THE RAPTURE: IN BRIEF BY SCRIPTURE (aka; the translation)

Bible Prophecy Study ^ | unknown | unknown

[aruanan]

Geez Louise, I see nothing that is “secret” in this scenario of people vanishing in plain sight, with a terrible sight in the sky accompanying it.

No, the secret aspect has always been that folks will have disappeared and no one left knows where they went, that is, that Christ returned so secretly that no one even knew what the cause (his return) was of the effect (people disappearing). By the way, the idea of people disappearing came largely from that song "I wish we'd all been ready." You remember, "Two people walking up the hill, one disappears and one's left standing still. I wish we'd all been ready." The scripture that is supposed to reference, though, is not referring to a believer being taken, the unbeliever left, but the unbeliever taken in judgment, the believer left (referring to Jesus's teaching that the good and the evil would grow up together until the harvest at the end of the age when the angels would take out the evildoers first, leaving the sons of the kingdom untouched).

[HiTech RedNeck]

The preacher in the church I presently go to never refers to that song, nor does it get sung in the church. Yet he affirms the obvious consequence of such an event: people will vanish from earth in plain sight, and many watching will know exactly why because they have heard or read sermons telling them so. The song stuff is a straw man.

[NavyCanDo]

“According to Matthew 24:34, Jesus told his disciples he'd be back before they all passed way.”

Ahhhhh that's not how I read it, or 98% of Christians. “This Generation” will not pass away is better interpreted in meaning the generation witnessing the end tome events. Jesus told the disciples they would be persecuted in his name, and he knew some would die as martyrs.

[Alex Murphy]

Have you considered that the Rapture may have ALREADY occurred? That we comprise the “Left Behind”? That so few were honestly qualified for Heaven that they just showed up in isolated missing person reports, and with no mass disappearance, no one really noticed the Event?

Rapture takes two

OTTAWA — The Rapture occurred March 31, 2005, at 9:43 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time and took both people on the planet whose theology was exactly correct.

Dan Wilson of Ottawa, Canada, was snatched away while sleeping.

"He spent years refining his eschatological scheme," says his wife. "Just last week he told me he had it all right, but I still disagreed with him on a minor point. I regret that now."

Rejna Thanawalla of New Delhi, India, also experienced the Rapture, say friends.

"She knew exactly what the books of Revelation and Daniel meant," they say. "Sadly, none of us listened to her."

In a surprise, Tim LaHaye says he was "slightly wrong on the subject of the Beast," and was left behind. Other prophecy experts say they, too, botched minor points in their end times charts.

"Looks like we'll have to stay and wait this out," said one disappointed pastor.

Related threads:
Rapture Safety cards prepare parishioners, airline-style
Evangelical scholars solve Book of Revelation's mysteries

[Salman]

That's right. There's always a "yes but". Failed prophesy never slows down a believer. Not in the first century and not now.

I seem to recall the rapture was supposed to be about 30 years ago and the "sign" was something about the Soviet Union.

[GonzoII]

"According to Matthew 24:34, Jesus told his disciples he'd be back before they all passed way. But false prophesy didn't deter believers then and it still does not."

Jesus words were:

Mt:24:34:" Amen I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done."

Christ cannot give false prophecy, Here are some logical explanations of the verse:

Ver. 34. This generation; i.e. the nation of the Jews shall not cease to exist, until all these things shall be accomplished: thus we see the nation of the Jews still continue, and will certainly continue to the end of the world. (Tirinus) --- Then the cross, which has been a scandal to the Jew, and a stumbling-block to the Gentile, shall appear in the heavens, for the consolation of the good Christian. Hoc signum crucis erit in cœlo, cum Dominus ad judicandum venerit. --- If it be to be understood of the destruction of Jerusalem, the sense may be, this race of men now living; if of the last day of judgment, this generation of the faithful, saith Theophylactus,[4] shall be continued: i.e. the Church of Christ, to the end of the world. (Witham) --- This race, I tell you in very truth, shall not pass away till all this be finally accomplished in the ruin of Jerusalem, the most express figure of the destruction and end of the world. (Bible de Vence) --- By generation, our Saviour does not mean the people that were in existence at that time, but the faithful of his Church; thus says the psalmist: this is the generation of them that seek the Lord. (Psalm xxiii, ver. 6.) (St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxvii.) Source: Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859 edition.

[Salman]

... Christ cannot give false prophecy ...

Then the man who said it is not "Christ". The rest is just confusing the issue.

[aruanan]

Yet he affirms the obvious consequence of such an event: people will vanish from earth in plain sight, and many watching will know exactly why because they have heard or read sermons telling them so. The song stuff is a straw man.

The point is that the verses the song refers to do not say anything about a rapture and do not say anything about anyone disappearing. Neither does any teaching by Jesus or by any other writer of scripture talk about any disappearing or vanishing from earth in plain sight.

[dangus]

HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY SAY THIS IS HOGWASH. IT’S WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS! EVERYONE KNOWS THAT YOU INCREASE YOUR CREDIBILITY EXPONENTIALLY IF IT IS WRITTEN IN ALL-CAPS! JUST FOR THAT, I WILL NOT OFFER YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS BY BRINGING MY NIGERIAN OIL AND GOLD MONEY INTO AMERICA!!!

[dangus]

>> Ahhhhh that’s not how I read it, or 98% of Christians. <<

Are you leaving Catholics out when you say “Christians”, or are you claiming knowledge about Catholic eschatology you don’t have?

While Catholics do not deny that the Apocalypses, Matthew’s or John’s, describe end-times events, they also find a fulfillment with the establishment of the Church, inasmuch as Christ is present within his church. Rome’s prosecution meant that most of the disciples (excluding John) were killed, and raised into Heaven. Also, by that time, the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed and a man nicknamed “the Beast,” and named Qsr Nrn in Hebrew (=666) rules over Rome while it was consumed in fire. The following year, Rome had fallen into four empires, divieded among generals Golbo, Otto, Vitellus and Vespasianus.