Hi, Carl.

I agree with you that it seems like there are so many signs being fulfilled

today that surely the rapture must also be right on the verge of occurring!

For myself personally, I finally had to come to grips with the possiblity that

we may be the witnesses of so much more yet to come prior to Christ's return

for us.  For one thing, being finite humans we just don't see the whole

picture and it appears to us that so many things are happening the world can't

stand much more.  Yet from God's infinite perspective, seeing the beginning

from the end, there may be many horrors yet to surface that we just can't

comprehend.  Secondly, being American - I think we tend to think that the

moment big, bad things begin to go down, Christ is simply going to whisk us

away from it all!  But I realized how unrealistic and selfish that belief is.

Look at all the Christians in third world nations all over the world that are

suffering grave persecution...imprisonment, torture, even death...and to think

that we in more blessed or more fortunate countries are going to escape all

persecution, I think, is arrogant.  I do believe we will escape the

majority of persecution coming during these last days, but certainly not all

of it.  The way America is currently headed, we may be in for a very rude

awakening: our enemies could attempt a surprise attack on us, our own

government could instigate martial law or begin its own persecution of those

who don't see eye to eye with them, particularly if the election doesn't go

the way I hope.

But most of all, I sometimes think maybe God just wants us to get our minds

off of ourselves and use the time we have to win as many souls as we can to

His Kingdom while there is still time!!!  I believe that is the main reason

why God has not revealed the exact timing of the rapture to us.  Being

human, we would likely just camp on top of a hill somewhere in white robes

singing hymns instead of being about God's business.

So now, instead of worrying about when the rapture is going to be, I've

decided that I need to spend my time trying to be pleasing to God and keep

myself out of trouble so I will be ready when He does come back! These are

just my personal thoughts about it, because I've wondered the same thing as

you at times.

God bless you and all the Doves.

M.A.P.