A recent quote from Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad stated, “…Rest assured that if you do not respond to the divine call, you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth,”. He was referring to the west.
I wonder if his use of the word “vanish” was unknowingly a prophetic word about the rapture, just as the Lord used Caiaphas in John 11 to unknowingly utter a prophetic word about Jesus death on the cross.
With events in the middle east as they are, do you still think that all end times prophecies will be fulfilled between 2018 and 2037? (based on your previous articles). That would place the rapture as late as 2011, or later. Unless the Lord intervenes and cools things off for a while, 2011 seems rather far off at the rate things are moving. On a related topic, you have often stated that you believe the rapture is a number (of saved) specific issue – which I agree. But in God’s sovereignty, don’t you think it could be number and date specific, coinciding at the same time?
It’s certainly possible that Ahmadinejad’s quote is prophetic of the Rapture, although he intended it as a threat of annihilation to those who don’t convert.
These days it seems to us as if events are rapidly approaching their conclusion, but it will likely take longer than we think it should for all these things to happen. But that doesn’t matter. The rapture could occur at any time. While I believe that it has to take place at least seven years before the 2nd coming, it could happen a lot sooner, even today.
Yes, God knows both the number of saved and the date of our departure. My contention that the Rapture is a number specific event is to show that no one on Earth will be able to guess the date in advance.