I have a friend, a dear brother in Christ, with whom I communicate with on a regular basis. There are no names mentioned, as he comes across sometimes as being a little sensitive about certain subjects. Therefore, I thought it best not to say who he is so as not to embarrass him over the Internet. He also runs an end time's ministry blog and so we have this common interest in the end times. For that reason, I had been in the habit of late of posting comments onto his BlogSpot.
For whatever reason, he seems to have taken offence at something that I seemed to have said lately. In response to whatever offensive remarks I have made he has sacked me from posting any further comments onto his blog. Have you ever been sacked, (or fired) if you have then you will know just how belittling that is.
It may have had something to do with my aversion to the rapture stance. I told him that I thought there was nothing at all in the word of God about the rapture of the church but that the Bible teaches about the resurrection of the dead, and not the rapture of the church.
By strongly disagreeing with him in regards to the rapture that may have been the decisive factor that has tipped him over the edge, or upset him so much? However, I am not too sure about that. I am only assuming that is the case. Accordingly, I may be wrong in that instance, as I quite often am about other certain matters.
Whatever I have done wrong, it does not seem to be the right path to follow to restrict my freedom of speech by not allowing me to post any further comments at his BlogSpot either. That is, unless I have said something that was right over the top or out of order, which I do not believe has been the case in this instance?
It seems that in the church my friend attends the majority of the parishioners hold the pre-tribulation stance even though he holds the post tribulation stance himself. When asked why he did not attend a church that held the post tribulation stance his reply was that he could not find a church that was both evangelical and held the post tribulation stance. So they may escape what is to come on the day of the Lord the Christians will be taken from the earth to meet the Lord in the air.
Nevertheless, that is not the rapture of the church in the sense of the word as most of those who believe in it see it as. Those who believe in the rapture of the church believe that is going to happen a long time before the day of the Lord. However, even though my friend believes there is going to be a rapture of the church after the tribulation period, by calling it a post tribulation rapture what he is really saying is that he does not believe in the rapture of the church himself even though he says he does. What he really believes in is the day of the Lord, which is not really a rapture of the church even though he calls it post tribulation rapture.
The Lord will resurrect the dead in Christ first. Conversely, we who are alive shall not precede those who have come and died before us. That is what the word says, and that is what I believe also. Therefore, the only difference between the day of the Lord and the Rapture of the Church is in name only. That is, there are some who are calling it the Day of the Lord, and yet there are others who are calling it a post tribulation rapture of the church. That is the only variation as far as I am aware.
