Will Jesus return twice? The Rapture.

Will Jesus return twice? The Rapture.

Me too ... a little background.

When I was a new Christian I relied upon the guidance of others.

The Lord came to me when I cried out to "the God of Jesus Christ" on Easter morning, 1974.

That winter a friend and I (John Hodges) attended an evangelistic meeting at the Lafayette, Indiana Jefferson High Scholl basketball arena, Crawley Fieldhouse which seated up to 8,200 people.

It was a Jack Van Impe meeting, the preacher who had memorized every single word of the Bible by chapter and verse.

There was a "new" doctrine becoming very popular at that time (although it was not really new in the 1960's and 1970's).

Today I believe it had been around for about 100 years by a Seventh Day Adventist pastor or theologian.

I have found that the doctrine of *the Rapture* had only recently become popular due to media outlets, books and movies, promoting The Rapture as a Christian doctrine.

In 1974 I had not yet fully read and studied the Bible, I had been a Christian for less than one year.

As do we all, I relied upon the knowledge of those who went before us.

Because Jack Van Impe seemed to me to be one of those people who knew the Bible well, one who had read and memorized the entire Bible, therefore I relied upon him for guidance.

Several years later the Lord sent me to a new mentor in Christ, Ruby Brookshier. Ruby was, in her words, a "fulfilled Jew" (sometimes today called "messianic Jew").

Once when I referred to *the rapture* to Ruby, she corrected me: "Mark, there is no rapture. Jesus is returning once, and His return will be exactly as the prophets have written."

Ruby went on to explain that there will be nothing like what many Christians today believe as *the rapture* and that it was a new doctrine created by men.

Her first "proof" that the rapture is a false doctrine was sufficient to me: "God is not like that, He is not a respecter of persons. If you know God then you will know His ways."

Ruby reaffirmed what Jesus said, that the only sign of the end is the olive tree: the nation of Israel.

She pointed out that the way the *argument* for the rapture was presented: Exegesis.

The practice of exegesism was exactly what Peter warned us against: “And account that the longsuffering or our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” [II Peter 3:15-16]

What did Apostle Paul write to them?

Paul had written to them about the day of the coming of the Lord, which also discounts the human doctrine of *the rapture*

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

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

In 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. [I Corinthians 15:50-52]

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others that have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For 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.

For 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.:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them that are in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” [Thessalonians 4:13-17]

When does the Last Trump sound?

The seven angels with the seven trumpets:

And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. [Revelations 8:2]

The seventh angel with the seventh, last trumpet; at the end of time:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: [Revelations 10:1]

And sware by him that liveth for ever, who created heaven ... that there should be time no more. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, and when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. [Revelations 10:6-7]

mmm

[Revelations 10:11]

[Revelations 10:

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[Revelations 10:

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[Revelations 10:

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... ?

Are there Christians alive at the time of the return of Jesus in the clouds?

Where did those Christians during *the tribulation* come from if all Christians had all been raptured; and where will the new Christians go, since *the rapture* has already happened?

by Christian Apologists

xxx

mmm