The Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ is is drawing near. How will it be?

a reply to: sirric

The tares are gathered and bound, but are they burned? Not necessarily. This may may simply be a division in the field without either the burning or the gathering taking place - only the sorting.

originally posted by: whiteblack
Rapture does exist.

"After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

1 Thessalonians 4:17

It'll happen someday sooner or later 🙏

The clouds that are referenced are from the nuclear bombs going off and are either the mushroom "clouds" or fallout and not the rapture....

never fails, a bunch of non-believers jump in a thread by and for Christians so they can mock us.
I never go into pagan or atheistic threads and hassle anyone. live and let live.

agree, the rapture will happen, and soon. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened yet.

no one knows about our bodies or clothes; presumably, as mentioned, they will be transformed on the way up. so yes, we will have physical bodies.

I'm seeing things in our (USA) culture that I never would have imagined.

You sound ungrateful for the life God has granted you.


And the time has been drawing nigh for 2,000 years........

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes, I think the verse quoted implies that the "tares" are bundled together 'as would be done' if to burn - but, I think there will be time before the very end of the "tares" that people can pray for their loved ones among them...

As a mother (and my only child is a believer), I just can't imagine any parent being able to go happily off to live with Jesus knowing their children (if grown & among the "tares") are going to end up 'burned'...

So, I believe intercessory prayers will be accepted and some sort of 'arrangement' (maybe a 2nd chance reincarnated on another planet?) will be made.

The thing is, the Bible couldn't contain all the possibilities that God might have planned, because some concepts wouldn't have been comprehendible to those living at the time..

Plus, just as Abraham was allowed to intercede on behalf of Sodom - he actually argued God down to agreeing 'not' to destroy the city if "ten righteous" souls could be found there -

- so, we can pray on behalf of others, and God can be persuaded to change His plans...Genesis 18: 22-33

a reply to: ElGoobero

I didnt know ATS has requisites to post in a topic? Perhaps debate said evil doers insted?

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: ElGoobero

I didnt know ATS has requisites to post in a topic? Perhaps debate said evil doers insted?

Christians are discussing a Christian topic.
I don't see why non-Christians should participate.
I don't see Christians busting into the threads of other faiths.

if you want to debate the rapture start a thread on it and I'll be happy to participate.

('instead', not 'insted')

he did... its already written in the book of revelation.. JUST FOR US. details when we get there! he said be ready.. thats our only job.a reply to: carewemust

a reply to: ElGoobero

if you want to debate the rapture start a thread on it and I'll be happy to participate.

Isn't that what this thread is? I mean Rature is in the title isn't it, in a discussion forum?

The word rapture is never used once in The Bible.

In fact, the rapture concept is relatively new and is a product of bad theology.

The idea of a rapture emerged in the 1830’s.
John Nelson Darby was the first to teach and introduce this idea to his congregation. He is the founder of the group later known as The Plymouth Brethren. They were conservative, nonconformist Protestants who broke away from the Church of Ireland.

Darby’s teachings made its way across Europe and eventually to America. It gave rise to a theological view known as Dispensationalism.

These views were picked up and popularized by C. I. Scofield in the late 1800’s. He produced a Bible with references (even though he had no formal training in theology) known as the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. It was distributed in England and America and became the primary source for Protestants to understand the Bible. This became the almost unquestioned view by many Protestants in America.

This spread the idea of rapture teaching further and further. Scofield became a pastor in Dallas, TX and helped found Dallas Theological Seminary. It was popularized and spread further by D. L. Moody and his Moody Bible Institute. Moody invited many of the Plymouth Brethren to teach in his Bible schools. From these institutions, literature, and the preaching of these men and others, this dispensational, pre-tribulation rapture theology immersed itself in American culture.

These ideas embedded themselves deeper into the culture through other media, through books and movies, such as the Left Behind series.

There are two primary passages where Rapture theology is purported to have emerged: Matthew 24: 40-41 and Thessalonians 4: 13-18.

To understand the context of Matthew 24: 40-41, we need to read verses 36-39. Jesus says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For 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 were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

He says in verse 39. The people were unaware of the judgment coming until the flood, and the flood came and swept them all away. Who got swept away in the days of Noah? The unbelievers. The wicked sinners. Who remained when the flood came? Noah and his family. They were left here. The wicked were swept away. Jesus says this is the way it will be when the Son of Man returns.

Return to the verses often used in support of the rapture, verses 40 and 41.

“Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.”

Jesus just told us that His coming will be just like the days of Noah. The wicked were taken away, swept away. The righteous remained. Then He says that two men will be in the field, and one will be taken, one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, and one will be taken away and one left. So question: “Who is taken and who is left?” The most natural, common sense answer from the text is the believer is left and the unbeliever is taken away. It is a picture of judgment. They are cast away from the presence of the Lord.

