Ready For The Rapture, Part Two: What Is It? :: By Lynda Janzen

Published on: by RR7 Category:General Articles

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:11-14). (bold emphasis mine)

Maranatha!

Many Christians today are signing off letters and email with this ancient word. But what does it mean? And what does it have to do with the Rapture? For you who are new to Rapture Ready and perhaps even new to Christian thought, it might be of value to explore this ancient word and extract its full meaning.

Wikipedia tells us that Maranatha is originally an Aramaic word. The Aramaic language is a dialect of Hebrew spoken at the time of Jesus by most people living in the Roman province of Judea, the area we know today as Israel. The interesting thing about this word, which was transliterated rather than translated into Greek and Latin, is that it can mean two different things, depending on how the word is segmented.

Again, according to Wikipedia, the Koinē Greek: Μαρανα θα, transliterated to English as marana-tha means, ‘Come, our lord!’ However, if segmented as maran-atha the translation is “Our LORD has come!”

In the King James Version of the Bible, this Aramaic phrase occurs once in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 16:22) as “Maran-atha.”

While all this can seem to be a hair-splitting exercise, it is noteworthy that both interpretations of this word work in our modern world. On earth today, the idea that God came in human form to show the world how to get back to Him is scoffed at, even by some “Christian” scholars. So, if we use the word as Maran-atha, we Christians are acknowledging Jesus’ Kingship and kinship with the Father. (Notice, in the Titus passage above that the writer designates Jesus as “our great God and Saviour.”) When we use the word as Marana-tha, we are asking Our LORD to come. Since both expressions are spot-on, using the full word “Maranatha” would seem to contain both ideas at once.

So, what does all this have to do with the Rapture and the nature of it?

Just as there are two ideas contained in the word “Maranatha,” there is also more than one idea to be found in the term “Blessed Hope,” as it appears in the verses from the Book of Titus at the top of this article.

Our Blessed Hope is, of course, Jesus Messiah. In Him, we are redeemed from our sins (John 1:29). In Him, we have the Bread of Life (John 6:35). In Him, we have our Rock of Salvation (2 Samuel 22:2-3). In Him, and through Him only, we come to the Father in Heaven (John 14:6).

And there are two future events when Jesus Messiah Himself will descend, first, into the atmosphere of planet Earth and gather all His elect to take us to be where He is; and, second, where Jesus comes to earth and sets His foot on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4-5). At that time, the Kingdom of the Millennium is set up by King Jesus, and those of us who were with Him in heaven and return with Him to the earth at the last day will reign with Him forever and ever (Revelation 5:9-10). This second event is known as the Second Coming of Christ.

Well, you say, wait a long minute, here … what about the first event? That, my friends, is the Rapture – The Blessed Hope of our Salvation from the tribulation. Those of us who believe in Jesus as the Son of God, who claim Him as Saviour or Lover of our souls, will not endure the seven years of great trouble that will come on the earth to test all the people – the time between the Rapture and the Second Coming.

So, how does that work? Well, quite honestly, I don’t know, exactly. I do know that Apostle Paul has made it clear in several passages that there will come a day that no one expects, when the dead in Christ will rise from their graves to meet the LORD in the air. Then we, who are full believers, will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, our earthly bodies made ready for eternal life, and we, too, shall rise to meet the LORD in the air. We will be caught up by Jesus. The Greek word used in the Scripture is Harpazo. That same word in Latin is Rapere, from which our English word “Rapture” comes.

Listen to the words of Apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:51-53:

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”

And from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no [Blessed] hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the LORD’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep [died]. For the LORD Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up [Harpazo] together with them in the clouds [not on the Mount of Olives!] to meet the LORD in the air. And so we will be with the LORD forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”

For those who will argue that Paul is talking about the Second Coming here, let me ask you, what would be encouraging about facing seven years of God’s wrath? And to secure the idea that Jesus has promised to save us from the wrath of the tribulation, we turn to Jesus’ own words in Revelation 3:10:

“Since you have kept My command to endure patiently [to stand firmly in the faith], I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” [All the comments in brackets are mine.]

