JESUS WAS NOT SPEAKING OF A SECRET RAPTURE, WHEN HE SAID IN Luke 17:36, “One will be taken and the other left”. Please, share this study with your family, friends co-workers, and all who you can, for the expansion of the Kingdom of GOD. There is no indication that the event is secret. Jesus was describing Noah’s flood and the destruction of Sodom. (See Luke 17:26–37.) He told how God spared Noah and Lot and destroyed the wicked. He said specifically that the flood and fire “destroyed them all” (verses 27, 29). Plainly, in each case, a few were taken to safety and the rest were destroyed. Then He added, “Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (verse 30). To illustrate, Jesus continued, “Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left” (verse 36). There is nothing secret about His return. “Every eye will see Him” (Revelation 1:7). At His second coming, Christ publicly and openly takes the righteous up into the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17), while His holy presence slays the wicked (Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). That’s why Luke 17:37 speaks of the bodies of the wicked and mentions the eagles (or vultures) gathered around them. (See also Revelation 19:17, 18.) The wicked who are left behind at Christ’s coming are left dead. Satan has introduced a strong delusion into the Christian world that has been almost universally accepted, a popular teaching called the “secret rapture,” one popularized by the book and film series Left Behind. This false theory was likely designed to lull God’s people into a false sense of security and to prepare them for the devil’s final master deception. But that doesn’t have to happen to you. NO ONE LEFT BEHIND … ALIVE A common misconception of the secret rapture theory is that people will continue to live on the earth for several years after Christ’s return. However, the Bible clearly teaches that when Jesus comes, there will be no human left alive on this planet. In describing this time, the book of Jeremiah explains, “At that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground” (25:33)." "One of the clearest descriptions of the earth after the second coming is given by Jesus: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26–30, emphasis added). Notice that the wicked were destroyed on the same day that the Flood came to Noah and on the same day that the fire came to Sodom. Jesus emphasized that these earlier judgments, which destroyed all of the wicked, were examples of what would happen at His second coming. The Bible is clear that life on the earth does not continue for either man or beast after Jesus returns. Will You be Left Behind? To learn more about our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and the Sabbath, please visit your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. Or please visit us at Rossville Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at 1737 Mission Ridge Road, Rossville Georgia 30741 Pastor; Greg Hudson Services start at 11am on Saturday (Sabbath) morning.