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January 1, 2001
By Rev. ROBERTO BRUNO Will We Miss The 2nd Coming of Christ?It all depends on where you're standing! Growing up in San Francisco, I've seen my share of parades. The clowns with their squirting flowers, the marching bands, and the colorful floats. For an adult parades are no big deal, because anywhere one stands you can pretty much see what's going on. As a kid location is everything. If you're not standing on a mailbox or sitting on dad's shoulders, your going to miss the whole thing. When it comes to the Second Coming of Christ, as Christians location is everything. It is inevitable that the Lord will return to earth one day (Revelation 19), but the question is when? There has been a misconception amongst Christians for some time. Christians have been mistaking the rapture of the church with the Second Coming. When we look at scripture we can see it is two entirely different events (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 19:11-16). The Eschatological (end time teaching) teaching of the Apostolic Assembly is a pretribulation belief. What that means is, that the Church will be raptured out of this world before the great tribulation begins. If you read the book of Revelation carefully you'll see that the Second Coming occurs at the end of the tribulation. Many Christians think that Jesus will be returning to earth at the rapture. When that blessed day comes, Jesus isn't coming to us; we are going to Him.
In the rapture we are going to slip (in the twinkling of an eye) right out of this world into the waiting arms of our Savior. The Second Coming of Christ will be so much different then the rapture:
There is no mistaking this event. No matter if you are a saint or sinner, you will not miss this thing. As I stated earlier; "location is everything". For the Second Coming is not a seek and save mission. It will be a time of judgment:
My question to you is, do you want to be with the smitter or do you want to be the smittee? When Jesus returns, He will be bringing the raptured saints along for the ride. We will be dressed in clean white linen, riding upon white horses (see Revelation 19:14). Being the city slicker that I am, I have never been on a horse. I don't even like the idea of myself riding on something that thinks for itself. On that day, I will mount up on that white horse and ride that thing like a regular old cowboy. Giddy up little doggy!
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