><>...Hi Tom, and everyone...><>
Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord.
You wrote;
I begin with God's promise in 1 Thess 5:9, "For God did not appoint us to suffer
wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."
That is exactly right Tom. We are not appointed unto the wrath of God.
There is still no support here though for the rapture theory. Tom there are two tribulations.
1. The deceit of satan as the antichrist
And
2. The wrath of God
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Rev. 14
Ahh good point Tom, this is just one scripture that does in fact teach that saved people will definitely be here on earth at the coming of antichrist, satan as Jesus. Even the pretribbers admit to this one, only they don't (can't) admit that these people are Christians, at least not Christians belonging to the church. How could they be? According to their teachings the church has already been zapped outta here.! Imagine that. Saved people, but not Christians, and not belonging to the Church of Christ. Whose Gospel is that?
Nothing in Rev.14 or elsewhere teaches us that these 144,000 have replaced Christians as preachers of the gospel during the tribulations of satan. Only pre tribbers have a problem here, because Christians, by their teachings, are already gone.
Who else but Christians would have the word of God sealed in their foreheads?
As a matter of fact Tom, the book of Rev. contains by far the most detailed account of the tribulations and the return of Christ.
After Christians have been true to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ in evangelizing around the entire world for over 2000 yrs. does it make any Godly sense at all that God would, at the end, at this most crucial time in God's history, now trust others (non-Christians) to deliver His message of salvation?
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Then in verses 14 through 16 the earth is harvested,
which I take to mean that the Christians are delivered from earth and taken to be
with the Lord
To the contrary Tom.
This harvesting which is done with a sharp sickle spoken of is thrust into the vine. Note Tom that sickles are never used to gather fruit from a vine, it would splatter and destroy the fruit within it. The harvest here in this account cannot be of Christians. Also note
Rev 14:20
20 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.
This is the cup I believe that our Lord spoke of in
Matt 26:38-39
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
He knew that this day would come and was sorrowful knowing it. That is why He stopped in the middle of a sentence when quoting Is.61
Isa 61:2
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD...This is where he stopped.
The harvest at the end of this world age is what I believe is referenced in the next part,and He had not come the first time to fulfill that part of Is. But now at the end it will be the appointed time.
"and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn";
Our Lord speaking on the tares
Matt 13:39-40
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Have a blessed day
Shalom...><> |
