Scoffers And The Great Evacuation - or - the Rapture?

By Dan Baxley

servant@yahshuaservant.com

  I'm watching evangelist David Jeremiah and he is giving a sermon on the coming "evacuation", you know, the Rapture?  I have and do admire David Jeremiah as a bible teacher with talent and as a TV preacher is tame compared to some -- I do not doubt his talent nor his sincerity.  Having said that I must deny his position concerning the doctrine of the Rapture and of the sister doctrine of Imminent return.  It is truly amazing to me how throughly these pivotal, false doctrines have become embedded as an unquestioned truth within the Christian communities.  Strong bible teachers such as David Jeremiah get it wrong teaching the Rapture doctrine as the "hope" of escaping the dread Tribulations, then coupling this with the false idea of "imminent" return (that He, the Messiah, can come at any moment) creating a false hope among the faithful hearing, of course, what they want to hear.  The teachers of this two part doctrine are believing their own deception while telling people what they want to hear, not what they should hear.  As a doctrine these teachings will eventually be harmful to believers, especially new comers to the faith being led into a false since of escape which will then lead to a great disappointment when they find themselves in the middle of the GREAT QUAKE of Revelation 6:12, and the many other things to try the people of this earth.  Imagine the disappointment, the anger, the rejection of faith, the accusations and hate, all because they have not been "spiritually prepared" that they might stand in that day .   

  Make no mistake, these false teachings will lead many into a darkness of disbelief and rejection of the truth and of the Savior -- they may even curse the Living God.  They will scoff, "where is this promise of His coming" (2 Peter 3:4), as they shake their fists toward the heavens, as they scramble into the mountains and holes in the ground for fear of what appears to the the end of the world (.  Having bought into the idea, the false idea, they will "escape" the Great Quake, the wrath -- they expect to escape the coming heavenly events plunging the earth into darkness.  They have relied upon false teachers, ignoring their own study of the Holy Word, laying a foundation of sand upon false hope doctrines of escape preached to them by teachers refusing to see the truth themselves they turn their lies into a new truth proving that old saying, "misery loves company" .

  I do not have the answer to everything but in rightly dividing the word of truth it is obvious to me that when the "resurrection" occurs, all believers, not some, but all will be changed and meet our Lord in the air at the sound of the Trumpet.  The Great event these preachers of security teach is the disappearance of millions of Christians -- suddenly. People of the world wake up to driverless cars careening out of control, airplanes falling from the skies, some news people disappearing before the cameras and babies everywhere vanishing.  This then makes the "left behind" people of the world really mad.  The "left behind lukewarm Christians" will sing, Woo is me, we should have listened to our righteous brothers now in heaven, or so it is imagined. 

  Please, let scripture speak -- be instructed by His Words from the pen of His Apostle not some TV preacher.  Look, I know we can learn a lot from men making their lives all about the Holy Bible but it is our individual responsibility to be aware of those teaching contrary to the Word.  It is astonishing, when you read and study the Word, how often famous preachers and teachers are wrong or misdirecting people.  You must use the Words of your Bible to rightly divide what is being taught as truth.  By letting you Bible do the dividing, and the judging you are freeing yourself from those that would take you captive.  It will not be you judging, as so often is the threat, but it will be the words of you Creator -- not your word, but His that judge all and everything on Earth or in the Heavens.

  (1Co 15:51-54) Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Please note, the wording does not say, "only some", and it does not say, "only those alive", and it does not say, "taken to Heaven".  Also, if "death is swallowed up" how can this possibly be 7 years (or 3.5 years for some) before YaHshua really, really comes back?  No, these verses do not teach only a few living are caught up to Heaven.  No, you must make an assumption of something not written and then pressed that false view into service as scripture taught.  For me the driving nail is the bit about "death" ending -- no more death, that cannot be if the Rapturist have their way.  When the scriptures teach the "resurrection", a doctrine taught by the Apostles, the coming of YaHshua is linked with this event and after that "Death will be swallowed up in victory", and the teaching of the "rapture" falls as an insignificant imagination of men.  The Resurrection Doctrine is being hijacked for a doctrine of false hope, the Rapture doctrine promising to keep you from ever having to suffer or be uncomfortable with coming events. Truths of the Scripture is used and twisted to get you to believe this "strong delusion", a deception people actually want to hear -- removed to a safe place while the world goes to hell.  But wait, didn't our Savior tell us something about this?  Didn't He say we are going to Heaven?

