Posted on 08/20/2021 1:12:40 AM PDT by Cronos
1 Thess 4:17 is a favorite passage of the rapturists. They seem quite certain that this passage clearly teaches their version of the future. But does it? But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.… The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.… Sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape. St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians because they were worried about those who died before Christ’s return. Many in the ancient world believed that a person simply ceased to exist upon death, as do many modern unbelievers. There seems to have been a rumor in Thessalonica that the dead Christians had lost out on any chance of a physical resurrection. St. Paul assures them that it was not so. In fact, “the dead in Christ will rise first” to meet Christ, and those still alive at the second coming will immediately follow them. But all will meet Christ at that time.
Rapturists make a point of the fact that we will “meet the Lord in the air”—the Lord who has come “in the clouds.” They infer from this that Christ will not actually touch down on terra firma and that we will go back to Heaven with Christ for the duration of a seven-year Great Tribulation. If so many people did not accept this explanation, I would dismiss it immediately as silly. The word St. Paul uses for meeting the Lord “in the air” is aer, the Greek word for atmosphere. This same word is used to describe Satan as “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). Yet no one would claim that, because of this word, Satan has no influence over people who keep their feet firmly planted on earth. A consistent rapturist reading of this word here would mean that only astronauts, balloonists, pilots, and airplane passengers are influenced by Satan’s power. No, when Christ returns to the earth’s atmosphere, He has returned to earth. Read the verses again! We will meet Christ, but it will be at His second coming to earth. Any other use of the language stretches credibility.
There is only one remaining coming of the Lord, and the Bible uses three Greek words interchangeably to describe that coming. It will occur at the end of history, just before the final judgment and eternity.
Why was it “apostate”?
a·pos·tate
/əˈpäˌstāt,əˈpästət/
noun
a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle.
adjective
abandoning a religious or political belief or principle.
Pentecostals think science fiction is witchcraft?
The second coming of our Lord isn’t just mentioned in Revelation.
If there is no “rapture”, the end of our world will be more horrendous than we could imagine - for believers.
This is where the “left behind” comes from Matthew 24:39
That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (40) Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. (41) Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
Then I realized it was about folks blathering over something nobody will know for sure until and if it happens.
Also, Luke 17:
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other SHALL BE LEFT.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other LEFT.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other LEFT.
Sounds like “left behind” to me.
FTA: “The assertion that this alone is the only valid view.”
Well, one view has to be right. All differing views cannot be correct.
Funny how in the article, I didn’t see one Bible verse quoted and yet “rapture-lists” can quote many passages of scripture to support their “view”.
I’ll stick with my belief in the rapture. So far, all the things predicted in the Bible leading up to the rapture are occurring.
“It is a tortured misreading of the biblical text that appeals to fear, racism and jingoism as substitutes for wrestling with the hard questions of Scripture.”
Exactly how?? This right here tells us the author is another Leftist loon.
agree. A lot of accusations with not substantiations.
My impression? As evolutionists are to Special Creation; is Wingfield, et al to End Time escatology. Once upon a time, the idea of Two Witnesses being killed in Jerusalem, lying unburied in the street, and all the world being able to “see” them lying there, was a laughingstock. The very idea! And then along came satellite TV. Mr. Wingfield & Co. disparage the Scofield-ites and their reading of Scripture, but they offer nothing in place of it. I tend to embrace it because I see the world around me inexorably morphing into something very much like what is foretold in the prophetic Word. And pretty much a clincher for me, is that the Messianic Rabbis I’ve heard lately all sound satisfyingly, much like Scofield, et al. If anybody on terra firma know the Book, THEY know the Book. JMHO.
You and me both, Guenevere.
If you want to talk about fallacies, talk about Purgatory.
Basically he is summarizing Zionism and he is hiding his intent. It was the dispensationalist Christians of the late 1800s that supported Herzl and the movement to return Jews to the promised land.
It is an anti-Zionist screed disguised as “Biblical scholarship” while quoting no scripture.
I was informed of this in a closed door meeting with ‘the board of that church.
They believe that as much as the other ‘bads’ I listed!!
“BUT it is NOT an issue Christians should be divided over. Different eschatological views are well within orthodoxy, except of course the fundamental belief that Jesus will one day return to claim his throne.”
That is where I stand. I took eschatology in college decades ago. The professor made a solid case for pre-trib rapture but he also helped us understand other views and how they could also be biblical. My takeaway from that class was this:
God is in control
God wins in the end
This keeps me going through tough times today and gives me hope for the future, no matter what it holds.
Amen to that.
The rest of the article is about as accurate as ‘Nicholas Cage putting the pieces together in “American Treasure.’
I must have missed that one. I saw “National Treasure” though.
As in the days of Noah...
The evil people were cut down during this time. The good remained.
All y’all who think you’ll be saved from persecution, torture and death at the end:
What are you going to say to the martyrs for the last 2000 years who suffered and died for the one true faith, while you are barely inconvenienced?
Sucks to be you? Glad that wasn’t me?
The rapture isn’t true. It was never in any teaching of the church. It’s a feel good for lazy, lukewarm Christians.
This is a protestant thread but for some reason Catholic teaching is brought up?
Purgatory is in the bible and the teaching of the church. It helps when you don’t rip the pages out that you don’t like.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-purgatory-in-the-bible
This drivel sounds like it was written by Jim Wallis, a well known leftist who considers himself a Christian.
Full disclosure, I can’t remember ever meeting him but I did casually know Wallis’ father.
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