The Rapture

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

We believe that one day, when the end of the age is near, the Lord will call up those who are his own into heaven to be with him. Christians who have died will rise from their graves and fly to heaven, and then Christians who are still alive and remain will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

This world is getting worse and worse. One day it will be so bad that there will be no hope for it any more. The Bible says that one day, the sin of humanity will be so great, that it will be like the days of Noah, when God destroyed the world because of sin and violence. When that day happens, God will judge the world for its sins, in a time called the Tribulation. But those of us who have accepted God's Salvation and are living for him will not be subjected to God's wrath. Instead, he will take us up to heaven to be with him.

There is actually some argument as to just when this rapture will take place in the Tribulation period. It will happen, because the Bible says it will. But some say it will happen before the Tribulation starts, and others say it will happen after it starts. We do believe the rapture of the church will take place before the tribulation. But, the thing to remember is not to found our hope on escaping tribulation, but rather to found our hope in Jesus Christ. No matter what happens in this life, we can overcome the world because Jesus Christ is with us, and he has already overcome this world.