WILL THE CHURCH GO THROUGH THE GREAT TRIBULATION?

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JESUS TAUGHT THAT THERE WAS A GREAT TRIBULATION COMING!

 

Their shall be great tribulation...such as not been from the beginning of the world, until now and , no and never will be.    And   if  those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved"  (Matthew 24:21,22 ESV).

THE FOUR POSITIONS ABOUT THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION

 

1. The church will be raptured (resurrected) before the Tribulation.  This is due to the fact that God is now doing something the church was not geared to perform:  bring the nations to worship the Lord (Rev. 15:4).  This will be a time of judgment and the appearance of the Antichrist, the ultimate evil leader and government of the world. He will be defeated by the judgments of the Lord and the nations will submit to the coming Lord from Heaven, Jesus Christ!  I've held every position on this at one time or another, but I've settled on this as the best representation of what the New Testament teaches.  Remember our Lord stated that no one knows the day or the hour of His coming, Matthew 24:36.  The Lord now can come at any time or day, and we should be ready for Him.  We do not have to wait for seven or three and half years before He comes for us.

 

2. The church will  go through a short tribulation and be raptured before the time of wrath.  This has been called the Mid-tribulation or Pre-wrath position.  This was taught by Dr. Buswell (my old theology professor) Dr. Barten Payne, and recently by Dr. Rosenthal.  I agree with Dr. Rosenthal that we should not give the impression that the church will escape all tribulation.  Look at the faithful who are facing beheadings, bombing, death etc. from the Muslim extremists.  Acccording to Papal records there have been more martyrs for Christ in the twentieth century than any century in history!

However, I do not agree that the tribulation is different than the days of the wrath of God.  Jesus taught and Revelation demonstrates that they are the same.

 

3. The church will go through the seven years tribulation.  Again, I look at the imminent coming of Christ as presented in the New Testament and just cannot see that we have a seven year period before the Lord could come back for us.  No, He comes "suddenly" see the book of Revelation.

 

After 50 years of teaching the Word of God I don't expect Christians will be uniform in there conclusions about when the rapture comes about.  However, a lady in our church emailed me this discerning comment.

We should be ready to meet the Lord at any day, and also be prepared in this life to face tribulation.

 

Next time I will pursue more the reasons why I believe in the any moment coming of Jesus!   

 

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THE RAPTURE AND EINSTEIN

The Bible promises that the Lord will come and resurrect all believers.  The dead in Christ will rise first and then those who are alive.  The possibility for every generation is that "millions who are alive may never die."  Here is one passage about the "rapture", which is Latin for "caught up."
"The Lord himself will  descend from heaven...and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive,who are left, will be caught up together with thenm in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thessalonians 4:16,17 ESV).

HOW CAN THE LORD RESURRECT OUR BODIES IF THEY'VE BEEN TURNED TO DUST, OR BLASTED TO A MILLION PIECES, OR EAT BY FISH?

This question has been asked since the days of our Lord's ministry.  However, what was needed was science catching up to the Bible!  For an answer let's take a trip to Princeton Seminary.

 Princeton was until around 1940 the premier evangelical seminary of the nation.  One of its great theologians in the nineteenth century was Charles Hodge.  His three volume work of theology was still being used when I was in seminary (1960-1963)

 Dr. Hodge pointed out that the body changes all its cells (in one year except for the brain and cord).  How is it we  have the same body after a year.  His illustration was it resembled a wave in the sea.  The energy of the wave passes through the water and the water molecules don't travel with it.  In other words the energy of the wave keeps going changing its make up moment by moment.  HOWEVER, IT'S THE SAME WAVE!

Picture running your hand under a blanket.  Hodge, as a Bible-believing Christian spoke of the body as a form of energy!!

 Dr. Albert Einstein, who probably never heard of Hodge, on the Princeton University campus in the 1930's, discovered that all matter was a form of energy!

 In other words, your body is a cycle of energy.  ISN'T IT EASY TO BELIEVE THAT THE LORD CAN CALL UP YOUR UNIQUE ENERGY CYCLE (WITH IMPROVEMENTS) WHEN HE COME FOR YOU IN YOUR RESURRECTION!

That's why Paul writes about the rapture we already quoted by concluding with these words:  Therefore encourage one another with these words (I  Thessalonians   5:18, ESV)

ARE YOU MISSING GOD'S PROMISED BLESSING?

The Book of Revelation promises that all who read it and keep it will have the Lord's blessing!  Many of those who first heard the book had it read to them, because they couldn't read!  How is it that so many today find confusing and contradicting interpretations of this book?  THIS IS A BOOK WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND A MASSAGE WE NEED IN THESE DAYS OF EVIL, ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, AND GROWING DANGER!

I wrote a new book on Revelation that takes the seven keys of language so all can understand it.  The big problem, even with scholars, is that they forget one or two of these keys!  You will have them with my new book.  Also, I have thirty sections of practical application, and discussion questions for each chapter.  There's even a section on how to have a great group study using the book. 

Just touch the key below the book picture and you will land in the book page at Amazon.  You can then read some of the contents inside the book.  If you would like the book you can purchase it from them for 7.95.  Finally, if you purchased the book, would you scroll down the section at Amazon and write a brief review.  Thanks so much.

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