WHEN IS JESUS COMING BACK? READ ON.....
(The Truth about the Return of the King)
15 We tell you this directly from
the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead
of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will
rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who
are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever….1 Thessalonians 4 (NLT)
Are these two separate events? If you listen to false prophets like Harold
Camping or some such fun-for-a-day media hype, these ARE two events.
Does Jesus come first to
take us up, say, to a safe “hiding place”…and
then jump on the most beautiful White Horse in the universe! After He gets on the Horse, “Stage 2 begins”…the
Angels blow a trumpet, the sky splits open and all Heaven breaks loose on the
sick and dying world!
Sounds good, huh!! One problem with this pre-tribilutation talk is – IT IS NOT TRUE! It is also NOT biblical.
Our churches now have bought into the theory that we don’t have to be ready for persecution, tribulation and trials….all we have to is believe some preacher/author or actor that “just before the anti-christ shows up, somehow Jesus will begin “Stage 1” of His Glorious Appearing and “rapture” us!
The bottom line premise of all of this hype - from church ‘doctrine’ to Left
Behind to the Harold Camping nonsense – is “we in the western church will not
have to bother with any of this bad stuff in the world. Because right before
all the wars, rumors of wars and one world government led by Satan, starts,
Jesus is coming to take us out, so we don’t get hurt or persecuted for our
beliefs”!
Tell that to the 300 million Chinese
Christians persecuted daily for over 60 years – beaten, brutalized and beset by
evil ….
Tell that to the hundreds of Eritrean
Christians stuffed into shipping containers right now by their persecutors from
islam …alive…in the hot African desert heat.
Tell that to the South Sudanese
Christians slaughtered by moslem Northern Sudan….and on and on…or are we so
special that we have a favored place in Heaven?!
NO and a thousand times, NO! Many from
Polycarp to Joan of Ark to John Hus to the present time would have loved to be
“caught up” and taken home…but this is not what Jesus promised us!
So before we look briefly at what the
Bible actually SAYS about these last days and what the correct view is, let’s
see what the RAPTURE is NOT!
WHAT DOES “RAPTURE” MEAN?
First of all, the word “RAPTURE”
is not even in the Bible! Where this word comes from starts with verse 17 (see
above) of 1 Thessalonians 4. The Apostle Paul says “…and remain on earth will
be caught up in the clouds….”
The original word the Apostle used for
“caught up “is “harpagēsometha”. This literally means caught up and taken away…in an
exclusive one-time event. How we got the word Rapture out of this is simple.
The great Jerome translated the Greek bible of the times (around
390 AD) into Latin and used the Latin word “rapiemur” to translate the Greek word “taken up”.
Therefore the word “rapture” comes from Jerome’s Latin translation of the original
text!
WHERE DID THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE
ORIGINATE?
Englishman John Nelson Darby has long been
“credited’ as been the originator of the Theory of the Pre- Tribulation rapture
of the church in 1827. However, he may have been influenced by the preaching of
a Scottish preacher named Edward Irving. Irving was the David Jeremiah of his
time!
Irving himself may have been influenced into this
incorrect way of thinking by a mystic Spanish Jesuit priest named Manuel
Lacunza, who wrote a book in Spanish called “ La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad” or “The
Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty”.
This was the first major writing which
came close to proposing this idea of believers being removed from the earth
before the Judgment of Christ! Irving translated Lacunza’s book into English in
1827, and started preaching about it across England and Scotland.
We believe this is how Darby heard
about this new thing and came up with his own interpretation called the
“Pre-tribulation Rapture”.
DARBY AND THE SCOFIELD
BIBLE
Darby began promoting this also around
1827 and moved in a non-denominational group of Christians called the Plymouth
Brethren. They began what we know today as the Bible Conference movement which
spread from England, across the Atlantic into America (and there is nothing
wrong with that!)
It was an attractive teaching and
produced many bestselling books (just like today with the LEFT BEHIND
series!!). The best know of these was the SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE!
Cyrus Scofield took Darby’s Teaching
(on the Pre Trib Rapture) and marketed it into the mainstream of American
Christianity with his, now century long, best-selling version of the Word of
God! The major protestant denominations at the time – Baptists, Presbyterians, and
the Congregationalists all bought into this big time! The established churches
– Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox – did not.
Since 1909, it has been the best
selling edition of the Bible in England, Ireland and before Zondervan’s New International
Version (NIV), here in America too!
This is how the doctrine of an easy out
for the saints of God got into the mainstream of US Christianity! Scofield also
took up another doctrine from Darby and magnified it – the Doctrine of
Dispensationalism, which will be discussed another time.
THE HUGE DANGER
With the Scofield Bible in full
support, Dr John Walvoord, a top theologian at Dallas Theological Seminary
(DTS) took this to another level when he wrote a defense of the doctrine in a
book called “The Rapture Question”. This has been incorrectly influencing two generations
of preachers since he wrote this in 1957.
