[greggy]

When I got home, I called them on the phone and told them I would no longer contribute to Family Radio, for that reason.

I am with you there. But let's not get in the other ditch of the road and say we will all be surprised, because that defies the bible.

1 Thes 5:1-2: Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night...

1Thes 5:4: But you brothers are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

You see, the church will not be surprised because they will not be in darkness. Darkness is made void by light, and the light will be from God. He will tell us and we will not be surprised by it. I assure you.

The church will be made glorious and you will see christians with faces shining with the Glory of God before He returns. He will return for a glorious church. People down play that fact because they simply cannot imagine transfiguring like Jesus did, yet our bodies are the temple of God's Holy Spirit. Imagine that. We hold the Holy Spirit of the one and only true God of the universe within out mortal bodies, and yet we cannot imagine shining with the Glory of God?! What's the matter with this picture?

Also, when we get our new bodies we will remain down here on earth for a while. We will walk around with our immortal bodies before we go up to be with Jesus in the clouds. How do I know? Because Paul says, "after that [after the dead are caught up in the clouds to be with Jesus], we who are still alive will be caught up with them forever."

I heard one preacher say that we would follow the dead by a nanosecond. But if that were true, it would appear to Paul that we are caught up with the dead, not "after" the dead.

When that really begins to sink in, then you will see the next part of that passage in 1 Cor 15:53-54:

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death, has been swallowed up in victory.

Death has not yet been swallowed up in victory, but it will in your life time.

[Mark17]

Death has not yet been swallowed up in victory, but it will in your life time.

Well, I hope you are right, but I am already getting old. Maybe I should find a good Christian woman before it all ends. At any rate, I am a hockey fan, and I am going to watch the Dallas Stars and St Louis Blues. Later.

[Star Traveler]

Also, when we get our new bodies we will remain down here on earth for a while. We will walk around with our immortal bodies before we go up to be with Jesus in the clouds. How do I know? Because Paul says, "after that [after the dead are caught up in the clouds to be with Jesus], we who are still alive will be caught up with them forever."

I seriously doubt that. It doesn't fit what it says here.

  1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 
      
  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.

Look at that verse 17 -- "shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."

Now, if I understand you right -- the Lord and the dead in Christ are going to be floating around up there "in the air" and "on hold" -- just waiting for us to finish our "vacation" down here while we walk around, enjoying our new bodies.

Wouldn't that be kinda "rude" -- dontcha think?

In addition to that -- it also does not fit the word-picture analogy of the "wedding" and the "bride of Christ" as given in post #52. Now "picture this". Here is the "new wedding analogy."

The bridegroom comes in the middle of the night with a "shout" and with his wedding party to take the bride away -- but -- the bride says "Wait a minute, while I go over to my girlfriend's house and show off my new wedding dress. Hold on and I'll be right back..." [she's just "walking around" enjoying her new wedding dress, dontcha know...]