Do you think we will see the Rapture in our lifetime? And if so, why?
To answer this question, Tim Moore and Nathan Jones traveled to the annual Pre-Trib Study Group Conference held every December in Dallas, Texas. You won’t find a larger gathering of experts in the study of Bible prophecy than where these professors of prophecy meet to share their research into the study of eschatology. There, our evangelists posed these important questions to a panel of Bible prophecy experts.
Johannes Vogel: Maybe today. Maranatha! I learned from Dr. David Reagan that our blessed hope is always: maranatha, maranatha, maranatha! That’s it.
Mondo Gonzales: Absolutely, I really do. When you consider that Israel came back into their promised land 77 years ago, we are clearly moving towards the end of the Church Age. I do not think we could be around for another 500 years, because the Jewish people were prophesied that they’d be brought back to their land in the latter years. If you just do some math and go back to 500 B.C., 2,500 years have passed since the first Jewish exile. God has brought the Jews back to their land in just the last 10% or so of this end of the age or latter times. When we look in the rear-view mirror, we see Israel becoming a nation once more, just 77 years ago, and since then, all the end-time players have come onto the scene, and other prophesied events are converging together like never before.
Don Perkins: Absolutely! I believe that the Rapture is going to happen in our lifetime. We know that the Rapture is an imminent event. All the end-time indicators point to the Second Coming, but when we see signs that point to the Second Coming, then they let us know that the Rapture is even closer.
In his day, the Apostle Paul longed for the Rapture. But what we are experiencing now with prophecies that are coming to pass before our very eyes, prophecies that the Apostle Paul has never seen, tells me that the Tribulation is near as well, and so the Rapture is even closer. I live my life every day looking for our call up yonder. I even practice my own rapture drill, because I do sincerely believe that Jesus will come at any moment.
I had a dream one night that I was being raptured up to Heaven, and it was exciting. I loved my dream. I was flying and exclaiming, “It has finally happened!” When I woke up, I was so disappointed.
We’re seeing more prophetic events unfold now than any generation has. The fact that Israel has come back into world history and the world has been clamoring for globalism demonstrates how so many aspects of the prophetic puzzle pieces are clicking together, so the Rapture is close.
Josh Davis: I would love to see the Rapture occur at any time. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! That’s the mindset that Christians should have, expecting Jesus to return at any moment. I try to live my life in the here and now, but expectant of what is to come.
The Apostle Peter, in his first two epistles, provided great guidance for Christians who are living in anticipation of the Rapture. I love those two books of the Bible, because they provide such practical advice on how we ought to focus our lives in these last days in which we are living. You live like you’re going to be here until you’re 80, 90, and even 100 years old, yet you’re thinking about the future. You live each day with an expectancy and hope that Jesus could return at any moment.
Olivier Melnick: The Rapture is an imminent event, in that there are no signs that must happen before the Rapture can occur. The Rapture is a sign-less event. No sign needs to happen before the Rapture. But everything’s falling in place for the Tribulation, which occurs after the Rapture.
I do believe the Rapture could happen at any time in my lifetime. I’m 66; if I live another 20 years, then yes. I’m not a date-setter, but there is a clear convergence of end-time signs happening right now, and the speed of prophetic events is growing exponentially. All these events are happening like a laser beam focusing on the fact that we are indeed living in the last days.
Pete Garcia: I think the Rapture could happen even within the next ten years, in my opinion. A lot of technological advancements that we see being utilized in the book of Revelation are already ready to be implemented today. We’re seeing the architecture being built for the Beast’s kingdom. It’s my opinion, it’s almost done.
Revelation prophesies judgments coming on the Earth and those who dwell upon the Earth. We’ve got at least 20 different programs right now—civilian, military, governmental—that are looking to move people off-planet to do some off-planet colonization. Remember how God said in Genesis 11 that if man were united in purpose and language, there’s really nothing they couldn’t accomplish? If mankind is intent on getting off-planet, and these judgments only apply to those who dwell upon the Earth, then humanity is coming to the end, or limits, of our technology and how far God will let us go in traveling into outer space. That’s part of the Holy Spirit’s restraining ministry. The Holy Spirit is not just restraining evil at large, but also restraining how quickly mankind advances technologically over time. For the previous 6,000 years, mankind was limited to the speed of a horse, but it has only been in the last 125 years that we’ve had an explosion of travel, in accordance with the Daniel 12:4 prophecy.
Carl Broggi: Dr. John Walvoord used to say, “When you see the Christmas decorations going up in Walmart around Halloween, then get ready, because Thanksgiving is approaching.” There’s just so much that’s happening prophetically. Israel is back in the land after 1,900 years. There are more Jewish people now living in Israel than in any of the other nations of the world put together. Only about six million Jews are not living in Israel itself. Many of those Jews remain in America, but things are moving so fast, so who’s to say that they all have to come back before the Church is raptured? We know clearly that at the Second Coming, the Lord will gather those Jews who have not returned to Israel.
God’s plan is in place. We can see the moral atmosphere declining into the days of Noah, characterized by gross immorality and lawlessness. The Son of Man said that the last days would be defined like the days of Lot. Homosexuality is so widespread as never before. We didn’t know what it was when we were children. Now, kids learn about gay marriage by the age of five!
Lee Brainard: I would be insanely surprised if the Rapture did not happen in my lifetime. In fact, to be honest, I think I’d be surprised if it didn’t happen in the next decade. The insane forest fire of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that’s spreading around the world, as well as a rapid increase in Big Brother government using technologies such as digital surveillance, digital ID, and digital banking, show that the Antichrist’s system is swiftly coming our way. There’s no escaping it. We are barrelling down a one-way road to the entire world being enslaved.
Tom Hughes: Look at the dynamics of everything that’s going on. We’re asking, “Do you believe the Antichrist is alive today?” Listen, I am not a date-setter, and have never been a date-setter, but I do not see how much longer this world could go on as it has been doing. In my mind, the Antichrist must be alive today. Does he know who he is? No, but I don’t believe that’s even necessary at this point. Satan has lined up a whole lot of possible candidates.
The Bible tells us in the book of Amos that once Israel is back in the land, they will never be uprooted. Well, Israel is back in the land! Every end-times sign is converging. Anti-Semitism is growing. It’s hard for me to believe that this train has much further to go down the track.
Joe Hawkins: 100%! I have felt the Rapture in my bones, to be honest with you. We can feel a storm coming in. Especially the older people are feeling it. That’s also how I feel about the Rapture. There are days when I just stop and wonder, “Is it about to happen this very moment?” I feel it in my soul. I feel that my Heavenly Father is getting ready to send His Son to come and get me, and I’m so looking forward to that day. So, yes, I absolutely believe that the Rapture will happen in my lifetime.
Watch these interviews on our television program, Christ in Prophecy!