The Rapture will happen instantly, as Paul says, ‘in the twinkling of an eye.” Folks, a ‘twinkling’ is less than a second of time! That’s fast. In an instant, hundreds, thousands, even millions of people all over the world are going to disappear, one day – one day soon! Those who are left behind must go into the seven-year tribulation to be tried and tested. The awful news is that things are going to get so bad that if the LORD doesn’t come to the Mount Olives at an ideal time, no one would be left alive on the planet (Matthew 24:22). Still, amid the horror, untold numbers of people will call on the Name of the LORD and so be saved during this tribulation period. More bad news – these will be beheaded for their faith. But more really great news – these will join us in heaven, and be with the LORD forever and ever, and return to the earth at the end of the seven years when Jesus sets up His thousand-year reign on earth.

As bad as things seem right now on the planet – many experiencing loss of freedom, shortage of food, a tremendous increase in political corruption, rising mendacity in people who are supposed to be trustworthy, an exponential increase in lawlessness for the first time in our lives – as bad as all that seems right now, it is going to get worse before Jesus comes to put an end to unrighteousness.

Trust me; you do not want to go through the tribulation to be saved. At least not when you can be saved today, right now! How? Below the prayer, you will find the A.B.C.’s of Salvation. If you are ready to honestly and truly commit your life to Christ, this is as good a starting point as any.

You cannot be saved by doing good works. You cannot be saved by being a good person. You cannot be saved for eternity in Christ by believing in a different ‘god,’ or by chanting a mantra, or even by going mindlessly to a church. Our only hope for salvation is in the Grace of God Almighty, given to us freely as a gift, through the sacrifice of His One and Only Son, Jesus Messiah, Who shed His precious blood for you and me for the forgiveness of human sin. The only act we can do to achieve eternal life is to believe this.

In John 6:27-29, Jesus said, “Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man [Jesus] will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.’ Then they asked Him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.'”

Don’t be caught being one of those asking, “Where have all the people gone?” Instead, be among those rising to meet Jesus Messiah in the air; be among those who, instead of going through the unspeakable horror of the tribulation, will be feasting with Our Saviour in heaven for seven years. But that’s another story for another day.

Meanwhile, set your heart on heaven while your feet still walk on the earth, and we’ll meet with Jesus in the air any day now.

MARANATHA! Our LORD has come! Please come soon, LORD Jesus.

Let us pray –

Heavenly Father God,

As we see the day of wrath approaching, we give You thanks and praise for fulfilling Your eternal promise to save us by sending Your One and Only Son to us for our salvation. LORD God, while we are still here, please give us the strength and encouragement needed to reach out to those who are still caught in Satan’s snare. Father, you love us with an everlasting love and are patient in sending Jesus back to gather us because You would like everyone on earth to come to Your saving grace. Nevertheless, the day will come, whether we are ready for it or not. Please help us to spread the Good News of the Gospel to as many as we possibly can in the time we have left.

In the strong and precious Name of Jesus, Yeshua Ha’Maschiach, we pray. Amen.

If anyone reading this devotional has not yet received Jesus as their Saviour, but God has touched your heart by His Holy Word, please email me (amadea649@gmail.com) or find a Bible-believing local church and ask the Pastor what you must do to be saved in Grace. In the meantime, please consider the ABCs of Salvation:

A – Admit

Admit what you have done wrong and ask forgiveness.

Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”

I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

B – Believe

Believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again as payment for your sins.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

C – Confess and Choose

Confess and choose to allow God to be in charge of your life.

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

MARANATHA, Come soon, LORD Jesus. Come!

Oct 11, 2021

Published on: by RR7 Category:Nearing Midnight

The Breakdown of Supply Chains

All over the world, multiple supply chains have become dysfunctional. A common explanation for why they have broken down is that they all related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and once we get past it, all things will return to normal.

Some are related to COVID-19, but many have zero connection to the virus. They have been building for years, and only now are they starting to manifest. The key reason is that people are making decisions that defy basic logic. There is a direct relation between evil and insanity. As the world gets more evil, people make more insane choices.

