Posted on 06/12/2015 8:30:49 PM PDT by MHGinTN
There is coming soon a stupendous supernatural event. Some will die because of the chaos it causes. Some will cry out to God because of what it causes them to realize. It really is coming upon the Earth, soon.
In 1217 AD a German Rabbi of great devotion, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel, was given a vision from Elijah regarding the city of Jerusalem. It went something like the following, expressed in Jubilee periods of 50 years, not actual Jubilees but periods of fifty year increments.
Six Jubilees from 1217 AD and Jerusalem will come under rule by the Turks. [In 1517 The Ottomans took Jerusalem.] Eight Jubilees will the Ottomans hold Jerusalem and then give it up to be a no man's land for one Jubilee. [In 1917 during part of the first World War campaign, the British General Allenby flew a British bi-plane over the city. Turks misunderstood the name Allenby to be a messenger of Allah and fled from the city; Allenby had sent word to the Crown that he would not fire on God's Holy city. British occupiers posted signs all around Jerusalem and in the Gaza to restrain Arabs from wandering into mine fields and free fire zones or arguing over tribal claims. Those signs read simply 'No Man's Land'.] Elijah went on to tell the Rabbi that at the end of that Jubilee Israel would once again have possession of Jerusalem, for one more Jubilee. [One of the outcomes of the 1967 Six Days War was that Israel took possession of Jerusalem rather than it being under UN controls.] At the end of Israel's Jubilee period, the Jews would make a seven year compact with someone, declaring Peace and Safety, but the one with whom they made treaty would violate the treaty midway in the seven years period, and that Jerusalem would be no more.
The Bible gives specific instructions regarding the End Times. The period is called the Tribulation, and it is seven years in length, hallmarked by The Wrath of God upon men and the Earth. It is also expressly shown as a period in which God will deal with Israel as His focus, to make an end to sin (Daniel 9). The end of this seven years has The Lord returning to set foot on the Earth, to make-over the planet and establish a one-thousand year reign of Peace and God's presence with the Earth and mankind.
One can read about the prophecies for Israel in Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and throughout Paul's writings in the new Testament and John's Revelation. Tribulation is a period when life on Earth will become rapidly, and with increasing ferocity, unbearable. But The Bride of Christ will not be here for the wrath poured out upon the planet and the followers of the antichrist who will be running amok for seven years. This little essay is a short message on The Rapture, offered it to friends because God has 'laid it on my heart' to speak and write of it since it is imminent and Christians as well as wannabees need to make ready for what is coming quickly.
The English word 'rapture' is derived from Jerome's Latin word, 'rapio' used to translate the Koine Greek word 'harpazo' (pronounced harpadzo) used in the New testament most pointedly in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. But this passage in the Letter to the Thessalonians is not the only place it is used. It is also found in the Septuagint rendering of the Old Testament, a compiled Greek translation nearly three hundred years before Jesus came. Jesus quoted from the Septuagint.
Rapture is for the living. There are at least seven places in the Bible where a 'rapture' happens. I'll list them but not detail them here: Enoch walked with God and was not; Elijah was taken away in a firy chariot; Isaiah was taken to the throne room of God, but returned with a message; Jesus ascended into Heaven in Acts 1; Paul was taken twice to Heaven as he says in 1 Corinthians 12; the Church will be taken to the Father's House, 1 Thessalonians 4; the two witnesses during the Tribulation will be resurrected then raptured into Heaven; Philip was raptured to the Gaza from the Judean wilderness where he was instructed to go to evangelize the Ethiopian.
There are many voices now rising to discuss or deny The Rapture of The Church, The Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ. What is important is to be a believer in Christ as Savior and Lord. That is absolute Justification of the unrighteous by His Righteousness. Those who are His will be raptured before the Tribulation begins.
How long the Rapture before Israel's signing of the treaty with the antichrist is anyone's guess. The Bible gives not one hint to it that I have found. But if 2017 is the year the treaty is signed, we have less than three years until the seven years of Tribulation begin. The Church will be snatched away in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:51-53), because believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit earnest of our inheritance, and the Holy Spirit is the restrainer of lawlessness. The Restrainer will be taken out of the way (2Thess2:7) in order that the man of Sin can emerge. We are given a foreshadowing in Ezekiel, when the Glory of The Lord had to depart the Temple before the Babylonian armies could take Jerusalem. Interestingly, Ezekiel (Ez 10&11) witnessed the Glory departing from a vantage point on the Mount of Olives.
