Question about End of Days, Rapture, Tribulation

[nofearfactor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

 

[Lurker66]

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?)

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? The Internet is all over the place.

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

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna

Although this is a Wikipedia link, the authors do a very good job of explaining where the idea of our concept of hell came from.

Recall that Jesus was a Jew and understood his Jewishness. The whole concept of Hell, Heaven, Rapture was very foreign to him, due to his jewishness.

It takes a powerful effort to disregard everything you've learned in your life about God and Jesus when trying to truly understand religious debate.

Start by gaining a understanding of Jesus as a Jew. He had beliefs in God that were unshakable. Beliefs that are only understood by Jews. For Jesus, "hell" was a local place, someplace nearby....gehenna.

Gehenna evolved into the Christian idea of "Hell". So that what we think of hell, which effects our ideas of "his return" and "the rapture", is just a place near Judea where a tribe sacrificed and burned their children.

Therefore, there is no hell. If there is no he'll there is probably no need for heaven and thusly no need for a rapture.

 

[1shott]

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?)

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? The Internet is all over the place.

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

Depends if you believe the pre, mid or post "rapture". I figure if it happens and your still standing on this planet your screwed, LOL.

 

[TedKennedy]

I've studied this for thirty years and still scratch my head....
Baptists from the 80s forward have generally taught the whole "Christians escape tribulation" thing, while everyone else stays here to suffer. Nice thought, I suppose, but wrong, imho. The NT warns us to watch, prepare, tells of perilous times. If we're all gonna get whisked away, why worry? The sections of Revelation dealing with the restoration of Israel has been the basis of neo-conservative Christian foreign policy, and it's not just wrong, it's dangerous.
Read the New Testament. Pay attention to the words in red letters. Treat folks fairly, forgive those that do you wrong, and ask forgiveness when you do wrong. Jesus made it simple, we complicate it.

 

[Hump66]

Depends if you believe the pre, mid or post "rapture". I figure if it happens and your still standing on this planet your screwed, LOL.

Not necessarily. Rev 9:3-4 makes me think Christians/Jews will be here during the Tribulation and will have the protection of God.

"3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads"

I've studied Revelation several times and still don't understand it. Just figure if I see anything that fits(mainly Jews rebuilding the temple and the AC entering the Holy of Holies) then I know it's going down. Personally I'm more of a mid-trib rapture believer.

 

[VIKING]

I could be wrong, but I think Norman 681 was the first to get the name of the book right. It is "Revelation" in the singular, not revelations.

I am a member of the Church of Christ, whose members adhere to the Bible and no councils or other "gathering" of faithful to decide things. One of the sayings of the Church of Christ is that we "speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent.

All that said, Revelation is not really a book of prophesy, at least not in the way we normally use that word. The book is a revelation OF Jesus Christ and not a revelation BY him. That is clearly stated in the first of the book. As we believe, there will be no "end of days" as written of in the Left Behind series of books and movies. Jesus will return and the dead in Him will first rise to the sky to be with him, followed by those that are still alive and in Him.

Don't worry about a rapture and tribulation. Just do a very diligent study of the Bible in all areas. While the Old Testament is a "history" leading up to the New Testament, there is still much in the Old that is beneficial to us, even if we are to live according to the New. Good luck in all that, and enjoy the learning process.

Thank you Terry.If I was educated enough to say what I believe it would be these exact words..JB, it's probably best to try to not figure it out on your own..Just draw near to God and study His word. He will be all the help you need..

 

[SPDguns]

Pre-trib, mid-trib, post trib. All to be debated. Makes my family no difference, we are ready. Joshua 24:15

 

[Blinocac200sx]

Actually, at the end of the tribulation, Satan and his followers are NOT cast into the lake of fire, but the abyss, which is then sealed until the end of the Thousand Year Reign. It is not until after the battle of Gog and Magog that they are cast into the Lake of Fire.

 

[Cavedweller]

I'm still waiting for the question about a crappy Schwarzenegger movie, Blondie song, and a T word that isn't in my vocabulary.

 

[Blinocac200sx]

I will say, ultimately I don't think the Tribulation and Rapture are core issues that should divide us. I think we can disagree on these things and still all be saved, and united in Christ.