Hi John,
My position regarding the rapture is just exactly as both Jesus and Paul explained it to us. When God tells the angels that it is time for the harvest Jesus will come first and two will be in the field, one will be taken and the other remain. On that day, just as lightening is seen from the east to the west, we shall all see him in his glorious appearing and the trump of the archangel will sound and with a shout the Lord, my Savior, will call all those who have believed in him and whose names are found in his Book of Life will rise, many from the grave and some living upon the earth at that time. We will rise as a cloud of joyous and grateful believers who have waited patiently and steadfast for that day. Remember that Jesus told us, when we see all these things happening that we were to look up for our salvation draws near. We will have been busy doing the work that God the Father of all those who love His Son has established for us to do since the beginning of the creation, but when we see the Lord and hear the trump we will rise to meet him in the air and be carried off to safety as the wrath of God begins to roll over all of the earth.
That is what I believe about that day of which both my Lord and my brother Paul foretold to me. Oh, friend, there will be a rapture and it will be a day of great joy for those who are caught up in it and a day of great sorrow, fear and trembling for all those who remain upon he earth. Then, the angels will harvest all of the earth as it is told to us by both Jesus and John.
In the writings of Matthew and what we account as chapter 13 Jesus tells a parable to the people now known as the parable of the weeds. After telling the people the parable without any explanation to them, Jesus is later in the quiet company of his disciples and he fully explains the true meaning of the parable.
"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."
Then again John writes to us of the exact same event in the Revelation in what we now understand as chapter 14.
I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Oh, my dear loved one, God's word is true and He has not left us without a testimony of all that is to come upon the earth. Notice in the explanation of John in the Revelation given to him by Jesus' angel what was made known to him by the Father.
First one looking like the Son of Man comes with his sickle and harvests the righteous from the earth, then a second angel harvests all that remains and throws them into the winepress of the Father's wrath. Read very carefully. There are two who hold sickles. One the Son of Man and if we tie the two accounts together as explaining the same event we know then that those who are harvested by the Son of Man seated on he cloud will receive their reward of righteousness. The second harvest by the angel holding the sharper sickly, (could that be because it will be needed to cut down much much more material?), will be cast into the winepress of God's wrath. This will be after the days of the great tribulation of the Antichrist which will be visited upon both the righteous and the unrighteous. Exactly what Jesus told his disciples privately some 2000 years ago.
God bless you.
In Christ, Ted
