Look Up Tuesday/Wednesday

Okay. I risk a great deal of credibility with this blurb, but I have to ask the question, "What if Tuesday or Wednesday, 09/30/08, or 10/01/08 is the timing of Christ's Rapture of the Church?" I ask the question after a good deal of study and pondering.

First, I am a pre-tribulation believer in the Rapture of Christ's church. So, the issues of mid-trib, post-trib, pretorist, or other schools don't apply. I believe the next major event in God's dispensation to Christ's Church is the rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4: 16& 17, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." (NASB)

You will quote to me Christ's words, "No man will know the day or the hour..." I grant that, and believe it, too. However, since the earth is a sphere, and since Christ's Church will be raptured from all parts of the globe at one instant, it isn't possible to "know" the exact day or hour, because it will vary all over the globe.

Why Tuesday or Wednesday? Depending on which side of the international date line you live, and depending on in which time zone you live, the "instant" will occupy both days and up to 24 potential "hours." But Tuesday marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Day, "Rosh Hashanah." The feast of trumpets. It is a poetic fit with the Thessalonians passage.

More importantly, each of the Jewish High Holidays has been fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus Christ, with the seventh to be fulfilled being Yom Kippur, "The Day of Atonement." The feast of trumpets would be an appropriate scriptural basis for the Rapture of the Church, as the Crucifixion was a an appropriate animation of the Passover Festival (the Lamb of God provided the sacrificial atonement).

Why this year? I don't know, but so many prophetic pointers indicate imminent threat to the Nation of Israel. America's fall as the world's hyper power also seems imminent. The truth is, I spend every Rosh Hashanah looking up. It's my private prayer and expectation of the Lord.

It isn't private this year because of my experience with a false salvation. I accepted head knowledge and intellectual assent to the Gospel of Jesus Christ without repenting or surrendering to Him. It took me 18 years to reach the point that the intellectual assent was met with surrender and real salvation. Because of my own testimony, I fear for my children, friends, and family.

If He comes Tuesday, this is an urgent matter! It is true, Christ said repeatedly, "Believe, and you will be saved." But He also said, "Repent." Repentance was the critical misstep for me. Is it for you?

The truth is I wanted a Savior. I wanted to avoid hell. At the time I first wanted a Savior, I didn't really want a Lord. I didn't really want to follow only Him. I do now, and I hope you read this as a sober warning. If you are reading this blog, it is no accident. This is a divine appointment, and one about which you must make a decision. And "no decision," avoidance or procrastination are all negative decisions.
Please don't wait. Look up.

Of course, I could be wrong about next Tuesday. I have been for years. But, it could happen. If you read this, and I am gone, find a Bible, anywhere, and go read the Book of John in the New Testament. I promise your time won't be wasted.

And about that election--vote absentee!