....a prophetic equivalent of a "prosperity gospel" that gives people a false sense of hope and security."
Posted on 07/01/2008 7:00:33 AM PDT by Raineygoodyear
Many people have been taught — quite wrongly — that there will not be any Christians here on Earth when The Tribulation begins. Those misguided Christians are basing their hopes on a "get out of jail free card" called a "Pre-Tribulational Rapture." The idea that The Rapture — the sudden, bodily "snatching away" of Christians up into Heaven — will occur prior to The Tribulation is a prophetic equivalent of a "prosperity gospel" that gives people a false sense of hope and security. That false sense could easily usher in the great "falling away."
For several months, I've been doing research for a new book. The original working title was Are We Already in the End Times?, but I recently changed the title from a question to a statement. The new title is Tribulation: 2008. In the book, I identify four distinct periods of Biblical timing: the Latter Days, the End Times, the Tribulation, and the Great Tribulation. Many people seem to think that all four periods are the same, but are called by different names in different parts of the Bible. Not so. This past weekend, the signs were put in place to move us from the End Times into The Tribulation.
But, wait, there's more!
This past weekend also matched the period described in Revelation 8:5, when an angel takes fire from the altar of God and throws it to the Earth. More than 800 wildfires started in a single day in California this past weekend, as the result of an 'unprecedented' lightning storm of a type called "dry lightning." The triggering event in the Bible takes place immediately after the "silence in Heaven," and as the seven angels prepare to blow their seven trumpets that cause disasters on Earth during The Tribulation. (For a presentation on the "silence in Heaven," its duration on Earth, and the event that marks its beginning, readers will need to wait for the book, which should be completed soon.) The wildfires form a virtual ring around the infamous Bohemian Grove, where leaders from business and government gather to perform pagan rituals during the Dog Days of Summer. If the huge number of fires were to heat up the sub-surface rock formations, could that trigger an earthquake? (The next thing in the sequence of Revelation 8:5 is an earthquake.)
....a prophetic equivalent of a "prosperity gospel" that gives people a false sense of hope and security."
St. Matthew 24:36 — “But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone.”
From what I understand this is to mean just what it says the day or hour not the season or I guess the year, as I have read that the passage *Jesus comes like a Thief in the Night* has to do with the Rapture of the Church, actually when Jesus comes to earth as in the Clouds that all shall see is sometime in the Fall with the Jewish Feast in 2015 just some of what is written...
“Prophets” have been trying to guess what God has in mind for hundreds of years. While it’s good that he, or anybody, takes the time to read the Bible and try to keep up on current events, it’s more important to serve your neighbor and preach the Gospel of love.
Cordially,
hoplite@Youvebeenleftbehind.com
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I think he is referring to actually 2 events as far as Jesus returning the first one is the Rapture of the Church when Jesus says he comes like a thief in the night the other has to do when he actually comes back, when all shall see and every man will bow and confess Jesus is Lord that date is an unknown...
You will go somewhere if you are alive or dead when the First Resurrection takes place ,but when that happens no one knows. But the Word says “Blessed is He who takes part in the First Resurrection over him is there is no power of the Second Death.” There are mysteries that God has that we cannot always predict.
Seems like the world’s always ending but we never get there...like a Zeno’s paradox of eschatology.
The Tribulation will begin about 42 months after the signing of that covenant, and will last about 42 months. Then the catching away of the saints. Then the Wrath of God (including the Woes) on those who are not caught away, who refuse to believe in God and his Messiah. (By that time, all Israel will have come to believe.)
The Tribulation will be horrible, but will be a cakewalk compared to the Wrath of God.
His “fire from heaven” only affecting California seems pretty lame. When the angels throw fire from the golden censer of God, it won’t be limited to a relatively small area of California.
I think the fires he is speaking of our more Global
Such as:
Greece Suffers More Fires In 2007 Than In Last Decade, Satellites Reveal Greece has experienced more wildfire activity this August than other European countries have over the last decade, according to data from ESA satellites. The country is currently battling an outbreak ...
(July 1, 2008) — Following the extremely hot weather conditions hitting Europe, Norway experienced its biggest forest fire in the last half century earlier this month
Major fires are visible from space – satellites detect not only the smoke billowing from major conflagrations but also the burn scars left in their wake. Even the fires themselves appear as ‘hotspots’ when the satellites’ sensors scan the Earth’s surface in infrared wavelengths.
More than 50 million hectares of forest are burnt annually, and these fires have a significant impact on global atmospheric pollution, with biomass burning contributing to the global budgets of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide.
California fires have grown to 1400
Maybe he is speaking of fires over a period of time that fits into the tribulation period
It is lame. The Revelation version sounds like the earth being struck by an asteroid/comet or a full scale thermonuclear exchange which definitely can burn up 1/3 of the earth.
The Tribulation is a seven-year period that is divided into two halves, each 3.5 years long. If you add 3.5 years to the Summer Solstice of 2008, you arrive at the Winter Solstice of 2012. That day "just happens" to be the last day of the Mayan calendar.
Solstices? Mayan calandar?
Ohhhh-kay.
[sarcasm]midtrib heretic[/sarcasm]
The idea that The Rapture — the sudden, bodily "snatching away" of Christians up into Heaven — will occur prior to The Tribulation is a prophetic equivalent of a "prosperity gospel" that gives people a false sense of hope and security.
Well, he's got that right.
I wonder why these ninnies even bother. Scripture says they should all be put to death, of course, if their predictions don't come true.
-ccm
Read PREACHING A PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE WEAKENS THE CHURCH at
http://jgrantswankjr.blogspot.com/2008/06/preaching-pre-tribulation-rapture.html.
Also, click here http://www3.renewamerica.us/columns/swank
INTREP
charlatan and book seller...
...a few fires in California? lol
Lots of “teasers” to sell books to Christians, little hard info. If he was serious, he’d post the entirety of his research online
_____
What does he need the money for if we are that close to the end? Seems like he is hedging his bets.
Endtimers, as a whole, are a group I don’t understand at all. The cynical me believes that it is the only way to rub the unbelievers face in the dirt. “See, I told you so!”
Ping to read later
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