There Will Be No Rapture Tonight

 GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

I am writing this post on Friday, May 20, at about 8:00 p.m. local time which, if I'm not mistaken, makes it about 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 at the international date line. In a little less than 4 hours, according to Harold Camping, the rapture will begin. A huge earthquake will start moving east, crossing each time zone at 6:00 p.m. standard time, leaving open graves in its wake. The righteous dead will be raised and taken to heaven. The corpses of the unrighteous will be left exposed. The righteous living will be taken from this world directly into heaven. The rest of us will be "left behind" to face horrible tribulations.

I will be asleep.

I fully expect to wake up in the morning to find that none of Mr. Camping's predictions have come true. I don't believe in the rapture.

The doctrine of the rapture is based in a faulty reading of Scripture. Those who believe the doctrine live either in fear or false hope. It encourages speculations like those of Harold Camping. It distracts from the real and vital work that Christians should be about in this world.

I've mentioned the Scripture Principle ("Scripture interprets Scripture) several times in these blog posts. The Scripture Principle means that we should not be troubled by the difficult parts of the Bible. Rather we should cling to those that are clear.

If you, my reader, are worried by Harold Camping's strange interpretations of parts of the Bible that are not clear to you, cling instead to this:

 Psalm 46:1-11
¹ God is our refuge and strength,
     a very present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear,
     though the earth should change,
     though the mountains shake
        in the heart of the sea;
³ though its waters roar and foam,
     though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
                  Selah
⁴ There is a river whose streams
      make glad the city of God,
        the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of the city;
     it shall not be moved;
         God will help it when the morning dawns.
⁶ The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
        he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
     the God of Jacob is our refuge.
               Selah
⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord;
     see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
     he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God!
     I am exalted among the nations,
          I am exalted in the earth."
¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
      the God of Jacob is our refuge.
               Selah



Good night and God bless you.




Scripture quotation is from the New Revised Standard Version. I found the picture of the cross here.