THE RAPTURE

I Thessalonians 3:16-17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

The next significant event of the church is the rapture: the catching away of the children of God. The word “rapture” can not be found in the bible. However, this is the meaning believers have given to the event that takes place in the above verses. When Jesus arose from the grave the scriptures states in Ephesians 4:8, He took the souls that were His but were held captive to the heavenly paradise, where they now rest. Their spirit, soul, and body will be reunited on that day and believers will all meet Jesus in the air. All of our bodies, as stated in I Corinthians 15:51-55 will be changed from mortal to immortality; no more sickness, no more death. Praise the Lord Jesus!!!!!

Are you ready and listening for the trump of God?

As in all things religious, there is controversy about when the rapture will take place. The main schools of thought are as follows:

Pretribulation – the belief that the church will be caught up before the tribulation.

Midtribulation – the belief that the church will be caught up in the middle of the tribulation

Posttribulation – the belief that the church will be caught up after the tribulation.

Pretribulationist  believe Revelation 4:1a  that states, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither” is reflective of the church being rapture just before the tribulation commences in chapter 6:1

No matter when the rapture takes place, be ready! On earth, it will be a day of chaos. People will be disappearing right in front of peoples’ eyes, and accidents will be occurring all over the world at the same time. Can you imagine the aftermath? Wall Street will suffer greatly on that day. Creditors, loan companies, and banks will be unable to collect their monies. How will they know who is gone and who has remained? There will be identity theft, and break-ins to empty houses and stores. Families will be unable to collect insurance death benefits because their loved ones are not dead. The church (intercessors) will no longer be here. The wrath of God is getting ready to be poured out on earth. Whenever it takes place, I don’t plan to be here. How about you?