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Confessions of a Homeschool Dad
Aug. 11, 2006
Bad News About Freak Boy - And The Rapture
So, yesterday, I innocently posted a prediction about how the whole Israeli / Lebanon / Hesb'Allah cease fire thing will work out in line with prophesy. It was all your nice, normal, average blogging day.
But then Suzie (of the creepy picture on her blog page) went and had to wake up Freak Boy. She posted that she was ready for the Rapture since these were the End Times and we're seemingly close to the Tribulation.
Well, 'ol Freak Boy is going to have to tell about some bad news he learned a few years back.
RAPTURE? TRIBULATION? WHATCHUTALKINABOUT?
There are a few folks I know that come to my blog that are not up to date on all of their "Christianese" (which, believe me, is just fine!). But, for the sake of clarity, I'm going to do a quick explanation of the Rapture and Tribulation period.
The Rapture is when Christ is coming back to bring home Christians. Sometime in the unknown future (we'll know the season, but not the specific time), Christ will return to Earth and Christians will be taken up to Heavan. Pretty simple, right?
The Tribulation is a 7 year period, most clearly (timewise) laid out in prophesies in the book of Daniel, that will start with a peace treaty in the Middle East headed up by the Anti-Christ. After 3.5 years, the Anti-Christ will demand to be worshipped in (the rebuilt by that time) Solomon's Temple. After 7 years is the final battle between good and evil in Armageddon.
During the Tribulation, however, it will be intensely unpleasant. There will be all sorts of nasty stuff happening (think the plagues in Egypt when Moses came, but worse and all over the world) that, frankly, I'd rather not be around for.
PRE, MID, POST - THE BIG ARGUMENT
The big question (without a whole lot of concrete evidence either way) is whether someone believes in a Pre-, Post-, or Mid-Tribulation Rapture. Here's basically what that means:
Pre-Trib - A Pre-Tribulation Rapture means that either right at the time that the peace treaty is signed or right before that time, Christians will be taken home. This is the most popular belief in Evangelical Christianity and the one depicted in the "Left Behind" series.
Mid-Trib - Mid-Trib says that once the Anti-Christ sets himself up in Solomon's Temple to be worshipped is the time that Christ will come and gather home all of the Christians.
Post-Trib - This, the least popular among anyone, says that after all hellacious 7 years of the Tribulation and right before (or right after) the Battle of Armageddon is when the Christians will go home. This is least popular because it means that we are going to have to endure all of the nastiness in the Tribulation period.
FREAK BOY SAYS, "NONE OF THE ABOVE!"
A few years back, I was involved in a study that was using the book The Pre-Wrath Rapture, by Marvin Rosenthal. This changed my view of the Rapture forever.
You see, as Marvin points out and my experience shows, most Evangelical Christian pastors, scholars, and laypeople really want a Pre-Trib rapture. And, if you bring up anything else to them, the usual response is, "Do you want to be here during the Tribulation!?!"
As he points out, what I want has very little to do with what God is going to do.
In any case, he makes and excellent case that the Rapture will be "Pre-Wraith" which, because of unclear timing in the Biblical prophesy, could be anytime from "Mid-Trib" to just before "Post-Trib".
One of the big reasons that I was convinced was his analysis of a part of Scripture that says that, basically, there are a lot of Christians that are going to be very, very upset after the Tribulation period starts. It doesn't say why, but Martin says it is because everyone thought they were going home, but are still on Earth.
If you're "all in" on Pre-Trib, I can see where it would be upsetting to find out you get to ride out at least part of the Tribulation. It's gonna be ugly.
BACK TO THE IGNORANCE DEFENSE
However, keep in mind that nobody really knows which it is. The most honest scholars will say that up front.
But this book is a good read - I recommend reading it sometime before the Tribulation!
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Posted by
Aug. 11, 2006 - hmm very interestsing...