Posted on 05/08/2020 4:37:58 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
I won’t touch that one. Aufustine already said it was the profession by faith that is the Rock of which Christ spoke.
Okay, I let the first comment go by without commenting, but I have to step in here and ask you both to rethink what you're sayin'...
First let me mention that there may be so few who are actually deemed righteous enough to be ruptured, most may never even know the rapture occurred - the rest to await death and judgment day.
But to what I want to point out, if the entire world is in the midst of the worst part of the Bible, do you really believe those afraid for their lives, their hearts failing them from fear, are going to stop and say, hey, I didn't see this rapture thing happen, so I'm going to rethink this whole God thingy.
Maybe instead, those who find themselves in such a predicament are going to be calling on the Lord to save them from the apocalypse, don't ya think?
You can conclude anything you wish to believe. The word of God taken in full points to the Body of Christ being removed before God pours out His wrath on the unbelievers. And yet the Mercy of God is shown in that out of the Tribulation a number so great John could not count it come out of the tribulation to Heaven. These are not the body of Christ but it is only by finally trusting in Him that they show up in Heaven.
Nice dodge, but the manuscript is from the time of the ECF, even as you choose to deny it refutes your false assertion of No written material. and there are others found in sermons from ECFs. But of course you have chosen to not believe so you will believe what you want rather than truth.
that any true student of the Bible
......................................
How would one describe a true student of the Bible?
sasportas, have you ever read 1 Thes. and 2 Thes.? Why did Paul write the 2nd letter to them? He tells us. It was to comfort them. They were troubled and confused about something (Chapter1:7) and he wrote that letter to assure them of things he had ALREADY told them REGARDING THE DAY OF THE LORD. Read Chapter 2 specifically. He says in Chapter2:5 that he had ALREADY told them of these things.
“Don’t count on being ‘gone’ (raptured) before trouble sets in.”
Christians must accept the reality that being a follower of Christ means being the recipients of persecution and tribulation.
2 Timothy 3:12 (NKJV)
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
Acts 14:22b (NKJV)
We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.
John 16:33 (NKJV)
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
John 17:15 (NKJV)
I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
Through Christ’s atoning work on the cross, we who believe escape God’s just wrath against us. Jesus took our place and washed away our sins in His own blood so that we never need to encounter God’s wrath. This is what we can expect to escape rather than tribulation and persecution. But God does “keep” us as we go through these things. And He does not have to take us out of this world to do so.
How is it none of the ECF interpreted “the word of God” on these points you mentioned, as you do? You live about two thousand years later on this issue than they.
They had the same word of God before them as you, why do you disregard their interpretation on these points you made?
I’ll tell you why...read 2 Pet. 2:19,20. Yours is a “private interpretation,” your own interpretation, not what the word of God actually says. Yours is what you want it to say.
LOL, ‘as I do’! As the Bible does, sasportas. Jesus introduced the reality in John 14. Why would he be preparing a place for us in the Father’s House? Love for His. Does God abide IN THE BELIEVER? Answer that question with the reason for the wrath to come upon the Earth.
1 Thess.5:9 “For God hath NOT appointed us to WRATH, BUT to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
And
Romans 5:9. “Much more then, being NOW JUSTIFIED by His blood, we SHALL BE SAVED FROM WRATH THROUGH HIM”.
On your knees, open Bible, in a spirit of prayer. Is there any other way?
As a prophecy student of the Bible for 50 years, and a former pretrib I might add, yes, I am very familiar with 1 & 2 Thess.
Before I deal with your point, can I ask you a question? What does “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night,” 1 Thess. 5:2, mean to you? Is it when the rapture happens?
Here is a video from Andy Woods which starting at ten minutes fifteen seconds Pastor Andy gives reasons why The Departure is a better meaning for the 2 Thess 2:3 passage.
Here is a video from Andy Woods which starting at ten minutes fifteen seconds Pastor Andy gives reasons why The Departure is a better meaning for the 2 Thess 2:3 passage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-S22S5gTM
The Day od The Lord is something to fear for you unbelievers, yet it is a day believers will not even be on the Earth to witness. We shall be in Heaven with the Lord until He brings us with Him at the end of the Great Tribulation.
And here is a more full offering of the Andy Woods defense of 2 Thess 2:3 as The Departure of believers who have God abiding in their spirit (1 John 3:9): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU-S22S5gTM
Now MHGinTN is calling me an unbeliever because I believe in the singular second coming that all the early writers of church history believed. You do know, you are calling them unbelievers, don’t you?
This takes the cake.
There are distinctions between the coming of Christ to rapture the church and the coming of Christ to return to earth to reign.
That said....It is the Lord who controls the ultimate fulfillment of time and has sovereign control to bring His promises to pass. Only the Lord knows the exact times and seasons for His fulfillment. But we do know that God has not appointed us to his wrath which will surely be let loose in the tribulation. Thus I believe we will not be on this earth during that time of his wrath.
I realized this a few years ago. It may be pretty bad BEFORE a or the Rapture. I know the scripture does mention a thief in the night as it happens out of the blue. Only we may be in perilous times.
Secondly, once in awhile I make a snide and say, ‘It already happened, nobody went.”
I am not as certain of the Rapture as I used to be. Our call is just to be faithful. That is a struggle sometimes. Thank you Lord for your Mercy and Grace.
You are a liar, but that was coming anyway as you dissembled. I call you an unbeliever in the pre Trib Rapture and you fraudulently accuse me of calling you a nonbeliever in The Christ. You are a liar, whatever else you are. If you are in fact a Christian, try to get your points across without lying.
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