The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his126/million2.arj/MILLION2.TXT

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MILLIONS DISAPPEAR!

FACT OR FICTION?

        The Bible's ability to accurately predict the future
sets it apart from all other books of any kind.  It prophesies
events in detail, hundreds of years (and sometimes thousands
of years) before they take place, and it has never been wrong
once.  This is not true of any other class of "sacred
literature" in the world, including the Hindu literature
(Shastras, Puranas, Tripitaka), the Buddhist literature
(Satons, Noble Eightfold Path), or the Moslem literature (the
Koran).  Prophets and prophetesses like Nostradamus, Edgar
Cayce, and Jeanne Dixon have occasionally made some
approximate "guesses" as to future events that came to pass,
but even 90% of these were based on passages in the Bible.
History written AHEAD OF TIME is proof that the Bible is not
the product of human nature or human intellect, but is given
by God.

        There is never any guesswork with the Holy Bible.
When it says a thing will take place, it will take place no
matter who does not believe it, or who tries to prevent it
from happening, or what means are used to prevent it.  The
prophecies of the First Coming of Jesus Christ were fulfilled
to the letter, and there were forty-eight of them that were
written on paper more than four hundred years before He was
born (see Zechariah 9:9; Micah 5:2; Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; and
Zechariah 11:12-13).  The odds of that happening by accident
are one out of ten to the 147th power: one with 147 zeroes
after it.  There are not that many ELECTRONS in two universes
the size of our known universe.

        Recent examples of prophetic fulfillment include
modern automobiles and tanks, which were prophesied more than
2,500 years before they showed up:

                 NAHUM 2:4
"The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one
against another in the broad ways:  they shall seem like
torches, they shall run like the lightnings."

                 ISAIAH 9:5
"For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and
garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and
fuel of fire."

        The United Nations was foretold at least 2,000 years
before it was formed:

                 ZEPHANIAH 3:8
"Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that
I rise up to the prey:  for my determination is to gather the
nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them
mine indignation, even all my fierce anger:  for all the earth
shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy."

        Israel's return to the land of Palestine (1917-1949)
was clearly written in the Bible at least 2,000 years before
it took place:

                EZEKIEL 34:13
"And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them
from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and
feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in
all the inhabited places of the country."

                EZEKIEL 37:25
"And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob
my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall
dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their
children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be
their prince for ever."

        The return of the Jews to their native homeland after
centuries of dispersion among the nations is one of the most
obvious proofs of Biblical authority and the providence of
God.  No other ancient nation has survived to our present day
with the same religion, practices, language, and sacred
literature, but the Hebrew people have been set apart by the
Lord as an example and a warning to the nations.  God controls
history, and when He so desires He changes politics to fulfill
His prophecies.  Jesus promised that this warning would come
just before the Second Coming:

        Luke 21:29 "And he spake to them a parable; Behold the
fig tree {Israel}, and all the trees;
        30 "When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your
own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
        31 "So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to
pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
        32 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not
pass away, till all be fulfilled."

        The generation was born in 1949 (when the UN
recognized the existence of the nation of Israel); this is the
last generation before "the kingdom of God" appears at the
Second Coming of Christ, which makes the reemergence of Israel
the most important and surprising event since the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ.

        This article is about the next great shocking event
which the Bible says will take place.  Christians usually
refer to it as "the Rapture," although this word is not found
in the Bible.  The dictionary defines a "rapture" as something
that takes one out of their ordinary senses and lifts them up
(or transports them over) into another "state of being,"
temporarily.  It simply means an experience whereby the ego is
drawn outside of the body into a state of enlightenment or
"bliss."  This term was adopted by Christians to describe a
physical event that the Holy Spirit said would take place in
regards to Christians.  (To understand the Bible use of the
word "Christian," see page 19).

        To understand the RAPTURE, one must read the Bible and
believe what it says.  There is no way to find the truth in
the Bible unless a person is honest himself when he reads it.
The Bible should not be forced into theological brackets which
some church or church leader set up.  Any church or any church
leader can twist the Bible to have it mean what they want it
to say by three simple tricks: 1. TAKING A VERSE OUT OF THE
CONTEXT.  2. ADDING WORDS TO THE TEXT OF THE WORD OF GOD.  3.
SUBTRACTING WORDS FROM THE TEXT OF THE WORD OF GOD.

