No 2

(Rapture identified and explained)

The End Times begin with the rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ. In this event, all believers, both alive and dead will meet the the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds and we shall be with Him forever 1 Thes 4 :13 - 17. This will, as you can imagine, throw the world into an uproar; people will think that all Believers were kidnapped by extra-terresterials or whatever and will begin to join forces to fight these invading aliens; just like in the movie Independence Day. This world-wide reaction that I talk about is all speculation, of course but the rapture will definitely be an event of gargantuan proportions.

Now, the Rapture of the Church is not to be confused with the events in Revelation 19: 11-21 where Jesus comes riding a white horse and is called The King of kings and Lord of lords. All the saints will follow Him and He will defeat the Anti-Christ who has taken over the world. These are two separate events; the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be in two stages with a certain lapse of time between each stage, In the first stage, Jesus will “snatch” us away secretly in the clouds. The words “caught up” used in 1 Thess 4 :17 means to steal or snatch as a robber; the word is “arpazw” harpazo in Greek and it means to snatch or to steal. In the second stage, He will come to conquer Anti-Christ and will usher in the Millenium Period on earth in Revelation 20.