I’m Glad I Wasn’t Raptured Last Week

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My wife and I had a great time in London last week. This trip was a bucket list trip that also coincided with a TikTok® induced mania that the rapture would occur on September 23 and 24, thus cutting our trip short by a few days.

I believe in the rapture, thinking it to be a literal event prophesied by the Apostle Paul … 

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NIV).

And I want to be ready when Jesus does come back, as Jesus warned …

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Luke 12:40).

While in London this week, I had a spiritual conundrum in wanting and being prepared for the Lord’s return, but desiring to complete our trip first.  

Fortunately, since I just texted my longtime coworker Pastor Rick Ives, and he’s still here (we all know he will be taken first), (and I’m assuming that all of you, the faithful and prepared readers of Interruptions, haven’t left me behind and gone ahead during the rapture*), my wife and I were able to complete our bucket list trip to London, getting home last Saturday at 1 a.m.

The recent prediction began when a pastor from South Africa shared in a YouTube® interview that the Lord gave him a vision of His return on September 23 and 24. Whereas many predictions have occurred throughout the 2,000 years of church history giving exact dates, this one was the first to gain worldwide notoriety through social media.

The pastor from South Africa held a watch party, encouraging people to stay online with him till the rapture (sort of impossible after that). As the time ticked down, others began predicting September 25, but after the 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th all passed, the South African pastor has now gone silent on social media.

Whenever someone predicts an exact day, I wonder why people don’t listen to Jesus when He said …

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36).

No one knows — I looked up the phrase in the Greek and it has a clear meaning of “no, nothing, not at all,” and even “shut the door” on the discussion. With Jesus clearly stating that no one knows the day, why would He contradict His own words by revealing the exact day to a South African pastor or any other claimant?

Realizing evil in the world today, the pandemic potential, the antichrist, AI diabolical devices, and our daily pains, we all say from time to time, “Please Jesus, come quickly.” The Bible even ends with the statement, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

So, I believe in the rapture, aim to be faithful, and am waiting expectantly because, although we don’t know the exact day, on an exact day soon, the trumpet call of God will sound, and in the twinkling of an eye, we will all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52).

I intend to be second in line after Pastor Rick Ives — the rest of you should fall in line too!

* The word “rapture” isn’t found in the Bible. The best Biblical phrase should be “caught up” found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.