        There are two main passages in Scripture which speak
directly of the Rapture.  Let's consider them:

        I Thessalonians 4:15 "For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
        16 "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
        17 "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
        18 "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

        I Corinthians 15:49 "And as we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
        50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption
inherit corruption.
        51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed,
        52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, art the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
        53 "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality.
        54 "So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory.
        55 "O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is
thy victory?"

        The Rapture is that sudden coming of Christ down into
the atmosphere to catch UP and catch AWAY a Body of believers
who compose what the Bible calls "His BRIDE."

        The Rapture is clearly explained in the New Testament.

            -- I --

        There will be a flash of light like a cobalt bomb
going off:

        Matthew 24:27: "For as the lightning cometh out of the
east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be."

        Psalm 50:1  "The mighty God, even the LORD, hath
spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto
the going down thereof.
        2 "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath
shined....
        4 "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the
earth, that he may judge his people.
        5 "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have
made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

           -- II --

        There will be a clap of thunder like a hundred nuclear
bombs exploding simultaneously:

        Job 37:1 "At this also my heart trembleth, and is
moved out of his place.
        2 "Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the
sound that goeth out of his mouth.
        3 "He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his
lightning unto the ends of the earth.
        4 "After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the
voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his
voice is heard."

        John 12:28 "Father, glorify thy name.  Then came there
a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and
will glorify it again.
        29 "The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it,
said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him."

           -- III --

        The peal of a trumpet will accompany this thunder:

        I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first:"
        I Corinthians 15:52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed."

            -- IV --

        In this peal every born again Christian on earth will
HEAR HIS NAME CALLED (John 10:3), followed by "COME UP
HITHER":

        Revelation 4:1 "After this I looked, and, behold, a
door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard
was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come
up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be
hereafter.
        2 "And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a
throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."

        Revelation 11:12 "And they heard a great voice from
heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.  And they ascended up
to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them."

             -- V --

        "...and the dead in Christ shall rise first..."  (I
Thessalonians 4:16)  Out of the graveyards and from the ocean
and the battlefields of this world the bodies of saved sinners
will come back together, atom to atom and molecule to
molecule, as glorified bodies of "FLESH AND BONES" with no
BLOOD in them (Luke 24:39; I Corinthians 15:50).

             -- VI --

        "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them..." (I Thesslonians 4:17).  As the dead in
Christ are caught up above the fifty thousand foot level, the
living saved sinners will suddenly be transformed.  They will
lose their blood (I Corinthians 15:50), and their bodies will
be made like unto Christ's heavenly body (I Corinthians 15:42-
49; I John 3:2).  Their atomic structures will be changed so
that the bodies can pass through solid objects (Luke 24:31;
John 20:19), and travel faster than the speed of light (John
20:17; and Matthew 28:9--Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and
returned to earth in less than a few hours).  These
transformed Christians will be caught up WITH the resurrected
saints in the air (I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

             -- VII --

        These glorified bodies will leave the Solar System
faster than the speed of light and be carried up straight
NORTH (Psalm 75:6-7; Psalm 48:1-3; Ezekiel 1:1-4; II
Corinthians 12:1-4) into the Throne Room (Revelation 4:1-5)
where the ESSENCE of God's Presence inhabits "ETERNITY"
(Isaiah 57:15).

        There they will face "THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST," to
be rewarded for their good works as Christians and to suffer
loss of rewards for their bad deeds as Christians (I
Corinthians 3:11-15; II Corinthians 5:10).  This judgment has
nothing to do with anybody trying to find out whether they are
saved or lost.  These resurrected sinners have GOD'S
RIGHTEOUSNESS--the Lord Jesus Christ, God's own Son--and their
works have no effect on their salvation one way or another.
(More information on this will be given later in this
article.)  At the Judgment Seat of Christ they are dealt with
about their SERVICE for the Lord AFTER THEY WERE SAVED.  The
Rapture, therefore, has no connection with "Judgment Day" or
"The Last Judgment."  They are not even related.

        So far we have discussed with the Rapture is, who will
be involved in it, and what it is not.  The next question is,
When will it occur?

        The Lord tells man ahead of time what He is going to
do, and even gives advanced warning as to when He will do it:

        ISAIAH 48:3 "I have declared the former things from
the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I
shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass....
        5 "I have even from the beginning declared it to thee;
before it came to pass I shewed it thee....
        6 "...I have shewed thee new things from this time,
even hidden things, and thou didst not know them."

