560 lines
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HTML
560 lines
47 KiB
HTML
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<h3>Recommendations</h3>
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<p><a href="/Audio/music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
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<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/justjesus0ece-20">Just Jesus: His Living Words (2011)</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jesusonchurchstructure-20">Jesus' Words on Church Structure</a> by S. Rives</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.jesusfocusedpublishers.com/"></a></p>
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<p> </p> </div>
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<a href="/JWO/jesuswordsonly.html"><img alt="JesusWordsOnS-cropsmall" src="/images/stories/JesusWordsOnS-cropsmall.jpg" width="116" height="117" /></a> </div>
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<a href="/JWOS/jesuswordssalvation.html"><img alt="JesusWordsSalv-crop2" src="/images/stories/JesusWordsSalv-crop2.jpg" width="114" height="146" /></a> </div>
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<a href="/Did-Calvin-Murder-Servetus/calvinfreebookonline.html"><img src="/images/stories/DidCalvinMurderServetusM.jpg" alt="DidCalvinMurderServetusM" height="NaN" width="120" /></a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.jesuswordsonly.com/" class="pathway">Home</a> <img src="/templates/js_relevant/images/arrow.png" alt="" /> Further Reading</span>
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<h2>Paul's View On The Rapture Is At Odds With Jesus & The Bible</h2>
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<p>[<a href="/images/stories/Lessons/paul rapture theory.pdf">PDF version</a>]</p>
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<div>
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<h2 class="Heading1">Why One's Rapture Concept Can Be Harmful</h2>
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<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997602"></a>If we are raptured prior to the tribulation--a terrible time of woe--then we might rely upon that and not prepare our minds to endure the kind of woes which God describes taking place during the tribulation. This Christian-first rapture theory can pose a problem because Jesus warned us repeatedly to be strong and endure the tribulation as His followers. (See details below.) However, we have adopted the view that we are not even here. As a result, the repeated warnings from Christ are (a) diluted and (b) undermined. Hence, a Christians-first rapture theory <strong><em>can be harmful to preparing for the tribulation because it undermines Jesus's words to be ready and prepared for it</em></strong>.</span></p>
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<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997615"></a>We shall see that Paul incorrectly understood a rapture of Christians when Jesus and the Bible only had one group in mind for the rapture: the evildoers who are removed from the Earth when the Son of Man comes to conquer the Earth and brings to a close the tribulation. The righteous inherit the earth rather than are plucked out of it. Paul misundestood this, and misapplied (a) the timing and (b) who is raptured.</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><a name="pgfId=997601"></a>Paul's Rapture Theory At Odds With Jesus' Teaching</h2>
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<p class="Bodyafterhed"><a name="pgfId=997469"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Prior to the 300s, none of the early church leaders ever repeated Paul's theory of a rapture of Christians. Paul's Christian-rapture view never was mentioned as part of any end-time anticipation by anyone between 100-373 A.D. Not once! The early church believed in what can be termed in today's terminology a<strong><em> non</em></strong>-Christian rapture premillenialism. As Michael Vlach points out: "The earliest Christians looked for three things: (1) the return of Jesus Christ; (2) a cataclysmic end to the present age; and (3) a bodily resurrection [from the dead]." (Michael J. Vlach, <em>Eschatology in Church History</em> (2003), printed at <a href="http://www.theologicalstudies.org/page/page/1572935.htm">http://www.theologicalstudies.org/page/page/1572935.htm</a> (last accessed in 2005).</span></p>
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<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997620"></a>No rapture away from earth of Christians at Christ's coming was anticipated. Vlach continues: "The one thousand year reign of Christ mentioned in Revelation 20:1-6 was viewed eschatologically and futuristically." Vlach points out that among the premillennialists in the early church were Papias (60-130), Irenaeus (130-200), Justin Martyr (100-165), and Tertullian (160-225).</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997358"></a>However, in the late 300s, the first mention is ever made that Paul taught an initial rapture of Christians. Ephraem the Syrian is the only ancient source, dating to 373 A.D., to repeat Paul's unique view. Up to that time, no one formulated any end time view based on Paul's teaching that Christians will be raptured at the Second Coming of Christ.</span></p>
