Posted on 07/31/2014 8:11:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
So many people are sinners these days, rapture could happen and only 1-2 people would go missing.....
So would the rest of the people notice 1-2 people going missing..?
I’ve done enough reading to have made up my own mind but in the end we don’t know. Only God knows his plan and timing.
Bingo!!! We have a winner.
My pastor recently preached that there is NO rapture. He described that the passage in 1 Thess as "apocalyptic language" (mythical) that only means a resurrection is coming. I'm now seeking a new church.
I'm surprised that few people mention the 'harvesting' of Revelation 14.
"And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped."
This happens just before the bowls of wrath.
Here’s where all the bitter clingers are having trouble with being of the mind that perhaps all the living believers will be caught up with the dead in Christ in the end times: (Not that actually printing the verse would have lent any substance to the article - journalists)
1Th 4:15-17
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Verse 17 doesn’t take a rocket scientist, apologist, or theologian to understand. The only question is the ‘when’ part.
Televangelists are in it for the money, period.
You mean the first resurrection? Why do we need to call it something other than what God named it for us?
So I tried to open the link you provided and it was no longer available. They did, however, have very good explanations.
Baptist explanation: There must be sin in your life. Everyone else opened it fine.
Presbyterian explanation: It's not God's will for you to open this link.
Word of Faith explanation: You lack the faith to open this link. Your negative words have prevented you from realizing this link's fulfillment.
Charismatic explanation: Thou art loosed! Be commanded to OPEN!
Unitarian explanation: All links are equal, so if this link doesn't work for you, feel free to experiment with other links that might bring you joy and fulfillment.
Buddhist explanation: .........................
Episcopalian explanation: Are you saying you have something against homosexuals?
Christian Science explanation: There really is no link.
Atheist explanation: The only reason you think this link exists is because you needed to invent it.
Church counselor's explanation: And what did you feel when the link would
This view stems from a misunderstanding of what the Tribulation is, and what the Rapture is.
The tribulation is not "the world crumbling down around us." The world has done that before, and will continue to do so again until the Lord returns. This particular approach to eschatology is driven by current events, not God's Word.
The tribulation is a very specific act of God in which He specifically pours out His wrath in judgment upon an unbelieving world (Rev. 6:17). It is an act of His wrath, not just a general "oh well, everything's going to pot because our political goals aren't being realised," which is how many Americans (especially) and post-tribbers seem to approach it.
God has not appointed His children to wrath (Rom. 5:9, I Thess. 5:9). These verses are talking about His wrath IN TOTALITY. Both the future eternal wrath of hell, as well as the temporal wrath called "the tribulation" or "time of Jacob's trouble." In essence, God is not a wife-beater, as the post-tribbers seem to think He is.
Usually William Lane Craig is a fairly careful scholar, but in this case, I think he is allowing his "faith tradition" within mainline Protestantism to drive his thinking more than a careful exegesis of the Word of God. It's a basic mistake of not reading the text clearly to see the second coming of Christ *to the earth* in I Thess. 4.
I’ve given up hoping to see him in good roles anymore. Now I just strap in and enjoy the cheese. Try it, it’s fun!
An interesting thing about the end times prophesy is that it suggests there will be both a great falling away and a great revival. Personally, I think there are a lot of people in church who are not Christian. I’m not thinking of any specific people, but just thinking of what the bible sez about it and what I’ve observed.
e.g. the guy I bought my house from went on to pastor a church in KY. He found out that there were elderly members there that have attended “religiously” for their entire lives, but don’t know the difference between the old and new testaments.
Mine’s got to be his opening monologue from “Raising Arizona”, with lines like:
“Her womb was a barren place where my seed could find no purchase.”
There's nothing to suggest there will be a great revival in the midst of the growing worldwide apostasy.
Very well put. Thank you.
AMEN!!
Um were all sinners. But some are sinners saved by the grace of god.
"The Left Behind series was originally meant to be limited to six books. Such was its popularity with America’s army of evangelicals, however, that a further ten were written and spin-offs have included video games, Christian music CDs, calendars and a scripture service for mobile phones...."Related threads:
-- from the Times-Online UK, "Revelations of the last battle as US Bible thriller series comes to end", a review of the final Left Behind book.
And it is still a false belief today, too.
My advice to everyone is to be ready at all times, because the Lord is coming and it’s going to be a bad day for those who aren’t ready.
I have my opinion on these matters. The Bible does speak of the believers meeting Him when He comes. My own view is that pre-trib rapture as described in left behind is unlikely though. It’s too convenient. It lets the church avoid all the worst of Revelation.
But Jesus was not granted a reprieve from what He had to do. I think it’s unreasonable to think that His followers will be. Thus I look for the rapture to occur halfway through the tribulation, with the first half of the tribulation being Satan’s persecution of the church, and the second half being God’s wrath against those persecutors.
I don’t. I am a post-tribulationist and have been since 1976. Just wanted to know the truth.
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