Rapture Questions

Eugene Shubert · Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2002 1:17 am Post subject: Rapture Questions

Jesus taught that the day of His appearing will be just like the day that Lot left Sodom. False teachers take this real historical analogy and fictionalize the incident beyond recognition. They teach (in essence) that the day Lot left Sodom the whole city was thrown into confusion and panic because of reports that Lot had vanished mysteriously.

Do you think that anyone in Sodom expressed any sort of anxiety that Lot was missing? Do you believe that anyone there had 24 hours before filing a missing person’s report? Please realize that there wasn't enough time. Sodom was destroyed on the same day!

Luke 17:26-30:

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”

dedication · Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2002 12:40 pm Post subject:

The next verses contain the "key texts" for the "rapture" idea.

Luke 17:34-36
In that night there shall be two men...one taken, one left....
Two women grinding togehter...one taken, one left....
Two men in the field...one taken, one left....

But then comes an interesting text?

Luke 17:37
And they asked, "Where Lord?

The people listening to Jesus sermon, were curious, WHERE will those who are taken, be taken to?

And the Lord gives an interesting answer:

Luke 17:37
Where ever the corpse is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Yikes, that does not sound like rapture at all, that sounds more like Revelation 19:17,18
"An angel cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls..."come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God that you may eat the flesh of kings, ...captains...mightymen and the of men both free and bond, both small and great..... "

But let's not stop there-- for there is another gathering to a different supper--the marriage supper of the Lamb. "Let us be glad and rejoice for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Rev. 19:7-8)

The big deception of the "rapture" theory, is that people think they will have another chance--
However-- at that time people will be either at one supper or the other--there will be no second chance after that.
Now is the time to make that choice!

gillespie9669 · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2004 7:53 am Post subject:

The Secret Rapture Theory- Biblical or Fiction?
See also the web site Truthleftbehind.com

The secret rapture theory is based on eight premises that have been so widely embraced that most people accept them as fact without pausing to investigate. However, our only safety is to search the Scriptures daily to determine whether those things are so (Acts 17:11). The eight points of the secret rapture theory (concerning the Second Coming of Christ, and the “catching up” or “rapture” of the saints) are as follows:

1. The rapture is silent.
2. The rapture is invisible.
3. The rapture leaves the wicked alive.
4. God removes the righteous to protect them from the tribulation.
5. Christ's second coming will be in two stages: (1) the secret rapture, and (2) the actual coming, which will be glorious.
6. These two stages of the second coming will be seven years apart.
7. The rapture will take place before the revelation of the Antichrist, who then will bring about the tribulation.
8. The wicked will at this point have a second chance to be converted and to serve Christ.
To examine these points fully is beyond the scope of this limited presentation, but we will briefly cover each point here. Prepare for some surprises!

1. The rapture is not silent, but rather is extremely noisy. It is precisely at the rapture (gathering of the saints, dead and alive) that the following does occur .The Scriptures say Jesus will descend "with a SHOUT, with the VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, and with the TRUMP OF GOD." 1 Thessalonians 4:16, emphasis added. David says, "Our God [Is. 25:9] shall come, and shall not keep silence: ... it shall be very tempestuous [violent, whirling] round about him." Psalm 50:3. And Jeremiah says, "The Lord shall roar from on high, ... he shall mightily roar...; he shall give a shout. ... A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth." Jeremiah 25:30, 31. Nothing about it is quiet! Christ will come with a noise heard around the world. His coming is SUDDEN, “like a thief in the night”, bringing “SUDDEN DESTRUCTION” (since a thief “cometh [SUDDENLY] to kill, steal, and destroy”. 2 Peter says (in 2 Peter 3:10) that His coming will be “like a thief in the night”, but notice carefully what happens to signal this thief-like coming- “the heavens shall pass away with a GREAT NOISE!! Seems as if the Bible is seeking to be emphatic about it being no secret at all!! The emphasis is on suddenness and surprise, NOT SILENCE!! Remember the loud sounding trumpet of God at Sinai in Exodus 19? That should wake us up as to what this “trump of God” at “the Coming of the Lord” will be like. See Exodus 19:16, 19.
Mark this well. If you are living when Jesus returns, you will hear Him come. Your ears will ring with catastrophic noise before the saints are “raptured”. Notice too that these sounds and noises all occur before and during the dead are being raised and the saints are being changed “ in the twinkling of an eye”, and NOT after!! The bodily change is what occurs in an instant, or “the twinkling of an eye”, and NOT the rapture itself as so many believe, but can’t find a Scripture which says so!!

