The Rapture

Pete Garcia

Over the years, I’ve read close to a thousand articles pertaining to the Rapture of the Church. I’ve watched hundreds of videos of speakers expound on this topic.  I don’t know where to begin on how many sermons I’ve listened too…and to many of those teachers and preachers…we (those of us who benefit from their diligence) are indebted.  God has blessed many Godly men in putting to terms things many of us have missed or maybe not understood.  And just when I thought I’d heard them all, God reveals something new about this subject to me.

The Marriage

First, the Rapture must be distinguished from the gathering by the Angels that is found in Matthew 24:31 “Olivet Discourse”.  The Olivet Discourse was given in three of the four Gospels because of their intended audience.  It is not given in the Gospel of John, which many experts understand is the Gospel written to the Church.  The Church does not go through the Tribulation, hence instead of an Olivet Discourse; we have the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17).

In Paul’s epistle to the church in Thessalonica, Christ Himself descends in the same manner in which He ascended (Acts 1:9-11) and gathers the Church unto Himself…He doesn’t have the angels gather His Bride.  Since we can model Christ’s return for His Church along the lines of a Jewish wedding, would a Jewish groom send his servants to gather his bride…or would he do it himself?

Read the Rest at RaptureReady.com

Pete Garcia is an editor-at-large for the Omega Letter.

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The 1948 Connection

The restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land is one of the most staggeringly overt fulfillments of Bible prophecy to occur in the last 2,000 years.

The Hebrew prophets all foretold an eventual restoration of Israel, even addressing the future state by name, in some cases centuries after Israel had ceased to exist.

Jesus said,

“Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:32-34).

In his book, Personal Witness, Ambassador Abba Eban, one of Israel’s Founding Fathers and Israel’s first Foreign Minister, wrote;

“In accordance with our plan, a letter from [Chaim] Weizmann to [President] Truman had been sent on May 13 asking him to recognize our new state[….]

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