What About The Rapture?

[sheep wrecked]

(12-25-2008 10:29 PM)strefanash Wrote:  Stref:

I take the Rapture to be a real event. To me I Thessalonians 4:17 is most clear - there will be a time when the dead in christ wil rise then we who are alive will be snatched away to meet the Lord in the clouds.

The greek word is harpazdo - to seize or snatch, and rapture is simply a latin equivalent of this word. That the word rapture does not appear in scripture is not relevant. It is a theological term summarizing what is clearly taught in the Bible, just as the word Trinity, another latinism, is. For though the word trinity is not in the Bible the reality of some kind of threeness (latin Trinitas, lit threeness)in the Godhead is

However i flatly deny the rapture will be a secret rapture. I hold it is the same thing as the first resurrection and happens at the very end of the Great Tribulation as Christ returns. And it wil be loud (with a shout) and visible, in order to vindicate the Church which had just been being martyred in their multitudes. When the unbelievers see this they will run screaming in terror crying for the rocks to hide them as those they had been miurdering were rising from the dead before their very eyes

That is to say if the Great Tribulation happens in our lifetimes we wil live through it and/or be martyred.

They wouldnt be so arrogant and cocky if they thought they were going to go through the great trib. And they certainly wouldnt be trying to foment war in the Middle East knowing they would have to live with the consequences