The Messiah, YaHshua, says no man has gone to heaven, none, zero -- not one -- read these verses, John 3:13, 1 John 4:12, 1 Tim 6:16, making it plain that only He, YaHshua, of men, has been there, is from there, and is to return, going back to where He came from and it is only He that will return from there that we might be where He is and that will be here on this Earth.  Where? Earth? Yes, on this Earth as King of Kings.  This will be the restoration moving into the 1000 years rule of our Savior, on this Earth.  I am not making this up, I am not making assumptions -- I ask you to read the following verses in support of these truths -- (John 1:18, John 3:13, Matthew 19:26, Revelation 21:12, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14; 19:16) 

Our Messiah's mission is to return to the scene of the crime, not as a broken individual carrying the sins of the world weighed down by suffering, but rather as a powerful King of Kings, coming in power and glory given Him by our Heavenly Father, on a mission of Salvation, deliverance and restoration, and preparation -- preparing the Earth for the future arrival of our Heavenly Father (Revelation 22:1) -- He is coming in power, all POWER.  The book of Revelation last chapter show us the Farther is present, the Unapproachable Light will be here and by this time we will all have been changed, Judgment finished -- evil gone.  We will not even have a need for the sun, that yellow, gaseous globe, while in the presents of our Heavenly Father and the Lamb.  They will be here together, with us changed for eternal life and the Earth purified.  Why Earth?  Why not, if the plan is to move the Seat of Authority from one place to another who are we to question?  If the plan is for our Father to move His Power to a different place and He did not choose Earth as that place but picked some other part of the Universe the question would still be asked by the critics, Why there?  Why us, why Earth?  Why not? 

(Rev 21:7-8) He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God (Father) and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Did you read that?  To those that overcome will be inheritors of the Kingdom and they will be His sons and daughters (2 Cor 6:18).  Look at those excluded in the verses above and you will see this is not politically correct, by the world standards, no, these are those preparing themselves for the flames of the fiery lake and eternal destruction, never to be heard from again -- this should alert those teaching once save always saved -- Christians claiming belief but continuing in the conduct listed will find a place in the 'fiery lake".  From the "second death" there is no return.  Are you a participant in any of the above activities?  Is your life determined by any of the above mentioned attitudes?  Notice, "unbelievers" are right behind the "cowardly".  Cowardly, according to Strong's Greek Dictionary, has it as the does the KJV as "fearful" and Strong's adds, "faithless".  Fearful and faithless would be someone, in my estimation, someone without enough faith to believe our God can really save us, they may claim belief but deny the Power there of.  This would be someone caught up in the end-times running to and fro looking for a place to hide, never turning to repentance to the one and only one that can bring the promises of life and peace into being even in the face of destruction.  The "cowardly", again in my opinion, is not someone having lost courage in the face of adversity -- we cannot all be as King David, whom killed a lion and a bear with his hands -- but this speaks of the "cowardly" turning on their brothers and sisters in an effort to save themselves from the wrath of other men.  We saw such people during the Catholic Inquisitions, turning on their neighbors for greed and for fear of their own lives.  A real friend is one willing to die for his or her friends and YaHshua is a friend indeed.

When the Beast rules and Satan has given the beast and his government his power and authority, will you have courage enough to stick with you brothers and sisters in the Truth, even if it may mean your death?  Are you spiritually willing to give up your life for the testimony of YaHshua, for YaHshua and those He loves?  Many believer of the past have done just that, so you would be in good company.  The Great Evacuation is not what many think and the timing of the event is so twisted by the false teachers as to make anyone doubt the Word. 

One final word:  We see and hear about a lot of speculation and attempted preparations in the scientific communities of the possibility of evacuating the human populations from this planet, Earth.  The idea is to escape the coming destruction of this planet by the demise of the sun or a huge meteor hit or some other catastrophic event.  It is plain this planet has gone through massive extinctions in the past so the rapture of the scientist is to lift off into space -- this is why we have "science fiction" to escape our limitations.  It is not a very promising hope, that science will save us. 

Peace, your servant, Dan

servant@yahshuaservant.com