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Rapture Ready?

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Rapture Ready
Rapture Ready?
Ready to Escape the Tribulation?
by Your servant, Dan Baxley


Nothing but good news, our Lord is coming. He is coming at any moment, so be ready today and every day. The “imminent” (about to occur, impending) return of our SAVIOR is a welcome doctrine and gaining a huge following of bible believing Christians. So, the question is, are you Rapture Ready?

I will tell you right up front, I am not a proponent of this flawed doctrine. I see the attraction, I understand the desire, and the lame reasoning used the teachers of this “law”, and the prophetic utterances and writings concerning the benefits of this “escapist” attitude. The supporters of this doctrine (dogma) will tell you people like me are ignorant, uneducated in the bible teachings and fear mongers. No, really, I have heard such from teachers such as Dr Hilton Sutton, one of the more outspoken defenders of this false doctrine.

Fear Mongers
Tim LaHaye has said he knows of no other doctrine that has kept believers on the straight path of righteousness more than this one single teaching, that of the “imminent return”. And what is it that prompts such a statement? He is not the only one to say this as this has been the linchpin argument in support of the false “rapture doctrine”. When backed into the biblical corner this argument is pulled out and thrown into the critics face.

My first thought, when I heard this reasoning, was one of fear, not my fear but of causing fear. Millions of Christians frightened into submission, scared into righteousness? You had better listen to us, they insinuate, or you will miss out and go straight to hell, or at least, miss out on going to Heaven when all hell breaks out. They lay out a scenario of doom and gloom for anyone not accepting this doctrine of escape, this false hope of salvation without pain. All is well, they teach, for us because we are going to Heaven while the earth burns. Now, tell me, just who is it teaching “fear” and to whom is it being taught? Truly, the Rapture Doctrine is a doctrine of fear?

What is a fear-monger? Fear is something we have all experienced but the type of fear generated by this false doctrine is one of “anxiety” and “apprehension”. The mongering comes from those selling you something that is undesirable or discreditable. Certainly the coming of our Savior to fix things is not undesirable; especially for the believer but the method and the falsehood surrounding this doctrine is most definitely discreditable. On the one hand it is a false hope, not based on the words of our Savior and to be perfectly honest boarders on calling Him a liar. He, YaHshua, plainly states that no one has gone to Heaven unless He is from Heaven (John 3:13). I have seen some reasoning opposing His statement in John but when you couple this verse with others, (John 1:18, 1Cor 15:47, Romans 6:10, Acts 2:21). You should get the idea. Heaven is a place of the holy angels and of our Heavenly Father, which no man has seen -- the unapproachable light (1Tim 6:16). Only that which is from Heaven can go to Heaven. What these teachers fail to see or teach is the last chapter of the book of Revelation -- the Father and the Son are going to be here on earth. The Messiah is coming first and He will prepare the earth (1000 year rule) for the Father. The earth is called the foot stool but is destined to be the seat

The real fear-mongers would have you fear death, trial, even tribulation so much so as to cause you to sing praise for an event that will never happen, at least not the way, nor in the order they teach it. At the present time the teachers of this false doctrine are pressing to confuse the issue with the legitimate teaching on the resurrection.

