Please watch these and then stay tuned! So very much is happening on so many fronts at once.
Constance
Thursday, December 16, 2010
This is recommended over at BORNTOWATCH.COM. We need to watch it too!
Please watch these and then stay tuned! So very much is happening on so many fronts at once.
Constance
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The Rapture. The name is Latin for “caught up”. It basically comes from one particular verse in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4:17:
“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 Rapture has inspired a whole series of fictional books called the “Left Behind” series. In it, the saved are “raptured” into heaven, while the unsaved are left behind to fend for themselves on earth.
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The rapture is a mysterious disappearance of people, who leave their clothes here on earth. Cars which were driven by the saved are left unmanned. The folks left behind are in a quandary as to what happened. A great tribulation then comes upon the earth, and the anti-christ makes his appearance. The ones left behind then get a second chance at salvation, if they can withstand the forces of the world-uniting anti-christ. Then Jesus returns again to defeat the antichrist.
None of this, except for the overall premise of a rapture is biblical. Why? Well for starters, the Bible says in Revelation 1:7:
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
In the Left Behind series, no eye sees Jesus. Everyone left behind is clueless as to what is going on. It’s plain that if they had seen Jesus, they would know what was going on.
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The second problem with this series is that there are two “second comings” of Jesus. Once when the people mysteriously disappear, and then again when Jesus returns again and defeats the antichrist. The bible speaks of one and only one coming of Jesus Christ, not two. In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, it says the following:
“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.”
Notice St. Paul says “THE coming”, not “A Coming”. There is one and only one second coming of Jesus. And nowhere in the bible does it say that people will mysteriously disappear and leave their clothes behind. That is all made up fiction by the authors of the Left Behind series.
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The third problem with these books is that the saved escape the tribulation on earth by being raptured. Matthew 24:21-22:
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
In the above verses, Jesus tells us about the great tribulation, and also explains that the days of this misery on earth will be shortened for the sake of the elect. That means that the elect, or God’s people, still have to be on earth when the tribulation occurs, and not yet raptured into heaven.
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The fourth problem is that the people raptured in the Left Behind series sans clothes are not raptured on the last day of earth. In the novels, there are more days left for the antichrist to wreak havoc on the earth. We know from John 6:54 that the dead will be raised on the last day:
“he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day”
And we also know from Paul that the rapture will take place after the dead are raised. 1 Thessalonians 4:14- 17:
“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.”
And what of the thousand year reign of Christ on earth? It is mentioned in Revelation 20:4:
“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. “
Well, we know from the pen of Peter that a thousand years is as a day to the Lord, and a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:1). St. John may have been trying to convey that Christ will reign for a very long time (eternity) by using the phrase “a thousand years”, just like we might say, “I told you a thousand times”, when we may have only told someone 4 or 5 times.
And what about the very premise of being “left behind”? The bible says in Matthew 24:37 - 41:
“As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.”
In the days of Noah, the saved were left behind on earth, Noah and his family. The unsaved were taken from this earth, and presumably didn’t make it to heaven. Therefore, if the end of the world is similar to those days, as the bible says, being left behind may mean that you will still be here on earth to be raptured later on. The ones taken may be like the flood victims in Noah’s time, and die.
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The fourth problem is that the people raptured in the Left Behind series sans clothes are not raptured on the last day of earth. In the novels, there are more days left for the antichrist to wreak havoc on the earth. We know from John 6:54 that the dead will be raised on the last day:
“he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day”
And we also know from Paul that the rapture will take place after the dead are raised. 1 Thessalonians 4:14- 17:
“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.”
And what of the thousand year reign of Christ on earth? It is mentioned in Revelation 20:4:
“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. “
Well, we know from the pen of Peter that a thousand years is as a day to the Lord, and a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:1). St. John may have been trying to convey that Christ will reign for a very long time (eternity) by using the phrase “a thousand years”, just like we might say, “I told you a thousand times”, when we may have only told someone 4 or 5 times.
cont...
cont...
And what about the very premise of being “left behind”? The bible says in Matthew 24:37 - 41:
“As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.”
In the days of Noah, the saved were left behind on earth, Noah and his family. The unsaved were taken from this earth, and presumably didn’t make it to heaven. Therefore, if the end of the world is similar to those days, as the bible says, being left behind may mean that you will still be here on earth to be raptured later on. The ones taken may be like the flood victims in Noah’s time, and die.
One of the really big assumptions in the Left Behind series is that the saved will rise up to meet Jesus in the clouds, and then they and Jesus return to heaven to await the tribulation and the final judgment. But that isn’t biblical either. Nowhere in the bible does it say that Jesus will do a U-turn back into heaven at the rapture. Rather, the bible says that Jesus and his kingdom will descend to earth and become the new kingdom (Revelation 11:15 and Revelation 21:2). And the bible also says that we will be judged on that day, the last day, in John 12:48:
“He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.”
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So go ahead and read the Left Behind series if you must, but remember, hardly any of it is biblical. The learned and educated religious people of the Bible didn’t understand the first coming of Christ. Just so, a lot of learned and educated religious people today don’t understand the rapture any better than the Pharisees and the Sadducees did the first time. But, they sure make a lot of money by selling books about their personal opinion of the events surrounding the rapture.
So will the Rapture happen? YES, but it will be a one time event, on the last day of our earthly existence, after the dead have been raised, and it will be seen and witnessed by all.
END
Yes, I agree, the rapture makes some enormous assumptions. But what a brilliant plan of the evil one...to convince Christians that they will be raptured before the tribulation. This will disarm them as they will assume that there is nothing that they need to do to counteract evil because they will get to escape it all together!
Jesus suffered and so must I.
