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Issue
17 - 2010
STEVE MAGILL O N E O F T H E P R O M I N E N T views about the rapture out there is that it is imminent, any day, any hour, any moment now a large part of the earth's population could disappear in the twinkling of an eye. Many see the natural disasters, economic crises, our move toward globalism, a worldwide currency, and the ever intense Israeli / Palestinian conflict as indicators pointing toward the rapture.
However, it appears that these events point to
an imminent appearance of the Antichrist
instead of the rapture.
The Antichrist is that politician
who will be given power by the devil to
bring peace with Israel, establish a one
world currency, and remove Christians
and Jews, not through a rapture, but
martyrdom.
Here's why I see it from this
growing perspective:
1.
The Apostle Paul writes that an
apostasy of the church must precede the
arrival of the Antichrist and the return
of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
This is also confirmed in
Revelation chapters two and three where
we are given a description of the
apostate church prior to the appearing
of the Antichrist in Revelation chapter
six.
How can the church be rapture
ready when it is deceived and living in
apostasy?
2.
Revelation 14:14-16 is clear that
the rapture takes place here.
Notice that the rapture takes
place after the seventh angel blows his
trumpet (Revelation 11:15).
This is an important revelation.
The Apostle Paul is clear in 1
Thessalonians 4:16,17 that the rapture
takes place when Christ returns at the
blowing of the seventh trumpet.
Paul refers to this seventh
trumpet as the "last" trumpet. (1
Corinthians 15:51,52)
When we remember that Revelation
is written in chronological order and
that out of the seventh seal appears the
seven trumpets (Revelation
8:1, 6-9:1-11) and out of the seventh trumpet
appears the seven vials (Revelation
11:15, 15:1, 16:1-21), then we must also acknowledge
that the rapture takes place after the
Antichrist and the great tribulation has
already taken place.
3.
Matthew 24:29-31 also gives
insight into when the rapture takes
place.
Here it is clear that the return
of Christ and the rapture takes place
"immediately" after the great
tribulation.
The great tribulation is that
horrible time when God's people are
greatly persecuted and martyred by the
Antichrist.
The order of the rapture that Scripture
reveals is that the antichrist appears,
the church is martyred, Christ returns,
and the remnant that remains are raptured
to meet Christ in the air.
As much as I would like to think
that the rapture takes place before the
mass execution of God's people, it just
won't happen.
The pre-tribulation view of the
rapture has to add interpretation to the
verses they use to support their view.
It is important to stay with the
clear teaching of Scripture.
One of the reasons so many are
confused about when the rapture takes
place is because they do not understand
the proper ordering of events as
revealed in the book of Revelation.
My new book,
Revelation and the Age of Antichrist is a summary of the
book of Revelation which clearly reveals
the order of the revelation as God gave
it to the Apostle John.
The success of the "Left Behind" book series, with over 17 million copies sold, reveal the prominence and popularity of the pre-tribulation deception. However, the clear teaching of Scripture is that all God's people will be "left behind" and will be here when the Antichrist appears and his great tribulation is unleashed against all God's people. The good news is, we will not be here when God pours out His great wrath upon the earth in the course of one, sixty-minute hour. Until next time... Be so much the more, as ye see the day approaching Related Article:
The
Rapture |