2. The rapture is not invisible; all will see it. In fact, the Bible forever settled this by saying, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him." Revelation 1:7. Note the word “Him” in your memory well. Rest assured, if you are living at Jesus' second coming, you will see Him come, whether you are ready or not (of course the lost will be slain by this sight)!
Also, all of the angels will come with Jesus (Matthew 25:31). One lone angel appeared at Jesus' resurrection, and his brightness was so overpowering that the entire Roman guard fell to the ground as dead men (Matthew 28:2-4). Consider the staggering brightness of all the angels of heaven! Added to the glory of the angels will be Jesus' own glory (Matthew 25:31) and the glory of His Father (Matthew 16:27). The brightness will be overwhelming. Since angels are also called “saints” in Deut. 33:2 (in theK.J.V.), then this fully clears up whom Jesus will come with in Jude 14 and 15 (not the secretly pre-“raptured” earthly saints, but the heavenly ones who are simply literal angels). Jesus added, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:27. Secret? By no stretch of the imagination.

3. The rapture does not leave the wicked alive. They are slain at the Lord's coming (See 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Isaiah 11:4; Malachi 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8).

4. God does not remove the righteous from the tribulation, but rather protects them through it (Psalm 91:5-12). See the web site [url]truthleftbehind.com[/url] for details.

5. Christ's second coming will not be in two stages--one secret and the other seen by all. There is only one second coming, and it will be seen by every living person on earth. There is no Scripture to support a two-phase second coming. The Bible declares, He will come “a SECOND time” (Heb. 9:27) to issue rewards to ALL (Rev.22: 12); not a third!!

6. The secret rapture teachers claim that there is a seven-year period between the two (2) second comings of Christ (if there is ever such a thing as ”two second comings”). This is not scriptural. No clear Scripture says this, just the twisted interpretation (by some) of certain prophecies in Daniel, which must be seen only through the eyes of the interpreter, and NOT by the clear word of God. Why ignore the clear Scriptures presented here so far in favor of the vain imaginings of some far-off prophetic interpretation of Daniel 9 by some? Also, of course, it would mean that the wicked now hearing this false doctrine over the media would KNOW precisely the WHEN of their coming destruction, and the end of the world. It would be, by this doctrine of satanic heresy, “seven years after the rapture”. What would be really unexpected or sudden about this to them? “Oh what a tangled we weave…”
Immediately after warning about tricky false prophets and deception, Jesus Christ said, "Wherefore if they say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:26, 27, emphasis added). Here Jesus draws a razor-sharp contrast between false views of His return and the truth. When it comes to false views, don't miss that little word "secret." Jesus plainly warned that people will mistakenly "say" His coming will be in "secret” evidenced only by vanished Christians. In fact, based on the context, we discover that this will be one of those powerful delusions, which only God's faithful elect will avoid. So how should we respond when people say Jesus' coming will be in secret? Christ's answer is stunning. Jesus said, "Believe it not"! Why? Because "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Far from being a secret event, the return of Jesus Christ will be like the brilliant flashing of millions of lightning bolts blazing across the sky because all will see “Him” coming, and NOT just the after evidence of His coming (Rev. 1:7).

7. Antichrist does not appear three and one-half years after the second coming of Jesus. He has been active for centuries (1 John 4:3) and is doing his nefarious and deceptive work even now.

8. The wicked will not have a second opportunity to be saved after the second coming. All sinners will be destroyed at the second coming at the “rapture”. There is no second opportunity for anyone after Jesus' second coming (Rev. 22:12).
_________________
Derrick Gillespie (Mr)