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The Day and the Hour: Wednesday (2nd Edition)This is the fourth in the Day and the Hour series of novels that follow the lives of several residents of a small town in what they believe is their last week of life on earth.

This seventh volume contains more pages because more is going on in the little town. You would not believe what people are doing while knowing that the Rapture will whisk them away tomorrow, but I think you will agree that the episodes on these pages are more likely than all-day prayer meetings. We could name a number of reasons for this because they are the same reasons that let us go with the flow on any day and hour. Dare we ask what stands behind that? Is it not disbelief? Events must take place that were scheduled and for which preparations have been made, of course. That this is the last opportunity to experience them is added justification. Naming a few, there is a championship baseball game; there is a craft fair at the park; there are sailing lessons on the lake. Why is there is a secular concert in the church auditorium tonight, supplanting the last of Pastor Murphy's week-long evening services? We watch the game unfold play-by-play with Homer Foster pitching for the home team and his friend Victoria Martin pitching for rival Herne as they battle for the Youth Autumn League championship title, while Leila Labaki and Harrietta Foster converse in the stands, and home-team manager Earl Clark exchanges provocations with his nemesis Al Cypher. On this her first sailing lesson Leila learns so quickly that she begins coaching the other sailors, leaving her instructor Earl Clark with nothing to do but admire her. Afterward she joins Evelyn in the baptism event which brings together explosive elements causing Earl to leave town. The implied or direct focus is always on responses to the imminence of the Parousia, for these books constitute a comprehensive look at the Rapture from every angle. I think we all want to know how it can fit the biblical data and not be silly and unscientific. Though Pastor Murphy has attempted to delve into this realistically, tomorrow morning he will find the real answer. Is he free of doubts today as he thinks about that? Can anyone be free of doubts? Is it really a hoax? While often discussing theology directly, these books deal in illustrations. Illustrations bring application to life. An illustration need not be unique, but if not even one illustration can be found, the abstract words of the application are not so inspiring. It's like instructions on the page of a cookbook. We must follow the instructions and prepare the food in order to taste it. Deciding whether or not we go ahead and do so may depend on an illustration. Of course experienced cooks taste the food just by skimming the ingredient list. Likewise, commentary writers have no use for illustrations.

If you're serious about discovering truth, a fictional story can be an eye-opener. It has the advantage of mirroring the familiar while minimizing noise and focusing on elements that either support or discredit some doctrine. This kind of story depends on your sense of reality derived from your own knowledge and experiences. You can say, "yes, that would work," or "no, that's nonsense" because it violates some principle, or "maybe, but where's the authority?" In all those "maybe" cases we rest on God's perspective as revealed in the Bible--without which we would know nothing. The most fundamental principle, by the way, is that we are here. Philosophers build careers on making light of it, but strict honesty will make this the foundation of your science and guide your judgment of miracles. So we come to this question which impacts every sane and serious person: "What will become of me after death?" In detail, what will that miracle be like? While the Bible is the authority, its answer is not presented on a platter. This project integrates the Bible's information and assembles a Big Picture. In this first volume we begin at the beginning of the end of the dispensation of grace and consider that fascinating subject called the Rapture of the church. A hypothetical "step function" is injected in order to observe not the impact of the Rapture after the fact but to evaluate the doctrine itself through the culture that supports it. In biblical eschatology there are many, many questions that are seldom discussed. These books apply a literary tool to discover answers. While respecting sound theology, they bring to bear principles of the human heart, mind, and body.

Would you be surprised if the hour passes without making anyone disappear? You have to get this close to a beloved impossibility to realize it is impossible. Was there any true certainty before the final day and hour? If not, what does that say about the certainty of heaven? But much better than introspection is to enjoy being connected to the vine, who is Christ, and by his Spirit believing his basic promise of resurrection. Now, resurrection is a frightful thing when you understand it, because if you have not been careful to get rid of them before, you drag into it all the errors of your life which you liked well enough to keep. So let us be sure we understand what God means to do in the resurrection. Whether or not there is a Rapture, there is a resurrection to prepare for, and the resurrection is inseparable from the return of Christ and the kingdom of God on earth. But before dismissing the Rapture, ask how it fits with the kingdom, for if it turns out to be essential, you surely don't want to be left behind. The obvious thing to notice about the Rapture is that it is very selective and cannot be otherwise, simply because the candidates are all born in a narrow band of history spanning barely one century. Taking this fact as a clue to its purpose, we have an obligation to carefully consider how the second coming of Christ must transpire with or without the Rapture. Or to state it graphically, we look behind the doctrine of the Rapture to see if it is connected in some essential way to the rest of prophetic Scripture. Is it more substantive than merely the shadow of a single Parousia? If the Rapture appears to be a distinct but essential part of the Second Coming, then we have no choice: we have the messy task of defending the impossible. Therefore, The Day and Hour series could not be complete without looking into the arrangements necessary for bringing about the well-documented kingdom of God on earth. That will be the last volume, but to help some of our characters get into the kingdom age we need the link which is book nine.

>Found in the romance of the Word of God is the enigmatic episode of Samson and Delilah, perhaps the strangest love affair of all time. Books, plays, and movies have attempted to explain it, but in this author's opinion they misinterpret the motives of both Samson and Delilah. If the information in Judges chapters 13-15 is taken as having something to do with their romance, a different interpretation is possible. "And it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah." (Judges 16:3) Thus, it appears that a separate chapter in Samson's life is beginning. But why should it be unrelated to chapter 15 and the Philistine who stole his wife? If it were not for Samson being listed among the "heroes of faith" in the New Testament book of Hebrews, we might dismiss him as a capricious fool, ignoring the angelic birth announcement, the fulfilled nazarite vow, his startling cleverness, his 20-year term judging Israel, and of course his superhuman strength. A superman indeed, born to benefit his nation, Samson dealt a blow to the Philistine enemy even in his death. Bible expositors acknowledge that he is an Old-Testament shadow or "type" of Christ. Did Samson "save" Philistine Delilah who seemed to hand him over to his enemies? While a parallel romance runs through these books, it is a current that you can ignore. Primarily, our mission is to explore the foundations of Bible prophesies that have yet to be fulfilled. You will have to endure noticing images of other characters from Scripture and literature, nevertheless. I won't say this is without purpose, but I admit it's mostly for fun. Try not to be too distracted. The first book, Sunday, opened with Kenneth Earl Clark puzzling over the incredible yet undeniable Rapture announcement. Earl is a reporter for the local paper (among other roles in the community). Today, Monday, we meet Leila Labaki, a name suggesting Lebanon as in the Song. As CEO of the Federal Services Administration she is well-liked while being everyone's boss. This is a small town with a tall FSA building that issues rules, some of which--if he were to obey them--would regulate Clark's benevolence. By the way, have you noticed that unintended consequences seem to be arranged by God? We need a better word than irony to describe this, a word that doesn't imply intentional deception. "Incongruity" comes close, but it's a lifeless word. "Literary irony" is merely respectable sarcasm. If you know what I mean, then we don't need a word for it; we just know it when we see it. Sometimes we notice it retrospectively even among intended consequences. It's a romantic thing, really. Some will insist that it's no different from deliberate irony. If it be that, the pages of these books are rife with irony, so be warned.