Rapture Real? When?

Bible Study

Before this discussion begins there are a few things that should be understood. First, when reading the Bible no one should try to “read between the lines” or try to twist the Word of God to fit into a particular teaching of the Bible.

Secondly: God is not the author of confusion. If any teaching needs convoluted thinking or it is overly complicated or seems confusing or illogical or contradictory then there should be doubt to the accuracy of that teaching. The Bible is not complicated but sometimes it takes Bible teachers to point someone in the right direction.

Never take it for granted that any human teacher or theological teaching is accurate. If you follow incorrect or false Bible teaching or follow teachings that have been “handed down” from generation to generation you are responsible for being misled. We all have free will and God expects us to find the truth and follow the truth. When judgment day comes you will not be able to use the excuse that someone else has lead you down the wrong path. You are guilty of you own sins and it is your responsibility to understand and know the truth. That is why Jesus warned us over and over to beware of false teachers and false prophets.

God gave you a brain and if you fully trust him and if you investigate the teachings of others (myself included) and immerse yourself in closely studying the Bible, you will probably be astounded at the number of incorrect or false teachings that exist today.

The discussion that follows is the first in a series of teachings from this writer that will let the Holy Scripture speak for it’s self with a few explanations. Remember, Satan is the father of lies, confusion, deception, seduction, sin and he is the son of perdition. During the tribulation if you are seduced and fooled like Adam and Eve were you will be condemned. The tribulation is your time to choose between the Truth or the father of lies. Don’t be deceived.

Question: Will Christians be on earth when “the son of perdition” is revealed during the tribulation?

The following scripture quotes are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Red indicates Scripture, Black indicates thoughts of this writer.

Judge the truth for yourself.

Matt 13

³⁶Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

³⁷He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

³⁸The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

³⁹The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

⁴⁰As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

Note: the tares are gathered FIRST. This is at the last trump, the end of the world. Christians are the children of the Kingdom.

⁴²And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Christians are the righteous made that way by the blood of the Lamb.

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

Verse 47: The net “gathered of EVERY kind”, the wicked and the just. This means Christians, the elect, the saints, the Jews , the justified, the righteous, those following no one and those following Satan.

⁴⁸Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

⁴⁹So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

⁵⁰And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Verse 49: So shall it be at the end of the world…”and sever the wicked from the just”. Christians are still here because Christians are the ones that are justified by the blood of Christ. Note: the wicked are severed from the just. The wicked are mentioned first once again. The good are gathered into vessels. It does not say taken away.

Mark 13

⁸For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

⁹But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

The sorrows (tribulations) have begun and Christians are delivered up to the anti Christ to give a testimony for Jesus and against the wicked.

¹⁰And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

¹¹But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Christians are delivered up to the wicked and the Holy Ghost will speak for you. The Holy Spirit removes you from the hour of temptation because you do not have to speak for yourself.

¹²Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.

¹³And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Verse 12: why will brother betray brother etc? Because some Christians that are looking to be taken away before the anti Christ arrives will believe this is the true Christ and will truly believe they are helping save the souls of their family but will un knowingly be working for Satan. Christians shall be hated, but those Christians that follow the TRUE Christ to the end shall be saved. This is during the tribulation. The end means until the end of your physical life or until the return of Jesus.

1 Thessolalonians

¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Verse 16 shows this is at the last trump, the second coming of Christ Jesus and Christians are still here because in verse 17 we are changed. Paul is speaking to GENTILE Christians here so this cannot be the 144,000.

This cannot be a secret or quiet early arrival of Jesus to remove the followers of Christ from the earth because He arrives with a shout and with the trump of God and the voice of the archangel.

EZE 13

⁴O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

Foxes are cunning and sneaky, are these lying or false prophets? I believe the Bible confirms that in the next few verses.

