My Stories

My Rapture Story

When I came to the Lord many years ago now, I had never heard of the Rapture. I began hearing about it from believers and I wondered what they were talking about. I was about to receive a revelation that would become a foundation of my entire walk with the Lord, one that he would point me to whenever I became discouraged.

Shortly after I was born again, I was directed by the Lord to be baptized. I could make this part a long story, but suffice it to say that even in mid-winter Maine, the Lord arranged a place where I would be baptized. When I look back on my stories I am amazed over and over and over again at how the Lord sets the stage for each part of our walk with him. Well, the name of the church was “Blessed Hope.” I had no knowledge of what that name stood for. Only years later I would learn about the “Blessed Hope,” and the name of that church when I had never heard of “the Blessed Hope” as I now understand it.

Awhile later – one day in my prayer time I asked the Lord for a Bible verse from him that would be the Bible verse for my life. He gave me Revelation chapter 3, the Letter To The Church Of Philadelpia. Again – I had no understanding why he’d give me that verse. I read it over and over and over again, straining to understand how that verse would apply to me. I saw where it says he is the one who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. That part I understood and I’ve seen multiple examples of that in my own life. But the rest of it was a mystery to me. Much later I would learn that this is the Rapture passage which holds the promise that he will keep me from the hour of trial that will fall upon the whole world if I would walk in his command to persevere.

Later … I studied up on the subject of the Rapture and saw that there are several interpretations of the timing of it. Pre-trib, pre-wrath, mid-trib, -post-trib. Teachers put forth Scriptural references to support their interpretation, and I was very confused. You could actually “prove” each of those interpretations. So I asked the Lord how could anyone understand this because each of them “sounded’ plausible. I was so shocked that he actually gave me a passage in the OLD Testament. I read Isaiah 26:20-21 over and over and over in utter shock because I had heard that it was the apostle Paul who brought the doctrine of the pre-trib Rapture forward, yet here was a description of it in the OLD Testament??? On the next Sunday I went to my pastor and asked him if he had ever heard of a passage in the Old Testament which showed the Rapture. He said no, he hadn’t ever been aware of that. So I opened up to Isaiah and he read it. He was SO surpised!

Then one day I heard that Chuck Missler would be holding a prophecy conference in a city nearby and some friends were going to attend. I was invited to go with them. Well … I didn’t know who Chuck Missler was, so I decided to go again and investigate the other positions on the timing of the Rapture so that I could ask intelligent questions. As I went to investigate the positions, the Lord spoke to me VERY loudly, “Do NOT lose your crown.” It took me a moment to digest that. What was he saying to me? It was right there in the Book of Revelation, the very letter to the church of Philadelphia, my very life verse. Verse 11: “Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” Wow, he deemed it so important that he would send me a dire warning. So, I stuck with what he has given me and never again looked into the other positions. He had made it quite clear, even with such a stern warning.

So I went to the conference. We all brought notebooks because I was told this Chuck Missler was an indepth scholar. Everything was fine Friday night, and all day Saturday. We were loving it. Then …on Sunday as we were all taking notes during his teaching, someone came onto the stage and whispered something to him. He turned to the audience and said …We have to clear out, for a wedding that was scheduled for this afternoon. I mean, really? How did a double-scheduling happen to take place??? Then I realized what the Lord showed me. We were interrupted …by a wedding!