What is the "Rapture" and is it true?

[charles_allan]

Paul’s scripture has to be inerrant on such an important matter

 

[pablope]

Paul’s scripture has to be inerrant on such an important matter

Yes, Paul’s epistles are as declared by the Church. It is your interpretation that is being challenged…not the inerrancy of Paul’s epistles.

 

[Cat_Herder]

So you are saying that Jesus reigns in heaven for 1000 years while the earth just carries on as usual ???

Yes. That should not shock you. JESUS has always reigned over the universe–from even before time began. He is GOD.

 

[QuickCat]

the-highway.com/rapture_Woodrow1.html

But do the scriptures teach that the rapture will be a secret, invisible, and quiet event? Let us look at the main verse on the rapture and see.

“For the Lord himself shall descend 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” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17).

To us, this verse indicates anything but a quiet, secret rapture. Whether we take the “shout”, the “voice”, and the “trump” in a literal sense or as having a figurative meaning, either way, this passage does not convey the idea of a secret and quiet event! If anything, it would indicate that the coming of the Lord will be a loud, noisy, open, and wonderous event. Amid the sound of the Lord himself descending from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, there will be the sounds of praise and rejoicing from vast multitudes of saints as they are caught up to meet the Lord! Where is any secrecy here? This is not the description of a hidden and quiet event. Nevertheless, in spite of every indication to the contrary, this verse is constantly used as a text for sermons which describe the rapture as a secret, hidden, and quiet coming of Christ!

Instead of teaching that he would return in a secret coming, Jesus actually warned against this concept: “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not . . . If they shall say unto you . . . behold, he is in the SECRET chambers; believe it not. FOR as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mt. 24:23,26,27). Whatever else may be included in these statements, one thing is certain: such wording is surely contrary to the idea of “secrecy” in connection with the coming of Christ.

Also in the context of Matthew 24, Jesus stressed that men do not know the day nor the hour of the Second Coming (Mt. 24:36). It will be “as it was in the days of Noah” when people were eating, drinking, and getting married — not expecting destruction to fall. They “knew not UNTIL the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (verses 38, 39). The wicked knew not until the flood came — but, obviously, when it came they knew it. It was no secret event. It was observed by believers and unbelievers.

“If therefore thou shalt not watch”, Jesus said, “I will come on thee as a THIEF, and thou shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee” (Rev. 3:3). “Behold, I come as a THIEF. Blessed is he that watcheth” (Rev. 16:15). Here again is the warning to “watch”, for we know not the time of his coming. He will come as a thief. But there is nothing here to indicate a secret and quiet coming of Christ in which he will mysteriously take believers out of this world so that no one will know what happened to them or who took them. We should not think that the Lord will prowl around like a thief, working in the dark, afraid of being discovered. The meaning is that he will COME “as a thief”, not that he will ACT like a thief!

Woodrow, like so many, confuses the rapture of the Body of Christ with our Lord’s 2nd coming. These are two separate and distinct events. In the rapture He comes in the air, His 2nd advent is to the earth to rule and reign for 1,000 years. The 2nd advent is the subject of prophecy while the rapture was a mystery [secret] revealed only to Paul. When we try to blend Israel’s hope and calling with that of the Body of Christ we see this confusion, i.e. Woodrow.
QC

 

[Cat_Herder]

Woodrow, like so many, confuses the rapture of the Body of Christ with our Lord’s 2nd coming. These are two separate and distinct events.
QC

Prove that.

The 2nd advent is the subject of prophecy while the rapture was a mystery [secret] revealed only to Paul.

Prove that.

When we try to blend Israel’s hope and calling with that of the Body of Christ we see this confusion, i.e. Woodrow.

[BIBLEDRB]GAL 3:28[/BIBLEDRB]

 

[Cat_Herder]

In the rapture He comes in the air, His 2nd advent is to the earth to rule and reign for 1,000 years.

One last time…

[BIBLEDRB]Revelation 20:1-6[/BIBLEDRB]

There is nothing here about Jesus reigning on the earth. It does not say where or when His reign will start. It does not say where or when His reign will end. It does not say anything about His reign at all. All it says is where and when that the Saints shall reign with Him–wherever He is, and for a thousand years. It does not say where JESUS is or how the thousand years affects JESUS’s reign as opposed to that of the Saints.

:banghead:

 

[Michael_Francis]

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