Last Days Matters

Revelation 7:13-14 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In verse 14 we find the words “great tribulation”. Tribulation is from Greek word for pressured, thlipsis. That which presses…

In several areas of Bible prophecy and chronology, some insist on using special 360-day years, that is, 12 months of 30 days. These are sometimes called prophetic years and are especially popular with many rapture theology adherents. Part of the concept is true and was common in much of the ancient world. Egypt, for example, used twelve 30-day months for the year. But this was not considered a completed year until additional religious days were observed at the end, bringing…

According to Pre-Millennial (Rapture) theologians, when its a city! Daniel 9:25 is a vital verse for the popularized predictions of pre-Millennialist teachers. Many use highly impressive mathematical calculations to show that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, on what we call Palm Sunday, is exactly Daniel’s predicted 483 years. Their math depends on four major assumptions: 1) special prophetic years of 360 days length, not standard solar years, 2) a preferred, but historically uncertain date for one of two major decrees…

While churches with premillennial theology have serious contradictions with the Bible in their bold claims of knowing future events, they do have partial validity in predicting a global governance and economic system that will be antagonistic, even brutally reactive to the biblical Christian faith. Of course, this has long been a dream of politically aggressive leaders since ancient Assyria, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Islam, and more recently, Nazi Germany, North Korea, and China, et. al. Ignoring the reality of greedy, power-hungry,…

Popular, especially evangelical views of Revelation interpret events in the book as a linear timeline. The seals, trumpets, and vials, plus other visionary portions are predicted to occur in short order, normally considered to be seven years. This very Western, modern, logically arranged chronology is at odds with Eastern (Oriental-Mideastern) thought and writing, and is specifically at odds with Hebrew literary style. You might have noticed that in many parts of the Bible and especially prominent in the Psalms, ideas…

In the next post on this subject, I will focus on the “left behind” verses that are so vital, and so misused in teaching a rapture. But first, a few other passages that are often associated with the rapture yet don’t actually teach it at all. In reminder, I reprint the following from my first post on this subject.  I do not claim or suggest that someone who believes in the rapture is not saved. If one trusts in the…

Prime question: Does the Bible teach an “invisible” coming of Christ and then a later “visible” return? The primary verses most often used to establish the rapture are 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and some portions of the context. First, verses 16-17 will be examined, then later, the context. Some background: “Rapture” is a derivative of the Latin word found in Jerome’s Vulgate (fourth century translation) of 1 Th. 4:17 usually rendered as “caught up”. [raptorare: to seize and carry off, to…

Much of American Evangelical Christianity embraces some form of a “rapture” theology. The “rapture is a “secret” removal of all Christians from earth usually placed by such theologies as just prior to 7 years of terrible judgments and tribulation on earth. In the “rapture”, Christians suddenly disappear and leave unbelievers behind. A multitude of scenarios are proposed. My main concept for today’s post is that the biblical, singular, second advent of Jesus at the end of the age is wrongly…