NOTE from Lion of Judah site owner: I am not necessarily in agreement with all the points the author of this essay makes. Further, I have made changes to the essay, but only to correct the numerous misspellings and grammatical errors that were in the original; the content remains the same

Missing the Rapture Call

By Todd Strandberg

With us pre-tribbers doing such I fine job, I doubt we'll be needing the Antichrist's help. Of course, If it we rapturists are spreading a lie, why do I have the unsaved occationaly sending me nasty mail tell me what to do with my rapture. I thought Satan wasn't suppose to be casting out Satan.

This is a follow-up to my article ("The Train") about people who say "I used to believe in the rapture, but I don't any more.

I made the observation (recently) that those Christians who strongly reject the rapture might end up getting left behind. First I'd like to expound on how fiercely some Christians oppose the rapture doctrine.

On several anti-rapture web pages, I've run across statements that implies pre-trib rapturists are false prophets that are teaching a lie from Satan which will end up sending people straight to hell.

They quote 2 Thes 2:11-12 where it says God will send "strong delusion" and the part where it says "that they all might be damned who believed not the truth." and then make some comment that this is all referring to the rapture.

Another anti-rapture writer said the rapture was the mark of the Beast. With us pre-tribbers doing such I fine job, I doubt we'll be needing the Antichrist's help. Of course, If it we rapturists are spreading a lie, why do I have the unsaved occasionally sending me nasty mail tell me what to do with my rapture. I thought Satan wasn't suppose to be casting out Satan

After looking the mail on my earlier posting, I noticed that just about all of the portion who disagreed with me looked at the issue as if it was a saved unsaved argument. The debate is not over salvation; the debate is over Christians ability to freely decide whether to receive a blessing from God.

Whenever you're able to choose to accept or reject something, it's a gift. When you have no choice in the matter, then it becomes an order or a mandatory compliance.

"If the rapture was to happen, would you like to be taken too?" There is growing number that will refuse to say "Yes." They'll side step question, tell you that it's not going happen that way, or try to change the subject. These are the people that have me worried.

I know that many people have doubts. Some people tell me they pretty much believe in the pre-trib rapture, but they have some lingering doubts that it might be a mid or post-trib rapture.

There are also some folks who are unfamilar with the rapture altogether. Where do they stand? Well, Once you inform someone about the rapture, the question to ask everyone is: "If the rapture was to hapen, would you like to be taken too?" Most Christians would say yes - even those who offically confess a post-trib view.

I have three reasons why I'll feel some believers can end up missing the rapture call. The first one is the fact that Satan is actively working to cause Christians to reject the rapture.

The devil is a compass that always points toward evil. Whatever he's for - be against it. Whatever he's against - stand up for it. If Satan is motivating Christians to turn against the rapture, then you know this is something you should favor.

Satan is also someone I don't imagine would be foolishly wasting his time, by trying to convince Christians to believe something that will suffer them no ill-effect.

The second one is the fact that God operates on a system of free choice. No one who doesn't want to be in heaven is going to be there, including when they want to be there. The third one is the destructive power of unbelief. When it says that Jesus could not heal many in his hometown because of their unbelief, that meant something, because Jesus was the greatest healer of all time.

Because I'm on the web handing out prophetic commentary 5 days a week to hundreds of people, I've realized I need to be more cautious than most folks.

The Scripture I uses as my guide is James 3:1 "My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation." I would never tell someone, "That's all right, if you don't believe in the rapture, you'll be raptured anyway." Because if they don't get taken up, I'd be having to explain myself to God. And then when those who got left because of my words finally do get to heaven, I'd have to face them also.