Harpazo -The Disappearance of Many

On March 8th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. It was good flying weather and was expected to land without hiccups in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. This is a 2,300-mile trip that was carrying 229 passengers. It never made it's destination. It just disappeared. Although there have been many theories as to what happened to the plane and it's passengers, rest assured, there IS an explanation. A lot of mystery is surrounding this flight's disappearance into thin air and some of the circumstances connected to it, and rightly so. From the very moment it slipped off the radar without so much as a warning, the media has covered it non-stop! Every news channel had their own "breaking news" headlines. Every news caster across the world scrambled to find the answers. The more they scrambled to find answers, the more questions arose. Yet, still no answers. Not really.

The dissection of what happened or didn't happen to Flight 370 is not the purpose of this article. However, it IS the inspiration. I watched as intently as the rest of the world to watch this unfold. I already had my own theories and sensed this wasn't going to be a short news headline. After a few days, I realized it was as though the entire world stopped reporting on anything else. It was like nothing else mattered. All eyes were on the missing plane and all of it's occupants. Oh, I understood. I sympathized. I felt anguish. I felt frustration. I had a range of emotions along with the rest of those who were following this "breaking news."  As a people, we like puzzles and more so, we demand answers. In our minds, there are always explanations and this is no different. When those "answers" don't appear right away, or seem evident, then everyone begins to assume, create and "find" their own explanations that make sense to THEM. And then it hit me!

While this is a tragic and very sad situation and there are plenty of unknowns for the loved ones, family members and friends left behind without any answers, it gave thought to the Rapture. Harpazo, when there will be a sudden and instantaneous disappearance of many! Well, as many of you know from reading my blog, I am a firm believer in the the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church due to the many biblical references that I have discussed elsewhere in my blog. Let me just say that the CHARACTER of our Loving Father God is NOT to make His bride suffer the wrath that will be spilled out upon the earth for the non-believers that will be left behind. There would absolutely NO purpose served in doing so. He loves us dearly and He didn't appoint us to His wrath. He tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, "v9) For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, v10) who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." This wrath is plainly God's anger that will be poured out during the Tribulation.

Now let's look at one other very important Scripture.....1 Thessalonians 1:10, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." The Lord Jesus Christ has already delivered each Christian from the wrath to come! This verse doesn't say "WILL deliver." It says DELIVERED. Meaning it's already been DONE. The Bible tells us plainly though, what "the wrath to come" means. Simply put, the wrath of God is directed toward those who refuse to repent and receive His mercy and grace: the children of disobedience. The wrath of God is His punishment on unbelievers. During God's wrath upon the earth, there still will be a chance for some to repent, believe and accept Jesus.....but why would anyone want to wait for that horrific, evil time to do so?

Harpazo!

In Strong's Concordance, this is what is said about "harpazo." harpazó: to seize, catch up, snatch away. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance says to catch up, seize, take by force. From a derivative of haireomai; to seize (in various applications) -- catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force). As I was watching the media coverage of the Malaysian plane, it occurred to me....what will they do and how will they act when the Rapture takes place? When suddenly, all over the WORLD, there will be the disappearance of many, simultaneously, without an explanation. Poof! The news media, those who will be left behind that is, will be scrambling for answers, for evidence, for "survivors," for scientific reasons WHY and HOW this happened. But they will find nothing of the sort. It will remain a mystery until.....they remember those of us who spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ and His imminent return! Those of us who weren't afraid to speak about the Rapture while we were still here. The catching away. The Harpazo. We wanted everyone to know what was going to happen when the "bride" was called home. Because the rapture means our gathering together unto Him! How WONDERFUL!

