What Rapture?
It is my sincere belief, that many people have been deceived
By a circulating doctrine I contend shouldn’t be believed.
For though it may well seem appealing, it in fact is far from true,
For it’s contrary to God’s Word, not to mention perilous too.
This doctrine is called the RAPTURE — it’s about folk who disappear,
A SECRET snatching of the SAVED, who in Heaven will next appear.
It says Christ’s coming like a THIEF, to SILENTLY Christians remove,
And yet, as hard as one may try, such one cannot from Scripture prove.
The Scriptures contain warnings, some very creatively conveyed,
Needing careful scrutiny, lest faulty claims like this one be made.
For although the Scriptures tell us that Christ is coming like a thief,
Such is just an illustration, one that's designed to save us GRIEF.
For what it really means is, that Christ’s Second Coming will SURPRISE,
Catching many people unprepared, who, far too late this realize.
Yes, just like those outside the Ark, most will find that it is too late,
And that their sudden change of heart will not remove them from their fate.
And hence the five foolish virgins that we are told of in Scripture,
Whose foolish lack of preparation bears out that same sad picture.
Yes, this parallel illustration is WARNING us to take care,
Lest we, in a similar manner, are caught out should Christ appear.
Where Scripture says that one’s left behind, and that the other’s taken,
We see another warning that is designed to all AWAKEN.
For it shows Christ’s Second Coming will CUT ACROSS family ties
When the unsaved loved one dies, and the saved one, joyously heavenward flies.
Sheep and goats are mentioned as well, in another illustration,
Further bearing out this fact of a soon coming SEPERATION.
For we’re told Christ’s Second Coming separates the goats and sheep,
The sheep being the righteous, the goats being the unsaved, who death will reap.
Christ says that up in Heaven there are homes He has been preparing
For the righteous sheep that He’ll claim at His GLORIOUS APPEARING.
And that the righteous dead or living only THEN receive their crowns,
As no one is rewarded until the day that His TRUMPET sounds.
No, Christ will not come in secret, for Scripture makes that VERY clear,
But rather, in SPECTACULAR fashion, will very soon appear.
Yes, surrounded by hosts of angels, He in glory will be seen,
Descending from the heavens as His trumpet blast disturbs earth’s scene.
Thus, any time of tribulation, or troubles that lie ahead,
Not every Christian will be spared, like this Rapture doctrine has said.
For Scripture clearly tells us that Christians who're faithful to their Lord,
TRIBULATION will have to endure, BEFORE they get their reward.
And that is why the Rapture doctrine is so perilous and cruel,
For it has been designed by Satan to all Christians LULL and FOOL.
God has NEVER told His children that He’ll remove them from earth’s pain,
Except, for when in glory, Jesus Christ returns to this earth claim.
Thus, the world-wide power reigning just prior to our Saviour's return,
Will PERSECUTE all of God’s faithful — this we via the Scriptures learn.
But even though they will suffer such, they’re promised STRENGTH to endure,
And that their place in God's heavenly kingdom is very SECURE.
By Lance Landall
The
idea of a ‘secret rapture’ does not occur in Scripture. It is a
theological concept superimposed upon certain passages in the New
Testament. Christ and the New Testament writers explicitly affirm the
‘taking up of the saints’ occurs at the time of the visible, audible,
earth-shaking, and glorious second coming of Jesus Christ when He
returns in person with His angels (Matt 24:26,27,30,31; Rev 1:7; 1
Thess 4:16; John 5:28,29; Luke 17:24) and with His reward of eternal
life (Matt 16:27; Rev 22:12; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4; Heb 11:39,40).