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||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997636"></a>Ephraem the Syrian's commentary on <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:15-17</a> from 373 A.D. was recently translated. It is entitled<em> On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World</em>. He states: "All the saints and elect of God are gathered together <strong><em>before the tribulation</em></strong>, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that <strong><em>they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins</em></strong>."</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997365"></a>How stark were the differences between Paul and Revelation? There is no way to insert a rapture of Christians into the non-rapture premillenial view set forth in the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation clearly teaches there is<strong><em> no rapture of Christians preceding in any way the Second Coming of Christ</em></strong>. Yet, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17</a> does. Some Paulinists recognize the conflict.</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">To save Paul, some try to dismiss the importance of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17</a>. While they admit 50 verses in the Bible say there is a rapture first of evildoers--not Christians, they try to save Paul by insisting as to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17</a>, "We should not establish doctrine on one single scripture." (H. Speed Wilson,<em> Rapture: Prophecy or Heresy?</em> (1989), a paperback book, and a shortened version is available online at this <a href="http://www.preteristarchive.com/dEmEnTiA/1989_wilson_10k-challenge.html">link</a> (last accessed in 2010).)<a name=";pgfId=997653"></a></span></p>
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||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997661"></a>They go on to spin Paul in implausible ways to be talking entirely in spiritual language. Paul supposedly was not speaking of a physical real rapture. However, Paul is far too clear to permit such a solution. In the next section, we will prove precisely the Bible's clearly inspired books contradict Paul on the rapture.</span></p>
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<div>
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<h2 class="Heading1">Paul versus the Book of Revelation and Jesus</h2>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">In contrast to Paul, Revelation's end-time teaching did not permit any opportunity for a rapture of Christians before or after Jesus' Second Coming. Paul is the sole source of the idea that Christians are raptured when Jesus Christ returns. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thess.%204:17&version=KJV">1 Thess. 4:17.</a>)</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997386"></a><a name="38657"></a>It appears Paul misunderstood the twelve apostles' teaching about the rapture of evildoers when Christ returns. Paul must have thought the apostles were talking about a rapture of Christians.<strong><em> Paul's idea of a rapture of Christians that leaves evildoers behind cannot fit into any scenario Jesus gave or which Revelation states</em></strong>. This is why we have all the conflicting versions of the rapture of Christians: pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, premillennial and post-millenial. Every solution to Paul's contradiction with Revelation has its rebuttal. These mutually repugnant theories are the direct result of trying to fit a square peg (Paul) into a round hole (inspired canon).</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997387"></a>This may sound provocative until one makes an effort to clear their mind of the incessant Paul-inspired lessons we experience, such as from the film series<em> Left Behind</em>. The notion of a rapture of Christians has taken on a life of its own. However,<strong><em> if you read Jesus in Matthew and Revelation alone, you find the one and only rapture.</em></strong> It leaves Christians behind to inherit the earth. This is because Jesus and Revelation <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>only speak of a rapture of evildoers</strong></span>.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997388"></a>Jesus twice and Revelation once says that when Jesus returns the evil are raptured out of the earth first, leaving behind the Christians. First, in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:37-42&version=KJV">Matthew 24:37-42</a>, Jesus taught when He comes, it will be <strong><em>like in the days of Noah</em></strong> when the "flood came and <em><strong>took them</strong></em> [<em>i.e.</em>, evildoers]<em><strong> all away</strong></em>." It is in that context Jesus says one will be taken and another left. The verb taken regarding the person at the mill is the same word as in the flood...<em><strong>took them all away</strong></em>. Just as the flood took all the evildoers away first, so will the evildoers be plucked out of the earth first and taken away at the Second Coming. Thus, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:37-42&version=KJV">Matthew 24:37-42</a> intends the reader to understand by a paralellism that the true Christian is left behind. The evildoers are the ones taken.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">What helps confirm this is the Hebrew Matthew -- the oldest version of Matthew upon which the modern Greek translation was built. It has a variant that confirms <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024:40&version=KJV">Matthew 24:40</a> is talking of the rapture of evildoers, not Christians. See this <a href="/Hebrew-Matthew/rapture-in-hebrew-matthew.html">link</a>.