The Rapture of the church is an event that the Bible records will happen and has not truly been understood by theologians until perhaps this century, especially the past 80 years where technology and end-times prophesy (eschatology) has been revealed and opened up to mankind unlike ever before.

Where do we get the term “Rapture”? The term “rapture” is not found in the Bible, so where does the word come from? It is not some conspiratorial or fabricated term that is not biblical, it simply comes from the Latin translation of the Greek word translated “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The Latin translation of this verse uses the word rapturo. The Greek word is originally harpazo, which means to snatch or take away. All of these terms sufficiently describe the immanent event described in scripture.

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” — 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

and again…

“Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." — 1 Corinthians 15:51-53

Have you ever wondered what the world will really be like after the Rapture takes place? Even immediately after? Have you ever allowed yourself to consider the utter chaos that would ensue after millions of people in the midst of their daily lives would all vanish in an instant from the earth? When I think of the most possible turmoil that will arise even moments after the rapture, I think of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. We cannot even begin to fathom how everything in our society is intertwined and reliant on everything else to simply keep moving and if parts of the “machine” disappear… well…

10 minutes after the Rapture:

It is estimated that nearly 18% of all Californians are sincere and practicing born-again Christians… Although that number could be much higher, that is the number I have used in the following scenario…

It is 7:24 AM on Monday morning in Los Angeles—a maze of roadways and arteries that lead to and away from one central point, beating and pumping traffic into its downtown, like the ventricle of a heart. LA, surrounded by major sub-cities populated in the millions making up LA County. LA County — 10,250,338 in total. You are stuck in traffic. You could be on any one of 38 interstates and state routes that weave through and around the city. You, however are on I-5, the mother load of traffic jams, the LA County Parking Lot as they call it. 21,700 cars are stuck with you.

883,530 cars are on the freeways of Los Angeles during rush hour. 2,882,784 vehicle trips are taken on L.A.’s 650 miles of freeways and 22,000 miles of surface streets, side streets and inner-city thoroughfare each day between 7-8 AM on weekdays. This is the equivalent of the entire population of Dallas, Texas. They are with you right now… All of them. Where traffic IS moving, 68.2% of California drivers exceeded the 55 mph speed limit on urban interstates. 34.3% are exceeding 60 mph and 13.8% are going faster than 65 mph.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, every thing will change. In an instant — a split second — 2,882,784 cars carrying perhaps upwards of 5,000,000 people driving in excess of 60 mph will be altered forever. The Rapture just occurred. Instantaneously 518,901 cars just lost a driver, 159,035 are on a major freeway… Cars, trucks and motorcycles are all cruising the highways in perfect synchronicity when one out of every five vehicles in random locations, lanes, exits and entrances instantly loses a driver and vehicles begin careening off the road and the onto the shoulders, into guardrails, other cars and sidewalls.

The population of LA County as a whole just lost 1,713,481 people, including ALL of their 737,631 children under the age of 5—Probably much more. Chaos cannot even describe the situation as hundreds of thousands of cars, 15,000 – 80,000 of which are speeding… Vehicles that lost children… Parents that are panic-stricken — terrified as they continue driving while turning around, looking in the rear-view mirror, gazing in horror at empty car seats, unable to slow down or stop — yet completely distracted in their driving.

Emergency vehicles will never be able to reach the multiplied highway disasters and pileups that would have traffic deadlocked for miles outside of the city — crashes would have vehicles piled up on one another, thousands dead or injured. Emergency crews are also handicapped by the rapture and now the 2,803 Firefighters are down 600+ in numbers. 890 Certified as Paramedics in 69 squads are now 200 personnel short. The total number of sworn Police officers in LA County is 9,168 — now 1,800 officers less. Of the 8,915 sworn Sheriffs Dept officers, 1,783 are now missing. The resulting log jam of pandemonium prohibiting Emergency personnel from responding to and arriving at any kind of needed destination in the middle of this now tangled mess of freeway traffic mayhem is indescribable.

Now multiply this hundreds of times as the same scenario would be playing out in nearly every city and population center on the face of the earth simultaneously. The top 20 populated cities in the world of which Los Angeles ranks 12th all have over 10 million people each. Each city larger than Los Angeles will have the same consequential bedlam.

1. Tokyo, Japan – 32,450,000 2. Seóul, South Korea – 20,550,000 3. Mexico City, Mexico – 20,450,000 4. New York City, USA – 19,750,000 5. Mumbai, India – 19,200,000 6. Jakarta, Indonesia – 18,900,000 7. Sáo Paulo, Brazil – 18,850,000 8. Delhi, India – 18,680,000 9. Õsaka/Kobe, Japan – 17,350,000 10. Shanghai, China – 16,650,000

(Population information may be outdated as 2010 information was not yet available)

A shocked world, reeling from the strange and “unexplained” disappearances of millions of people which investigations identify as Christians stand in confusion at the prospect of moving forward with daily life. World leaders gather together to lay down their petty border disputes in light of this obvious global crisis — to figure out what the cause of the disappearances might have been that created such horrific conditions. Plans are made to recover from the trillions of dollars in damage and infrastructure destruction (and to dispose of the millions of dead bodies). A world leader will rise to the task, bringing answers, strong leadership, peace and security to a torn and traumatized world… It is time to unite the nations… and the era of the Antichrist begins.

This is one scenario and it cannot even begin to capture the real chaos that the Rapture will cause. The best remedy for you? You don’t want to be left behind!

“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” — 2 Corinthians 6:2