When I was in high school, I sat in the back corner of one of my classes with a couple of Christian girls. They regaled me with End Times stories which I now believe were cobbled up from John Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, further promoted via the Scofield Bible, which gave rise to Dispensationalism and Christian Zionism.
I wasn't a Christian myself, just an ignorant, clueless churchgoer, but I listened avidly to their tales. They said that one day soon, there was going to be a one world government, a one world religion and a one world currency. I had no idea about any of this, but lo and behold, we are actually now at the precipice of such a possibility. Not that I believe this will happen. It is being threatened after a fashion by WEF.
They said that one day, Jesus would come and rapture all of the Christians out of the world before the horrors were unleashed, and they considered they would be receiving this wonderful ride.
However, all of the non-Christians "left behind" were going to be in very serious trouble. The Anti-Christ would arise and rule the world and would begin persecuting any new Christians that would convert after the rapture. These people would have a kind of "second chance" with Jesus, but it would really cost them, because the Anti-Christ would chop off their heads if they didn't take the "mark of the beast," without which no man could "buy or sell."
I was so freaked out by these talks, that I got out a Bible and read all of Revelation, without any understanding of the text, of course. Since I didn't know how to "believe in Jesus," I thought I was going to end up being one of those people who got their heads chopped off, because taking the mark would result in a ride to hell, which, of course, I didn't want.
This was about 15 years prior to my conversion. And I finally learned that much of Revelation is written in a very symbolic way.
After conversion, someone gave me a copy of the Scofield Bible. It is very influential in the American churches. I noticed that there are copious margin notes, and the notes overwhelmingly promote the earthly nation of Israel. So this led many American churches to put earthly Israel above Christ's Kingdom.
If you notice the kinds of things that WEF and others of that ilk are saying, doing, and threatening to do, they seem to be promoting some kind of End Times madness. It is interesting that in the early days of the Christian church, people were saying that the disciples were "turning the world upside down." It is equally interesting that today, the world has once more become something that has "turned upside down," but not in the Gospel sense, rather in a crazy, never-seen-before kind of way. Good has become bad, ugly has become beautiful, upside down is now considered to be right side up.
If the WEF orcs get their way, there will be all kinds of suffering and death, and they have been holding this over our heads since early 2020. Not that they didn't talk about it before. It's just that not many were listening. Well, a lot of us are listening now, because the orcs got louder.
Since 2020, I have had some days with crying and even screaming at the walls. "Isn't anyone going to put a stop to this?" The world has truly gone mad. I thought maybe Hazmat suits were going to come to my door, throw me down, and forcibly inject me with poison. Hasn't happened so far. I thought the BLM riots might come to my neighborhood, robbing, raping, killing and setting fire. Hasn't happened yet. Last fall, Biden promised a dark winter. Didn't happen. They are threatening us now with no money, no food, no heat for our homes, no fuel for our cars, and even a potential nuclear exchange. Is any of that going to happen? Or is it mostly just fear mongering for the purpose of controlling the masses?
Orcs such as Klaus Schwab talk as if they are on the verge of victory. I think they are wrong. They haven't read the back of the book. I don't think we will have to line up at guillotines, emaciated, freezing, and beaten nearly to death. These things have indeed happened to some people throughout history. But I believe in the happy ending that God has promised. Satan's army is busy threatening ALL of us. That has never happened before, to my knowledge. Satan can't win, however. God wins. It is that simple.
BINGO!
There is no rapture. That idea is only entered mainstream Christianity in the last couple of hundred years by the Scofield Bible that was widely adopted.
The rapture is the greatest lie the devil ever injected into Christianity. It has neutered the church into not fighting for every realm of culture and taking dominion. Who polishes brass on a sinking ship?
It is NOT what Christian's traditionally believed nor is it what the bible teaches. God WINS. The "end" will be just like in the days of Noah. Who was swept of the earth and destroyed in the days of Noah? The wicked. Those in the Ark (symbolic of Christ) were spared and saw a land partially transformed, a preview of what would come.
This time it won't be water, but fire like Jesus's Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13:24-30 "...“First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” God is literally telling us the tares are burned first. I doubt He got the order wrong.
Here's a great playlist with videos on the subject including sermons, lectures, and debates with the other positions https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm4vxYfDpoYaWjqK76eZukIyKtyX5Xa-J
This is wrong.
The idea of rapture has been around since the early church and has been taught throughout the centuries.
Fairy tale.
I clearly said "entered mainstream" it was NOT the prevailing eschatological position prior to the widespread adoption of the Scofield Bible.
It is still NOT what the Bible teaches. It's a TRADITION you've been taught and does not hold up to scripture when you examine it objectively especially with a knowledge of history and events that CLEARLY coincide with Revelation and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD
Jesus even said "This generation shall not pass till all these things take place" Did that generation pass? Yep. And what happened during that generation? The destruction of Jerusalem and a LOCALIZED judgment.
That playlist I shared is jam packed with lot's of evidence and debates so take a look at it before we waste time rehashing things that are already covered there.
I'm not going to debate you. I am simply providing information for anyone who happens to read this thread to research and come to their own conclusions. To that end, here are some links.
A CASE FOR THE PRETRIBULATIONAL RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH
The Rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2:3
A HEBRAIC PERSPECTIVE: IS THERE IS A PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE OR NOT?
Well it became a debate when you misrepresented what I said that you still haven't corrected or taken back. Is honesty and integrity not important to you?