Prepping and The Rapture

[Jonathan Leo]

How do your beliefs about The Rapture affect your beliefs on prepping?

If ye are prepping then I can only assume ye are not pre tribulation??

 

[pat34lee]

If ye are prepping then I can only assume ye are not pre tribulation??

Look back through the answers. The tribulation is only one reason
to prep. Others are civil unrest, war or natural disaster. A tornado,
earthquake or hurricane could blackout the power for weeks. Also,
what if there is a problem with the food supply and prices triple in
the next year or two?

 

[Jonathan Leo]

Look back through the answers. The tribulation is only one reason
to prep. Others are civil unrest, war or natural disaster. A tornado,
earthquake or hurricane could blackout the power for weeks. Also,
what if there is a problem with the food supply and prices triple in
the next year or two?

That's true, The American government really are evil.
Also for natural disasters that are rampant in your country, I can see the logic of preparation.
It's just the heading said rapture, so I assumed it was just the rapture.
It's good to prepare, rather than prepare to fail.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Rapture myth. No such animal.
There is the "first resurrection" which occurs at "the last trump" on the "last day." That is what the scripture says.
We do not prep for the last days. That would pretty much be a waste of time. Prepping is learning to be self sufficient for a better day after the "stuff" that hit the fan has all been cleaned up.

 

[pat34lee]

So far, our natural disasters have been spread out enough
for us to clean up and rebuild the utilities before another
one hits. What happens when we are overwhelmed, like
Puerto Rico was this year?

100 days after Maria, nearly half of Puerto Rico customers still without power

 

[Aldebaran]

So far, our natural disasters have been spread out enough
for us to clean up and rebuild the utilities before another
one hits. What happens when we are overwhelmed, like
Puerto Rico was this year?

100 days after Maria, nearly half of Puerto Rico customers still without power

It seems that on a forum like this, the only thing people will see a need to prep for, or not prep for, is the Great Tribulation. People seem to forget that everyday life contains plenty of problems to prepare for. They seem to think fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. only happen elsewhere, or they never learned any lessons from experiencing them.

 

[pat34lee]

It seems that on a forum like this, the only thing people will see a need to prep for, or not prep for, is the Great Tribulation. People seem to forget that everyday life contains plenty of problems to prepare for. They seem to think fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. only happen elsewhere, or they never learned any lessons from experiencing them.

Just think, the Great Depression and the dust bowl happened
less than a hundred years ago. There are still people alive who
remember those days. Even in WW2, there were shortages of
many items, and people had to ration goods. Then, there was
the fake oil shortage of the 70's.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

My parents lived (born about 1920) through the great depression and WWII.
The 1930 census shows 3 generations of my family living in the same rental unit.
My wife's family had a baby die of malnutrition.
Prepping is a real issue.

 

[Aldebaran]

Just think, the Great Depression and the dust bowl happened
less than a hundred years ago. There are still people alive who
remember those days. Even in WW2, there were shortages of
many items, and people had to ration goods. Then, there was
the fake oil shortage of the 70's.

For a list of some of the worst disasters, some natural and some man-made, (although not all of them not having a widespread effect), click here: List of disasters in the United States by death toll - Wikipedia

 

[Antig]

If you are prepping, does that me you are not 100% believing in God?

 

[Aldebaran]

If you are prepping, does that me you are not 100% believing in God?

Not really. God wants us to be wise. He wants us to take care of our families. He wants us to be responsible.

 

[Antig]

Not really. God wants us to be wise. He wants us to take care of our families. He wants us to be responsible.

Believing in God is the most important thing. Prepping means you think God will not protect you.

May God's will be done I say.

Put your trust in God alone.

 

[Aldebaran]

Believing in God is the most important thing. Prepping means you think God will not protect you.

May God's will be done I say.

Put your trust in God alone.

If I trust God alone, am I wrong if I
Locked my house doors at night?
Lock my car after parking?
Put away some money in a savings account?
Back up my computer in case of malware?
Have homeowners insurance?

 

[SavedByGrace3]

If I trust God alone, am I wrong if I
Locked my house doors at night?
Lock my car after parking?
Put away some money in a savings account?
Back up my computer in case of malware?
Have homeowners insurance?

Retirement... 401k
life insurance, health insurance,
A JOB!
Do you keep the same clothes that you had yesterday?
Do you have more than a day's worth of food in the pantrty?
Do you live in a house?
Why?
Why would you do any of these things that pass from one day to the next.
Do you have a winter coat? Do you have an unbrella? A pair of shoes? More than one of any of these?
How far are you going to push this? Do you lay back naked in the shade of a tree and wait for food to fall out of the sky into your mouth?
What? Do you not trust God to feed you? Do you wait for rain to fall out of the sky into your mouth?
There is a difference between a faith and presumption.
Of course a lot of this "faith" stance is nothing more than being lazy.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Believing in God is the most important thing. Prepping means you think God will not protect you.

May God's will be done I say.

Put your trust in God alone.

I guess Noah did not trust God when he built the Ark.

Heb 11:7
By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

God did not build the Ark for Noah. Noah had to build the Ark. He built it in faith because he believed God about what was coming.
God has warned us also. We believe God, and therefore we prep. We act in faith on God's warning.
That is faith.

