Even Demons know there will be a Rapture!

The rapture -- (Jesus appears and take the saints to heaven) is found in -

John 14:1-3
Matt 24:29-31
1 Thess 4:13-18
Rev 19

At which point all the lost are slain -- 2 Thess 1:6-10, Rev 19:17-21

Leaving only a desolate Earth for 1000 years - Jer 4:23-26 having "no humans" (vs 25)

Corpses of the wicked "from one end of the earth to the other" with no one to bury them. Jer 25:30-33

RaptureToBeSoon said:

..
There is no instruction to the church about the tribulation. If the church is to go through the tribulation there should be instructions and warnings of some sort, but there isn’t.

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John 14 - "In this world you have tribulation - be of good courage I have overcome the world"
Matt 24:29-31 "immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days ... He will send forth His angels to gather His saints from one end of the sky to the other"
Matt 24 "Then there shall be GREAT TRIBULATION"

Rev 12 - shows 1260 years of dark ages persecution of the saints.

Should I really engage someone who buys into conspiracy theories and such.... ok I'll bite.

There sure are instructions to the church about the tribulation.

All of Matthew 24 (and it's parallel passages) is instructions to the church about the tribulation. How do I know?

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 24:29–31.

The gathering of the elect does not happen until after the tribulation. That is literally in the Bible.

Paul even wrote this!

2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Th 2:1–4.

Concerning the Lord's return AND our being gathered... that day... two events that happen on one day. Two events, one day (singular). These are basic grammar and Bible study things that if we put into practice outside of our theology we can see truth. But what are the keys that Paul say MUST precede the coming of Jesus and our being gathered to him?

1) The great apostasy
2) The revelation of the Anti-Christ

Now how in the world can the rapture be pre-tribulation before the world even knows who the Anti-Christ is if the church will not be gathered until after the Anti-Christ has been revealed?

Just as Jesus said 4 times in John 6 that he would raise those who believe on the LAST DAY.

• Jn 6:39
  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

• Jn 6:40
  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

• Jn 6:44
  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

• Jn 6:54
  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

These are just three passages that literally contradict your theology. Just three there are many more. The entire book of Revelation is full of references to the beast fighting against the saints (and where the saints are the church is for the church is the saints).

This person you have came across is full of it.
Rapture believer do leave as this guy states, the planet (which is not an accurate description of God's creation but a lie of science that christians have believed).

Raptured believer are taken up into the clouds where they will tabernacle with The Messiah for the 7 years of the tribulation.

RaptureToBeSoon said:

All I can say is WOW.... Even the demons know there is going to be a Rapture and they are 'preparing' humanity to accept and explain it away as a necessary thing....

There's a really good Pastor out of the Las Vegas area, named Billy Crone. Coupe of decades ago, Billy fled the New Age Movement, got saved and entered the ministry. This morning he was on TV, explaining how the world will explain away the Rapture. He is convinced the world will accept the explanation given to New Age Channelers, over the last couple of decades. He shared some quotes.... check these out.....

“The people who leave the planet during the time of Earth changes do not fit in here any longer, and they are stopping the harmony of Earth. When the time comes that perhaps 20 million people leave the planet at one time there will be a tremendous shift in consciousness for those who are remaining.” -Barbara Marciniak, “Bringers of the Dawn” (Marciniak channels aliens from other planets)

Channeler Thelma Terrell, who goes by her spiritual name, “Tuella” wrote a book called Project World Evacuation, these are some quotes from that book. They are messages channeled from a being [demon] who calls himself Ashtar, the leader of an alien [demon] confederation. “The Great Evacuation will come upon the world very suddenly. The flash of emergency events will be as a lightning that flashes in the sky. So suddenly and so quick in its happening that it is over almost before you are aware of its presence… Phase I of the Great Exodus of souls from the planet will take place at a moment’s notice when it is determined that the inhabitants are in danger. Phase II… This second phase immediately following the first. The second phase is vital, as we return for the children of all ages and races. The child does not have the power of choice in understanding nor personal accountability. Do not be concerned nor unduly upset if you do not participate in this first temporary lift-up of souls who serve with us. This merely means that your action in the plan is elsewhere, and you will be taken for your instructions or will receive them in some other manner. Do not take any personal affront if you are not alerted or are not a participant in this first phase of our plan. Your time will come later, and these instructions are not necessary for you at this time…”

New Age author Timothy Green Beckley writes more words of encouragement for those who miss the “evacuation” in his book Psychic and UFO Revelations in the Last Days, “…Many of the New Age workers and instructors who feel that they will be taken will not be taken right away, but left behind to help mankind survive through the cataclysmic period. That is their mission.”

