Two years ago I wrote: “Over the past twelve years I have made many efforts to correct some misperceptions about the rapture. Two of those are: the rapture is an instantaneous disappearing event (NOT), and nothing has to happen before the rapture takes place (NOT). Part of those efforts have been to contact well known scholars, speakers, pastors, and authors. Only a few have responded.”
Sadly, this holds true still today. The Biblical parallels, patterns, pictures, and types are still ignored and fictional stories still taught as if they are doctrine! Oi Vey.
The TS Rejection
On March 24th I received notice from Todd Strandberg that my recently submitted Witnessed Rapture article was rejected. His reasoning: “RR will not be posting this article since it’s a subject you’ve already detailed or mentioned in other articles, besides the fact that it’s controversial.”
Controversial? Is he kidding? :-) What indisputable hypocrisy. The entire discussion about the rapture is controversial and he has been posting about that “controversial” topic for decades, not to mention other even more controversial topics such as whether the RC church is a Christian organization or a cult. Whether Pope Francis worships Yeshua or Ha’Satan, and so on! I suggested he also henceforth refuse to continue to print articles that re-hash the Instant Disappearance Paradigm.
I called him out for his hypocrisy, saying: “How blazingly, overtly hypocritical is your behavior to print, reprint, and re-reprint the instant disappearance paradigm, but not the witnessed resurrection/rapture paradigm.” He responded: “It’s time to part ways.” When Peter was rebuked by Yeshua or Paul, he repented and continued in fellowship. Apparently Todd Strandberg is unwilling – or perhaps unable – to do so. Pray for him.
My Decision
2 Timothy 4:3-4 – “For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear. Yes, they will stop listening to the truth, but will turn aside to follow myths.”
Titus 1:9 – “Hold firmly to the faithful word that agrees with the scriptures; so that by its sound teaching you will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.”
For over fifteen years I have held to the Biblical descriptions of the resurrections and raptures. Scripture demands two or more witnesses – I gave four word definitions for evidence to a witnessed event, twelve examples of witnessed resurrections, and three examples of bodily raptures from earth to the clouds – clearly establishing the fact of a witnessed event as required by scripture. Todd’s refusal to accept the Biblical parallels, patterns, pictures, and types makes it clear that he would rather espouse a Biblically unsupported paradigm that does not have even one single Biblical instance of a resurrection or bodily rapture that culminates in an instant disappearance! How sad.
Shaking the Dust
Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5 – “Wherever they don’t welcome you, shake the dust from your feet when you leave that town as a warning to them.”
Since my articles are no longer welcome at Rapture Ready, I will no longer submit any new ones, and Todd, be assured, just like Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba who shook the dust off of their feet upon being rejected by the people of Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:51) I have also shaken the dust off my feet upon your rejection.
Separating the Wheat From the Chaff – A Harsh Bible Teaching
Job 21:18; Psalm 1:4; 35:5; 83:13; etc. – “May they be like chaff before the wind.”
Jeremiah 23:28 – “What do chaff and wheat have in common?” asks Yahweh.
Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17 – “Yeshua will clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
I suggest that all who espouse the Biblically unsupported Instant Disappearance Paradigm are standing in the middle of the pile of chaff, not with the heaps of wheat. They are in danger of being blown away like chaff in the wind. Or worse yet, as fire licks up the stubble, and the chaff is consumed in the flame, they are very likely to be burnt to a crisp! These possibilities are likely “because they have rejected and have despised the word of the Yahweh” (Isaiah 5:24).
The Trumpet
Ezekiel 33:4-5 – “If anyone hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning . . . his blood shall be upon himself.”
Consider me a loud sounding Trumpet. I have now given a severe warning to the Biblically unsupported Instant Disappearance Paradigm teachers. If they refuse to listen, their blood is on their own heads, not mine (Ezekiel 3:18-20). Thank you Ezekiel!!
The Blind and Deaf
Romans 11:8 – “Yahweh has given them a spirit of dullness – eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, right down to the present day.”
Jeremiah 5:21{CJB} puts it this way: “Hear this, stupid, brainless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.” Ouch, double ouch! Other translations tone it down a bit and simply call them “foolish people who have no understanding”.
I kinda like the Complete Jewish Bible {CJB}; it is blunt, to the point, in your face, and quite succinct. And how well those scriptures describe many of today’s well known scholars, speakers, pastors, and authors who are so unwilling to even see or hear what the Biblical parallels, patterns, pictures, and types have to say about the resurrection and the rapture.
The Likely Result
1 Corinthians 3:13-15 – “But each one’s work will be shown for what it is; the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire — the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If the work someone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward; if it is burned up, he will have to bear the loss: he will still escape with his life, but it will be like escaping through a fire.”
Thankfully, even those who fail to teach the Biblical parallels, patterns, pictures, and types will not lose their eternal life. Sadly, they will experience a loss of rewards. Ouch!
Prayers Needed
There are those who are in great need of prayer, and Todd is just one – I have no doubt that you can list a dozen more – all those who teach the Biblically unsupported Instant Disappearance Paradigm. Jan Markell frequently asks: Why don’t they listen to our rapture teaching – why have they turned it from the Blessed Hope to the Blasted Hope? I have an answer for her: People instinctively understand when they are being subjected to a song and dance, a fairy tale, even if they can’t quite put their finger on the reason why it doesn’t sound just right!
Please, please, pray that they repent, will stop teaching the Biblically unsupported Instant Disappearance Paradigm, and instead only teach the Biblical parallels, patterns, pictures, and types which clearly describe witnessed events. If I may suggest, in addition to your prayers, perhaps you could also contact each of those whom you know and express your concerns and encourage them to teach what the Bible has to say about the resurrections and raptures.
Conclusions
There are those who are willing to listen, Bless them.
And there are those who stubbornly refuse. Pray for them, too.
I know that the Witnessed Rapture Paradigm is substantially different from the Instant Disappearance Paradigm currently being taught, but the Bible only, ONLY, depicts resurrections and raptures as witnessed events.
There is not one single instance of a resurrected person just up and disappearing, nor is there a single instance of a bodily raptured person just up and disappearing.
Accept the Biblical parallels, patterns, pictures, and types, or refuse. Stand with the wheat, or be removed/burnt up like the chaff.
Final Thought for 2023
The stage for Yeshua’s return is being set. Prophecy continues to unfold in an escalating pattern as foretold by the Hebrew prophets. The season of the birth pains is here – they are burgeoning and not going away. Time is short – Yeshua Ha’Mashiach is coming soon – be sure you have salvation in Yeshua and keep busy reaching the lost.
Rapture Party 