This article was written by Kaye VanKoevering of God's News Behind the News. I had the privileged of working at God's News in the early 2000's.
Many people wonder how they can be sure they will be ready when the trumpet sounds.
The answer is simple, just like Salvation, by Fatih you are saved, by Faith you will hear the trumpet and Blast Off!
This article gives a clear understanding of walking in Faith and the Rapture, and escaping the tribulation.
WHY I BELIEVE IN A
PRE-TRIB RAPTURE
I am concerned about the apparent nonchalance of the church today and the rising popularity of the disbelief in a pre-tribulation rapture of the church.
The popular line of thought is that
the rapture either doesn’t happen at all or it happens at any given
time after the tribulation has started or even at the end of the
Tribulation.
I doubt that these conclusions have
come about because the time has been taken to think through or study
the scripture in such matters. I think they have listened to the
party line on the subject and have decided to believe the latest
trend.
I must hasten to admit that there is
no exact science involved in end time events - we all can only go by
what the Bible says - and there are as many opinions on the subject
and interpretations of the scriptures as there are men giving them.
I do know however that God is not the
author of confusion so when it comes to something as important as
this subject I don’t think He wants us to remain divided. Yet
Satan has done a great job of doing just that. The devil knows that
a house divided cannot stand. When we all come up with our own dogma
and perception of Biblical doctrine - that is exactly what happens.
We no longer agree so there is no longer any power that comes with
agreement and unity. I realize that if it is not an “essential”
of the faith then it seems like it’s ok to disagree. But the very
act of our disagreement no matter what the subject is harmful to the
body.
I do believe that there are enough
clues to lead us to one conclusion concerning the timing of the
rapture.
I will start with using the law of
precedence.
I begin with the question - has a
“catching away” occurred elsewhere or at any other time in the
Bible?
The answer is yes - several times.
One case in point of
course is Enoch.
Now we know from Genesis that Enoch
“walked with God and he was not for God took him.” Gen
5:24. Or we could say he was raptured or caught up. Enoch was Noah’s Great Grandfather.
Now we know that Jesus Himself likened
the end of days to the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37). I believe that
this is very significant. Enoch lived during “the days of Noah”.
Enoch had a son that he named Methuselah. In the Hebrew language
this means - “when he is dead it shall be sent” (according to
abarim-publications.com). I ask, “why would he do that?”
I believe it was because he knew something disastrous was coming. He
named his son, Methuselah because he walked with God and God must
have shown Enoch that a terrible thing was coming and it would happen
at the death of his son.
As a result of his knowledge that
destruction was coming at the death of his son (which could have been
at any time) he used his faith and believed God to escape the “end
of the world” - which was the flood. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By
faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death; and was not found,
because God had translated him: for before his translation he had
this testimony, that he pleased God.”
So it means that Enoch - knowing or believing that the end was near,
purified himself and dedicated his life to pleasing God, and he used
his faith to escape the coming destruction. Or HE WAS RAPTURED AND
ESCAPED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD BY WATER.
It could not be
more clear.
This, to me,
also shows the long-suffering mercy of God because he kept Methuselah
alive almost 1000 years!!! Is it coincidence that he was the oldest
man who ever lived? No! Because God was waiting and putting off the
inevitable destruction as long as possible to give man a chance to
repent! God’s grace is so evident in this story!
We know how the
story ends - man did not repent and they perished with the flood.
Now, I also believe that as they were being drowned in that flood -
don’t you think there was plenty of time for them to repent? I
believe that there was a huge harvest that was a result of that
flood.
I also believe
there will be a huge harvest of those who find themselves in the
Tribulation period because they did not believe it was going to
happen or were not ready! Matthew 24:44 admonishes us to “BE
READY” or PREPARED. If you can be prepared then you can also be
UNPREPARED. Some will not be ready - they are not walking with the
Lord, they are in a back-slidden state, they don’t care, whatever
that means to NOT be ready. It is between them and God.
You know if you
are ready and you know if you are not ready. So that is the reason
for this article - to plead with you and those you love to “be
ready and STAY ready”... for it is in an hour that you think not
that we will be caught up!
My friends,
something worse than a flood is coming to destroy the earth for the
final time. We have many prophecies to that fact in the scripture.
If we are smart like Enoch we will “walk with God” every day in
order to escape the coming awful, great and terrible “day of the
Lord”. But we will need to do it “by faith”. We will need to
walk with God and please God just like he did.
Those who are
not looking for or who are unprepared for the rapture may not escape
and will go have to go through the tribulation. However, they will
have one more chance of redemption by refusing the mark of the beast.
Then they must be martyred and be-headed for their faith. So in
essence those who refuse to live for Jesus now will have to die for
Him during the Tribulation period.
Living for Jesus
every day is hard. It requires daily sacrifice and a crucifying of
our flesh. It means living a pure and holy life by the power of the
Holy Spirit within us (1 John 3:3) But the reward for our being
ready and looking for His return will be escape from horrible
destruction.
Source: https://pixabay.com/en/rainbow-rain-lake-sunshine-summer-697084/
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