The Rapture is a real event spoken of first by Jesus in the Upper Room (John14), prophesied in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, Revelation 3:10 and 4:1, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3. It is hinted at in the Old Testament and we see a foreshadowing, of Enoch taken away before the flood. The Rapture of The Church -the believers in Christ as Savior- is not the Second Coming detailed in the Olivet Discourse Jesus gave to James, John, Andrew, and Peter (Matthew 24, Mark 13; Luke 21). The Rapture is Christ returning in the Air not setting foot on Earth, to take to Himself The Church, which will return with Him in the Second Coming. The Rapture removes His Church before God's wrath falls upon humankind, while the Second Coming is Jesus coming as the warrior fulfilling promises to Israel, and Revelation cites those Raptured will be coming with Christ in the Second Coming.
Jesus opened the mystery of the Church Age teaching His faithful disciples (Judas had left to betray Him) that He was going away to prepare a place then come to take them there. In the Church Age there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. The Tribulation is God dealing with Israel, and Jews evangelizing the world in opposition to the antichrist, the false prophet, and satan.
Salvation preached by the Jews (144,000 will be chosen by God to evangelize during the Tribulation) necessitates the Church be gone because there is no distinction between Gentile and Jew in the Church Age. Rapture ends the Church Age where God's Holy Spirit indwells believers, so they are born from above then raised up in the way that they should go (John3, Jesus speaking with Nicodemus, then Proverbs in raising up a child in the way that they should go).
To any who remain behind after the Rapture, call upon the Lord and you will be saved, spiritually. The world-wide chaos that will ensue following perhaps hundreds of millions suddenly disappearing from machines in motion will be horrendous. In this chaos people will gladly embrace a 'man of sin' to set things in order.
He backed it up with what he believes is evidence. If you have a problem with that, find the courage to say so in detail, rather that taking drive-by pot shots.
Otherwise you'll be mistaken for a punk.
Thank - but I spelled “imminency” wrong! Lol.
There are two theories of Christian eschatology. The first is that the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit will continue till all nations shall be evangelized, "the fullness of the Gentiles be come in," drowning out the unbelief of the Jews till "all Israel shall be saved." After this period of gospel triumph Christ will wind up the probationary history of the human race by the simultaneous resurrection of the good and the bad and the general judgment, assigning them to their eternal destinies.
Then again, amillennialism and postmillennialism have always sounded similar to me--much more similar to one another than to the premillennial positions, certainly.
Also, the Early Church Fathers covers from Clement of Rome and Justin Martyr all the way to Gregory the Great in the late 500s/early 600s. They were not "to a man" premillennialist (of any variety)--for example, Origen and Augustine of Hippo, who were amillennialists--although many of the earliest of them were.
You are right, Steele must have been postmillennialist. I didn’t read your link close enough.
When I said ECF, I meant the Ante-Nicene Fathers. I have the full set, which I have had for about 30 years. The Origen-Augustine apostasy had fully set in by the 500’s and 600’s you speak of, concluding with the Papacy. I consider their system, including their millennial doctrine, false. Yours, and Steele’s, eschatology a derivation of theirs.
The ECF I speak of were indeed to a man premillennialist. Their eschatology preceded that of Augustine and the Papacy. The ECF I speak of, being closer to what was handed down from the apostles, we would expect more closely to reflect the true eschatology. Known today as Historic Premillennialism. Which, as I pointed out in my previous post, was not dispensational nor pretrib.
Thankfully, even the Apostolic Fathers recognized that belief in ‘historic premillennialism’ wasn’t a test of orthodoxy. After all, even Justin Martyr acknowledged that “many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise” about historic premillennialism, even in his own time period.
True, but the system ultimately to be ensconced in the Papacy had yet to be systemized. Augustine holds that dubious honor...Augustine several hundred years future from Justin.
Apparently, from what I can gather, it was but elementary ideas of Amill that were around in Justin’s day. Justin not considering it any threat to “pure and pious faith” at that time. Were he transported several hundred years into the future to Augustine’s day, and wrote about it, I think his words would reflect something quite different.