⁵Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Verse 5: “gone up into the gaps” and “made up the hedge” indicates protecting a place from attack or battle. The false prophets are teaching that Christians will not be on earth to stand against the son of perdition, the dragon. They are teaching escape. Would you really want to escape the chance to stand firm for the Lord Jesus? If we expect to escape then we will not be prepared to do battle when we are delivered up to the anti Christ. This is what a false prophet or teacher would want to happen. If we are not expecting to do battle then we could be seduced into thinking that what we face when we are delivered up to the anti Christ is the real Christ and for that reason we may not allow the Holy Spirit to speak for us. The false Christ will probably claim he is holding back taking Christians away until more can be saved. That is when brother will betray bother and father son and so on as it is written in Mark 13:12. All this would be a blessing to Satan and an insult to God. This is why Jesus repeatedly warned us about false prophets and false teachers, because we will face them, yes even the last ones. The last one will of course be the most dangerous to us and since this is the battle in the day of the Lord this is the one He is talking about.

⁶They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

⁷Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

If Jesus is going to take Christians away anytime before the son of perdition is revealed or before the day of the Lord I believe that Jesus would have made an unmistakable statement to that effect. In the New Testament the most important prophesies and teachings from Christ Jesus are sometimes repeated from different apostles for positive clarification and total understanding.

⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

Verse 8 says they have spoken vanity and seen lies, false prophets. The Lord did not say the things these false prophets claim. As it says in verse 8 “therefore, behold I am against you, saith the Lord God”.

Rev 12

⁷And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

⁸And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

⁹And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

¹⁰And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

¹¹And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Verse 10: “for the accuser of our brethren is cast down”, the brethren are Christians. If Christians had been removed from the earth before now Satan would have no one to accuse because we would be in heaven at the time. Where it says “word of their testimony” indicates Christians giving testimony for the true Christ.

Verse 11: “and they (the Christians on earth) overcame him”: “By the blood of the Lamb”: ergo Christians did not believe in the false Christ but stayed firm in Jesus, the one who redeemed us, and they saved their souls possibly even at the at the cost of their physical lives.

Rev13

⁵And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

⁶And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

⁷And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Verse 7: make war with the saints. One cannot war against those who are not present. Satan is now on earth and so are Christians.

1 Corinthians 15

⁵⁰Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

⁵¹Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Verse 51: “We shall ALL be changed”. Does this say some will be changed at an earlier time? NO.

Verse 52: We shall be changed “at the last trump”. Paul is telling the Christians in Corinth (GENTILES) that we will be changed at the last trump, the end of the world when Christ Jesus returns. We cannot enter heaven until we are changed into our spiritual bodies. By the way, Christians go through the millennial rein in their spiritual bodies.

The Bible uses examples from one book to another to illustrate a point. The following is one such example.

Gen 17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

Ergo: flee to the mountain. The second example follows:

Luke 21:21
Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

In Gen 19 God has sent angels to tell Lot and his family (the only righteous ones found there) to flee from an area destined for God’s wrath. Note that Lot and his family are not removed from the earth but the wicked ones were removed from the earth in a very violent fashion. It will be the same in Luke 21:21.

Noah was not removed from the earth but the wicked certainly were. Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares. The wicked were removed from the earth first. Christians will be protected or “removed” from God’s wrath but not removed from the earth until the real and true second coming of Christ Jesus. Death or tribulation at the hands of the wicked one is NOT the wrath of God. The Israelites were in Egypt during the plagues but were not affected by the angel of death. The angel of death was the wrath of God on Egypt. This is another example of history repeating itself in the Bible giving us a preview of things to come. Some Bible teachers and some church traditions may teach things contrary to this but the only reliable source to this discussion is the Holy Bible. If these passages show Christians on earth through the tribulation and until the second coming of Christ Jesus then other passages that are interpreted contrary to this are simply being interpreted incorrectly. God is not the author of confusion therefore the Holy Bible cannot contradict itself.

I could offer more references and quote other chapters and verses but I believe this clearly shows Christians will be on earth during the tribulation to face the anti Christ. These are not Christians that became Christians during the tribulation, nor are they just the “elect”. Christians are to be here to face the enemy and do battle and give testimony for the glory of God.

It is our destiny, our honor and our duty to stand against the false Christ and stand for the glory of the true Christ Jesus who gave His life so that we could have everlasting life. AMEN

May God bless the reader with understanding and knowledge of his Word and the Truth.

Reference material: The Word of God. Taught by Ned Adams through the Grace of God.