        One way God has given us of measuring time allows us
to make a very close guess about when the Rapture will take
place.  True, it will still be only a "guess," but it will be
very, very close.  This is a Biblical system in which the Holy
Spirit Himself established His own rules for interpretation.
This system is called "The Thousand Year--Day system" and it
is given in II Peter 3:8.

        II Peter 3:8 "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day."

        This Biblical passage is the key that interprets
Leviticus 23.

        Leviticus 23:3 "Six days shall work be done: but the
seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye
shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all
your dwellings."

        If you follow the pattern given here and apply the
Thousand Year--Day System, you see that man has to be here
6000 years, and then the last period of 1000 years HAS TO BE A
"SABBATH" OF REST (see Genesis 2:1-3).  This sabbath of rest,
lasting a thousand years (Latin: "MILLENNIUM"), is mentioned
SIX times in one chapter (Revelation 20:1-8).  The "WHOLE
EARTH IS AT REST" in Isaiah 14:7 after Satan is put down.

        One of many scientific evidences available for these
dates above is population growth rate.  It has been calculated
that an average growth of only one-half % per year, which is
only one-fourth the present rate, would still yield the
present population in just 4,000 years.  A full explanation of
this and other scientific data can be found in THE COLLAPSE OF
EVOLUTION by Scott M. Huse, SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE by Henry
Morris, THERMODYNAMICS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORDER by Emmett
Williams and many more.

        According to the figures, dates, and ages given in
Genesis through I Kings, the period of time that extends from
Genesis 2 (the creation of man) to the birth of Christ
(Matthew 1) is four thousand years, or very near it.  (Most
calendars would indicate that Adam's creation should be dated
4004 B.C., making the birth of Christ actually 4 years early,
in order words, 4 B.C.)

        The first coming was in Bethlehem four thousand years
after Adam was created, and nearly two thousand years have
elapsed since the birth of Christ.  That places us virtually
at the six thousand year mark, and on the threshold of the
Millennium, or the seventh and final one thousand year period.

        The Bible also declares that in the last days "MANY
SHALL RUN TO AND FRO..." (Daniel 12:4).  Until the 1800's the
horse was the fastest means of travel and in less than two
hundred years we have 100 mph trains, automobiles, supersonic
aircraft and have spacecraft to take men to the moon in a few
days.  And "knowledge shall be increased" (Daniel 12:4).  This
increase has brought about the radio, television, radar,
computers, laser technology, and the list grows daily (see any
of the current scientific publications).

        Doesn't the following passage describe our present
society?

        II Timothy 3:1 "This know also, that in the last days
perilous times shall come.
        2 "For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy,
        3 "Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are
good,
        4 "Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God...."

        Obviously, time on God's clock is running out.  (To be
included before time runs out, continue reading.)  The Rapture
is the next great event on God's calendar.  But can anyone
determine the exact year and day?

        In 1988, a man named Whisenant wrote a book called 88
REASONS WHY THE RAPTURE WILL TAKE PLACE IN 1988.  This work
did untold damage because it destroyed the faith of thousands
of Christians in the Rapture.  When the Lord Jesus did not
show up that September to call his Bride out, many Christians
dumped the Bible doctrine of the Rapture and went back to
their old humanitarian ways: "making the world a better
place."  They lost their "vision," their faith in the promises
of God.  They quit "running the race" (see Hebrews 12:1-4).

        Though we cannot determine the actual day or hour
(Matthew 24:36), we can identify "THE TIMES AND THE SEASONS"
(I Thessalonians 5:1), and be prepared for it.  The Scriptures
that deal with the Rapture place it at the most logical time
any resurrection would occur: IN THE SPRINGTIME of Israel
(Song of Solomon 2:11-13).  The Rapture is most likely to
happen on the Jewish feast day of Pentecost, for that is the
day the Holy Spirit initially put the believers into one Body
as a part of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had gone back to
heaven about seven days earlier (Acts 2:1-4).  This Jewish
feast day comes fifty days after the Passover, which would put
it in late May or early June.  Genesis 24:61-67 describes this
great event prophetically.  The GENTILE BRIDES of Isaac,
Joseph, and Solomon all picture the Bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ, composed of saved heathen (Gentiles), and it is this
call to the marriage (see Matthew 25:1-4) that is about to
take place.

        In this Old Testament passage, a conversation between
the beloved (Jesus Christ) and His bride (the church)
indicates a springtime Rapture.