New Age author Kay Wheeler (known by her spiritual name, Ozmana), who describes herself as a Pleiadian [fallen angel/demon] star seed and channeler, published an article entitled, The Time Is Now, in the New Age journal Connecting Link magazine. She presented material that she had channeled from entities that called themselves the “Souls of Light,” [fallen angels] who claim to be ETs from the “Seventh Celestial Plane of Life” [ Pandemonium] who are concerned with helping earth evolve to full consciousness. Here she writes of the evolutionary purge...... “Many of these beings who are leaving this planet at this time have completed that which they came to do. It is a time of great rejoicing for them. Do not feel sad about their leaving. They are going home. Many are waiting to be with them again… Many beings must move on, for their thought patterns are of the past. They hold on to these thoughts that keep Earth held back.”

Aliens told Marciniak it would be about 20 million people. Aliens told Terrell it would be like lightening. Matthew 24:27, "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be."

There is no instruction to the church about the tribulation. If the church is to go through the tribulation there should be instructions and warnings of some sort, but there isn’t. Scripture tells us we have hope in Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

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I agree with some of what you say …. Only because the Word declares it … but I would really leave out any ...and all stuff of new age and aliens or and mention of psychic and UFO. It’s just not relevant, and we don’t need that to embellish the truths of what the Word of God declares.
As one who previously served in the world of satanism ….devil spirits will lie, confound, obscure, and embroider the truths in mysticism to enchant and entice ….But they cannot know any more than what God reveals in His Word…which is where we should keep our perspectives.

the rapture is much like the new age concept of the ascension

that "even demons know" doesn't inspire me about the subject.

just saying.

RaptureToBeSoon said:

20 million will disappear ..... Sure leaves a lot of 'so called' Christians on planet earth to go through the tribulation.
......

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There is no place in the Bible that states 20 million…

Nobody knows what the number of alive peeps will be.

With 7 billion in the world …if just 1% of that throughout the world have confessed Romans 10:9&10 .....that alone is 70 million.

RaptureToBeSoon said:

Barna states that only 6% of Americans hold a Biblical World View.

There are 335,000,000 people in America and 6% of them is 20,100,000.


"For the purposes of the research, a biblical worldview was defined as believing that absolute moral truths exist; that such truth is defined by the Bible; and firm belief in six specific religious views. Those views were that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today; salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned; Satan is real; a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people; and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings."

Study: 6% of Americans Follow a Biblical Worldview

Click to expand...

In your OP you were referencing the world….not just the USA which is why I gave a world stat…which could be high or low …just a stat….but there are believers throughout the world.

As far as what Baran states (and not to be rude) ….. it’s irrelevant.

The Word of God give the qualification for salvation via the new covenant…. and my bet is… it is much higher that 20 million in the USA….


Rom 10:9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

RaptureToBeSoon said:

All I can say is WOW.... Even the demons know there is going to be a Rapture and they are 'preparing' humanity to accept and explain it away as a necessary thing....

There's a really good Pastor out of the Las Vegas area, named Billy Crone. Coupe of decades ago, Billy fled the New Age Movement, got saved and entered the ministry. This morning he was on TV, explaining how the world will explain away the Rapture. He is convinced the world will accept the explanation given to New Age Channelers, over the last couple of decades. He shared some quotes.... check these out.....

“The people who leave the planet during the time of Earth changes do not fit in here any longer, and they are stopping the harmony of Earth. When the time comes that perhaps 20 million people leave the planet at one time there will be a tremendous shift in consciousness for those who are remaining.” -Barbara Marciniak, “Bringers of the Dawn” (Marciniak channels aliens from other planets)

Channeler Thelma Terrell, who goes by her spiritual name, “Tuella” wrote a book called Project World Evacuation, these are some quotes from that book. They are messages channeled from a being [demon] who calls himself Ashtar, the leader of an alien [demon] confederation. “The Great Evacuation will come upon the world very suddenly. The flash of emergency events will be as a lightning that flashes in the sky. So suddenly and so quick in its happening that it is over almost before you are aware of its presence… Phase I of the Great Exodus of souls from the planet will take place at a moment’s notice when it is determined that the inhabitants are in danger. Phase II… This second phase immediately following the first. The second phase is vital, as we return for the children of all ages and races. The child does not have the power of choice in understanding nor personal accountability. Do not be concerned nor unduly upset if you do not participate in this first temporary lift-up of souls who serve with us. This merely means that your action in the plan is elsewhere, and you will be taken for your instructions or will receive them in some other manner. Do not take any personal affront if you are not alerted or are not a participant in this first phase of our plan. Your time will come later, and these instructions are not necessary for you at this time…”

New Age author Timothy Green Beckley writes more words of encouragement for those who miss the “evacuation” in his book Psychic and UFO Revelations in the Last Days, “…Many of the New Age workers and instructors who feel that they will be taken will not be taken right away, but left behind to help mankind survive through the cataclysmic period. That is their mission.”

New Age author Kay Wheeler (known by her spiritual name, Ozmana), who describes herself as a Pleiadian [fallen angel/demon] star seed and channeler, published an article entitled, The Time Is Now, in the New Age journal Connecting Link magazine. She presented material that she had channeled from entities that called themselves the “Souls of Light,” [fallen angels] who claim to be ETs from the “Seventh Celestial Plane of Life” [ Pandemonium] who are concerned with helping earth evolve to full consciousness. Here she writes of the evolutionary purge...... “Many of these beings who are leaving this planet at this time have completed that which they came to do. It is a time of great rejoicing for them. Do not feel sad about their leaving. They are going home. Many are waiting to be with them again… Many beings must move on, for their thought patterns are of the past. They hold on to these thoughts that keep Earth held back.”

Aliens told Marciniak it would be about 20 million people. Aliens told Terrell it would be like lightening. Matthew 24:27, "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be."

There is no instruction to the church about the tribulation. If the church is to go through the tribulation there should be instructions and warnings of some sort, but there isn’t. Scripture tells us we have hope in Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Click to expand...

Eze 13:20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Paul clearly stating that the LORD does not appear (7th trump) until the antichrist and the great apostasy (6th trump). perdition= gr. Apoleia= base root of Satan’s name Apollyon means to die; only 1 by name has been sentenced to die and that’s Satan. People have completely forgotten how to read with understanding, rightly dividing the word; how much more simple can a verse get? No one is going anywhere and CHRIST does not come back until antichrist is revealed!!Satan is coming after you Christians; he already has the rest of the world and such false doctrines he will use to deceive many where you will be the 1st ones taking not by rapture but by the antichrist.

Isa 29:10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

Why would GOD do this? It is because even if some knew the truth they would not turn away from their security blanket. If you sin in ignorance it can be forgiven but if you knowingly and intentionally deceive you will have a hard time explaining it to the 1 and only JUDGE. Judgement begins at the pulpit that means super preachers of mega churches as well as wanta-be preachers who spread false doctrine. HE has to close your eyes so perhaps in the millennium when you come to full knowledge your soul may be saved.

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded

Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day.

GOD blinds them from the truth because they never sought the truth; they rather fallow traditions of men. They want to believe a lie and not the truth; truth would interfere in their life style and expose their false doctrine where they sat in pews their whole life believing this tradition, it would totally uproot their whole being; so they think. I ask you is it better to change now or when you face the true MESSIAH on 1st day of millennium? Where the sun and moon stop giving its light because of the brightness of HIS coming. There will be no mistaking HIM for 8 billion pairs of knees will bow.

Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

I say it is not possible for the Elect stand waiting, willing and able; Greek it says he comes instead of CHRIST before true CHRIST; Showing and acting like Christ with miracles and super natural wanders, so amazing he will appear to the unlearned. Beautiful in appearance and looking and saying he is the messiah to all, every religion, race creed just bow and accept him. He will give you what you need, and he will, only thing is, it’s only his to give for 5 months; saying he has come to rapture them up, thing is once you take the knee to him, its too late (great apostasy) you have committed greatest sin of your existence; you took the mark: after the 2 Witness and Elect finish speaking for it is not them that speak but the HOLY SPIRIT through them that even the gainsayers are convinced. Too late charley you took the knee and are so ashamed, you want mountains to fall on you; so as not to show your face to True CHRIST who comes exactly 3 and half days after 2 witness die.

1Th 4: Is where rapture doctrine cults take their religion, not Gods word, theirs; interpreting it to say what GOD didn’t say.. Rapture not even in GODS WORD but they have repeated it so many times sense 1830 that whole denominations across the world teaches it every day misleading and jeopardizing many souls. We are to put on the gospel armor of Eph.6: to stand up to the antichrist who appears 1st in the 6th trump. It makes absolutely no sense that CHRIST would come, take believers away and leave the non-believers with the antichrist; that is far from being Biblical and just the opposite. GODS Elect are the thorns in the antichrist side changing the hearts and minds of many in the 10 day trials in the synagogues of Satan where we are not to premeditate what we say for the HOLY SPIRIT will speak through us where even the gainsayers will be convinced. those that preach they are to fly away and miss all the excitement will be so ashamed when the true CHRIST returns on 7th trump (2nd Advent) they want the mountains to fall on them; Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: .
Why would a GOD of infinite power and wisdom want HIS children to run from something HE created? HE doesn't and wants us to stand up and fight putting on the gospel armor to stand up against the fiery darts of Satan. I am not going to run or fly away but when called run to the head of the snake where CHRIST gave me the power to stand against him that has caused sin in the world where I will peer on him in the pit and say"is this the man that deceived the whole world?"

Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Those that teach falsely that they want to be the 1st taking which shows their ignorance for they will be running to the antichrist. 1st ones taking is not by rapturing up the church but people running to the antichrist thinking it is CHRIST coming to fly them away! 1st words out of the deceiver’s mouth will be “I have come to fly you away” 1st bow and worship your god; and they run to him with open arms.

1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Greek is specific it’s the furthest 1 out, there being 7 trumps; antichrist reveals himself to us all at the 6th. If everyone read in the simplicity it is written, throwing away traditions they would see this verse states that all those that are here in the flesh at the 2nd advent will instantly be changed to our spiritual bodies to live and learn from the KING of kings, LORD of lords for the millennium. 6 has always been associated to antichrist 6 vials, 6 trumps, 6th seal; antichrist/Satan knows his sentence and wants to take as many of GOD’s children with him in the lake as possible, Unfortunately he will take many with him. Can this verse be anymore easy to understand? Everything the rapture theory proclaims makes no sense, why so many get caught up in it is because Satan uses Christians for his purpose; he uses scripture to achieve this purpose against Christians. He tempted the WORD HIMSELF with scripture what do you think he will do to those who have no understanding? That is why you have to read and understand, listen to those who do understand and do away with all those who mislead you. With the rapture doctrine people will flock to him thinking he is CHRIST coming to rapture them away when in fact it’s the antichrist when they find out the truth 5 months later they are so ashamed they want mountains to fall on them.
7=spiritual completeness; 6 is 7 - 1 meaning man has falling short of spiritual completeness. Please people wake up and read the WORD of GOD with understanding in the simplicity it is written throwing away the traditions of man that make void the WORD of GOD; putting on the gospel armor to stand against the fiery darts of satan so that you may have ever lasting life.

I reject "the rapture" because it's unbiblical and has never been Christian teaching. I believe what the Christian Church has always believed and what Scripture bears witness to: Christ will return on the Last Day as judge of the living and the dead, the dead will be raised, and God will make all things new.

And appeal to alleged words of demons certainly isn't going to convince me to stop believing the Bible.

-CryptoLutheran

RaptureToBeSoon said:

All I can say is WOW.... Even the demons know there is going to be a Rapture and they are 'preparing' humanity to accept and explain it away as a necessary thing....

