There is a series of books being written called “Left Behind.” They are fictional books which deal with the rapture and the years of tribulation, which many believe will occur before the day of final judgment. These books have stirred a lot of excitement in the hearts of those who believe the signs of our age are pointing to the imminent looming return of Christ.
The “Left Behind” series seeks to reveal what the seven* years of tribulation, which is to follow the rapture will be like. The doctrinal theory of the rapture is one that really amazes me, since the word rapture is not found in the Bible. It speaks of the difficulties and trials of those not taken to heaven when the rapture occurs. But there is something more astonishing to me than that. It is this, how can a fictional story about the theory of the rapture and the tribulation excite so many, when the real reign of Christ in his church today seems so unexciting to the average church-goer?
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Jim Davis, sermon titled: “The Reigning Christ”
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*The original has “thousand,” an obvious confusion of the length of the millennium with the length of the Great Tribulation.