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.)
If the fires can heat up 15 miles of solid bedrock.
Global warming started when the glaciers started to recede. Anyway, there is a great famine and drought, remember when those who died during the Trib are before the throne of God and He promises them in Rev 7:16
“Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.”
If the Cubs win the World Series, I’ll be ready to go!
The fire from heaven could easily be a rocky asteroid. Many of these even the larger ones explode in the upper atmosphere and can rain down “fire” over quite a large area.
I’m curious about something. When I talk about God knowing what we will do, and us not being able to do anything other than what He knows we will do, I’m constantly reminded of freewill. I believe that, for whatever reason, God creates people knowing that they will commit murder and horrible crimes, yet He still creates them. I’m told that we all have choices, and just because God knows someone will commit murder, they still made a choice to do that. I don’t understand how that would work for the victims that God knows will be murdered, raped, etc. What choice do you think they make, which results in their getting murdered, raped, etc? Do you think that if God creates someone knowing they will do a specific thing at a specific time, that they could do otherwise?
The answer to your question is found in actually studying the Scriptures, in a serious way. Regularly. Wisdom and understanding is a process ... just like any growing thing ... it gradually grows and matures in stages.
Some want to go straight to the bottom line. Then when they get it, they dispute about it. The way to learn in any field is by the taking in of information bit by bit and becoming rock solid founded in the foundations of the chosen study.
That is the way ... walk ye in it, any that want to any that choose to know.
God is not mocked ... He knows the heart.
Have a blessed day.
The word rapture (in Greek harpazo, in Latin rapere) means to be caught up or taken away suddenly. The rapture refers to the sudden removal of all of God’s people on the earth. In the twinkling of an eye, born again Christians will suddenly be transformed out of our human bodies and will rise up into the air to join Jesus Christ.
God warned us against ignoring the hope that end-times prophecy gives us in I Thessalonians 5:19 when he said “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”
Christ warned his end-times followers 13 times in the New Testament to not be deceived, and to watch and be ready. He wanted us to be excited about His glorious appearing
The Bible tells us of others who have been taken up into heaven in very much the same way that we will be at the time of the rapture.
I was actually wanting to get your answer, but thanks anyway.
So do I. My belief is that there will be a pre-wrath rapture of the church but not a pre-trib. Hopefully, we’ll be prepared for either but since many don’t believe in either, there will be many folks who will be terrorized when things begin to happen.
He hasn’t said anything about the day and hour, has he? When the time comes and people are familiar with the signs, we will know. God warns HIS people about these events and those filled with the Holy Spirit will know.
That’s pretty much how I believe. I’m a pre-wrath believer myself. And I do believe as time approaches and we know the signs, that we WILL know.
It's summer, it's California, and there are fires. Next thing we know, it's August and a hurricane will be heading to Florida.
I hate to think of winter, December, and Minnesota.
You’ve got that right!
Excellent. Liquid silver can also be used to purify water. Doesn’t take much.
It worked for me. I became a believer shortly after learning about the end times prophecy. That was almost 40 years ago.
Moreover, where 'world' is incorrectly translated in the KJV, the NKJV properly translates it to 'age' (Mt 13:40, 13:49, 24:3, 28:20, etc). Age means the end of the Lord's Kingdom on Earth and the start of a new -- His Church.
There are Divine laws the Lord operates by. It's Divine Providence, the government of the Lord's Kingdom. If something sounds to fantastic to defy the laws of nature, it probably is. The Lord is not arbitrary, angry, vengeful or inconsistent.
In January, one of our ministers gave a sermon titled Rapture. Have a look, if you're interested.
“Do you think that if God creates someone knowing they will do a specific thing at a specific time, that they could do otherwise?”
___________________________________________________________
Yes, I believe we can do otherwise ...
We are finite, God is infinite ... we know a small iota of the mind and power of God. We can not presume to confine God to our limited reasoning.
Have a blessed day.
Why then couldn’t it be possible for God to manifest Himself in each of us differently, and have everyone’s faith be correct?
GOD CAN NOT GO AGAINST HIS OWN NATURE. WHICH IS WHAT HE WOULD BE DOING IF He manifested himself differently in each of us. We each have different gifts. We each look different, think different, we are not robots; and we have God revealed to us all around in the wonders of life, the universe and miracles that we take for granted,(the miracle of a seed, or cell,birth, etc.),the telling of which could take up all the books in the world and then some.
God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. He is not the author of lies. That is the devil’s work. we can choose to flail against the truth if we so choose.
Sorry, I thought you said that we can’t presume to confine God to our limited reasoning, that we are finite, that God is infinite, and that we know a small iota of the mind and power of God.
So how do you know God hasn’t said something different to someone else, and just didn’t think He had to tell you?
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