Raptures In The Movies

[NyawehNyoh]

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I've watched a number of films pertaining to the Rapture and every one of them left out the part where the remains of 2,000 years of deceased Christians from all over the globe will be restored to life. (1Thess 4:14-17)

The films also left out the part where Jesus' followers rise into the air to meet him. Instead the films showed them here one second and gone the next, but I rather suspect the event should be easily observed all 'round the world if it proceeds as described in 1Thess 4:13-17 because 2,000 years of deceased believers from all over the globe added to the world's current believers, will likely construct a flash mob resembling a mini Oort Cloud when they all levitate together at one time to rendezvous with the Lord up in the sky.

The mob is likely to get pretty noisy too what with all the cheering, laughing, and shouting that's sure to take place when Jesus' followers receive their new bodies; which of course will be immune to death and the aging process. (1Cor 15:51-53)

* The "blink" element of the rapture pertains to the miraculous transformation that Jesus' followers will undergo during the event. (1Cor 15:51-52)

The films also showed tiny children being taken while their parents are left behind. That's highly doubtful because minors have often been collateral damage in the Bible when God slammed their parents, e.g. zero children survived the Flood, and 120,00 would've been lost had God found it necessary to follow thru with His threat to annihilate Nineveh. (Jonah 4:11)

One of the films depicted a Christian pastor left behind and to him it was no mystery. He frankly admitted to being a career minister rather than a called minister, i.e. he was a man of business rather than a man of faith. In real life, there will likely be quite a few like him miss the cut because numbers of men coming out of seminaries take up the cloth as a career rather than due to a longing to be of use to Christ.

I once heard a retired pastor say on radio that if the rapture were to occur Saturday, quite a few churches would have no members missing Sunday morning. That's a strong possibility as some card-carrying, church-attending Christians, are so because it rounds out the week and it looks good on a social resumé.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Sheep are pretty good at bonding with their shepherd. For example Jesus said:

● John 10:3-6 . .The sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.

Now if I'm reading that right, it appears to me that Jesus' sheep need not fret themselves wondering who to follow. No, when they hear his voice, they each know for themselves he's the one without needing somebody to point him out.

It's interesting that the sheep seem not to go by facial recognition, nor are they guided by the clothes their shepherd has on. No, it's his voice that connects with them.

Sheep aren't the only ones. There's a raccoon that comes thru our backyard whom I've routinely fed and watered for a number of years. Even after all this time that critter still keeps a wary eye on me until I speak to it with the words: "Hey little coon, don't bite me." Then it calms right down.

Not surprising the rapture per 1Thess 4:13-18 is voice-activated. It won't begin to unfold till Christ begins shouting. I suspect not everyone on earth will react because only his own are attuned to his voice. No doubt people around them will be puzzled why all of a sudden they're looking up.
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[Jaime]

To me being "caught up" in the twinkling of an eye strongly indicates the catching up is "done TO" those being raptured, it requires no answering a voice, it seems to me.

[NyawehNyoh]

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I must be slow witted because I realized only just this day that everybody unified with Christ will be in the rapture, nobody among his own are going to miss it.

Those still alive at time won't be taken up as early birds. No, the living will have to wait till the deceased are restored to life first and then all together take the elevator in unison, i.e. at the same time-- none will go ahead and none will fall behind.

Just about everybody in the modern world knows there's such a thing as the rapture, but does everybody in the modern world know why there's a rapture at all? Well, it's basically an evacuation.

For example Rev 16:17-18 predicts a global earthquake so powerful on the Richter scale that cities all over the world will collapse at once.

Something like 2,829 lost their lives when the World Trade Center was demolished by a terrorist attack in 2001. Well that was only a few acres of New York City. Just imagine the body count when all of Manhattan comes down at once. along with other major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, et al. The carnage will be beyond belief; and that's just one of the many life-threatening events set to take place.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Heaven? Not Interested.

It's an alien world with which I am totally unfamiliar; and when I leave here, I will be leaving behind everything near and dear to me, e.g. photos, mementos, souvenirs, collections, sights and sounds, mountains, creeks, rivers and forests, clothing and equipment, tools, landmarks, entertainment, hobbies, my spouse, BFF, and my aging Ford Ranger pick-up truck, etc, etc.

The culture shock tsunami of leaving all that I know & love and going to a foreign land where I know & love nothing at all, is not my idea of a good time. Personally; I dread the thought of having to start all over again from scratch.

NOTE: I've heard tell of folks thoroughly unable to form attachments to anything, to anybody, nor to any place. When they leave this life, they will leave nothing behind of sentimental value; nothing in the least, nothing at all. It's like they lived their entire lives as turnips and carrots instead of sentient beings.

For many of us working stiffs, the first day on a new job is stressful and quite an adjustment. The night before that first day can cause enough anxiety to keep us awake worrying about what to expect.

I'd imagine that, whether we end up in the right place or the wrong place in the afterlife, we will be just as stressed on our first day there as the first day here on a new job.

The anxiety associated with death is to be expected seeing as how most of us have no experience at all with that particular journey. But much of my own anxiety in regards to death is related to what comes after. Pity there are no guide books available in print to prepare us in advance for the adjustment folks are required to undergo as they struggle to fit into Heaven's (or Hell's) way of life.

* The one thing I do look forward to in Heaven is the possibility of a library where everything to know about the cosmos is stored. Carl Sagan would've loved a library like that because he went to his grave with a lot of unanswered questions. But now they'll never be answered because Carl was, at best, an agnostic, and at worst, an atheist.
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