Karl, if you or anyone can show me in scripture where it mentions specifically being raptured out before some 7 year tribulation then I might rethink my findings in what scripture has already shown me. I too once believed this theory just by how others taught it using scripture, but my knowledge of scripture was weak back then. It was when I read and dug deeper by allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to me as I started to compared scripture with scripture, OT and NT that my eyes were opened to what Jesus Olivet message to the Disciples in Matthew 24 was all about and that the Church will still be here through out Rev up until around Chapter 14 as I have already shown with scripture. Many teach that Matthew 24 was in the past around 70AD, but neglect what Jesus said at the beginning of His Olivet discourse and at the very end with vs. 27-31.
Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The Disciples ask three questions, when shall these things be, what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world. Not all the stones in Matthew 24:2 have been thrown down yet and Jesus proceeds through all of Matthew 24 answering those three questions the Disciples asked.
Our comfort in all of this is that if we are killed we will be with the Lord forever just as those who have gone before us. Even now many of our brothers and sisters around the word including America are going through much tribulation until we see Jesus coming in the clouds and then we shall see Him in all His glory.
Dear sister, you ask for proof from Scripture, I have given you proof, what more can I say?
You say the stones have not all been thrown down, but my pastor has been to Jerusalem and has photos of the stones that were used to rebuild the the Temple thrown down in the valley by the soldiers under Titus in 70 AD, yes the western Wall is still there, but it was a part of the foundation and not part of the Temple,
And Jesus went out and departed from the temple. And His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. Mat 24:1
To infer that the prophecy of the destruction of the Temple by Jesus is not complete........
And your skip over the Desolation that causes Abomination that is described in the Revelation and who it is addressed to, clearly the Jew in Israel, are you saying the Church will be confined to Israel during this time and has reverted to keeping the Sabbath Matt 24:20 rather than the first day of the week as recorded in Acts, personally I amazes me you think this, ...tell me, when are you planning to move to Israel so that when you see the Abomination of Desolation you can flee to the mountains, excuse me, my bad, you won't see the event, you will read about in the Book of Mathew and understand you need to boogie.
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand). Mat 24:15
And something else we need to consider is the word
tribulation, Strong's tell us it means pressure like the squeezing of olives to have the oil or grapes to have the wine, with that in mind, all of the references to tribulation spoken to the Church produces something good, joy, good cheer, patience, entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, hope, prayer, glory, but during the great Tribulation it produces death in the people and creation and destruction,
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Rev 6:8
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. Rev 8:9
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. Rev 8:11
And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. Rev 16:3
Just to name a few,
And like I said, and this is a major problem with what you think, the Church is persecuted, but this tribulation comes from the world, ...during the great tribulation persecution and tribulation comes from God,
add to that, we the Church, are Heavenly citizens, whereas the great tribulation is poured out on the earth dwellers, those that believe this world is their home,
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Rev 3:10
And please tell me what you do with this verse, spoken by Jesus, that says He will keep the Church of Philadelphia from the hour of temptation that he also said He will kill the children of the Church of Thyatira
in/during the great tribulation, and we understand the hour of temptation and the great tribulation are the same thing, ...check it out in Strong's.
There are so many more, over 500 quotes from the Old Testament in the Apocalypse, I have given you many examples, but you skip over them and use the Olivet Discourse as you sole source, how about you start answering the Scriptures I have presented to you with Scripture that refutes them rather than tell me you have studied and changed your mind, ...personally beloved, that would make you much more credible in what you say,
...one last thing I would like you to explain to me, the Rapture chapter of 1 Thess,
For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. vs 16
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord.vs 17
The rapture will be announced by the Trumpet of God, not the trumpet of an Angel in Revelation like so many like to present, ...that also requires a study of the Trumpet of God in Exodus so see when and why it is blown, ...I'll leave that for you to study.
I hope you receive this in the love it was written, you create questions that need to be answered.
