Dear friends:

Yesterday I shared information from a sermon by Pastor Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International about the soon rapture.  I mentioned that the message is available online at http://interactive.creflodollarministries.org/broadcasts/archives2005_t.asp?site=CDM (go to December 11, 2005).

This morning I transcribed the latter part of that message about preparing for the rapture and am including it below.  Unfortunately, a transcript cannot duplicate the stirring style, voice inflections and nuances of this great African-American speaker, but you will get the point.  For all that extra, click on the link above.

Enjoy -- and be ready!

Jim
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Excerpt:
 
Nobody ever thinks about what’s going to happen when you die.  We’re only thinking about today, about what we’re going to do tomorrow.  Oh, what about my career?  Oh, who likes me and who don’t like me? Oh, what have I got to wear?  But there are more important things.  What are you going to do when you die?
 
Some people think you are just going to be in nothingness, it’s just going to be the end.  Oh, have you been deceived!  How can you take the advice of somebody who’s never died? I am taking the advice of somebody who died but got up on the third day!  I’d rather take the advice of somebody who has been there, done that!  I got a Jesus who died, and got up to tell me all about it!  And then He said, “Death and hell have been defeated.”  So I am going to take his word.
 
But when you die, to be absent from the body, and you did not get born again, that means when you die and your spirit and soul comes out of your body, you now have to look around to see who gonna meet you.  Will angels meet you to escort you to the gate of Heaven, or will demons meet you to escort you to the gate of hell?  You can’t say you believe in heaven and not believe in hell.  There is a hell.  There are demons.  There is a Satan.  There is a place called hell. There is a God.  There are angels.  There is a Heaven....
 
What you gonna do, man?  It’s gonna happen.  And you get a chance to live 40, 50, 70, 80 years -- to make one decision!
 
People don’t go to hell because they do bad things.  People go to hell because the reject Jesus.
 
“Well” (you may say), “praise the Lord, I’m a Buddhist.”  Ain’t good enough.  Cause you can’t get in through Buddha.  Buddha doesn’t have a covenant with God.  You can’t go by Buddha.  You can’t pray in the name of Buddha.  You can’t get healed in the name of Buddha.  And they not gonna let you in the gates of heaven by Buddha’s pass.
 
Mohammed can’t get you in.
 
When you show up in the realm of the spirit, you’d better know Jesus!  Because He’s the only pass that’s going to allow you entrance into that heavenly place.  I’m telling you that right now.  You’d better know Jesus is the only way.
 
“Well, what you trying to say -- your religion is the only one that’s right?
 
YES!  I’ve been trying to say that for 25 years!  YES!
 
There is nothing that can compare to what Jesus has done on the cross.  Nothing.  Buddha couldn’t do it.  Mohammed couldn’t do it.  Reverend Moon couldn’t do it.  You can’t do it.  But Jesus did it!  Halleluyah!  He’s our way in!  He’s our way out!  He’s our way up!
 
“Why don’t you get all the religions together to show unity?”  I don’t want to be unified with something that denies Jesus.  Have a meeting by yourself.
 
Buddha didn’t die on that cross.  Mohammed didn’t die on that cross.  Buddha didn’t get up for my salvation.  Mohammed didn’t love me like Jesus loved me.  I’m going to serve Jesus for the rest of my life.  He is my Lord!  He is my Savior!  He is my God and my King!
 
He is the only one.  Don’t you let somebody deceive you. You go off getting into other “religions,” worshipping a chair, saying that chair is your “higher power.”
 
“Oh, brother Dollar, don’t you think that’s kind of controversial?”
 
YES!  Truth is always controversial.  I been born for it.  It’s time to shake some stuff up. I’m not gonna compromise with all these people who make you come together to have this “unified world religion” of a bunch of nothing.
 
If you don’t believe me – die!
 
Go ahead, die, in the name of Buddha.  Send me a note if you can.  See, Buddha died and he couldn’t come back to tell us what happened when he died.  Mohammed died and he couldn’t come back and tell us what happened when he died.  But Jesus died and came back!
 
