The Rapture is True and Pre Trib

[veteran]

veteran

i was not asked to prove pretrib rapture but for scriptures that told about a rapture. please lets all get on the same sheet of music. this miscommunication we are having will lead to strife if we are not careful. so please tell what is it you all are looking for? until i hear from you i think i will answer twc's question.

Oh, that's a good come-back, but I think it's pretty obvious you were trying to drum up evidence for the Pre-trib idea, especially when you just throw in the "Imminent" idea that originates from the Pre-trib theory right amongst them.

 

[tgwprophet]

No need for the Beast's Mark if everyone is gone in a pre-Trib rapture. No need for a rapture to spare anyone of the perils of Tribulations if it were to be post Trib. Because the first half of Trib is a time of bounty as Satan tries to " buy " people there is no need to spare people at that time. However, after mid term of Tribulations when the Mark of the Beast is made manditory... then there is need of a Rapture, but a need for whom is the real question... certainly Christains but which Christains? Many are to be left behind yet still be REAL Christains, so real that they would rather become be-headed than deny Jesus. A mid-term rapture... and a rapture that spares those believers who could not possibly denty trhe Beast's Mark is a rapture that works. I even expect many believers to survive the entirety of Tribulations.

A pre-Trib rapture would stifle the ability of the anti-christ (of course .. the anti-christ that receives the mortal wound ( a singular person not some organization ) to obtain power. He must have power before the rapture... and he will probably claim it as his doings. All those Christains that did not go... whether they be strong in their beliefs or mere fence walkers, will find difficulty maintaining their beliefs... and so the tares will be separated further. Do you wish to consider when the rapture takes place.. consider Dan 12:12. even correct understanding this passage does not provide one with the day or hour, so stay on watch.

 

[JosyWales]

Seems like people always interpret the literal as being symbolic and the symbolic as being literal.

The AIR and CLOUDS in Thes 1Th 4:17 were never meant to be interpreted as literal and Paul tells you so.

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Here Paul even interpretes it for you. He says plainly that when he speaks of AIR he is referring to the SPIRIT of Life.

He even goes further and gives you this:

Hbr 12:1 ¶ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

He is using clouds to mean a great throng, which is also the interpretation of Daniel 7 where it says:

Dan 7:13 ¶ I saw in the night visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

That last passage in Daniel is the same event as Paul is speaking of in Thess 4 and is about Michael meeting Jesus and the Armies of Heaven in the Spirit after the Beast is defeated.

The event Paul is actually speaking about in Thes 4 is detailed in Zech:

Zec 12:8
In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David [shall be] as God, as the angel of the LORD before them

This is the event Thess 4:17 is describing.

It is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon those beaten almost to death by the Beast (using the metaphor of AIR) and meeting the Lord and his host (clouds of heaven) in the spirit as they suddenly rise up and destroy him by the power of God. Those who are alive and remain, being led by "the Angel of the Lord before them" (Michael) shall join the resurrected dead coming up from below and the Host of Heaven led by Jesus hurtling down from above in a massive knockout punch that throughly destroys the Beast and his minions and ushers in the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth.

Instead of being afraid of the Apocalypse to the point of believing you will be either magically transported out of the world or by convencing yourself that it has already happened, you should have faith that the Lord will be with you through Tribulation and that in the end, it will all be worth it since:

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Because:

Rev 2:11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Which is wonderful because:

Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.