Rapture or Tribulation

Join us as we discuss Rapture or Tribulation.   We  define, compare and contrast the two, and once again, we emphasize the fact that we have a choice.  The time to make that choice is NOW.  

Transcript

Season 3:  The End: A Revelation Study

Episode 6:  Rapture or Tribulation

Show Notes

Intro:

Hello. This is ReGina Johnston, your podcast host.

Welcome to Origin where we look at current events through the filter of a pre-supposition that there is a plan A, an original plan, that gives context and clarity when it comes to present-day “elephants in the room.”  We are women of different seasons with different stories daring to talk about the tensions of the day.  This is season 3 of Origin where we will unpack the book of Revelation. In Deuteronomy 30, the Israelites were given two choices—life or death. We have those same choices each day. We challenge you to imagine you’re in the midst of a game and you’ve just been given the two-minute warning. The end of the game is fast approaching. Life or death—which one will you choose? Join us as we begin this series The End: A Revelation Study. Let’s talk about it around the table of Origin.

Who we are:

ReGina Johnston

Kyli Rose

Jina McAfee

Welcome to the table of Origin. I’m here with my good friends, Kyli Rose and Jina McAfee. We want to welcome you to the table today. We are in the last session of this season. It’s hard to believe. We have barreled through this quickly. We’re in a study called The End. We’re clearly delineating the choices we have as this world as we know it is coming to an end. That sounds ominous but stay with us. We’re entitling this session Rapture or Tribulation. Our goal is to take a collective exhale as the Body of Christ, the believers who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. There is a sigh of relief because we’re not going to be here for the worst of the worst that happens as the judgment of God comes forth. That may be hard for people to understand, but God is 100% judgment, He’s 100% love, He’s 100% mercy. We don’t get it because we have strong aspects of our personalities which make other aspects of our personalities weaker. But God is strength in all of them. We have drawn the picture of God holding back wrath and judgment that is poured out on sin because of His mercy. It is really not His anger with people although His heart wants them to love Him; it’s anger with the enemy and what he has done. God has to judge sin. Therefore, we have a collective exhale because as the body of Christ, we won’t be here. But we catch our breath because we have loved ones, co-workers, friends, and family who have chosen not to know Jesus in this season; therefore, they’ll be here for the Tribulation which we will talk about in a little bit. We take our launching Scripture from 1Thessalonians 4:16-17:

The Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout….We will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

That is talking about the Rapture. Jina, unpack that word for us and the concepts of what the Rapture means.

Jina: The Latin word is rapturo. It means to seize hastily, to snatch away. The Greek word is harpazo.  The New Testament is written in Greek. It means to snatch away or carry off. Both go right along with the Scripture in 1 Thessalonians that says that as believers, “we will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” The cool thing about this is, as ReGina said, we believe the Rapture will come and then the Tribulation will start. We won’t even be here as believers.

I want to set a little context about the culture at the time the Word was written. In the Jewish culture, the father would tell his son to go get his bride. They would be preparing for the bride to come and live at the father’s house. They would prepare a place. Jesus said, “I don’t know when that is going to happen. Only the Father knows. No one knows but the Father.” As soon as the Father says to the Son, “Go get your Bride [the Church],” the Rapture will happen, and we will be taken away. Like ReGina said, we want you to get into the story, to feel what that’s going to be like. It is going to be sudden. It is going to be unexpected. For us, we’re ready; but for the people who aren’t ready, that’s where our hearts are.

Scripture says the Day of the Lord when the Son of Man returns will be like it was in Noah’s time. It was business as usual until the water came, and all of a sudden, the door to the ark closed. I asked ReGina to read a story that will help you understand what it might have been like for Noah and his family. 

ReGina: This story is taken from a book called The Summoning written by Carl Gallups. We’ll link you to that book in the show notes. Here is what Gallups writes:

All around, they heard the cries. Close by. Even right beneath them. 

They realized that masses of people on the outside of the vessel were clinging to the hull, as if searching, frantically scratching and clawing, looking for a life-saving crevice they could take hold of. 

This is after years and years of Noah building an ark before the people and probably talking about rain and them not knowing what rain was. The people were having a hard time wrapping their minds around this concept, but there came a day when the door closed. This is a depiction what that could have been like.

