The Upside Down "J"

Hold my hand, I'm a stranger in covenant land.

I had the temerity to teach the Biblical doctrine of the "catching away" of the saints by Jesus, also known as the rapture. People who teach the Bible with no fear of losing their jobs know the rapture is revealed from Genesis to Revelation. No problem there.

But there is a huge lobby that will not hear of it. These are people highly respected in the corporate church structure. They have a lot of power on their side--tradition, originating in the Middle Ages, the god of money, and multiple layers of academic degrees. Sounds formidable, doesn't it?

Yet with all the above weapons, those who deny the doctrine of the rapture can easily be taken down by such as you and me. I did it, so I know. For these Worldly Wisemen lack the one great essential needed to deny the truth. They lack basic knowledge of the Bible.

They are, rather, equipped as spokesman for the corporate elite. If they ever had a thorough study, it might well be titled "Wise Investing, or How to Be a Millionaire by Age 25". I have stood outside a preacher's study and heard just such talk. For these people, we are now in the millennium, and wealth represents a sign of God's favor. Calvinists have long been marinated in this idea.

Though I am a Calvinist, there is something else I have learned. It is the imminent return of Jesus, to take us out of a world that will be destroyed--yes even silver and gold, even the stock market.

But what about the upside down "J"? In covenant theology the church will rise in the air to meet Jesus, then return with him to the earth! Maybe they think He will rescue the stock market?

A little girl I knew rode in a shopping cart. Pinned to her garment was a bronze pin showing a "J" right side up. It represented, in the leg of the letter, Jesus descending from heaven with a shout to gather His saints alive and dead and take them home.

Though she was very young, she knew what the pin stood for. I know, because her father was my best friend. We did home church together. What does this prove? That a well taught four year old girl understands this great doctrine better than a Ph.D. in the Presbyterian church.