Marvel Premier Issue #1, which debuted in 1972, was the first comic to introduce the concept of the “Infinity Stones” to the world. The first stone to debut was the “soul jewel” (later called the Soul Gem) which was given to a created being named Adam Warlock. In 1976, the Soul Gem was reintroduced again under the Captain Marvel comic lines, as being one of six gems that controlled the universe. Now, prior to 1972, Captain America had fought Red Skull (his archenemy) over a number of fronts, one of which was the “Cosmic Cube” (Tales of Suspense #79- 1966), which was later identified as the Tesseract (which was later identified as a cube that housed the Space Gem). These “Infinity Stones” were the remnants of the first sentient being in the universe, simply known as Nemesis.

At some point in eons past, Nemesis decides he doesn’t want to live alone any longer as the sole sentient being in the universe, so he destroys himself, and his remains became these six stones – Soul, Power, Reality, Space, Time, and Mind Stones. These stones were then scattered across the universe, showing up in the different Marvel Comics and varying storylines until 1991 when they are all brought back together by the evil lord Thanos. His intent, wipe out half of the universe (to save it).

Now, when one is able to collect all the stones and put them together (known simply as the Singularity), the wearer(s) becomes the most powerful being in the universe. The best way to harness this power is by creating a gauntlet (a magical metal glove that can channel the power of the stones to the desires of the wearer). In the comics, Thanos has a gauntlet created and goes on a murderous mission across the galaxy to collect all the stones. Once he has them, he wipes out half of creation by simply snapping his fingers (The Infinity Gauntlet-1991, Infinity-2013, and Avenger’s Infinity War-2018).

In the movie Infinity War (2018), when Thanos snaps his fingers, half of all living creatures disappear in an event they would later call the “Blip.” In part two, Avenger’s End Game (2019), the movie skips ahead five years to the year 2024, only to find the remaining Avengers eking out a living in the post-Apocalyptic world where half of life disappeared. They eventually figure out a way to use the Quantum Realm to travel back in time and prevent Thanos from collecting all the stones in the first place.

Ultimately, the Avengers are able to undo the “Blip” and are able to return the fifty percent of life that had disappeared. However, the return of all those who had disappeared (now five years later) presents its own problems. These issues are explored in the ensuing Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies (Spiderman: Far from Home) and Disney+ television miniseries (Wanda Vision, The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, etc.) Confused yet?

Assessment

Superheroes are the Greek gods of secular modern life – otherworldly figures able to tackle world problems with a single bound. Like the gods of Greek mythology, they can be flawed. In fact, some argue that we need them to be flawed. Part of their appeal is that we can relate to them, despite their being superhuman.” —David Wright, June 7, 2013

This is not the first time I’ve written about Marvel Comics or even superheroes in general. I’ve even addressed these issues in my portion of Terry James’ book Lawless in a chapter titled “The New Old Ways: Ancient Paganism Gets a Technological Facelift.” If we take the ideas in comic books and superheroes at face value, they are simply a new form of modern paganism being introduced as mythological canon.

Granted, I think most reasonable people can take them for what they are; a form of entertainment. Nevertheless, simply looking at the increasing popularity of all these types of movies and shows (Game of Thrones, Superman(s), Batman(s), Wonder Woman(s), Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Marvel Phases 1-4, The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, Supernatural, etc.) and you notice a certain hunger the world has for the otherworldly. The popularity of these and the continued resurgence of them in pop culture (comics, television, movies, and books) speaks to a desire in mankind to break out of our mundane existence and return to a time of mythology, magic, and monsters.

One area comics, television, and movies love to delve into is in the realm of religion and spirituality. But not just any religion (they don’t go anywhere near Hinduism or Islam). There seems to be this innate desire to tap into the Christian ideas on creation and the last days in an attempt to either redefine where we came from or redefine where everything ends up. What was especially of interest to me (in regard to the theatrical versions) was the commonality the “Blip” had with the Biblical concept of the Rapture. Their use of the mass disappearance (i.e., the blip) as a form of punishment seemed ironic since the Biblical version of this similar event is joyous, even referred to as our Blessed Hope (Titus 2:13).

Marvel movies aside, there is the continued theme of mass disappearances in more and more books, television shows, and movies. Where this gets really interesting is the misdirect Hollywood and pop culture is seemingly and willfully taking people. In each fictional book or movie scenario, the disappearance is always viewed as a negative event, and it always leaves a post-apocalyptic world filled with lawlessness, natural disasters, and the general breakdown of humanity in its wake…until a hero rises up.

Now, the Bible does say that when they are saying “peace and safety,” sudden destruction comes upon them (1 Thess. 5:1-4). So, there will be a time of chaos and destruction that happens in the aftermath of the Rapture. There will also be a “hero” who rises up in the midst of that chaos to take control.

And the world will regroup.

It will regroup in the form of ten regions/nations.

These ten will form a government known simply as the Beast.

This Beast will then be led by a man, who comes in like the ‘white knight’ promising peace and prosperity, but in his wake follows war, famine, pestilence, and death.

The fact that we keep seeing these mass-disappearance themes pop up seems (to me at least) like the world is being conditioned to, not necessarily accept mass disappearances as normal, but to make everyone believe the Rapture is not unique. It seems as if Satan is muddying the waters ahead of time so, when the Rapture does occur, there will be so many possible explanations for its occurrence that people will not know what to think.

Sound familiar?

Satan, as it were, has been busy as of late muddying the waters.

