Story the MSM is ignoring: The Rapture Ready Index has been above 160 ALL YEAR so far

Rapture Ready ^

[The Theophilus]

the only bigger sign would be if “aliens” landed from “space”.

If you want the Evangelical view, there are legions of books, websites and arm-chair Prophets out there more than willing to turn any event into a "sure sign of Christ's Return".

I'm bored, so let me spin a new tale in Speculative Theology

The Orthodox view of things says that Satan through the Church Age has been bound in chains. (Rev 20:2). Never mind the Futurists, Revelation is written, in their view, for the benefit of the Reprobate.

The argument goes that in Mt 16:19;18:18 gives the Apostles the power to bind and loosen spiritual entities. And in Acts we see them effectively performing exorcisms. This is actually a useful thing because in Mk 3:27 we read that one can't pillage the strong man's house unless that man has been previously bound. The context of this binding of the strong man directly relates to Satan.

In view of the totality of OT history, very few Gentiles came to faith, and only then when they were confronted by men of faith. Easily, nearly 100% of humanity before the cross was reprobate. Why? Because Satan was able to darken the minds so that they could not understand (2 Cor 4:3-4)

Now after Pentecost, the disciples began in Jerusalem then went througout Judea, Samaria and to the outermost parts of the world. How is it that they could get the message to the Gentiles where it was accepted? They bound Satan progressively. We see in Acts where Satan was progressively bound as the disciples and only the disciples went out.

Now for secular sources. If you read "Cessation of the Oracles" written by Plutarch a wealthy playboy historian, adventurer, a contemporary of Paul, we read that in one of his travels he came about the men of a particular Greek city who were weeping because the Oracles were silent. I don't think that this story was made up, that indeed the Oracles must have spoken at one time, but now are silent. Why? I submit that Plutarch visited this town after the Apostles came through.

We read in Exodus how the Egyptians were able to do things that our magicians today can't do in response to what Moses and Aaron were doing in Pharoah's court. One of the more interesting stories comes from Elijah confronting the priests of Ba'al and staging a winner takes all contest in who can conjure up fire from the sky.

Fire from the sky was Ba'al's specialty, that is why Elijah chose it, and the priests quickly accepted the challenge. Now if Ba'al couldn't do this, why would any priest of Ba'al accept the challenge. What if demonic spirits could produce that occasional bolt of fire from the sky? What if demonic spirits could assist the Egyptian magicians in duplicate many of Moses' signs?

We know how the story went with Elijah, God is LORD over the demonic entities so their fire was stopped. If we examine the Dueling Plagues in Exodus, you will note that while the Egyptian magicians could make a mess, they couldn't clean it up, and Pharaoh petitioned Moses to restore the Nile after his own people corrupted it.

You may see where I am going now. The NT Church after the Apostles has never seen what a world with an unchained Satan is like. Yes, Satan while metaphorically chained up can still tempt, but his powers to deceive are bound in so much as the Church can prosper. Is he upset about that? Sure, that is why he is characterized as a raging lion. Now in Revelation, we read that prior to the Last Day, Satan will be unbound and for many this marks the Great Tribulation where God and Death have the final showdown.

I submit, for this mother of camp fire stories, that modern man has absolutely no clue as to what things will be like as far as wierd signs from the heavens once Satan is unleashed to deceive the nations once more. All I know is Satan once was permitted to send fire down from heaven and turn the Nile into blood. Let your imagination go on from there.

[tlb]

You illustrate my point.

[labette]

Interesting -

and welcome aboard !

[The Theophilus]

YOUR "opinion" is trumped by CHRISTS own words

I'm looking at those words, and I don't see "rapture". I submit that you are eisegeting these passages, and since it doesn't say rapture, you just gratuitously put it in there.

Here is a quick test. Where does it suggest that the one taken away is being raptured - or that the one taken away is the wheat and the other Left Behind is the tare? See, you have to assume things not in evidence.

Now lets look at our LORD words on this topic and you will quickly discover that you are claiming the exact opposite of what our LORD described.

Read Matthew 13:36-43. Here are the highlights:

• Jesus explains the meaning of the wheat and the tares.
• He who sows the good seed is our LORD.
• the field is the world
• the good seeds are the Elect
• the tares are the reprobate
• the harvest is the End of the Age
• Reapers are angels.
• The tares are gathered and burned
• The wheat remains and shine forth as the sun

Once again, the Evangelicals get it all wrong because it doesn't fit the Fantasy

[battousai]

We are to be in constant anticipation of Christs return.

