Many Christians in this generation are amped up awaiting God to send his angels and rapture all of the believers away before things get really bad, or sometime during the great Tribulation period. Christians seem to be waiting with their bags packed like God is going to take them away so they don’t have to be here to make a choice. “Don’t worry about the bad times ahead. We’ll all be gone!” I hate to say it to those who believe in this, but you’re wrong. Not only are you wrong with your beliefs, but your teachers are committing a great sin in teaching such a thing.
In Ezekial 13:20 it says that God will tear the flock away from those who teach their flock how to fly. Can’t get anymore direct than that. That is exactly what the teachers who teach the rapture are doing. Teaching their flock how to fly is the rapture teaching, and it’s wrong. It says it there plain as day. He’s not saying “don’t teach them how to fly a plane”. What else would it mean to speak against those who teach their flock how to fly? You rapture teachers and believers, explain that one to me.
“So why does it say in Luke 21:36 ‘Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.’?” Well there’s three things there to get to. One is how many of those who believe in the rapture taking them away have actually tried tracing such an important verse back to the Greek? The New Testament was originally written in Greek, afterall. In the original Greek, the word “escape” is the Greek word “εκφευγω” (ek-FYOO-goh) which literally means “to flee out from”. Second thing is notice it says “these things”, plural. It doesn’t say “this period of time” or anything that can be interpreted as such. If that’s what God meant it to say, then it would have said it that way. Third, to stand before the Son of man, which is Jesus of course. Jesus will come here, so those who are accounted worthy of surviving these judgments will be able to stand before Jesus. He’ll be here.
“What about 1st Thessalonians 4?” Well in 2nd Thessalonians, Paul corrects what he said previously to them in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and 3. He said to not misinterpret his previous letter about an impending change until the son of perdition is revealed to be the son of perdition. There is no change until Jesus returns.
Much of the Bible, and certainly the NT is there to prepare one’s spirit for troubled times and the end times. So why would all of these things be written just so the believers can escape? Here’s something to think about as well. In the last generation there will be more prophets living than at any time in this age’s history. That is a fact. The prophets will stay here to speak of God’s true word and to act as a counter to the Antichrist’s misinterpretations of the word of God. The prophets will be here and go through this time, so what makes a person, who’s not a prophet, to think they just get to escape? Why do people who God chose to be his prophets before the foundation of this age have to be here, but those who just chose Jesus in their life get to escape? What egos!
Once again, I am in disagreement with you, How do you explain the word of Jesus when he says, “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time – Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left, two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left-therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh- or- For the Lord himself shall decend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord,-And one of the elders answered saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, though knowest. and he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
I have often asked myself about the rapture and have searched many times for answers. I have 3 children, they are all very young. I have always been willing to accept it if I am left, but not my children, they are innocent and are undeserving of what is to come. I can not say if the rapture will be before, or mid tribulation, all I know is what the bible says. Why would Jesus talk about our flight if there is none? Once again, one of your posts has set me out on the search for truth, but honestly, would a God of love and compassion put these wonderful babies which he gave me through the worst time the world has ever seen? I have a lot of contradicting thoughts on this, one part of me says, the Jewish children when through it, but….I don’t know, through my studing, this is what I believe to be true, when the sun is blackened and the moon like blood, there is an earthquake, the sky opens and for one very short second, the world sees Jesus. Those that are left are in rebellion and follow the antichrist because they have seen him raise from the dead. Once again one more thing for me to look into. Thanks for the post, but I pray with every part of my being that you are wrong about this.
Comment by brandy — June 30, 2009 @ 5:55 PM |
You can disregard my comment before, I studied matt 24 and WOW, I have to say my heart is broken but I can not deny what is said. You know, you could make this a whole lot easier on me if you would just post the verses you have studied to make you come to your understandings.
Comment by brandy — June 30, 2009 @ 7:05 PM |
Being a child in that time actually is a blessing. They cannot be held accountable for what they don’t know because of their age. It will be difficult for all at that time, but as it’s written, people will be going about their everyday business when it comes. Having children at that time offers a completely different point of view. Learn, be wise, and faithful.
To your other comment, praying that your flight not be in winter just means to not let this time come upon you unawares. Don’t be a suckling of God’s word when you should be eating His word as an adult. The taking of one and the leaving of one is actually about those who will fall for Satan’s charisma. One will fall for what he says, the other won’t. If you look at our world, and especially our country, it’s very divided. Half are one way, the other half are the other way. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
I did list Ezekiel 13:20 as the most convincing verse to go against the rapture. Plus I did say if there are millions suddenly taken away, then the mystery of God after the blowing of the last trump being taken away would be meaningless. The mystery would be gone before anything happens. If Christians are gone by the millions, people would realize who and what God is.
It’s good you can look at things with a different view than before. You said in a comment that you had twenty years of denominational doctrine being pushed through your mind. That’s a lot to undo. The good thing is you pretty much know what is written and where. The bad thing is having to go back through everything again and look at it as if you’ve never read it before. Any questions you have, let me know. I’m telling you though, get a Strong’s if you don’t already have one. That will change everything.
Comment by Jesse Norman II — June 30, 2009 @ 7:47 PM |
Yeah, it took me a few minutes but I got it, my mother is a preacher and I tried to explain it to her, she didn’t get it. It is a little annoying but what can I do? Trust me if I have questions, you will know, thanks for the time you take to explain things.
Comment by brandy — July 1, 2009 @ 5:43 PM |
Welcome to my world. I had a discussion with several people at once at a website who ganged up on me. Two were preachers. None of them knew the NT was originally written in Greek. To me, that’s inexcusable that someone that teaches doesn’t know that. The worst part about it is they each had their own flock that were being taught be these two. Both of them thought that tracing things back to the original Hebrew and Greek languages were not just unnecessary, but not as good as the KJV. Yeah, welcome to my world and the things I go up and will go up against in the future. To those with open ears and a thirst of knowledge, I am here for all of you. My time is your time. God bless.
Comment by Jesse Norman II — July 1, 2009 @ 10:50 PM |
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