And the people, the desperate people, screamed and pleaded, their pitiful cries occasionally muffled by the moaning of the wind and the slapping of the angry waves against the ark— [The ark representing the Church, the body of Christ.] and the pounding, beating, drumming, wretched, never-ending rain… 

Where we are right now, we can’t even imagine that because it has been dry for so long. But at this point, there had been so much rain, the water is rising and they’re realizing their lives are at stake, their very lives are at stake. And the book goes on to say:

As if this wasn’t enough, the ark’s occupants heard the agonizing pleas coming from afar off as well. They make out mingled wailing and cursing, even above the tumult of the geological upheaval. Surely there were tens of thousands! Great roars would suddenly emerge, sounding like a massive throng that had gathered for a sporting event. The planet itself seemed to be weeping, grieving from its own heart-breaking depths of anguish. 

The wrenching pleas for mercy were shouted over and over again, as if the mere repetition would somehow cause the doors of the vessel they had previously ignored to fling open and relent…ultimately inviting them all inside. But the portal would not concede. It had been sealed by the divine hand of Yahweh. 

No one was coming to their rescue.

Those inside the undulating, wave-tossed ship grieved over the screams that cruelly violated the depths of their hearts. They agonized over those they used to live among, only hours earlier. Many of them they knew by name. But Noah and his family were now helpless to save a single person, or to even offer comfort. All of them…perishing just outside the walls of the ark. 

Here's what we don’t know scripturally. I don’t believe that those of us who are raptured are going to be hearing the wailing cries of those left behind. But we need to hear them now. At that point, it will be too late. May we by the Spirit of God hear those cries now. And may we share the story that will rescue, that will bring them rescue and will offer them entrance into the ark. That’s the analogy.

Kyli: I think we always assume we have more time. We talked about one of Christ’s letters to the churches. He was speaking to the sleeping church. Really the thought process behind this podcast, this season, is that it would awaken the Church. The door will be shut at some point, and we don’t know when that is. Are we awake? Are we sleeping? Are we doing the thing we were called to do? We go out into all the world and tell lost people, broken people, stuck people, that there’s a way in. 

Jina: After the Rapture, the Church will be gone from the earth. Basically, believers will have already left and gone to be with the Lord. We will have glorified bodies. I know that 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 says:

51 We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 In a flash, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For our dying bodies must transformed into bodies that will never die, our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

At the Rapture, we will be transformed. We will have new bodies, imperishable. Don’t you love the thought of that!

ReGina: I want a new body. And you don’t even have to go to the gym to get it. And you can eat ice cream and cheesecake.

Jina: For the believer, it is not a scary thing, it is not something to fear. I wanted you to hear the story about the ark because one day, people will have made their choice, their final choice. During the Tribulation, it will be a lot harder to choose. Just think what the world will be like with no believers in it. Think how dark it will be. 

The truth is, the believers who have said “yes” to Jesus, who are living with Him as Lord, will escape judgment. Judgment is not the destiny He has for us. But He wants others too, so we want to be on mission. Right after the Rapture, Antichrist will be revealed, the man of lawlessness. We are getting ready to switch now to the time of the Tribulation.

ReGina: Kyli will give us some insight on the word “tribulation” as it relates to the choices we are addressing today. We have a choice. We have a choice now between Rapture and Tribulation. So, unpack that for us:

Kyli: So each week we have been putting a choice on the table. This week the choice essentially comes down to reward or wrath. That’s really what it comes down to. We are going to pick up in Matthew 24:21-22 ESV. We got to talk about the reward, and it’s so beautiful. He will come for His Bride. The reward is getting to be with Him forever. Now we’re going to be looking at the Tribulation. This is the 7 years that follow the Rapture. We will pick up in Matthew 24:

21 For there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

He is saying that the days will be so intense that if they are not cut short, not one single person would make it through.

What is the tribulation? Tribulation is essentially a great trouble or suffering. It will be a time of intense persecution. It’s going to be hard. It’s God’s wrath poured out. 

ReGina: I feel like it’s here already. So, it’s going to be even more difficult? 

