Nov 28
Year-End Fund Drive
For over 18 years, the history of Rapture Ready has been one of continuous
growth. I've lost track of how many times the site has doubled in size.
With the capacity of the average servers outpacing our ability to create
content, it seems like we could keep adding new material for all eternity.
During the past few months, the huge upsurge in end-time warning signs has
caused me realize that our window of opportunity could run out at any
time. Someday the last news update will be posted, and a final article will be
uploaded to the site. When Jesus calls us home, Rapture Ready will be frozen
in time.
Until the "blessed hope" takes place, my goal is to keep building up this
vast information resource. By having a stranglehold on several search-related topics, we have the potential to reach millions of people in the post-rapture world.
My experience in asking for help with various projects has taught me a
great deal about the average person's priority system. People may say
they love the Lord, His Holy Word, and all of humanity, but that doesn't mean
they're going to do something productive for the Kingdom of God.
Over the years, I've been amazed by how Christians can beg for an opportunity to help out with the site, yet a day later lose all interest in fulfilling their pledge.
I get email all the time from people who praise RR for its greatness.
We also receive an endless amount of coverage in the press from stories that relate to end-time prophecy. In late October, a story on MSNBC.com generated about 40,000 hits to the site.
What makes the web domain so popular is the all hard work that people have invested in it. The success of this site is the result of people binding together to contribute labor and financial resources to a common cause.
Until the Lord calls us home, we all need to be part of an evangelistic effort. Most Christians have divorced themselves from the idea that they are accountable for their actions. Because I know that God expects a good report from me, I try to stay busy at all times.
One big project we're working on is translating key articles into Japanese. It is very costly to convert English to the Japanese language. The cheapest rate I could find was about $450 per article. To add a Japanese section with a dozen articles would cost $5,400. Just for giggles, I figured it would cost $3.2 million to translate the whole site.
My decision to slowly add Japanese articles to the roster was based on the
number of people who speak this language. In Japan, more than 61.4
million people have an internet connection. At 10 percent of the world
total, that number outranks the three other languages we currently have on
the site.
Another reason to include Japanese articles is the fact that so little
prophetic material can be found in this language. Because Japan is so
spiritually dark to the gospel message, few Western ministries ever bother
to translate their material into Japanese. In the shocking days that will follow the rapture, it would be a terrible shame for people in Japan, desperately searching the internet for answers, to come up empty-handed.
As we get closer to the tribulation hour, it is important for every Christian to have an end-time mindset. If you truly believe the rapture is drawing near, you should be more focused on endeavors that will contribute to the Kingdom of God.
An easy way to support RR is with an automatic monthly donation. The Pay
Pal subscription service and allotments set up through a bank are convenient ways to send funds to the site. If you're interested in signing up, you can find the link on the
Donation Depot page.
Donations can also be sent to our PO Box at: Rapture Ready Min.; PO Box
125; Bellevue, NE 68005.
-- Todd
Wages of Sin/Crowns of Victory
Perhaps the most succinct statement from the God who created us is: “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
"Sinful human beings" is a category under which all of us fit. Each of us works diligently at earning the wages of sin. And, the mortuaries and cemeteries of the world are filling daily, proving the point. When the first man sinned by disobeying God and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what the Lord said would happen indeed began to happen. Sin came into the world, and every person who has ever lived, except two we know about, have died. Just to satisfy your curiosity, in case you don’t know already, those two are Enoch and Elijah.
Even the Lord Jesus, the Son of God –who IS God—died. Perhaps more correctly stated, I should exclaim that ESPECIALLY Jesus died, and if He had not died, each and all of us would be eternally doomed. He took all sin-guilt upon himself, and took it to the grave, where He left it–as far as God’s eternal economy is concerned. For the temporal era in which we live, sin is, of course, quite active. Men, women, and children will, therefore, continue to die, until the Lord Jesus comes to restore all things, and recreates the heavens and the earth in preparation for eternity.
There are so many ways that mankind earns the wages of sin that all of cyberspace could not contain the list of them. We will look at one such wage-earning effort that is consistently in today’s news, and that is one of the most typically rebellious of sins committed by fallen man. Indeed, the payoff is made absolutely clear to all who will see truth.
The scriptural text that most encompasses the particular sin we will look at--so prevalent across the world today-- is found in Romans, Chapter 1. It is a sin-topic and Scripture we have covered many times in the Nearing Midnight columns.
”Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them…And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was [fitting]” (Romans 1:19, 27).
Homosexuality has and continues to rain the wages of that sin down upon both those guilty of the sin and those innocent of the sin. The world wants us to look at it as a health issue; the Lord looks at it as a sin issue. However, the wages of that horrendous sinful activity is a health issue BECAUSE it is a sin issue! The payoff is always –in every case—death. So, it is most definitely both a health and a sin issue. A recent report on the world-wide assessment of HIV/AIDS states:
“AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in history. An estimated
3.1 million people died from the virus last year and another 4.9 million people became infected, according to a U.N. update published Monday… The global HIV epidemic continues to expand, with more than 40 million people now estimated to have the AIDS virus. The deaths and new infection estimates were in line with those from last year, when the total number of people living with the virus was estimated at 39.4
million…” ("HIV Epidemic Spreading," Rapture Ready News, Nov. 22).
Homosexuality and AIDS are at the apex of the sin-iceberg. The sin being indulged in below the surface of the cesspool this generation has become must have God’s cup of wrath to near its very brim. The geophysical upheavals that have raged upon the planet in recent years and months might be a key indicator that that prophesied wrath is about to spill over.
The wages of sin and God’s righteous wrath cannot be discussed without His greater disposition in dealing with his creature called man. God’s love is the unfathomable truth for which we who are His creation can be truly thankful in this season of Thanksgiving. The second part of our examination is found in the wonderful promise: “…but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Just as the wages earned for unrepented-of sin is death, both physical and eternal, the wages for living a godly life after accepting Jesus Christ for salvation (eternal life) will be eternal rewards. These are the crowns the saints of God will be given at the bema judgment (judgment seat of Christ). Although some say they can find more, most biblical scholars point to five such crowns:
1. The Incorruptible Crown, given to those who master the old nature (1 Corinthians 9: 25-27).
2 The Crown of Rejoicing, given to soul winners (Proverbs 11:30, Daniel 12:3,
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20).
3 The Crown of Life, given to those who successfully endure temptation (James 1:2-3, Revelation 2:10).
4 The Crown of Righteousness for those who especially love the doctrine of the rapture (2 Timothy 4:8).
5 The Crown of Glory, given to faithful preachers and teachers (Acts 20:26-28,
2 Timothy 4:1-2, 1 Peter 5: 2-4).
When Christ calls Christians to himself (read John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; Rev. 3:10; Rev. 4:1-3), the next event on God’s calendar will be to judge believers for what we have done in this earthly life. We want to hear Jesus say, “Well done, good, faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your salvation, which is fitting.”
--Terry