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997389"></a>Furthermore, Jesus more clearly in Matthew ch. 13 made this identical point of rapturing evildoers first. This starts out as the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. When the angels come with Him in the clouds, they are<strong><em> careful to not take the wheat first</em></strong> (<em>i.e.</em>, the Christians on earth). Instead, the command will go forth: "Gather up<strong><em> first the tares</em></strong> [<em>i.e</em>., evildoers]...to burn them." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A30&version=KJV">Matt. 13:30</a>.) Jesus then explains the parable's meaning: Jesus says this is precisely what will happen when the Son of Man returns. The evildoers will be<strong><em> taken first</em></strong> and then the wheat (Christians on earth) are gathered into God's barn. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2013:40&version=KJV">Matt. 13:40</a>.)</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997390"></a>This precisely matches the Book of Revelation. Jesus' Second Coming is at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2014:1&version=KJV">Revelation 14:1</a> (standing on Mount Zion with the 144,00 Christian saints who endured the beast on earth). Then in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:14&version=KJV">Revelation 14:14</a></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">, Jesus is up in the clouds hovering over the earth. It is then that Jesus puts forth</span><strong><em> a great sickle from the clouds to remove all the evildoers for punishment</em></strong><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">. </span></p>
|
||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><sup>14</sup>And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.<sup>15</sup>And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. <sup>16</sup><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped....</span></strong>. <sup>19</sup>And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>wrath of God</strong></span>. <sup>20</sup>And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:14-20&version=KJV">Rev. 14:14-20 KJV.</a>)</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Are the Christians already gone when the evildoers are removed? Absolutely not. They are on Mount Zion on earth in Revelation 14:1 when this happens. There is no rapture of Christians in Revelation at the Second Coming. Instead, Christians inherit the earth. Those Christians alive then will inherit the earth, and Christ will begin his reign over them at Zion.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997391"></a>Thus, Jesus twice and Revelation once says the rapture is <em><strong>first</strong></em> of evildoers at Jesus' Second Coming. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2013:30-40&version=KJV">Matt. 13:30-40</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:37-42&version=KJV">Matt. 24:37-42</a>; <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:1-4,%2014-20&version=KJV">Rev. 14:1-4; 14-20</a>.) Christians are left behind in the place where Christ is coming so as to greet Him: Earth.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997392"></a>The same principle appears repeatedly in Hebrew Scripture. The evil are to be removed, leaving the righteous behind to inherit the earth.</span></p>
|
||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997693"></a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2037:9-11&version=KJV">Ps 37:9-11 (KJV)</a> "For <strong>evildoers shall be cut off</strong>; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall <strong><em>inherit the earth</em></strong>. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, <strong><em>you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more</em></strong>. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."</span></p>
|
||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997697"></a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%202:21-22&version=KJV">Prov 2:21-22</a> "For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; But the wicked will be<strong><em> cut off from the earth</em></strong>, and the unfaithful will be<em><strong> uprooted </strong></em>from it."</span></p>
|
||
<p style="padding-left: 30px;" class="Quote"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997735"></a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2010:30&version=KJV">Prov 10:30</a> "The righteous will <em><strong>never be removed</strong></em>, but the <strong><em>wicked will not inhabit</em></strong> the earth."</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997396"></a>Thus, Paul contradicts two passages of Matthew and the entire eschatology of Revelation</span>.<a name="pgfId=997747"></a></p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div>
|
||
<h2 class="Heading1"><a name="pgfId=997746"></a>Paulinist Re-Interpretation of the Book of Revelation</h2>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997748"></a>The Christian-rapture proponents believe the rapture is implied somewhere in Revelation ch.12, and thus precedes Jesus' Second Coming at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:1&version=KJV">Rev. 14:1</a>. However, they develop unreasonable interpretations to make this claim. How so?</span></p>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997759"></a>In <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2012:1&version=KJV">Revelation 12:1</a>, we see a woman who later is said to have given birth to Jesus (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2012:5&version=KJV">Rev. 12:5</a>.) Incongruously, rapture-proponents equate this woman who<strong><em> gave birth to Jesus</em></strong> with the<em><strong> church</strong></em>. The reason they do so will be explained momentarily. But equating her to the church is grasping at straws to sustain their rapture-of-Christians view inherited from Paul.