Surprise party?
Dear Editor,
Surprise! Surprise! Have you ever had a surprise party thrown in your honor and you were completely dumbfounded because you didn't have any inkling about it? Or perhaps some other pleasant surprise happened to you and you were totally surprised?
A wonderful surprise awaits hundreds of millions of true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It will not be a total surprise because we are expecting it but we just don't know, "the day or the hour." This surprise will transport every true believer out of this world and over in to Heaven. I Thessalonians 4:16 and 17 says, "for the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord." One of the many books I have on Bible prophecy is entitled, "How Close Are We? Compelling evidence for the soon return of Christ." by Dave Hunt. There are many signs that tell us that the end of this present age is near and that this old world will soon be in a heap of trouble.
II Peter 3:3-9 says. "To begin with you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days scoffing, (people who) walk after their own fleshly desires, (vs 4) And say, where is the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation. (vs 5) For they willfully overlook this (fact), that the heavens came in to existence long ago by the word of God, and the earth also which was formed out of water and by means of the water, (vs 6) Through which the world that then (existed) was deluged with water and perished. ( See Genesis 7:11- the Noahic flood). (vs 7) But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been stored up (reserved) for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people. (vs 8) Nevertheless do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. (Psalm 90:4). (vs 9) The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some peoples conception of slowness, but he is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish but that all should turn to repentance.
Here we have identified for us just one of the many signs that we are living in the last days, scoffers (mockers) who walk in unbelief after their own fleshy lusts (grab all the gusto you can). They don't believe that, "God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world and pour out his wrath (His great fury) upon it for its wickedness."
While the rapture will be a pleasant surprise to every true believer, it will be a very unpleasant surprise to unbelievers. It will strike terror in to their hearts. Far worse than the terror they felt because of the terrorist attacks on the trade towers and the Pentagon. Friends, we are living in the days when the Bible says that, "Mens hearts shall fail them for fear of looking after those things that are coming to pass on earth." What can you do about it?
In one of my books, "Escape the Coming Night" by David Jeremiah, he aptly points out the only way of escape and that is Romans 10:13, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10-9 says, "Because if you confess and acknowledge with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (immediately)."
Will you be surprised (as they people of Noah's day were when the flood came and swept them away and they all drowned) when all of a sudden this old world is turned topsy turvy by the rapture and you are left alone to face an uncertain future? You don't have to be. There is an old saying, "to be forewarned is to be forearmed." Accept Christ today as your Savior. Out of the depths of your soul cry out to God, Dear Jesus come in to my life right now and be my Savior." Remember, the Bible is the Word of God and God cannot lie, He will save you as He has promised.
Your Friend,
Paul Schneider
McCook