I wonder if people who are warned about tornadoes and hurricanes are faithless because they gather up the kids and go to the storm shelter? I wonder what faith filled people do when they see the dam breaking? Do they tell the wife and kids "don't worry, we can just go in the house and God will stop the flood from washing us away?
I doubt it.

 

[DaDad]

... The only thing Jesus told His disciples, near the end then, was to sell your coat and buy a sword if you didn't have one.
...

Hi drjean,

Actually, what you cite is incomplete. The prior years of discipleship were the "education". Now came the "graduation":

Luke 22
35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

So now we're post graduation, and our individual "survival/success" depends upon our initiative, and includes a purse, bag, sandals, and sword.

Scripture also provides:

Matt. 11
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

... which is to say that the kingdom if heaven is obtained by pursuit. And pursuers take it by ardent action. -- The kingdom of heaven DOES NOT come to the person laying on a sofa, eating potato chips and sipping a Pepsi, while watching OPRAH.


And finally, what is a "Great Falling Away", except that we end up as lazy, stupid, and ineffectual Christians, deceived by false Tribulation-era-Rapture doctrines. -- Who would be so great a fool as to believe our self-serving hirelings?!?

Perhaps Scripture DOES account that the church will pass through the 42 month Tribulation (which "commenced" as of April, 2015, and shall terminate in Fall of 2018), and it our chances of enduring will be premised upon how well we've prepared our "purse, bag, sandals, and sword".


Thanks,
DaDad

 

[ARBITER01]

A relevant section of scripture...

2Th 2:1 Now we request you, brethren, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,
2Th 2:2 that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord has set in.
2Th 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any manner; because that day will not come, unless the falling away come first, and the man of lawlessness be revealed—the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 he that opposes himself against, and exalts himself above, all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he sits in the temple of God, exhibiting himself as God.

Until that point happens, we should be following the leading of The Holy Spirit and being ever watchful of our salvation. No one knows the time this will take place except The Father, so if The Holy Spirit has us prepping for disasters or ww3, that is what we do.

 

[DaDad]

...
2Th 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any manner; because that day will not come, unless the falling away come first, and the man of lawlessness be revealed—the son of perdition;
...

Until that point happens, we should be following the leading of The Holy Spirit and being ever watchful of our salvation. No one knows the time this will take place except The Father, so if The Holy Spirit has us prepping for disasters or ww3, that is what we do.

Hi Arbeter01,
Perhaps you missed the "preparations" of the Purse, Bag, Sword, and Cloak.

And perhaps you missed 1Thess 5 which states that the world would be caught unaware, but the church is NOT in darkness. -- Given a ~four~ day Feast, no man can know which day or hour, but we CAN and SHOULD know the Year and the Season, -- and if carefully studied, the Month and Week, by way of the Feast.

Otherwise, per your argument, a great portion of the church will be included in the "Falling Away" which you cite.

Rev. 13: 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.​

Perhaps you should consider the premise proposed by J.R. Church in his book "Hidden Prophecies In The Psalms". This, (plus the Psalms 90:10 based 1948 + 70 years = 2018), should help you arrive to the year which appears to be "significant".

DaDad

 

[drjean]

I stick with my beliefs of the pretrib rapture as God does not punish His bride; the wrath of God is not used upon believers as I have explained with Scripture.

PLUS, through God's Word the pattern is that He warns those of impending doom, but also gives the righteous directions on what to do ahead of time. "I AM the LORD thy God, I change not."
We see the signs of the impending doom... does God give us, end-time believers, directions to stock up food, dig tunnel homes or find caves to hide within, hoard money etc? No. Absolutely not. Instead Jesus tells us to look UP and await our redemption, to "comfort once another with these words"... that would be a cruel God imo (and certainly not MY God) that would say all that and refuse to give guidance when he gave all the others that and then punish us for unrighteous people's actions. It just doesn't fit.

Being careful of rightly dividing the Word of Truth and discerning between what will be occurring to those who accept Christ during the tribulation and what occurs with the believers before the tribulation will give not only a clear view but comfort, indeed.

 

[DaDad]

I stick with my beliefs ...

Hi drjean,
People "believe" a lot of things, but it seems to me that a factual basis is more valuable. Take the depiction in Rev. 20. Christians presume that when they avoid the Tribulation, that they Return with Jesus. But Verses 4-6 explicitly state that only the MARTYRED return to rule with Jesus for the thousand years.

Furthermore we know that before the Rapture, the Dead Must Be Raised. And Verse 5 states that the Dead are not Raised until the Thousand Years are ended, which is reiterated in Verse 13. -- When the New Jerusalem arrives, how will those who are alive and remain going to ascend except by a RAPTURE?

But if as you say, the church is removed prior to the persecution, then who will be left to participate in the Great Falling Away?

Some have observed that GOD protects, but NEVER REMOVES the RIGHTEOUS. However HE does REMOVE the WICKED, and this will be accomplished where "the eagles are gathered" in the fields to pick the bones of the one(s) who received the mark of the beast, where the other(s) is left alive.

Thanks, DaDad