The Great Snatch Series

1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18

A Strong Delusion – Part 3

There are some scary verses in the Bible to me. Probably the most impacting is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 which says, “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

There are many people who have been deceived by the major religious denominations, such as, the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian Church’s along with seminaries and pulpits. Our Holy God refers to us as sheep – His sheep. He wants us to be taught His Word in Truth. He instructs others who want to serve Him by teaching that it is a great responsibility and the following warnings are leveled;

1 Timothy 1:3, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,”

1 Timothy 1: 7, “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”

2 Timothy 4: 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.”

Revelation 22, “18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

Some people believe that if they join a certain religious establishment then they are in the right spot for eternal life. This is not so. I believe that the church leadership has been duped into fostering the wrong information called the ‘Rapture’ and are un-wittingly leading people astray.

We have been discussing a church doctrine that was invented in the 1800’s credited to a man named Nelson Darby. He proposed that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is returning to earth in two phrases. He will first of all come back from heaven secretly [like a thief] and silently take His Church out of this world. Christians will vanish or disappear all of a sudden one day soon. They will be ‘Raptured’ or ‘Caught Up’ above the earth in space to meet our Lord Jesus. He will then take His own back to Heaven for seven years while He let’s loose all hell on earth to those left behind. This wrath is referred to as the Great Tribulation. At the end of seven years the Lord will return [Part B] for real to the earth which is called His Second Coming.

Let me ask you this question, ‘How many of you have shared your faith?’ Have you ever been blessed to lead a person to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, have you then invited that person to join you at church? Have you shared or the Pastor taught that we are soon going to get beamed out of here? They have now heard that our Lord Jesus Christ is going to mysteriously and secretly snatch us out of here. In a blink of an eye we will disappear. All our clothes will just be left in a heap. A lot of vehicles and other forms of transportation will be unmanned.

What has been your observation to other individual’s reactions? Did they just think to themselves, ‘ what did I get myself into?’ What group of nuts have I joined? Did you somehow think it strange that they all of a sudden can’t come with you to church anymore?.

The bible says in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 this, “12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” If we as Pastors just let the Word of God speak for itself it will bear much fruit in the lives of God’s children. Our Holy Lord does not need all these ‘Brainaics’ to interpret what He has said in His Word. He does not keep secrets from us and in which only gifted people can understand. He didn’t wait until the 1800’s to reveal what He will do in the future.