Jesus will come in the air, in the very near future, to catch up the Church from this sinful earth, then return to heaven with the Church. The Apostle Paul gave a clear description of the rapture event in his letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians. 1 Thessalonians, 4:16-18, "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: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." In this passage, Paul is describing an event in which Jesus Christ will not physically, literally touch down on the earth but will first come "in the clouds" and snatch away His true followers from the earth in an instant of time. Those who have not chosen to follow Christ, those who have not been "born again," will remain behind on the earth and will have to go through a terrible time of wars, famines, natural disasters, and divine judgments known as the Tribulation. Then look what 1 Cor. 15:51-53 says, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality"

So now, imagine yourself driving to work, or anywhere for that matter when suddenly, without warning, cars go careening out of control.....you look all around you, and realize they have NO drivers! Or imagine a group of people walking across the crosswalk in any given city, in any given country, and suddenly, in a twinkling of an eye, some in that group just vanish. The immense amount of chaos that will ensure will be enough for every reporter, every newscaster, every camera person who unfortunately will be left behind, to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together......just as they are trying with the airplane. Now, we all know there is a LOGICAL explanation for the missing plane and all of it's occupants. The whole world has their theories, as do I. But theories aren't facts. They aren't explainable until there is evidence. There is nothing supernatural about this particular event. Not a thing. In time, in due time, the pieces of this puzzle will begin to be put together to form a conclusion. Then....puzzle solved!

The rapture, however, will be totally SUPERNATURAL! It will happen in a twinkling of an eye so nobody will actually SEE this happen. A twinkling is too fast for our naked eye to see. The end of the Church Age will be evident by the removal of the Church, which will produce global economic chaos and fear.  The world will be in such a state of shock and fear of not understanding that God's focus has turned toward a horrifying time of judgment on earth. The disappearance of all the believers will cause so much confusion and uncertainty throughout the whole world that I can't even begin to imagine the extent of what the world will look like at that moment of supernatural occurrence! Utter chaos! People can't function in chaos. Maybe for a moment. But not for a lifetime. Order isn't really a natural activity if you look at it from the outside. When I take a look around at my office, I’m quite amazed at how quickly it descends into total chaos and how long it takes me to restore order. Order requires intervention; it does not happen naturally.

Going Home!

A prominent biblical theme throughout the Bible is the role God has in bringing order out of chaos. He did it when He was creating the nation of Israel (Exodus 7–14). When God said it was time to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt, Pharaoh objected. His nation’s economy depended on the Hebrew workers, so Pharaoh didn't want to lose them. To change Pharaoh’s mind, God sent 10 plagues to convince him. Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate the first two plagues but they couldn't reverse the plagues-any of them. They could cause chaos, but they couldn't restore order. Only God can do that. I reference that it's only God who can bring order out of chaos because during, and immediately following the removal of the "Church" the chaos will be too much for many to bear. Transportation systems will collapse. Communication systems will fail. Governments will fail. Food and resources will be scarce due to the disappearing of the masses. Crime will become widespread, even more so than it is this present day. Electricity, water and sanitation all will be at risk. Everything most of the world has relied upon for years will collapse. The next 7 years will be a series of horrific and catastrophic events that no eyes, no person should want to ever experience. But the people left have turned their backs on God and His sacrificial Son Jesus Christ. The very one who restores order. Who intervenes in the middle of chaos. And now.....they'll be left to find out what it really is like in a world full of the WORLD.

It is here that I will give my explanation of why I feel the "Church" is the "restrainer" that will be removed. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-10, "And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. v7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. v8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. v9) The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, v10) and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." There are many who argue that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit and for many years I too, believed that. I'm not sure where, along my walk, this changed, but what made sense to me in my spirit while studying the prophecies and end times, was the Church. As I read the above and I couple it with the many souls that will still be SAVED through the tribulation as God states will happen, this would only make sense. If the restrainer was the Holy Spirit then that would mean those who repent and receive the Lord Jesus wouldn't be indwelt with the Holy Spirit BUT part of the Promise of our Lord and Savior is to leave us a comforter in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So why do I believe it's the Church? Well, in Matthew 5:14 Jesus plainly teaches us that the born again believers are "the light of the world." Jesus is the Light (John 8:12) and it is Jesus, who is residing in our hearts that shines in this dark, evil and dreary world of sin, hate and contempt. Without us Christians preaching the Word and fighting against sin, this world would quickly take a nose dive into unimaginable wickedness! Some already believe we have! You see, the Church is filled WITH the Holy Spirit as believers. The Church BODY will be removed but that doesn't remove the Holy Spirit! However, in order for the Antichrist to complete his New World Order that is led by Satan himself, the Church must be removed from the world. We cause so much problems for Him because we pray against all that he is, all that he tries to destroy and all that he wants. So at the Rapture, the Body of Christ, the Church, will be "caught up" and at that time, the Antichrist will have NO OPPOSITION from people like us born again believers who tries to expose Satan and his minions and every other form of debauchery known to mankind that he takes delight in. When the Church is gone, the Devil isn't going to feel any backlash from Christians because we won't be here, but he is going to have a heyday. A free for all. Christians really mess things up for him because of the TRUTH of Jesus that we find in His 66 books of love letters to us! We won't accept the act of homosexuality, same-sex marriages, abortions, microchip implants, witchcraft, familiar spirits, thievery, etcetera. We won't accept the Devil. Because we won't accept the LIES.

