So, the rapture. Any day, right?

[michel]

I couldn't say I actually believe in the whole thing. Guess I'd be on the losing end if it really did happen, hey?

I don't see why, besides, if you aren't worrying about it, you're having a better life anyway!

 

[jamaesi]

And the world has supposed to be ending... since it was first made.

I tend to laugh at most OMGTHEENDISNIIIIIGH theories. It hasn't yet no matter how many times people claim it.


I believe the world will end when we start throwing more nukes around or when the sun burns out. Both are rather unpleasant. : D

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

As soon as we learn how to do it. I believe the Mayans learned how to Rapture-as it has come to be called. It is also called Ascension. I believe Jesus raptured himself. I do not believe he actually died on the Cross, I believe he raptured. I can not say why I believe this, I'm looking for why, and if it's a valid theory.

 

[Watcher]

And the world has supposed to be ending... since it was first made.

I tend to laugh at most OMGTHEENDISNIIIIIGH theories. It hasn't yet no matter how many times people claim it.


I believe the world will end when we start throwing more nukes around or when the sun burns out. Both are rather unpleasant. : D

Maybe Bush is the antichrist!!!!!!!!!!:biglaugh::biglaugh:

 

[mr.guy]

Maybe i am.




boo!

 

[Majikthise]

Think of all the open parking spaces and short lines at the Wal Mart checkouts!WOO HOO!!!!!

 

[joeboonda]

HI! Well, ya know I believe the Bible, and believe the church will be raptured (caught up), before the Great Seven Year Tribulation, when the world will have, according to revelation, the most horrible time of judgment it has ever seen. Revelation also speaks of a great number of people who get saved during the tribulation by trusting in Christ, and a great many who are martyred for it.

So, if suddenly a lot of people vanish from this earth, don't believe the theories that they may have been abducted by aliens, or only the more 'evolved' people were left behind. If a lot of folks you know to be Christians disappear, you can be sure it is the rapture.

In Daniel, it says the tribulation begins with the signing of a peace treaty with Israel and the surrounding countries by the antichrist. Until 1948, when Israel became a nation again, this was a bit of a mystery, but now, I can see events unfolding in our lifetime, so I think the rapture could possibly happen in our or our childrens lifetime, but we cannot say for sure. Everything seems to be falling in to place, though. PEACE!

 

[Watcher]

I know the antichrist. he's a cool guy... www.passionoftheantichrist.com :bounce

WHAT!?!?!? ALL THE CHRISTIANS ARE GONNA DISSAPEAR!!??!?!!? :woohoo:

just kidding, you know i love ya guys:bonk:

Serious question....isn't isreal close to signing something with palestine?

 

[chariot of fire]

i think what can be found on this site of rapture index are signs of the end times....not rapture.

 

[chariot of fire]

HI! Well, ya know I believe the Bible, and believe the church will be raptured (caught up), before the Great Seven Year Tribulation, when the world will have, according to revelation, the most horrible time of judgment it has ever seen. Revelation also speaks of a great number of people who get saved during the tribulation by trusting in Christ, and a great many who are martyred for it.

So, if suddenly a lot of people vanish from this earth, don't believe the theories that they may have been abducted by aliens, or only the more 'evolved' people were left behind. If a lot of folks you know to be Christians disappear, you can be sure it is the rapture.

rapture is a very serious spiritual concern for christians. not all christians from different faith are going to be caught up in rapture. this is a wrongful notion and a very literal interpretation. rapture has different phases, its a divine transferrance first in spiritual..rapture is actually happening right now. remember the message of Jesus Christ, "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? God's kingdom nowadays is already established here on earth..and those who are real born again in the spirit will be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear son...(this is the first phase of rapture)....

 

[EnhancedSpirit]

Jonathan Bethel is the Director of the Omega Point Institute, a futurist think tank, consciousness research group, center for spiritual studies, and singularity watch group that studies the relationship between human consciousness and the accelerating trends within science, technology and culture. In a word, Jonathan is a singularitarian. His shamanic name is Seshua. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

JONATHAN BETHEL: A lot of the talk about the Age of Aquarius and a “new age” of spirituality has to do with the realization of the divine man within. I believe you will begin to see groups gather around the concept of this awakening.

A lot of our religious material, especially prophecy, has to do with the awakening of super-humanity at a specific time in the future. If a technological singularity is really going to occur, then it has always existed on the temporal landscape; it has always been accessible to any shaman who is able to alter his or her consciousness and view the time continuum. This is exactly what John of the Island of Ptamos saw prior to scribing the Book of Revelations. We can look on it as a new heaven and a new earth, or as the idea of a New Jerusalem. I think all the talk about the second coming is about the realization of the transhumanist man. Also, Aleister Crowley’s concept of the Age of Horus depicts this current environment, as in “The unveiling of the company of heaven” and “Every man and women is a star.” This has yet to occur, but if the singularity happens, our own divine natures will be revealed. In “Keys of Enoch,” J.J. Hurtak describes the release of material man into a whole new reality, a fundamentally spiritual event. Also, Nietzsche foresaw the realization of the Übermensch, or super-human. It is obvious to me that we have been glimpsing this attractor for some time. Of course, I can’t imagine what great minds will achieve with nanotechnology, faster-than-light technology, robotics, or super chemistry.

