When my son (who was about 14 at the time) and I had what could only be described as rapture-like out-of-body experiences. First, I had one then he did, so that after he had his I knew exactly what he was describing to me when he had his. I want to share our experiences with you because I’m here to tell you that what happened to us was fast, really fast, and I fully believe that the rapture, when it happens will be just as fast. It was shocking, but real, I mean you feel that you are there experiencing this. There was no pain, I just remember it being incredibly fast and real. Also, there was absolutely no warning, one minute I was in my bedroom, then the next moment I was taken up and out of the earth. Also: I think GOD gave me this experience because there was NO DOUBT in my mind, going forward, that there will be a literal rapture of the church, because it was as real to me as anything else I have ever experienced. So here is what we experienced:
I found myself some years ago having an amazing spiritual encounter: I was in my bedroom, and suddenly without any warning, I was hovering above a town—I could see hills or mountains; trees and houses. Then just as fast, I was hovering above the earth—it was like a large blue and green basketball below me. Then next, I was shooting out into outer space a rapid speed past stars. It was so real to me I literally panicked and then in one moment I was back on earth. If this is what the rapture will be like, well it was amazing.
Before we get into my son’s testimony, I want to say that several years later, I thought about my experience (yes, I’ll never forget it), and I realized something extraordinary about it all. It is a fact that if you put a baby on a rocket ship and sent him toward earth’s nearest star system Alpha-Centauri, that baby probably would not arrive there in his lifetime. That’s how far the nearest stars are to earth. So just imagine in a brief moment, I am literally flying past multiple stars (as did my son also describe), so imagine how fast the human spirit travels through space?
My Son Ethan’s Holy Land Experience:
Our family went to Orlando, Florida for a spring break vacation. While there, I really wanted to go to the Holy Land Experience, a theme park that depicts the life of Christ. It was great to see different parts of the park focusing on the life and times of Jesus. There was a kind of auditorium in the park in which the re-enactment of the Last Supper was performed.
Before the program started, we were ushered into a room where we were sitting in a row of chairs. While sitting there waiting for the show to begin, I looked up and on the ceiling around the top was written the different names of God. As I was sitting there waiting, I looked over and Ethan looked pale as if he had seen a ghost. He told me he just had an incredible experience. We watched the program and waited until we were outside for him to tell me what happened.
Then Ethan (about 14 at this time) told me that while we were waiting for the program to start, that something amazing happened to him. He said that he had suddenly left the room and went out into space and he was moving like the speed of light into space. But then, he described that he turned his head and then just as quickly he was back in the room again. He did say he had seen the top of the building we were in when he left the building.
Ethan describes his experience in his own words this way:
We had gone to Florida for spring break to spend the week. We had gone to the Holy Land Experience, which wasn’t too far from where we were staying. After we were there for awhile, right after we saw the re-enactment of the Crucifixion we went to see the Last Supper play and right before the play had started I was taken out into outer space and I couldn’t even see the sky. I was out in outer space and it was as if I was light, and stars were shooting by me like streams of light. Then next, I turned my head to look back and all of a sudden, I was back in the room. And while this was all going on I was sitting in this chair and all of a sudden I lost control of my body I slumped over and my spirit had left me and it was weird. And then all of a sudden I was back and I was slumped over and I was trying to figure out what just happened and then I leaned over to my mom to see if she had seen anything that had gone on and she said no and I told her all that had happened and she just looked at me and soon after that we left. At the time, it happened I felt peaceful but when I got back, it was shocking to me.
