Regarding the rapture and return of the Lord. Some believe that we believers have to "prepare" ourselves for the rapture. As if somehow our personal righteousness can make us ready for that moment. If our righteousness can make us ready for that moment, then why did the Lord die for us? If anything it is His righteousness and what He did on the cross that makes us ready. To assume that somehow there is something lacking in our lives that we personally have to fix to be ready for the rapture is unscriptural. What Jesus did is what will purchase our ticket to heaven via the rapture if you will. How "good" do I have to be in order to be raptured? If you find yourself walking into a room where believers were suppose to be and they are not there and that leaves you feeling like somehow you missed the rapture, you might want to check to see if Jesus Christ saved you or if you are the one who did that. Because our righteousness is as filthy rags.
Regarding the end times and the tribulation... If in the end we are able to scripturally figure out just when the Church is going to be raptured, what difference does it make for any of us? Our ultimately understanding this particular moment in time once again does not make us ready for the rapture. That is once again the Lords finished work at the Cross.
We can spend countless years trying to figure out all of this. Lets say we do finally figure it out, then what? Do we sell our homes, do we climb up on the highest mountain and wait for the Lord? What if in figuring this out we determine that the end times are still some 1000 years away? What if the rapture is not for another 1000 years as well? What then do we in this generation do with our time on the earth?
It almost seems as if it is imperative that the church figures the timing in all of this out and to this day, after being a believer for 40 years I have to figure out what we will gain by it. To think that you can prepare yourself for the rapture, to be caught up with the Lord based upon your own righteousness is heresy. Jesus and Jesus alone paid the full price. That is what the church needs to focus on. Not the timing in all of this.
In the end, however it all plays itself out, it will always forever be based upon what the Lord did at the Cross, not on our own personal righteousness. As long as you believe that you have to "prepare" yourself to be accepted by the Lord when He returns, you will forever be beating your head against the wall for the WRONG reason. We live this life in devotion to the Lord, out of love and thankfulness for what He did for us some 2000 years ago.
I often doubt the doctrine of a pre trib rapture, but one thing I keep coming back to, aside from all the scriptural debate, is the sightings of UFOs.
Most sightings are indeed explainable, but from what I've heard, 1-5% of them are not (witness is credible, no other aircraft in area, etc.).
If the enemy was aware that somewhere around 100 million people were going to disappear "in the twinkling of an eye," and wanted those left behind to remain ensnared afterword and prevent them from reaching for God's Word in their fear and panic, he would do whatever he could to provide an explanation in the form of another lie.
"...those millions of people were abducted by aliens, and we must do whatever we can to get them back!"
So I've theorized that the unexplainable UFO sightings are demonic apparitions, prepared by the enemy as an "explanation," in advance of the event. Does this make sense?
As I've stated on other posts I'm just confused by all this end times stuff. Could never figure it out.
That being said I thought this was an excellent article on spiritual warfare. I sometimes wonder why I can't find the right things to say at the right time or do the things I know I should be doing. I usually think of my failings as my weaknesses. While there may be some truth in this, as the author points out, we are in a spiritual battle and there are forces deliberately fighting against us. Sometimes its difficult to conceive of this.