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Why I Want to Be Left Behind
Christian Post ^ | 09/23/2014 | BY JOSHUA RYAN BUTLER

Posted on 09/23/2014 12:58:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: SeekAndFind
"Left Behind" comes out this week, an apocalyptic thriller starring Nicolas Cage. Based on the best-selling book series, the movie revolves around "the rapture": a belief that one day all Christians will suddenly vanish, disappearing from the earth to go be with God, while the world they "left behind" plunges into apocalyptic destruction. Americans may find "Left Behind" to be best-selling entertainment, but is it biblical? I say no. In fact, as a follower of Jesus I find the rapture to be not just a little bit off, but actually upside-down and backwards. When Jesus comes, here are a few reasons why I want to be left behind.

Does that mean you'll be available to feed my dog?

21 posted on 09/23/2014 1:21:10 PM PDT by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: SeekAndFind
The dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

The author re-interprets 'meeting the lord in the air' but conveniently ignores the "caught up" part of the pssages. Modernists are slowing eliminating aspects of the ressurrection until they can bury it entirely.

22 posted on 09/23/2014 1:27:21 PM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:23)
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To: meadsjn

Defense is completely justified, we’re talking about national/criminal leaders who are so bloodthirsty that they expend their own nations’ human lives for their own selfish purposes, as in World War II on steroids, pretty much a modernized war of imperialism.


23 posted on 09/23/2014 1:28:33 PM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: SeekAndFind

Thanks so much for posting this. My father was a theologian. Could read Greek/Hebrew. He’d tell me the modern day church skewed much of the Bible because they didn’t understand the original meaning of a word or set of words....or didn’t understand the implication of an example used. Sort of like a camel through the needle. The needle was an opening so small it was difficult to get a camel through with it’s big load of goods to enter the city. So a sewing needle is not what was being spoken of. Plus Christ did tell his disciples some of the current generation would be alive when “these things come to pass’. Yet folks try to say it’s for this generation and have been for quite a few generations!


24 posted on 09/23/2014 1:29:20 PM PDT by sevinufnine (A moderately bad man knows he is not very good. A thoroughly bad man thinks he's alright. C.S. Lewis)
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To: RegulatorCountry

Can you please give us the reference for your Irenaeus and Cyprian quotes? I mean, which books of theirs, which chapter, etc. As to Ephraim, is it Pseudo-Ephraim you are referring to?


25 posted on 09/23/2014 1:29:52 PM PDT by sasportas
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To: meadsjn

you WISH you were the judge


26 posted on 09/23/2014 1:30:39 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: sasportas
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.29.

Cyprian, Treatises of Cyprian.

Ephraim the Syrian, Pseudo Ephraim, On The Last Times 2

27 posted on 09/23/2014 1:35:17 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: SeekAndFind
"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man . . . Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left." (Matthew 24:37-41) Pretty straightforward, right? Son of Man shows up. Some are taken. Some are left behind. The problem is this: taken means killed.

The Greek word for taken is παραλαμβάνεται in both verses 40 and 41. It is in the present indicative middle/passive tense.

The root word is παραλαμβάνω.

HELPS Word-studies

3880 paralambánō (from 3844 /pará, "from close-alongside" and 2983 /lambánō, "aggressively take") – to take (receive) by showing strong personal initiative.

The greek for left is ἀφίεται.

The root word is ἀφίημι

863 aphíēmi (from 575 /apó, "away from" and hiēmi, "send") – properly, send away; release (discharge).

It is understood that you are leaving someone and not taking them as a companion.

The greek contradicts what you are saying.

In this case you do want to be taken. Who is doing the taking? Christ is. You want to be taken by Him and not left behind by Him as this would mean you are not His companion.

28 posted on 09/23/2014 1:35:53 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: SeekAndFind

Does it really matter if you believe in the Rapture or not if you believe that Jesus was the living Son of God, lived without sin so that He could become the scapegoat for us all?


29 posted on 09/23/2014 1:39:13 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: meadsjn

I could not find a single reference where being “taken” was translated to mean killed and judged.


30 posted on 09/23/2014 1:40:38 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

No, it doesn’t. My only concern is that fervent believers in the rapture will fail to prepare themselves and may be bereft if they’re wrong. As I said before, I hope they’re right but mid-Trib seems correct in my estimation.


31 posted on 09/23/2014 1:44:00 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: SeekAndFind

Another know-nothing who feels compelled to broadcast his weak point of view.


32 posted on 09/23/2014 1:44:05 PM PDT by Dr. Thorne ("Don't be afraid. Just believe." - Mark 5:36)
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To: SeekAndFind

Darby was the ultimate fruitcake. His Plymouth Bretheran spawned a cabal of demonic influences that continue to curse the world.
There are generational curses instigated by his followers in which their families have suffered horrors for 3 and 4 generations.
I have done intervention on behalf of some of these sufferers for over 40 years with very limited success. They have all turned away from a God they perceive as hate filled and vengeful.
Rest assured those who are taken will suffer the loss of their greatest hope. They will not be left behind to reign with Christ.


33 posted on 09/23/2014 1:45:23 PM PDT by Louis Foxwell (This is a wake up call. Join the Sultan Knish ping list.)
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To: Bitsy

“As long as I can be in the company of Jesus forever I don’t care how I get there I just want to be there.”

Amen. I trust His plan.


34 posted on 09/23/2014 1:54:18 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: Dr. Thorne

Condemning an interpretation of scripture on the basis of novelty with a novel interpretation oneself does seem rather conflicted and ill-informed, doesn’t it?


35 posted on 09/23/2014 1:58:26 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Gman

LOL!!! Post of the Day!


36 posted on 09/23/2014 2:00:06 PM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: driftdiver

And in fact it does not matter who is right. Believe in Him, behave accordingly, and then when He comes, end up in His presence. At that point, I could care less if that means in Heaven or on a redeemed Earth (which with Him here will be Heaven-like).


37 posted on 09/23/2014 2:02:48 PM PDT by piytar (So....you are saying that Hilllary (and Obama) do not know what the meaning of the word "IS" IS?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Interesting post. This passage indicates we should consider it a gift to suffer for Christ:

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

So does this one:

Act 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

And this one:

Luk 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
Luk 6:23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

In Jesus’ High Priestly prayer in John 17 there’s also these tidbits:

Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

So Christ is praying for believers at that time in verse 9, then He prayed for all who would ever believe in verse 20. In between, in verse 15, He specifically prayed that the Father (absolutely) not take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil.

So I see insufficient evidence for a pretrib rapture. On the contrary, I see that Christians are supposed to be prepared to suffer for Christ’s sake, and consider it a gift, because of the eternal rewards involved.


38 posted on 09/23/2014 2:03:51 PM PDT by afsnco
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To: Blood of Tyrants
I could not find a single reference where being “taken” was translated to mean killed and judged.

You could try reading the article; the part that quotes Jesus himself:

Jesus confirms this when he says, smack-dab in the heart of this passage, that before the flood came people were partying it up in the empire ...

"They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away."

If you lived in Noah's day, you didn't want to get taken. You wanted to be left behind.

39 posted on 09/23/2014 2:24:15 PM PDT by meadsjn
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m a little confused. Haven’t there already been several “Left Behind” movies?


40 posted on 09/23/2014 2:28:25 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (Charlie Crist (D-Green Iguana))
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