NOTE ON THE RAPTURE
Many evangelical Christians hold fast to the belief in a "rapture" in which believers will be plucked from the earth before the tribulations and persecutions of Antichrist. The concept of a rapture is biblical; but the timing of it, according to their interpretation, is erroneous and contradicts Scripture itself. As mentioned above, it has always been the constant teaching from Tradition that the Church will pass through a "final trial"—not escape it. This is precisely what Jesus said to the Apostles:
‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20)
As for being raptured from the earth and spared from the tribulation, Jesus prayed the opposite:
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15)
Thus, He taught us to pray "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
There will be a rapture when the Church meets Jesus in the air, but only at the Second Coming, at the last trumpet, and "thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess 4:15-17).
We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Cor 15:51-52)
…the present-day concept of the "Rapture" is found nowhere in Christianity—neither in Protestant nor Catholic literature—until the early nineteenth century, when it was invented by an Anglican priest-turned-fundamentalist-minster named John Nelson Darby. —Gregory Oats, Catholic Doctrine in Scripture, P. 133
Oh, Connie, I love Pastor Billy and listen to him and you on Dr Stan's show. I also subscribe to both their podcasts.
God Bless you Connie..
I also love Billy Crone. He has a lot of good material. He offeres all his dvds and cds free, plus there is no copyright on them. I visited his church in upstate NY and he loaded me up with two big boxes of all his stuff. Ive bought a duplicator and have burned over 10,000 and give them away like tracts.
There is also a tab on his website and you can download everything free
http://getalifemedia.com/
His personal testimony can be watched here: He also came out of the New Age 17yrs ago:a truly inspiring testimony
http://getalifemedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=377&Itemid=30
Like BORNTOWATCH.com, I have a serious issue with their "Rapture" interpretation. We do meet our Lord IN THE AIR (NOT ON THE AIR as Pat Robertson mislead Christians). However, that this comes BEFORE the tribulation (war against believers) is not, in my opinion, biblically supported.
I posted this for the urgency of the warning he gives to avoid the Mark of the Beast and what a very real dilemma this is plainly coming to be in our immediate futures. He is right, this is a "full court press".
Constance
I cannot endorse the LEFT BEHIND series because of the pre-Trib scenario, one that I believe could cause millions to lose their faith. Insofar as it increased alertness to the times and seasons, it has been a good thing.
Tim LaHaye is co-author of the series. As most of you know, I had some very serious issues with him over some of his alliances, financial and otherwise, with Unification Church folk such as Bo Hi Pak and even Rev. Moon. Rev. Moon claimed to be the "Lord of the Second Advent." There is absolutely no room for compromise there!
Constance
Constance,
Are you post-trib? If you would rather not divulge your views, that's OK. My current leaning is pre-wrath which would occur some time after the antichrist is revealed.
Interestingly, in my search for research material I came across a recent Benny Hinn book on prophecy (I didn't buy the book as Hinn is so obviously a false teacher/prophet) and as I glanced at the endorsements, there was Tim LaHaye.
i have never read the books nor am interested in them either. However considereing Jesus said when "these things begin to happen, look up for your redemption draweth nigh" , the fact there is a special crown for those who love his appearing and the fact he is coming like a theif and that when he comes we not be ashamed.... my question is this...if jesus comes back at the end of the trib....how on earth once the antichrist appears can anybody be caught off guard or be doing anything to be ashamed, so to speak.... also the fact all the kingdom dominionist are leading the charge on rapture bashing esp pre-tribbers leave me to doubt post trib completely. if we truly beleive jesus can come back at any moment we certainly wont be sitting on our butts waiting to "escape" as so many people like to phrase it. but out there digently reaching the lost. i get annoyed that people lump me in as a laodicean christian soley becsuse i lean towards pretrib. its highly insulting. frankly i dont think laodicean christians could possibly beleive in a rapture cuz they shore are living for this world. My beleif in pretrib has NOTHING to do with those stupid books nor some supposed dream somebody had in the 1800's i am an ex jw and refuse to be brainwashed again. Until the antichrist shows up, technically pretrib cannot be ruled out. I am certainly not going to lose my faith in Jesus over it like the pretrib bashers often imply. the thought i could have less than 24hrs to reach my unsaved friends family and strangers is certainly motivation to witness every single precious moments there is left regardless...
None of us know anything. We aren't supposed to. All we are supposed to do is to have our lanterns lit with oil for the bridegroom's return. In other words, be prepared. All this talk about pre-trib, pre-wrath and post trib just creates division and that is the enemy's tactics.
Craig,
My reading of the scriptures is that the "gathering together" to the Lord in the air is post-persecution, but pre-7 last plagues. The redeemed are now shown standing in Heaven in the Revelation account until the sixth seal (great earthquake). The bowls of Revelation which contain the 7 last plagues which as I read it are punishments on the Beast and his kingdom come after that.
I guess folks would call that "Pre-Wrath."
BUT, my position is that NO MATTER HOW IT COMES DOWN, TRUST GOD. HE'S GOT THE BIG PICTURE, WE HAVE THE LITTLE ONE. NO MATTER HOW IT HAPPENS, IT'S IN HIS PERFECT WISDOM.
Or as friends of mine in the Black/African American community used to say in the early 70's, KEEP ON KEEPING ON!
Good advice!
Constance
Constance,
That's basically the way I see it although (apparently, like you) I've not read much on the "official" pre-wrath position.
To be clear to all readers: I don't see eschatology (end times) as something to fight/divide over -- although I have to admit, that the postmillennial stance is for me rather hard to fathom, especially as one views world conditions.
Here is some Differences Between The Rapture And The Second Coming
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/duck/dd24.html
There is much to suggest that both Benny Hinn & Tim LaHaye are Knights Templar freemasons.
R.
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