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| Date of the Rapture? |
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| Question: When do you think the Rapture will take place?
Answer: No one has the answer of when the Lord shall return...NO ONE knows. We, as His Bride, must be ready to meet Him. 1Thess 5:1-6,9 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober...For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Certainly, Jesus’ return is nearer now than ever before. The Lord said in Matthew 24:37 concerning the End Times: "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” and in Luke 17:28-30: "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. We are quickly approaching that period of time. In the Tribulation Period, the transgressors will come to the full. The Lord could come this evening or He might not come back for another 20 years. We, as His Saints, are not supposed to be lazy, sitting around, until He takes us home but instead are to be fervent in reaching the world for Christ. We are to be resting in the Lord, allowing Him to work His work in and through us. We are to be watchful, looking for His appearing and "occupying" till He come. The Lord’s return should be on our minds but as we expect the day of His return to take us home in the Rapture, let us allow Him to work through us in reaching souls for the Kingdom. As these evil days draw ever closer, let us be mindful that we can do nothing apart from Christ Jesus. He must allow Him to work in our lives through the Holy Spirit. There is so much “Rapture” and “Left Behind” preaching today but very little “Gospel” preaching among those who should know better. If one is preaching on the Rapture, he should tie it in with the Gospel message. Time is ticking and souls are dying and preachers must focus their message upon winning souls with the saving Gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bible gives us the signs of the times just before the Rapture: 2Peter 3:3-4 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, [mockers] walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 2Timothy 3:1-7 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, [the worldly motto: "love yourself...if it feels good, do it"] covetous [lust for possessions] , boasters, proud, blasphemers, [the worldly man boasts that he does not need God... man has become his "own god"] disobedient to parents [one can easily see this is becoming a characteristic of our times], unthankful [always wanting more...not appreciative of what they have], unholy [wicked], Without natural affection [heartless and uncaring], trucebreakers [breaking agreements, in opposition of one another], false accusers [breaking the ninth commandment-- Thou shalt not bear false witness], incontinent [without self control], fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; [pleasure seekers--following after their own lusts] Having a form of godliness [appearing to be religious, pious], but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. James 5:1-8 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Certainly, never before have these verses been so near to their fulfillment. We cannot set dates for the Rapture. Hal Lindsey and others set the Rapture date for 1988. And of course, 1988 came and went and many were devastated. I remember telling a friend of mine, [who was into the "88 Reasons Why" book] "Because he predicts the date, it is the one time Jesus will NOT come back... because no man knows the hour..." Date setting for the Rapture is nothing new. Misguided "believers" proclaimed that the Lord would return back in the 1800’s and obviously He did not. There has been a lot of "crying wolf" among so-called "experts". The preacher who predicts the precise date of the Rapture always looks like a fool. It is then no wonder that the world shall mock and say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" Rev 3:10-11 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. ©2006 Cobblestone Road Ministries All Rights Reserved _____________________________ Further Reading: Why A Pre-Trib Rapture? Children in the Rapture? Partial Rapture Theory? Are You Rapture Ready? The Antichrist and The DaVinci Code Spirit of the Antichrist |
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