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What is The Rapture?

The Second Coming of Christ will occur in stages. First, He will remove all Christians from the Earth, to protect them. This is called “The Rapture.” The term comes from the Latin verb raptare, and the Greek word harpizo, both meaning “to be caught up” or “to be snatched up.” Jesus will “snatch us” out of harm’s way.

Most Christians believe in the Rapture and the Tribulation, which will be followed by a 1000 years of Christ reigning together with the resurrected saints.

Christians who do not believe in the Rapture and the Millennial Kingdom are referred to as “amillennialists”. They believe that mankind will simply become better and better through the efforts of the Church, and when mankind becomes holy enough Christ will return.

After The Rapture, God will begin executing judgments against unbelievers, during a period called the Tribulation. At the end of the Tribulation all nations will attack Israel, and Jesus Christ will physically return, leading the armies of heaven. At the Battle of Armageddon they will destroy everyone who is not a believer. Then Satan will be bound, and Jesus will set up the Millennial Kingdom, headquartered in Jerusalem. Jesus and the saints will rule over the nations of the Earth for a 1000 years. During this period there will be people born who are not loyal to Christ.

The prophesy continues that a large group will take up arms against the Lord and be defeated. Then, Christ will judge all who have ever lived, giving rewards to some and punishment to others. Those who were “destroyed” will be cast into the Lake of Fire, i.e., Hell. After that, God will destroy heaven and Earth because they have been polluted by sin. He will create a new heaven and a new Earth, put those who were saved on the new Earth, and rule it forever.

Maybe you too will get a phone call that starts out with that welcoming hello. So how do you know if you joined a cult? Well, they may want to alienate you, only give you part of the info and stretch your schedule and life just a little too much.

Cult Concepts for Consideration, should you think you are in a cult.

Yes, the Purple Lizard Told Me, I had to move to Idaho and start the ranch

A cult will use deception. The cult will not normally tell people exactly what they believe, their origins, what they practice, and what life is really like in the cult, because if people knew they would not join. This information is taught to the new recruit slowly and in pieces – a “frog in the pot” tactic.

It’s us versus Them Dammit!

Cults teach their members that their church is the only true church, the only church in which you can be saved. If you leave the cult then it is said you have “fallen away from God.” This is done to instill fear in the members which can be expressed like this: If you ever think of leaving this body of true Christians or do something which forces us to expel you and you will probably go to hell.

You probably don’t want to rot in hell, right?

Leadership is feared. To disagree with leadership is to disagree with God. If the leaders tell you to do something, you had better do it. Often intense breaking sessions are employed to destroy any supposed rebellion or threat to the leadership. These sessions can involve many people at once attacking the character and motives of the target.

Dude you are so the best as long as you drink the kool aid

Love bombing is essentially false love. When you first join the cult you will gain instant friends, you’ll be hugged and everyone will want to talk to you. For someone who is lonely or comes from out of town this is especially wonderful. However, after a while this “love” becomes conditional on your adherence to the cult’s standards.

Don’t watch that crazy CNN – take a newsletter

Those who control the information control the person. In a cult any information from outside the cult is considered evil, especially if it is opposing the cult. Members are told not to read it or believe it. Only the cult-supplied information is true.

This technique is really a partner to deception. Common sense tells us that a person who does not consider all information may make an unbalanced decision. Filtering the information available or trying to discredit it not of the basis of how true it is, but rather on the basis of how it supports the party line, is a common control method for cults and government’s alike.

If someone starts going sideways, let us know.

Everyone is encouraged to watch out for “struggling” brothers and report what they see to the leadership. Often information given in deepest confidence will find its way to leadership. Cult members are sometimes shocked to find their problems being aired about in the cult meetings.

Yeah, we got to talk about that thought you had which was not all group cool and stuff.

The cult will have their own language and terms – Jargon. These prevent people outside the group being able to engage in “dangerous” conversations with members and it gives the members a sense of belonging. It also allows a phenomenon known as thought stopping where a simple word can stop any thoughts in the member’s mind which are against the cult.

Ever feel like the day just Flew by at your all day “conference”?

Cults often keep their members so busy with meetings and activities that they become too busy and too tired to think about their involvement.

Controlling Who you see and Talking to?

A mind control cult will seek to maneuver your life so as to maximise your contact with cult members and minimise your contact with people outside the group, especially those who oppose your involvement. Cult members will be moved into cult communities or cult flats where they can be watched more closely and immersed in the cult environment. The cult must cut off any contact through which information or reminders of your past life will come. You cannot marry or date anyone outside of the cult and often your spouse will be chosen.

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With tough times and tax season on the way, thought it might be interesting to look at how one should tithe.  Rev. Darryl Odom, author of a new book called The Rented Veil: The High Cost of Worship.  The concept of the book is it isn’t about the gross, but the net.  In theory Christians should give 10% of their income to God, but 10% of the gross or what’s left over after all the bills are paid.

Christians who tithe — give one-tenth of their income to God— can save a lot of money by applying a correct interpretation of the biblical mandate to tithe, said Odom, former associate minister of Bethel Community Christian Church in Woodstock, Ga.

But what he defines as correct is apt to ruffle some ministerial feathers and spark naysaying among people who regularly take 10 percent off the top of their income and give it to their churches.

“Like most people, I figured a tithe was 10 percent of one’s gross income,” said Odom, who describes himself as an avid giver. “But I wanted to really look at it.

“I was always talking to people who were struggling, and I wanted to see why people felt uncomfortable or guilty about not giving.”

What he homed in on was the word “increase” in Deuteronomy 14 about tithing. He interprets “increase” to be profit — the amount left after needs of food, clothes, shelter and transportation are met. A tithe would be a tenth of that, but a tenth also should be put aside for savings, which he said also is a holy action.

With that premise, someone making $3,000 a month who needs $2,000 for basic needs would not tithe $300, but $100 — and also save $100, Odom said.

Discretionary income based tithing would then make you think that Texans, young folk and the childless proportionally should be giving more of their gross, since their discretionary income is statistically higher.  So the core question is:  “Are you going to Starbucks or church?”  Not sure how a latte helps with the afterlife, but it does make the morning go better.

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