Kyli: Even more so. So, we’ll see that this is going to be a period of 7 years. We see that the 7 years will be cut into two different halves. It talks about the first 3 ½ years, and then it refers to the last 3 ½ years as the Great Tribulation. That’s when the dial gets really turned up. We’re talking about wrath. For some of you, you’re like, “I knew it. I knew He was mean. I knew He was unkind. I knew He was angry.” But, guys, what’s so remarkable about our God is that even in these 7 years, people still have the option to say “yes” to Him. It’s like He says, “See, all of this is real. See, I am real. I am the way, the truth and the life. Even though it will be harder to say “yes” to Me, I’m still giving you 7 more years, another opportunity.” How kind is He. How kind and good is He.

We see this will be the beginning of His final judgment. A lot of different things will take place in the Tribulation. We could spend a podcast on every single one of them, but I’m just going to walk us through the events. We know that it’s a 7-year period. It’s an opportunity for unbelievers to still say “yes.” We talked about the Great Tribulation being during the second half. You’re going to have two choices. This whole thing boils down to choices. Even in this 7-year period, people are still going to have two choices: Whom will you serve? Jina had mentioned Antichrist, this leader that will come and take his place. Essentially in this day, you’re going to have the choice of worshipping the Antichrist and taking his mark. You don’t have to take the mark, but if you don’t take it, your life will be very hard. The Bible talks about not being able to engage in daily life, to be able to buy things, to sell, to live, to do commerce. Surviving is going to be very hard unless you compromise and take the mark. But Scripture is clear. If you do take the mark, you have made your final choice. That’s it! 

Or you can refuse, and you can die in this life. But you get the opportunity to live with Jesus forever. 

We see some events that take place. There’s a lot of language in Revelation that can be confusing. Often, we want to go read something we understand a little bit more easily. He talks about seals, trumpets and bowls. Each of these is a series of wrath. We see these three different series throughout the book of Revelation. With each series of wrath, each outpouring of wrath, the dial gets turned up. It will get worse and worse every single time. 

Jina: After we hear about wrath poured out and so many dying, we hear that people see and know the truth, but they will still not repent. They will still not return to the Lord. He keeps giving them opportunity to repent. But they will still choose not to. There is a remnant that will repent. But there are many, many who will not. Stubborn. We’re stubborn people.

Kyli: Yes, we are. I think so many times, He puts low places, pits in our lives, so we will cry out to Him. The invitation is still on the table. We see the choice. We see the seals, the trumpets and the bowls. The last seal will be the introduction to the first trumpet. The last trumpet will be the introduction to the first bowl. We see how the wrath gets more and more intense. We meet the 144,000 witnesses martyred as believers. It speaks to His goodness that He still provides a witness, people who are going to proclaim the gospel that Jesus came and made a way. We see the woes. These actually happen towards the end of the tribulation. More wrath. More pain. You see the angel and the 7 thunders. Scholars believe this was God’s voice. John is about to record what’s being spoken. But a voice from heaven says, “Don’t write this down.” We believe this is the voice of God speaking.

Then we meet two witnesses about the halfway point. We don’t know exactly who they are. We see that they’re performing miraculous signs and wonders and many, many people say “yes” to Jesus in that final hour. And we see many people say “no,” that they actually hate them, the Word and the message they’re proclaiming. But again, I want you to look for God’s goodness even in the wrath, even in this 7years. We see that the two witnesses are murdered in the streets. We see that the people leave their bodies in the streets, but God raises them back to life and they get to experience their final reward and be with Him forever. Even in the darkest of times, He provides a witness. He has provided a witness for the earth. 

We see the 7 signs and eventually we get to see the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven, that there will be a reward. And this thing ends with an epic battle, the battle of Armageddon.

ReGina: I think it’s important to note. It is almost like a play is happening. There are two scenes going on at the same time—the scene in heaven where there are 144,000 casting their crowns at the feet of Jesus, and a massive worship service. Can you imagine? A lot of us have been in awesome worship services. But when we see Jesus face to face, it’s going to be amazing worship that goes forth. At the same time—it is almost like darkness in one scene and light in the other—the marriage supper of the Lamb going on in heaven and at the same time, the bowls, the trumpets all pouring out. It’s not linear. There are two things going on at the same time—an amazing display of a celebration of people who have chosen Jesus and people who have not yet chosen Jesus but still have an opportunity to choose Him. 

