I'm still quite skeptical that the bulk of believers will go through the last 3.5 years of The Great Tribulation . . . Scripoture is clear that believers are not appointed unto God's WRATH.
Regardless. He has promised to be where I am and that I'll be where He is.
When you can comprehend 'the sons of God ... the daughters of men', you can find your way through the similes and metaphors in His Word.
1 The word of the blessing of Enoch, how he blessed the elect and the righteous, who were to exist in the time of trouble; rejecting all the wicked and ungodly. Enoch, a righteous man, who was (1) with God, answered and spoke, while his eyes were open, and while he saw a holy vision in the heavens. This the angels showed me.
2 From them I heard all things, and understood what I saw; that which will not take place in this generation, but in a generation which is to succeed at a distant period, on account of the elect.
3 Upon their account I spoke and conversed with him, who will go forth from his habitation, the Holy and Mighty One, the God of the world:
4 Who will hereafter tread upon Mount Sinai; appear with his hosts; and be manifested in the strength of his power from heaven.
5 All shall be afraid, and the Watchers be terrified.
6 Great fear and trembling shall seize them, even to the ends of the earth. The lofty mountains shall be troubled, and the exalted hills depressed, melting like a honeycomb in the flame. The earth shall be immerged, and all things which are in it perish; while judgment shall come upon all, even upon all the righteous:
7 But to them shall he give peace: he shall preserve the elect, and towards them exercise clemency.
8 Then shall all belong to God; be happy and blessed; and the splendour of the Godhead shall illuminate them.
1Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him. (2)
(2) Quoted by Jude, vss. 14, 15.
Revelation 12
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Opening to the Shekhinah
The Shekhinah is defined, in traditional Jewish writings, as the "female aspect of God" or the "presence" of the infinite God in the world. She is introduced in the early rabbinical commentaries as the "immanence" or "indwelling" of the living God, whose role as the animating life force of the earth is to balance the transcendent deity.
She may be distinguished from the 'Canaanite' Mother Goddess Asherah who the ancient Hebrews honored until about 622 B.C.E. when King Josiah removed the Asherah from the Jerusalem temple and destroyed the outlying shrines. While she does not appear by name in the five books of Moses, the explicators of the Old Testament refer to her in interpreting the text. For example, when Moses encounters the buming bush, he is told to remove his shoes and prepare himself to receive the Shekhinah. According to the rabbis, the choice of the simple thom bush as the vehicle for the revelation was to emphasize the Shekhinah's presence, since nothing in nature can exist without her. In Proverbs, we are introduced to the Divine Mother as Chochmah (Wisdom), who was present from the time of creation as the loving consort and coarchitect with the YHVH, who also reflects the association of the Shekinah with humanity.
In the Talmudic view, actions harmful to other human beings or the earth cause the Shechinah to flee, and she rises upward to the Seven Heavens.' On the other side of the scale are the positive actions of humanity which attract her presence downward to the earth.
The other way that the Shechinah is drawn downward is when people are in need of her as a comforting presence. The rabbis tell us she hovers at the bed of all sick individuals and is seen by the dying as they exit the world into the great light. According to tradition, the Shechinah comes to the good and true at death, giving them the opportunity to go straight up the center of the heavenly ladder in a moment of pure consciousness, into the merger with the Divine. The Shechinah is intimately connected with expressions of human love, particularly romantic and marital bliss. It is she who blesses the happy couple; the glow of lovers is considered to be the reflection of her presence, The scholars of the Spanish and Safed schools also understood that the Shechinah could "appear" to inspired individuals (or "Prophets"), and that the form adopted would be a reflection of the divine purpose (Novick 204-14).
Shekhinah is identified with the eagle's wings both in Exodus and Revelation and is thus the ultimate mystery the nagual of the shaman's vision quest exemplified in Moses' 'burning bush'. She is also identified as the feminine moon deity (Wolkenstain and Kramer xv).
"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" (Exod 19:4)."
"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time" (Rev 12:14 )
http://www.dhushara.com/book/torah/tor.htm
Don’t miss this flight!
For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A wedding song.
6 Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice. 7 You love justice and hate evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else. 8 Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume your robes. In ivory palaces the music of strings entertains you.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your noble women. At your right side stands the Queen, wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir!
***
To the tune of "Lilies." I’ll look up the Hebrew, if it’s Shoshanah, it’s “Roses”
[[To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves.]]
Bingo! Shoshannim, plural
M
After Satan is loosed, will the horrors he brings to earth be of God? Who will protect believers from those horrors? Get behind me Satan! I think those who believe in the rapture think God protects believers by rapturing them up & out of the way, as though God isn't powerful enough to protect them here on earth... Do not fear those who can kill your body.
Scripture is clear that believers are not appointed unto God's WRATH.
Believers are protected by God. Have faith that He will see you through the worst that Satan can throw at you. If your body suffers and/or is killed is it any worse than others have suffered even unto deaths throughout the ages? Why do you think you should be spared from earthly woes, when clearly others before us were not spared?
Regardless. He has promised to be where I am and that I'll be where He is.
Seventh seal, seventh vial, seventh trump & not before!
"Scripture is clear that believers are not appointed unto God's WRATH."
One of the verses that proves your point is Rev.9:4
"And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."
The "seal of God" is His truth, His word that we have absorbed. That truth keeps us from the deception Satan is throwing at us. It pays us to remember that he is coming after us, believers, Christians - he already has the others. Rev.12:17
"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to
make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the
commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ"
That is us, Christians, he is coming to make war with. That war is with a flood of lies and done in a peaceful and prosperous manner. This is one of the verses that shows, not only that he is coming after us, but that we will be here when he does. If we are raptured that would not be possible.
God's wrath is only for those that do not follow Him. He will not hurt those that He loves and that love Him. However, the great deceiver, the anti-christ (which was mistranslated and should be "instead-of-christ")is coming before the true Jesus Christ and he will fool many. That is the "great apostasy" when people who have loved Christ all their lives will change their faith and follow him. How could that be? How could any believer change? Because they are deceived into believing he is Christ and they will think they are worshipping Jesus. Even if that worship is done unknowingly God tells us they "might be damned".
God said, 2Thess.2:10-12
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them
that perish; because they received not the love of the
truth, that they might be saved. (11)And for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie; (12) That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
God not only allows Satan's lies but sends strong delusion to those of us who have not read His letter with understanding.
POST TRIB, PRE WRATH, NO RAPTURE!