Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now,’ says Yahweh, ‘let’s talk this over together.'”
Jeremiah 23:35 – “When you speak with your friend ask, ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ or ‘What has Yahweh said’?”
Luke 24:15 – “While they discussed together and reasoned, Yeshua himself drew near, and went with them.”
Kudos to Rapture Ready
Kudos to Terry James and Todd Strandberg. The wonderful staff at Rapture Ready abide fully by Isaiah 1:18 and Jeremiah 23:35. We have “talked this over and reasoned together” and “Yeshua drew near.”
In the last few months of 2019, I began to email Terry James about the possibility that the rapture may be a witnessed event rather than an instant disappearance. At first, Terry was hesitant to even broach the topic, as he and his staff have always taught that the resurrection and rapture occur in a twinkling of an eye. But he assured me that if I could convince him using only scripture, then he would personally see that my articles got published. Terry was eventually convinced, was true to his word, and a series of seven articles were published by Rapture Ready, beginning in February 2020 and continuing until July 2020. Special credit to Terry James and Todd Strandberg for allowing my rapture insights to be published on their website, despite their struggles with some of those insights. They are awesome.
It also appears that the folks at Prophecy Watchers may be softening to the witnessed rapture event if one of their latest videos is an indication of the stance they will be taking in the future, now that the new Co-host, Pastor Mondo Gonzales is on board. You can view the video here:
https://prophecywatchers.com/videos/gary-stearman-and-mondo-gonzales-the-rapture-and-resurrection/
We May Not Just Disappear
The series of seven articles about the Rapture are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to insights the Holy Spirit has given me about the Biblical patterns. Key to my understanding is that there are at least three Biblical witnesses to a bodily rapture being witnessed!
The raptures of Elijah (2 Kings 2:7-12) and Yeshua (Acts 1:9) were fully-witnessed events. The rapture of the two witnesses of Revelation will also be witnessed (Revelation 11:12).
Virtually all agree that the Jewish Wedding Ceremony is an excellent example, or pattern, of Yeshua’s actions in the taking his Bride. When the bridegroom’s father gives him permission to go get his bride, he does not simply walk outside his newly built home, blow the shofar, shout “Wife, come here” and poof, she instantly disappears from her father’s house and appears at his feet. NO, NO, NO – he and his friends literally have to go and carry her from her house to his new home. That ride is well-witnessed by all who have been awakened by the shouting and blowing of shofars of the bridegroom and his friends. No disappearing event here, either!
The truth that the raptures of Elijah and Yeshua were (and the rapture of the two witnesses will be) well-witnessed events is fully revealed in the Bible, no matter how assiduously anyone denies it. This lends me to believe that the rapture of the Bride of Yeshua will more than likely also be a well-witnessed event. The patterns are consistent. What do you say?
Here’s the 2020 RR article about the Rapture being fully witnessed if you are inclined to read it:
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/02/14/i-saw-it-happen-by-jeff-van-hatten/
A Recent Push-Back
Job 13:6 – “Now listen to my reasoning, pay attention to how I present my dispute.”
Over the past twelve years, I have tried to contact well-known scholars, speakers, pastors, and authors and ask the question: Is it possible that the Rapture of the Bride is a witnessed event?
More often than not, I get no reply.
However, my latest attempt to talk over this possibility, listing the above examples, garnered a biting reply from a well-known Biblical scholar who assumed that I was not a pre-tribulation believer. NOT so! I am so pre-trib I won’t even buy Post cereals, haha. Here was his reply: “You have given me very few reasons why you believe what you believe,” “Your points are not well taken,” and “It is best to agree to disagree and move on.”
I suppose I could spend all day standing on the pitcher’s mound trying to convince him otherwise (wouldn’t that just be ducky …), but his further comments saying that “I do not have the time to devote to one individual who has his mind made up and is not going to change” have me convinced he will likely not reply to any further attempts to dialogue. I chuckled at this statement, thinking it sounded like a pot calling the kettle black – I can be stubborn, after all, but perhaps he is as well. I attributed this to having a bad day – I get them too and assured him he is fully forgiven. Time will tell if he continues to email and discuss the witnessed rapture possibility. So far, it has been several weeks, and no further replies.
Conclusions
There are those who are willing to dialogue and those who stubbornly refuse. Again, Kudos to the staff at Rapture Ready. If only everyone was as willing to dialogue as Terry James was when I first approached the topic of a well-witnessed rapture event.
I know that the witnessed rapture paradigm is substantially different from the instant disappearance model currently being taught, but Yahweh does expect us to discuss new insights with each other, not blow each other off. How sad that the above individual was so hasty to simply dismiss and move on. Please pray that he will reconsider and begin a dialogue, as did Terry.
Final Thoughts
Romans 11:8 – “Yahweh has given them a spirit of dullness – eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, right down to the present day.”
How well those scriptures describe many of today’s well-known scholars, speakers, pastors, and authors who are unwilling to even discuss whether the Bible has something different to say about the currently taught rapture paradigm. And how sad – Please pray that they will reconsider and begin a dialogue.
Website: https://raptureparty.net
Email: jeff@raptureparty.net