Thanks L, hope you don’t mind I answer via post.
Luke 17:26-30King James Version (KJV)26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
1 Thessalonians 5:3King James Version (KJV)
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Reader Question:
It seems to me the Church will be snatched away VERY, very close to the
start of the Tribulation period (adding to the all-round chaos):The verses in Luke 17:26-30, and 1 Thessalonians 5:3 paint a picture of
normal, peaceful, day-to-day life on earth…just before great calamity
(Tribulation) suddenly descends. This always makes me conclude that if
the Church had departed at some earlier point (be it days, months, or
years), how could there continue to be this type of seemingly normal,
“business as usual” activity/life everywhere on earth up until the great
Tribulation descends? How could this “normalcy” of life continue, when
so many, at some earlier point in time, will have suddenly vanished?
If you have something on this I’d love to hear it.
My Response:
I don’t think I have done a piece on the topic specifically, but I have made the point a number of times and it is a very good one because in all the speculation and trying to get some kind of handle on how close the Rapture may be, if people forget that folks will be buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, they can easily start to worry about the much-talked about financial collapse taking place before we go out, and all sorts of other upsetting and discouraging things. If the world is suddenly plunged into martial law and financial devastation, who is going to be out shopping and who is going to be throwing fancy weddings? Who is going to be planting vineyards and farms in the midst of the chaos the Tribulation promises to bring? Devastation is coming, but it can’t happen until we are gone, at least not on a global/universal scale.
Every degree of catastrophic event that has already happened before, is “fair game” to expect to continue happening, and it is reasonable to expect they may happen with more frequency or slightly broader scale on par with how, for instance, the second world war was perhaps higher-stakes than the first one.
The only caveat to whether the world notices and is thrust into upheaval by the disappearance of all the Christians, is this: In the days of Noah, there were only eight people deemed righteous and spared. Eight! If by “as it was in the days of Noah, God also is talking about numbers, well, I’m not sure the impact will be as major in terms of the sudden disappearances themselves, as some seem to believe. The prophet Isaiah said; The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. (Is 57:1)
Answers in Genesis, and Lambert Dolphin (Christian Physicist) websites both indicate that the world population at the time of the flood was between 8.5 and 9 billion. Right now, it is appx. 7.3 billion. Of course there is no rule that says that there will be that few Christians left in the world before the Lord intervenes this time, but of the seventy-some percent of Americans alone who claim Christianity, how many are actually on the narrow way? We don’t know, of course. Will the number of people who go missing at the Rapture be massive and sorely-missed? Will it be millions? Maybe, and maybe not. But in a world where a person can be beaten to death on the street and no one intervenes, I am not sure those left behind are going to be the type who care.
ldolphon.org
answersingenesis.org
census.gov as of today’s date 12/2/15
I believe it won’t be so much the missing people who create the uproar, but the absence of righteousness as a preservative, which will make people stand up and take notice, because they will get their very first taste of what “evil taken to its full potential and conclusion” is actually like, both within themselves, and in all mankind.
God does not have to calculate a risk. In other words, say you or I had to decide whether or not to run into our burning house to try to save our pet, based on how much of the house is already engulfed, and the amount of smoke. We would calculate the risk and weigh the love of that pet, against our own probability of dying in the attempt, especially when we have children who are safely outside and need their parent alive.
God knows exactly when to snatch us up. He does not need to do so one second “early”, and will not do so one millionth of a second “too late”. So it stands to reason that we will see catastrophe “coming down the road”, but it still should not make us nervous.
Consider the fact that despite the mathematical laws of finance, the world economy still holds, and despite the fact so many nations have nuclear capabilities, mankind hasn’t thus far obliterated the planet, even with CERN.
I think that it just affirms the Biblical truth that the salt and the light of Christianity, the presence of the Holy Spirit still in us, within the world, are acting as the preservative. Bacteria and mold grow in dark places. Salt cures and preserves things,by inhibiting the viability of bacteria via the osmotic pressure exerted on the bacteria or mold, which essentially draws all moisture out of the mold spore or bacterial cell, causing it to shrivel and die.
When God snatches His salt and light out, He won’t have to “cause” chaos and destruction. Under the laws of entropy and of the curse the world is under, things will just take their natural course in an environment conducive to the unchecked growth of nothing good whatsoever. If it is noted that all the Christians disappear, it will likely be with glee. Now, sudden, and immediate, are two different terms and not identical. Sudden means it will happen quickly, when it does happen. Immediate is right away. So whether the destruction happens within moments of the church going out, or not, when Jesus comes for us, it will still be “business as usual when He comes to remove His bride.
