Many are taught to believe that The Great Tribulation spoken about in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 is to occur sometime in the near future, but as you may have guessed by the title of this article, it actually has already occurred. Historically this time period is known as the Dark Ages, a time when the Christian church was brutally persecuted and tormented by the Roman Catholic Vatican during their prophesied 1,260-year reign spoken about in Daniel and Revelation. Some sources say that upwards of 500,000,000 million Christians were killed for their faith.

Just as Satan would have it, through the influence of the Roman Vatican (home of antichrist) beast system, a lot of important historic information was intentionally hidden from the public and taken from the many modern textbooks today, in hopes of keeping as many as possible from learning the significance of what really happened, prophetically, during this time in history.

Even Pope John Paul 2 himself on March 12th, 2000, during the “Mea Culpa” openly confirmed this prophetic time period when he apologized for the many Christians that the Catholic church was responsible for torturing and killing during that time. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/12/weekinreview/ideas-trends-mea-culpa-the-pope-apologizes-for-his-church.html & https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-offers-historic-mea-culpa/

Yet, no matter how hard Satan may try to keep the truth hidden, there are still plenty of unedited history books, resources, and personal testimonies that document this time in history and confirm what God penned in His 66 books of the Bible many years ago.

Biblical and historical proof that The Great Tribulation already occurred:

1 – Before this tribulation was to occur, Jesus warned His people of the destruction that was to come upon Jerusalem and gave them a sign to look for, so they could have adequate time to flee:

Matthew 24:15-16, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:”

As mentioned above, this was also spoken of by the prophet Daniel, centuries before. Daniel 9:26, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah (Jesus) be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince (From H5046; a commander) that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; (Jerusalem and the temple/sanctuary) and the end thereof shall be with a flood (destruction, devastation – Isaiah 59:19), and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

It was prophesied that after the Messiah (Jesus) was to “be cut off, but not for Himself..” which spoke of the brutal suffering and death that Jesus, the Messiah, did endure on the cross of Calvary; not for any sin which He had committed, but for the sins of the world. 1 John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Verse 26 continues, and Daniel was then further shown the future destruction of Jerusalem and the sanctuary as was spoken about in Matthew 24.

So, did this occur?

Historic fact is…

“In A.D.66 when Cestius came against the city, but unaccountably withdrew, the Christians discerned in this the sign foretold by Christ, and fled while 1,100,000 Jews are said to have been killed in the terrible siege in A.D. 70.” (The attack of the Roman warrior Titus occurred in 70AD killing the 1,100,000 Jews) Eusebius, Church History, book 3, chap. 5

In 70AD, under the direction of Titus, the “prince”, or commander, of the Roman army seized and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple.

God’s faithful children discerned the sign in 66 AD that God gave and fled to safety, while the unbelieving Jews, were caught off guard and didn’t discern the sign. The hardness of their hearts in previously rejecting and crucifying the Messiah and losing their “status” as God’s chosen people, allowed Titus and his army to come like a thief in the night to them and over 1 million Jews were killed and the temple was destroyed.

Luke 21:5-6, “And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he (Jesus) said, (6) As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

2 – The sun would be darkened after the great tribulation of those days:

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”

Joel 2:31, “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:” (Joel 2:10) & “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.”

So, did the sun indeed darken?

“The Dark Day, as it’s become known, took place on May 19, 1780 in New England and parts of eastern Canada. For the past 232 years historians and scientists have argued over the origins of this strange event.” (https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18097177)

This event seemed rather puzzling to the people of the world, but to the studious Christian this was no “strange event” but rather a beautiful fulfillment of Christ’s words.

More documented accounts:

Timothy Dwight, president of Yale, remembered that “a very general opinion prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand. The [Connecticut] House of Representatives, being unable to transact business, adjourned,” but the Council lighted candles, preferring, as a member said, “to be found at work if the judgment were approaching.” (See JOHN W. BARBER, Connecticut Historical Collections [2d ed., 1836], p.403)

… If every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable shades, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes was equally invisible with the blackest velvet.” -SAMUEL TENNEY, Letter (1785) in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, part 1, vol.1 (1792 ed.), pp.97,98

The remarkable Dark Day of May 19, 1780, is described by Samuel Williams of Harvard, The professor relates… “between the hours of ten and eleven a.m., and continued until the middle of the next night,… Candles were lighted up in houses; … the birds having sung their evening songs, disappeared, and became silent;… the fowls retired to roost; … the cocks were crowing all around, as at the break of day; … objects could not be distinguished but at a very little distance; and everything bore the appearance and gloom of night.” –Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences [through 1783], vol.1 pp. 234,235.)

https://historicipswich.org/2020/05/15/the-dark-day-1780/

 

3- The moon shall not give her light, because it will be turned into the appearance of blood after the great tribulation:

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”

Joel 2:31, “The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:” (Joel 2:10) & “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.”

This event also occurred on May 19th, 1780.

