Toolbox For Faith

As I drove by a church on my way to drop my son off at camp, I looked over at their sign and saw, “The Summer heat is nothing compared to what you could experience for eternity. Prepare for the Rapture today!” Intellectually, I understand that there are groups of Christians who believe strongly that the rapture is real, but I guess, deep down, I hoped that the failed rapture prediction from last May would open a few eyes and turn people away from that interpretation of scripture. Since, however, rapture teaching probably isn’t going away anytime soon, I’d recommend “The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation” by Barbara R. Rossing. It is an excellent book and she does a wonderful job of giving both the background on how rapture teaching emerged and a hope filled interpretation of the book of Revelation. You can find the book on Amazon here.

If you are looking for a helpful book on Revelation, I have been using a book entitled, “Come, Lord Jesus: A Study of Revelation” by Pastor Mark Braaten, who proposes that at its core, Revelation is about calling people to live faithfully. The format of the book is extremely helpful.  He prints a passage from Revelation and then follows with an explanation.  You can find it here on Augsburg Fortress’ website.