Indeed... by living our lives so as to approach the perfection which is Jesus... NOT by making up stupid indicies to count down to things that Jesus himself has no idea as to when it will be.

You are also misunderstanding what I wrote I think, first of all I am not mocking the second coming, nor saying it will not happen - what I am saying is stop trying to figure out when it is going to happen. Yes the bible says to be looking for our hope.. i.e. better live a life pleasing to God for you don't know when he is coming, it doesn't say spend time once again trying to figure out when.

The point is you should be always anticipating his return and behaving accordingly, not trying to figure out when, so if you some how figure out the exact date, do you just wait till the last min to put on your good behaviour?

Having watched many shows from many preachers for many years on all this stuff, in the end it smacks more of being fortune telling than anything grounded in the Bible, its like people reading what they want from Nostrodamus to claim what will happen in the future. The only clear answer was God only knows, the rest of us get back to work :)

[Artemis Webb]

This is a joke thread...right?

[Larry Lucido]

I’ve been using that line on chicks all year. Meeting with only moderate success.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I would figure that 160 is the “get ready for Jesus” level. I’m ready.

[Larry Lucido]

By the way, “USALiberty,” if this is so gol-danged important....

....why are you using it to get blog hits??????????

Hmmmmmm????

Phony.

[mountn man]

I'm not sure there are any specific prophecies that are left to be fulfilled. What we see happening now are what the Bible calls "Birth Pangs".

There are 2 prophecies that do happen either right before or at the beginning of the 7 year Tribulation. One is the Gog/Magog war with Israel. Basically a huge coalition army with primarily muslim nations and possibly Russia.

The other is a leader who comes on the world scene, and oversees and agrees with a 7 year peace plan with Israel. This plan will be broken by this leader 1/2 way through.

My thoughts are that this agreement is the starting point of the Tribulation. The question I have is will we see this leader rise up, before he agrees to the peace plan.

We know that during the 7 year tribulation that a one world government is implemented. We are watching as the world lines up for this already.

There will also be a one world monetary system, that people will be required to have special mark, that without no one will be able to buy or sell. There is a push to dissolve every nations currency and bring in one currency, much LIKE the Euro, but for the entire world. Also, groups like the Council On Foreign Relations want to have EVERY person "chipped" by 2017. A chip that would have all of a persons vital information and banking info, doing away with physical money. Kind of hard to buy and sell anything without a chip, if physical money is eliminated.

SO we do not need to have specific prophecies to actually be fulfilled (past tense). We can watch as these prophecies evolve.

There will be a one world government-which means the US must lose preeminence and sovereignty. What is happening today with our dear leader?

If all the worlds currencies are virtually bankrupt, then its easier to create a single monetary system. Whats happening with Europe and the Euro, and Greece and Spain? The US dollar will soon collapse. China holds over $1 trillion in US debt, not to mention others debts. What will happen to Chinas money if the US dollar collapses?

Watch Israel. EVERYTHING in Bible prophecy revolves around Israel. Jerusalem will be a burdensome stone to the entire world. The world is aligning step by step against Israel. In the Islamic world, Turkey WAS an ally of Israel. The last 2 years Turkey started to slowly change its stance with Israel. Today Turkey is no longer viewed as an ally of Israel. If Turkey has changed this much in 2 years, slowly at first, more rapidly recently, what will they be like in the no too distant future? Turkey is one of the main nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38&39, in the battle of Gog/Magog w/ Israel.

EVERYTHING Israel does is condemned by the worlds leaders. Israel is attacked-no problem. Israel responds or defends itself-Israel is evil.

There are numerous people that I have talked to, or I have heard comment, that end time events have rapidly increased in the last 2 years, and are building faster. I have thought this myself, BEFORE I heard others confirming this in me.

[mountn man]

And you illustrate Peters.

I'll align myself with Peter, Paul and Christ.

[mountn man]

You ARE a moron aren't you. The Bible doesn't use the word trinity and yet is a tenet of the Bible. One doesn't have to use the word "rapture" to see that Christ himself talked of the happening. And that Paul likewise described it.

You talk about " you have to assume things not in evidence."

Your the one developing a theory out of whole cloth. You said that the people who disappeared were taken by the Romans. And yet Christ says "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

[Religion Moderator]

Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.

