The Rapture by the Rev. Dave Sonmor

RAPTURE
Way back in June 1991 I read an article (or rather a large ad) in "USA Today," that declared, "In Autumn 1992, Jesus is Coming Again." and the added prediction that, "In 1999, Human History Will End." The article gave explanations using various verses of Scripture to support its claims, along with some very questionable arithmetic, used to establish the "correct" years. The really sad thing about this ad was the absolutely grotesque picture it painted of God. It lists a number of prophesies which include:

Jesus is coming in Autumn 1992. (Rapture)

Only a small number of Christians who are prepared as his brides will be raptured, while others will enter great tribulation.

God will leave some devout Christians as martyrs in tribulation to guide remaining Christians in His way.

Europe will become Satan's slave the Anti Christ and his kingdom, the European Economic Community.

God has already opened the bag of war, famine and earthquakes.

Those who oppose what the young prophets are saying are opposing the Holy Spirit.

The article went on to say, "In the near future, many who have waited for Jesus and lived holy and faithful lives will instantly be changed into holy bodies and raised up to meet the Lord in the air. Such a wonderful event is called "rapture". There will be quite a confusion in the world after rapture looking for a large number of disappeared people. However, raptured holy brides of Jesus will rejoice seven years of wedding feast while the whole world, including left behind, lukewarm Christians, will enter Great Tribulation where most of them will be killed. God's righteous beloved children will be delivered, but unrepentant ones will face His judgment and perish." The ad then goes on to exhort people to avoid destruction from this Divine Wrath.
"Friends, please do not miss out on this critical event! Return to Jesus with a truly repentant heart. Live a holy and blameless life. God has spoken through many children that not many Christians will be raptured, much less than even one of ten according to their visions. Remember, only those who are prepared as His brides will be raptured!"
I was curious about this proposed state of rapture so I searched the Scriptures for an explanation. I have a program on my computer that has both the King James Revised Standard Version and the American Standard Version of the Bible on it and will search for any verse or word and tell you where it is to be found. The word "rapture" was not to be found anywhere in the Bible.
The article then described a gruesomely pessimistic situation:
"Seven years of tribulation is the most indescribable form of human destruction ever in human history. It is the beginning of the worst pain and suffering for unrepentant ones. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will become like blood. There will be wars, big earthquakes, various plagues, hail and fire mixed with blood burning one third of the earth. Mountains and islands will move out of place, seas will become blood, and water will become bitter. By the end of the tribulation, there will be only a few survivors."
I am quite sure that if the ad had been written following the more recent happenings in the USSR that the ten republics now re-established, would have been chosen instead of the ten countries in the EEC. But what a horrible thing it is to propose of God, who is repeatedly referred to in Scriptures as being a God of Love. Everything described is completely contradictory to the nature of love. Why would a God of love create the human race, give us the freedom to live in accordance with what we come to understand is the true and good, and then turn around and destroy everything because we didn't get it just exactly right? I am tempted to take the article apart piece by piece or statement by statement and disprove it with scripture and rational argument, but I am not going to do that because any thinking person can readily see the falsity and the irrationality that prevails in the statements.
Reading this moved me to develop a sermon in response, not only to this particular item but to all the pessimistic, elitist, rhetoric that fundamentalist preachers use to try to coerce people, through fear, into becoming Christians in accordance with their particular philosophy, theology and interpretations.
I wanted to take a more positive approach, as the New Church teaches that people cannot and should not be forced or compelled to believe in the Lord God, and that we are all born in freedom to make our own choices as to what we will believe and how we will act or live and worship in response to our beliefs about God.
I quote from the New Jerusalem And Its Heavenly Doctrine no. 148: "All freedom belongs to the love or affection; for what a person loves, he does freely. Since freedom belongs to the love, it is the life of every one. There is heavenly freedom and there is infernal freedom. Heavenly freedom belongs to the love of good and truth. And since the love of good and truth is from the Lord, freedom itself consists in being led by the Lord. Through regeneration a person is introduced by the Lord into heavenly freedom. A person ought to be in freedom, in order that they may be regenerated. Otherwise the love of good and truth cannot be implanted in us, and appropriated to us. so as to appear to be our own. Nothing is conjoined to us which is done under compulsion. If we could be reformed by compulsion, all would be saved. Compulsion is hurtful in reformation."
Worship from freedom is worship, but not worship from compulsion. Repentance ought to be practiced in a free state; what is done in a state of coercion is of no avail.
We are permitted to act from the freedom of reason, that good may be provided for us; and on that account we are in the freedom of thinking and willing, and even of doing evil, so far as the laws of our society do not forbid it. We are kept by the Lord between heaven and hell, and thus in a state of equilibrium, that we may be in freedom for the sake of our reformation. What is inseminated in freedom remains, but not what is inseminated under compulsion. Wherefore freedom is never taken away from any one. No one is compelled by the Lord. How does the Lord through freedom leads us into good? Namely, through freedom he turns us away from evil, and inclines us to good, so gently and quietly that we do not know otherwise than that all proceeds from our self. Compelling one's self comes from freedom, but not being compelled. We ought to compel our-self to resist evil. We ought also compel our self to do good as if of our self, but still to acknowledge that it is really from the Lord. We are in greater freedom in the temptation combats in which we conquer, because we then compel our self inwardly to resist evils, although it appears otherwise. In every temptation there is freedom, but this freedom is with us interiorly from the Lord; and therefore we struggle and desire to conquer, and not to be conquered, which we would not do unless we had freedom."
What kind of an ad would the New Church print on the subject of the second coming of the Lord? What would our headline read?
THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS A PRESENT DAY REALITY! HUMAN HISTORY WILL CONTINUE INDEFINITELY!!
Our subheadings would include the following statements:

The Lord provides religion for all people and everyone who acknowledges God and practices good, as he/she understands it, will enter the heavenly kingdom.

The Bible is the Word of God and speaks everywhere of Him and of His Church both in heaven and on earth. It is not about the condition of the physical world and our social and political life.

The overall spiritual condition of the human race has been continuously improving and will continue to do so until the state of joy and perfection described by the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven has been reached.

Our present life continues into the other life. Death is only a transition from conscious life in the natural world to conscious life in the spiritual world.

God does not destroy, He creates; He does not punish anyone, He loves us so much that He gives us complete freedom to choose His way or not.

All humans are created to become angels in heaven as the purpose of creation is a heaven of angels from the human race.

The growth in science and technology and the improvements in the world political situation along with the expansion of human rights are reflections of the general spiritual growth of the human race.

Gloom and doom is out! Growth and optimism is in!!

Let us now take a little time to examine our scriptural text, which is from the book of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 36 to 51:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man And will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think He will. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' and shall begin to beat his fellow-slaves, and shall eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and shall cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the hypocrites: the weeping shall there be and the gnashing of teeth.
By "day and hour" a period of time is not meant but rather a state or condition of the church in the world and of each person in relation to good and truth. All things of religion have relation to good and to truth, they are what make up the church and the subject here treated of is the state of the "Church" in the world. It is a state of transition during which the old man-made traditions and views are being replaced with God-centered knowledge suited to an ever more intelligent, educated and knowledgeable population. It is compared with the time of Noah when a similar transition took place because there had been, over thousands of years of human life and growth, a perversion of the good and truth that was originally given to mankind and that people lived by in the Adamic age (The time of the most ancient people), which resulted in an inundation of evils and falsities.
The two in the field signifies those within the church (in the broadest ecumenical sense) who are in good, and those within the church who are in evil. The two women grinding at the mill signify those within the church who are in truth, and those within the church who are in falsity.
The Son of Man signifies the coming of Divine Truth into our human awareness, so the women in the various conditions describe the various ways that Divine Truth is received by the church and it's individual members. Women represent the church as can be seen by the analogy of the church being the bride of the Lord.
"Being ready" is one of the key thing here. Once we become aware that our spiritual growth is a self-sought ongoing action and not an instantaneous state that is imposed on us from outside of ourselves, we need to get actively involved in the process. That means taking the initiative to learn more about the Divine Truth that is available to us in the Word and then, to put that truth to work in our lives. Each time we become aware of a new truth we should use it and practice it and incorporate it into our daily lives. That will bring about a heavenly state in our lives here in the world and that in turn will be what we carry with us into the spiritual world when we die.
The name "servant" or "slave" has spiritual reference to those who are in possession of the truth. These may be either good or bad servants, depending on how they use the truth, that is whether to do good or to do evil. In a broad sense everyone is a slave/servant, for it is the duty of every member of the household of faith to serve, or do service to the rest, thus we are all accountable for the way in which we treat our neighbors.
We have every reason to be optimistic. Surely God who created everything with such order and precision and in a way that functions so perfectly does not intend to destroy it all. Human life is more significant than to be merely something that exists and then is arbitrarily altered by either destruction or enhancement. Human life is an ongoing entity, which has purpose and reason and intelligence. It is capable of receiving the Lord's Divine love and using it for good for other people. Blessed is that servant/slave. Blessed also are all of you who see the Lord's Kingdom through His Holy Word, and do that which is good.
Amen