There's a really good Pastor out of the Las Vegas area, named Billy Crone. Coupe of decades ago, Billy fled the New Age Movement, got saved and entered the ministry. This morning he was on TV, explaining how the world will explain away the Rapture. He is convinced the world will accept the explanation given to New Age Channelers, over the last couple of decades. He shared some quotes.... check these out.....

“The people who leave the planet during the time of Earth changes do not fit in here any longer, and they are stopping the harmony of Earth. When the time comes that perhaps 20 million people leave the planet at one time there will be a tremendous shift in consciousness for those who are remaining.” -Barbara Marciniak, “Bringers of the Dawn” (Marciniak channels aliens from other planets)

Channeler Thelma Terrell, who goes by her spiritual name, “Tuella” wrote a book called Project World Evacuation, these are some quotes from that book. They are messages channeled from a being [demon] who calls himself Ashtar, the leader of an alien [demon] confederation. “The Great Evacuation will come upon the world very suddenly. The flash of emergency events will be as a lightning that flashes in the sky. So suddenly and so quick in its happening that it is over almost before you are aware of its presence… Phase I of the Great Exodus of souls from the planet will take place at a moment’s notice when it is determined that the inhabitants are in danger. Phase II… This second phase immediately following the first. The second phase is vital, as we return for the children of all ages and races. The child does not have the power of choice in understanding nor personal accountability. Do not be concerned nor unduly upset if you do not participate in this first temporary lift-up of souls who serve with us. This merely means that your action in the plan is elsewhere, and you will be taken for your instructions or will receive them in some other manner. Do not take any personal affront if you are not alerted or are not a participant in this first phase of our plan. Your time will come later, and these instructions are not necessary for you at this time…”

New Age author Timothy Green Beckley writes more words of encouragement for those who miss the “evacuation” in his book Psychic and UFO Revelations in the Last Days, “…Many of the New Age workers and instructors who feel that they will be taken will not be taken right away, but left behind to help mankind survive through the cataclysmic period. That is their mission.”

New Age author Kay Wheeler (known by her spiritual name, Ozmana), who describes herself as a Pleiadian [fallen angel/demon] star seed and channeler, published an article entitled, The Time Is Now, in the New Age journal Connecting Link magazine. She presented material that she had channeled from entities that called themselves the “Souls of Light,” [fallen angels] who claim to be ETs from the “Seventh Celestial Plane of Life” [ Pandemonium] who are concerned with helping earth evolve to full consciousness. Here she writes of the evolutionary purge...... “Many of these beings who are leaving this planet at this time have completed that which they came to do. It is a time of great rejoicing for them. Do not feel sad about their leaving. They are going home. Many are waiting to be with them again… Many beings must move on, for their thought patterns are of the past. They hold on to these thoughts that keep Earth held back.”

Aliens told Marciniak it would be about 20 million people. Aliens told Terrell it would be like lightening. Matthew 24:27, "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be."

There is no instruction to the church about the tribulation. If the church is to go through the tribulation there should be instructions and warnings of some sort, but there isn’t. Scripture tells us we have hope in Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Click to expand...

The rapture as a doctrine dates from the mid 19th century and was a novel interpretation of a member of the Plymouth Brethren, John Nelson Darby.

ViaCrucis said:

I reject "the rapture" because it's unbiblical and has never been Christian teaching. I believe what the Christian Church has always believed and what Scripture bears witness to: Christ will return on the Last Day as judge of the living and the dead, the dead will be raised, and God will make all things new.

And appeal to alleged words of demons certainly isn't going to convince me to stop believing the Bible.

-CryptoLutheran

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Indeed, no one taught it before John Nelson Darby, who was I think a member of the Closed Brethen, which given their secretive nature, makes me wonder how it became so widely known. There is also a translation attributed to him.

The Liturgist said:

Indeed, no one taught it before John Nelson Darby, who was I think a member of the Closed Brethen, which given their secretive nature, makes me wonder how it became so widely known. There is also a translation attributed to him.

Click to expand...

Darby was a leader in the Plymouth Brethren, not sure if it was before or after the split between Open and Closed. The spread of Dispensationalism, at least in the US, can be attributed to several influences:

1. Cyrus Scofield (1843 - 1921) and his highly popular Scofield Reference Bible in which Dispensationalist interpretation was contained in the marginal notes.

