"You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture."
Rapture Index of 85 and Below: Slow prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 85 to 110: Moderate prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 110 to 145: Heavy prophetic activity
Rapture Index above 145: Fasten your seat belts
I will comment on this in a bit...but I wanted you all to read
it first without my comment.
12 comments:
matthew 24:36, anyone?
i LOVE crap like this.
are they serious? i thought the rapture was supposed to happen five years ago, to coincide with the millenium.
geoff
I myself prefer the 85 or below index. It seems to be more in line with scripture. Did Jack Van Impe put this together?
Wow, it's amazing to me how we (humanity) has such difficulty with the unknown that someone has to rate the second coming.
ayn
it's me again. I like the "mansions in heaven" page on the link you provided. are they serious?
ayn
Go speed racer GO!....
mansions in heaven? i must have missed that link.
If the rapture is going to happen soon, then there's no point in my finding a job, right? I can just quit now?
Well, my curiosity was satisfied on the burning issue of whether it's okay for churches to hold bake sales.
I have to say I really appreciate Rob's comment. I have been feeling convicted of my own Pharisaical characteristics lately. His comment really confirmed where I am right now. At times it is really difficult for me to look at the culture of American Christianity without being somewhat cynical. In many ways that's my own issue that I'm continuing to work out. But as I think about rapture countdowns and biblical diet books instead of taking a jab I should ask myself what position I'm in that would give me any room to judge or jab. I've got a serious case of plankeye lately.
In response to your question about the end times. Yes, I think that as believers we need to evaluate what we believe about Jesus coming again. He told his disciples to be ready for his return, but he never specified when that would be. He is to come like a thief in the night (1 Thes. 5:1-2). What one believes about this future event has an impact on present ministry. If I truly believed that Jesus could come back at ANY time, then I would probably live life very differently. This belief has an impact on relationships, evangelism, preaching and a little on how we view the world around us. Now I don't want to get into the rapture and whether I'm pre-trib, mid-trib- or post-trib a millenialist or not. But what I think is important is that this is a huge part of Christ's plan of redemption in the world, the big finale.
Sometimes it's so hard to see the future as being relevant to today with regards to my relationship with God, but I can think about my work, school and family future. I'll speak for myself, that maybe the reason I poke fun is because it's intense and kindda uncomfortable to think about the end times. Maybe it's too convicting and I'm pretty avoidant.
Thanks for challenging me to take a look at this. I don't want to be like the five maidens who forgot the oil and had to go refuel and missed the bridegroom (Matt. 25:1-13). More than anything, I want to be prepared, heart, soul and mind. I hope we all can be.
any
i'm not sure what to make of all this. i've been thinking on it awhile. i mean, yeah, we're having some fun here at this guy's expense. but to me, these comments have more of a playful "he's not serious... is he?" tone, rather than a stern "we've got it all together and he doesn't" tone. i know i'm certainly not condemning the guy; just because his beliefs don't line up with mine, or because i don't agree with his rapture index theory, doesn't mean i think i'm better than him or that he's got his own spot reserved in a handbasket. my depravity is as far and wide and deep as the next gal's... probably moreso. i ain't perfect. is acknowledging the slight bizarreness of this webpage pharisaical? i suppose it is and i'm just missing it. oh well, par for the course.
the thing that bothers me the most about this webpage is that it doesn't really make sense. so with a rapture index of 159, the end would appear to be imminent. or... would it? NO ONE knows the hour, so it would be just like God and His sense of humor to pull a fast one on us with an index of 32. it's just so complicated to figure out.
only... it's not. He seemed to try and make this end of the age business as uncomplicated to figure out as He could for us: "you're not going to know. it's going to be a surprise. don't try and figure it out... just BE READY." i have to believe that "being ready" doesn't mean "figure out the signs that will happen just before the end of the age so that we'll be ready at precisely 5:22pm on the 12th day of april in 2032". i have to believe that "being ready" means living and breathing and growing in God, continually journeying along a path of sanctification, running the race in such a way that He will not hesitate to say, "well done, good and faithful servant!"
i also have to believe that this webpage is just another visible reminder of our own -- MY own -- failing at living with a trusting, child-like, all-encompassing faith. we've been told pretty plainly that we ain't gonna know for sure, and that we just need to be ready... and yet here we are, standing in defiant unbelief of this statement, intellectualizing with a rapture index something that does not really need to be figured out.
rapture indexes, bible bars, testamints... these things bother me and i am not afraid to admit it. as a good friend of mine has said, "i mock because i care". humor and satire are often, in my opinion, a good way to make us step back a bit and see what's really going on in a situation, in a non-confrontational way. sometimes we take ourselves a little too seriously.
so, yes. i mock. but i mock because i care. i care for the church and i care what the church believes [and puts out there on websites]. which is more loving: to accept every well-intentioned belief for fear of being labeled judgemental, or to call out well-intentioned but questionable beliefs?
i'd say that that's my two cents, but i have a feeling it's more like nonsense.
Hey, you really CAN get some pretty good discussion going on this thing! :O)
I will post some thoughts tomorrow...but thanks all for your thoughts on the subject.
It's ridiculous to try to predict the end times, and fruitless. We are simply given the charge of living life a certain way. If we live the way we should, we are living in a "ready for return" state already. Harvesting the fields that are white IS being ready for Jesus' return. And that is only a small portion of the hope and work we are given. We don't need to freak out about some countdown--it only serves to distract us from our calling. We need to live righteous lives. That's what it means to "be ready." If no one knows the hour or the day, then why on earth should I do anything but go about my business as usual, provided that my business as usual is an offering to God? Rapture Indecies are the joke and the truth in the bumper sticker: Jesus is coming: everybody look busy. Are we looking busy to impress Jesus, or are we genuinely busy with faith, hope, and love? There is too much work to be done (that I am not doing) for my own neighbors. I refuse to make a big deal about something outside the realm of my control or responsibility.
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