The Rapture? Yes sometime. But When?

There have been many in the church today who do nothing but claim that when they come to Christ it will be fine for them, because when the trouble starts the Lord will pull them out of it. It's like another option that comes with coming to Christ. Mirrors that defrost themselves or seat warmers in your car. I do think that there will be a change that will take place when we are changed from corruptible to incorruptible. That cannot be denied, however, I see no where in the Word where it mentions a secret 2nd coming. This is the position taken when church people try to explain the rapture. It won't be the second coming, they say, but a secret coming. Well that is most horrid in it's teachings. Paul told us not to think beyond what the word actually tells us. I'm not going to get into the scripture by scripture list of my position, I will leave that up to you in your research. We are not to believe what we want to believe and try to make the word fit our paradigm, but we are to conform to the word and to the way of the Lord.
However, all is moot, when you consider the virgins...we must be ready for the Lord whenever He comes. We are to be persecuted and we are to suffer for Christ...only God knows exactly what He has planned for us since before the foundation of the world. He will come as a thief in the night, so what kind of people ought we to be? There are hard times coming for Christians. The greatest persecution the world has ever seen in the world is happening now. Christians are being slaughtered like sheep, and we here in America are worried about the rapture? We are no better or different than other Christians in this world. The Lord is not a respecter of persons, so we will by no means acquire an easier road to travel. Prepare yourselves. We will be persecuted and we will be killed for our faith. The Lord will be there to encourage and strengthen. The Lord will take care of us, however, it won't be to save us from persecution. We will be tested. God Himself took on our sins and suffered. We are commanded to have the same mind as Christ and prepare ourselves for suffering, whether we are to die for the cause or not. This end time will be the time of testing. It will be the time of separating the sheep from the goats, it will be the time of the great falling away from the church, because many will want the smooth road, and will let the Lord pass on, and of course all who take the mark of the beast will be condemned. So No! Do not prepare for a rapture, but instead prepare for the same life that the Lord, the apostles, Christians during the time of Nero, Christians today around the world in communist countries, dictatorships, and here in America, lived and died for. They were persecuted, they were crucified upside down, they were skinned, burnt upon the stake as torches.
Prepare and be ready with the oil of the anointing and the oil of gladness. Seek the Lord today while He may be found. In Jeremiah as was mentioned, regarding Jacobs trouble, it says that the Lord will save him out of it, however, that doesn't in anyway mean that he will be raptured. Jacob was never raptured, and we won't be before the tribulation either. We must go through it to test our faith and trust in the Lord. We are going through terrible economic times and I've been out of full time work for over 2 years, yet the Lord has saved me out of it as well. It's amazing how the Lord has kept me going. Yet I haven't been raptured. Jacob, as well, in his time, went through the panic and fear, and was saved out of it, but they went through it. That is the teaching that is so hard to get across. It's that the Lord can save you in the midst of the storm. Daniel was in the lions den, with the lions. The Hebrew boys were in the fire, in the stove itself, that consumed the soldiers just trying to get them in there. The Lord is there with us through the times, He is not there to take us out of the times. Be the person the word says that you are to be, and the type of person the Word says that you are. You are a Child of God...and you have inheritance rights. He will not treat you like a special kitten. He wants to grow you up in the Lord in strength and power. Not coddle you into weakness. The government wants to do that. When Stephen and Paul were being stoned, do you think they were asking the Lord to rapture them? They were asking the Lord to forgive the persecutors of their sins.
I see much in the way of church teaching, but I see very little these days on Bible teaching. Get ready. Pray and seek the Lord and know the word of God. It is our only hope and a great and mighty hope it is. Amen and God bless.