For several years the price of uranium sold at $20 per pound even though it cost $60 to mine it. China and India are building dozens of reactors that will increase demand for a uranium market that already has a deficit between supply and demand.

The price for uranium languished at $20 because the world decided nuclear power was bad, and few financial firms wanted to invest in this industry. Everyone in 2021 has suddenly realized that having electricity is a good thing, and so we now have a new love for nuclear power. The price of uranium is now at $40 per pound, and the stock prices of many uranium miners have risen several-fold. Since it will take many years to restore supply, the price of uranium could rise to $400 per pound.

Germany is creating its own electrical production problem with its fixation on renewable energy sources like solar and wind. The German government wants renewables to cover 65 percent of the country’s electricity needs by 2030, a key target in Berlin’s campaign to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and help combat climate change. It has pledged to shut down the last nuclear power plants in 2022 and phase out coal power by 2038.

The nation already has 30,000 wind turbines, and it is having trouble building any more. It has become difficult to find the right type of land to build wind farms. The power infrastructure doesn’t even allow for the flow of that much electricity. Germany’s transmission network can barely cope with the flow of electricity from the wind-intensive northern coast population centers and industrial regions further south.

If Germany wants to reach the 65 percent renewables target, it will need at least 4GW new onshore wind capacity every year. This year we will probably not even manage 1GW.

I fear Germany is setting itself up for a major power production crisis. A huge wind turbine collapsed just hours before it was due to be officially inaugurated. The turbine, whose rotor blades reach a height of 784 feet, toppled over last month in a forest near the western town of Haltern. Germany has cold winters that can produce bad winter storms. It would be a disaster if an ice storm locked up wind turbines for just a few days. It would be an apocalyptic nightmare if the weight of the ice caused thousands of turbines to collapse like the one near Haltern.

Sometimes the breakdown in the supply chain results in too much of a product. In China, there is a massive overabundance of housing. All over China, there are thousands of high-rise apartment complexes that stand unfinished. An amazing 20% of all the apartments in China are currently empty.

The giant real estate company Evergrande has been in the news because it faces bankruptcy. The firm has $300 billion in debt, built up from mania-levels of speculation in housing. If it goes under, it would be the largest bankruptcy in all of Asia.

Beijing is allowing the debt-saddled property developer to fail because it realizes it needs to let the air out of the housing speculation bubble. It may turn out that what the government is really trying to do is let water out of a dam that is in the process of designation.

The U.S. is currently having a record backlog of cargo ships at many of its ports. At the LA and Long Beach ports, it’s a particular problem because this is the main entry point for imports from China. On any day, there could be 75 to 90 ships stuck outside the port. Just a couple of years ago, it was unusual for more than one ship to wait for a berth.

The standard explanation for the cargo ship bottleneck is that retailers are restocking from COVID-19 lockdowns. A better explanation would be that the government paid millions of people not to work, and we decided to fill our needs with greater imports from China. Our trade deficit with China only dipped a bit in 2020 because China had its own lockdowns.

We import basic things like pet food, paper, and prescription drugs from China. It is amazing that people would gladly risk the health of their cat or dog with Chinese food standards. I looked through my kitchen shelves and was alarmed to find lemon juice and hand sanitizer produced outside the U.S.

America has become addicted to imports because of laziness and greed. The only thing we should be importing is stuff that can’t be produced here.

When we return at the end of the tribulation, I know we won’t recognize the world we left. It would probably still be true even without the supernatural plagues and nuclear warfare. Mankind is already on the path toward self-destruction.

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13, KJV).

–Todd

This Rapture Resistance

Saturdays are no longer my favorites like they were when I worked full time in my jobs in advertising and public relations. Back then, I welcomed the relaxation that came with the day immediately following hectic weeks of meetings with clients and concocting and conducting campaigns for corporations to get products and services in front of the public.

