This is the second in a series of possible, fictional scenarios of what it would be like after the Rapture of the born-again Christians. What will happen in the Rapture is all the true, saved, Christian believers will vanish as Jesus calls them up to heaven. In the last post, I showed how the Progressive Christians may react. I think they’ll get it. They are more “halfway Christians” than the Catholics, whom I’ll talk about in this post. For me, the Catholics shouldn’t even call themselves “Christians”. They are a totally different religion. They may THINK they are Christians, but they will find out the hard way, that what they’ve heard all their lives has been lies and a twisted theology.
We don’t know when the Rapture will happen. When it does, it will happen at the same moment everywhere around the world. So, if it’s morning in Phoenix, AZ, it will be night in Australia. Each of these stories will take place at different days and times. The idea behind this, is to get you to understand that you have to be ready. It could happen at any moment and you really don’t want to be left behind.
Again, this is FICTION. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is pure coincidence. I am using the example of existing churches and religious organization, but the names are all fictional. The Catholic church in today’s story is The Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church on 7th St., in Phoenix, AZ.
Left Behind at the Rapture: The Catholics
Phoenix, AZ, a Sunday Morning, 10 am — sometime in the near future — post COVID – things are back to normal.
Father George, dressed in his vestments walked to the vestibule and met the alter boys there ready for the procession to start the Mass. Though he enjoyed saying Mass, he was looking forward to retiring soon and letting Father Paul take over. The church needed some young blood, he thought to himself.
He hadn’t taken a step forward when there were several loud crashes and car horns blaring right outside the front doors on 7th street. He and the boys along with several parishioners ran outside and were shocked at the catastrophe they saw.
An SUV had jumped the sidewalk and crashed into one of the pillars of the front entrance. On the street a man was yelling obscenities at the driver of the SUV. Apparently, the SUV had cut in front of the man’s car.
When Fr. George ran up to the SUV, he stopped short of trying to open the door when he realized there was no driver. The door was locked. Inside, on the driver’s seat was what looked like a man’s clothing, shoes, sunglasses, watch, and a cell phone. On the passenger side was a woman’s clothing, jewelry, sunglasses, shoes and a cell phone. In the back seats were the clothing and shoes of 3 kids. What was odd is that the seat belts were all still fastened and the doors locked. Where were the people? The SUV didn’t drive itself!
Across the street they noticed more driverless cars as people walked up to the vehicles and tried to move them out of the way. It was a challenge since the doors were locked.
Suddenly, Ana, the lady in charge of the Sunday School ran up to him, “Fr. George! Fr. George! All the children are gone! They just vanished!”
“What?” The priest turned in surprise. Then he turned back to the driverless SUV. For a moment, he didn’t know what to deal with first. Then he turned back to the hysterical lady. “Ana, show me.”
When they reached the classroom, all that was left of the children were their clothes, shoes, and jewelry.
“What is going on?!” Fr. George exclaimed, “Call the police.”
Ana, pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911. The line was busy. She tried again. She got a message saying there was a high call volume.
By this time the whole congregation had run outside to look at the mayhem. Some were on phones trying to call anyone who could possibly have an explanation. Andy, one of the deacons noticed a police car that had crashed into a telephone pole down the street and ran to it. There was a male officer in the passenger side with an apparent head wound from hitting the side window. There was no one in the driver’s seat. Only a uniform, shoes, badge, sunglasses and a fastened seat belt.
Andy knocked on the officer’s door, “Are you alright?” he asked.
The officer rolled down the window a bit dazed, “Yes, I think so.” He opened the door and shakily, stepped out. “It was the craziest thing. My partner and I had just come from having breakfast and all of a sudden he was gone and we veered to the left and crashed into this pole.” He looked around. “Thank God we didn’t hit anyone!”
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Andy asked him. He saw on his name tag that he was Officer Ramos.
“Let me call it in and see,” Officer Ramos reached for the radio. “Dispatch, this is unit Adam 7-10, come in, dispatch, over.” He waited. No response. He repeated the call twice before getting someone.
