Well, I've taken a bit of a detour from the Thursdays Child. I had to relieve some of the pressure building up, if you remember the post, Spontaneous Combustion Declining. I thought this week would be a good week to get back to it. James MacDonald at Harvest Bible Chapel posted an interesting blog this week about the rapture. To refresh your memory he is one of the ones who started churches helping churches, mainly for the people of Haiti. He is going through Revelation at his church. He gave scripture supporting the post tribulation rapture. Matthew 24:29,30. All of chapter 24 talks about the end times but verses 29 and 30 say "immediately after those horrible days end, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then at last the sign of the coming of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens, and there will be a deep mourning among all the nations of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man arrive on the clouds of heaven with power and glory.
All of us who were taught a pre tribulation rapture were taught 1Thesalonians 4
I got interrupted that's why this isn't posted on Thursday. I decided since I wasn't writing I'd check out more pre-trib scriptures. What I found really bothered me. I found a whole bunch of web sites supporting both positions. That wasn't necessarily the disturbing part, I mean isn't that what we're all doing. What I did find, was that some of them would go so far as to undermine and talk bad about the other. This won't be cleared up 'til it happens, if it happens. And we won't know until then. So gee, can't we act like children of God? Does the phrase Love One Another ring a bell? I did come across a prophetic one that said the body of Christ will join together and there will be no more talk of the rapture.
What I would like to remind everyone is that it boils down to we are suppose to live like it will happen now, or maybe now, or now or......
What I really wanted to share with you Thursday when I started this post is, on James MacDonald's post he coined the greatest phrase,
Don't be a part of the planning committee, be a part of the welcoming committee
Thanks for searching with me, Paul
2 comments:
Paul, as much as I hate to say this about such a... compassionate teaching... religion, Christianity has always had at its center the ways to rationalize that we are always living in The End Times. And there will ALWAYS be those fools who are self fulfilling prophets of God, wanting to help the process along because gosh darn it!- they just can't wait!
This makes for a pretty miserable and confused world. Especially in the middle east where God is supposed to touch down from the heavens.
It's funny that you mention that, one of the sites I went to had a long list of people from the last century that had predicted dates the rapture would happen. Many preachers teach "don't worry about when, live like it's tomorrow" then they still try to predict. You know, The church I still consider "my church" has an excellent praise and worship team and I enjoy that time in the service. But, I haven't been there regularly in a year and a half. The times I have been back have been eye opening. I've been able to look at things from an outsiders point of view. It has saddened me and I think helped me realize how easy it is to get caught up in that "religious" mentality. Sorry, didn't mean to vent But I have literally been in the church my whole 50 years and to see how Christians actually act is upsetting. Keep those great comments coming and I'll try to control the venting, Paul
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