The Church today serves as the primary restrainer of evil in the world as it proclaims the Gospel and stands for righteousness. Standing firm on the Word of our God! Paul graphically points out in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 that when the Church fails in this mission, evil greatly multiplies. Paul says that society in the end times will be characterized by chaos and despair because "men will hold to a form of religion but will deny its power." When the Church is removed from the world, all hell will literally break loose. And that, to me, makes sense. I'm not saying it is what is meant, but it's how it's been received in my spirit. Some people have even said the restrainer was the Government. But the governments of the world are in rebellion against God and His Son (Psalm 2), and they are contributors to all the evil that is characterized in the world. The world follows Satan because they're his children. They believe the lies. They follow him because he promises temporary things. But we, as Christians, are a strange bunch because we choose to follow only the LORD JESUS CHRIST. We are a big obstacle for his agenda, for the New World Order, for his reign of terror. The true Church can be compared to a ferocious pitbull that stands guard against the lies, evil and the Devil. Restraining and holding him back. God will remove us from the world as part of His divine sovereign plan, so the Tribulation can happen. Israel will be purged in preparation to receive her King and the inhabitants of the earth will be judged for their wickedness.

Imagine for a moment, once again, that you're eating at your favorite place. It's packed full of all different walks of people, young and old alike. People disappear. Dishes crashing down all around. People screaming. Running to and fro. They try to make phone calls to their loved ones but can't. Communications will be greatly disrupted. Then, every country will find itself in turmoil. Each government around the world will have to act swiftly as possible to prevent a ravenous tide of anarchy, fear and terrorism. Strong measures will have to be put into effect to CREATE order out of chaos. The highways, subways, airports and streets will be in shambles as the many engineers, pilots, bus-drivers, train conductors and the multitude of car owners suddenly be caught up out of this world. Many key persons will disappear while much of the lines of communications which are still above ground will be broken by crashes of cars and aircraft. It'll be many days, even weeks or months, before they can unscramble the mangled cars, trains, and fallen aircraft. There will also be a noticeably marked increase in ‘target of opportunity’ theft because of unattended shops, cars left open, dropped purses and wallets, houses left open, etc. Public officials will call for calm as people begin a run on the banks and stores for cash, food and necessities. Most people will be trying to figure out what just happened. Distraught and searching for answers, for loved ones, for guidance and for ORDER, multitudes will jam and overload the communication lines and systems that do remain. Chaos will be on every hand.

A small glimpse of that scenario is how the missing Malaysian airplane is unfolding. Although not on the grand scale that will take place immediately following the Rapture, it is still a perceived "mystery" at the moment. Miscommunication between the countries that have "satellite" images of the debris, only to find out it doesn't belong to the plane in question. Statements being made and "confirmed" about all on board the flight have perished, when no bodies have been found, much less the plane in question. The heartache, confusion and anger they must feel! Can you imagine this tragedy on a larger scale throughout the entire world? This tragedy can only be described as terrible and horrific for those who are awaiting any word on their friends and family members. The media coverage will eventually wane because it's going to take some time to sort things out. But just consider the effects of a pre-trib Rapture. Imagine the world-wide chaos as millions of people suddenly disappear. I tend to only imagine that the US will be among the hardest "hit" by this sudden "catastrophe" but will struggle to find some kind of an explanation. I sense the US will be one of the hardest hit because of the ratio of Christians and technological advances. Every country, every nation will experience this supernatural event, but I believe some more than others will be affected. On the other hand, it is highly possible that Europe will remain largely intact and uniquely positioned to step into the political vacuum that has been created by the decimation of the United States. Not fact, just a very real possibility.

