Thankyou & Ouch! I went flying right over the handlebars, after hitting my poor little one broadside, full speed. He is just learning the rules, and we were on a bike path away from traffic; and you would not believe how high, how fast, or how far I traveled! My other, older son of 10, was absolutely petrified as he heard the crunch of metal, and saw dad screaming, and flying through the air. My little one forgot to look before turning, and he turned right in front of me...There was no time to do anything. When I landed, I skidded about 10 feet on rough terrain; and I was almost unconscious...I couldn't speak as i took a direct blow to the stomach by a protruding handle bar.

We praised the Lord anyways, because all my stuff went flying out of my pockets; except my new cell phone which costs $400.00!

The hardest part was trying to console my little one who felt so gulty about what he did to cause the accident. Finally I told him I just had too much beet greens for lunch, and that is why I was moaning! That got us all laughing. I am very very sore, but I see a really exciting spiritual lesson here. That's why I got up the energy to write this out today.

Like the Rapture; our accident happened so suddenly! No time to prepare or take evasive action. We have to be ready at all times to meet our Lord.

Part Three

Hello

This is “Secret Sam” reporting for duty.

Let me recap, where I left off, just so we are all on the same wave length:

“So, OK…When will the secret rapture occurr? And what is it’s relationship to Christ, at the time of His second coming? If I can prove that the church will be “caught up” into heaven; and that this “gathering together” (2 Thes.2:1), is a separate event from the return of Christ in judgment, then I have already, more than adequately made my case, and proved Seventh Day Adventists, along with some other Christian groups, as wrong in trying to dismiss the pretrib as false doctrine. Right?

All I need to do now is to show how the dissimilarities between rapture passages, and second coming passages, are significant enough to demonstrate that they are indeed two separate aspects of the same events. In the next post, I will start to deal with relevant Bible texts to prove my point.”

Denborg

I think it was you who asked where my Bible texts were.

To begin, in brief; I would like to share 10 main reasons, why I believe the pretrib rapture is what we can expect:

1/ Christ promised to keep the church from the Tribulation. In Rev.3:10, the risen Christ said that the church would be “kept from,” (literally “preserved,” protected out of”), the hour of trial, or divine retribution, that is coming upon the whole world.

2/ Tribulation Judgments are “the wrath of the Lamb.” Rev.6:16 depicts the cataclysmic judgments of the end times, as the wrath of Christ. Rev.19: 7-9 shows the Church as being the Bride of the Lamb. The church IS NOT the object of His wrath which is poured out on an unbelieving world!

3/ Jesus Himself told His disciples to pray that they would ESCAPE THE TRIBULATION. In Luke 21:36, Jesus said: “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen!” Remember, even Lot was given a last minute chance to escape Sodom, before divine judgement fell.

4/ The coming of Jesus in the clouds, (1 Thes.4:13-18), means that the church’s deliverance has already come. Jesus told His disciples quite clearly: “Lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28). The Hope of the church is not in surviving the judgment of tribulation, but rather, in escaping it.
5/ God will call His ambassadors home before He declares war on the world. In
2 Cor.5:20, believers are called “Christ’s ambassadors,” who appeal to the world to be reconciled before God, before it’s too late! In Biblical times, as well as present day; one’s ambassadors were always recalled, when it was time to make war with the enemy.

6/ Moral restraint will disappear when the church is taken home. 2 Thes.2:1-11 warns starkly that after the “coming of our Lord,” and “our being gathered unto Him,” that “the man of lawlessness,” (antichrist), will emerge on the world scene. The church’s restraining ministry of “salt” and “light” will no longer hold back the tide of evil.

7/ The Rapture will happen “in the twinkling of an eye.” 1 Cor.15:51-52 promises us that “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye…the dead shall be raised imperishable; and we, [who are living at the time of Rapture], will be changed.” KJV. This instantaneous disappearance will terminate the church’s earthly ministry.

8/ The Rapture will take place in the air. Unlike the glorious appearing, when Christ descends to earth, splits The Mount Of Olives, overthrows Antichrist, and binds Satan, the Rapture will occur when we are “caught up together to meet the Lord in the air.”
(see 1 Thes.4:17).

9/ The woman who suffers persecution during the Tribulation symbolizes Israel. This is a very important point. The woman who delivers the male child, (Christ), represents the nation of Israel. It was Israel, and NOT THE CHURCH which brought forth Christ; and He in turn brought forth the church. Jesus Christ is the Founder of the Church, certainly not a descendant of the Church! Therefore, the persecuted “saints” of the Tribulation are Jewish: the Remnant of the woman’s seed. (see Rev.12: 1-2, 5-6, 17).

10/ The Marriage Super of Christ, The Lamb, and His Bride, the Church, takes place BEFORE THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON. The Bible describes the fall of “Babylon” (kingdom of Antichrist), in Rev.17-18. But, before it tells of Christ’s return to conquer the Antichrist, it tells us that “the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready. (Rev. 19:7-8). THIS CLEARLY SHOWS THAT THE BRIDE HAD TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO HEAVEN EARLIER; and that she returns with Christ and the hosts of the “armies of heaven, ….dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” (Rev.19:8, 14).

Conclusion:

We have clearly, but briefly been starting to see from the New Testament, that the Rapture and the Second Coming are very different in nature, and therefore, they have to be seen as occurring in two separate events. This observation that there are TWO FUTURE COMINGS, is a very crucial element in determining the Biblical timing of the Rapture.

I am not surprised to see objectors to Pretribulation Rapture, often ignore such BIBLICAL DISTINCTIONS.

Seventh Day Adventists need to accept that a LITERAL INTERPRETATION of all the Biblical passages involved in the two comings, IS BEST REPRESENTED BY A PRETRIBULATIONAL PERSPECTIVE.

I HAVE MUCH MORE IN DEPTH STUDY DETAILS ON THESE TEN POINTS ABOVE; and once I prove that Seventh Day Adventists are wrong on this one; it will leave us with “open season” on a few of your other beliefs. I believe that one wrong belief will effect all your other beliefs. Like Jesus tells us; if you break one; then you become guilty of other wrong beliefs.

I respect the zeal, and the love for Jesus of Seventh Day Adventist; but when we look at the real story on the Rapture and the Second Coming; we see prophecy calling Seventh Day Adventists to come out of their “Babylon,” and join the true Remnant in finishing the work of God on earth; and preparing a people to meet their God in The Secret Rapture of our Lord.

In future posts; I will go into detailed studies on each of these ten points I have named above; and I think you will be hard pressed to refute the immense mountain of Scripture rebukes to your falsehoods of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you will see the Light, and that God will make His face to shine upon you, as we continue to study together. Let me know if there is anything I can pray about for you.

We covet the opportunity to lift people to the throne of Grace.

Sincerely
“Secret Sam”

Well, I must be right here...no one has been able to show otherwise from the Bible.

Nice talking to you all...

Secret Sam

Secret Sam,

I guess it is way past the time to study your posts and then to respond to them, however, I don't have the time right now to do so.

I will be back though as soon as I can.

If anybody else has the time to respond to Secret Sam's posts, be my guest.

Of course, we know who Secret Sam really is.