Daily Encounter ... The Rapture Is Coming [Friday, July 1, 2011]

To view this email as a Web Page, Click HERE.
To ensure future delivery of emails, please add acts@actsweb.org
to your safe sender list or address book.

If you find value in Daily Encounter we hope you will be comfortable in donating at least $26. That's only 50 cents a week for an entire year to send Daily Encounter to 400,000+ worldwide subscribers every weekday of the year— without charge. Books available Becoming the Woman I Want to Be by Donna Partow. Are You Becoming the Woman God Wants You to Be—A Vessel He Can Use? A 90-Day Journey to Renewing Spirit, Soul, and Body. If you're like Donna, you've tried a lot of ways to improve your life. Now is the time for results! In three months you'll be well on your way to becoming the woman you want to be. What do you have to lose—besides bad habits and perhaps a few excess pounds? Danna Demetre, President of Lifestyle Dimensions said: "Donna's plan will renew you from the inside out—spirit, soul, and body!" On Sale only $10.99 Passport for Heaven: Excellent for giving to family, friends and contacts. Available in packs of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, more. To Purchase Words of Love Words to Inspire Share the gospel and Daily Encounter with friends and contacts by giving an attractive Business witness card ... available in packs of 50. Books by Dick Innes, author of Daily Encounter You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing. One reader said, "This is the most helpful book I have ever read....  On SALE for $10.99 How to Mend a Broken Heart. A retired veterinary surgeon, former lecturer at the Royal Veterinarian College of London and at Cambridge, wrote: "I have gone through two divorces and ... have just read your book, How to Mend a Broken Heart. It is the most helpful counseling I have ever read."  On SALE for $7.99 I Hate Witnessing, Pastor Ernie Cox of Ontario, Canada, said, "I've just finished reading I Hate Witnessing and have to say that it is the best thing I've ever read on communicating the gospel."  On SALE for $10.99	Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes of ACTS International... Please be a missionary and:     1. Forward Daily Encounter to friends CLICK HERE         and then on the button.     2. Become a People Power for Jesus Partner:         CLICK HERE To receive the TEXT edition of Daily Encounter without     pictures rather than this HTML edition with pictures:     CLICK HERE. See Weekend Encounter ... without charge every     weekend: humor, helps, inspiration. For the current     edition: CLICK HERE. Friday, July 1, 2011 The Rapture Is Coming When he was on Earth 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ said to his disciples and followers, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house [Heaven] are many mansions [dwellings]; 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."1   This event that Jesus is referring to is identified as the Rapture of the Church which, according to many Bible scholars, is at the beginning of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In spite of being one of the most climactic events in world history, the word "Rapture" isn't in the Bible, but the concept is. The word comes from a Greek word that literally means "to snatch out" or to "seize." However, the English word "rapture" is derived from the Latin verb, rapturo, which also means to be "snatched" or "caught up." It refers to the day that Jesus was talking about in today's Bible verse; that is, when he returns to take all his true followers to be with him in Heaven, and together be with him forever. Jesus made this promise to his disciples and followers prior to his crucifixion and resurrection. At the Rapture Jesus doesn't actually plant his feet on earth at this point of time, but comes in the clouds to call or "snatch" up his people to meet him in the air. Also, according to many Bible scholars, approximately seven years after the Rapture, Jesus will come back to earth via the Mount of Olives in Israel to put down all evil forever. As the Bible further explains, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we [Christians] who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words."2 The Apostle Paul also wrote in the Bible, "What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'"3 As mentioned earlier, this will be one of the most climactic events the world has ever experienced. Can you even begin to imagine what it will be like when millions of graves will be opened, the bodies of dead Christians will arise, be immediately changed,  and together with them all the millions of living Christians will be snatched up from the earth to meet the Lord in the air and transported to Heaven. Thousands of cars will be left on highways driverless. Pilots will be snatched from airplanes. Doctors and nurses will be caught up out of hospitals. School teachers will vanish—as will many students. This chaos will happen worldwide. Jesus also said about the Rapture, "I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."4 This indicates that this event will happen worldwide simultaneously as in some parts of the world it