Well the Rapture and judgment date of May 21st did not come off as predicted by American Christian Radio broadcaster Harold Camping utilizing his convoluted version of complex Bible based numerology hogwash. Some followers of Camping who were duped by his false teachings gave up their jobs, sold their homes, stopped investing in their children’s college funds and spent large sums of their life’s savings promoting Camping’s claims. It has been reported that in excess of $100 million dollars was spent advertising this prediction.
That’s a lot of cash that could have done a tremendous amount of good for God’s kingdom, but instead all it did was reflect poorly on Christians to the secular world in guilt by association that portrayed Christians as a bunch of kooks. This idiotic maneuver reached an enormous amount of people as indicated by its ranking in the top ten worldwide Google searches right up until the infamous deadline passed without incident.
All of the late night shows were quick to capitalize on it and numerous jokes became viral on the Internet.
Sigh… Such a serious issue and thanks to Mr. Camping the frighteningly real, sober, and grave subjects of the Rapture and judgment which will without question occur at a time of God’s choosing are now being ridiculed.
What is the Rapture and when will it really occur? There are actually two parts to the Rapture. The first is predicted in 1 Thess. 4:13 where it teaches that Christ will return and be seen in the sky. He will first resurrect Christians who have died and then “rapture” (Latin for “caught up”) living believers together with the dead so that all born again Christians will from then on be “with the Lord.”
The second part of the Rapture is divided into two, three-and-a-half year periods, (the seventy weeks described in Daniel 9:24-27). This is known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation. After which Christ will physically return to this earth on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem from which He ascended and He will personally deal with the antichrist and (at this point), his band of not so merry followers, the “world”.
I stood on a hill in Israel that overlooked the East Gate where Christ will enter the temple. It was an awe inspiring moment to say the least. The Bible describes the “day of the Lord” like this: 2 Pet. 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”
The Scripture teaches that Christians will not be judged along with the world when God pours out His wrath in the day of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So when does all this take place? Jesus said regarding His second coming, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. Mark 13:32
Although we do not know the exact time it will occur, Jesus did say that we would know that it was drawing near when certain things happened and from what I can determine most all have already occurred beginning with the Jews returning to the Holy Land in 1944.
To me not knowing the exact time that the Rapture will occur is similar to not knowing the exact time that we will physically die. It may be impossible to predict the precise time and date that we will die, but if we have stage four pancreatic cancer, we know that it is imminent.
The world has stage five cancer in my estimation and is ready to go toe up at any time. Personally I believe that day and hour is closer than we dare to dream. The Bible states that we should be ready. I also believe that only the grace of God and His heartfelt desire that no one who might come to Him should perish holds back the wrath that will be poured out on humanity. But just as in the days of Noah, at some point He will declare “Enough!” And then it will be too late for those left behind.
We are not to speculate as Mr. Camping did, but instead concentrate on spreading the good news of Jesus Christ while there is yet time for people to give their hearts to the Lord and confess and turn away from their sins. If you have not done so, I urge you to consider doing it right away; like right now while there is yet time. We should be vigilant and watch for Him ready to join Him when the trumpet sounds.
1 Thess. 5:2
For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.