The Rapture

There is no pre-tribulation rapture.

Church, get ready.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

-- Ephesians 6:10-18a

Better to prepare to fight a battle that has been promised than to count on a rescue that has not.

Some say we will not face the Great Tribulation because God has promised to spare us from His wrath.

Is persecution His wrath? Is being beheaded for your faith, or tortured, or beaten, His wrath?

If so, then His wrath is being poured out upon Christians facing Islam in the world today. It was poured out upon those that faced atheist communists in Russia and China decades earlier, those who faced deadly beasts in the Roman arenas, and who stood up against Inquisitors and were tortured and burned.

No! That was not His wrath! His wrath is poured out on Babylon and the Beast and False Prophet at the very end! What the martyrs before us and with us and after us have and do and will experience is tribulation and persecution. Jesus promised us those:

Jesus said, "Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20).

Well, they spat upon Him and beat Him. They put Him on a cross.

What of Paul? Peter? James? Andrew? Matthew? All went to their deaths, torturous deaths, some after days, weeks, months, or years in a primitive, dark prison, because they knew what and Whom they believed. They knew it more certainly than they knew their own names.

They did not seek comfort or ease or entertainment. They sought after God.

Saying this in love. Not wanting to drive anyone away. Note the part of the forum it is under. There's a burden here to confront all deception and delusion that could be harmful to the believer, and this is a biggie.

I almost posted this up in the 'essentials' folder, that one of the essentials is that all who are His will face persecution, up to and (if you are alive then) including the Great Tribulation of the last days. IMHO, it is that important, but there is also the importance to see the rescue-rapture teaching as the deceptive doctrine that it is, so this is where it gets posted.

Just a few weeks ago. Just posted about this in my blog. The "church" is under a deep "left behind" deception in these final days before Messiah returns. They don't seem to think that over 250,000 Christians and Jews martyred annually is tribulation or as they say "bad enough" yet. Ugh! Bad enough for whom?

We have been in tribulation since Messiah was killed. Millions upon millions have been killed for standing up for YHWH in the last 2000 years. The time is almost over. We are almost upon the hour of trouble at the very end of this "time of the end" age we are currently in. The previous time, the time of the gentiles, ended in 1967. That is when the time of the end began and that time is almost over. This final hour of trouble is going to be horrible and I really pray that people don't fall away because they thought they were going to be raptured away before things got bad for us in the USA. How arrogant we are in the west because YHWH has blessed us for so long and kept us away from so much of the trouble the rest of world experiences.

Wake up church before it's too late! Messiah is coming like a thief in the night for those who are expecting Him.

I believe the church is about to come under heavy persecution too. Are we ready? Most of us are not. As my husband and I have lead Bible study, we have been amazed at the traditions that people hold onto. Even when they are presented with God's Word (in context) which contradicts their "traditional" doctrine, be it about the rapture, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or whatever. We've even had people tell us, "But what about the commentators?"

I'm not saying that all commentary is wrong but God's Word has to be the absolute standard to measure against. Some of these folks have been attending church all of their lives and have never questioned why their "traditional" beliefs don't hold up to God's Word. They trusted the theology or should I say theological training of a person instead of trusting God's Words. I guess they thought that God needed clarification. Lord help us to fix our eyes on Jesus!

Now I'm not saying that I am different from anyone else. I believed things about God's Word for years that weren't in God's Word. I just thought they were. It's hard to let go of traditional belief - its a pride thing. God has burdened my heart for some time now to use my own experience to show people that God has guidance for all things in His Word, the Bible. We need fellowship and good pastors to preach the truth but the individual has the responsibility as well to seek God through His Word and to question what doesn't measure up. This is where the enemy has done one of his best works within the family of God. There is a spirit of malaise and indifference in the church regarding Bible study.

There are some very dear believers who are strong on the Lord who believe in the pre-trib rapture. May they be right and we be wrong. I see the rapture at the 6th Seal and a second one (heretic) at the 7th Trumpet.

The 6th Seal begins the wrath of God and we are not appointed unto it and come "out of great tribulation".

And yes, I could be completely wrong and am not adamant of what I see and ask the Lord to enlighten my blindness.

Many die in the 5th Seal as that is the time of the martyrs. We may be fast approaching that time.

IF one fourth of the people of earth die in the 4th Seal in a short amount of time say from earthquakes, diseased oceans, plagues, famine, war, beasts of the earth etc, then we may see a temporal marker as we move into the 5th Seal.

It is my understanding that the 4 horsemen precede the final 7 years. (the end is not yet) Perhaps we are in the 4th Seal. IF the 4 horsemen do precede the final 7 years then it would follow that the 5th seal would be part of the final 7 years.

And we will be here for it.