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997766"></a>It is Jesus who gave birth to the church, and not vice-versa. This woman cannot be the church giving birth to Jesus. That is offensive.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997771"></a>What is appealing about this woman representing the church to Paulinists/Paul-rapturists is this woman <strong><em>takes flight to the mountains</em></strong>. The rapture-proponents equate this flight to the rapture. However, even if this woman were the N.T. church (she cannot be), her flight to the mountains is on earth, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>not a rapture into heaven</strong></span>. Revelation is often figurative, but it is too far<strong><em> a stretch to say a flight to mountains is a flight to heaven</em></strong>.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997772"></a>Then who is the woman really? She represents the <em><strong>sons of Israel</strong></em>. That is how she gives birth to Jesus. It cannot be the church per se because the church did not give birth to Jesus. This woman must pre-exist Christ's birth. Yet, she is displayed here as the victor with Christ.<a name="pgfId=997773uot;></a>The woman represents Israel, the bride of God as God so often calls Israel. Why do we think so?</p> <p class="></a></span></p>
|
||
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|
||
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|
||
<h2 class="Heading1">More Details From Revelation</h2>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=997398"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Let's delve a little deeper into Revelation's prediction. When Christ returns and sets foot on Mount Zion (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:4&version=KJV">Rev. 14:4</a>), He is welcomed by the 144,000 "saints." These had been previously sealed and thus protected from God's outpouring of wrath while they lived on earth. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%207:3-4&version=KJV">Revelation 7:3-4</a>.) After that period of wrath but prior to Jesus' return at <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:4&version=KJV">Rev. 14:4</a>, the beast comes to persecute and martyr them. This killing of the `saints' continues from Revelation ch. 7 through ch. 14. This is the tribulation period. They were persecuted by the beast, and many were killed. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2011:7&version=KJV">Rev. 11:7</a>. See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=dan%207:25&version=KJV">Daniel 7:25</a>.) Many suffered for "their testimony of Jesus." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2020:4&version=KJV">Rev. 20:4</a>.) Numerous times in Revelation, Jesus urges the churches to be prepared for this tribulation period and to be overcomers.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997402"></a>Who are these 144,000 saints who suffer for the "testimony of Jesus"? Based on a presupposition of Paul's validity, these saints are portrayed by Paulinists as Jewish non-Christian evangelists. This is because these commentators believe Paul teaches Christians were raptured pre-tribulation. However, this notion that no Christian is on earth during the tribulation is nonsense. J<strong>esus says the tribulation is shortened for the "elect's sake."</strong> (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2013:9-12&version=KJV">Mark 13:19-20</a>.) This makes no sense unless Christians are present and suffering in the tribulation. And more important, Jesus is telling us we will be here so as to be prepared for the challenge rather than looking forward to a quick escape if we become a believer.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997559"></a>Further, Jesus tells us that "<strong><em>after</em></strong> the tribulation" that He will come on the clouds, and we will "see" this. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2024:29-34&version=KJV">Matt. 24:29-34</a>.) Jesus' portrayal is that Christians will be looking up from earth and see Him coming on the clouds. If there are no Christians continuously on earth before and during the tribulation, then Jesus' words have no significance as warnings, as clearly He intended.</span></p>
|
||
<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997563"></a>Thus, Christians are in the tribulation according to Jesus in Mark and Matthew, and continuously so. Otherwise, Jesus's warning that we can "see this" is pointless. Accordingly, the 144,000 have to be the elect and faithful Christians. Revelation says they were in the tribulation which Jesus says was shortened for their sake as the "elect."</span></p>
|
||
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997403"></a>Thus, Christians did not disappear on earth between Revelation ch. 7 and ch. 14 (<em>i.e.</em>, the tribulation period.)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997404"></a>Next, Jesus' Second Coming begins at Revelation 14:1. Jesus is standing on Mount Zion with the Christian saints who endured the beast. Then Revelation ch. 14 describes how Jesus is seen in the clouds with His great sickle to harvest the earth. Then the<em><strong> evildoers are removed </strong></em>from earth by the <em><strong>two sweeps of the great sickle</strong></em>. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:16-18&version=KJV">Rev. 14:16-18</a>.) The remnant of the faithful "saints" (the 144,000) are <strong><em>left behind to inherit the earth</em></strong> for their "testimony of Jesus." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2020:4&version=KJV">Rev. 20:4</a>.) Then the New Jerusalem comes down to earth. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2021:1,5&version=KJV">Rev. 21:1,5</a>.) The song the faithful sing then thanks God that "we shall reign on the earth." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%205:9-10&version=KJV">Rev. 5:9-10</a>.)</span></p>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997441"></a></span><img src="file:///C:/Websites%20You%20Manage/JWOPDF/Lessons/paul%20rapture%20theoryhtml-1.gif" align="RIGHT" /><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Thus, as Revelations tells it, the 144,000 saints are: (1) on earth before Jesus' return; (2) persecuted and frequently martyred just prior to His return for their faith in Christ; (3) seen on earth after Jesus' return; and (4) continue on earth inside the New Jerusalem where they live and reign. There is no mention of a rapture of living-Christians to go up seven years prior or when Christ returns who then come back with Christ. There is only mention of the evildoers being raptured, leaving the remnant Christians to inherit the earth. Those who disagree (e.g., Gundry) on the meaning of Revelation ch. 14 do so by untenable explanations.</span><a href="file:///C:/Websites%20You%20Manage/JWOPDF/Lessons/paul%20rapture%20theoryhtml.html#pgfId=997444" class="footnote"><sup><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>1</sup></a><a name="pgfId=997802"></a></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><a name="pgfId=997806"></a>Gundry's Explanation</h2>
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<p class="Bodyafterhed"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;"><a name="pgfId=997790"></a>Bob Gundry, a teacher at Westmont college, struggles to explain away this rapture of evildoers in Revelation ch. 14. He equates it instead with a rapture of Christians. He does this by first abstractly identifying this event as a grain harvest. He says Jesus "reaps a harvest of grain" in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:14-20&version=KJV">Rev. 14:14-20</a>. (Bob Gundry, <em>First the Antichrist</em> (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, 1997) at 98-99.) Gundry then compares this to Paul's vision of Jesus taking us in a grain harvest. (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor.%2015:23,%2035-49&version=KJV">1 Cor. 15:23, 35-49</a>.) Gundry then says this grain harvest is presented as a blessing, citing <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:13&version=KJV">Rev. 14:13</a>. However, this verse does not say those caught away by Jesus' sickle are blessed. It says "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord...." It is clear in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev%2014:18&version=KJV">Rev. 14:18</a> that "grapes" are caught away from the earth in this harvest to be put in the winepress of the wrath of God "outside the city." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:19-20&version=KJV">Rev. 14:19-20</a>.) When pressed out, the juice that flows is identified as "blood." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:19-20&version=KJV">Rev. 14:20</a>.) This is a destruction of evildoers outside the city, not a blessing of those inside the kingdom of God. Gundry is wrong. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev.%2014:19-20&version=KJV">Revelation 14:14-20</a> is speaking of the taking of evildoers at his Second Coming, identical to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.13:30-40&version=KJV">Matt.13:30-40</a> & <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.%2024:37-42&version=KJV">Matt. 24:37-42</a>.</span></p>
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<h2 class="Heading1"><a name="pgfId=997825"></a>Conclusion</h2>
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<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=997445"></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">The fact there is no Christian rapture is something easily understood by someone living in the 300-400 A.D. period. They have not experienced the media hype we hear about of the rapture of Christians. To a Christian thinker in the 300s, Paul's idea of a Christian rapture at Christ's coming would be easily recognized as at direct odds with Revelation's prophecy as well as the words of Jesus. Clearly, in Revelation, there is no Christian rapture to heaven first. Instead, in Revelation ch. 14 the first rapture is of the evildoers, just as Jesus twice said in the gospel accounts.<a name="pgfId=997380"></a></span></p>
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<h2>Further Study</h2>
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<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">An even more detailed examination is in an email written to Ed. See this <a href="/JWO/jesus-v-paul-on-rapture.html">link</a>.<a name="pgfId=997372"></a></span></p>
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<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Even one who accepts Paul as valid believes the Rapture of Christians as an escape from tribulation is a dangerous deception. See Speed Wilson, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=AcK-9BBx3LYC">Rapture: A Dangerous Deception</a> (2009).</span></p>
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<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 12pt;">Compare Enoch: Cf. Enoch 100:4,5 (remove evil first from Earth before resurrecting the dead.). See August Dillmann, <em>The Book of Enoch</em> (Clarendon Press, 1893) at 287.</span></p>
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