"For sll the saints and the elect of God are gather prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." Quoted from 'On The Last Times, the Anti-Christ and the End of the World' Ephraem of the Eastern Tradition
Roger Olson has a good essay on the difference between orthodoxy and 'fundamentalism' on his blog.
Pseudo-Ephraem has about as much credibility as the “German Rabbi of great devotion, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel” you mentioned earlier. You do realize ben Samuel was a Kabbalist don’t you? Do you really consider Kabbalism to be “great devotion?”
In his day ,by the Jews of his day, he was revered. I used his Elijah vision to emphasize the imminence, which is of course what the Bible teaches regarding Jesus coming for His own. The Bible verses are the key, not Rabbi ben Samuel’s prophecy. Being in Christ is the issue, not Jerusalem. I will use the prophecy as an attention getter, to get folks to trun to Christ and make ready, if it will accomplish that. It does not mean I endorse Kabbalism. You don’t find it interesting that the time periods given in 1216AD/1217AD appear to have lined up with what actually happened?
I cite Ephraem the Syrian because we have negative neybobs on these threads that insist the notion of Rapture is a nineteenth century creation. It is not. It can be found in many Historiacal documents/discussions dating even to 100 AD.
If you can get past the typos, pingaling.
But...have you yourself seen ben Samuel's "prophecy," the actual document? We prophecy guys have been hearing about this for some time now, there's been a lot of hype about it, but people can claim anything. Not only that, documents can be forged after the fact. The document, if there really is such a thing, and its not manufactured out of thin air, needs to be brought into the light of day for examination.
Neybobs they are. But the issue, to pre, mid, and post tribbers, is not whether there is going to be a rapture, but when does it take place.
Luther’s outlandish, violent antisemitism isn’t hard to learn about... He published constantly.
Most folks worship him for what he did to the Church of Jesus Christ, Disciples & Co. but (as on this thread) laugh at you if you bring up any details about who the guy was.
These, of course, are the same folks who will yap for hours about the inner meaning of the syntax in Kaneesha’s letter to the Librarians as recounted by Ramalamadingdong (300 years after Jesus’ crucifixion) Chapter 4, Verse, 32...
“The Devil is in the Details,” in some cases maybe literally!
Think about your faith. Ponder the 10 Commandments. Remember when He says I AM THE LORD... And what he says next.
Remember Sinai, and how weak we are, how we love a graven image... Something else to worship... And call a spade a spade and a Christian a Christian!
Love
G
To give you more fuel for ... discussion, here’s a link to a website of Jewish origin which gives details on Judah ben Samuel: http://destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com/destination-yisrael/2012/12/rabbi-judah-ben-samuels-jubilee-prophecy-gives-the-year-of-the-messiah.html
I asked a Karaite Jewish man his opinion of Kabbalah, he minced no words, he said it was witchcraft, which God condemns. Having read their material, I agree. Making Golem’s out of clay, to serve the Rabbis, and such like. Kabbalists are nothing more than witches and warlocks.
And this Kabbalist Rabbi ben Samuel, and his fellow Kabbalists looking to promote Kabbalah, is what you consider an impeccable source? Do you do the same with Dan Brown and his Divinci Code source material? The Koran?
There was nothing in this link you sent me, that addressed my point. Where’s the proof? Lets see this document the Kabbalists have had in their keeping all these centuries.
I hope you never spill tack on the carpet ... I have not even approached saying this is an impeccable source. Your effort to stand up that false characterization tells me to stop exchanging with you. Have nice day
Why leave out 2 Thessalonians 2? Why leave out Revelation 20?
In the twinkling of an eye we will be changed into SPIRITUAL BODIES.
and where it talks of the Air, it means in a breath.
May I suggest a Strongs Concordance that translates words from the Greek, Latin and Aramaic?
Once you actually understand the words used and what they actually mean, then the Bible is easy to understand. See, Revelation? the word means to REVEAL! The End Times are NOT supposed to be a mystery
Also Father said in (Ezekiel I think, don’t have my Bible here by the PC) that he was against those who would put pillows (ie COVER) His outstretched hands and those that teach His children to FLY to save their Souls.
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