• The Rapture
• Letter by Min. Chang Hun Jo
• Letter from Investigator to Chang Hun Jo and description of the Rapture evening.
• Update

During the centuries there have been hundreds of attempts to predict the year, month or even the day of Christ’s return – but rarely the hour.

Well, here it is.

The "Rapture", according to an 8-page pamphlet titled AN EMERGENCY NEWS will occur at midnight (Adelaide time) of October 28, 1992.

The term "Rapture" refers to Christians being whisked off the ground into the sky as part of Christ’s Second Coming and is based on Bible verses such as Matthew 24:31 and 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18.

The Bible says (in Psalm 90) that to God "a thousand years are as yesterday". Linking this to the 6-day week, the sabbath, and the Millennium, gives the implication that God is acting on a 7,000 year schedule.

2^nd Peter chapter 3 mentions "the last days" and adds: "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years..." Some Christians view this as meaning two "last days" each of 1,000 years and either commencing at the birth of Christ or at Pentecost.

The 7,000-year hypothesis has been around since Roman times. The most famous calculation of when Adam and Eve were created is that of James Ussher (1581-1656) who was an Archbishop in Ireland.

Ussher's calculation based on chronologies in the Bible came to October, 4004 BC.

This result, or one very near it, is accepted by many sectarian groups. It would make 6,000 years from Adam end in October 1997 AD. Then would follow a 1,000-year Millennium to complete 7,000 years. Many sectarian groups aren’t quite that precise and prefer to allow a margin of error of 3 to 5 years either side of 1997.

The Korean-based group calling itself MISSION FOR THE COMING DAYS is not allowing for any margin of error. They claim that Christ's return is in two stages. The first stage is the Rapture on October 28/29 1992. This is followed by a 7-year "Great Tribulation", Christ’s completed return, and in 2000 AD the Millennium when Jesus rules the world.

If we check the Bible we find that Jesus cautioned: "But of that day and hour no one knows." (Matthew 24:36-42)

Similarly, the Apostle Paul wrote: "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited..." (2^nd Thessalonians 2)

In favor of the 6,000/7,000 year hypothesis is that political instability, nuclear proliferation, population growth and environmental degradation may lead to something like a "great tribulation" and this near the time indicated by Ussher’s calculation.

Against the hypothesis is the possibility of gaps in some chronologies given in the Bible which would mean that 6,000 years from Adam are long past. Furthermore if we regard humankind as being only 6,000 years old we would be opposing science by implying that anthropologists, geologists and archaeologists have gotten a lot of things wrong.

MISSION FOR THE COMING DAYS was organized in 1988 by Jang-Lim Lee a former Bible translator and minister of the Presbyterian Church in Seoul, Korea.

The sect has members in 61 Korean cities and in 40 other cities in a number of countries.

According to the book JESUS IS FINALLY COMING ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE? (Published February 1992) the date:

Most of Korea’s 12 million Christians, however, regard MCD as heretics.

Page 1 of an 8-page Mission for the Coming Days pamphlet

The hypothetical newspaper illustrated on p. 1 of the AN EMERGENCY NEWS pamphlet is the same as on a 1974 pamphlet titled A TRIBULATION MAP by Leon Bates (a popular Pentecostal writer).

The Bates pamphlet doesn’t set a precise date in its text but inspection with a magnifying glass of the newspaper [on the Bates pamphlet] reveals the date February 8 1996. The reproduced newspaper in AN EMERGENCY NEWS has the date altered by hand to October 1992.

The cover page of a further MCD (6-page) pamphlet called GOD’S JUDGEMENT DAY IS NEAR also mentions October 1992. It says,

The message is even being handwritten on envelopes apparently for the benefit of employees of Australia Post! Obviously MCD has no doubts or reservations about October 28/29, 1992 at all!

What if the prediction fails and nothing unusual occurs by October 29 this year? There have been hundreds of prophetic groups in the past who experienced just such a predicament.

All such groups lose members and some such groups completely disintegrate. Often, however, the leadership provides an explanation for the failure and stress that the event is nevertheless very near. Remaining members may then even become more zealous, attract new interest to the group, and replacements may after a while exceed the losses.

If we check the Bible we find that Jesus repeatedly warned about "false Prophets". (eg Matthew 24:4-5; 23-28)

I suppose that anyone who finds himself still at ground level on October 30 will have to ask himself what to make of it!
 

The above article used information and documents supplied by Chang Hun Jo, the MCD representative in New South Wales. An accompanying letter by C H Jo said:
 
 

Details to hand are sketchy. Apparently a group did gather for the rapture in Sydney.

They had their prayers and songs. At the fatal hour there was a loud countdown of the final seconds – 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, etc.

The disappointed cultists waited another hour before trying to make hasty exits while hiding their faces. A news reporter trying to take photos was allegedly punched.

In Korea, where the cult began, the midnight meetings were watched by police in case of trouble. Several suicides followed the prophecy failure.

The leader of the cult is in prison on charges of misappropriating donations.

The Korean membership was about 10,000 and included many university students.
 

Lee Jang Rim, 44, leader of MISSION FOR THE COMING DAYS, has been sentenced to 2 years for stealing $US4.4million from his 10,000 followers.

Although the cult predicted they would be whisked up to heaven on October 28, followed by the start of the end of the world, Lee used the stolen money to buy bonds with maturities months beyond that date.

Several cult members committed suicide but most have returned to normalcy. The cult's Australian headquarters has been abandoned and the phone disconnected for non-payment of the bill.