“Adam 7-10, this is dispatch,” a distressed female voice responded. “Sorry for the delay, we lost half our staff here. They just vanished! What is your situation, Adam 7-10, over.”
“Dispatch, Officer Johnson vanished from behind the driver’s seat of our vehicle and we crashed. This is Ramos. I’m OK, just a minor head wound. Are you getting reports of vanishings? Over.”
“That’s affirmative, Ramos. There is chaos all over the city. Where are you, Ramos? Over.”
“I’m on 7th Street between Alice and Butler. There are several accidents and incidents here. I will investigate and report. Please send back up. Over.”
“Negative on the back up. We are missing officers and are calling any off duty personnel that we can locate. Over.”
Fr. George and Ana saw Andy talking to the officer and ran down to them.
“Officer, officer! All our children are missing! They’ve vanished!” Fr. George exclaimed.
“Let’s go see,” and Officer Ramos followed them to the church.
Later that Evening
Father George was sitting in the rectory watching the news astounded at the reports from around the world. His assistant, and soon to be successor, Father Paul entered.
“George, I just witnessed the oddest thing.” Fr. Paul said, with a puzzled look.
“Odder than people vanishing?”
“Well, you know First Christian Church on 7th Avenue?”
“Yes.”
“They have a columbarium next to the church. Every single ceramic plaque was thrown from its place, the containers of ashes were strewn all around and the ashes were gone!”
“What?!”
“A columbarium — you know that holds the ashes of people who are cremated.”
“I know what a columbarium is. Are you saying the containers were empty?”
“Yes, and I looked inside the church and all I could see there was clothing all over the chairs.”
“Paul, sit down.” Fr. George told him, “Could this be the Rapture the evangelicals talked about?”
At that moment, on the news program, Pope Francis comes on and announces that due to failing health and the cataclysmic vanishings, that he was retiring and the Vatican would be selecting a new pope soon.
That news shocked both priests. However, the Pope had a message for the world, “A new leader will emerge! Listen to him! He will bring peace and prosperity to the world!”
Paul got up and started searching through the book shelves.
“What are you looking for?” Fr. George asked him.
“Found it! The Bible,” Paul responded, “I vaguely remember reading something about the dead rising first, where was that?”
“That’s in one of the Apostle Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians. Do you think that’s what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see what it says. Found it!”
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NIV
Paul looked up at the older priest, “George, did you hear the trumpet call of God?”
“I don’t think so. All I heard were the cars crashing and car horns blaring. Could that have been them? I don’t know!” He put his head in his hands, exasperated.
“Maybe only the Christians heard the archangel and the trumpet.”
George looked at him, “Aren’t we Christians?”
“Are we?” Paul asked and went back to reading the Bible.
Clueless
It’s sad, but most Catholics are clueless when it comes to the End Times and the Rapture. There may be some who get it. In this case, George, who’s older and set in his ways, has lived steeped in the Catholic traditions all his life. He doesn’t know anything else. He believes in the pope and the Vatican and will probably follow the New World Order that will arise after the Rapture.
On the other hand, Paul, being younger, actually does read the Bible every so often and is beginning to see the true light. Where George will probably accept the mark of the beast, Paul will see it for what it is. The Rapture has piqued his curiosity enough that he will study eschatology — or the end times — and eventually become a Tribulation Saint.
It’s Not Too Late For You!
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven and that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, this is what you have to do…
Invite Jesus into Your Heart…
The Best News Ever
The 5 Solas
- Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”): The Bible alone is our highest authority.
- Sola Fide (“Faith alone”): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
- Sola Gratia (“Grace alone”): We are saved by the grace of God alone.
- Solus Christus (“Christ alone”): Jesus Christ alone is our Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and King
- Soli Deo Gloria (“to God alone be the Glory.”): It’s all about God, not us.
Soli Deo Gloria! To God Alone Be the Glory!
*The scripture verse engraved on the columbarium is…
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
John 14:1-4 NLT
