QUESTION: What happens to those people who do NOT accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour before the rapture occurs?

ANSWER: The Bible tells us that those WHO HAVE HEARD THE GOSPEL and have not "received the love of the truth, that they might be saved" will be sent a "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12). A detailed examination of these verses reveals the following facts:

a. The Anti-Christ is here called (1) the man of sin, (2) the son of perdition, (3) that wicked (one).

b. He will sit in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.

c. He will claim the worship that belongs only to God.

d. His coming will be after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

e. He will be destroyed by the Lord when He judges the world.

f. There is today a Person who restrains (holds back) the full development of evil (iniquity). When this Person is taken out of the way, then the Anti-Christ will be revealed. This Person is referred to in the King James Version as "He who now letteth will let." This Person can be none other than the Holy Spirit who today dwells in God's people, the church (Ephesians 2:22).

g. The Anti-Christ will not be revealed until the church is taken (raptured) to heaven and the Holy Spirit in the church is taken out of the world (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

h. Those who have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved will be sent a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. The lie is that this Anti-Christ is the answer to all the world's problems.

If one today does not receive the love of the truth, they will be deceived by the Anti-Christ during the tribulation period. Instead of having Christ as their Saviour they will have Anti-Christ as a deceiver. Instead of the truth they will have a lie. Instead of salvation they will suffer damnation. The door of mercy, now open so wide, will then be irrevocably closed (Matthew 25:10-13).

On the other hand those living WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL of God's grace when the rapture occurs will then have the opportunity to hear and to believe the "gospel of the kingdom" that will be preached by Jewish witnesses during the tribulation (Matt. 24:14) and receive blessing for earth during the millennial reign of Christ and eternal life in the new earth (Matt. 25:32-40,46).

—[John D. McNeil