will be daytime and other parts nighttime. Furthermore the Bible predicted 2,000 years ago that every eye would see Christ's return. In the last book of the Bible Jesus' disciple, John, prophesied: "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen."5 "Every eye" seeing him will be made possible worldwide in today's world via satellite, television, and the revolutionary electronic media. I wonder how those in the news media who are left behind will rationalize the millions of people missing. I'd love to know what they will come up with but don't plan to be around to find out. For today, I urge you to make sure that you are ready for this dramatic and climactic event. Of one thing we can be absolutely certain and that is this: just as Christ's first coming, predicted in the Bible hundreds of years prior to his birth in Bethlehem, is a fact of history, so also will be his return. And as Jesus said, he will come when people least expect it.6 Note, too, that when the trumpet of God sounds, Christ's return—the Rapture—will be as sudden as a flash of lightning. As Jesus described it, "For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.7 It will be too late then to make preparations for Christ's return. If the Rapture should happen today, would you be ready to meet the Lord in the air? To make absolute certain that you are ready, be sure to read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: www.actsweb.org/christian. Don't delay. Be sure to do this today. Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your promise that Jesus Christ is coming back to earth to take all his true followers to be with him in Heaven forever. Please help me to be absolutely certain that I am ready for his coming. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen." Note: In Monday's Daily Encounter we will answer the question: "What happens after the Rapture both in Heaven and back here on earth?" 1. John 14:1-3 (NKJV). 2. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NLT). 3. 1 Corinthians 15:50-55 (NLT). 4. Luke 17:34-35 (NIV). 5. Revelation 1:7 (NIV). 6. Matthew 24:44. 7. Matthew 24: 27 (NLT). Note: While Bible scholars differ regarding the actual timing of end time events, the important issue is that we are ready for Christ's return for he is coming on a day when he is least expected. See Matthew 24:44 (NIV). <:))))>< NOTE: If you would like to accept God's forgiveness for all your sins and His invitation for a full pardon Click HERE. Or if you would like to re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, please click HERE to note this. You are subscribed to this list as: yaishwaryaj@gmail.com To unsubscribe, please use this form: http://www.actsweb.org/unsub.php NOTE: Click HERE for ACTS Monthly Report. Note re Comments: Please keep your comment from 10 to 12 lines max. Comment only on this day's Daily Encounter. Click only one time on the "Add Your Comment" button to send your message. Keep in mind that many responses are coming from people whose first language is not English. We reserve the right to delete unsuitable comments and unsuitably long comments. about today's Daily Encounter How to Know God and be sure you're a real Christian without having to be religious: Click HERE. Archives: For Daily and Weekend Encounter archives: Click HERE. On the Lighter Side: Click HERE. NOTE: You are receiving this recurring mailing because you subscribed on one of our web sites, or requested by email or letter to be subscribed, responded to an advertisement on ArcaMax.com to be subscribed, or confirmed your subscription after recording your response on one of our web sites. Prayer Partners Needed: One of ACTS International's greatest needs is Prayer Partners to stand with us as we seek to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with millions of people around the world through E-mail and the Internet, and to bring people to Jesus. If you would like to join with us as an ACTS Prayer Partner, please Click HERE, and then click on the Subscribe to Prayer Encounter. Unless a special or urgent need arises, we send out only one prayer update report each month. Prayer Requests: To submit a prayer request to David Clark Click HERE. (David is not on the ACTS staff but is offering this as a service to Daily Encounter readers.) If you are a prayer warrior and would like to pray with David for requests sent in, Click HERE to sign up. Published by: ACTS International Report problems to ACTS International © Copyright 1990-2011 by ACTS International P.O. Box 73545 San Clemente, California 92673 U.S.A.	Be a Special ACTS Friend and receive Dick and Joy Innes monthly email report. Links to Articles   About God   About Faith   Relationships   Success   Solutions   Recovery Available: CDs by Dick Innes: "Loving and Understand-ing People," "Healing Whole-ness and Happi-ness," "I Hate Witnessing," and "God's Formula for Success." Designed to inform and inspire and sprinkled with humor.  On SALE at Store You Are Invited Prayer Request To send a prayer request: Click HERE Privacy Policy: We have a strict privacy policy in that your email address and any details you provide will never be shared with any other individual or organization.