2. Dwight L. Moody (1837 - 1899) was a traveling evangelist who was deeply influential throughout the 19th century, and who founded the Moody Bible Institute, a continuing major Evangelical academic institution to this very day.

3. The establishment of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1924 which, from its founding, specialized in teaching a Dispensationalist reading of the Bible, and which was a major center of Evangelical education throughout the 20th century and to today. At the time Dispensationalism was still incredibly controversial, which is what led to non-Dispensationalist Evangelicals establishing Fuller Theological Seminary (est. 1947) in part to provide an Evangelical seminary that did not espouse Dispensationalism.

4. Charles Ryrie (1925 - 2016) and the Ryrie Study Bible (published by Moody Publishers) which, like the Scofield Reference Bible was an explicitly Dispensationalist study Bible. I knew several people, my father included, who had and used the Ryrie Study Bible.

5. But arguably some of the biggest influences of the past half-century include the works of men like Hal Lindsey (author of The Late Great Planet Earth [1971]), a Dallas Theological Seminary grad. The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins from the 1990's and early 2000's. And televangelists such as John Hagee, and numerous Evangelical radio hosts and popular Evangelical Christian works of the past several decades. Which was instrument in turning Dispensationalism into a full-fledged force within the modern Evangelical movement from at least the 1960's onward, and especially from the 1980's and 90's to today.

When I was growing up Dispensationalism (though nobody called it that) was the interpretive and hermeneutical model through which I was taught Christianity, in my non-denominational church, my Pentecostal church, and my Baptist schooling. It was so entrenched in my religious education for the majority of my first two decades of life that I was actually quite shocked to learn that there were Christians of any sort anywhere that believed otherwise.

For example, when I read the Left Behind books while I was in high school I basically accepted them as gospel. I even read LaHaye's Are We Living in the End Times? when it came out in 1999, while I was still a Junior in high school.

Dispensationalism managed to go from a quack theory embraced by a fringe group of Protestants in the 1820's to being one of the most religiously, monetarily, and politically influential ideas of the 21st century (at least in the US). Which frankly terrifies me.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

Darby was a leader in the Plymouth Brethren, not sure if it was before or after the split between Open and Closed. The spread of Dispensationalism, at least in the US, can be attributed to several influences:

1. Cyrus Scofield (1843 - 1921) and his highly popular Scofield Reference Bible in which Dispensationalist interpretation was contained in the marginal notes.

2. Dwight L. Moody (1837 - 1899) was a traveling evangelist who was deeply influential throughout the 19th century, and who founded the Moody Bible Institute, a continuing major Evangelical academic institution to this very day.

3. The establishment of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1924 which, from its founding, specialized in teaching a Dispensationalist reading of the Bible, and which was a major center of Evangelical education throughout the 20th century and to today. At the time Dispensationalism was still incredibly controversial, which is what led to non-Dispensationalist Evangelicals establishing Fuller Theological Seminary (est. 1947) in part to provide an Evangelical seminary that did not espouse Dispensationalism.

4. Charles Ryrie (1925 - 2016) and the Ryrie Study Bible (published by Moody Publishers) which, like the Scofield Reference Bible was an explicitly Dispensationalist study Bible. I knew several people, my father included, who had and used the Ryrie Study Bible.

5. But arguably some of the biggest influences of the past half-century include the works of men like Hal Lindsey (author of The Late Great Planet Earth [1971]), a Dallas Theological Seminary grad. The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins from the 1990's and early 2000's. And televangelists such as John Hagee, and numerous Evangelical radio hosts and popular Evangelical Christian works of the past several decades. Which was instrument in turning Dispensationalism into a full-fledged force within the modern Evangelical movement from at least the 1960's onward, and especially from the 1980's and 90's to today.

When I was growing up Dispensationalism (though nobody called it that) was the interpretive and hermeneutical model through which I was taught Christianity, in my non-denominational church, my Pentecostal church, and my Baptist schooling. It was so entrenched in my religious education for the majority of my first two decades of life that I was actually quite shocked to learn that there were Christians of any sort anywhere that believed otherwise.