How will it Be? (So many seem to like fiction, so here is a little fiction that may make sense)
Life is good, each day roles by, each hour ticks away as you sip your coffee and remind yourself, “At any moment, this could be it, this could be my last Starbucks”.
  Leaving the coffee shop you head for work and this gorgeous young woman passes in front of you, you open the door for her (reverse the roles if you want, you could be the young woman) and you can’t help notice what God has packaged … hey, snap out of it, the Lord could come right this minute you idot, wake up. You scowl, lowering your eyes, not wanting to sin as you remember the words of our Lord, “…whoever looks on a woman with lust has committed adultery …”. The young woman smiles and starts to give you a thanks but she sees the scowl on your face, she looks away, stepping through he doorway, wondering what she did to you?
  As you step out onto the sidewalk, having averted near disaster, you check the change in your hand and discover the clerk behind the coffee counter has given you ten dollars too much. You stuff the bonanza into your pocket and suddenly fear strikes your heart again, “The Lore, He could come at any moment, like right now”. Wheeling around nearly upending and elderly couple coming out of the coffee shop. Near breathlessness you wave at the clerk, “You gave me too much, here take it back”.
   Whew, another near disaster averted. You look around, nope, still all clear. As you leave you glance over your shoulder and see the young clerk being scolded by the manager, young clerk, head bowed, taking off her apron. So what, you think, she probably wasn’t a good clerk anyway.
  You do feel sort of funny though, your steps seem unsteady, then suddenly, you are thrown to the ground, the sidewalk buckling, bricks and glass falling all around you. You look up and see dust rising like a fog, the sound is deafening and there is a bright flash in the sky. You are slammed up and down, and sideways, your body sprawling across the fractured walk narrowly miss being rolled into a giant crack splitting the street, swallowing up car after car.
  Everything stops as your first thought is, The coming of the Lord, but wait, you’re still here. You race for home surrounded by the devastation as you keep looking up toward the sky the sun does not seem so bright, growing darker and darker, right in the middle of the day. There is another rumble and a loud clap and more flashing from the heavens above. Getting home you are thankful, your house is still standing, but some of your neighbors are not so fortunate, people are crying, some screams can be heard. Inside the safety or your home you see the television is on and your wife standing in front of it. She is bleeding from a head wound received when she fell hitting the edge of the kitchen counter but that is not what you focus on, it is the news guy on the television, the picture is scrambling and jerking but you hear what he says, “This has been a worldwide event and the coastal areas are bracing for tsunamis as the people scramble for higher ground, many throwing a few things into their cars and trucks seeking to get out of town and shelter in the mountains -- a good cave would do.
   This is not the end, how could it be, you are still here, your wife is beside you. Suddenly another jarring shake and that deafening roar. You wake to a mass of wood and sheet rock over your head, you wife groans her last words, “Where is He?”
You cry out, “Where is the promise of His coming? Why are we still here?” The cursing continues, as your lips spew anger toward God and the Savior you thought was going to rapture you and your wife away to safety.  "Where is the promise of His coming? We have been lied to".  crawling out from under the rubble you see a book in the dust, your Bible, you pick it up and rip it in half you shake your fist toward the now dark skies.
    In the months following you, like many, many others continue cursing God, "What kind of god would let this happen?" Many other, one time believers, express the same sentiments concerning the failed promise of a catching away, of the rapture so many believed in. Everything has changed, you hear rumors the radical religions in the Middle East seeing this worldwide disaster as an opportunity, slaughtering millions with no one to stop them, the United States has been reduced to a third world nation, or worse, its ports all but gone, millions dead and still you are here, scrounging for food. Some are still talking about the day the sun darkened the moon went turned blood red.
  You meet a couple scrounging the rocks for food, just like you.  In waist band of one there is a Bible, a Bible that looks like it had been torn in half, the spine split, almost like two books.  He hears you grumbling about a false god and begins telling you about what he has been reading in the Bible he found.  He tries to tell you that these disasters were foretold in the bible.  You laugh, “Who can believe in that book? Look, I’m still here and so are you, it’s all a lie.” As you walk away you hear the faint comment, “I think he’s one of the scoffers. Come let’s see if we can share with another.”

The End, almost.
I know, I know, a fictitious account but one I think may be played out in the future for those finding themselves in a different world than what we have now and seeing they are still here. The preachers of this false hope of escape will not be around to hold your hand you will be on your own. Your faith will be your faith, or the lack thereof. If you are expecting salvation in the form of physical deliverance into Heaven you will be sorely disappointed. Only that which is from Heaven can go to Heaven.

Many professing believers are placing all of their faith (trust, that is) in this false teaching about the Rapture.  And do not bother with researching this Doctrine for themselves.  Most disturbing is those who do cling to this Rapture Doctrine do not bother with the prophetic word at all, after all, what does any of those prophetic pronouncements have to do with them, they are going to be gone, gone to Heaven. Besides, could all of the Evangelical teachers be wrong? Godly men such as Hal Lindsay, Tim LaHaye, Hilton Sutton, David Regan, David Hunt, Mark Hitchcock, Paul Crouch (Head of TBN), Benny Hinn, and many, many others all support this false doctrine, could they be wrong?  Impossible.

The following these men collectively generate is truly incredible as they sell this escape doctrine, a mixing of the truth with fiction. They have deceived themselves in this and it will take an act of God to change their minds (Hopefully). (2Tim 3:13, 1 Tim 4:1, 2 Peter 2:3)

(2Ti 3:13)  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

(1Ti 4:1)  Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

The context of this verse with the other verse in Chapter 4 really has nothing to do with the Rapture Doctrine.  That verse is more about other false doctrines entering the Church with no mention about the Rapture.  However, this is an observation by the Apostle Paul that could and should be applied to this new threat to a believers understanding about the return of our Savior and about one of the key doctrines of the Church.  It is the Resurrection Doctrine that is tied to the sacrifice or our Lord for us and making it possible for us to be Resurrected to Eternal life, and later for all mankind to re Resurrected from the place of death, to stand before the Judgement Seat.  Nowhere is it taught that those in the Resurrection from death and from this physical life ever go to the Heaven of Heavens where the Father is now -- nowhere.  In fact, our Lord clearly tells us that only that which is from Heaven can go to Heaven --

John 3:13  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man.
John 7:34  You will seek Me and you will not find Me. Where I am you cannot come."
John 16:28  I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." NIV

Could it be any plainer?  From our Lord's own mouth to the ears of those who would hear and record what He said, then to our eyes and the hearing in our spirit, loud as a shout out -- Only if you are from Heaven can you go to Heaven -- this alone destroys the false doctrine of the Rapture, but helps to verify the doctrine about the Resurrection.

