Before, the pastors often preached that when the Lord comes, we would be caught up into heaven before the disasters, but now we see every kind of major disaster befalling the earth and we have not been caught up. The pastors say that our not having been caught up means the Lord has not yet returned, that the Lord will appear to us amid the disasters, and we will be caught up into heaven during the disasters. I don’t understand: Are we to be caught up before the disasters, or during them?

Answer:

On the question of believers’ being caught up when the Lord comes, many pastors and Bible expositors have determined that the Lord will come and believers will be caught up before the disasters arrive. Yet today, the great disasters have arrived and the people of the religious world have not been caught up; this has confused many people, and on this matter the religious pastors say, “That we have not been caught up before the disasters shows that the Lord has not come before the disasters. We assert that the Lord will surely appear to us during the disasters, so we will wait to be caught up during the disasters.” This is the most common argument in religion. Are such views correct? Do they have a basis in God’s words? Could it be that, because the people of the religious world have not been caught up before the disasters, and have not seen the Lord descending upon a white cloud, this then proves that the Lord has not come? When the Lord Jesus appeared and performed His work, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism did not recognize Him, and denied His appearance and work; they did not welcome the Messiah, so they said that He had not yet come. Are these religious pastors not making the same mistake as the Pharisees all those years ago? Do they not misinterpret the Bible when they determine, on a whim, when the Lord shall come based upon one or two verses of Scripture? Today, since the disasters have already arrived, the Lord has indeed not come openly upon a white cloud—this is fact. Yet we have seen that in the East, there are those who testify to the appearance and work of Almighty God, who bear witness to and spread all of the truths expressed by Almighty God, and that, like a great light, they have rapidly spread from the East all across the West, provoking the vehement repression and persecution of the CCP regime, and sending shockwaves throughout the world. Is there really no one in the religious world who can see this fact? This precisely fulfills the prophecy of the Lord Jesus: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mat 24:27).

That the Lord appears and performs His work before the disasters is beyond doubt. In the Book of Revelation, it says, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; these things said He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens; I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come on all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write on him My new name”(Rev 3:7–12). These words have all been fulfilled. During the last days, the church in Philadelphia is the church that is caught up before the disasters, and all who are caught up are those who return before God because they have read many of Almighty God’s utterances and heard the voice of God. This fulfills these words of God: “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Mat 25:6). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (Jhn 10:27). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). These people who accept Almighty God eat and drink the words of God every day, and sit at the wedding feast of the Lamb. All those who love and pursue the truth have experienced the judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement of God, and they have been made into overcomers—they are the wise virgins who welcome the Lord. Those who refuse to accept Almighty God, meanwhile, are the foolish virgins; they do not recognize the voice of God, they have squandered their chance to welcome the coming of the Lord, and so they are abandoned and plunged into the disasters. But after the great disasters have begun to rain down, some people hear the voice of God amid the disasters, they behold the testimony to the appearance and work of Almighty God, and they accept Almighty God. Today, many religious people are investigating the work of Almighty God, they recognize that the words of Almighty God are the voice of God, and more and more people are accepting Almighty God. These people are those who are caught up during the disasters.