        Song of Solomon 2:10 "My beloved spake, and said unto
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
        11 "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and
gone;
        12 "The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard
in our land;
        13 "The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the
vines with the tender grape give a good smell,  Arise, my
love, my fair one, and come away."

        When the Rapture occurs, you will either leave this
planet bodily, going straight up in the air faster than the
speed of light, or you will be left exactly as you are now--a
human being stuck in a material world that is heading into the
greatest disaster in history.  That world is described in
Revelation 6 through 19.  It is a world controlled by ONE
DICTATOR whom the Bible calls "THE MAN OF SIN, THE SON OF
PERDITION," and the "ANTICHRIST."  In that world you cannot
buy gas for your car, or milk for your baby, without taking
the number 666.  In preparation for the Tribulation, this
number is already on license plates, on items you buy in
grocery stores, and it is being placed on charge cards and on
the products of the largest manufacturing companies.  In this
"brave new world," whole populaces will be DRUGGED and
attacked by MUTATIONS and MONSTERS (Revelation 9) and TWO
WORLD WARS will annihilate over half the population of the
earth (Revelation 6, 19).

        These troubles, and all of the disasters mentioned in
the book of Revelation, are soon to jump off the pages of the
Scriptures and into the headlines of every newspaper.  What
the Bible says about the future is not "symbolic," or
"figurative," but is a sincere forewarning to you from the
Lord Himself.  The information given in this booklet has been
carefully prepared, directly from the Bible, as an urgent
message to prepare you to meet the Lord Jesus at His Coming.

                   II PETER 1:16
"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we
made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ...."

        Those of you who read this article are faced with a
choice: to respect and believe what the Bible says about the
future, or to reject the word of God as unimportant and ignore
what the Lord has tried to tell you.  Ultimately, your fate is
entirely up to you, whether you wish to be part of the Rapture
and go directly to heaven with Jesus Christ, or whether you
wish to remain on the earth through the Tribulation without
Christ, lost in your sins, and hell-bound.

        The final question, then, is this:  Which future do
you prefer?

        1.  Living with God in a perfect universe forever.

        These are the only two options presented in the Bible,
and the Bible (unlike you and I) has never been wrong about
anything.

        If you wish to live with God, then you have to accept
His terms.  If the Rapture has not yet taken place, then you
are presented with the Gospel of the grace of God, or what we
call "the plan of salvation."

        Since you as a human being cannot make yourself holy
("Not by works of righteousness which we have done..." Titus
3:5), the Lord is ready to give you His Righteousness instead.
His Righteousness is contained in Jesus Christ, who went to
the Cross "to be sin for us...that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him" (II Corinthians 5:21).  If you
receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then you receive perfect
Righteousness and perfect Holiness so that you can please God
and be acceptable in His sight.  Any other attempt to gain
God's acceptance will not work--all other "religions" or
"lifestyles" will fail, and even ignoring the subject is no
protection.  God now commands all men, everywhere, to repent
(Acts 17:30).  That means you have to give up your old way of
thinking and living and turn to God.  The Bible says, "For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved"
(Romans 10:13).  That is the invitation in THIS age.  Jesus
said, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John
6:37).  "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn
the world; but that the world through him might be saved"
(John 3:17).  There is no "church" involved, there are no
"good works" involved, there is nothing you can do to improve
yourself and no way you can save yourself; you must trust
Jesus Christ alone, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

        You say, "How do I do that?"

        It is very simple.  Wherever you are this minute, (it
doesn't make any difference where), bow your head and pray
this simple prayer:

        "Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and unless you save
me I am lost forever.  I come to you now, the best way I know
how, and ask you to save me.  I receive you as my Saviour and
trust you to justify me and present me without fault before
God's throne in the day of Judgment."

        You say, "It can't be that simple!"

        "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise..." (I Corinthians 1:27).  The Lord has
made salvation simple enough to be understood by a little
child:  "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven" (Matthew 18:3).  IT IS that simple.

        If you pray like that, with a simple, childlike faith,
meaning it from the heart, you will have made the greatest
decision of your life--to choose God.

        No one knows for sure when the Rapture will take
place.  Be prepared now.  "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).  Believe on Him NOW,
before the Rapture, before it is too late.

        If you now receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your
Saviour, don't be ashamed, tell someone: "...Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (Romans 10:11) and
write to us of your decision.

       FACT OR FICTION?
       P.O. Box 7135
       Pensacola, Florida 32514

        For further help or information please call:

     1-800-726-4631