The reason I say that is many of
America’s famous preachers and some not so well known, but who promote this
without investigating everything, are have been pounding “The Imminent Return
of Christ” in their churches. I love the preaching of men like Tony Evans,
Swindoll and Dr. Stephen Davey of North Carolina’s Wisdom from the Heart, but
their Eschatology (or teaching on End Times Prophesy) has been discolored by
indoctrination from seminaries across the spectrum of America!
It is bad enough Scofield put
dispensationalism into the mainstream. However because the most seminary graduates are
teaching the “Rapture at any time”…across denominational lines, this thing has multiplied itself to become almost like the Virgin Birth of
Christ to Christians!
AND IT IS DEAD WRONG AND FULL OF DANGER!
What do I mean by Danger? I have seen it first hand in most of the
churches I have attended over 20 plus years.
Here is now the danger is REAL and will be eternally deadly one day:
The preaching of the Word now become
the following math equation:
Say
this prayer + Believe in “Your Heart” + Trust in the Finished work on the Cross
= You’re Saved.
It has become now that serious Bible
students and the concerned among us have no clue if the person sitting
alongside us in church is even saved…but they followed this here formula
above…so they “must be”!
Let’s take this further: Person X
…let’s say Frank and Francine Smith, follows this formula and now believes they
are saved, they are then told by a preacher they are going to heaven (and they
may well be saved….but there’s more).
The preacher then starts talking about
“Christ can come anytime…even while I am preaching”!! So the new
Christians….and the others in the pews who have heard this for months and
years, feel all nice and happy because “Jesus is coming to take me away” ….like
Calgon!
This false teaching has led to the
modern church not caring a hoot about the unsaved on the streets, in the
offices etc.
It has led to a complete lack of concern for
Discipleship.
It has led to a lack of repentance in the Body
of Christ “because we’re in, buddy”!
It has led to a complete lack of Fruit
for the Kingdom, because these seminary graduate pastors and their professors have
a derogatory term for anyone who believes in Repentance, accepting Jesus as
Lord NOW and doing Good Works (as James commanded – Faith without works is
Dead, dead, dead). They call us Lordship Salvation people!
It has led to a lack of prayer
ministries and services in churches.
What it has led to is some people being
so set in their ways that if anyone challenges this teaching, the hammer
literally comes down on them in a completely unchristian manner! I have seen
people leaving a church over this kind of debate! Why should this happen if
this doctrine of PreTrib Rapture is so “Christ like” and Biblical?!
I have laid out
the error of the Pre Tribulation Rapture. So, what is the correct teaching and
way to study correct this misdirection and then teach others the Bible Truth on
it?
Without commentary
at all, the Bible will speak for itself on what we call and believe to be true,
because when Jesus says it, it is not an option. Several of my brothers and
sisters in Christ and I believe in the correct sequence of these verses.
We believe the
church will NOT be raptured until the man of sin – the ANTICHRIST- is revealed,
and then commits the horrendous Abomination that brings Desolation…as Christ
said.
We believe the
Third Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt first. There are already full blown plans and even the garments of the next High Priest are
ready to go!! The Sanhedrin who persecuted and killed Christ, have reformed in
Israel! Yes, that SAME Sanhedrin!
THE PRE-WRATH RAPTURE:
THE WORDS OF JESUS ARE
IN RED AND THE REAL RAPTURE IS EXPLAINED HERE WITH NO COMMENTARY....JUST ALL BIBLE!!!.
Matthew 24: 9-31 (NLT)
9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed.
You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. 10 And many
will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many
false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be
rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one
who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom
will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will
come.
15 “The day is coming when you will see
what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes
desecration standing in the Holy
Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) 16 “Then those
in Judea must flee to the hills. 17 A person out on the deck of a roof
must not go down into the house to pack. 18 A person out in the field must not
return even to get a coat. 19 How terrible it will be for pregnant
women and for nursing mothers in those days. 20 And pray that your flight will not be
in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For there will be greater anguish than
at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. 22 In fact,
unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be
shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones (the REAL RAPTURE: PRE-WRATH!!)
the
sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky,
23 “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here
is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. 24 For false
messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so
as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. 25 See, I have
warned you about this ahead of time.
26 “So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the
Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is
hiding here,’ don’t believe it! 27 For as the lightning flashes in the
east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. 28 Just as the
gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate
that the end is near.
30 And then at last, the sign that the
Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep
mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with the
mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over
the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
29 “Immediately after the anguish of
those days, and the powers in the heavens will be
shaken.
2 Thessalonians 1: 4-12
4 We
proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all
the persecutions and hardships you
are suffering. 5 And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of
his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. 6 In his
justice he will pay back those who persecute you.
7 And God will provide rest for you who are
being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven.
He will come with his mighty angels, 8 in flaming
fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to
obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will
be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from
his glorious power. 10 When he comes on that day,
he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And
this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.
11 So
we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy
of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your
faith prompts you to do. 12 Then the name of our
Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored
along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and
Lord, Jesus Christ.
New Living
Translation (NLT)
Holy
Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House
Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All
rights reserved.
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