Sober

Once in a while, I see something so intellectually offensive that I have to pause whatever I’m working on and throw my two cents in. I know two cents isn’t much, especially nowadays, but it’s all I’ve got after doing the grocery shopping for the week. Maybe not quite that bad, but it’s all I’m willing to spend, so it is what it is.

I keep seeing more and more posts on social media, and by social media, I mean Facebook since it’s the only one I visit once in a while, and I have neither Twitter nor Instagram, saying that if you miss the rapture, then such and such is going to occur.

Being the reasonably intelligent and logical human being I know myself to be, the one question I have for all those insisting on going down this rocky road is how exactly is someone going to miss the rapture? Was it a double booking, conflicting schedules, or a faulty alarm? Did they have a preexisting hair appointment? Did they beg off being caught up because they didn’t want to miss the next episode of their favorite show? How exactly is someone going to miss the rapture?

If your answer is by not believing in a pre-tribulation rapture, then we’ve just kicked over a whole new can of worms, haven’t we? Are you insisting that the goalpost has been moved, and we no longer have to believe in Jesus but also in a particular biblically tenuous doctrine? Is it your summation that as long as I believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the saints, then faith in Jesus is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition?

I understand some folks just like getting high on their own supply, but with all the declarative statements about missing the rapture or being found unworthy of being taken up because you want to point to that pesky Bible and say that it’s likely going to be a bit later than some people think, few consider what they will do, how they will react, and whether their faith will hold if their theory doesn’t pan out, and they’re still here with a front row seat to the festivities.

What happens to those who keep ignoring the signs of the times, believing they won’t be here for anything worse when worse materializes, and they’re still here, having to contend with the reality that maybe, just maybe, they took all the warnings in the Bible a bit too lightly, and chose to believe what amounted to the best possible outcome for their flesh?

It’s one thing to believe something different than someone else when it’s a non-salvific issue. It’s quite another to stipulate that if an individual does not believe as you do, they will not be allowed to enter the halls of heaven or be caught up with the saints into glory. Am I the only one seeing the difference?

We throw around these declarative statements as though our bloviating had no consequences. Well, if you don’t believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, I guess you’ll just get left behind. Says who? Says you? Did Jesus echo your statement? Did Jesus say something even remotely close to what you assert as gospel truth?

If you are insisting that to be caught up, you need to believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and not Jesus, you are preaching another gospel and not the gospel of Christ. Before we get too comfortable on our soap boxes, we should do some research into what awaits those who declare God said something without Him having said it.

I’ve never once said, nor have I heard anyone who holds to the position that we will be here for the events the Bible highlights as being part of the last days, say that if you don’t believe in a post-tribulation rapture, you won’t get caught up when Jesus appears in the clouds. Somehow, it’s always the ones on the other side of the argument that make these sweeping statements that have no biblical foundation or backing.

Sorry, sister Karen, just because you declare it does not make it so. Just because you insist that anyone who doesn’t fall in line with your delusions will be left behind to be taught a lesson that they should always obey sister Karen doesn’t make it true.

You can disregard the words of Jesus when He said he who endures to the end shall be saved, but don’t demonize those who hold to His word and prepare themselves to endure to the utmost. We can disagree on the timing, but when you start insisting that if I disagree with you, heaven is closed off to me forevermore, you are either wholly ignorant of the Word of God or have such a high opinion of yourself that you believe your declarations and God’s declarations are somehow interchangeable.

One way or the other, we will know the truth of it in short order. It costs me nothing to prepare for the eventuality that I may be persecuted and even martyred for my faith, something not wholly out of the realm of possibility since every other generation of believers up until this one endured similar ends, but it may cost those who do not prepare or purpose in their hearts to endure everything, because when the hammer drops and they’re standing between it and the anvil the primary human instinct for self-preservation will be to jump off the anvil. Especially if all your life you believed you were never supposed to be on the anvil looking up at a descending hammer to begin with.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.