Thank you, Chery, for these encouraging words. Since childhood the Biblical scholars I’ve heard speak—and those who I have read have stated clearly that Scriptures show toward the end of time things will get exceedingly difficult and evil will abound. Those teachers, and others I have studied, indicate God is going to “rapture” His children–those who believe in Jesus as our Savior and receive Him into our hearts as Lord of our lives, sparing us from those last terrible days. The rapture will see us being lift from the face of the earth into heaven where we will escape what will be the worst for people who are “left behind.” It is our job (those of us who are believers) to do all we can to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ while the opportunity exists, here on earth. This does truly mean what you wrote above, Chery, “We don’t know the day or the hour [and therefore had best]” . . . prepare our hearts and live in relationship with Him.” Only the Holy Bible can do a good job of telling us how to live in relationship with God s believers in Jesus Christ. Thank you for writing, Chery! (The Left Behind series written in the past by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins is fiction, yet helps people realize the truth about the rapture. The word “rapture” does not appear in English translations of Scripture. In original Greek manuscripts the word “harpazo” was used to describe the Lord snatching His people out of the days of tribulation. Chery, as we know, Jesus promised His disciples that He would come again. I plan to write on this soon. His return will take place at the end of the 7 years of the Tribulation described in symbiology throughout the Book of Revelations. (Please know that many people who study the Bible believe the rapture will take place in the middle of the 7-year tribulation, at the 3 1/2 years. Only God knows which understanding is “right on.”
I just finished posting a new blog for today “The earth’s creatures–our teachers?”