What is your opinion on this "Rapture" thing? Who came up with this idea?

Not necessarily all people who study prophecy are trying to find a "time". It just interests people(me to be included) Churches Sunday service tend to stay away from end time prophecy because so many people have different view on, its too controversial. People should not try to guess the year, time or date in any event and especially not a book about, like the ones you mentioned, i have read many great books on prophecy that says not to do this. But please read what i have to say if you really want to know why it interests so many people. this is just the tip of the ice berg. but the only way to know if you beilve in something, is to truley study and understand it.

the rapture

The rapture is the event in which the dead in Christ will be resurrected and living Christians will be instantly translated into the resurrection bodies-and both groups will be caught in the air and taken back to heaven----john14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17) please look at the passages if you truly want to know about the rapture

Rev 3:10 indicates that believers will be kept from the actual hour of testing that is coming on the whole world. further, no OT passage on tribulation mentions the church. Deuteronomy 4:29-30; Jeremiah 30:4-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 5:4-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11; rev 4-18

Scripture does say that some Christians will be alive in the tribulation for example rev 6:9-11. but i believe these people come to Christ after the rapture as a result of the 144000 Jewish Christians introduced in chapter rev 7, or of the 2 witnesses of rev 11, prophets who apparently have the same powers as Moses and Elijah. In any event, scripture assures us that the church is not appointed to wrath (Romans 5:9; 1 thess 1:9-10; 5:9 This means the church cannot go through the "great day of their wrath" rev 6:17

Throughout scripture, god protects his people before judgment falls. 2 peter 2:5-9. Enoch was transferred to heaven before the judgment of the flood, Noah and his family were in the ark before the flood judgment, lot was taken out of Sodom before judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah, the first born among the Hebrews in Egypt were sheltered by the blood of the paschal lamb before judgment fell. the spies were safely out of Jericho and Rahab was secured before judgment fell on Jericho. so too will the church be safely raptured before the judgment falls in the tribulation.

in any event thanks for reading, i didnt cut and paste and took me a while lol. hope this clear things up on why people enjoy studing prophacy and the beilve the rapture

The learned and educated religious people of the Bible didn’t understand the first coming of Christ.

Just so, a lot of learned and educated religious people today don’t understand the rapture any better than the Pharisees and the Sadducees did the first time.

But, they sure make a lot of money by selling books about their personal opinion of the events surrounding the rapture.

2 Peter 3:10-15 - in the meantime, we wait for the Lord's coming with zeal, avoiding sin, and being at peace, in the hope of our salvation.

'Sheol' was a term used to describe the grave ('a place where everyone goes after death') I think the word 'Hell' describing a location of eternal torment was first used in the NT-I'm not sure who first uses it, the concept 'Hell-a state of being w/o God' was a concept I think was around for a while. Ancient Egyptians/Aztecs/etc. worshiped various gods/goddesses but they (to the ancients) were deities that represented different characteristics but they made reference to the 'great God' a few times. It had no image or name. It was a combo of everything, hence the different gods/goddess' so they could 'pray' to a certain deity for a specific reason (Similiar to having a question about a Walmart, you'd go to the store owner-not the CEO) I think the scare tactic of Hell was a combo effort-those seem to work the best! (obviously, some people DO believe in an actual location)

in the creeds jesus will come to judge the living and the dead, that is at the final coming of jesus he will take up the dead to be judged and the living will be taken up also to be judged .

but there is a train of belief that jesus will come twice more to take everyone , after the ist. lot he will reign for a 1000 years and then do it all again, which is ridiculous

the rapture was instigated by a 14yr. old plymouth brethren girl , then carried on by a pastor called nelson darby, this all happened in the 1800s.

Personally, I don't believe the rapture is taught in the Bible.

A common scripture used to support this doctrine is found at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Does this scripture really speak about another new doctrine, the rapture? Or is it simply speaking about what Jesus always taught throughout his ministry?

Some will say that here Paul was teaching or speaking of the rapture. But does that make sense if the rapture was formulated no earlier than the 1400's.

