False prophet before rapture?

[Ed_Langevin]

I recieved this E-mail from my friend. Can anyone help twith this?

Isn’t their script in the bible about their being a false prophet before rapture? Something to do with the horseman of the apocolypse, each having separate colors representing types of sin? I never could quiet really understand this concept, could you clarify it for me?

This was from my nephew
Wayne

 

[CathChemNerd]

Ed Langevin:

I recieved this E-mail from my friend. Can anyone help twith this?

Isn’t their script in the bible about their being a false prophet before rapture? Something to do with the horseman of the apocolypse, each having separate colors representing types of sin? I never could quiet really understand this concept, could you clarify it for me?

This was from my nephew
Wayne

Hello there, and funny you should bring this up, but I happen to be taking a graduate course in the book of Revelation! There is a false prophet mentioned in the book, but he’s not associated with the four horsemen. The four horsemen occur in chapter 6, and they do each have a different color. But they don’t represent types of sin, they represent different forms of divine judgment. The red horseman signifies war, the black horseman represents famine, and the green horseman pestilence (death). The first horseman, a white one, is a little tougher to pin down–it may be that he commands and releases the others, or he could represent a threat to the Roman empire from the East. In any case, the riders come to bring punishment to the foes of the Church; St. John uses them here to give hope and support to early Christians under persecution.

The false prophet doesn’t appear until chapter 13, well after the horsemen. He’s also called the 2nd beast, and he, the 1st beast and the dragon (Satan) are the implacable foes of Christianity. By working “signs and wonders” they hope to deceive the nations away from true worship of God (possibly to emperor worship, commanded by some Roman emperors). The notion of a rapture of Christians as such does not figure into John’s theology. The whole idea of Revelation is that the Christian must stand firm in the face of persecution, not that we will be exempt from it. We’re called to live in the world as faithful witnesses of what God has done for us, in the present. We don’t know the day or the hour that the Lord will call us; all we can do is work for the kingdom here and now.

Hope that helps, sorry about the long post!
CathChemNerd

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Hi Wayne, here is a link to thier thinking on this,
pbc.org/dp/stedman/revelation/4198.html

Revelation 6

1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

As you can see, the color of each horse refers to the power of destruction each rider was to do to the earth.

 

[sconea]

For a truly Catholic understanding of the book of ‘revelation’…see David Currie’s book

Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind

2003 Sophia Institure Press

available at amazon.

The research, by Mr Currie, a convert and former protestant pastor, into the writings of the early church fathers and others on this topic is nothing short of amazing.

 

[Liberian]

Ed Langevin:

Isn’t their script in the bible about their being a false prophet before rapture? Something to do with the horseman of the apocolypse, each having separate colors representing types of sin? I never could quiet really understand this concept, could you clarify it for me?

Ed,

The “Rapture” (or “parousia” as Catholics call it) is mentioned in 1st Thessalonians by Paul. The false prophet, four horsemen, and so on, appear in the Book of Revelation (often called the “Apocalypse” by Catholics). The idea that the Rapture will occur before any events described in Revelation is a case of collective Evangelical wishful thinking and is nowhere to be found in the Bible.

False prophets, or “antichrists,” are also mentioned in several other letters in the New Testament.

• Liberian

 

[anawim]

Liberian:

Ed,

The “Rapture” (or “parousia” as Catholics call it) is mentioned in 1st Thessalonians by Paul. The false prophet, four horsemen, and so on, appear in the Book of Revelation (often called the “Apocalypse” by Catholics). The idea that the Rapture will occur before any events described in Revelation is a case of collective Evangelical wishful thinking and is nowhere to be found in the Bible.

False prophets, or “antichrists,” are also mentioned in several other letters in the New Testament.

• Liberian

Actually the Greek word used is harpedzo. The Greek word parousia refers to the second coming.

The fact that Paul mentions both the parousia (second coming) and the harpedzo (the rapture) within a couple of verses of each other, is a support for them coinciding with each other, and not as separate events.

 

[Liberian]

anawim:

Actually the Greek word used is harpedzo. The Greek word parousia refers to the second coming.

The fact that Paul mentions both the parousia (second coming) and the harpedzo (the rapture) within a couple of verses of each other, is a support for them coinciding with each other, and not as separate events.

Anawim,

You are right that they coincide with each other. The case of collective wishful thinking that I was referring to was the idea that all the believers would check out before the tribulation started. This is called the “pre-Tribulation Rapture” and was quite current among Evangelical circles when I was in college and moved in those circles.

• Liberian