Question about End of Days, Rapture, Tribulation

[TerryMiller]

I will expound with a bit more information. Regardless of one's religious beliefs, one should keep in mind that it is God that will be the final judge of who is judged well. Regardless of what we "want" to believe, keep in mind that the Old Testament shows that God was very specific in how things were to be done. A close study shows that He even went into great deal in describing how the Tabernacle was to be built and furnished. He was even specific as to the design of the robes for the priests. In an example of his wrath, Uzzah was one that was killed instantly when he reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant. Regardless of Uzzah's motive for touching the Ark, he sinned and died immediately.

With that in mind, my belief is that one should be considerate of what the Bible teaches in how to live and how to worship God. If one isn't following those "guidelines," then might one be at risk at the judgement day? Because of that, the church of Christ adheres pretty strictly to the Bible's teachings. None of us are God, so none of us can say who will and will not receive beneficial judgement in the end, but I'm inclined to believe that I should do the best I can in following the teachings in the Bible. Many "religions" actually do not follow those teachings.

As for the Bible's translations. I used to think the King James version was the best because it seemed to be the oldest English language version, thus perhaps making it more accurate than later versions that have paraphrased the Bible. I was informed by a church elder that the American Standard Version of 1901 was actually the closest translation, word for word, that one could find. I later spoke with a Biblical scholar and professor that had worked with the Dead Sea Scrolls in their original languages. He confirmed to me that he could indeed translate directly from the original languages to the ASV translation. Anything else and he had to first translate and then paraphrase. So far as I know, the only publisher for the ASV is Star Bibles.

 

[Brad A]

Read the book Victorious Eschatology written by Harold Eberle & Martin Trench

 

[SM Rider]

It was written by men(plural) and evolved(changed) over a period of turbulent times(biblical canon wasn't really final until the 5th Cen.), then the reformation brought/reopened questions of interpretations, opinions, traditions.

"As to the book called the bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions and a history of bad times and bad men." - Thomas Paine

 

[maat]

Jesus lays it out in Mathew ch. 24. No rapture. The second coming is after the tribulation and just before Gods wrath on the wicked. At his coming will be the first resurrection of the saved. After a thousand years the unsaved are resurrected. They will be destroyed in the lake of fire along with satan and hell.

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel-let the reader understand- 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

 

[SPDguns]

Wow. 7 pages.....

 

[WTJ]

I will expound with a bit more information. Regardless of one's religious beliefs, one should keep in mind that it is God that will be the final judge of who is judged well. Regardless of what we "want" to believe, keep in mind that the Old Testament shows that God was very specific in how things were to be done. A close study shows that He even went into great deal in describing how the Tabernacle was to be built and furnished. He was even specific as to the design of the robes for the priests. In an example of his wrath, Uzzah was one that was killed instantly when he reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant. Regardless of Uzzah's motive for touching the Ark, he sinned and died immediately.

With that in mind, my belief is that one should be considerate of what the Bible teaches in how to live and how to worship God. If one isn't following those "guidelines," then might one be at risk at the judgement day? Because of that, the church of Christ adheres pretty strictly to the Bible's teachings. None of us are God, so none of us can say who will and will not receive beneficial judgement in the end, but I'm inclined to believe that I should do the best I can in following the teachings in the Bible. Many "religions" actually do not follow those teachings.

As for the Bible's translations. I used to think the King James version was the best because it seemed to be the oldest English language version, thus perhaps making it more accurate than later versions that have paraphrased the Bible. I was informed by a church elder that the American Standard Version of 1901 was actually the closest translation, word for word, that one could find. I later spoke with a Biblical scholar and professor that had worked with the Dead Sea Scrolls in their original languages. He confirmed to me that he could indeed translate directly from the original languages to the ASV translation. Anything else and he had to first translate and then paraphrase. So far as I know, the only publisher for the ASV is Star Bibles.

The ASV can be downloaded for free using the Olive Tree app, along with several other translations.

 

[TerryMiller]

"As to the book called the bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions and a history of bad times and bad men." - Thomas Paine

I guess Thomas Paine was a rabble rouser when it came to religion as well as the politics of the day.

 

[TerryMiller]

Jesus lays it out in Mathew ch. 24. No rapture. The second coming is after the tribulation and just before Gods wrath on the wicked. At his coming will be the first resurrection of the saved. After a thousand years the unsaved are resurrected. They will be destroyed in the lake of fire along with satan and hell.

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Much of Matthew 24 needs to be kept in context. Looking at Matthew 24: 34, one reads, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished."

Much of chapter 24 is related to the coming of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 a.d., which would have been an event that occurred when citizens of "that generation" was still alive. Thus, at least some of Jesus' words would have been in relationship to the time when the Temple would be destroyed.

 

[TerryMiller]

The ASV can be downloaded for free using the Olive Tree app, along with several other translations.

I have the app, "My Sword for Android" on my phone. It was a free app and also has the ASV, among many other versions.

 

[reade]

There was a show on the History Channel a couple of weeks back about the End of Days.

My understanding is that the timeline is as follows:

The Rapture occurs. The living Christians and dead are taken to Heaven. (Which puzzles me, because aren't the dead Christians already in Heaven?)

Many times the dead are referred to as sleeping.

The seven year Tribulation begins. The first three and one half years sees the rise of the Anti-Christ, his sidekick, The False Prophet, and a one world government.

The second three and one half years is marked by disease, famine, etc. People are required to take the Mark of the Beast.

Christ returns and vanquishes the Anti-Christ and his forces in the Battle of Armageddon. Satan, the Anti-Christ, False Prophet, demons, and all their human followers are cast into the Lake of Fire.

Is this correct? As I understand. The Internet is all over the place.

Those of you responding in this thread, please be respectful of others' beliefs.



Why do you ask? If you care to answer.