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| Beam Me Up Scotty! (2) Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mathew 24: 29-31 KJ Ver.) But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not giver her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. (Mark 13:24-27 KJ Ver.) It is easy to see the sequence of events. After the tribulation, at the sound of a trumpet, the sun and the moon darken, (as in Revelation) and the Second Coming of Christ occurs. Therefore, the Second Coming and the rapture are shown to be the same event. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, we give thee thanks, o lord God all mighty, which art, wast, art to come, because thou has taken to thee thy great power, and has reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear they name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:15-18 KJ Ver.) Again, we have the second coming taking place at the seventh trumpet, with judgement following immediately thereafter (bowl judgements). The tribulation then, is not God's wrath or judgement, rather it is the result of the: environmental, social, and economic calamities which the human race has brought upon itself. The judgement, or, 'Great Tribulation', refers to the bowl judgements only. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had recieved [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection. Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6 KJ Ver.) There could not have been a pre-tribulation rapture, because the first rapture/resurrection includes the christians who were killed during the tribulation for not taking the mark. We know that the anti-christ forces everyone to take his mark at the mid point of the tribulation. Therefore, the first resurrection and rapture occurs more than 3 1/2 years into the tribulation. Jump to Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Previous___________________Main Directory___________________Next |