“Millie! Get out of the street!” The yelling from the room next to me pulled me from my nap.
“Millie! Get out of the street!” The plea sounded again, and a few more times.
By now, I was almost fully awake while sitting upright in my office recliner. My wife was trying to reason with a cat—not even our cat—to get out of the middle of the street in front of our home.
Over the many years, a number of our cats had met their demise in that street. So, the imploring wasn’t without a reason (although reasoning was a non sequitur, as you understand if you’ve ever tried to reason with a feline).
To Margaret, that has never been a factor—whether one can reason with a kitty. She wanted that female feline out of harm’s way before a certain neighbor—one who was apparently perpetually late, and who used the road as a quick route on the way to work, I presume—hit our street with her vehicle. My wife’s imploring was urgent, but it made no impact on Miss Millie. The cat was clueless and obviously had no intention of leaving her curled-up position upon the warm asphalt sleeping place.
My mind is most often these days, as anyone who reads these commentaries knows, on things that have to do with Bible prophecy and the indicators of how near we are to the end of the age. With all the signals in view that are so much like those Jesus and the prophets foretold, my thoughts are often triggered by incidental matters, bringing up topics to address in the articles.
While my thinking was clearing after I woke from my nap, my wife’s ineffective reasoning with Millie to get out of the street triggered the thought. Most today are clueless to the lateness of the prophetic hour, and, like Millie, aren’t paying a bit of attention to the nearness of the ultimate danger ahead—both in the Tribulation to come, and in an eternity apart from God.
Nonetheless, like the call made to that feline–who had no obvious interest whatsoever in responding—it is incumbent to keep calling those lost in sin to come away from the broad way leading to destruction by accepting Christ, the only Way to eternal life with God the Father in Heaven (John 14:6).
Likewise, it is our job—yours and mine—as Christians, to warn other Christians who are clueless to the lateness of the prophetic hour. Believers—children of God—need to be aware that our Lord and Savior is on the very cusp of calling the Church into the clouds of Glory. This great event—the Rapture—could take place at any moment. The event, we are told, will come upon the entire world like a snare, like one of those nets that snatches jungle animals. This is the description God’s Word uses to indicate the sudden and unannounced occurrence at that “twinkling of an eye” moment when Christ shouts, as He did to the Apostle John, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).
The reason it’s so important for the Body of Christ—the Church—to understand the nearness of the Rapture is to create an awareness to be diligent in doing good works, as we will all be judged on our works at the Judgment Seat of Christ—the bema. We won’t be judged for our salvation because Christ carried away all sin on the cross at Calvary. But the judgment will be for how well we have served our Lord.
The primary good work we are called to do is to carry out the Great Commission given by Jesus before He departed from earth to Heaven:
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).
In addition to reaching out to those who are lost in their sinful condition, we should, as “watchmen on the wall” who are aware of Bible prophecy and its truth, implore clueless Christians who are within our area of influence. We should beg them not to lie in that street cluelessly with the lost. These believers are not being taught about Christ’s return–about the Rapture—from most pastors in most pulpits. This is a neglected teaching in even well-known Evangelical church bodies today.
When Christians truly understand the nearness of the call from Jesus Christ, many will have a spiritual holy fire ignited within their desires. They’ll then earnestly want to bring as many of the lost into the family of God as possible, seeing that the time is short.
We must warn the clueless—that is, reach out to the lost and to fellow believers who need to be clued in to where we stand on God’s prophetic timeline.
Unlike in the case of the plea to a nonresponsive feline in danger in the street, our plea to lost humanity to come from that broad way of death has a supernatural voice that is guaranteed to be heard. Maybe it won’t be heeded, but if not, it will be a willful rejection–a deliberate act of unresponsiveness.
“For God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
This is a guarantee from God: No person is without a call to repentance. God the Holy Spirit makes it known that there is a need of the Redeemer to save them from the danger of separation from God.
Let us warn the clueless, for the field of souls is ripe unto harvest at this critical prophetic hour. Here is the message to inform these of God’s matchless grace:
“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
The post Warning the Clueless :: By Terry James appeared first on Rapture Ready.
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