May 21st, 2011 Rapture

Matthew 24:36-43 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.  37 "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.  38 "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,  39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.  40 "Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.  41 " Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

42 "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.  43 "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

I may be presumptuous (since I wrote this prior to the end of May 21st) but I do not believe that the rapture of the church has taken place, yet. Now please don’t get me wrong, I know that the rapture will take place, it just has not happened yet. I am not writing this column to draw attention to anyone’s mistake. I am writing this to encourage everyone not to become lax and think that we have plenty of time to get things right with God before His return. 

We see in Matthew 24 that only God the Father knows the return of Jesus Christ (Son of Man). But it does give us some insight. It will be as the day of Noah.

We see in Genesis chapter five and six that a hundred years passed from the time God called Noah to build the ark till the flood came. In that time we assume that generation after generation saw the building of this massive ship and became curious as to what its purpose was. I believe that Noah told them time and time again that there was going to be a flood that would destroy everything that was not in the ark. And as time went on and the ark took time to build, people began to ridicule Noah and think that it wasn’t going to happen. We do not know that the first rain drop fell with the final blow of Noah’s hammer either. For all we know the ark could have been completed long before the first rain drop fell which made people doubt Noah’s prophecy. The people kept living as they did before the ark not believing that there  was any reason to change and perhaps there were those that thought they should listen and get things right with God but they had plenty of time. Just as God predicted, the flood came and only the ones in the ark were saved.

That is the harm with predicting a specific time for the LORD’s return. People lose faith in the prophecy or they think they have plenty of time. Yes we are given hints as to the time but not the exact time. What would it change for us to know the exact moment that Jesus will return? Would you live differently?

If you would I suggest that you start living differently now. I didn’t know that on Easter Sunday 2011 that I was going to break my shoulder in five places. My point is that no one knows their time on earth. The “Rapture” may not come in our life time or it might, the time is close, but when we pass from this life to the other God’s judgment will be the same. We do not know how much time we have rapture or not.

2 Peter 3:9-10 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

The “Rapture”, end of the earth and the return of Jesus Christ our King will come to be as prophesied at God’s time not ours. I believe that God put it so blunt that no one would know the time so that we would not get caught up in trying to figure it out but to be ready at all times.

If you knew the exact time and date that Jesus would return 

and would change anything in your life before His return, 

Change it now!

Teach or Destroy

by Roger Talbert

James 1:12-17 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord  has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, " I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16  Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

One of the biggest lies which I believe came from Satan that is unintentionally passed on by well meaning Christians is that God allows things to happen in order to see what we are going to do. Now hold on, let me explain before you think that I have lost it. A good lie consists of its majority being true and therefore believable but with a twist. The truth is that God does allow things to happen that can be harmful which we don’t understand why ( which we see in Job’s case) but the twist that makes it a lie is that God wants and /or allows it to see how we react.

                 God is omnipotent… Time has no rule over Him. Revelation 1:8  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, " who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty ."  God is not only over time but also knows the future. There are over three hundred prophecies fulfilled by the birth, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The  first prophecy was in Genesis 3:15 at the fall of man which was thousands of years prior to Jesus’ birth. But the prophecies are not confined to Jesus; Jeremiah 1:5  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations ." .  Another example is the birth of John the Baptist and still another is that Peter would deny Jesus three times. There are many more examples of God’s knowledge of the future showing that God knows what we are going to do. So why does God allow things to happen that we don’t always succeed at but often fail at?

                God knows what we are going to do but we don’t. God allows things to happen so that we will know how we react in different situations. We conquer some and fail at other times. This is done to teach us our weaknesses, encouraging us to grow, learning from our shortcomings. Once we have failed there is the tendency not to repeat the failure which makes us stronger. It also keeps us humble, reminding us that our salvation was bought with the blood of Christ, and not because you nor I are good enough. It reminds us that we are sinners and that left to ourselves it would destroy us. We cannot save ourselves. This is the purpose of The Law, to show us that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

                Satan is the father of this lie in order to destroy. He takes the blame off himself and puts it on God. Many a person has turned from the Faith because of this. Something happened in their life and they fell but instead of learning form it they listen to that little voice in their head bringing doubt that God is real and that He does care about us. Satan twists the truth around blaming God for evil taking himself out of the picture, dashing all hope. Satan is the destroyer, the father of all lies out to devour us.

                God is the builder and loves us enough to sacrifice His only Son to pay for our sins not to leave us or forsake us but to teach us.

Remember, when you fall

God is there to pick you up

Satan is kicking you while you are down.