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Exactly. Excellent point, Quix.

IN CONTEXT, 1Ths 4:13-18 says,

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

This is a description of the second coming and with it the general resurrection. There is no rapture. As for Mt 24, please simply keep reading on to chapter 25. Ch 24-25 is a description of the Judgement, where the sheep are separated from the goats (Mt 25:32).

Lord, have mercy. Folks should really beware of INDIVIDUAL verses of scripture quoted by INDIVIDUAL people, be they John Nelson Darby or whomever.

Next thing you know, you’re petting rattlesnakes and drinking strychnine.

This is a description of the second coming and with it the general resurrection. There is no rapture.

Sorry...you are wrong. As I pointed out to another FRiend: We can certainly debate the timing of the event in 1 Thess 4...and 1 Cor 15....and I could spend a couple of hours on the phone showing you how the two events (this event and the actual second coming) have to be different. HOWEVER...that is not the point.

You are saying: THERE IS NO RAPTURE.

That is absolutely false. Even if, as my post-trib brethren believe, this event occurs AT the time of the second coming...and even if this event IS the second coming, as you say it is...it is STILL a rapture. Why?

Because, in context and with scripture supporting scripture (1 Cor 15)..."We shall not all sleep...but we shall all be changed." AND..."Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up..."

Now...the word RAPTURE is simply from the latin word for "caught up"...rapiemur.

So...you are saying there is no "rapture"...yet all theword "rapture" means is "caught up"...and IN CONTEXT (you bold letters)...it means CAUGHT UP ALIVE. Right?

That's a rapture. That's a catching up. Even IF it is the second coming...it still is a rapture because 1 Thess 4:17 says "CAUGHT UP" and the word in Latin is rapiemer and people just transliterate it "Rapture."

When was the last time you called Jesus...Iesu? When was the last time you called Jesus...Yeshua? If you call Him Jesus MORE than you call him Yeshua...then you are also transliterating a name. It's a translation of a word found in scripture...NOTHING MORE.

The timing of the event is where the debate comes in...but to say the event doesn't exist is to deny the words "CAUGHT UP"..."rapiemer."

Please, I'm not trying to be a controversialist, but ... Your statement of the "context" isn't extensive enough. You have isolated a Bible passage out of the context of the whole Bible. And your exegesis has a number of implicit theological presuppositions as mere assertions. You aren't answering pertinent questions that may, indeed that ought to be, asked of the text. John Nelson Darby was a thorough and exhaustive and careful scholar of the Bible. Which is evident from even a cursory reading of his works. He was not one to take Bible passages in isolation. He worked towards a comprehensive view that would address the many threads in Scriptures concerning not only “end times”, but the many other questions such the Church and its relationship to Israel.

None of the above is to say that we agree with Darby on anything, but we cannot dismiss him out of hand. It's less than helpful to call Christians, who also are careful and systematic in their Bible study, "snake handlers" and "cool aid drinkers". I would love to see a mutual and decent respect between Catholics, Covenant and Dispensational protestants, and others. But not an uncritical respect, rather one that looks for the relative merit in each. Which isn't to say that there aren't crazy religious nutcases or that we should take them seriously. But I'm just pleading for restraint.

I don’t believe anyone

has The Rapture

The 2nd Coming all figured out.

God designed it that way.

I do believe the children are quite accurate in this narrative:

CHILDREN WARNING JESUS COMING POST #804:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2687394/posts?page=804#804

And EVERY convincing Biblical Heavenly Visitation the last year or 3 has had an urgency expressed about CHRIST’S RETURN which is unprecedented in the history of such.

I don’t think God is just playing idle silly tweaky games with such warnings.