I Want To Be Left Behind!

When I first heard about the popular series "Left Behind" it was already too late. I would have purchased one of the left behind domain names and put a big banner across the top of the page saying just what you see above. Now to explain why.

When talking with someone who mentions that they are looking forward to the rapture I have to agree, I am also looking forward to it. However I ask them who gets removed first from the field in the parable of the wheat and the tares? The usual response is that they don't think the parable applies to the rapture. There are a number of opinions about what is to happen and in what order. Most of this opinion and activity comes from only a couple verses that only partly describe these events. The rapture events as taught do not harmonize with many verses concerning the end times. Read the article on the new heaven and new earth for an example. The following verses are an example of what is found in that article.

Proverbs 10:30 "The righteous will never be removed, But the wicked will not inhabit the earth."

Proverbs 2:22 "But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it."

Psalm 37:22 "For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, But those cursed by Him shall be cut off."

Proverbs 11:31 "Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!"

Psalm 37:9 - 11 "For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on Yahweh, They shall inherit the earth. 10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."

Next are the scriptures that appear to not specify who it is that is taken and who is left. It has been assumed that the righteous person was being removed. Read on and see.

Matthew 24:40-41 Then two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Luke 17:34-37 I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed, the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two shall be grinding together, one will be taken, and the other left.
36 Two shall be in the field, one will be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Matthew 24:40-41 does not specify, however Luke 17:34-37 very much does specify who is taken. In verse 37 the apostles ask where the one is taken. Eagles are scavengers and apparently where the body of the one is taken is found by scavengers.

Now consider who was taken away in the following verse. Also note what happened to the righteous. They were kept in the area, but kept safe. They rose above and then were placed on the land to start fresh.

Matthew 24:38-39
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen 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 that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

When you take the above verses from Matthew and Thessalonians together there is a harmony. As Noah was in a boat that rose up and then came back down to the ground, the same could happen with the 1 Thessalonians 4 description. Remember while Noah was in the the boat those who were evil were the ones taken away. There are many verses that would not come true if there was no return if we actually meet in the clouds and we just hung around in the clouds for eternity. This includes the need for a new earth and the description of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to the earth.

There are some who believe that the language of "caught up" and "meet the Lord in the air" could mean that we are gathered together to meet him while he is in the air and we are on the ground. I do not have any objection to this idea. It really could be the difference of fully understanding the meaning in the translation.

Matthew 13:49 "So shall it be at the end of the age: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just"

Zephaniah 2:3, 12 "Seek Yahweh, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord's anger.
12 I will leave in your midst A meek and humble people, And they shall trust in the name of Yahweh."


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