From:
The Top 10 Myths that Dominate Christianity concerning the great tribulation and the unscriptural rapture:-
2. Coming soon(?) to a (military) theatre near you: the Great Tribulation
Christian prophecy today is
filled with false prophets and false christs claiming to know the exact day when the great tribulation will begin and when it will end, along with what they think will happen in between. Fortunes have been made writing books and making films on this subject because people are starting to see how bad it's getting and are looking for answers. Unfortunately most are looking in all of the wrong places.
Christ describes the great tribulation in the following way:-
Matthew 24:21-22
24:21 For then shall be great oppression, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the Elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
The great tribulation/oppression is also described in the Book of Daniel:-
Daniel 12:1-4
12:1 And at that time shall Michael [the Archangel] (
Eno. 20:5;
36:1;
40:8;
58:1;
59:9;
57:1-2;
70:4;
Rev. 12:7;
Sura 2:98) stand up, the Great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book [of Life] (
Rev. 13:8;
17:8;
20:15;
21:27;
Sura 83:20).
12:2 And many of them that sleep in "the dust of the earth" (
Gen. 13:16;
28:14) shall awake, some to Everlasting Life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.
12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to Righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and "seal" the Book (
Rev. 5:1-5), [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and [evil] knowledge (
1 Tim. 5:20) shall be increased.
And in the Book of Jeremiah:-
Jeremiah 30:7-11
30:7 Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
30:8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the "I AM" Lord of hosts, [that] I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
30:9 But they shall serve the "I AM" their God, and My Well-Beloved their king, whom I will raise up unto them (
Ezek. 21:26-27).
30:10 Therefore fear thou not, O My servant Jacob, saith the "I AM"; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make [him] afraid.
30:11 For I [am] with thee, saith the "I AM", to save thee: though I make a complete end of all nations where I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a complete end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
And we're even told what we need to do to prepare and what will happen when the great tribulation ends:-
Malachi 4
4:1 For, behold, the Day cometh, that shall burn like an oven; and
all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the "I AM" Lord of hosts, that it shall leave of them neither
root nor
branch (nothing).
4:2 But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be
ashes under the soles of your feet in The Day that I shall do [this], saith the "I AM" Lord of hosts.
4:4
Remember ye and return to The Law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for
all Israel, [with] the Statutes and Judgments.
4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the "I AM" (
Sura 43:61):
4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (see verse 1 for the details of the curse).
From these verses we
know the following information about the great tribulation from a
CERTAIN point of view:
1. it will be the worst oppression
ever (
Matt. 24:21);
2. God will have to intervene for us to avoid
total annihilation (
Matt. 24:22);
3. it is aka “the time of Jacob's (Israel's) trouble” (
Jer. 30:7);
4. it is punishment for Jacob/Israel not keeping The Law (
Jer. 30:11,
Mal. 4:4);
5. the Great Prince Michael will be here during it (
Dan. 12:1);
6. Christ will be here during it (
Jer. 30:9,
Mal. 4:2);
7. Elijah the Prophet will be here during it (
Mal. 4:5);
8. there will be a great spiritual awakening during it (
Dan. 12:2);
9. Judgment Day and The Fire will take place after it (
Mal. 4:1,
5); and
10. the
truth about it has been sealed up (
Dan. 12:4), awaiting Christ's Second Coming (
Rev. 5:1-5).
Isn't
WHY this is happening just as, if not
MORE important than
WHEN it will happen?
The reason for the great tribulation is simple: it is a
final attempt to awaken
true Israel from her spiritual slumber by motivating us to
see the
total INSANITY of our incessant
criminal behavior (which is destroying our planetary life-support system and each other), and give us one last chance to repent of and
REFORM our evil ways.
True repentance means to
stop doing all of this evil just as
true reformation means doing away with
everything that is corrupt and wrong. And there is something
terribly corrupt and wrong about this country, this world and this way of life, isn't there?
We
NEED to
recover what was lost, and the first step to recovery is to recognize there is a problem. The problem is, and always has been, that we haven't kept The Law. And until we acknowledge our offense, by changing our
evil ways, the great tribulation MUST
continue.
Hosea 4:6, 5:15
4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of My Knowledge: because thou hast rejected My Knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten The Law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
5:15 I will go [and] return to My place, till they
acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in
their affliction they will seek Me
early.
