Date: 12 - 15 - 2010

TKC Ministries - Leon Hagins

As I have said before and will say it again , any Christian who is not touched by what he or she hears and sees on this little celestial home we call planet earth, then something is amiss with your faith.

Now, more than ever , my mind , body and soul are being bombarded with the rapture. Many believe this is a false teaching. Again I ask, what bible are you reading?

God’s word makes it clear that Jesus Christ is coming back for his church, his bride, and there is nothing that will prevent this from happening. Please be aware that this is not the second coming of Christ. In the second coming , Jesus returns physically to this earth on the Mount of Olives, and the mountain will split.(Zechariah 14) Also in the second coming, Jesus is coming in wrath. This is quite a different set of circumstances than him coming in the clouds, and all the believers , dead and alive , will be with him in the clouds, in a transformation that takes less than a second (1 Thes. 4). This is in the bible , and I have some of the scriptures listed below.

John 14: 1- 4 - Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 18 - But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, (those who are dead) that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:51- 53 Behold I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep , but we shall all be changed, in a moment , in the twinkling of an eye, at the last rump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

My question to you is this……….where will you be when this miraculous event takes place? Will you be in the air with Jesus and all the believers , or left down here to deal with the antichrist?

The problem with our world, is the simple fact that the ‘fear of the Lord’ has dropped to an all time low. Not a day passes by where I don’t think that the wrath of God could come upon this planet. And once the rapture occurs I can’t imagine what things will be like.

So as I live during these troubling times, I find myself more and more asking , begging , and pleading with God to have mercy on us, and as David said in Psalms 103:13-14 - Like as a father pitieth his children , so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he rememberth that we are dust.

With this in mind I decided to search the scriptures to find stories where people pleaded with God for mercy. Let’s have a look.

In the book of Genesis we find a man , Abraham , actually bartering with God. It is most interesting and I have listed some of this story below.

Genesis 18:17-33 - And the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great 

and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

For I know him , that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment ; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

And the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great , and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now , and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it , which is come unto me; and if not , I will know.

And the *men turned their faces from thence , and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

* There were three men that came to visit Abraham (Genesis 18:2). Two of them were angels and the third man was God. The two angels leave and head toward Sodom , while God stayed behind and spoke with Abraham.

And Abraham drew near , and said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That it be far from thee to do this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?

As you continue on reading to verse 33 - you will see that Abraham works all the way down to ten people. And he asks God will he spare the city for the sake of ten people, and God replies “yes” , that he would spare the city.

Unfortunately there were not even ten righteous people in that city, and the city was eventually destroyed Gen. 19:23-24. There were only four people delivered out of Sodom , Lot (Abraham‘s nephew), his wife and his two daughters.

Lot even tried to warn his son’s in law, whom had married his daughter’s , of the pending wrath that was to befall the city, but they believed that Lot was making a Joke.

The children of Israel cry out to God….

Exodus 2:23-25 -

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Issac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Exodus 3:7- And the Lord said , I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.

Exodus Chapters 3 - 15 - God raises up Moses to deliver the children of Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians. God worked miraculous , marvelous and terrifying wonders upon the Egyptians. Please take some time read these chapters.

The book of Judges has this up and down scenario where the children of Israel would at first be obedient to the word of God , but as time went on they strayed away from God. Which in turn angered God and he would allow their enemies to oppress them or take them captivity.

Then the Israelites would cry out to God for deliverance, and he would raise up someone to deliver them. Unfortunately after God had provided assistance, the Israelites would once again stray away from God, and the whole process would start again.