GODchaser77

Okay, this is a question I've had for a while. It simply for understanding and the answer will not sway my faith in our Lord one bit. But when the Bible says that we (Christians) were called to be saints and that God chose people to be saved, how does that fit with God being willing that none should perish but that all should come to repentance?

You're right. The pre-trib rapture will be anything but secret because the minute millions of people disappear of the face of the earth, millions more will know about it. It'll be hard not to notice that the person driving your car is suddenly not there at all!

I agree. You might also be able to say that evil was one of the negative effects of Lucifer's (and a third of the angel's) free will. When Satan decieved Eve and she got Adam to eat the fruit, suddenly evil managed to infiltrate the human race.

First of all, it's impossible to fully understand God because He is God and his ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Second the Bible clearly says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. However, people perish everyday (both physically and spiritually). So that must mean that God's will is different from what He actually allows to happen. He may will (or want) something to happen but it may not happen. That doesn't mean He isn't all-powerful, that just means He allows it to happen (just like he will allow the Antichrist to take over the world, proclaim himself God, persecute the saints of the tribulation and the Jews). If God did everything that He willed then there would have been no sin, Lucifer would still be a holy angel, there would be no death, sickness, etc. Obviously not everything God will comes to pass. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want (or will) these things to happen but He does allow them to happen. Again we don't know why, but we won't always know because God is God. God's second type of will is His plan. He has a plan that can be changed or delayed, not by human ability to destroy His plan but because He waits for us to do or not do something before He will allow His plan to be done (alot like how God wanted the Israelites to inherit the Promised Land after the Exodus but because they continued to rebel and disobey Him, He delayed their blessing and made them wander in the wilderness for forty years). God's final type of will is His definite unchangeable will (the kind that we humans can't change or delay). This is the same kind of will that will cause all of the prophecied end-times events leading up to the millenial kingdom to take place. I believe that when Jesus told his disciples to pray "Thy will be done" the phrase carried multiple meanings. It meant the disciples should pray that they would conform to God's plan, but also that He would allow His wants to take place. I say all of this to say that humans do indeed have free will and we can either conform our wills to that of our Heavenly Father or we can go our own way and perish. God does already know which choice we will make but he still allows us to make the choice.

I admit that this could be a possibility. But maybe when Jesus said that no man could know the day or hour, He meant that nobody could know the exact time (i.e. I couldn't say the rapture is going to happen Saturday at 11:57 p.m). He said to "know that it is near, right at the door". That just means that it could happen at any time but that it would happen soon, not that we should know exactly when it would happen. Jesus said He Himself didn't know when The Father would send Him to gather the saints. If this time was based on a Jewish festival (even one that never had a set day) He would know when it would happen since He is God and He knows when there is going to be a New Moon. Besides if the last trumpet really was the trumpet of the Feast of Trumpets, then anyone could know the exact time Jesus would come because they would know that once the trumpet stopped blowing the Rapture would occur. The Bible is not telling us to be completely ignorant of prophetic time while still having no idea the time of the Rapture. The Bible gives us plenty of prophecies that will be signs of the end times. Since we know that these times are the end times, we know that the Rapture can't be too far away and that we should live each day in the light of this fact.

Islam wouldn't work for the Antichrist because he will promote unity and tolerance ( it will be false unity and tolerance but still...). Islam is one of the most intolerant religions in the world. At the midpoint of the tribulation the Antichrist (now possibly indwelt by Satan) the Antichrist will proclaim himself to be God and his False Prophet will cause the world to worship him.

Thanks! All of these pointers really help. I hope it'll be as easy as you guys say it is.

As a new christian I find myself wanting to spread the news about Jesus to other people. With the new school year coming up I figured that would be a good place to get started. Can anyone offer any tips as to how to do this effectively and also how to do it without offending anyone or coming off as a pushy fanatic?