Things were going badly in heaven. The Lord God was pretty touchy these days and everyone was slightly non-plused not knowing what to do. The problem was the church – the believers. God had promised that his church would never be defeated, would stand when all else failed, would be glorious – without spot or wrinkle, would withstand all the onslaughts of evil. Well, that hardly seemed to be the case of the church on earth. Unbelief in the validity of God’s Word was rampant among “believers”, almost none of them believed in the Law of the Lord rather they believed in “grace” which turned out to be license, very few believed in the more sure word of prophecy, most of them were working hard to join the GODLESS in every possible way – international organizations and social and educational ventures. They were not strong in the Lord and in the power of his might but had accepted most of Satan’s lies concerning how to live. They were strong for racial integration which would bring about the destruction of all races and the world as it had at the time of the Flood.

God called a top-level conference of the great in heaven and laid the dismal facts before them. What could they do?

Let the “Christians” destroy themselves as they were most effectively doing. This could scarcely make God look good after he had made them the instrument of bringing about His kingdom on earth.

Send more prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists to the church. Well, they had been trying that for several thousand years without too much success.

Produce some outstanding miracles. This also had been tried since Noah’s time and the overall effects never seemed to last too long.

Have another outstanding revival. To produce more “Christians” like the millions of WASH-OUTS they already had did not look too promising.

Finally Jesus said, “I’ve got it! We will move in and grab all the Christians we’ve got and bring them here. That will be pretty spectacular! It will keep the Christians we’ve got from fouling up the works anymore than they already have. Maybe we can really educate them here and in a few thousand years they might be of some use to us.”

There was great rejoicing in heaven over this “save and rescue” operation. In fact, the joy was so great that they called the plan, “The Rapture”.

Sometimes error and unbelief are so great and so ridiculous that one can only laugh or cry. I have done both many times over some of the dishonoring errors that are proclaimed as truth. Above all I find it heart breaking that God’s very integrity is so maligned by the implications of these untruths.

There are several errors highlighted in the foregoing. One is that every church-goer or every one that names the name of Christ or God is a Christian. This certainly is not true. There are many “baby” Christians but we should make the distinction that the Scriptures make – that they are milk-fed Christians but they are not truly the “in-Christ” believers. In fact, growing, maturing, truly in-Christed Christians are very few. All of the marvelous promises about the Church are primarily fulfilled in these potential “overcomers”.

The “rapture” theory does great violence to the nature and character of God. God’s plan has always been that those who are truly his will be prepared by Him to stand especially when the going gets rough.

Eph. 6:10-17

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Those who put on the whole armour of God will “stand” having done all. Psalm 91 speaks of the secret place of the most High. Only those who really know God share His secrets – thus they will find the secret place. There is so much teaching in the Scripture on these divine distinctions yet this truth is almost entirely ignored. God is not going to whisk his church away to save them but rather cause his “own” to stand in the evil day as his light to a world that is in gross darkness.

So much of the “gospel” that is proclaimed today teaches that man calls the shots – for God has given him “free will” and therefore God is constantly being placed in bad situations by the men who use their free will to frustrate the plan of God. This really makes God out to be a fool at the mercy of ignorant men who use their “free will” against the plans and purposes of God. It ought to be clear to any thinking person that something is drastically wrong with a theory that makes God out to be a bumbling, pathetic fool. The Scriptures teach from the beginning to the end that God is in control, that He knows what He is doing, that He has planned out EVERYTHING from the foundation of the world, that NOTHING was ever gone wrong in His plan. GOD IS GOD!