I suppose this scripture is a not truthful...
The Coming of the Lord
13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Nero may have been a form of antichrist....but I don’t believe he was THE antichrist. There are too many things in the Revelation that have not come to pass. There is no New Jerusalem here...yet. 2/3 of the worlds population was not annihilated during Nero’s reign...he did some damage to the Christian population...but even his great empire did not encompass the whole earth.. Jesus has not set up HIS kingdom here..yet either.
The great Battle in which Christ leads his army against the antichrist hasn’t happened either...unless we missed something during Nero’s time. If it happened during Nero’s time.....where is Jesus reigning the whole earth for a millenium? A lot of earthly governments haven’t gotten that memo yet...I suppose. Why is evil still here..when the revelation says the evil one, the Beast will be thrown into a lake of fire with all his cohorts...?
If God is who He says He is...then He is incapable of lying...to deny the “rapture” and to claim Nero the antichrist....is saying the scriptures are not true.
No. It is to say that your interpretation of them (which is rooted in dispensationalism, a complex interpretive scheme invented in the 1850's that you have, perhaps unconsciously, superimposed upon Scripture) is not true.
Mr. Adams, as a partial preterist, doesn't disagree about the veracity of 1The. 4:13-16 - he just believes that it refers to the resurrection of the dead.
‘If God is who He says He is...then He is incapable of lying...to deny the “rapture” and to claim Nero the antichrist....is saying the scriptures are not true.’
On the other hand, it might be just saying that a reading of the 2Thess passage and the Apocalypse that did not exist before the early 19th century Plymouth Brethren intererpretations popularized by John Darby caught on in Britain and the USA is not true.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/cathouse/darby.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nelson_Darby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Brethren
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture
Good post. Just as God delivered Noah from HIS wrath, He will deliver His saints, also, for we are not subject unto wrath. Just like they didn’t listen to Noah and his warnings - instead they laughed at him - so, too, are the naysayers of this day. It’s to be expected. We do not know the day or hour but we do know the season for...It Is Written.
We must keep oil in our lamps and be ready for The Shout! Imagine being here when the Holy Spirit filled church is taken out/taken up. When goodness is gone and evil reigns here!
While we are having our Marriage Feast - the bride/church with our Bridegroom/Jesus - those not ready and living in expectancy will finally see - Jesus is The Living Word and His Word is true and every knee will bow! However, too late to escape His wrath.