Hello, 2002!
Hello, 2002!
Dear friends:
Well, here it is -- the year of our Lord 2002, and we are still here. The rapture has not happened yet, but don’t give up, "because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11, NIV). In fact, it may be extremely near.
Millions of expectant believers throughout the world are surprised that it has not already happened. That is because many knowledgeable Bible students have seen indications in the Scriptures that the rapture is so close. But instead of lamenting that another year has passed and the Lord has not come, let us rejoice that we are one year closer!
And we may not have to wait too much longer. In addition to scriptural indications, there have also been reported divine encounters and revelations pointing to a soon rapture. For examples:
1. As reported by Dr. Neil Lipkin, a New Zealand pastor with whom he has been in communication said he had a visitation from the Lord in November 2000, saying the Lord told him that the last sign before the rapture will be the "removal" of Yassir Arafat (no clarification of what the word "removal" means). See http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/newzealandpastor.html. He added that after Arafat’s removal, there will be great turmoil among the Palestinians, during which time the rapture will occur. (The turmoil will no doubt be different groups vying for power.)
2. Both Dr. Lipkin and his wife have themselves had very recent supernatural confirmations of the Lord’s soon return. See http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/lipkin.html and http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/lipkin112001.html
3. There is the case of the 19-year-old son, Ronnie, of Rev. Ron
Patterson, who also describes a dramatic visitation from the Lord in September 2000. See
http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/ronnie.html
http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/ronnie2.html
http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/ronnieupdate.html.
I do not have the space here to repeat that story, but if you have read the above, you may be interested in a further update I received from Rev. Patterson just the other day. In view of Ronnie’s learning disability and greater-than-normal time needed to learn to drive, Rev. Patterson said he recently asked his son how much longer will it be that it would not have been worth his time to learn to drive. Since it would have taken him about a year to get his license -- that is, until the Fall of 2001 -- Ronnie’s response to that question would carry us until the Fall of 2002, or anytime in between. And based on his September 2000 experience, Ronnie is so excited about the Lord’s return and seeing Him, nothing else matters to him now. He is a totally changed person.
4. Rev. Patterson is also a good friend of Dr. Richard Eby and flies to California to see him and speak in his church just about every month. See my November 7, 2001 update on Dr. Eby at http://www.oocities.org/bramlett2000/updates2001/ebyupdate.html. I cannot take the space to include the information here, but various people believe at or about the end of Dr. Eby’s recent (October) "word" of "three weeks" there was, indeed, a history changing event, though maybe not noticeable to the world, and only for those who have spiritual eyes to see. Rev. Patterson believes God visited Dr. Eby again in late October, 2001 to encourage him and remind him of his promise to him many years ago, because Eby is very ill and appears to not have much longer to live. According to Eby’s decades-old testimony, the rapture will occur before he dies. That visitation, says Ron, now widely reported, was also to alert all of us.
5. Korean pastor Yoo Ang Son is in the hospital in Los Angeles, with lung cancer. On December 22, she had seven visions of Jesus, and she believes He revealed to her that she would be alive at the rapture, as with Dr. Eby.
Let us not lose patience, because "The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent" (2 Peter 3:9, NLT).
We see through a glass darkly. Our understanding is always imperfect. However, we know from the Bible that by the signs, seeking believers would know at least the approximate time of the end of the age. So I do not believe we have been far off target.
The principle sign is that of ISRAEL, God’s clock. Surely, the rebirth of Israel in 1948 after some 2,000 years, the Six-day War in 1967 and recapture of Jerusalem, the fact that all the nations of the world are hostile toward Israel’s possession of the covenant land, or just Israel in general, and recent dramatic events there are major signs, having been foretold by the ancient prophets.
In addition, the fact that we are at the end of 6,000 years (six millennial days) and at the beginning of the seventh (Sabbath) millennium of biblical history seems profoundly significant. This ancient six- (millennial) days-of-man idea is valid, in my opinion. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8). We know that six is the number of man, and six millennia are probably the length of man’s earth lease. By the way, the other day I heard a prominent pastor say that Bethlehem is six miles from Jerusalem, and as best I can tell my Bible map agrees. That is interesting because Bethlehem marks the beginning of the Son of Man’s journey as God incarnate, and Jerusalem the marks the end of His journey as man, at the cross. Six miles in between, all as man. It sounds symbolic to me, and possibly confirmation of man’s 6,000 years.
It can be no accident that the end of six millennia has occurred at about the very same time in history as the sign of Israel mentioned above. That the two coincide now, in all of history, seems to scream for our attention. Plus, there are many other converging signs, which Billy Graham said is happening for the first time in history. In the March-April, 1994 issue of Zion’s Fire magazine, author Don Bishop listed 167 clues that God has given… "so that we who are of the light will know the times and seasons when He is right at the door."
Unless all the above, individually and collectively, are sheer coincidence and random events, without significance, and at the same time the reported divine encounters are illusory or deceptions, all of which seem inconceivable, we are definitely in a final countdown on God’s schedule for history.
Another sign is the scoffers. But they are actually an encouragement because they are a fulfillment of prophecy: "There shall come in the last days scoffers…saying, ‘where is the promise of his coming?’" (2 Peter 3:3-4).
As to the rapture, events are happening so rapidly it could literally be any day. Because it will be "as in the days of Noah" (before the feast days were given), I have never felt that it necessarily had to be on a Jewish feast day. Maybe, maybe not. If yes, the Spring feasts are the next good window. If not, it may be today.
As to exact scenario and sequence of events, there are different opinions, and we can only go by what we see in the Scriptures. Let us continue to pray for wisdom and understanding of God’s Word.
There is one thing I know that I know that I know, all other factors notwithstanding. God’s plan is perfect, good, and based on His chief attribute -- love. When it is all over, we will marvel at His wisdom and love, and praise Him with all our hearts. In the end, that is all that is important.
In the meantime, we occupy, we walk in faith, love and obedience, and we declare His reality and love to a sick and dying world. Personally, I want the Word to become more and more alive in me. I have purposed to not be moved by what I see, not by what I feel, nor not be what I hear, but only by what God’s Word says about me. I want to personify Paul’s Words: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Amen.
By faith, let us begin praising God now for His great and glorious plan.
We also must keep watching, as Jesus commanded. He’s coming.
Jim