Someone wrote the following response in reference to my WFTD treatment of Mr. Camping’s miscalculation about the time and date of the Rapture the other day. “So we still are left with the fact that, respectfully, there is really no difference in Mr. Camping, you, or anyone else who believes this fantastical mythology tale…..other than Mr. Camping also believed he knew WHEN it would happen! Well, people used to believe that Zeus hung out on his mountain top, and Thor flew around with his hammer….we’ve progressed so much…and yet so little at times. No harm in people using Jesus’ teachings to help us with morality, but this fundamentalist fantasy does no one any good.”
I responded, “The difference in me and Mr. Camping is that the Bible specifically states that no one knows when the Rapture will occur. I put my faith in the Bible as being the word of God. Zeus is not in the Bible and thus I do not believe what you wrote. Obviously you do not believe in the Bible and therefore I assume you put faith in your own logic.”
We exchanged a couple of e-mails and I tried in earnest to reach through his prejudice against Christianity; he told me that people that cling to religion need to be led. Hmmm… I responded that I used to be a pretty tough guy and I even reached a point in my life when I would not have hesitated to put a bullet in his head, never break stride, and never think another thing about it. That is not exactly the typical stereotype of some weak namby-pamby that needs to be led. I told him that I tried pretty much everything including, drugs, alcohol, sex, money, power, fame, material possessions, great accomplishments, thrill seeking, and all the world can offer and I finally came to the understanding that God is the only one who could provide what I needed most, namely peace, joy, and happiness.
It’s a tough sale to convince an agnostic of the truth in the Bible. I know because I used to be one. There are logical arguments to combat the Zeus/Thor theory, not the least of which is that the Bible has withstood the test of time. Greek mythology and a myriad of other ancient religious systems have not withstood that test. They have been exposed for being flawed belief systems complete with false Gods like the dreaded sun God Molech. And when some of them are closely examined it seems wildly illogical that the people of that day could have actually believed all of that rubbish much less sacrificed their children to a horrible death of being burned alive on a manmade idol of one. It was and is satanic; not much differnt in my mind than a religion of today that encourages young men to blow themselves up and kill hundreds of innocent men, women, and children all the while yelling god is great!
Not so with the Bible, although many have tried to disprove it, including intellectuals like C.S. Lewis and dummies like me. Most end up becoming Christians in the process.Truths and prophecies voiced in the Bible thousands of years ago are still coming to fruition today. One only need take an objective look at the tiny country of Israel and the Jews, (God’s beloved Holy Land and His chosen people), to see God’s word being fulfilled. Try to go a week without seeing Israel in the headlines of every news organization in the world detailing how this tiny country is holding off an entire world aligned against it. God is holding these ravenous hounds at bay until the time of His choosing which ironically includes the Rapture. What other country nine miles wide has the entire world’s attention?
There is no safety in numbers when it comes to discounting biblical truth. Billions can and will believe otherwise. Why? Because they refuse to listen. The Bible plainly predicts that narrow is the gate to life, and wide is the gate to destruction and many will opt for it. The gate is narrow because we can only enter through Jesus Christ and not through the broad gates of the myriad of other religious dogmas that plague humanity.
I told this person that we have all been given a free will and it is up to us to decide which gate we will choose to go through. Are we just so much organic mush waiting for our deaths whereby we can be absorbed back into carbon matter in a creation that just happened somehow, or as the Bible states did God create heaven and hell where our spirits will live on for eternity in one of them? I am furnishing this gentleman a copy of my book, Miracle on Luckie Street, and I intend to pray that God will open his ears in the hopes that he will see the miracles that occurred in my life and how I dealt with my questioning mind to help him understand God and His plan for his life.
I have chosen the narrow gate of Jesus Christ and sincerely hope that all of you will do so as well. God is like the ocean tide to me. I cannot see him, but I can sure feel the “pull”. He doesn’t fly around mythical Zeus’s holy mountain with a hammer like mythical Thor. No He is a Holy Spirit that remains omnipresent standing at the door to each of our hearts patiently waiting for us to listen. When we at last surrender and come to the Spirit, He can at long last allow us to enter into the feast and eternal celebration that He has designed in our honor. When we do, a great host of angels in heaven will roar their approval and dance on golden streets.
In order to get to heaven the Bible states that we must be willing to submit to our God and Father Jesus Christ and listen! Please do so while there is yet time!
1 Samuel 3:9
Speak, LORD, for Thy servant is listening.