Song: When the roll is called up yonder

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The hymn "When the roll is called up yonder" was written by James M. Black (1856-1938) in 1893.

He wrote almost 1500 songs. The song is based on the idea of the rapture when Jesus will return to claim those, both the quick and the dead, to meet him in the air. He was a lifelong resident of Williamsport, PA and was a choir leader, Sunday school teacher, composer and an active member of the Pine Tree Methodist Episcopal Church.

Black was inspired by the "rapture" and the "book of life". After a child was not in Sunday school, Black thought about someone missing attendance in heaven. He visited the child and called a doctor to treat the pneumonia. At home, he wrote "When the roll is called up yonder" when he could not find a suitable hymn.
The song has been recorded by Johnny Cash, Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) and Willie Nelson. The lyrics were in the 1941 movie Sergeant York. Music: When the roll is called up yonder

One idea many people have about the rapture, much of it from the Left Behind series of books, is that all believers will disappear.

This is similar to the shelves of toilet paper disappearing as a result of panic buying. This leads to the phrase, "When the roll is called up yonder" from the hymn of the same name.

More: Crying wolf for the search and seizure of the rapture

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of his resurrection share;
When his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun;
Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.