{"id":4911,"date":"2025-09-25T08:25:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T12:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4911"},"modified":"2025-09-25T08:25:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T12:25:13","slug":"watching-and-waiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/watching-and-waiting\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching and Waiting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

If you\u2019re reading these words and the world seems perfectly normal, that\u2019s good news: The Great Tribulation apparently didn\u2019t begin yesterday.

On the other hand, if you\u2019re still here and more than a few people are mysteriously missing, that\u2019s bad news: The Rapture happened and you and I both missed it!

Social media has been abuzz with Rapture Fever since June, when a South African pastor named Joshua Mhlakela declared that Jesus had personally assured him that true believers would be gathered to their Lord on either September 23 or 24.

A number of evangelical Christians believe that the Rapture \u2013 an event popularized by the Left Behind<\/em> series of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins \u2013 is the means by which God will instantaneously transport Christ\u2019s followers to his side just before the Last Days. Non-believers will be left behind to experience seven years of global mayhem.

Pastor Joshua\u2019s video, which has amassed 570,000 views, has given birth to RaptureTok, a corner of TikTok where users are posting videos of themselves preparing for the End of All Things.

A woman named Hannah, for instance, believes that God confirmed the September dates for the simple reason that she was fired from her dream job. \u201cI prayed and I asked God, \u2018Whenever the rapture happens, whether it is next week, next month, next year, can you please just arrange things where I can be home with my family when it happens?\u2019\u201d Losing her job seems to be just the ticket.

A user named Tilahun offered others these words of encouragement:


\u201cOur blessed hope is coming. We are going home. Guys, it\u2019s going to happen. Believe, do not doubt. Faith is leading this hour. I don\u2019t care how many mocking or scoffing videos you come across\u2026 it\u2019s going to happen. Believe it,\u201d he said.

Jenna, a content creator, made this promise: \u201cI\u2019m going to be livestreaming while I ascend, and I\u2019ll also be making videos and posting about what heaven is like and stuff like that once I get up there. So if you\u2019re going to be left behind,” she added, “make sure to follow now so you can get updates.”

Apparently Jenna has a great deal of confidence concerning the Wi-Fi strength of signal in Paradise.

Is there any corroborating evidence that this week is unusually special when it comes to God\u2019s eschatological timetable?

We can always check in with Todd Strandberg, the self-described “fearless leader” of the website Rapture Ready, which presents itself as “the eBay of prophecy \u2013 the best source online for predictions and calculations\u00a0concerning the end of the world.”\u00a0\u00a0

The website routinely updates the Rapture Index, a numeric estimate of the nearness of the Rapture.

Strandberg explains, “You could say the Rapture Index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as a prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we\u2019re moving…”

Depending on his assessment of global headlines, the Rapture Index may be 100 or below (“slow prophetic activity”); 100 to 130 (“moderate prophetic activity”); 130 to 160 (“heavy prophetic activity”) or above 160 (“fasten your seat belts”).

And what is the numeric value of the most recent Rapture Index, posted just this week?

That would be 181.\u00a0Better tighten that seat belt.<\/em>

Then again…

There’s always that inconvenient verse: \u201cBut about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father\u201d (Mark 13:32). Not even Jesus himself knows the timetable of the Apocalypse.\u00a0Claiming to know something the Son of God doesn’t know is always a bad call.\u00a0

It really doesn\u2019t matter if Pastor Joshua turns out to be just a nice guy who is trying to encourage the global Christian community. According to Jesus, claiming to have received inside information is a serious misunderstanding at best, and a grievous spiritual misstep at worst.

We may presume that Mark 13:32 covers not just books, sermons, and YouTube videos, but 21st century websites and social media echo chambers like RaptureTok.

But there\u2019s more to the end of the thirteenth chapter of Mark than just a warning. Jesus also issues a call to action:

\u201cBe on guard! Be alert!\u00a0You do not know when that time will come.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants\u00a0in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back\u2014whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.\u00a0\u00a0If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.\u00a0What I say to you, I say to everyone: \u2018Watch!\u2019\u201d (Mark 13:33-37).

During Bible times, watchmen were charged with sounding warnings to the residents of a walled city.\u00a0

They would typically stand on parapets and survey the horizon for approaching danger.\u00a0Some of them ultimately took on the role of prophets, warning people that they needed to recognize impending concerns and get their lives in order.

Every healthy church needs a few watchmen and watchwomen who can read \u201cthe signs of the times\u201d and help God\u2019s people respond. That\u2019s clear in verses like Hebrews 13:17: \u201cObey your spiritual leaders and do what they say.\u00a0Their work is to watch over your souls\u2026\u201d\u00a0

But Jesus makes it clear this is a job for everyone<\/em>.

If you\u2019re part of his band of followers, you\u2019re in the watching business, too.\u00a0He tells his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, \u201cWatch and pray so that you won\u2019t fall into temptation\u201d (Mark 14:38).\u00a0The church at large has always understood those words to apply to disciples of every generation.

Watching means paying attention.

We pay attention to God and we pay attention to our own lives.\u00a0And with massive doses of gentleness and humility, we pay attention to the lives of those around us \u2013 not to boss them around, but to be part of the priceless fabric of a community in which people actually care about each other, and care how all of our lives are turning out.

Now that September 24 has come and gone, we can sigh with relief that history continues to march on. Or perhaps sigh with longing that we aren\u2019t yet at home with our Father in heaven.

But one thing\u2019s for sure: One of these days, Jesus is going to make good on his promise and come back.

A few years ago, a group of church leaders huddled in a conference room. Before they dived into their strategic planning agenda, the leader asked, \u201cDoes anyone here think that Jesus is going to return within the next 60 minutes?\u201d Everyone looked thoughtful. Everyone shook their head No.

The leader then silently circulated an index card bearing a single verse of Scripture:

\u201cYou also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him\u201d (Luke 12:40).

Who knows?

That special hour may actually come during this first beautiful weekend of autumn.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here If you\u2019re reading these words and the world seems perfectly normal, that\u2019s good news: The Great Tribulation apparently didn\u2019t begin yesterday. On the other hand, if you\u2019re still here and more than a few people are mysteriously missing, that\u2019s bad news: The Rapture happened and you and I both missed it!… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1006,194,1007],"class_list":["post-4911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-rapture","tag-second-coming","tag-watching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4913,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4911\/revisions\/4913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}