"And when [Jesus] had spoken these things..., he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:9-11).
In 1972, Andrea Crouch recorded his hit song, "It won't be Long". Apparently referring to the rapture, he professed that we will soon be leaving here. Hence, he admonished us to count the years as months, the months as weeks, and the weeks as days because, "any day now, we'll be going home". Six years later in 1978, Andrea sent out another warning in the song, "Soon and Very Soon". Consistent with the teachings of the Bible, he said, "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King". All that the Lord was using Andrae to say to the church is that the rapture and the return of master Jesus is closer than we think.
In today's Scripture verses, we see Jesus being 'raptured' before the very eyes of His disciples. As joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) and He being the Captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2::10), we are set in line to experience what Jesus experienced. Thus, for His followers who are alive at His coming, our transportation into heaven will be in similar manner. We see a further indication to this when the apostle John was 'literally' taken into heaven, albeit in a vision (Revelation 4:1). So, from all biblical indications, the rapture is real, just as the second coming of Jesus.
Although we are not told the specific timing of these end time events, the Bible does give signs to guide us so that we can at least know the season. More than at any other time in history, there are overwhelming evidences today that the rapture is very close. Apart from the many revelations and prophetic dreams being shown to God's people which we may consider subjective, the visible events happening in our world testify that we are almost there. Some of these signs are not something we can talk about here, but I will share one example of a recent event.
Just last week, I read about a company that is voluntarily letting her employees have a microchip implanted in their hands which will act as a credit card. The employees who have agreed to have the microchip implant can now pay for their break room snacks by just putting their hand up to the scanner instead of using a typical credit card. The company CEO said, "It's the next thing that's inevitably going to happen, and we want to be a part of it". You can be sure that the practice will soon become widespread. Any doubt that the mark of the beast is a real possibility?
Like Andrea Crouch of blessed memory said, it is indeed time to count the years as months, the months as weeks, and the weeks as days, because, any day now, it will be over.
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