rapture thoughts.

WEYDEN, Rogier van der
The Last Judgment (detail)1446-52
Oil on wood
Musee de l'Hotel Dieu, Beaune
Other works by the artist...

i oftentimes hear of the rapture because i have a lot of Protestant brothers and sisters; however, i am wondering where this term came from and if the word itself is in the bible? i believe the idea of rapture has been taken from 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17:

Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, 3 will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.
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For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together 4 with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. (NAB)

i have a basic idea of what it is and while i never contributed to conversations about same on message boards, i find it fascinating because the word *rapture* is not to be found anywhere in any bible i have, so i would love a little real-time background on it. gosh, my google search revealed: Results 1 - 10 of about 5,550,000 for rapture [definition]. (0.18 seconds)

that's 5,550,000. that's a lot of information, eh? (and word to the wise: google images provides a very, uhhhh, broad list of pictures...use caution...)

the first hit listed was for a website called "Rapture Ready," and another person, who was kind enough to set up a website (that has had 99,000+ hits) for your email to be sent after you've been "taken up" with Jesus. and i thought having a will would be enough?

i think the principle is this: Jesus is going to come back and take those who believe back with Him and those who don't believe will be "left behind." i know without doubt that i will most certainly be set straight if this is not the case.

here's my question: could there be a series of raptures? could this be an on-going event?

reason i am even questioning this morning is i just saw the news about the tornado that hit kentucky and indiana in the dead middle of the night and how 22 folks were killed and there are a couple of hundred who were injured, most critically. with the tsunami of last year, the hurricanes of this year, the devastating earthshakes -- could it be that these people are being *raptured* out of here and we are left behind to deal because it isn't our time to go yet? so often i hear of "well, these events are just God's wrath upon the ungodly," which, quite frankly, upset me to my core, but that's another tangent for another time. could it be that He is rapturing us already, some by the 20's, some by the 100 thousands?

please - be nice as this is just some food for thought as i prepare for my day...