MERRY MONDAY BY PARRIS-
“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. All these are the beginning of sorrows”
Matt. 24:3
Frank and I grew up as young Christians thinking about the rapture. In the Jesus Movement, songs were sung and Christians witnessed with such expectancy that Christ would return at any moment. At our Bible school in California, the students would gather to debate if they believed in a post or pre-tribulation rapture. When we came to New Orleans to start our church, we showed the movies, “THE THIEF IN THE NIGHT” and “THE DISTANT THUNDER” which terrified us all and many received the Lord through this. Even at my wedding, I walked down the aisle to all of us singing “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”. The song went like this:
“A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he’s gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and one’s left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready”
Larry Norman
Last Thursday Frank and I had yet another rapture conversation. What if Christ came, what if the tribulation clock has been started with the eclipse, the three hurricanes back to back, the earthquakes and the world gone upside down with hate, nuclear bombs threats and rioting. We know his day draws near and where will you be when you see him face to face? Did I do all that I could within my power? Has my light grown dim? Have I backed off the gospel to become more pleasing to the world? We feel deeply that there will be a ingathering of more souls. Robert Murray McCheyne said, “Close upon the back of a judgment period, the Holy Spirit descends upon a whole community as “a rushing mighty wind” (Act 2:2), like “floods upon the dry ground” (Isa 44:3), or “like rain upon the mown grass” (Psa 72:6). The great heart of society begins to heave and palpitate as the heart of one man—and myriads of careless sinners are arrested, alarmed, filled with anxiety about salvation, and turned simultaneously to look on Him Whom they have pierced, and mourn those sins that pierced Him and brought Him to “those sins that pierced Him and brought Him to the dust of death.”
“The father spoke, the demons dined
How could you have been so blind?
There’s no time to change your mind
The son has come and you’ve been left behind”
Norman