[mountn man]

Christ chastised the religous leaders of his day, for them not knowing of his coming, though prophecy told them the details. The wise men were EXPECTING and watching, because they knew the signs of the times.

Likewise, the Bible admonishes us to know the signs of the times of Christs return. We are to be vigilant in looking for his return.

Our jobs are not to be focused on us and our "perfection". We are to spread the Good News. THAT is why we look towards Christs return. Just as a farmer can see storm clouds in the distance, and knows to get crops in, or sees the seasons change, and that the harvest is near, likewise we watch the signs of the times to know the season. I see the season of harvest as very near, my job is to prepare the crops for harvest.

God promised to finish a good work in me, though I'm supposed to grow in Christ, my focus isn't about perfecting me. Thats Gods job, I just open myself to his leading and teaching. My job, the Great Commission, is to tell others about Christ.

[Seven_0]

Once again, the Evangelicals get it all wrong because it doesn't fit the Fantasy

You may be surprised to find out that Scofield agrees with your interpretation that the wheat was left behind. Look at Scofield's note on Matthew 24:39. It is talking about the second advent, not the rapture. "They knew not until the flood took them all away."

Contrast this with Revelation 14:14-20 Where the evil ones are left behind for judgment.

[The Theophilus]

mountn man, I'm not your enemy.

To eisegete a passage means to add in one's own biases. I simply pointed out that the phrase "one taken" does not mean "raptured". To read "rapture" into the passage means that you inserted your own personal bias. I proved the bias by refuting your claim that Jesus taught it. I demonstrated that by pointing you to His actual words regarding the event. In that event, where He even explained it in plain words demonstrates that there is no "rapture", rather it is the wicked who are removed and the saved remain. That is the exact opposite of what you added to those "taken" passages.

The Bible doesn't use the word trinity and yet is a tenet of the Bible.

But you and I can show in Scripture this tenet. You cannot do so with a "rapture". The "rapture" is a relatively modern concept, and is not recognized as any doctrine ever taught by the Church prior to the invention of Dispensationalism. The Trinity, on the other hand has been with us from the beginning.

Furthermore, though the concept of the Dispensationalist's Rapture is not taught in Scripture, the word does indeed exist in the Bible, it is the Latin word "rapturo" which is read in the English as "caught up". There is a whole lot of eisegeting that takes place where "caught up" is to be understood as a secret return, seven years of partying, followed by a glorious return.

The pet prooftext of the Rapture Enthusiasts is found in 1 Thess 4:17 then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This is where we find the latin word we get "rapture" ...deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus... Interestingly, the "meet", or 'άπάντήσις'is used in Mat 25:6 the parable of the virgins where they go out to meet the bridegroom; and it is also used in Acts 28:15 when the towns people came out to meet Paul. The idea is that we don't go up meet Christ and then leave, but that it is akin to going outside the city gates to approach a coming dignitary and escort them back to the city. This type is found on the first day of the Passion week when the people came out to our LORD entering Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and escorted Him in. That time it was humility on a donkey, in the future, it will be our King in Glory.

You said that the people who disappeared were taken by the Romans.

I gave you the Full Preterist view, and I believe I also gave you the view I prefer which is the Partial, or Realized Millennial view. Besides, you are not on good ground by suggesting that the Matthew 24 passage is a rapture passage. The evangelical revisionism claims a silent Rapture, "A Great Trumpet" doesn't fit too well with that Silent Rapture theory. It does fit in quite swimmingly with my prefered Realzied Millennial view.

Thanks for your thoughts (except the childish insult part)

[USALiberty]

....why are you using it to get blog hits??????????

I don't have a blog. I was just pointing out that, as usual, the MSM is totally ignoring End Times-related stories. What could be more important than the coming end of the world?

[Larry Lucido]

Nothing, arguably.

So, why are you excerpting??? Post it.

The deranged vagrant on the downtown Detroit street corner says basically the same thing every day as you are saying. The difference is, he finishes his thoughts. I have yet to hear him say, "The end is coming, (excerpted, click on the hobo across the street for more)."

[shibumi]

"What could be more important than the coming end of the world? "

Your soul.

We should all be living every day as if it were the last. If you live your life that way, it doesn't matter if, or when, it happens.

[Larry Lucido]

Agreed.

But, God gives points for blog hits, too.

Set up your Godwords account at Godwords.google.com