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. 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17
What
then? What happens after the first
initial shock of a catastrophic event and just
before the search and rescue begins? The demonic thugs begin to loot,
ravage, destroy, and terrorize those remaining
victims. News coverage of past events has
shown us this greed of truth.
What
would make the Rapture of the church any different? In a world where we hear so much
about the quest for equality; five minutes after the
Rapture will definitely bring equality for all those
left behind. Those evil ones not rummaging
through unmanned houses and vehicles will be
scavenging through open graves, with no second
thought as to why the graves are suddenly opened and
the dead gone.
Equality
would begin with “every man for himself”. No more enemies or friends, both
so called friends and your enemies will be equally
willing to betray you or kill you for anything that
you may have – that would be of some value to them.
I often
think about those persons who are in desperate
preparation for the end (yet, never mention the
Rapture as the only absolutely sure way of escape);
who will say they are preparing so much as to be
able to help those in their community. Five minutes after the Rapture,
they will not remember your name, let alone offer
you canned food and water. Evil will overtake every good
intention.
If you
happen upon a church, don’t expect to find a
Crucifix on any other Holy Element that once would
have tugged at your soul. Most likely those things will
have been stolen and sold for something as small at
bread. Ironically, just minutes/a day
earlier with a simple “Here I am, Lord” you would be
sharing eternity with the Bread of Life.
Five
minutes after the Rapture, there will be no one to
witness to you about the price Jesus paid for your
sins. Sinner to sinner, those left
will equally have to figure it out for themselves. This will truly be a time of
working out your own salvation; and if finding it
only to be killed by those destined to be eternally
lost.
Five
minutes before the Rapture and five minutes after
the Rapture are unmistakably the difference between
eternal life and death – it is just a matter of win
or lose. And, since no man knows the day
or the hour; is a five minute gamble worth it? Jesus spent approximately
thirty-three years teaching His love on earth;
roughly six-seven hours on an Old Rugged Cross to
prove that love; three days in a tomb to give us a
hope of resurrection. He did rise from the dead and
ascend into heaven; and almost seven thousand years
later, His offer still stands for Amazing Grace. A love that is so simple, simply
there, can be obtained by whosoever will come – all
in less than five minutes. Equally as simple as one of the
most repeated and so often ignored verse in the Holy
Bible…
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. John 3:16