To put this in practical terms, we raised two boys. We wanted them to choose good things. But sometimes just like we do, they didn’t choose what was best for them or what was best for others. They didn’t choose to muffle their mouths when they should have. Some of those things you train and teach your children to do as they grow up. Sometimes when they didn’t make the best choices, we had to let them suffer the consequence of their choices so they would eventually make the right choice. That’s really what is going on here during the 7-year Tribulation. The Lord is allowing consequences in His mercy. He is allowing us to suffer consequences of choices we should have made but we didn’t so that we will. That’s His goal. That’s His end game.

Kyli: I want to put some things in our language that we can understand. In His kindness, He gives us insight into how dark it will be so that we can choose before it gets to that point. Really the picture that Scripture is painting during this time is one of catastrophic loss, huge loss. To give us some context, we see the Great War, the War to End All Wars, with 17 million deaths; World War II, over 72 million people dead, the Nazis exterminating 11 million non-combatants, 6 million of those being Jews. It says in Scripture that the Great Tribulation will exceed anything the world has ever seen which is sobering. We don’t want to look at it because it’s so dark. It’s too much to swallow. But, guys, we have got to look at this. We’ve got to sit in it. It matters. 

Jina: We want our hearts aligned with His for people. 

Kyli: We don’t have anything to even compare this to. It will supersede anything we have ever experienced. We know that today, there are approximately 7.3 billion people on the earth. How many will the Rapture remove? We don’t know, but we know there will still be people here on the earth who will have to experience intense pain. What does that mean for me today as a believer? How does that affect how I’m going to live Tuesday, today, and tomorrow? How does that affect how I interact with my workmates, my family? We’re speaking about things that feel like a story. It doesn’t feel real. But, guys, it is. And it should have a very real impact on how we interact with the people around us. Are we loving well? When is the last time we invited someone to church? When is the last time we gave somebody hope? What are we doing with this information? It should be sobering, but it should also call us to a place of being awake. 

So, we see that Christ breaks the seals and wrath begins with the Four Horsemen. One-fourth of the world’s population will die. The four angels are turned loose to kill one-third of all people on earth. And then we see three more seal judgments, six trumpets and seven bowl judgments. It’s going to get rough. Millions of Tribulation saints will be killed by Antichrist and his followers. There has always been a cost. One of the things we have to ask ourselves, “Is He worth it?” I daresay if we know Him, the answer will always be “yes.” If we really know Him and we’re in relationship with Him, “yes.” 

ReGina: The reality is that no matter what we choose, there is a cost. What price do you want to pay? 

Jina: Our days on the earth are so short. We can’t really fathom eternity. If you looked at a timeline and saw one little dot, that would be like your life. And the timeline stretches farther than your eyes can see, forever. 

Kyli: There will be supernatural and natural catastrophes. We see the fish life, the aquatic life dying. We see fire killing crops, all the things we rely on, things that we are used to being there will not be there anymore. Then we see God’s final Tribulation Judgment. I want to read in Revelation 16:17-21:

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple saying, “It is finished!” Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth. The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble….And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled. There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.

We see how the earth is just groaning and crying out. 

“It is finished!” are the words of Jesus, the Lamb of God, as He died on the Cross. This is what He cried when He was dying for our sins. He finished it on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to experience all of the things that we just read about. And all of you know this, but I want you to sit in the words of this Scripture. It is so familiar to many of us that we miss the weight and the power of it. John 3:16:

For God loved the world so much that He gave His One and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish. [Doesn’t have to die, doesn’t have to experience the wrath that we just talked about] but can have eternal life [and live forever with Jesus.]

ReGina: That’s heavy duty. So, we hear the seriousness and the urgency. This is not a game. This is not a story. It’s real. Given what we’ve heard, then the question is: What do we do? How do we live? I want us to talk about that for a few minutes. What do we do with what we’ve heard?

Jina: We have got to stand on the Word, stand on Christ, the living Word. In 2 Thessalonians chapter two, Paul is saying: I want you to see the choice that is clearly before us. He says: “I want to clarify some things.” They were confused. He said, “I want to clarify some things for you as believers.” He said, “I don’t want you to be easily shaken or alarmed.” He talks about unbelievers on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. They have said, “No!” Basically, they say, “No!” In verse 13, Paul says, “But you [and he calls them brothers and sisters because we’re a family] have experienced salvation through the Spirit and through your belief in the truth.” The choice is loving lies or loving the truth. For those who choose the truth, we hear, “Stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching of Christ.” ReGina, I remember you talking about that grip.

