Also, this short story was written prior to the release of The Rapture, so as a work of fanfiction it has no canonicity with the rest of the LEFT BEHIND stories in either the adult or young readers series.
The night that the Rapture took place,
Irene Steele had just finished her day of housework, of preparing dinner for
herself and Raymie, of helping her son with homework, and of seeing him prepare
for bed. She was now alone in her bedroom, knelt down on the floor in prayer to
God, speaking to Him about things on her mind like her husband Rayford and her
daughter Chloe. Things haven't been the same since Chloe went to college and she
and Raymie started going to New Hope Village Church, finding and accepting Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior for the first time in their lives. Her husband,
who worked for Pan Continental as an airline pilot, started spending more time
away from her and Raymie just being on the job, and while Raymie didn't seem to
have a problem with it, Irene worried about Rayford's absence in his son's
everyday life. Just as difficult as it was to try sharing her newfound faith in
the Lord was her difficulties in trying to talk to her husband about how Raymie
was doing in school and all.
The last time she tried to talk about
Jesus Christ to her husband was on the subject of the rapture. He basically
mocked her for what she believed, saying he'd keel right over just by seeing her
and all the "good people" fly away to Jesus, despite her again saying that
Christians aren't good people, just forgiven. Not that he was the only one who
did mock her about the rapture, or when she believed it was going to happen.
There were some Christians outside her church she talked to that either didn't
believe in the rapture or didn't believe that it would happen "pre-trib", before
the time of the Tribulation took place. Some of those people spoke rather
unkindly to her about their objections, saying that she was setting herself up
for the deception of the Antichrist, trying to use Scripture to prove to her
that "God doesn't rapture His own people out of tribulations that they must go
through".
Those kind of people Irene could deal
with, as she and her church also dealt with spokespeople from other
denominational churches who were pressuring all churches to join together "to
win the world for Christ". Her pastor Vernon Billings, as much as he wanted to
believe that their goals were just, somehow suspected in his spirit that they
were not seeking real spiritual unity with other churches, but rather just unity
based on naming Jesus Christ without really knowing Him and who and what He
really is based on Scripture. Even as the complaints leveled against her and New
Hope Village Church that they were "not joined up with the body of Christ" by
not going along with their plans of unity became increasingly and insidiously
accusatory in nature, nothing they could say could shake Irene from what she
believed in the Lord was true about what was to come.
Her husband, however, was a matter that
only her prayer life with God could help her cope with. She loved him with
everything she had and more, and she didn't want to see him and Chloe miss out
on being with her, Raymie, and God for all eternity. Despite all her worries,
she gave thanks to God for everything He gave her through Jesus, including the
peace she never had before becoming a true born-again Christian.
On that night, as Irene slept in her
bedroom and Raymie slept in his, she suddenly heard the sound of a loud trumpet
blasting outside her house, and the voice of an archangel say, "Behold, the
Bridegroom has come." Instantly she awoke, and as she did, she felt herself
change. It was as if everything in her body was no longer subject to any more
pain, any more aging. She was now being clothed with incorruption and
immortality, as the Scriptures had foretold.
Also in that instant, she started to rise
out of her bed...and not just out of her bed, but also out of her clothes and
soon out of her house, where she also saw her son Raymie rise in the same
manner. In fact, she saw millions of souls rise from the earth, either out of
their houses or their cars or other vehicles, and even those who were in the
graves, all naked and drawn to the One standing in the clouds, calling them by
name, waiting for them to gather to Him.
As soon as all the souls risen from the
earth had gathered together in the clouds, Jesus said to them, "Let not your
heart be troubled; you believed in God, you believed also in Me. In My Father's
house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I have gone
to prepare a place for you. Now that I have gone and prepared a place for you, I
have come again and received you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be
also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
"I am also the resurrection and the life.
Those who believed in Me, though they have died, shall live, and those who have
lived and believed in Me shall never die. They have now passed on from death to
life. Most assuredly, I say to you, those who have kept My word shall never see
death."
And then the massed multitude of souls
followed Jesus as He, in that same instant of time, left the clouds and headed
straight into the universe and then into what Paul had called "the third
heaven", where the blackness of the universe was replaced by a bright whiteness,
and then there was a great throne, and One who sat upon it who was like a jasper
and a sardius stone in appearance, with a dazzling rainbow around the throne
like an emerald. Along the way, Jesus reminded them of the various promises He
had given to those who overcame: among them, the right to eat from the Tree of
Life in the paradise of God; the crown of life to those who were faithful unto
death; the hidden manna; a white stone with a new name written on it that only
the receiver knows about; power over the nations; the Morning Star; white
raiment that they were now clothed in; the name of God, the New Jerusalem from
heaven, and Jesus' new name written on their foreheads.
Soon they have all gathered at the Bema
seat of Jesus Christ, where their works were judged and tested by fire to see
what sort they were. A great deal of them wept as they saw their works consumed
by fire, yet they praised the Lord that they were still saved, as though through
fire. Those whose works endured the testing received their various rewards from
the Lord, the various crowns promised in Scripture. Each of them were shown the
various mansions that their works in the Lord have built, in various states of
grandeur, yet the sight of those mansions still paled in significance next to
the Lord to came to each of them in their new heavenly places.
Afterward, they were all gathered in the
throne room of God, where they saw Him whose appearance was like an jasper and a
sardius stone, surrounded by a rainbow that looked like an emerald; the four
creatures with eyes all around and six wings who proclaimed God's praise day and
night, and the 24 elders who casted their crowns before Him. Irene, Raymie, and
all the assembled saints did the same with their crowns and worshipped Him,
saying with the elders, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were
created."
Then they saw at the right hand of Him who
sat on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with
seven seals. A mighty angel then proclaimed in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to
open the scroll and to loose its seals?" There was a brief silence as those
gathered around, and supposedly all of creation, pondered who was indeed worthy
to open the scroll and to look at it. Then one of the elders said, "Do not weep.
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open
the scroll and to loose its seven seals."
Then Jesus again appeared, only this time
in the form of a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes that represented the seven
spirits of God, in the midst of the throne and of the four creatures and of the
elders. The Lamb made an incredible leap toward the right hand of Him who sat on
the throne and snagged the seven-sealed scroll, changing back into His human
form as He landed with the scroll now in His hand. Instantly, the four creatures
and the elders fell down before Him who was the Lamb, each of them having a harp
and golden bowls full of incense, which were the prayers of the saints, and sang
a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals;
for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe
and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God;
and we shall reign on the earth."
Then the assembled saints looked and saw
thousands upon thousands of angels gathering around the throne, the four
creatures, and the elders, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was
slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory
and blessing!" And then came the sound of every creature which is in heaven and
on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, which the assembled saints heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and
power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Then
the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the twenty-four elders fell down and
worshipped Him who lives forever and ever.
