THE BLESSED HOPE ELUDES MANY CHRISTIANS
By Danelle Carvell
One of the most controversial subjects
among Christians is the rapture of the church. Christians seem
confused and frightened by this subject. And some pastors don't teach
the whole counsel of God's word, which would help relieve the fear
and confusion. False teachings, weak sermons, and Christians who
ignore the truth contribute to the confusion (2 Timothy 4:1-5).
The
rapture is an event which was prophesied by the Apostle Paul. He gave
a clear description of it in his letters to the Thessalonians and
Corinthians. According to scripture, at some future time, believers
will be snatched from the Earth in a fraction of a second and
transported to Heaven. This event is controversial because
some Christians don't believe in the rapture of the church. And many
who do believe are not looking forward to what the Bible calls our
“blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).
I discussed the rapture with two women
who attend church regularly, and I expected both of them to be
receptive to the topic, but they were not. The first woman said the
rapture is “science fiction” and the second woman argued that we
can't take the Bible literally because her pastor said we can't. And
since he doesn't believe in the rapture, neither does she.
Those women should read God's word
instead of only trusting the church pastor. “All scripture is given
by inspiration of God...” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Why would God
inspire the writing of a book that we can't take literally?
Christians who don't believe in the rapture don't know the Bible:
John 14: 1-3
This passage
contains the promise from Jesus that He will return to Earth for the
believers and take them to Heaven.
1 Thess 4: 13-18
In this passage,
the apostle Paul answers the question, “Do believers who have died
miss out on the rapture?”
1 Thess 4: 16-18
In
this passage, Paul spells out the chronological sequence of the
rapture event and he concludes that the promise of the rapture should
be a comfort
to us.
We are supposed to
find comfort in this promised event, yet many Christians are far from
comfortable when discussing the rapture. You can almost see them
squirm in their seats as they try to change the subject. “That's
not a popular topic,”they argue. Christians who convey such an
attitude about our blessed hope are a mystery to me.
Haven't they read
2 Timothy 9:7-8? Don't they know that the crown of righteousness
awaits all who long for the Lord's soon return?
Haven't they read
Luke 21:34-36, which instructs us to pray always that we may be
accounted worthy to escape?
What exactly are
we escaping from when the church is raptured? The same thing that
Noah and Lot escaped from when God rescued them from an evil world
that grew more and more evil. We learn from the accounts of Noah and
Lot that God removes His people when danger is involved.
We live in a
dangerous world. Nothing about planet earth is getting better. The
danger only grows worse. More and more people are carrying guns to
protect themselves from lawless thugs like those who are killing and
injuring people on the streets as part of a game called the knockout
game. Our society has sunk so low that people are now punching total
strangers and catching it on camera for entertainment.
Our language is
growing worse, our morals are declining, the rules of modesty and
respect have vanished. Those who know what's really going on in the
world and those who know God's word realize that we are living in a
time that is similar to the days of Noah and Lot.
In Matthew 24,
Jesus is asked, “What shall be the signs of your coming and of the
end of the world?” Jesus then describes what the world will be like
just before He returns to remove (rapture) those who have received
Him as their savior. What Jesus describes in Matthew 24 is the same
mess that describes our present world.
Have you noticed the increase in the
number and severity of earthquakes? The bizarre animal deaths and
sinkholes? Record-setting storms? Destructive tornadoes and tsunamis?
The volcanoes all over the world that have lain dormant for centuries
that are now erupting? Does the obvious decline of morality in people
alarm you at all. Do you worry what this world will be like for your
children?
At this point we are handing our
children a 17 trillion dollar national debt that will be impossible
to pay back. Millions of people have lost their health insurance
under Obamacare. For others, their rates have quadrupled. Thousands
of doctors are giving up their practices because they can't maintain
their businesses under Obamacare. Thousands of volunteer fire
departments face closure or financial hardship because Obamacare
requires that volunteers be given full health coverage. And when 12
million illegal aliens become American citizens with a flick of
Obama's pen, the fallout will be devastating.