ReGina: Yes, in another place in Scripture, it talks about holding on so tightly to what you believed. The picture there is like a dog with a bone. Have you ever played with a dog and thrown a bone, then you try to take that bone back from the dog. You can enter into a tug-of-war with a dog. Sometimes they will hold that bone so tightly with their teeth that you can just pick them up with the bone. If it’s a little dog, you can just pick them up by the bone. It’s that kind of grip. We’re holding so tightly to what we believe about Jesus that it will hold us in the end.

Jina: No matter what you see, no matter what you feel, no matter what you go through. You settle up front right now, and don’t let go. 

Kyli: You can only do that by getting in the Word. There are no shortcuts. 

ReGina: That’s the bone.

KylI: You talked about this play—the scene in heaven and the scene on earth—but really, from the very opening pages of Genesis until the closing chapter of Revelation, it is like a chess match that you’re getting to watch. Christ makes the move, God makes the move, and you see the enemy make a countermove. You see this thing over and over and over again. We see in the Old Testament, there is this anticipation for Jesus. We see in the Gospels, there is revelation. He’s here; we get to meet Him. Acts, the continuation of what He’s doing. And then the Epistles and then finally in Revelation, we see the consummation. He is making it all right. It is the final move. It is the checkmate of the entire story. It’s so powerful. If you don’t know how this thing ends, you will lose hope. You’ll quit. Because it’s heavy. Life is hard. We experience so many hard things. We have got to know that this thing ends in hope. This story was written for us to hold tight to, to hold that bone, not to let it go. So, get in your Word. It’s life-giving. Oh my goodness, it’s not dry and dusty. Get in a community where you are doing it together, where it comes to life. Don’t do it alone. It’s fun!

ReGina: Another thing the Bible tells us to do is: Be on guard. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6 says, 

“Because we are all children of the day, we don’t belong to the darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clear headed.”

This is a challenge because this is a day and age where so many things are vying for our attention. We can easily be lulled to sleep when it comes to the spiritual aspects of life. The truest thing about life is there is a spirit realm that is going on. There is a story being played out—the  story about us as a people created by God and God wanting relationship with us and this whole scene that is playing out between the enemy of God, Satan, and God the Father over His creation. That is the truest thing about what is going on. But we can easily put that on the back burner, and day in and day out not even look that thing in the face. How are we going to stay on guard? That’s the question. How do we do that? 

Kyli: If you’re not in a faith community, you’ve got to find one. It will be life to you. Someone that is preaching the Word. People who can come alongside you and hold you up and encourage you. Don’t do this alone. We live in such an individualistic society. There’s really been an attack on corporate gatherings. We’ve got to do it in the context of community. That is one way to help us stay awake and stay on guard. 

Jina: Even when Paul was saying brothers and sisters tells us we don’t do this thing alone. And I’m so thankful. We’ve got to be in the Word every single day. We’re forgetful. We need that reminder every day. The world comes in and you said it’s hard, and it is, and you’ve got so many things you’re thinking about. That can control your whole thought process, but you can’t let it. Don’t let it.

Kyli: When you see God talking to Paul, he had been persecuting and killing Christians. His language is so powerful. God says, “Why are you persecuting Me?” He identifies Himself with His Church. It was so personal to Him. “Why are you persecuting My Church?” Church matters. Being in a place where the presence of God manifests matters. His presence is everywhere, but there are specific places where you see it and it manifests. The House of God is one of those. Don’t forsake the assembling of the saints. Don’t isolate. Get together with like-minded people. It will help you stay awake and stay on guard. It’s a big deal. Staying in the Word. Having a prayer life. Getting before Him. Setting aside time to be with Him, to know Him.