For example, when I read the Left Behind books while I was in high school I basically accepted them as gospel. I even read LaHaye's Are We Living in the End Times? when it came out in 1999, while I was still a Junior in high school.

Dispensationalism managed to go from a quack theory embraced by a fringe group of Protestants in the 1820's to being one of the most religiously, monetarily, and politically influential ideas of the 21st century (at least in the US). Which frankly terrifies me.

-CryptoLutheran

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Its interesting to note that many of the people on that list I also associate with the deterioration of beautiful liturgical music. The problem we now have in the English speaking world is this theology dominates conservative Christianity, except for the Orthodox, traditional Protestant and traditional Catholic movements, outside of which the teaching of traditional sexual morality and pro-life activism has receded from the mainline churches which resisted it, and now the elderly parishioners of the few Episcopalian and Methodist and Lutheran churches where there still is traditional worship look on with dismay at the rainbow flags flying over their entrances.

The problem in the rest of the world is that atheism and conversion to the more media-friendly non-Christian religions that are New Age compatible, like Buddhism, has increased.

By the way, the interesting thing about Hal Lindsay, whose book on Satan I have read, is that his observations of cultural collapse in the 1960s-70s were not wrong; it was the theological observations he made based on it. I have some empathy for evangelical Christians who experienced that to become Chiliast, and I also have empathy for John Nelson Darby, who was clearly a virtuous man, who was living through the horrors of the Industrial Revolution. Chiliasm increases whenever disaster occurs, except ironically in the wake of WWII there was a brief tranquility and a period when the Greatest Generation, tested by the war and the Depression and thus trained through asceticism, were in their prime, and the last great rush of church building occurred in that period. Indeed, the 1959 Class at Harvard Business School built a beautiful chapel, with money they raised themselves.

However, the countercultural crisis was one of a great deterioration of standard of life due to bad decisions made, in many cases, by people who were in power in business and government at the time who were veterans of neither of the two wars and who made terrible decisions regarding education in the US, and social policy in Europe, which fueled the countercultural fire, and every decade since has produced its own traumas which result in increased Chiliasm, yet the world is still here, it did not end in 2000 and 2012, and not knowing when Christ is coming, I see no reason why Christians should not plan for how the Church should work to improve human society over an indefinite amount of time, seeking to solve problems ancient, such as prostitution and homosexuality, and of more recent origin (like the trans-sexual movement, which has made it a taboo to refer to what is clearly a mental illness (gender dysphoria) as an aberration to be treated the way we treat depression, and instead promotes the idea of people mutilating themselves with the assistance of doctors, and the unethical practices of fertility doctors to “optimize” offspring by selecting embryos based on parental preferences, and also the problem of men having vasectomies to facilitate promiscuity, or partners urging the other partner to use contraception, rather than accepting the blessing of children, or the huge increase in cremation, with so many of our honored dead burned, often against their will, encouraged to do so especially in Protestant circles by malfeasance on the part of the funeral industry and a departure from inexpensice, traditional burials. Cremation, for good reason, was historically prohibited by Christianity, and there are numerous good alternatives to space shortages in cemetaries. For example, buiilding churches with crypts, and the use of ossuaries; New Orleans, the catacombs of Paris and Mount Athos all show us options for respectfully treating our beloved ancestors in the time between now and the Resurrection, without burning up their bodies after the custom of some Pagan religions such as those of ancient Rome, and modern day India and Japan (it was in opposition to Roman Paganism that the churches historically banned cremation, and some still do, including mine, and Christian governments banned it as well).

Ironically, the increase in cremation among Christians was a red flag that many of Hal Lindsay’s generation missed, and thus did not pontificate against. One of the things that saddens me most about the direction the Episcopal Church has gone in, even the modern church, is the columbaria that so many of them now have, even those which are run by conservative priests, and I expect several Episcopal parishes inherited by ACNA in Texas have them, and some ACNA churches might even be built with them. Conversely, Fr. Josiah Trenham’s famous Antiochian Orthodox Church in Riverside, California has a casket in its basement at all times, ready for whoever in the parish might need it, regardless of their financial well being. I really admire Fr. Trenham, not the least for having ten children. These new large Christian families give me hope.