My Dear Friend,

The translation of the church, or rapture, is the sudden catching away of tested, spiritually minded Christians to be forever with the Lord. This great epochal event that officially closes the church age and makes possible the beginning of the subsequent Tribulation period is both a most important and controversial subject.

Therefore, the rapture deserves our attention, and belief, since the New Testament calls it the blessed and purifying hope of the church. With all the various information and views swirling around in the church, I thought it would be helpful to introduce you to a few key terms bearing on this crucial and timely subject. So, I'm enrolling you in the School of the Spirit and asking you to attend this short class, Rapture Terminology 101.

Please pause and take sufficient time to study these hopefully illuminating definitions so you may improve your knowledge of this subject and be more confident about the things to come.

Our course offers the following definitions:

• "Rapture assurance" exists when you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that, because you are living very close to Christ, pursuing spiritual readiness, and patiently enduring your tests in faith and obedience, whenever the Lord appears, you will be taken.

• "Rapture presumption" is the unscriptural false confidence that, merely because we have had a born-again experience in the past, we will be taken when Jesus appears, regardless of whether we are living righteously or unrighteously.

• "Rapture misplacement" is the fairly recent trend (last 40 years) of misplacing the timing of the rapture from pre-Tribulation to mid-, late-, or post-Tribulation.

• "Rapture ignorance" is the condition of being uninformed that Jesus will one day suddenly appear, as He promised, to take His bride - the body of born-again, committed, Spirit-filled Christians worldwide - unto Himself, so we may be with Him in the place He has lovingly prepared for us in heaven (John 14:1-3).

• "Rapture denial" occurs when, moved by unbelief, we deny that the church's translation will occur - despite Paul's clear, detailed descriptions of it (1 Corinthians 15:14-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18) and the examples of Enoch's and Elijah's translations.

• "Rapture mockery" is the arrogant disdain expressed by materialistic unbelievers and rationalistic Christians at the thought of a sudden, supernatural, "great snatch" - though their lampooning itself, foretold by the Spirit of prophecy through Peter 20 centuries ago (2 Peter 3:3-7), confirms the very great departure they greatly denounce.

• "Rapture disappointment" grips many Christians today because Jesus did not appear decades ago when hopes of His imminent appearing peaked just after the State of Israel was reestablished (1948) and the city of Jerusalem fully retaken (1967). Deeply disappointed, they have turned to alternate End-Times views - or to sin and worldliness! But Jesus prophesied that He would delay and that many, disappointed, would fall into spiritual "sleep" . . . just before His appearing (Matthew 25:5, 10)!

• "Rapture expectation" occurs when the blessed hope penetrates and grips our inner man. Our rapture doctrine becomes a rapture delight. It ceases being merely an eschatological position we hold and becomes an exhilarating hope that holds us. Rapture prophecies cease being a set of proof-texts we faithfully parrot and begin being, as A.W. Tozer wrote, "a love-inflamed desire to look upon His face." This expectation energizes a steady flow of joy that increases daily until the day - and that will not disappoint! Why? "Unto them that look for [eagerly expect] him shall he appear" (Hebrews 9:28).

• "Rapture obsession" is an undue preoccupation with the great catching away. We focus only on the last day and forget about walking closely with Christ every day, growing in His Word, enduring testing, developing spiritually into His image, and finishing our callings and commissions now in this age.

• "Rapture accountability" is the solemn duty Christ lays upon every shepherd of His sheep to faithfully study and teach the Second Coming to his (or her) sheep. Why? So they may have the "blessed hope" in these hopeless times, have the "purifying hope" as an impetus to sanctification, and be fully prepared for the great event. Then the local shepherd may, in the end, give a good account of himself to the heavenly Shepherd for not leaving his flock in ignorance or confusion in this late hour.

So, be a good student. Thoughtfully research and ponder the Second Coming, and these terms, in hopes that they will help you become rapture ready, and many others through you. Oh, and one more thing.

As in every college, you will be tested on this course information. Not by me, but by the Holy Spirit. Not in my classroom, but in your situational classrooms. Not at preannounced exam times, but in spontaneous pop tests coming when you least expect them. So, commit this information to memory. Then you may share it faithfully and fully whenever the Holy Spirit gives you the opportunity to do so.

Maranatha - the Lord comes!

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES