Rapture Ready

[apothanein kerdos]

The teaching in scripture about the catching away of the church, or the rapture, is not fiction at all. Not going to debate it, but it is definitely scriptural. Not everyone agrees in their private interpretation, but in the end, does it really matter? We will see Christ and we will not have to undergo judgment! Amen!

Put your faith in Jesus Christ and trust His Church, not the theories of men. And yes the Rapture is a thoery of men. Anyone can take a passage out of scripture and develop it into a thoery. Not only one theory, now there are several Rapture theories. Which one is the truth????? Rather than being anxious about the signs of the times, put all faith in God.

Mathew 24:36 makes it very clear: But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Pax, what is your stance on the issue? I'm not looking for a debate (I'm not even pre-trib)...but I'm sure you agree that there will one day be a redemption of the world...what will bring it about? Will there be a tribulation, thousand year reign, stuff like that?

The Church gives essentials on the Last Days which I will list below:

The Antichrist will appear to deceive the world and persecute the Church.

The Church will suffer the "Great Tribulation" prophesied by her Lord.

The final victory of Christ on earth will not come through a gradual improvement in the world's spiritual condition.

The final victory of Christ will not come within history but beyond it.

The Jewish people will come to recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah before he returns.

The dead will be raised.

Christ will judge the living and the dead, and the evil one and his allies will at last be utterly overthrown

At the end of time, God's Kingdom will come in its fullness and all things will be renewed.

The hope of God's coming should not tempt us to withdraw from earthly affairs.

In the meantime, Christ's presence with us through His Word, His Sacraments, and His Spirit draw us closer to the fulfillment of His Promise.

Jesus will return to the earth in glorious triumph. (No Secret Rapture Here)

The great tribulation will happen and Christians will not be raptured away from this suffering. Just as many good Christians have been persecuted in the past and even killed for the faith, so will Christians in the future especially when the anti-christ appears. Why would God rapture Chrisitians away then, when he hasn't for the thousands of persecuted Christians in the past.

I hope this answers you question.

So essentially post-tribulation with some additions, correct? Because what I see is essentially what I agree with.

[Guest Annatar: Bringer of Gifts]

Amen, Pax.

[Guest jckduboise]

The teaching in scripture about the catching away of the church, or the rapture, is not fiction at all. Not going to debate it, but it is definitely scriptural. Not everyone agrees in their private interpretation, but in the end, does it really matter? We will see Christ and we will not have to undergo judgment! Amen!

Put your faith in Jesus Christ and trust His Church, not the theories of men. And yes the Rapture is a thoery of men. Anyone can take a passage out of scripture and develop it into a thoery. Not only one theory, now there are several Rapture theories. Which one is the truth????? Rather than being anxious about the signs of the times, put all faith in God.

Mathew 24:36 makes it very clear: But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Pax, what is your stance on the issue? I'm not looking for a debate (I'm not even pre-trib)...but I'm sure you agree that there will one day be a redemption of the world...what will bring it about? Will there be a tribulation, thousand year reign, stuff like that?

The Church gives essentials on the Last Days which I will list below:

The Antichrist will appear to deceive the world and persecute the Church.

The Church will suffer the "Great Tribulation" prophesied by her Lord.

The final victory of Christ on earth will not come through a gradual improvement in the world's spiritual condition.

The final victory of Christ will not come within history but beyond it.

The Jewish people will come to recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah before he returns.

The dead will be raised.

Christ will judge the living and the dead, and the evil one and his allies will at last be utterly overthrown

At the end of time, God's Kingdom will come in its fullness and all things will be renewed.

The hope of God's coming should not tempt us to withdraw from earthly affairs.

In the meantime, Christ's presence with us through His Word, His Sacraments, and His Spirit draw us closer to the fulfillment of His Promise.

Jesus will return to the earth in glorious triumph. (No Secret Rapture Here)

The great tribulation will happen and Christians will not be raptured away from this suffering. Just as many good Christians have been persecuted in the past and even killed for the faith, so will Christians in the future especially when the anti-christ appears. Why would God rapture Chrisitians away then, when he hasn't for the thousands of persecuted Christians in the past.

I hope this answers you question.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

[Guest jckduboise]

Oh I disagree!

okay Pax said everything about the "rapture" and here is proof that we will be judged first..

1 peter 4;For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Blessings

[Floatingaxe]

Deleted

[Floatingaxe]

Oh I disagree!

okay Pax said everything about the "rapture" and here is proof that we will be judged first..

1 peter 4;For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Blessings

What PROOF?

[apothanein kerdos]

There isn't "proof" for any side. There is evidence on both sides of the issue. For the post-trib, there is scriptural evidence (if interpreted this way) as well as about 1,800 years of interpretation of a post-tribulation belief.

For pre-tribulation, there is scriptural evidence (if interpreted this way) and popular support.

No one had the first comming of Christ correct so I doubt we'll have a better shot at the second one.

[Adarian]

1Thessalonians 4: 13-17, and Revelation 20. Very hard to ignore. And God does not have alzheimers, He doesn't contradict Himself, ever.

[AndrewA]

We are told that tribulation etc will not be known to man until it happens. We do not know the date, we don

[ramar]

When the Rapture takes place, SOME Christians will be taken, and some will be left behind. This is not a random picking and choosing, however, where the Lord simply takes or leaves us in some higgledy-piggledy way. He knows our hearts, and He knows who are the true believers - whether or not we ACT as true believers. And He will separate us Christians as the "sheep and the goats" (**) that Jesus speaks of in the Gospels.

** Many people mistake this as meaning that the sheep are God's children which will be in heaven and the goats are those who will be thrown into hell. In fact, they are BOTH believers, both are groups that are with Him in heaven. But the sheep are those believers who served the Lord well and have stored up treasures in heaven (sort of EXTRA special accomodations). The goats are believers (their HEARTS are good with God) too.

A neat way to explain is...Salvation of "DO vs. DONE". Many people believe they are saved based on what they "DO"; while Christians KNOW that they are saved based on what was "DONE" already. If we accept Christ's gift (what was DONE for us), we have salvation. But taking it one step further, the sheep and goats rely on "DONE", and choose to live based on that premise. The goats accept what was done for them, and are fine with that. The sheep accept what was done for them, and choose to "DO" for the Lord, many things in return. They serve the Lord, not because they HAVE TO, but because they WANT TO!!

Okay, back to the Rapture (sorry for getting off track). We Christians will be separated during the Rapture in the same way. The "sheep" will be taken up with the Lord after the dead in Christ (those Christians who died before the Rapture) have been taken first. The "goats" will be left behind. The "backslidden", the "unsure", the "undecided", etc. The goats may not be Christians who have failed to serve, but for one reason or another, they are not yet RIGHT with the Lord.

References to the Rapture and the Tribulation can be found throughout Scripture, but you can start with 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, and Revelation (especially chapter 20 for the Trib).

I would not like to be in the middle of all that takes place during the Tribulation, but wouldn't it be amazing to be there to witness much of what God will do during this time? If you've been raptured, you will not witness most of what He does (there will be a moment at the end when everything in heaven stops, and everyone will witness the miraculous on earth).

WHEN is it coming? Nobody knows, not even the Son. Only the Father knows for sure. We can all make guesses (the times now would surely indicate that it is close), but we could be making those guesses for an awfully long time (the times have OFTEN before indicated that the time is near). Personally, I would guess that it will happen in my lifetime (hopefully I have 40 or more years left), but I might be very very wrong.