After having suddenly seen millions of people vanish before their eyes, many people will either recognize what has just happened or they will blatantly deny it and continue in the unrepentant state of sin. The people who see the rapture and recognize what has happened AS the Rapture, will be some who sat on the fence waiting for one final proof that the Bible was true and that salvation is in ONLY Jesus Christ. Then there will be those after the rapture that'll see the rapture and try desperately to explain it all away by various explanations. These people are the unbelievers who have no love for God, no love of His Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and who continues to seek the god of the world, Satan. Some of their explanations will try to point to the rapture as happening only as a result of man's evolution to a higher level, as they try to rationalize in this day and in this time. Maybe even alien abductions since the world seems to be obsessed with UFO's and aliens. Indoctrination? Possibly. They'll know about Jesus and the be aware of the prophesied rapture but won't respond to the sudden disappearance of millions of people. The world mocks God and the unrepentant sinners will continue on after the rapture as they continue on in disbelief. They will continue to delight in wickedness and evil despite the overwhelming evidence that they've been terribly deceived by the Master of Deception. The world will likely celebrate the removal of the Christian church and evil will be given full reign. The Church, which is the salt of the world, will no longer be around to help keep order nor restrain evil.

However, something will happen during this time and the promise of peace will come to those left here on earth. But the order that will happen will NOT be from God! Those people will be desperate for a strong leader, someone to restore peace and order. They will be eager to receive the false savior-Antichrist. The first 3 1/2 years of the tribulation that follows the Rapture of the Church, will be a time of peace. This is when the False Prophet and the Antichrist will greatly influence the masses using signs and lying wonders (2nd Thessalonians 2:9). 2nd Thessalonians 2:10 says, "and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved." This is saying to us that the masses of the earth will eagerly follow the Antichrist because they loved the lies and the world more than the truth so that they might be saved... The world will worship the Beast, the wicked Devil himself. And to think....in an instant, in a twinkling of an eye, one's life will be changed forever! The second half of the the tribulation is called the Great Tribulation because the last 3 1/2 years will be much much worse than the first half! Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6,7,14; 13:5. 

The Seven year tribulation period will have many, many horrific events happening throughout, but only in God's appointed time as outlined in the Bible. During these tribulations, the Bible states that one half of the remaining population will die due to disease, famine, war and directly because of failing to follow the Antichrist and his one world religion, government and financial system. The discussions and studies of the end times and the Tribulation Period is lengthy and in depth. I can't cover it all in one article however, this particular entry is designed to help you understand the ramifications of the Harpazo-The Disappearance of Many and how it will impact the WORLD!

Those who come to believe during the Great Tribulation will be in one of two groups. The first group will be the remnant of physical Israel sealed for protection and called to testify concerning Christ (Revelation 7:1-8). They are the 144,000 of all the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. The second group will comprised of the masses of gentiles who believe in Christ and suffer persecution and martyrdom for their faith. These martyrs will come out of the Great Tribulation through death, but their suffering will instantly give way to victorious worship as they join the heavenly chorus in praise to “our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10) Thankfully, there is still hope for those people who miss The Rapture. As a matter of fact, it’s the same hope God gave to the people of His world thousands of years ago – His son, Jesus Christ. Even though the next several years will be unbelievably tough, all one has to do is to sincerely, and with all of your heart, accept Jesus as your savior. In doing so, you become a Tribulation Saint and will ultimately be rewarded with eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

Please don't be left behind! Let your name be entered in the Book of Life......

I am going to close this by using Psalm 91 in it's entirety:

1) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2) I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3) Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4) He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5) You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6) Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7) A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8) Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9) Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10) No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11) For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12) In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13) You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14) “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16) With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”



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