DEATH AND BEYOND

What about the rapture and the resurrection? Please Explain!

The rapture is a new teaching from about 1830. It teaches that the church will be raptured from the earth silently at some time in the future. In teaching this there is however no clear teaching on the subject of the resurrection. The entire concept of the rapture is a new comer to Christianity and cannot be substantiated from the Bible. Here are testimonies from those who formerly believed and taught this doctrine.

Henry W Frost, preacher: “This view might still be held as truth if there were any Scripture to confirm it, but it may not be held, in view of the fact that no scripture even suggests such a process of events and many scriptures positively contradict it.”
Dr Philip Mauro, Bible scholar, teacher, lawyer and author, wrote: “The impossibility of reconciling its (the rapture’s) main positions with the plain statement of the Word of God became so glaringly evident that I could not do otherwise than to renounce it.”
The resurrection from the dead is central to the true Christian faith. It is therefore essential to understand when the sure and certain hope of the resurrection will take place.
The Bible gives waymarks in prophecy of the things that must happen before the time of the resurrection. The Word of God teaches that before the end of all things there will be a time of trouble such as never has been seen in the history of the earth. ‘And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.’ Daniel 12:1 This time of trouble will involve those people who make up the church of God on the earth. They will live through this time. For it says, And at that time shall Michael stand up , the great prince which standeth for thy people.
The Bible speaks about the seven last plagues to come upon the earth (sent by God as His wrath on rebellion. God is a God of justice and mercy. ‘And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels , Go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.’ Revelation 16:1 We often forget that great major event still to come. They are not from natural causes and pollution. )not the natural causes of pollution) at the end of this time and the events will be quick.
Immediately after this the Lord will come in glory. He will take the righteous home with Him and the righteous who have died will be resurrected at the same time to be taken to be with the Lord then too. This is the time of the resurrection of the righteous from the Bible.
There will be a period of 1000 years and at the end of that the wicked will be raised. They will still have the same hatred of God and will make an attack on the city of God as it descends. But they will first have to acknowledge that Christ is God and Lord and bow the knee in submission to Him the ruler and creator of all things. Philippians 2:10 ‘That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.’ After that fire and brimstone will be rained down upon the wicked destroying them and purifying the earth of all its pollution and impurities. ‘Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them’ Revelation 20:9
God will make the heaven and the earth again and all will b e new. All the former things will be passed away. Revelation 21:4
Those who believe in a rapture do not actually need a resurrection in their teachings as they mostly believe that the dead go to heaven or hell at death. However the resurrection is central to the Gospel and stressed by Christ who said ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live. John 11:25 The Rapture is in truth doing away with Christ who is the resurrection. The resurrection cannot be ignored; it is central to the gospel, and our hope. If we believe that we die and sleep then the resurrection is vitally important to our Hope in the Lord. The whole teaching of the Bible is about Christ. Modern theories work to take away Christ in His fullness.
Satan’s lie that we shall not die, means that there is no need for a resurrection. It is another direct attack on Christ who tells us that He is the Resurrection and the Life.

The lie has spread so far that almost every teacher of the gospel today is preaching that same lie and not realising it. The seriousness of it is that Christ our Saviour, our God, our Creator, our life giver and our lawgiver, is being subtly removed in favour of Greek philosophy. Christ is under attack. Will you choose to learn more and be able to stand in his defence? While we are so very concerned about our rights, He has no other defence today except the words of those for whom He came and lived and died, and the majority are blinded and working with the evil one against Him.

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