The name Israel means “Champion of God”, so even if someone is a racial Israelite, i.e. among the British, Irish and Anglo-Saxon [(I)saac's sons – Saxons
Gen. 21:12)] American people, if we aren't keeping and enforcing God's Law, to provide
true Liberty and Justice for
ALL, then we aren't
really Israelites. Not in the
true sense of the word.
The great tribulation is
NOT some future event; it is happening
RIGHT NOW all around
YOU. The rapidly expanding police-state, rampant injustice and oppression, and the
imminent economic collapse of this
totally unsustainable debt-based, consumer throw-away society should have already gotten your attention
LONG ago. It is so bad now that
WW3 has ALREADY STARTED in Syria and people
STILL refuse to see the error of our ways and take personal responsibility for our own actions by remembering and returning to God's Law.
We've been lulled to sleep with modern conveniences and technology, all of which can and likely will be taken away at some point
SOON, especially with
the upcoming food and water shortages and world wide war. But the fact remains that we have allowed
all of this to happen by not keeping The Law, and it will only get
worse from here.
Eventually, anyone who wants to survive will have to leave America and the rest of the Israelite countries for the
Fortress of the Rock. And regarding any and all of the
false prophets claiming to know the Day and hour when this will all end, please be advised that
NO ONE on this planet knows that,
NOT EVEN CHRIST HIMSELF.
Matthew 24:36
But of That Day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
1. The Rapture: a fool's paradise
Another term that is found nowhere in all of Scripture is “the rapture”. The rapture refers to the
theory that “believers” will be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ, at or before His Second Coming (
I Thess. 4:16-17).
This hypothesis is largely predicated on references about one being taken and one being left behind (
Matt. 24:40), the “dead” being raised and transformed (
I Cor. 15:51-53) and being caught up into
Paradise (
2 Cor. 12:4). It is also accompanied with the standard
arrogant Christian claim of knowing they are “saved”, in spite of the fact that Christ said
no one has
ever gone to heaven except for Him.
John 3:13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] the Son of Man which is from heaven.
Christ promised that during His Second Coming, He would no longer speak to us in proverbs, but plainly
show us of The Father (
John 16:25). And we are told that Christ
will be here in a new body with a
NEW NAME (
Rev. 2:17,
3:12,
19:12) to publish the gospel truth to all nations (
Mark 13:10) in the form of a “little book” (
Rev. 10:7-10)
revealing the mystery of God
before the end would come.
Christ warned that during His Second Coming, Faith would be at an
all-time low (
Luke 18:8) and with so many spiritually fast
asleep (
Dan. 12:2,
I Cor. 15:51), hardly anyone would even take notice of Him being here (
I Thess. 5:2,
II Pet. 3:10,
Rev. 16:15). Fewer yet would actually try to listen to and learn from Him thanks to all of the false teachings of organized religion (
Matt. 7:13-15,
Matt. 24:37-39), and only a small percentage of those select few would stick it out to the end alongside Christ in the upcoming war being planned against
Him NOW by Satan's one world government leaders (
Rev. 17:14).
All of the above references clearly indicate and require a
physical presence; i.e. a Second Coming
in the flesh, at a time when it is unexpected,
like a thief in the night. We're even told that when Christ has completed His Mission this time to gather the “Elect”, He will shed the human body He's been using and the reaping will begin (
Matt. 24:28). It is
then that Christ will be seen by
everyone coming in the “Clouds”, as His TRUE
Spiritual Self, with the heavenly host, to separate the sheep from the goats (
Matt. 25:31-46).
Matthew 24:29-30
24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the "sun" be darkened, and the "moon" shall not give her light, and the "stars" shall fall from heaven, and the "powers of the heavens" shall be shaken:
24:30 And then shall appear the Sign ("Star") of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall ALL the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the "Clouds" of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with "Clouds";
and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him:
and ALL kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Please note well that when everyone sees Christ coming in the “Clouds” it is
NOT a happy reunion in mid-air. It specifically states that
ALL of the tribes and kindreds of the earth shall
mourn and
wail. Why?
BECAUSE WHEN EVERYONE SEES CHRIST COMING IN THE CLOUDS WITH THE HEAVENLY HOST TO BEGIN THE REAPING, WE WILL
KNOW IT IS TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING TO CHANGE THE OUTCOME OF OUR FATE.