(1998)

Submitted by Steve

The first of a four-film series about the Christian End-times.

POOPER:
President Macalusso is the Anti-Christ.  Both Helen and Bronson become believers/”haters” and are arrested by the O.N.E.  Bronson is killed for his beliefs, while Helen’s fate is unknown.

LONG VERSION:
Helen Hannah (Leigh Lewis) is a news anchor for WNN, a TV news network much like CNN.  Her co-host/boyfriend Bronson Pearl (Richard Nester) is in the Meggido Valley in Israel, more commonly known as Armageddon, covering the war in the Middle East.  With several nations, including the USA, Russia, and China all involved in the conflict, it appears that World War III is inevitable.  However, European Union President Franco Macalusso (Sam Bornstein) is the only world leader still actively pursuing peace, and even promises a miracle will occur that will end the fighting.  With reports that nuclear missiles have been launched and worldwide destruction just minutes away, millions of people from around the world suddenly disappear, leaving a pile of folded clothes in their place.  The resulting chaos from the mass disappearances has brought the fighting to a halt.  The disappearances aren’t from missile strikes because they have also disappeared.

The next day, President Macalusso speaks from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and shocks the world with his announcement:  he is the Messiah!  His intervention prevented world destruction, but he had to remove some people because they were inherently evil.   Meanwhile, Len Parker (David Roddis), working on behalf of President Macalusso, kills the head of WNN, a recent Christian convert who quickly figured out who Macalusso really is, and takes over the network.  He intends on making WNN the mouthpiece of the Messiah, and will discredit anyone who disagrees with the President.  While that is happening, Helen goes to visit her grandmother, and sees that she disappeared as well.  Helen’s grandmother was a Christian and was constantly telling Helen that the end-times were coming, and she needed to be a believer or would be left behind.  While watching Christian television and reading a Bible at her grandmother’s house, Helen notices that what the Bible says and what is happening in real life is lining up exactly.  The disappearances was a result of the Rapture, and those who were taken up are believers in God, not inherently evil people.  The recent miracles associated with the Messiah are actually being done by the Anti-Christ.  Realizing that her grandmother was correct, Helen prays to God and becomes a Christian.

Helen then tells Bronson, now back from Israel, that she knows the truth about Macalusso and tries to convince him the same way she was convinced.  However, Bronson doesn’t believe that Macalusso is a devil and won’t listen to her.  Meanwhile, Parker sees that his co-anchors could be a problem and has them followed at all times.  Helen quickly realizes she is being followed and goes into hiding, but is later captured by Parker’s thugs.  Around the world, people are coming to believe that God Himself prevented world destruction, and that President Macalusso is the Messiah.  In a speech broadcast around the world, Macalusso says that Jesus Christ was a false Messiah, and everyone and everything associated with Christianity is responsible for the world’s problems.  In order to have world peace, Christianity must be eliminated.  Now referred to as “haters”, Christians from around the world are arrested or killed in the name of the Messiah.

Despite what he said to Helen, Bronson starts to investigate whether or not the Bible is correct.  He is starting to believe that she might be right, and his investigation culminates with him digging up his father’s grave.  He opens the grave, and finds it empty except for folded funeral clothes and his father’s Bible.  Bronson is now convinced that Helen is right and he now prays to God and becomes a Christian.  Meanwhile, President Macalusso has formed a new security force called One Nation Earth, or O.N.E., and they are responsible for rounding up Christians and placing them in holding facilities, then later executed.  While broadcasting about the round-up, Bronson tries to tell the world that they are wrong about Macalusso.  He is not the Messiah but the Anti-Christ, and Jesus is the true Messiah.  Parker has the feed cut off and orders O.N.E. to take Bronson into custody.

Bronson is reunited with Helen in a holding facility near the WNN studio, where he tells her that he is now a believer.  He will do or say whatever it takes to get the world to understand what will happen if they follow Macalusso.  However, Parker decides to show the world what will happen if they don’t follow the Messiah by ordering Bronson to be executed live on WNN.  But just as he is hung, a WNN employee who is also a newly converted Christian sneaks into the station’s network operations center and replays Bronson’s news report.  He then plays other Christian messages to the entire world.  The movie ends with most of the viewers screaming at their televisions, but some of them are convinced that the Christians are right and begin praying to God.