| The next major event in world history will be the surprising and sudden disappearance from the earth of millions of people who believed in Jesus Christ. There will be a mega ressurection of those believers who died previously. They will be changed and taken BODILY to their eternal home. |
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Th 4:13& 16-18)
This event will radically change the world. Incredible evil will no longer be restrained. There will be no prior knowledge of this event for unbelievers. Many doubters left behind will suddenly have convincing evidence for what they could not believe before. Those who believe during the tribulation will be martyred for their faith. It would be better to decide now.
The Comforting Promise
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again,
and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (Jn 14:3)
As Jesus ascended bodily into heaven He promised to return in like manner. Unexpectedly and secretly Jesus will return and believers will be resurrected and raptured into the air. He will take His saints to heaven for a great celebration.
Removal of believers immediately before disasters has several Biblical precedents. Noah, Enoch, Elijah, and Lot from Sodom.
| Saved —Body, Soul & Spirit From the record of his creation we know that man was designed to live forever with a Holy God —there he belongs. Death —the separation of man’s 3 parts —is unnatural —there he is lost. Complete salvation means the permanent restoration to man’s original designed high estate. That is our hope. Mankind’s only hope is a returning Savior. Our Savior will return as He promised, to take believers —body soul and spirit —from looming global wrath. Our hope is salvation not evolution. Saved means to be saved from the penalty of our sins, and the coming global wrath. It means to be saved to eternal life in the future and abundant life now. It does not mean to be saved from the trials of life —God turns those for our good. The saved are new creatures with new powers to turn troubles into triumphs. |
Hopelessness In the secular worldview nothing lies beyond the grave. People, like animals, die without hope. Wrongs must be righted here and now. Any reward is only in this life. But grasping for pleasure and advantage here brings only despair. Setbacks really are reasons to grieve. The best hope for the disadvantaged is escape by early death or no birth. Self-advancing beings should be seeing progress, but that is not happening. Advances are insignificant compared to global problems. The only hope offered by the secular worldview is now fading quickly. |
2. Great Tribulation
| Jesus Christ is soon going to return to earth but unlike His first coming, when He came to save the world by His death, this time He will come in great power to conquer the forces of evil and to reign over the whole earth in righteousness. We now pray "Thy kingdom come on earth," —and it will. Hundreds of yet-to-be-fulfilled Bible promises to Israel will be fulfilled. Jesus will rule the earth for 1000 years, forcing righteousness on man. Open sin will be punished with instant death. |
| Eden was Realistic After All The redemption price has been paid for the world, and one day:— The creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Rom. 8:21) "Groaning" creation will be liberated. In Eden-like conditions lions and lambs will not be predators and prey. Long life spans will return, peace will rule and every life kind will flourish. God will demonstrate that His original design was best after all. |
Utopia In the secular worldview humans rise out of slime into a new alien life-form. With all of nature they reach a state of everlasting perfection. But this hope is now fading. Terrorism, epidemics, environmental disasters, international tension, drug wars, resistant viruses, weapons of mass destruction, precarious financial structures show that man’s extinction looms instead. Technological advances have empowered us to annihilate everyone. |
The many "re" prefixes on Bible words emphasize that God plans to return believers to where man belongs —the high estate God established at creation —not to some new life-form. Restore, repent, revive, redeem, resurrect, rejoice. Man's highest form is not superman or spiderman or any other concoction of evolutionary imagination. Man will be restored, body, soul and spirit, to the designed perfection given in Eden but many finite limitations will be removed. Salvation restores the lost to God’s perfection.
4. End of Time
Death is not the end for man. Life is not fair but God has promised to right all wrongs and reward those who trust and obey Him. Everyone will be resurrected —physical death is merely temporary sleep. Believers who died before the rapture will be resurrected then and will be taken up with living believers before "the great and terrible day of the Lord." The few who believe after the rapture will be martyred. Finally, all unbelievers will be resurrected after the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth and will stand at the judgment of "those whose names were not written in the book of life." All the libraries of human cleverness will be burned up. Eternal Scripture will be the only measure of truth at the final judgment. Those who did not trust God will enter eternal suffering apart from Him. |