The Rapture: There’s More To The Story on Who Will Be Caught Up…

The Rapture.  Everybody’s heard of it and some of us Christians are even greatly anticipating it.  My husband and I have talked about it at various times over the past few years.  And after giving it much thought and consulting with Lord, I came to some very interesting conclusions.

First of all, I will say that I’m in a group of Christians known as “Pre-Tribbers”.  That is, we believe that we will be raptured BEFORE the beginning of the Tribulation period.  Since that’s not the topic of my blog today, I’m not going to go into it.  BUT if you want to know more, I suggest you check out Chuck Missler’s video on The Rapture.  He goes into great detail on exactly why we believe that and backs it all up with Scripture.  After watching that, I don’t know how you could believe anything different.

Now back to it.  I started all this by thinking what would happen directly after The Rapture.  I think that the world would be turned upside down at first.  Loved ones and friends would be missing.  I know that my entire family would be raptured since they are all Christian and have already accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  But since I have 5 cats, my mind went directly to what would happen to them.  For many years, I have KNOWN that our pets would be with us in Heaven.  I just felt it in my Spirit.  And as much as I have loved my pets over the years, I could never imagine Heaven without them in it!  And I once heard Chuck Missler say that we know that at least 4 horses are there, right?!  Thankfully, Terry James with Tom Horn and others in the book “Do Our Pets Go To Heaven?”, addresses that very topic.

The Bible is chock full of so many references to animals, I couldn’t possibly list them all here.  If they have no soul as some Christians believe, WHY, as pointed out in the book, were they created “for His enjoyment” (Revelation 4:11) and “God never forgets about them” (Matthew 10:29 and Luke 12:6)?   That certainly doesn’t sound like a God that made animals with no soul and saw them as disposable creations!  And one of my favorite verses is Psalms 150:6; “Let Everything That has Breath Praise the Lord!”  Certainly He meant animals too.

I remember telling my husband about a year ago that I believed ALL children would be taken at the Rapture.  The Lord certainly knows the age at which a child has the ability to decide for themselves if they have accepted Jesus Christ.  It might be very personal and for one child it could be age 6 or for another could be age 16.  But whatever system He uses, if a child is too young to fully understand Christianity, then I believe they will be Raptured since they are “innocents”.  I’m sure this very topic has been addressed many times before, but I saw it for the first time in the current movie “Left Behind”, starring Nicholas Cage.  In the movie, ALL the children were caught up.  They didn’t address teenagers and none were shown in the movie but I suspect there would be some of those left behind.  If you’ve ever been the parent of a teen, I’m certain you agree they are old enough to understand.

Now moving on, I have never had children of my own and due to a surgery, I never can.  My animals have always been my “children.”  Some people understand that and some don’t.  But to those that do understand, it’s as important to me that my pets be raptured the same as my step-children will!  So I posited to my husband that I believed our 5 cats would be raptured with us.  He looked at me and just said, “you think?”  He’d never thought about it before and I wonder how many other Christians have.  Well, think about it this way.  The Rapture just happened and the world is in chaos.  And at that point there just might be more “bad” people in the world than “good” people.  Crime would skyrocket.  Most people would be concerned for loved ones and be searching for them, trying to get them on the phone and traveling to their homes to see if they are okay.  I don’t think most people would really be concerned for animals.  If you knew the family next door had been raptured, would you consider taking in their 3 dogs with the world in chaos and food probably in very short supply?  Do you leave the dogs inside to slowly starve to death?  Just from READING our Bibles, we KNOW the Lord LOVES animals!  I just don’t see Him leaving them this way to die so horribly.  It certainly makes more sense that your animals will be raptured with you!  If our animals go to Heaven and as it’s been established, THEY DO, then again it makes perfect sense they would be going with us.  I have no scripture to back that up.  I only have the Word of God given to me by the Holy Spirit that it is so.

And I wouldn’t be writing a blog if I didn’t throw out an even crazier notion or two.  So, I will say that the animals being raptured will help the case of the coming great deception.  Some of us Christians do believe that the anti-Christ will be an “alien.”  The alien will probably give the story that different aliens, evil ones, took the people for use as slave labor on some far away planet.  (And he’s one of the “good aliens” here to help us! *sneer*)  The evil aliens took ALL the children because they can train them easier and the reason they took adults is because they need us to watch over the children.  Why did they take our pets?  Well, they need to make sure we feel as “comfortable” as possible on our new homeworld.  Or, maybe we need some incentive to “go along” with whatever they tell us?  Threatening to kill my pets would certainly keep me in line.  It will be a “great deception” so the explanation doesn’t even have to make sense.  All will be deceived by it.

In conclusion, I will say that even if I was wrong, the Lord knows I’m not going without my pets.  I’m certain He will let me bring them. 🙂

What Happens When We Die?

The Lord has been prodding me lately to write about ghosts, aliens and other unexplained or paranormal phenomena.  BUT, I realized that to write about ghosts in particular, I must first start by discussing what happens when you die.

