil that deceives those who are perishing, who didn't receive a love of the truth so that they might be saved, Empath," Tapper said. "And so the Almighty will smurf a strong delusion so that they may believe a lie, that they all may be judged, who didn't love the truth but smurfed pleasure in unrighteousness."

"He would be that powerful to deceive the whole world into believing he is the Almighty?" Empath said. "That is a really scary thought."

"The devil's goal is to smurf the throne of God and be like the Most High, and what smurfs in the way is Jews, Christians, and the land of Israel," Tapper said. "This Antichrist is his tool for that purpose. He will smurf just like the Almighty's Son, even to the point where he may die and miraculously smurf back to life. He will smurf up a false prophet who will smurf all kinds of signs that will deceive men, even smurf fire from the sky. This false prophet will have a statue of this evil man smurfed up so that it will speak and cause many who will not worship it to be killed, and he will make men smurf a mark upon their right hand or their forehead, a mark which will smurf their doom forever with the Almighty's judgments."

"This whole thing is just incredible, Tapper...it sounds like something that Reporter would make up for his news stories just so his fellow Smurfs could read the newspaper," Empath said.

"It is the truth that smurfs from the Almighty, Empath, and unfortunately not many people will believe it," Tapper said. "I only pray that the eyes of the people of the world, including our fellow Smurfs, will be awakened to know what's smurfing in the days to come."