Pressing questions

If I was convinced that the Lord was going to call me away from this world in only a few weeks, how would I live out those last few weeks? What would I do differently than I am doing now? Would there be a sense of urgency to my witness and a more expressive concern for the souls of those who know me? The horrible truth of the answer to that question is that I am afraid to make the changes that I certainly should make if I knew my time here was limited to just a few more weeks. Recently, because I expressed an opinion on a family matter involving one of my children, Mama and I was seriously castigated and then shunned by several of our children. It seems that expressing an opinion different from their own warranted a severing of all communication with their father.

How would those relationships be affected if I were convinced that within a period of a few short weeks, their time to ensure their lives were being lived rightly in the eyes of God would be forever ended? All I have ever wanted is to ensure that my children loved and served the Lord so that their homes could be blessed by God and their children would have the opportunity to get saved. Straying far from the Lord brings consequences that are often immediate and painful. But, just as dangerous is pretending that things are right between you and the Lord, when you know that they are not. God’s longsuffering is wonderful. His grace is amazing, and we are losing the coming generation because those of us who call ourselves believers are not practicing the faith that led us to repentance. Our children may be denied the chance to know the statutes of God because we do not live them, much less teach them.

But what if the Lord was coming to call away His bride and all true believers as well as those who are innocent by virtue of their not having reached the age of awareness were to leave this world forever. What a blessing to those of us who know the Lord. What a horror for those who do not. Would I have the courage to ask each of my children one more time if they knew for sure that they were saved? Or would I be too afraid of offending them and being further shunned by those who have not spoken to me or Mama for months? The sad truth is that I am probably more afraid of furthering an offence than of assuring that they and their children would spend Eternity with us.

Mama and I were, and still remain, deeply hurt by the by the children who excommunicated us in their pretended offence to my point of view on that particular situation. I have no desire to deepen or broaden that rift, but what if the Lord really was coming back in just weeks? The Bible records our Lord clearly stating that we cannot know the day of the hour, but the Lord also infers that we can know the season of His return. With that in mind, my Pastor shared a link with me that seems to strongly indicate the imminent rapture, calling away, of the Bride of Christ – those truly saved by faith in Jesus.  

This is the link to that presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw2p06bgyKg

Is the information correct? I cannot know for certain, but a powerful argument is presented. We would do well to heed the warning. As to what I would tell my children, perhaps I am not the one who can communicate the message to them most effectively. I do pray for each of my children and grandchildren on their specific day of the week. They know this. Do those prayers make a difference? They do to me. So, as long as we are in this world, I will continue in that commitment. I only wish the Lord would allow us more time with each of them. A text message, a blog post, a phone call is not enough time to develop a relationship that can affect a life, but we will do our best.

As you read this, are you 100% sure that when you die you will go to Heaven? If not, the most concise way I know to share that Gospel message is to advise you to read the following verses:

Romans 3:23 All of us have sinned and are guilty in the eyes of God.

Romans 6:23 God’s penalty for sin is death (and eternal separation from God in Hell).

Romans 5:8 God offers His love to us in our sinful condition by allowing Christ to take all our sins upon Himself on the cross. He paid in full the penalty required by God for all our sins.

Romans 10:9-10 That if we believe in our hearts that Jesus is the Sin of God who has the power to cover our sins with His blood and confess with our mouth that we have believed in Christ as our Savior, that we are saved from the penalty of sin through Christ’s substitutionary death.

If the Lord comes in the clouds to call His saved people out of this world only a few weeks from today, will you be taken home to Heaven? Will your children be saved and taken to Heaven as well? Even if the Lord does not come to call us way for many years more, will you enter Heaven’s gate when you die or will you be eternally separated from God in Hell? Have you been saved? What about your children? Do they know Jesus as their savior? Have you given them the opportunity to know the Lord, to be saved?

If not, now is the time to open that door to them by getting them under good Gospel teaching and preaching. You know what to do. For their sake, don’t wait any longer.