To: O'Hara who wrote (537 ) 7/16/2000 3:46:52 PM From: Sidney Reilly Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 609 Hello shalom, It's been a long time since we wrangled on the Ask God thread. is alan markoff still over there? And Emile? I haven't looked in so long I can't even remember the last time I did. I have thought a lot about the great "falling away" as you have. I think that the great falling away could take place over several generations and not be a very sudden falling away, although that could happen also. In recent times the whole world has "fallen away" when you think about it. The last hundred years has seen a tremendous erosion of faith in God. Even whole political systems in the last hundred years have been based on atheism. The last days and the great falling away could be slow moving and harder to see, not being a sudden thing. But to God, who says a thousand years is as a day to Him and a day as a thousand years......what I'm saying is not inconceivable. There will be a falling away from the church at the very end when God finally separates the wheat from the chaff. Chaff looks like wheat but is not. That scripture is talking about the church, not the world in general. There has to be a separation of God's chosen people from the church goers who don't know Him and are not His, but they look like they are. They are the chaff, that will be separated. That might look like a falling away, but that's just the final threshing. There will be a catching up when Jesus appears to reap His church from the earth as Paul describes in 1 Cor. 15:50-58. The true believers will be gathered from the four corners of the earth, then the wrath of God will be poured out. This is described in Rev. 14:14-20. I think the Lord is tarrying right now! I haven't spent the time on this that you have for this post. I have posted many times on this thread though, with a lot of scripture and explanation!! If anyone cares to look back....