The only reason one could read it the opposite and say the believer is taken away and the unbeliever remains, is because that person already has the internal bias of a rapture ideology in his or her head before reading the passage. The entirety of the passage itself and its full context gives no reason to interpret it in that way.

In fact, when reading the parallel text from Luke of the Matthew passage, we clearly see what happens to those who are taken away. “’I tell you, in that night there will be two in bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.’ And they said to him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’” (Luke 17:34-37) Luke shows that those taken away aren’t raptured to glory; they are delivered over to the death that awaits them.

The second passage often used to support rapture theology is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Paul writes, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 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 a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, 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, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

In verse 16 he says, “the Lord will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”

This is describing the announcing of the king’s return. Paul says “the dead in Christ will rise first.” Thus, the resurrection of the dead is going to happen when Jesus returns. This is when the great white throne of judgment will occur (Revelation 20), and sheep will be separated from the goats (Matthew 25).

But notice Paul then pivots to those who are still alive in verse 17. He says they “will be caught up together with them.” Who is them? The dead in Christ. The dead in Christ will rise from the dead and meet the Lord in the air, and then those alive will meet him in the air.

Then what? Will we whisk away to Heaven and leave the unbelievers behind? No. It doesn’t say that at all. So what happens once we meet him in the air?

We usher the King back into the city as the glorious victor over the enemies of Satan, sin, and death.

Paul is utilizing the imagery here of ancient Roman practice. When kings went out to war with their armies for months and years, nobody knew how long they would be gone. However, when they won the victory and made their way back to the city, the trumpet would sound when the king and his armies appeared on the horizon. The announcement would go out into the city that the king had returned. Then, everyone would rush out to meet him and usher the victorious king and armies back into the city.

Nobody is taking off to Heaven while unbelievers endure tribulations on Earth. That goes against so many passages of Scripture where believers are told to expect trials and tribulations.

We are not promised escape from it.

none of this is biblical.. if you want to know god read his word. its important.... Jesus said we were ignorant of the ways of heaven,. Men and women will not be given in marriage. our kids won't be children. Our siblings won't be our siblings, our spouses won't be our spouses.We will have a new body and a new sinless nature. We will not be so worried about or kids or pets, money , sickness, death, our food , sorrow etc. etc. a reply to: lostgirl

a reply to: ElGoobero


OOOOH, pointing out a typo, how, academic of you.

And I was born into a Freewill Baptist family and was Baptised in 1982. So I am what you would call, a backslider.

However, my life experiences have led me to believe that all I was taught was just a bunch of hooey designed to keep me skared and sub-servient to a Church only interested in my money.

a reply to: GoShredAK

I think the most likely thing, based on scripture IF there is a rapture at all, is at the midway point of the tribulation. After the first 42 months. There is plenty of scripture that implies we will be here at LEAST until that point. I don't have the verses off the top of my head, but they are there.

Jaden

a reply to: AutomateThis1v2

Actually, it's BECAUSE God gives a damn that he allowed us to experience the self, to be apart from Him and make our own choices. All of what we have to suffer through is based on our OWN choices, not God's.

Jaden

a reply to: Prisoner60863

Yes, but there can't be a tribulation until the third temple is built. That is one of the last signs to look for. They are working on it and have been, but until it is done, the tribulation won't start.

Jaden

a reply to: lostgirl

I think that the End Times are a last chance. A lot of people who go through the motions of belief without believing and good people without belief will see and realize and come to God, but they must then walk through the worst. And many won't make it to the end. Some will die for Him in persecution; others will fall away in desperation.

This is also where the Jews are brought home.

a reply to: ridgerunner

Yeah, except don't forget about the third temple, and it also specifies that the wars and rumours of wars will be like no war that preceeded it on earth. We haven't had any such war or rumours of such wars yet.

Jaden

a reply to: andy06shake

We have to act as though we are the only thing coming to save us, but we have to be prepared for it as well. No one except the Father knows the hour or day and He will come like a thief in the night.

I have this conversation from time to time with my wife. We can't look at the world around us and say" oh, well everything that is happening today was predicted and necessary so we can't do anything about it."

We have to treat the world as though we CAN and WILL make a difference and make it better and fix the evil is good and good is evil that is coming about. Right up until the time of the second coming. I hope you DO come to realize that Jesus did make the final sacrifice for us all and you learn that you don't have to feel the guilt that we have all felt. It's an indescribable relief, but it is your choice.

Jaden

a reply to: ElGoobero

This thread mostly leans in favor of Fundemental/Protestant teachings, do Catholics not count as Christians in your mind?

My debate on this thread is in regards to Premillennialism, Postmillennialism and Amillennialism in Christianity.

a reply to: Masterjaden



Well the sentiment is appreciated.