The moon was at its full, and had the appearance of blood. Stone’s History of Massachusetts – “There was an appearance of midnight at noonday,” and in the evening, although the moon was just past full, “perhaps it was never darker since the children of Israel left the house of bondage.” In connection with this extraordinary phenomenon the moon was reported to appear red. (Letter signed “Viator” in the Independent Chronical [Boston], May 25, 1780, p.2; see also the Pennsylvania Evening Post [Philadelphia], June 6, 1780, p. 62)

Check this out!! “By the way, not only was the moon full that day, it was on the inner side of the planet’s orbit. This means those cunning skeptics out there can’t claim a lunar eclipse as the culprit for this prophetic event. Most everyone I know either owns, or knows someone that owns a computer, or has access to the Internet. I suggest you check the lunar charts for the date May 19 1780 to verify this event. You are bound to have no trouble confirming this fact. PLUS… An eclipse can never last all day and all night. Unless of course the sun stopped dead in its tracks for 24 hours. (This can, and has happened by the way… See Joshua 10:12-14)

Is this not awesome? The prophecy states that the moon will not give her light. Then the prophet Joel confirms it is an authentic prophetic event by telling us it’s because it appears as blood. Then many hundreds of years later after Christ declares this prophetic event for us in Matthew 24, we see it recorded as fact in the newspapers and media of the day that the moon had in fact the appearance of blood on a dark and sunless day!” (Copied from RemnantofGod.org by permission)

4 – The stars shall fall from Heaven after the great tribulation:

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”

This event occurred on November 13th, 1833.

Documented historical accounts:

Frederick Douglas, in reminiscing about his early days of slavery, says: “I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awe-struck. The air seemed filled with bright messengers from the sky… I was not without the suggestion at the moment that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of Man; and in my then state of mind I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that “the stars shall fall from heaven, and they were now falling.” -Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1941 ed.), p.117

An eyewitness reported “This language of the prophet has always been received as metaphorical. Yesterday it was literally fulfilled,… as no man before yesterday had conceived to be possible that it should be fulfilled… Were I to hunt through nature for a simile, I could not find one so apt to illustrate the appearance of the heavens as that which St. John uses in the prophecy… They were what the world understands by the name of “Falling Stars” -Eyewitness account in the New York Journal of Commerce, vol.8, no.534, Saturday, Nov 16,1833 Edition.

“The morning of November 13th, 1833,” says an eyewitness, a Yale astronomer, “was rendered memorable by an exhibition of the phenomenon called shooting stars, which was probably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one hitherto recorded… Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class.” -DENISON OLMSTED in The American Journal of Science and Arts, vol. 25 (1834), pp. 363, 364

“From the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax, until daylight with some difficulty put an end to the display, the sky was scored in every direction with shining tracks and illuminated with majestic fireballs. At Boston, the frequency of meteors was estimated to be about half that of flakes of snow in an average snowstorm… Traced backwards, their paths were invariably found to converge to a point in the constellation Leo.” -AGNES M. CLEREKE, A Popular History of Astronomy (1885 ed.), pp. 369, 370.

 

5 – There was a great earthquake that was to occur before the three previous events were to take place:

We get further confirmation of the previous events mentioned above, when looking into this next point.

Revelation 6:12-13, “And I beheld when he 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; (13) 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.”

NOTE: This also is another confirmation of how close we truly are to the end. As it was within the opening of the sixth seal, these events were prophesied to occur. *

So, was there a great earthquake that occurred before the three previous events ?

YES!! Praise the Lord, there certainly was, just as was divinely penned. What an AMAZING GOD we have!!

On November 1st, 1755, the Lisbon Earthquake occurred.

“Lisbon earthquake of 1755, series of earthquakes that occurred on the morning of Nov. 1, 1755, causing serious damage to the port city of Lisbon, Port., and killing an estimated 60,000 people in Lisbon alone.” https://www.britannica.com/event/Lisbon-earthquake-of-1755

“The Lisbon Earthquake, which occurred on November 1, 1755, is the most notable earthquake in history.” –Nelson’s New Loose-leaf Encyclopedia (Book Productions Industries Inc.), art. “Earthquake.”

Says Sir Charles Lyell, “A violent shock threw down the greater part of the city. In the course of about six minutes, 60,000 persons perished. The sea first retired and laid the bar dry; it then rolled in, rising 50 feet or more above its ordinary level… The area over which this convulsion extended is very remarkable.” -Principles of Geology (11th ed., 1872), vol. 2, pp. 147, 148.

NOTE: “This doubtless refers to the great earthquake of November 1, 1755, commonly known as the Lisbon earthquake, the effects of which were felt over an area of 4,000,000 square miles. Lisbon, Portugal, a city containing 150,000 inhabitants, was almost entirely destroyed. The shock of the earthquake, says Mr. Sears, in his of the World,” page 200, “was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large public buildings, and one-fourth of the houses. In about two hours afterward, fires broke out in different quarters, and raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened on a holy day, when the churches and convents were full of people, very few of whom escaped. . . . The terror of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept: it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying, ‘Misericordia! the world’s at an end!’. Mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin. . . . Ninety thousand persons are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day.” –brief bible readings for the Home (http://www.preparingforeternity.com/br1914/brhc63.htm) (This NOTE was copied from RemnantofGod.org by permission)

We are very near the end! Jesus is soon to return! We also get additional information that the events we discussed above during The great tribulation are the same events that help us to know we and this world are currently in the sixth seal of Revelation 6!

Revelation 6:12-17 KJV, “And I beheld when he 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; (13) 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. (Just as spoken about in Matthew 24! Praise the Lord!) (14) And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (15) 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; (16) 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: (17) For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Jesus’ return and second advent is the next event spoken about to finish the sixth seal!!

I pray you were blessed by what you read today! For more information, please visit RemnantofGod.org. 🙂