The other item that's kept me busy during the past week in particular is having proposed to the lovely and talented Dana, about whom I have spoken often and lovingly. It is to her infinite credit that I've learned to love to this extent again, after the death of my "soul mate" and partner in this ministry venture, Melissa Smith, three years ago this month. Dana, you are my last love, and the woman I want to be with when we are taken up by Christ when He splits the eastern sky.
Which brings me to the topic of this final post of 2017.
What would you do during 2018 if you knew it was going to be your last year on earth?
I'm very serious about this question, for many reasons. Those reasons don't matter right now. What would you DO? If I could guarantee that you had no more than twelve months - that you wouldn't be here to celebrate New Year's Rockin' Eve 2019 with Ryan Seacrest and the corpse of Dick Clark - would you live your remaining life differently?
The pat answer, of course, is that we are to live every day as if we could die tomorrow, but that's impractical beyond belief. The closest actual advice I've ever heard on this topic that was functionally useful was to plan like you'll live forever, and live like there's no tomorrow.
But generally, we don't do even that.
This is not your standard "Carpe Diem!" post. This is a serious admonition that the End is Almost Here. If you've followed my writing over the last fifteen months, or really just the last few months (and God bless you if you have, as erratic a poster as I've been given my failing health!), then you know where I'm coming from.
All the signs are in place for the "Rapture of Christ's Church" in the imminent future. There are no longer any more "signs" necessary, nothing else needed before the Son of Man appears without warning and snatches up the smaller-than-commonly-expected number of Believers from the surface of this world and takes us Home.
We use the word "snatches" because Jesus Himself told us it would be sudden. Here is part of the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 (verses 15-19) →
15“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 19And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
Several things to note here.
"The abomination that causes desolation" is the final step in the countdown to the rapture, the only one left. What that may be is unclear. Many have speculated it to be something about the not-yet reconstructed Third Temple, but at this point that seems a wistful dream at best. More likely, it's some desecration of an already-extant holy site; in my mind, the Western Wall is the obvious candidate. Regardless, when it happens, it's too late to be saved and catch the first train out of town! Verses 16-19 make it clear there won't be a delay after that for us to "catch our breath" or "pack our bags". (What would you possibly want to pack to go to Heaven?)
"Let the reader understand" - is not added later, but is part of the original quotation. Jesus is expecting His Words to be written down and passed on to future generations. That seems an amazingly profound thought for Jesus to have at the moment.
"Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants" - Here's a thought some of you may not have come across. Jesus says on many occasions that to enter into Heaven, we must be like them: staying in Matthew, here's 19:14 →
14but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
For to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven! So not only will the children GO to Heaven, they'll OWN it! So, undoubtedly, the children below a certain age (presumably the age where that child can make a consenting choice) will be taken up unconditionally. Alas for pregnant women and those nursing infants indeed! If they're not saved, their child will be snatched up without them! (I'm assuming that you realize: no matter what our governments may say, to God those babies within their mothers' wombs are already living human beings worthy of salvation. Psalm 139:13 →
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
As the memesters would say, "Your argument is invalid"!)
I've written about the impending Rapture before. God has pressed me to talk about it non-stop for the next however-many months we have left. So, that's the primary reason I have for stressing this immediacy issue.
But personally, I have a second one: my health is steadily deteriorating to a frightening level.
Since six months ago, I've lost a great deal of stamina and develop pain much faster. It takes more medication to beat that pain back, and I've had to add three medicines to my daily regimen. While I've been able to stay on the job officially, long-time readers know it's only through the tireless efforts of my teaching assistant Wendy that I'm able to survive day to day (and even so, I can't generally make it through more than three days in a week). Unfortunately, I've recebtly learned that in order to retire on disability from our state's school system and earn disability retirement payments, I have to be off the payroll for five months before even the first test of my ability or inability will be made.
Screw that. God's coming sooner than that! I'm currently planning to just keep teaching until He Returns or until I drop! This is another "Holy Spirit" thing, understand: it's going to be a race to see if I live long enough to see the Rapture, or if the pain gets to me first.
So, for me, it becomes very simple. 2018 will be my last year on the planet, and frankly I can't wait to get to Heaven!
BUT.... what am I supposed to do with the time left to me here?!?
God didn't leave me here "accidentally", any more than He left YOU here "accidentally". What are we supposed to do to help encourage the lost to come to Christ in these last few months? For me, this blog is an important venue, and I'm pledging to try and post something every day until the End. (I don't make "New Year's Resolutions" generally, because having spent my entire life in the school system, I don't think of January as the "new year"! I've always made those resolutions in August. This year, however, warrants an adjustment.)
I also need to focus this blog in more on the essentials: the salvation of the lost (both the ones reading the blog and the ones you may have in your lives and want to help save) and the urgency of the issue. The rest of my duties, like always, start from listening to God in prayer and interpreting what He wants me to do. That's not always easy for me to do. Like most pray-ers, I tend to bring my own desires into the prayer circle, when I need to listen more carefully.
What about you? What do you find God is leading you towards in 2018? Don't waste a DAY of the time you have left, because there aren't very many!
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