The Rapture

[larryt]

I believed in the pre-trib rapture long before any of these books were ever written. No brainwashing has taken effect here! It is a legitimate interpretation. There are millions of Christians here and those who have gone before us who have believed in such a thing.

It is not evil, nor impeding salvation. So why all the vitriol about it?

Up until the mid - 1800's there weren't any. FACT

LT

[eric]

Man

You asked what would happen if the rapture happened right now.

That was 5.18 pm yesterday. It is now 4.22 pm. today. You've missed the bus mate.

[Guest man]

[somehow I don't see how God is pleased when someone uses Him and His Word for personal gain.

LT

I believe that is called "using the Lord's name in vain".

[Guest man]

Man

You asked what would happen if the rapture happened right now.

That was 5.18 pm yesterday. It is now 4.22 pm. today. You've missed the bus mate.

If I hurry, maybe I can still catch it.

[Floatingaxe]

I believed in the pre-trib rapture long before any of these books were ever written. No brainwashing has taken effect here! It is a legitimate interpretation. There are millions of Christians here and those who have gone before us who have believed in such a thing.

It is not evil, nor impeding salvation. So why all the vitriol about it?

Up until the mid - 1800's there weren't any. FACT

LT

It is not fact!

Epharaem the Syrian said, in 373 AD, "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins."

[Guest man]

What would happen if the rapture took place right now?

What would the world be like twenty years from now?

Anyone?

The world would be in the Millennial Kingdom where Jesus is ruling and reigning from (physical) Mount Zion, fulfilling the Davidic Promise and Abrahamic Covenant. All still alive in the gentile nations would be coming to Jerusalem to pay homage/tribute. Satan is bound for a little less than a thousand years -- by your twenty years after the "catching away" (rapture) of the Church timetable.

The Church would be living on this world in their resurrected bodies and assisting/serving Jesus somehow in His administration of the government. We would probably still be rebuilding Jerusalem and other world cities from war and judgments. Since the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments kill so many people, in addition to those killed by Jesus' return and the battle at Har Meggido and the 200 million man army from the east (plus whatever the seven thunders do that John was not allowed to tell us about!!), there will be very few humans left on the earth. The world would be populated by those that did survive - Messianic Jews (who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah) and Gentiles - and the physically resurrected Church. Interesting place.

IMHO only ...

This rapture would have been post tribulation...correct?

Could be any - Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib, or my personal favoraite, PreWrath (which I believe is Biblically correct and appeals to all three of the former types).

However, all of those require a premillennial belief - that Jesus physically returns to the earth (Zech Ch 14, Acts 1:9-11) before a literal 1000 year period (Rev Ch 20). Some Believers that I highly respect do not believe in a physical and literal return of Jesus. They might believe that His return (Greek - epiphania) was already accomplished by the outpouring of the HS and his continued presence (Greek - parousia) is accomplished vicariously through the Church. These would be put in the Amillenial box (symbolic Millenium). Others believe in the literal and physical return, but believe that it will be *after* the symbolic Millennial period where the Church will eventually evangelize the world and Muslims and Wickens, Budhists and Jews, Athiests and Agnostics will hear the gospel and the world will gradually get better and better and then Jesus will return. These would fall into the Postmillennial box - with the parousia occurring at Pentecost and the ephinania after the symbolic Millenium...

Looks to me like you got some book learning.

I understood very little of what you just said. My fault not your's.

I don't even know if it was a good post.

You have a good one.

[larryt]

I believed in the pre-trib rapture long before any of these books were ever written. No brainwashing has taken effect here! It is a legitimate interpretation. There are millions of Christians here and those who have gone before us who have believed in such a thing.

It is not evil, nor impeding salvation. So why all the vitriol about it?

Up until the mid - 1800's there weren't any. FACT

LT

It is not fact!

Epharaem the Syrian said, in 373 AD, "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins."

He is the only seemingly pretrib reference from the period. ALL the rest of the early church writers ascribed to a posttrib return and rapture of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"the early Church received its doctrine directly from the apostles", [and] "all the early fathers who touch upon final events speak with an explicitly Posttribulational accent and assume this to be the universal language in orthodox Christianity."

fromHERE

LT

[Floatingaxe]

Who's Ed Tarkowski when he's home?

[eric]

Who's Ed Tarkowski when he's home?

son of Mr & Mrs Tarkowski.

[RGR]

Ron I have known you long enough to know your stance, but I love ya mate in spite of your beliefs. I'll admit there's a huge amount of people who have rushed forward seeking Christ as a result of watching the videos, but not all for the right reasons. Some of them are not interested about the Lord's compassion, His love for His followers and forgiveness, or the wretched lives they live, they are only interested on saving their butts from the lake of fire. lol most of them are afraind of missing the bus.......well that's my own thouight. but I'm not always right, am I Ron.

Eric, I love you too, lol! You and I disagree on the timing, but that's okay! If the pre-trib notion is right as I believe, I still wonder if Left Behind is not detrimental. It's great to see souls saved, but if you're presenting unbiblical notions along the way (Chang getting the mark, etc.) aren't you hurting the cause? I've pondered the "what if" on being wrong on the pre-trib rapture, but if I am, God will give me the grace to go through things! God bless ya, Eric!