Paul was actually encouraging those in Thessalonica- reminding them of the resurrection hope. To enter the heavens, a person must die first. This has been explained in other verses in Romans 6:3-5 and various scriptures in 1 Corinthians.

Really, Paul wasn't speaking of a new doctrine. He was only confirming the resurrection hope to the congregation he wrote his letter to and all of us that read it.

Many spend much time looking for signs in the heavens and in the headlines. This is especially true of premillennialists, who anxiously await the tribulation because it will inaugurate the rapture and millennium.

A more balanced perspective is given by Peter, who writes, "But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. . . . Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace" (2 Pet. 3:8–14)

The rapture --according to one Protestant evangelist-- is

“the sudden disappearance of millions and millions of people without so much as a trace of where they went!”

According to the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, the term “rapture” refers to

“the church being united with Christ at his second coming.”

But, what does God's Word the Bible have to say about it . . . ?

Will all faithful Christians be taken miraculously from the earth by the Lord before the great tribulation . . . ?

Notice the following Scriptures on this issue:

Matthew 24:21, 22 says:

“Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no FLESH would be SAVED; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.”

This does not say that “the chosen ones” will all have been taken to heaven before the great tribulation, does it? Instead, it holds out the prospect to them, along with associates in the flesh, of surviving that great tribulation ON EARTH.

Revelation 7:9, 10, 14, RS says:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!’ . . . ‘These are they who have COME OUT of the great tribulation.’”

To “come out” of something a person *must go into it or be in it*. So this great multitude must be persons who actually experience the great tribulation --which will occur ON earth-- and COME OUT of it as survivors.

Will all true Christians perhaps be taken to heaven after the great tribulation?

Matthew 5:5, RS says:

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the *earth*.”

Psalm 37:29, RS says:

“The righteous shall possess the *land* [“earth", Ro, NW], and dwell upon it for ever.”

(See also verses 10, 11, 34)

So, whoever came up with the idea of a rapture --which includes the destruction of the earth-- it has absolutely no basis in God's Holy Scripture . . .

"For all the days the earth continues, seed sowing and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, will never cease.” --Genesis 8:22

"A generation is going, and a generation is coming; but the earth is standing even to time indefinite." --Ecclesiastes 1:4

"For this is what Jehovah has said, Creator of the heavens, the true God, Former & Maker of the earth, the One who firmly established it, who did not create it for nothing, WHO FORMED IT ... TO BE INHABITED: 'I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.'" --Isaiah 45:18

"As regards the heavens, to Jehovah the heavens belong,

But the EARTH HE HAS GIVEN TO the sons of MEN." --Psalms 115:16

"So my word that goes forth from my mouth will PROVE to be.

It will not return to me without results,

but it will CERTAINLY do that in which I have delighted,

and it will have CERTAIN SUCCESS in that for which I have sent it." --Isaiah 55:11

'God’s Purpose for the Earth & Humankind'

---New & Wonderful Things!

http://watchtower.org/e/20060515/article_02.htm

.

Every one will be doing sin

like trying to say there is no God any more,

A statue in the holy land will start talking

then satan will come here acting like he is Jesus

and he will do great things

and then he will try to get you to mark your body with

the number 666 on your forhead or arm.

and then Jesus Christ will land on earth

and then they will fight the good fight.

From the Catholic perspectice, "RAPTURE" is a form of ecstasy, one that is sudden and violent. This violent motion cannot, as a rule be resisted, whereas in the case of simple ecstasy, resistance is possible, at least at the outset.

First of all the rapture thing is real. By continuing to talk about it even if we are wrong in our speculation about it. It keeps us all vigilant about it. But all the things you see with earthquakes and floods. Even the oil spill accident in the gulf. All these things will continue to happen until man reaches his breaking point. People have given until they can't give no more. How much longer will this happen. how much longer does it go on. Where else will the next tragic event happen. Yet no one seems to accept things for what they are. Its global warming, its nature, something doesn't add up naturally when floods are at 500 year flood stage levels month after month after month.