Nowadays, Saturdays bore me, because I like to start my days early by listening to TV programs while sipping coffee. The programs are mostly preacher boys (as they’re sometimes called here in the south) such as Dr. David Jeremiah, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Les Feldick, and others who present daily programs. These regularly scheduled programs aren’t on my satellite system on Saturdays. My routine is disrupted.

However, a past Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised while clicking through the channels when I heard a program that was presenting a documentary that piqued my interest. It was on Daystar Television, and it featured of a number of men and a couple of women talking about how true Bible prophecy is a dwindling topic in most all churches in America.

I suspected who a couple of the men were, but never knew for sure, because, of course, I’m now blind. I started watching somewhere in the middle of the documentary, so didn’t have a frame of reference for those speaking in brief clips.

I did think I recognized my dear friend Jan Markell—she will have to let me know—but she was the only one who sounded familiar.

Those who addressed the matters involved were true Bible teachers, to be sure. They outlined precisely how the churches in America today are avoiding talk of prophecy and of Christ’s return. Pastors, they correctly surmised, are most afraid that talk of the Rapture of the Church and of Christ’s return and other prophetic topics will somehow interfere with “growing their churches.”

How sad but true their collective assessments were. The closer the time comes for Jesus to return to earth and correct this horrendous mess Satan and his minions have made of the planet, the less preachers want to preach it, and the more many in the pews prefer not to hear about it.

I thought while listening: How true it is, the forewarning of Jesus Himself when He asked whether He would find faith on the earth when He comes back.

Those being interviewed in the documentary went into depth about how those with the Holy Spirit were the people mentioned in the parable of the ten virgins. How those who have the Holy Spirit within will go into the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Those without the “oil for their lamps” (the Holy Spirit) won’t be part of that glorious event. They spoke of how there was great resistance not only to talk of the Rapture, but to the belief that the Holy Spirit even, in fact, exists.

It is abundantly clear that those who don’t even believe the Holy Spirit exists lead the way in the “Rapture resistance” that is the title of this commentary. A study looks more deeply into this tragic, downward spiral in Christendom.

Of an estimated 176 million American adults who identify as Christian, just 6% or 15 million of them actually hold a biblical worldview, a new study from Arizona Christian University shows.

The finding was published by the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University in its recently released American Worldview Inventory, an annual survey that evaluates the worldview of the U.S. adult population. Conducted in February, the survey included a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults.

The study shows, in general, that while a majority of America’s self-identified Christians, including many who identify as evangelical, believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and is the Creator of the universe, more than half reject a number of biblical teachings and principles, including the existence of the Holy Spirit.

Strong majorities also errantly believe that all religious faiths are of equal value, people are basically good and that people can use acts of goodness to earn their way into Heaven. The study further showed that majorities don’t believe in moral absolutes; consider feelings, experience, or the input of friends and family as their most trusted sources of moral guidance; and say that having faith matters more than which faith you pursue. (“Most adult U.S. Christians don’t believe Holy Spirit is real: Study,” by Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter, Christian Post, October 1, 2021)

How accurate this polling research is, I don’t know. But certainly all one has to do is to mention the Rapture to most who claim to be Christians and there is either silence or statements like “I don’t like to think about prophecy. It scares me.”

It apparently scares most pastors, too, but for a different reason—the one mentioned earlier.

To eliminate the Holy Spirit is to eliminate the “hope” that is within the “blessed hope” of Titus 2: 13.

Jesus told the disciples—and us down through the centuries—that if He went away, He would send the “comforter”—the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit (the Third Person of the Triune Godhead) came at Pentecost (see Acts chapter 2) to indwell and comfort believers until Jesus returns bodily to set up His Millennial Kingdom.

The Holy Spirit is the Restrainer (see 2 Thessalonians chapter 2). He holds back full-blown wickedness at this very moment. The Holy Spirit will remove from that office of Restrainer when we who are true believers are taken instantly to be with Christ.

Here is what Jesus said about that moment. And, despite what a number of seminary professors say, it is a Rapture passage—a mystery that the great Apostle Paul would later reveal in His epistles to the Corinthians and Thessalonians.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1–3)

—Terry