I have battled the same concerns and what-ifs that many of you may be dealing with. Even though America has been an extremely blessed nation, with Christian roots, and now has officially turned away from God as a whole, the judging of the nations is reserved for the end of the tribulation. That is part of the purpose of that period. When Christ comes in His Glory, and separates the sheep from the goats, that is the judgment of the nations.
So all of the people who are saying how especially now that we have legalized gay marriage and now that the abortion industry’s deepest and most heinous secrets have been laid bare, surely God is going to take the gloves off and give us what we have coming, these folks are not looking at the whole picture. Homosexuality is an abomination, but so are fornication and adultery, and God hates divorce. Homosexuality is as much or more a curse and a consequence of the rebellion this nation chose long ago, than any milestone marking time for God to have met the end of His patience. It is a built-in curse or consequence that accompanies that degree of depravity.
God didn’t find out about the Planned Parenthood atrocities the same day we did when the first videos were released. He is omniscient, and omnipresent, and knew about it a long time ago. The revelation to the rest of us, has no impact whatsoever to suddenly prompt wrath. God is angry at the wicked who store up wrath against themselves every day. (Romans 2:5).
So keeping that all in perspective, it is actually kind of ego-centric of us (although that is human nature) for us to think that surely God must bring the hammer down on America or the West, or what have you, at this juncture. Each progressive generation sees it get worse, what makes this time “the time” is not the level of sin, but all the fulfilled prophecies, and alignment of events for fulfillment of still more prophecies, which the Bible clearly tells us when these signs come to pass, we know our redemption is nigh, and thus, also, the tribulation and His Glorious appearing (the one every eye will see) at the end of that.
Look at it this way. God didn’t have to come up with the plan for a Savior after Adam and Eve sinned. The creation of humans with a will of their own, and Satan’s rebellion, made it intrinsic that sin would happen, and the course was set for Jesus way back before the foundation of the world.
God is never forced to “scramble” according to some choice an individual makes, and He is not forced to address this particular generation’s sins now, any more than He had to fully address Israel’s sins along the way through history and time. In fact, the very fact we are currently in the period God named the “age of Grace” and the Covenant of grace, means He is less likely to bring that hammer down while we are still here (if I Thess. 5:9 isn’t enough for you to be convinced). Remember, the age of Grace is the Church age, and the Church age ends when we leave this world.
I got caught up in all the hand-wringing and stress that comes with the constant “boy are we in trouble now” and even helped perpetuate that to some degree, at times for a while. I guess that is just one more reason I have stepped back. God remembers mercy even in wrath. Is it foolish to think we will be spared the suffering and persecution; is it arrogant, and presumptuous as many Christian bloggers and youTube-ers accuse? First of all, if the way God handled His business was subject to our concept of fair, the world really would be in a heap of trouble!!! Even the unrepentant benefit from His mercies for a time.
But also, using that “definition” of fair, how is it fair that our particular generation is the one to stare the Tribulation in the face (and which many of this generation will endure) when all those other ones didn’t have to deal with this issue?
It’s not a matter of fair as the world defines fair. This is not kindergarten!
There is something wayyyyy bigger than our piddly concepts of justice, fairness, and what certain ones “deserve and don’t deserve” in play here. This is God’s thing, not ours. The fact that people get enamored with their own conclusions and perspectives, is pretty much why things are so cloudy to begin with. You know?
Let me put it in a different “frame” altogether. Saturday morning I sat here watching Fox News (only because my husband turns it on in the mornings) and listened to some 25-year-old supposed “expert” weigh in with the rest of the lollipop heads on the curvy couch, to give their “analysis” of why people act like idiots on Black Friday. The “expert” said, “well, it is simply a way for people to act out their competitiveness. You have folks who work in mutual funds in the financial world, because they are not extremely competitive by nature, and then you have your hedge-fund managers. Guys like this who maybe didn’t get to go to college, this is a way for them to act out their competitive nature”. (My paraphrase, and not a direct transcript, obviously).
Please! The arrogance of these people. Really? People slug each other and trample each other because they are competitive?
Ok, so the next story I see is some random law-enforcement person (in no way involved with the current incident) being interviewed for his “insight” into the Planned Parenthood clinic hostage standoff. He said “one of the important things we are going to want to look at in cases like these, are: What is this individual’s ideology? Is he affiliated with a certain group? Are there other similar attacks in the works, and is this just the beginning?”
Again, wow! The motive for generating this particular “narrative” in the “news coverage” is so blatant that only the absolute blind and deaf and stupid, could miss it! Set up the wild-eyed and wooly haired white dude as a terrorist so we can justify the mass-surveillance and legitimize the ludicrous claim that terror has nothing to do with Islam.
Ok, when you read that, your mind goes to the fact that the actual terrorists surely love it when our stupid media do their work for them, paving the way. Right?
I’m sitting there watching that program and wanting to scream, “WHAT DOES YOUR OPINION HAVE TO DO WITH IT AT ALL?” What place does opinion have in reporting of facts? And yet that’s all it is anymore with the “so-called-news”. It’s gotten to be the same with the Bible. People think it’s all open to their own interpretation, and there all spouting off a bunch of stuff, writing entire books about what they think it all means. People buy their books and often never bother to read the Bible itself. Blah blah blah, of the making of books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh”.
Now look at the Rapture from that perspective. The enemy is not thqat confused fellow Christians out there, who have been fooled into speculating, adding his two cents, and perpetuating the narrative. The enemy is The ENEMY!! Satan, the principalities and powers.
He wants to steal our peace and cause us to fret and worry. When the world looks at Christianity fighting about the rapture, and apparently having no guarantee of escape from the “supposed wrath to come”, and/or horrific times before the tribulation, Satan has got us making his job easier for him. The credibility of all Christians is then called into question by every non-believer.
I started out diligently searching, listening to so many voices, and along the way, encountered lots of Christians through the blog who ended up becoming friends, but some of them are (and I do believe inadvertently) perpetuating this stealing of personal peace and “Blessed Hope” by the enemy.
My purpose in the blog has always been to face reality but still encourage. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Don’t be blown about by every wind of end–time man-skewed doctrine.
All that we do as followers of Christ, we do with poor hearing, poor sight, and God allows some space for that imperfect understanding. I personally believe that the things of the Lord being as vast as they are, very few individuals comprehend fully any aspect of His nature, or His plan. Further, He reveals in different measure to each of us, according to the capacity He designed us with.
So we need not be surprised by the differences of conclusions and of perspectives, but where I have a problem is when people take an “I’m right and you are wrong approach and goes on the attack.. If there is any conclusion I have come to which can’t stand up to challenge, then it is probably a position I ought not be holding tightly to begin with. If every little thing someone throws out there, results in new doubt about what I believe, then I have not done my own due diligence to begin with.
So, to sum up, I think, the point the reader makes is spot-on!
When someone says to me, “you are in denial and you just want to believe that position because it is the one least likely to result in you having to suffer”, that is fine if they want to think that. I have no reason whatsoever to go on the defensive. I have, however, frankly gotten to the point that I take that very accusation as but one more indication that whatever their position is, they are speaking for the enemy. Why do I say that? because I recognize the tone. Don’t you?
It’s jealous. It’s resentful and defensive.
That is why we are to be ready to give a defense of the hope that is in us. Not so we can win a debate, but so our peace cannot be shaken.
I feel confident in the pre-trib rapture and also in my conclusion that nothing of catastrophic global proportions coming about before the rapture because I was not afraid to look at all of them, and have thoroughly considered the different positions, and also because of my own experiences in life as to the nature of our God. (Not to mention what the Bible itself shows over and over about His nature) Is there room for me to be wrong? Of course, as humans are not perfect, however, if I am mistaken, I am also completely confident in the Lord’s ability to 1) rebuke the devourer for our sakes, 2) hide us in the cleft of the rock, 3) walk with us in fiery furnaces and lion’s dens to keep us from harm, 4) in His promise to take me immediately to Himself if something causes my death, and take care of my family and enable them to bear the loss. 5) I trust Him to provide food if we have no income, etc.
Now, does that mean that I would be the epitome of peace and serenity should catastrophic circumstances pop up say, two weeks from now? I dare say, no I would not. I know me. I know my capacity to panic, stress, get overwhelmed. But remember, it’s not me I’m placing my faith in. It’s Him. He is faithful. He has proven it to me again and again and again in my own life.
Which is why I can say that even when I complain or have a little pity party in my frustration and impatience, if I remind myself of His nature and all the times He brought me through things in the past, I regain my peace and equilibrium. I guess that is why He gives us this admonition with its two-part promise (part one is a promise about the peace of God, part two is a promise about the God of peace):
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Serve Him in the Waiting 