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The Rapture!

By Elizabethprata @elizabethprata
This is one of the biblical passages that teach us the great doctrine of the rapture:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Let's encourage one another with these words! How do we do that? I'm sure you have your ideas, but one way is simply to speak of this beautiful doctrine frequently. We must not be uninformed.
S. Lewis Johnson, who taught a pretribulation rapture, said of the text,
"Then last time in our study we took a look at the calendar of future events. I hope we found it. I know it is exciting and thrilling, moving from the coming apostasy in the church — a measure that is already with us — through the advent of the Lord Jesus to the eternal state. We who are believers surely have a great hope – I’m not at all sure that we speak of it too much – in fact probably under the influence of criticism we do not speak of our heavenly hope enough."
The rapture is getting such a terrible knock these days, and in some, it actually sparks anger! Johnson made that statement in 1976 that due to criticism sometimes we are too gun-shy to speak of it, and look at the growing apostasy now in 2014 and the anger and fervent hatred the doctrine brings up, even among "brethren". An example of it happened to me just yesterday.
This man named Justin W. White, who in his bio says he "loves theology", tweeted a response to my tweet regarding the Southern Baptist Convention's resolution to affirm that God-ordained gender is God's will and it's sin to change it (RE: transgenderism). I'd not mentioned rapture AT ALL, but in his response, he brought it up and used profanity too.
  • #SBC14 opposes "Heaven Is For Real" because it is non-scriptural, but they buy into a literal rapture? Yeah. about that.
  • I replied, "Because heaven tourism isn't biblical, but rapture is. (no the English word 'rapture' isn't in the bible, but the concept is)"
  • He answered: "the rapture is not a historical/orthodox doctrine of the church. It is modern bs made to scare people into moralism."
I seriously wonder how someone could be a Christian and NOT be comforted by the promises that Jesus is coming soon to gather His church to Himself!
How beautiful are the doctrines of His second return. Though the rapture isn't the Second Coming per se, it is a doctrine of last things which precedes His second and final return to earth to judge the living and the dead. He will call us up to Himself and we will always be with the Lord. How encouraging to look forward to!
John 14:1-3 says,
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; a believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?b 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."
Just reading those words are so very comforting. Knowing that the Lord is preparing a place for us, that He is returning for us, that He will resurrect our loved ones alive and dead, and bring up the ancient saints who died even during the apostolic age, that we will be given our glorified (sinless!!) bodies, that we will be with Him...there are so many encouraging things to look forward to!
S. Lewis Johnson, who taught a pretribulation rapture, said,

The rapture!

Lake Como: Garden, Villa Arconati, 1905

"The doctrine of the rapture of the church is an important doctrine for us. I say doctrine that suggests for us faithfulness in service. It should be a motive and incentive to give ourselves to devotion to the Lord Jesus. It should also have tremendous motivation in evangelistic activity. I refer to our own personal testimony. It also should be a comforting doctrine."
There is an old story about a man who visited the Villa Ara Connate in Italy. He saw the gardener. The grounds were kept in beautiful shape, speaking to the gardener he said, “When does the owner of this villa come here?”

 He said, “Well, I’ve been working here for 20 years, and he’s only been here four times.”

 “When was the last time that he was here?”

 “12 years ago.”

 “Who takes charge? To whom do you report?”

 He said, “I report to a steward in Milan.”

 “Why, you keep these gardens as if you were expecting the owner tomorrow.”

 And the gardener replied, “Today, sir. Today.”

 "That really is the kind of attitude provoked by the doctrine of the rapture of the church as the next significant prophetic event. I think that on balance the Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus to come again for the church imminently, and that we have reason from Scripture to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ."
So this great prophetic message has tremendous moral value. We should never think of the doctrines of the word of God with reference to the future as simply doctrines that tickle our curiosity. They are doctrines that are designed to affect our spiritual life. They are designed to make us more moral, more spiritual, more Christian in all of our activity. ~S. Lewis Johnson
"...to be with the Lord." Now, THAT is heaven. Do not let satan steal your hope. Do not let criticism suppress your encouragement of the brethren. Do not let liberal seminaries forget to teach this important doctrine. Do not be shushed in church.
"knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires." (2 Peter 3:3)As one of the commenters said, "Their very scoffing shall confirm the truth of the prediction."

_____________________
Further Reading:
J. Vernon McGee: The Rapture is Next
John MacArthur: The Rapture (14-min video explaining the rapture & why it is pre-trib)

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By Johnny Ward
posted on 25 September at 04:54

[Saw this piece on the net & just want to share it. Lord bless.]

The Pretrib Rapture Jackpot!

          by Bruce Rockwell

 Attention, writers. You can make millions by promoting the pretrib rapture!
 As you know, pretrib began in Scotland in 1830. Early developers including Edward Irving and John Darby admitted it was then a totally new view that had never been part of any theology or organized church.
 They also admitted that it had suddenly sprung from only OT and NT "types" and "symbols" and not from any clear Bible statement! (Part of their "cut and paste" included stretching forward "gather" (Matt. 24:31) on their "charts" and turning it into a pretrib coming!)
 As late as 1957, pretrib expert John Walvoord admitted in "The Rapture Question" (p. 148) that "pretribulationism" is NOT "an explicit teaching of Scripture"!
 Since the early 1900s pretrib has been sold by novelists like Sydney Watson (in 1913) and by Salem Kirban whose "Left Behind"-type novel "666" came out in 1970 - the same year Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth" started breaking sales records.
 The very first pretrib rapture novel titled "Left Behind" came from the joint pens of Peter and Patti Lalonde in mid-1995 before Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins somehow came up with the very same title: "Left Behind"!
 The pretrib rapture view, which admittedly is only an "inference" and not "explicit," rests basically on verses in John 14, I Thess. 4, and I Cor. 15, none of which have either a "taken/left" separation or exciting, nail-biting scenarios that can "sell" pretrib.
 You have to go to Revelation's action-packed chapters instead. When you do, you discover they can be tied to end time details found basically in the Olivet Discourse.
 As you know, pretribs believe in two stages; Stage 1 is the pretrib rapture which supposedly occurs several years before Stage 2 which is the posttrib second coming to earth.
 Since the three "rapture" chapters listed above don't have any clear rapture-type separation between the "righteous" and the "wicked," your best launching pad if you want to be a bestselling author is "the one shall be taken, and the other left" phrase in Matt. 24:40, 41 and Luke 17:34-36.
 Trouble is, Dr. Walvoord and many other pretrib leaders declare that the "one taken" refers to the "wicked" taken in judgment while the "righteous" are left! But since average pew-sitters don't seem to know this, you can easily convince them that the "one taken" is a sort of code for an any-moment pretrib rapture!
 And the pew-sitters don't know that Walvoord etc. also teach that the same phrase is part of "non-imminent" Stage 2 which is posttrib (and not pretrib) and is on "Jewish" (and not "Church") ground!
 In order to preserve Stage 1 (the long-stretched-forward pretrib rapture), pretrib merchandisers in recent decades have been stretching forward various aspects found in Stage 2 and quietly applying them to Stage 1.  Aspects include "the day of the Lord," "God's wrath," "the taken/left phrase," "the unknown day and hour," and Christ's coming "as a thief" (which in the Bible is always tied to Armageddon and other posttrib events).
 (For more on the above, Google "The Correct Answer to Who's Taken" etc. on Joe Ortiz's blog of Apr. 12, 2010. Sure, there's disagreement on who's "taken" first, but pretrib pew-sitters forget or don't know that THE TAKEN/LEFT PHRASE IS FOUND IN ONLY A POSTTRIB SETTING IN THE BIBLE!!)
 Yes, I've told you how you can turn yourself into a bestselling, wealthy author.
 But unfortunately you have some competition because LaHaye and Jenkins have long been aware of the above facts. And for years they've been milking their 19th century cash cow (which hasn't dried up yet) to shatter all-time sales records and make millions of pretrib dollars that are destined to be left behind!
 For more on them and their partners, Google "The 'Left Behind' Rupture," "LaHaye's Temperament," "Jerry Jenkins Apologizes for Being Seen Gambling in Casinos," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," "Walvoord Melts Ice," "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart," "Pretrib Rapture's Missing Lines," "Roots of Warlike Christian Zionism," "Evangelicals Use Occult Deception," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," "Letter from Mrs. Billy Graham," "Pretrib Rapture Politics," "Pretrib Rapture Stealth," and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty." (Most of these were written by the author of "The Rapture Plot" which bills itself as "the most accurate and documented book on pretrib rapture history." I add that if you echo its message you will never be a bestselling author!)
 In closing let me say that Jeremiah 17:11 warns that "he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool."
 And you can bet on this!
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