October 03, 2024

The Old Testament tells us about two people who were raptured while still alive: Elijah and Enoch. Both were taken to Heaven without passing through death (Gen. 5, 24; Heb. 11, 55; and 2 Kings 2, 11) and both will return during the Great Tribulation to publicly confront the Antichrist.

They will be full of the Holy Spirit, they will preach with the power of God, and men of good will will believe in God because of them; they will perform great prodigies, by virtue of the Spirit, and they will condemn the errors of the Antichrist.

Thus says Saint John: “Then I was given a reed, similar to a measuring rod, and I was told: Arise and measure the Temple of God and of the altar, and those that worship therein. And leave out the atrium outside the Temple and measure it not because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample the holy city for forty two months. I will send my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. If any man hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies. When any man hurt them he must be killed in this manner. They have power to shut heaven, so that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will” (Apoc. 11, 3-14).

Enoch and Elijah will be killed, their bodies will be exposed on the streets of Jerusalem, and after three days they will rise to the amazement of everybody: “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt where also their Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them who lived on the earth”. (Apoc. 11, 8).

The prophet Malachi says: “Lo, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, that great and terrible day” (Mal. 4, 5). And in the Gospel of Matthew, in the account of the transfiguration of Jesus, when Peter, James and John are coming down the mountain, having seen Moses and Elijah with Jesus, the disciples ask the Lord: “Why do the Scribes say that it is necessary that Elijah come first? And Jesus answering said: “Truly I tell you Elijah must come to restore all things” (Mt. 17, 11),but He explained that in a sense Elijah had already come, because John the Baptist had anticipated this prediction by way of his ministry, precisely in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

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José Alberto Villasana Munguía

José Alberto Villasana Munguía is a Writer and analyst of political, economic and religious international affairs.

He studied Theology in the Gregorian University in Rome, Philosophy in the Angelicum University in Rome, Classical Humanities in the Centre for Higher Studies in Salamanca, Spain and International Communications in the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), specialising in Eschatology since 1995.

He is Academic Adviser to the International Institute of Human Rights.

He is a director member of the Journalist’s Club of Mexico.

He is President of the pro life civil association “Life to be Born” (Vida para Nacer).

He has received the National Award for Journalism on three occasions in the categories of in-depth investigation.