Fake news, deep fakes, misinformation campaigns, deep state propaganda, media manipulation of the news, the ever-growing list of classified information, historical revisions, and the non-stop, 24/7 flood of information coming at an increasingly dumbed-down population from every direction has everyone on the verge of madness. Even if the truth does come out, by the time it does, so much else has emerged in the meantime that most people have already moved on.

Now, the appeal to the superhero genre stems, in part, from the gross injustices we see each and every day on the news and in our communities. Every day, we hear or see instances of someone’s home being robbed, cops being shot, cops acting like tyrants, mobs looting, politicians being overtly corrupt, terrorist attacks, and a million other forms of aberrant behavior that just boggles our minds. It is there, somewhere in the deep recesses of our mind, we think, why can’t someone fix this? Why can’t Superman be real and save that family’s car from sinking into the river? Or that town from being destroyed by a tornado. There are literally hundreds of tragedies a day around the world, and if we just had someone who could fix our planet, we could finally have peace and safety. And unlike the movies, in real life, it seems like the bad guys always get away with it.

Not only that, but we have lived in this world where the laws of nature reign triumphant. We age, we get ailments, we get old, fat, and gray, and then we die. Miracles rarely happen, but if they do, it is always explained away by the skeptics as some nonsensical one-off. Science says we come from monkeys and that we are just one giant, cosmic accident. Nihilism, atheism, and human secularism have stripped humanity of its spiritual identity, while paganism and mysticism have rushed in to fill the void with their own fantastical yet vapid doctrines of demons.

Conclusion

The Bible and Biblical Christianity have been relegated to old church hymns and little old ladies in soft tennis shoes. It has been relegated to being irrelevant and outdated; too unfit and uncouth for our new modern age of moral relativism. Christian movies and television are never given the same platforms and budgets as the big box office movies do, and if they are (these are the exceptions), they are generally so grotesquely unbiblical, they do more harm than good (i.e., Noah, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Last Temptation of Christ, Left Behind, etc.). Most Christians these days either have to ignore movies altogether, take their current entertainment with a huge, cowlick-size grain of salt, or stick to “family-friendly” movies. However, the last one is increasingly under assault as “family” is continually being redefined by Hollywood to be anything and everything but the traditional, nuclear family.

What should we expect, though? We are neck-deep in Satan’s territory, and he was never going to give us a fair shake.

But back to my original point. Let’s think about this strategically for a second.

First off, we know that Satan is the de facto ruler of this earth in our present dispensation (Luke 4:5-6). Secondly, we know that Satan has successfully infiltrated and taken over Hollywood and basically the entire film and entertainment industries. We can think of the mainstream media, the film and entertainment industry, Silicon Valley, and most other places of power as Satan’s mouthpieces. They do what he wants them to do, and they echo what he wants them to echo.

Therefore, the fact that we are seeing an increasing number of movies, television shows, video games, comics, and books all in recent years aimed at mass abductions, mass disappearances, die-offs, plagues, aliens, zombies, meteors/comets striking the earth, superheroes, monsters, and magic occurring on an increasingly greater and greater scale, must mean we are close. We are close since these movies relegate our day to the end of the age yet deny the true, biblical reasons for how and why the world really ends (the Rapture of the Church, the Tribulation, Armageddon, etc.).

It would behoove us to watch what our adversary is doing and take note of his frantic maneuverings. As evil and deluded as Satan might be, he is no dummy. I’d venture to say he knows the Bible better than most, and you’d better believe, he knows there is a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Why else would Satan expend the enormous amount of capital (time, people, money, and resources) to message this as greatly as he has if we were nowhere near the season of the actual Rapture?

Like sharks circling, the increase in the frenzied satanic activity is/should be a warning sign to us that our time on this earth is drawing near. Satan knows his time is short, and he is pulling out all the stops to minimize the damage to the final beast system by the Rapture. He is busily steamrolling globalism into every corner of our world. He is maximizing his efforts to minimize and corrupt Christianity or persecute it mercilessly if the first two avenues don’t work. He has put immorality, debauchery, and wholesale wickedness on steroids and now has most of the governments of the world doing his bidding in political and legislative efforts. Lastly, he is saturating our entertainment with things that appear to be like the Rapture but are caused by other things so as to muddy the waters before the real event happens.

In my estimation, there will be a small window of time after the Rapture (a gap in time of a few months to perhaps 2-3 years), but it will be filled with geopolitical, economic, and social tumult and chaos. It will make what we saw in the summer of 2020 look tame in comparison. The world will immediately reel to and fro as if teetering on the edge of an abyss. Yet, I believe many will see and recognize what just happened. Many will go online and search these things out until the Internet is shut down. This gap will not be a picnic, and no one reading this now should think perhaps I’ll wait until after so I can really believe it.

Be warned. One second after the Rapture of the Church, the world will once again be thrust into a time of magic and monsters as the gates of hell finally burst open unimpeded. The supernatural will once again become the natural, and the wickedness will be amplified so much so that people will wish they had to deal with zombie hordes instead of what they get.

But one second after will be too late for many. Those who recognize it for what it truly was will weep and mourn the opportunities they squandered in our present age. For now, if they want to receive Christ, it will cost them everything. Not just in Iran or North Korea but in Kansas, Texas, and Florida. In England and Australia. In Europe and Asia. In Africa and the island nations. True biblical Christianity will no longer be tolerated, and this Beast will usher in a new holocaust with extreme prejudice to stamp out these Tribulation believers wherever he/they find them. Pray you are found worthy to escape these things ahead of time (Luke 21:34-36).

“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

‘If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.’ Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints” (Revelation 13:5-10).