So what do most people believe happens when you die?  From talking to my friends, family, etc. over the years, my experience has been that people tend to fall into three main categories; 1) those that have fear of dying because they have no idea what will happen to them, or just not sure what will happen, 2) those that believe they will be judged immediately and go to Heaven or hell, and 3) those that believe their souls will stay in their bodies while they rot in the ground until Jesus comes again.  This third belief is so popular that it is taught in many churches today and can be found on numerous Christian websites concerning death.  And not to offend anyone, but it is still wrong.

None of these beliefs have any basis in fact and frankly, are quite ludicrous.  Regarding those who believe they will be judged immediately, well…. We all know we have to wait until Judgment Day for that, so that’s not even worth expounding on.  Regarding those who believe their souls will stay in the ground with their bodies, well, that is the worst belief, in my opinion, because it doesn’t even make any logical sense!  What about those who were cremated and their ashes scattered?  What about those who died hundreds of years ago and their bodies, caskets and all have completely decomposed and gone?  What if someone dug up your corpse while excavating land and then destroyed the body rather than re-bury it elsewhere?  (I could come up with hypotheticals galore, but you get my point.)  And even if you want to be buried, what if your loved ones go against your wishes and cremate you?  Oh no!  You can’t get a glorified body if God can’t find your withered old corpse in the ground?!  If that’s not LUDICROUS THINKING, I don’t know what is.

There are many Bible passages that tell us very clearly what happens when we die.  NONE of these say your SOUL goes into the ground or stays with your dead body.  Rather, as the first quote tells us, when we die we go to be with the Lord (our souls).

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”  (2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV)

Paul, specifically says in this next quote, that when we depart from this life, we are with Christ:

“For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”  (Philippians 1:23 KJV)

This is what is said regarding death when Jesus returns:

“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 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.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the 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 together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV)

 

The meaning of the passages is pretty clear;  Those who are still alive will be brought up to Heaven along with the dead, who will have received their glorified bodies, and all of us together will rise up to Heaven.  Don’t get lost on the phrase “sleep in death” or “fallen asleep”.  Just because our bodies are ‘sleeping’ does not mean our SOULS are sleeping.  There is always a possibility that the ‘sleep’ does refer to our souls, so it’s possible there is a sleep WITH THE LORD.  Since I have already shown instances that prove when you die, you are with Christ, I believe that the “sleep” referred to here is concerning our dead bodies and not our actual souls.

The point is that you don’t need to know all the exact particulars.  You just need to have FAITH in what you already know; when we depart from this life, we will be with Christ.  PERIOD

To be fair, the Bible is not very clear about what happens to those who don’t have a body in the ground.  But I fail to believe that God would just say, “Oh sorry you can’t come to Heaven because someone cremated you, or I can’t find your old dead body anymore.”  No, you will get a glorified body regardless of whether you have a withered old corpse still in the ground or not.  To believe anything else would be sheer stupidity, and the most High God is anything but stupid.

So the end result of all of these passages is the same:  When we die our SOULS go to be with the Lord.  Knowing that should give ALL CHRISTIANS PEACE over death… their own death and those of their loved ones.

I sometimes anger my husband because I know that this life we are living is temporary and I’m ready to die at any time (he’s not ready for me to go, hence why he gets angry).  It’s true.  I don’t fear death and would certainly LOVE to be with the Lord!  One day, we will have glorified bodies and live for eternity in the New Kingdom that will be established here on earth.  What happens in this lifetime will be nothing… a mere drop in the bucket… compared to eternity.  I don’t worry that I haven’t had children and won’t pass on any legacy;  I don’t worry that I haven’t done something great to be remembered by;  I don’t care about any of those things that everyone seems to worry about because NONE of that matters.

I work for the Lord.  This life, I live for Him.  I do what He tells me to do.  I try to speak the Word to all who will listen.  I strive for more knowledge in the Word.  And when my time comes for me to leave this earth, I will be happy and rejoice in the Lord.  For the moment, for this temporary lifetime here on earth, THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

Our Spiritual Battle…

In this post, I’d like to talk about demons and our spiritual battle.  First, I realize it’s difficult for some people to grasp the concept of ‘demons’.   I think the majority of Christians would say they believe demons are real, but with them being Christians, they would say that demons aren’t really something they have to worry about.  In other words, I know some Christians who believe that demons are real but they only can wreak havoc in ‘less Christian’ places, or on non-Christian people.  There is absolutely zero scripture to back that up, so it is utterly amazing to me why they would think this way.  All I can say is that this way of thinking is wrong and yet another lie from devil.  Revelations tells us:

“And there was a war in Heaven.  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in Heaven.  The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.  He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.”  – Revelations 12:7-9 (NIV)

It says, quite clearly, he ‘leads the whole world astray.’  The language used here indicates that he is actively leading the whole world astray RIGHT NOW.  It does not say ‘he lead’, as in past tense, but that ‘he leads’, meaning he continues to do it.  And, more importantly, ‘he leads the WHOLE WORLD astray’, not just some people but ALL people, and not just in some places, but in ALL places!