Did you watch the House hearings that
looked at Obama's growing dictatorial powers? Our own government
leaders know we have a dictator in the White House, but the American
people don't care. Obama is caught in one scandal after another and
we yawn. Fast and Furious, Benghazi, and the scandals with the IRS,
the Department of Justice and the NSA haven't woken anyone from their
slumber. We swallowed the lie “If you like your health insurance,
you can keep it.” Chalk that up as scandal number six.
The birth certificate scandal counts as
seven. Obama claims he was born in Hawaii, but his wife has said that
Kenya is his homeland. No one holds Obama accountable. Like Hitler,
he does what he wants and no one questions him. So why is it so hard
to believe that his Affordable Care Act allows for death panels to
decide who gets healthcare and who doesn't?
Possibly bigger and more dangerous than
Obamacare is the the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This brilliant idea
will offer huge advantages to foreign businesses while putting
American companies, especially small businesses at a disadvantage so
severe that many won't be able to survive. This could pass early next
year and it's an all-out assault on our national sovereignty as it
unconstitutionally transfers legislative powers. One more crippling
blow to America.
Obama has appointed hard core sharia
law Muslims to key positions in Washington. If he condones the
cruelty of sharia law and if he voted to deny care for babies who
survive abortions, then what cruelty awaits the American people? He
refuses to put his hand over his heart and say the pledge of
allegiance. He refuses to wear an American flag pin. His actions
display a hatred for America and we give him four more years.
This country is being destroyed by a
dictator who glorifies Muslims but claims to be a Christian. He mocks
the God of the Bible by his love for Islam. Muslims believe that
anyone who doesn't worship Allah is an infidel who should be killed.
Why are Christians who hold home Bible
studies being harassed? Everything related to Jesus Christ, the Holy
Bible and the God who inspired it is being pushed out of sight and
mind. Why do 100 million Christians face persecution every day? Why
can't Phil Robertson quote scripture from the Holy Bible without
being suspended from his show on A&E. This country has declared
war on Christianity and in the process has denied Christians their
constitutional right of free speech.
Why are we seeing a repression of
Christian faith in the military? Freedom of religion is no longer one
of the rights our soldiers are allowed to defend. The US Department
of Defense has recently begun teaching seminars that list evangelical
Christians and Catholics as subversive groups. US troops who express
their Christian faith are being punished. Don't believe me? Take
four minutes to watch “A Clear and Present Danger” on You Tube
We live in a totalitarian police state
that monitors our every move. Cameras are watching us. Our phone
conversations are recorded. A recent article in the Washington Post
claims that the NSA is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on
the whereabouts of cell phones around the world, enabling Big Brother
to track your daily movement and map your relationships with others.
You may think you have nothing to hide, but if Christians can be
labeled as subversive, who's next?
Our education system is being destroyed
by progressives who push their Common Core Curriculum. “Five
Reasons the Common Core is Destroying Childhood” by Katie Hurley
explains why. Or go to theblaze.com to view a complimentary clip
titled, “David Barton Explains How Common Core Poses Serious
Problems for The Future of The Republic.”
If these things continue to worsen,
won't we be crying out to escape? Yet some Christians reading this
might say I'm a doom and gloomer. They have no hope in anything
beyond their lives on this earth. They don't know God's word and they
don't want to hear anything that might disrupt their love of this
world--tomorrow night's game, their dinner reservations, or the next
episode of DWTS.
The first century church had a strong
desire for the soon return of Jesus. I see no such yearning in our
churches today. Scripture constantly warns us to watch for the Lord's
coming and be ready (Luke 12: 35,40). By being ignorant of scripture
and not looking forward to the Lord's return, Christians are
fulfilling Peter's words in his second letter (2 Peter 3:1-10).
In closing, I have three questions for
Christians who either don't believe in the rapture or are not looking
forward to it:
Why aren't you
looking forward to an event that is described in the Bible as our
blessed hope?
What are you
afraid of?
Do you love this
crumbling, corrupt world so much that you couldn't let go of it if
God calls you home?
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