You need to be prepared mentally and spiritually for what is to come -- that is the generation that is alive when the 6th Seal is opened (Rev 6:12-17), introducing the Wrath of the Lamb. Scary stuff, to be sure, but you need not fear the final outcome -- that is, if you are living in the final generation?  Of course, every generation of religious fools have believed they are living in the final generation -- actually, some have hoped for it, not realizing what they are hoping for, not really, certainly His return, but before that can or will happen this earth and humanity must suffer a correction leading to a point of no return.  A point of no return is that point that comes when, if left alone, no one will survive.  

(Mat 24:22)  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Many brothers and sisters of the Faith have freely given up their lives so that you and I might have the truth and the knowledge of true salvation, knowledge about Him, a true confession and Testimony about Him and only Him. How many of the faithful have given their lives because they refused to confess any other Savior, but YaHshua.  During may of the Christian on Christian purges those accused as heretics, were charged with confessing a false or die.  They were to kill the image or confess the name of the false Messiah or die.  There is only one way through the door leading to eternity and that door is YaHshua, there is no other -- no Jesus, nor Zeus, no Geezus, no Iesvs, no Isis.

In the end will our Savior find faith when he comes? He asked that question Himself (Luke 18:8), and He also told us the end would like the days of Noah. We know the Days of Noah were violent times and the faith in those days were not found except for Noah. Millions upon millions of people perished in the Great Flood and do you suppose they thought Noah to be any better than they? Do you suppose, in the days of Noah, the people were all atheist? Hardly, the record show people, especially the ancients, had many gods, worshipped everything from themselves to nature, and even sticks and stones. Some might even say, the Ancient people of the past were very religious as we can see religion in every aspect of their lives.
Noah, unlike those of his generation, believed what the Creator had to say. He literally believed His Creator's words and in this demonstrated his faith. The rest of the world thumbed their nose at what Noah had to say concerning the Creator’s words. Some, no doubt, thought Noah a bit of a fanatic, even and idiot crack pot, and thought, if it is true so what, my god will deliver me. Of course we know the rest of the story and it is apparently going to repeat. Our Savior asked, "Will I find faith when I return?" What a question and what meaning it has when considering the end days becoming as the days of Noah (Luke 18:8).

Be ready, listen to the Word, not the words of men. His word tells us in plain language, there is going to be a Great Quake the likes the world has never seen up to that time. That will not be the only earthquake of worldwide proportions either but the 6th Seal of Revelation 6:12-17 will be the first and it will move mountains and islands out of place, it will be the cause of a world changing events -- changing the political scene as never thought possible. Who will hold the Islamic hordes in place after this? When this earthly shaking occurs the Muslims may see this as an act of Allah removing the powers of earth, clearing the way for them to rid the world of Israel and the Christians once and for all. All they will need is the 12th Imam to reveal himself to usher in their version of Islamic paradise. Perhaps the Biblical Beast, the one the Christians are looking for will be this 12th Imam?

There certainly will be many things happening between now and then. Look at WWI and WWII, many thought those were surely the end of days. Look at the time of tribulation for millions of Jews and Christians during those times. In those days many were standing on their bibles preaching the end but as we know the end was not yet, after all, we are all still here. When the Great Quake hits it will be hard to ignore but may not be recognized for what it is, the “sign of His coming”, not His actual coming. When this sign is ignored and not recognized many will turn from their faith (sadly) tossing their bible away, bibles they never really read anyway, preferring instead to listen to the soothing words of the escape artist in their promises, a false hope, of truth mixed with lies. But you, the Believer in the words of the Living God should be ready, preparing your spirit and strengthening your faith, hanging on the every word of our Heavenly Father and Savior, of the God of the Bible, learn from it, listen to it, let the Words He has given us to be your guide, your ultimate authority would always be the Holy Bible -- not the words of men. The day will come when He, YaHshua, stands upon the Mount of Olives and He will raise all of Israel to life and the apostles will sit on twelve thrones to judge Israel and our Savior will be ruling from Jerusalem, renamed, YaH’s City of Peace. Come YaHshua, come, we pray in the Name or our Heavenly Father -- your will be done, we pray.

Peace to you in His Name, YaHshua.
Email Comments and questions to:  dan@servantsofyahshua.com

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