One more thing I’d like to say before we continue.  Revelations 12:4 is where it mentions that the dragons tail swept one-third of the stars from the sky and flung them to the earth.  Some people say that means that one-third of Heaven fell, that one-third of the angels fell with Lucifer to the earth.  But that scripture comes BEFORE it speaks of the war in Heaven and BEFORE the dragon and his angels were hurled down to earth.  In actuality, we have NO IDEA how many angels fell with Lucifer.  I don’t believe it was one-third because the scripture does NOT back that up.  I don’t really know what the significance was to the devil sweeping his big tail in the sky and flinging one-third of the stars to the earth.  I cannot say what that means exactly.  But what I DO KNOW is that Revelations 12:9 clearly says ‘he was hurled down and his angels with him’.  Meaning it was God or Michael and his Angels who did the hurling, and that act came AFTER the tail-sweeping by the serpent.

So what we DO know is that the devil IS on earth and his angels (demons) are with him.  How many doesn’t really matter.  It could be 100 or 1,000,000 and it still wouldn’t matter.  Their entire existence now is to deceive mankind and lead us ALL astray.  They don’t sleep;  they don’t eat;  they don’t watch television;  they don’t all clock out and have demon get-togethers in their off time because there is none.  They don’t do anything except look for inroads into our lives for the purpose of deceiving us and leading us astray….leading us AWAY FROM THE LORD.  Simple as that.

The other thing that people need to be aware of concerning demons is that they are NOT the big, scary monsters horror movies have all deceived us into believing they are.  If a demon could enter your body and take over anytime he wanted, they would do it ALL the time!  But demons cannot take over our bodies and make us wreak havoc AGAINST OUR WILL.  They MUST have our permission!  They can’t do anything that you don’t allow them to do through SIN or UNBELIEF.  They HATE mankind.  If they could pick up a rock and crush your skull, they would.  If they could set fire to the entire world and destroy it today, they would.  They don’t do it because they don’t have the power to do it.  They have ONLY the power that mankind gives them.  When you sin, you open doors to the demons which allows them into your life and thus, they are able to get to you easier.  Keeping those doors closed by worshipping and praising God are the simplest ways to keep evil from gaining a foothold in your life!  But if you commit sins everyday, you’re going to have your work cut out for you and will suffer losses until sin is removed from your life.

The same way that God uses people, the devil does as well.  In the Old Testament, when God needed to deliver a message, he sent an angel.  It was apparently pretty common for angels to be out and about delivering messages.  But after Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now live under a new covenant with God.  So now if someone on earth is needed to help you, God sends a person.  The same way that God uses people to help one another, so does the devil.  If the devil wants to get to you, he MUST use a person.  He doesn’t have the power, so instead, he will deceive a person or people to carry out his evil plan.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m NOT saying that all these people are ‘possessed’ in the way the horror movies have explained it to you.  (I will speak about true possession in a future post.)  But if you are NOT living a godly life, if you are NOT born-again, if you have no relationship with our Lord and Savior, etc…..then you are open to any and every evil work the devil will have you do.   The devil will deceive you into believing all kinds of evil things are actually good, until you no longer know the difference.  And while the devil WILL USE you, that does not absolve you of your responsibility.  You cannot blame the devil.  You have only yourself to blame for nothing following the WORD of GOD.

I just cannot stress enough that the demons have zero power on earth.  The only power they have is what WE give them.  If they could do all those things we see them do in horror movies, they’d be doing them every second of every day.  The war they wage, and the only weapon they have, is DECEPTION.  That means that the war takes place IN YOUR MIND.  Deception takes place on an intellectual level.  If someone lies to you and you believe the lie, you’ve been deceived.  They didn’t hit you or do anything else PHYSICAL to you.  What they did to you took place in your mind.  The devil’s ONLY weapon is deception.  But when you know the TRUTH and are no longer being deceived, the truth will set you free.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:32 (NIV)

I once thought I knew so much about life.  I have had so many varying experiences in my lifetime and gained so much knowledge, I really thought I had it all figured out.  Well, until I became born-again.  Looking back, I am filled with awe of just how much I was deceived.  And to this day, I am still learning and finding new things… finding the truth.  If you want the truth too, all you have to do is ASK GOD for WISDOM and REVELATION KNOWLEDGE about whatever is on your mind.  I quoted this passage and asked Him and He answered me immediately.  You have to just ask and He will answer you too!

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  Matthew 7:7  (KJB)

In closing, please remember that we are all in a SPIRITUAL BATTLE every day of our lives!  I will have more examples of this in future posts.  Keep praying, commune with God, and pray in tongues (and if you don’t have tongues yet, ASK HIM for them!)   And most important, in my opinion, PRAISE and WORSHIP HIM OFTEN!  Protect yourself and your family by keeping strife and sin out of your lives.   These are inroads for the devil and I promise you… you want as few roads in as you can get! PRAISE and WORSHIP are wonderful ways to keep the devil away.  The devil cannot be in the presence of praise to God.  I prefer singing and even made up my own song that I can sing over and over, while in the car or housecleaning or whatever.  But no matter how you praise, if you are praising God, I promise, the devil won’t be anywhere near you!

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7  (KJB)