Rapture Index

A shofar made from the horn of a Greater kudu

An animal horn trumpet.

The following item was in the news when I was in Rome:

Evangelical Christians measure the likelihood of end times with the Rapture Index

National Post, Ontario Canada – June 1, 2009

by Sara Efron, Senior Editor of Financial Post Magazine

According to The Rapture Index, a biblical prophecy ranking system created by Todd Strandberg, Jesus will descend to take Christian believers to heaven very soon. The ranking on The Rapture Index is currently 166 – hitting the index’s highest category, which Strandberg dubs with a warning: “Fasten your seat belts.”

The index gives insight into the common belief among evangelical Christians that soon there will be a “rapture,” or a lifting up of Christian believers towards Jesus and heaven. Strandberg believes that the rapture will occur before the tribulation, an era of judgment by God that will begin with the Antichrist signing a seven-year covenant guaranteeing Israel’s peace and security. Wrath will be poured onto nonbelievers, according to Strandberg, as Christ defeats God’s enemies and sets up his kingdom on earth…

The Rapture Index purports to interpret recent events and rank them on a scale of one to five on the basis of how they fulfill prophecies. For example, the price of oil rising earns two points and high unemployment get five points. “Financial pressure is a driving force in prophecy,” explains Strandberg in an interview with the Holy Post. “History tells that most movements toward war, dictatorship and lawlessness are aided by unfavourable financial conditions.”

The category “Beast Government,” which tracks the activity of the EU, gets three points because “Europe has failed to show leadership on several global issues.” Strandberg believes the EU is the revival of the Roman Empire mentioned in Revelations, and that the government will be ruled by the Antichrist.

The “Plagues” category scores a five, due to the swine flu outbreak. “Jesus warned that plagues would be a sign of the end times,” Strandberg says.

Certainly there are many skeptics to Strandberg’s claim to measure end times activity, and they don’t just come from people who aren’t believers in rapture. “The REAL Rapture Index,” (on the site egalitarian.biz) follows similar criteria to Strandberg’s index, but only gives a current rating of 70, meaning that rapture warning signs are very low. The site calls Strandberg’s index “paranoid” and claims to be more objective. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/holy-post/archive/2009/06/01/sarah-efron-evangelical-christians-measure-the-likelihood-of-end-times-with-the-rapture-index.aspx

While end-time prophetic events are lining up, the Bible simply does not teach a pretribulation rapture.

While it would seem to be great if it were God’s will to take all Christians off the face of the earth just prior to the start of the Great Tribulation, the Bible simply does not teach that is so.

Many who expect a pretribulation rapture will be “caught unawares” (Luke 21:34, KJV) and should study their Bibles and learn NOW that there is no pretribulation rapture of the saints taught in scripture.

Two articles that may greatly assist in this process would include the following:

Is There A Secret Rapture for the Church? When and Where is the Church Protected? What does the Bible really teach? Who really is left behind?
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical ‘place of safety’ and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject–thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory.