Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins' The Rapture https://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/t57 Runboard| Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins' The Rapture en-us Fri, 29 Mar 2024 06:22:41 +0000 Fri, 29 Mar 2024 06:22:41 +0000 https://www.runboard.com/ rssfeeds_managingeditor@runboard.com (Runboard.com RSS feeds managing editor) rssfeeds_webmaster@runboard.com (Runboard.com RSS feeds webmaster) akBBS 60 Re: Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins' The Rapturehttps://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/p221,from=rss#post221https://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/p221,from=rss#post221The Rapture, part 2... EVERYTHING IN IRENE'S past paled to insignificance as she soared into the heavens, the earth shrinking from sight. She had to wonder how the billions of people in the air would ever be able to share the attention of the One they had believed in, the One who had beckoned them home.      But then it hit her. If Jesus' shout had been heard in the same instant by true believers all over the world as their own names, it proved yet again that He was omnipotent and omnipresent, unbound by space or time. He could do anything and everything all at once.      As Irene's new, glorfied body was transported through Earth's atmosphere above the clouds, she let her head fall back and spread her arms wide, closing her eyes tight. When the light of glory flooded her being, she had to peek.      High above her was Jesus, His gleaming incandescence brighter than a million suns. With arms outstretched He welcomed His beloved, and while Irene remained vaguely aware that she was just one of so many on this same journey, His beautiful piercing eyes seemed to bore into hers alone. She wanted to cry out, to thank Him a thousand times a thousand for forgiving her, for saving her soul, for calling her to Himself. His face shone with love and compassion and welcome, as if her arrival was His highest joy.      Irene immediately felt unworthy, and all she had wanted to express seemed to leak from her mind. She could not speak. She tried to bow, to lower herself, to hide from Jesus' perfection, which seemed to permeate her own darkness like a beacon.      But He reached for her, lifted her to Himself.       "Irene," He said as He enveloped her. "My child, My own. I praise you for believing in Me, for trusting in Me, for calling upon My name to be saved. This is what you were saved for, to be with Me. And yet it is only the beginning of a journey that has no end. Come with me to My Father's house, for as I promised, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.'"      Irene was aware only of blinking, and in the next instant she had been transported into outer space and then into what Pastor Billings had called the third heaven, into the presence of a vast and beautiful crystal city so overwhelming that she could scarcely take it in. This made Soldier Field and Wrigley Field look like toys. From certain vantage points, even when those stadiums were full, she had been able to see almost everyone at once. With a mere turn of the head on Earth, her eyes could take in forty, fifty, sixty thousand people. But this. This was something else.        Clearly there were hundreds of millions of others, more than a billion, maybe two. Yet without rising above their heads, Irene was aware of them all. And not just aware. It was as if, without so much as moving an eye--let alone her head--or even standing on tiptoe, she saw and recognized everyone. She knew them. Their histories, their stories, were known to her. She could pause and concentrate on one or another or a thousand at a time. To be con'd. nondisclosed_email@example.com (MurdochsAid)Wed, 07 Mar 2007 09:17:37 +0000 Re: Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins' The Rapturehttps://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/p220,from=rss#post220https://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/p220,from=rss#post220The Rapture, Part 1 IRENE STEELE was not the type of person that bolted straight up in bed, regardless of what she felt or heard. Rayford might sit up or even creep out to see what had awakened them, but Irene tended to freeze if something startled her awake.       And that's what happened this night. She'd had trouble falling asleep, as usual when Rayford was away. But soon she was soundly out, hands clasped under her cheek as she lay on her side.       What woke her was a shout so loud that it was as if someone were in the room. Clear as day came the piercing precision of every syllable, and her eyes popped open, her heart resounding against her ribs.        "IRENE STEELE!" ===== For an instant, Irene Steele had lain terrified, but before she could move even an inch she heard a loud trumpet blast and felt transported out of her bed, passing through the ceiling, the attic, the roof, and into the dark night sky. Strangely, though she had left her jewelry and nightgown, she did not feel naked, nor was she cold. Not for a second did she believe this was a dream or anything other than real. She was more in the moment than she had ever been in her life.     And there was Raymie, right next to her, as they soared.     "Is this it, Mom? Is this it? Somebody shouted my name!"     She could see clearly, even in the dark, and as they rose Irene saw millions rising with them from horizon to horizon. Oh, praise God! She would soon see Jesus!       But for now she was fixated on Raymie. She had known it was her son; she had recognized his face and his voice, though it had changed, and he was a full-grown man, over six feet tall with a clear face and chiseled features. She too had changed. Her face felt smoother, her skin taut. And while she still bore nicks and scars from various minor injuries over the years--even Jesus' scars would still be visible, she knew--her body and tone reminded her of several years before, when she had been in her early thirties.       When she and Raymie reached the clouds, they slowed and were suspended there. Irene could not keep from grinning. She had always been afraid of heights, but here she was, higher than she'd ever been outside a plane, and she feared nothing. She wondered aloud where Jackie was, and suddenly, there she was, with Dooley and their grown-up child. They embraced and stared and shook their heads.      "It was you, you know," Irene said. "You really led me to Christ."      "Me too," Dooley said. "I wonder if Pastor Billings--"      And there he was with them, embracing everyone, rejoicing. "I always wondered what this would feel like," he said, looking half his age.     "Thank you for your faithful preaching and teaching," Irene said.      It was then that she realized that there was no barrier between thought and action. "Raymie, it seems everything we think about happens instantly. I mentioned Jackie and here she is. Dooley mentioned the pastor, and here he is. It's as if time has stood still and all of this is happening simultaneously."       "I want to see Grandma and Grandpa," Raymie said, and they appeared, youthful, lucid, no trace of the Alzheimer's that had claimed them both.       "Irene," Rayford's father said, "you led us to Jesus. We are eternally grateful."       "Yes," her mother-in-law said, "and we must pray for Rayford, who is not here, is he?"       Irene shook her head, and the four of them huddled to pray. "I don't know what comes next, Lord," Irene said, "but I know Rayford must endure difficult days. Give him strength to resist the evil one, and bring him to Yourself, God."       All around them Irene could hear cheers and squeals of delight as more reunions took place. People of all races and creeds celebrated. Irene knew they had to be speaking in their own languages, yet she understood every word.      A Chinese woamn announced for all to hear, pointing at another woman, "My daughter was in a wheelchair twenty years! Look at her now!"       From somewhere else, a father introduced a handsome, smiling young man. "This boy was born with Down Syndrome."      "I can't wait to see Jesus," the boy said.      Irene saw two women embracing and weeping. "Your child?" Irene said.      One met Irene's eyes and nodded. "I had her aborted sixteen years ago. She forgives me."      "I have both arms!" a man shouted, waving.      "I'm whole!" came from somewhere else.      Had they been here for an hour or only a second? Irene couldn't tell. All she knew was that anticipation crashed over her like a waterfall. She turned to Raymie, and they said in unision, "I want to see Jesus."     And the entire throng from all over the world ascended yet again. To be Cont'd...        nondisclosed_email@example.com (MurdochsAid)Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:10:44 +0000 Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins' The Rapturehttps://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/p219,from=rss#post219https://bwillandadasportswoodcottage.runboard.com/p219,from=rss#post219Wills, this is where you can read the The Rapture excerpts. Okay? MAnondisclosed_email@example.com (MurdochsAid)Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:39:38 +0000