 

[michel]

I can't honestly think that I feel the need to think about this; having had a few 'close calls' in life, and being disabled, I tend to live life from day to day.


The future will take care of itself, come what may. If it happens in my lifetime, it happens; I have learned a while back that to worry about tomorrow is senseless; it will be neither as good, nor as bad as I expect.

 

[michel]

So it's overated, or is it really the focal point of some christians faith? That is to say, it gets alot of play, don't you think? How relevent to a christian is the rapture, cause it's the bulk of what i hear from media. (tv, shortwave, etc.). Are those guys generally seen as nuts among christians, or are the just the uber-faithful?

There's a day coming when God is going to put an end to all of sin. This "day" is actually a 7-year period that we call the Tribulation, from a speech given by Jesus in Matthew 24.

Daniel 9:24 gives us 4 reasons the Tribulation is going to take place:

1. To make an end of sins
2. To make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness
3. To seal up the vision and prophecy
4. To anoint the most Holy

But Satan is not going to relinquish the Earth without a fight; and since God's most powerful combat angel cannot stop him (Jude 9), God Himself is going to intervene.

So why the Rapture?

Whenever two or more countries are about to go to war, one of the first acts is to call their ambassadors home. The Bible says we are ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5:20 ---

NOW THEN WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST

Thus God is going to call us home first.

 

[smokydot]

Good presentation.

Regarding your statment below (in red), that you believe the rapture is imminent, that no other prophecy must first occur:

have you looked at 2 Thessalonians 2:3?

"Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion (apostasy) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition."

Don't those two things have to occur first before the rapture can be imminent?

There are differences among Christians about what and when the rapture is, I can only give my take on it. The word for rapture comes from the Greek verb, harpazo meaning literally "snatched out", or caught up. Here are a couple verses that speak of this event:

I Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS will GOD BRING WITH HIM. For this we say unto you by the WORD OF THE LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent(go before) them which are asleep. For Lord himself shall descsend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN shall be CAUGHT UP together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

I Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I shew you a mystery, We shall not all sleep, but we shall ALL be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

jOHN 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF; so that where I am, there you may be also.

From the above verse, I see a few things, and Christians may not see all this exactly the same way, and that''s fine, just trying to answer the question of what the rapture is:
1. The Rapture was unknown until it was revealed to the Church by the apostles, especially Paul.
2. All believers living when the Rapture occurs will not experience physical death.
3. The Rapture will occur suddenly, without specific warning, and will be instantaneous.
4. In the Rapture, every living believer will be instantly transformed from mortal to immortal bodies that are like Jesus' glorified body.
5. Those raptured will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord and the resurrected Church-Age believers who have died.
6. At that time, we will be taken into God the Father's presence to temporary dwelling places that the Lord Jesus is presently preparing.

Now as I said, not all Christians look at it the same, but I won't go into all the views, just some of my own observations.

In Titus 2:13-14 it says, Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from iniquity...

I feel the rapture to be the blessed hope of every believer, a wonderful hope, spurring us to be ready, to be active, to have hope, not just that we may not die, but that even if we do, we and our loved ones will be changed to immortal and incorruptible, and will forever be with the Lord.

The lord says he comes as a thief in the night, that we cannot know the day nor hour, but he did say just like you know when spring is near by the fig tree putting forth its buds (probable reference to Israel becoming a nation in 1948, and the land blooming) so you can know when his coming is drawing near, He gives us some other signs to watch for.

Now I do not want to argue about when this occurs, or if it is separate from the 2nd coming where Jesus actually splits the mount of olives when he comes to earth, conquers, and rules for a thousand years, instead of meeting us in the air and taking us to heaven, I will just state that I believe it is imminent, that no other prophecy must first occur, for the rapture, that it proceeds the Great Tribulation, that the church will be spared the wrath to come during that time, and could happen at any moment.

Now I am sure everyone with their many different 'takes' on all this will come charging in, but I just wanted to say how I see it, and if you believe different that's fine. PEACE!

 

[ninerbuff]

Hey if it happens, think of the possibility of a more balanced government.

 

[DallasApple]

Any day now..Im a nice girl..I'll go to heaven..(I think)...

Love

Dallas

 

[smokydot]

Any day now..Im a nice girl..I'll go to heaven..(I think)...
Love
Dallas

According to 2 Thess 2:3, a couple of things have to happen first (post #34).