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It's The Rapture and it is all the rage these days. The Rapture comes from the last book of the New Testament called the Book of Revelation, where the "End Times" is described. The first indicator that the "End Times" is here comes with the sudden disappearance, or the lifting up to heaven, of all true believers. Those that aren't taken will be left behind to suffer the consequences of "The Tribulation," a seven-year period, the last 3 and a half years of which will contain great suffering and devastation. How close are we to the End Times? For daily updates, check in with The Rapture Index http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html It is the creation of webmaster Todd Strandberg who calls it a "Dow Jones Industrial Average of End Time activity." Strandberg keeps track of the indicators - just how bad things are on earth.The Rapture Index is based on a number of categories or "indicators": Bible-related categories include False Christs, Satanism, the Mark of the Beast and The Anti-Christ; secular-based include stats on unemployment, inflation, interest rates, and oil prices; and then, there are your natural disasters - earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and drought. All of these combined make up the Rapture Index.
"You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture." And, according to Strandberg, anytime the Rapture Index hits above 145: "Fasten your seat belt." Letters, we send letters… Recently an enterprising outfit called Rapture Letters (http://www.raptureletters.com/index.html), has added a new wrinkle to The Rapture industry. It wants to deliver your final message to your loved ones after you have been raptured. So, if your loved one disappears one day, don't immediately rush to call the police. You might find out more by heading for your computer and checking your email. If your loved one has been carried off in The Rapture there could be an email message - sent the first Friday after the Rapture - waiting for you. Rapture Letters is a service aimed at those who are convinced that when the Rapture comes they will be included. Rapture Letters will send the following message to your loved ones, free of charge (donation accepted): Dear Friend; This message has been sent to you by a friend or a relative who has recently disappeared along with millions and millions of people around the world. The reason they chose to send you this letter is because they cared about you and would like you to know the truth about where they went. This may come as a shock to you, but the one who sent you this has been taken up to heaven. If you read a Bible, you will see that after chapter three in the book of Revelation, the church is no longer mentioned as being on earth. (The church are the believers in Jesus Christ, not the buildings in which people meet.) In the Bible, 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 16 and 17 tell how Jesus came to take away His church. But, you have to believe the Bible is the Word of God in order to believe this. I am sure that there will be a lot of speculation as to what happened to all these people. The theories of some scientists and world leaders will have so much credibility that most of the world will believe them. It will sound like the truth! But, there is only one truth. And, that truth is that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came back to earth and took with Him to Heaven all who believed in Him and made Him their Lord. If you would like to give your life to Jesus Christ and be born again, it is not too late. First you must pray to God saying "Father I admit I am a sinner, and I will turn from my sin and do good. I believe that Jesus was your son and that He came here to die for me so that my sins would be forgiven. I ask you to forgive me and I will repent of my sins. In Jesus name I pray." If you just prayed that prayer and meant it with all your heart, then God will know you as one of His own. You should now seek out others who have also given their lives to Christ, read a Bible daily, and do your best to bring others to Christ. God bless you. One of the thornier questions about this surrogate-letter-sending-business is who will be sending these Rapture Letters? And, how will that person/those people know it's time for the messages to be sent? Who has the Rapture roster? One web blogger responding to the idea writes that the company is probably using "a program like Dead Man's Switch, which does something irreversible unless you're around to hit a button every week. As always, this opens up the possibility that one week the person in charge is just going to forget to hit the button, making it look like…the Rapture happened but nobody got taken." The last thing we want or need in these times is a phony Rapture scare! And, if it's someone related to the company itself, are we to assume that person isn't saved enough to have been raptured? Will people who expect to be raptured want to trust their fate to the unraptured? And what happens to the folks who are so sure of their raptured status that they order the service and then find themselves left behind? Will their loved ones receive a false rapture-positive e-mail? Is this an employment opportunity for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or non-believers? Rapture stuff is serious business any way you look at it. For the religiously inclined, it's a ticket to ride and ride and ride. For the entrepreneurial inclined amongst us, it is another glorious opportunity. The rest of us will be around to pick up the pieces. |
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Time magazine gets into the apocalypse hype fueled by Christian groups 
A scene from the film Left Behind, which details the end times as written by Tim LaHaye