Quotable

The fact that the glorified, holy Son of God could step through the door of heaven at any moment is intended by God to be the most pressing, incessant motivation for holy living and aggressive ministry (including missions, evangelism, and Bible teaching) and the greatest cure for lethargy and apathy. It should make a major difference in every Christian’s values, actions, priorities, and goals.

Since the imminent coming of Christ is intended to have such a tremendous practical effect on the lives of individual Christians and the church as a whole, and since all views of the Rapture except the pretribulation view destroy the New Testament teaching of the imminent coming of Christ, we can conclude that the issue of when the Rapture of the church will take place really does matter.

—Renald Showers, Maranatha: Our Lord, Come! p. 256