I think lastly is living in the light. We have talked about that. This world will get darker but it’s dark now. There’s a lot of darkness. We want to make sure we’re a people where we are clearly living in the light, that we are not constantly towing the line and seeing how close we can get to the edges of His perfect will. We need to make sure that we clearly know what we’re about, that we know His will for our lives and that we try our best to stay in the center of it. It will be the greatest witness to the world around us. We don’t want people to look at us and see people who are not clear on their convictions, whose convictions are muddled, whose lifestyle is confusing. He is not calling us to be perfect but He is calling us to make up our mind and make some choices, to be clear in what we’re moving toward.

Jina: I don’t think we realize that people see a brightness in our eyes, that they hear hope in our talk, that they hear things that draw people to the Lord. If we will just spend our days around the world, letting our light shine like God said.

ReGina: I come late to the table to watch some of the movies that are out there. The other day I was watching the movie Redeeming Love. One of the things that stood out to me the most, Jina, in that movie, and there’s a book with the same title, about this young girl who had been so ravaged even as a very young girl and taken advantage of so that she ended up in a life of prostitution, was the deadness in her eyes. I could see deadness in her eyes as she was used up by people who did not value her. They wanted her for what she could give them. The hollowness in her eyes. It is really the story of Jesus and us. That whole story of Redeeming Love is the story of how God sees us and how He values us so greatly. Once she realized who she was and how valuable she was, her eyes became so alive. We want to live in the light. I love the terminology in this Scripture. It says, “Since you belong to the day, live like it!” Duh. When it is light outside, it’s bright and you can see clearly. But when it’s dark, you’re just kind of fumbling your way around. As believers, we want to not only live in the light, we want to let the light of Jesus shine through us so that it dispels the darkness. That’s the call!

Kyli: It’s so practical. We sometimes make it harder than it is. Really, it is seeing people and creating margin in your schedule so that you can meet needs and be kind, talk to people. I was getting my nails done the other day and I simply said, “Tell me about your day. How are you doing today? I know that your business is new, how is that going?” By the end of it, she was overly accommodating. She said, “I don’t know why, I just feel so comfortable with you.” It had nothing to do with me. She was being drawn to the Holy Spirit. It’s simple and it takes little to no time at all. But we’re busy people and busy people sometimes miss people. We don’t want to do that. We want to make sure as believers that we’re good stewards of our time and our finances. That’s one way to live in the light. Leave margin because margin helps you connect with people and meet needs.

ReGina: That’s very practical. That’s where we are. We want to stand firm and keep a strong grip, be on guard, alert, and clear headed. We want to live in the light. The Bible talks about the armor of God. You can go and read about that. Take up the shield of protection. Take up the sword of the Spirit. You might want to do a study on that. That will help you plant yourself and stand when you have done all to stand. We don’t happen into these things by accident. These things are intentional so that we can be strong in a season when strength is a desired commodity. People don’t have it. When joy is something that people are pursuing because they just don’t have it. When people are weary and tired, we bring life. The only way we can do these things is if we have given ourselves to the Word, to connection with the body of Christ, to worship, to putting on the armor—those kinds of things. It is intentional. The Bible says in Psalm 2:12, “Blessed are all those who put their trust in God.”

I don’t know where you are today as you have listened to us talk about the choice between Rapture and Tribulation. Maybe you’re listening and you sense the urgency to close the deal on that today, to choose today. Today is the day. Now is the time. Here’s how you choose. The Bible says if you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you confess that with your mouth, then you’re saved. There is a sanctifying process that takes place after that, but you’re saved. You can do that this very day. We’re just going to lead you in a prayer as we close. Wherever you are, pause for a moment. Speak the words after me. We’re just going to pray:

Dear Lord, I choose You. I choose Rapture. I choose light. I choose joy. I choose peace. I believe in You. And I confess with my mouth that You are Lord of my life. Now help me live everyday according to Your will. In Your name we pray. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, and you believed it in your heart, you meant it, then guess what? When the Rapture takes place, you have chosen Rapture. So, you can just take that collective exhale. But also catch your breath. You’ve got friends and neighbors who need to know Him. And you don’t want them left outside of the ark when that chaos and that tribulation begin to take place.

We’re so glad you joined us at the table of Origin today. We look forward to being with you next season when we complete our season on The End. God bless you.

Sources:

The Summoning by Carl Gallups, Chapter 6: The Day the Earth Cried

Bible Versions:

English Standard Version

New Living Translation

“Rapture or Tribulation” 3/23/2022, Panel, www.bethele3.org

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