Let me show you what the Bible said He did.  He wrote a will.  And you know a will doesn't have power until the person who wrote the will dies. (Hebrews 9:15-18.) He wrote the will!  Oh, Jesus!  He wrote the will, died, so you could legally have a right to everything He wrote, then got up on the third day to make sure you got everything He said you could have -- glory be to God!  Now you tell me who would do something like that for you.
 
And this same Jesus is coming back again!  You’d better see if you’re ready. What are you prepared to do?  How far do you think you can run?  How much ugly talk you gonna have to put on me before you realize that the Bible is right?
 
“I’ll tell you what, brother Dollar, you know, I just don’t agree….” That’s what is wrong now.  Who asked you?  Listen, who are you?  Who are you, broke, sick, divorced, pitiful, depressed, condemned… who are you to disagree with God? You ain’t even read the Bible, and you’re gonna disagree?  How are you gonna disagree with me on Mark Twain’s book if you never read Mark Twain’s book….?
 
How you gonna disagree with me if I read the Scripture, pray a prayer, get an answer, sow a seed, get a harvest, was sick, got healed?
 
Here is an invitation that Jesus gave everybody: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  But don’t you say that the Lord’s not good if you’ve not tasted Him!  Until you taste Him, don’t tell me He ain’t good.  Until you taste Him, don’t tell me He’s not real.  Until you taste Him, don’t tell me He doesn’t work.  God is a good God.  But if you don’t know Him, you’ll say he’s a bad God....
 
He’s coming back, and I look forward to His return.  And here’s what the Scripture says -- He’s gonna come back for those who are looking for Him!  Don’t believe if you want to and He’ll just leave you.  I’m looking for Him.
 
(Describes dream of being in an airplane when the rapture happens, and he went right up through the airplane.)
 
It’s coming.  I hope some of you who don’t believe are around me when it happens. Just be talking to me, playing church and acting religious, and you look up and a pile of my clothes, ring, all that, afro juice, all that just sitting right there in that pile.  Because I’m gone.  He returned with a shout from heaven.  And the dead in Christ got up.
 
Don’t be in a graveyard the day Jesus comes back! Oooo, Jesus!  The earth gonna shake.  The last time the earth shook the way it’s getting ready to shake again is when the Holy Ghost entered into the atmosphere.  That’s what that shaking was.  When the Holy Ghost came, the presence of God stepped into the earth, and it shook.  Well, it if did that when the Holy Ghost came in, imagine what it’s going to be like when the King of kings and Lord of lords enters back into this atmosphere
 
I said Jesus is coming back today, church! I tell you, Jesus is coming back.  Get your house ready.  Get everything fixed.  Jesus is coming back!  Get your business in order.  Jesus is coming back….!
 
It’s the truth…. It ain’t gone be no long time.  I’ve had the Lord talk to me about this. It ain’t gone be no long time.  Nope.  He’s about to make believers out of some of the folks you know who are not believers….
 
Jesus is coming back.  So what you gonna do?
 
This sermon will never move from your life until you make the Lord Jesus the head of your life.  I realize the torment of hell, it wasn’t really talking about flames as it was about flames being equal to torment, tormenting as if a hand would be in fire.  I said, “Well, Lord, how…?"

He said, “When a person lives in regret that they were one decision away from deciding to come my way.”
 
You know how tormenting that is?  You miss God by a decision.  Don’t do that….
 
He’s coming back.  If you had company coming to your house, wouldn’t you clean up?  Wouldn’t you clean up?  Wouldn’t you prepare your house?  Well, do it.  Clean your life up.  Prepare your life.  Prepare it to be presented to Jesus, because we’re gonna have to all stand before the judgment seat of God, to give an account of what we did in this body, good or bad.  That’s what the Scripture says.  My job is to make sure you are ready.  My job is to make sure that you don’t get missed.  My job is to make sure that if the rapture comes this coming Friday, that no one’s in this church on Sunday morning.  And if you are here on Sunday morning, it’s yours.  You can have it.  All the cars you see out from Friday night’s service, take them all home….
 
God bless you.  I speak this aggressively today, because I love you, and I want you to hear me.  I want to stir your spirit up.  I want you to think about some of the things that are going on in these last days, and make the necessary adjustments, and be who you need to be for God.
 
 
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