A Lasting, Frightful, yet Meaningful Memory

by pastor Freddie Beard

It was in 1978 in my homeroom of my seventh grad class, (wouldn’t it be great if they did that now)?that our then homeroom teacher showed this scary, but very thought provoking film. I left school that day knowing I did not want to be “left behind”! Long story short I heard the call to preach some few years later. And in my studying, and learning God’s Word, and in an effort to be all that I felt called to be; I of course had studied all the doctrines taught (even ones that are not sound doctrine). But, this doctrine “the Rapture”( the sudden catching away of The Saints (those who are saved).The Bible teaches this, and Jesus taught that He would return for His own (John 14).

Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

There is a major push against this doctrine, but Like myself, you have got to make up your mind whom you are going to serve. But, know this you can not serve two masters (Math 6)

Mat_6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

And as a matter of fact, the Bible even foretells this very trick of Satan, to scoff (make fun of) the Great Promise, and Blessed Hope, of the coming of The LORD!

2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2Pe 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Jesus dealt with a religious man, a Sadducee (who do not believe in the Resurrection/Rapture) about the issue of “life after death” The Resurrection (Rapture), and here was Jesus’ words to him…

Mat 22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
Mat 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Mat 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Mat 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Sadly even some “so-called” “Christians” will be “left behind” from the very attitude mentioned above. And they shall see one day the horrid error of their way.

Luk 12:45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
Luk 12:46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

And one of the final major points of The rapture, is the fact, that it WILL HAPPEN VERY QUICKLY! So quickly that it is quicker than “the blinking of the eye” some say 11/100ths of a second. And also that His coming for His believers will be “like a thief in the night”! In other words unlike the Second coming (where Christ will come all the way to the Earth, to set up a Millennium 1000 year reign ) and that EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM! The Rapture will happen so quickly that it will resemble a thief in the night!

1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

And finally unlike the ideas pushed by modern preachers, the Bible DOES teach we ARE to WATCH and PRAY ALWAYS for The Rapture! And That there is a great promise to those who do…

Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Here you can see how very serious this is, and the great danger that awaits every person who is “NOT counted worthy” meaning that they will be here for a time so awful, that The Bible says, it will be the worst times to every fall upon the world!

Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Yes, it is so very imperative you get your self ready for this “Great Escape” (Luke 21:36), because as you will see depicted in the film, the Antichrist will make every person take “The Mark of The Beast” and if you do not, you won’t be able to buy, sell, or even live! And like I always tell people you may not even live to the time of The Rapture and die, and if you are not saved (born again- called on The Lord Jesus to save, and forgive you) once you close your eyes (as an unsaved person, you will wake up in the belly of hell, (a place of untold torments Luke 16). The Bible says you “Must be Born again” (John 3). Are you saved? Have you received Jesus Christ as Savior, and LORD, have you repented of your sins? Are you READY FOR THE RAPTURE?

Watch this old, but powerful classic “A Thief in The Night” and if you would like to be saved, you can reach me several ways on this website, and I would be very glad to help you come to know Jesus Christ! May God bless, and draw you in my hope, and prayer for you!

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 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:
1Th 4:17 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.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.