When really there is nothing in the word of God that says that we/the Christians are going to be suddenly floated away up into the air and into Heaven to be with the Lord forever, it really is mind boggling the lengths some people will go to make their points relative to this fantasy world that so many seem to be living in relative to the imagined rapture of the church.Let me say that again, there is nothing whatsoever in the Bible that says anything at all about Christians suddenly being floated away up into the air and into Heaven to be with the Lord forever.
I really don't know of any other way to make a point relative to this or say it any clearer.
There are really no doubts at all that those that believe in this rapture nonsense are extremely mixed up and very sick people.
The absolute confusion that this whole sad and sorry mess is causing could not be edified any better than the actual varying degrees of timing that this rapture gobbledegook is causing.
As most of the nut cases that believe in a rapture are only too well aware, there are varying degrees of theories relating to the alleged timing of the rapture, there are the pre, mid and the post versions.
Common sense would dictate that if there were ever to be a rapture of the church the alleged timing would be quite plain to see, and there simply would not be all of this argument over when it was supposed to happen.
There really are no excuses for this type of irrational thinking and the only way that I am able to explain it is that just as there is extremism or fanaticism within every group or religion these rapture people are the blind side of the more gentler side of Christianity.
This particular group could be compatible with the extremism of Islam as they go about all over the world trying to cause as much carnage as possible.
However, the only notable difference between the Moslem extremist and the fanatical group of Christians that hold fast to the false rapture doctrine is that the Moslem extremist sets off bombs and destroys bodies, while the rapture group does ten times, or even millions of times, more harm in that they destroy not just something that is perishable and will soon wither and die anyway.
You guessed it, instead of just bodies, this group sets out and succeeds to destroy something far, far, more valuable than a person's body as they set out and succeed to destroy, a man's very soul.
As for me and mine, I really do not want anything at all to do with this group of sickos lest they contaminate me or those that are the closest to me.
Certainly, there is a great deal of mention in the word of God relative to the return of the Lord back onto the earth, but there is nothing whatsoever that speaks about a so called rapture of the church.
Just to cite an example of the insanity, or more correctly should I say spirit, that has possessed some that have the audacity to call themselves Christian -- I recently wrote to one of these fanatics and asked him to explain why the actual word rapture is never ever mentioned in the word of God and here is the lame excuse that he sent back in return.
Quote: "Rapture" is a biblical term and it is a biblical concept. Comment from Dr David Reagan and Nathan Jones of Lamb and Lion Ministries
Where is the word "Rapture" found in the Bible?
Dr. David Reagan and I recently got together for a Christ in Prophecy TV interview to talk about how some people don't believe the word "Rapture" can be found in the Bible. If you were wondering yourself just where one can find the exact reference — read on!
Dr. Reagan: When I think of the promises of God, I always think of something the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9. He wrote, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has the mind of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." But, the next verse says, "God has revealed those things to us through His Holy Spirit." That revelation is, of course, contained in the Bible.
One of the greatest promises of God's Word is that one day soon He will send His Son for His Church. Jesus will appear in the heavens. His appearance will be heralded by the shout of an archangel and the blowing of a trumpet. The dead in Christ will be resurrected and those living who have put their faith in Jesus will be caught up to meet Him in the sky, being translated en route from mortal to immortal. This promise is called the Rapture.
I have found that the moment you start talking about the Rapture people always seem to jump down your throat and say, "Ah, come on, that is a concept that is not even in the Bible. You can't find it anywhere in the Bible." What about it?
Nathan Jones: They haven't read 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Now, in our modern English versions the verse will say "caught up." The Bible wasn't written in English, though, it was written in Hebrew and Aramaic and Greek. In the original Greek 1 Thessalonians 4:17's "caught up" is harpazo. For 1500 years we had the Latin Vulgate translation of the Scriptures before the English version, and that version has the Latin word for harpazo as rapio (or rapiemur or raptus depending on the declension), where we get the word "rapture."
The idea behind the reference to the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is to be caught up, snatched up, taken away. The act is similar to me going to Papa John's and snatching up that pizza and taking it away home — same meaning.
Dr. Reagan: Well, you are so exactly right, the concept is certainly there. I mean, you could talk about the fact that the word "trinity" is not in the Bible.
Nathan Jones: Well, the word "Bible" is not in the Bible.
Dr. Reagan: The word's "Shekinah Glory" of God is not there in our English translations. But, those are terms that we have developed to express a truth that is in there. Clearly the Trinity is a truth that is in the Bible. The Skekinah is a truth that is in the Bible. The Rapture is a truth that is in the Bible. But, in this case of the Rapture, the word really is in there, it's just been translated.
Nathan Jones: It is so much easier to say "Rapture" than "The Great Catching Up" or "The Great Taking Away."
Dr. Reagan: In English we have to use a term like "taking out, snatching away, catching up," and we all like to talk in shorthand. So, what we have done is just go back and pick up the Latin word rapio, put it into English as "rapture," and that word is actually there in 1 Thessalonians 4 using the only translation we had for 1,500 years, which was the Latin Vulgate. That was the translation that says the Rapture. So, that is what we use.
"Rapture" is a biblical term and it is a biblical concept. People who say it is not just simply do not understand what's going on in the text. End of Quote
Did you read and understand that last sentence, the rapture is a Biblical term, when there quite clearly is no mention anywhere in the Bible of the term rapture this nonsense about the actual word not being there due to a misunderstanding relative to the translation from the Hebrew to the Greek is nothing more than a pure fantasy.
Then he went on to say that "The rapture is a Biblical concept when there is no mention anywhere in the Bible of Christians suddenly being whisked off the face of the earth to be taken up into Heaven without having to pass from this life to the next one first.
If there is anyone that is reading this, anywhere around the globe, that can show me a verse, any verse, that says that the we/Christians are suddenly going to vanish off the face of the earth travel to travel out of this world and into Heaven without having to die first, then I will be quite happy to send them a cheque for a thousand dollars.
Nonetheless they won't be able to show me any such verse simply because it is not there, so there is not much possibility that I am going to lose my thousand dollars.
Certainly, there are verse in the Bible that say that on the Day of the Lord the dead in Christ will be raised and we that are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, but that still does not infer that those that are going to be caught up are going to be taken out of this world and into Heaven to be with the Lord forever.
So why not use the term CAUGHT UP instead of saying RAPTURE, which has entirely different connotations altogether and as a consequence places an entirely different slant on what the word of God was telling us?
Clearly, the rapture doctrine is nothing more than a very cleverly designed tool of Satan that has obviously been designed to lead the unsuspecting onto eternal damnation.
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