Hello, John and Doves,It is written,"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call [KJV: trump: Greek--salpinxof God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."
(σάλπιγξ)] At the last salpinx [trumpet blown to announce the arrival of a herald, and his immediately delivered message from the king], Jesus will come. That means that at exactly the time that the last believer of the Church Age gets saved, the Rapture occurs. This will NOT be a statistical phenomenon. God alone knows every lamb. [See Psalm 139]Jesus said,"This gospel shall be preached as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."Therefore, it is up to us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring this age to a close, not by just preaching the gospel aimlessly, nor by trying to reach all the lost, but by reaching the lost sheep of Israel. And then, along the way, we will see the last gentile to be included in the Church, the Bride of Christ. And when that last salpinx [gospel preacher's angelic chaperone's trumpet] sounds, and the gospel message is delivered and duly received by that last Church Age believer, we're out of here! Truly, only the Father knows the day and the hour!For it is written,37"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”Why is it okay for that last believer to be harpazoed (raptured, snatched away) smack on the heels on his salvation?Friend, have you not read the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard?1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3“About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
End of story.Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai!Blessings~Mike C.