continued...
Proof #9: Kept from the hour of testing (Rev. 3:10)
Revelation 3:10 says we will be kept out of the hour of testing which will come upon the whole earth (the Tribulation). Some have wrongly believed "keep" means to be kept through, or to be protected through the Tribulation. But the words in the text are Tereo "to guard" and Ek "out of", properly, to "guard out of". He will keep us "out of" the hour of testing. It is not just the testing, but the time period. The Church will be called home before that hour of testing.
Rev.3:7-12 about the Church of Philadelphia is about His very elect, which is why He had no problems with that Church.
Those are of the same... type of His servants that He spoke about for the end in Matt.24:23-26 when warning about the coming pseudo-Christ, that that false one would works great signs and wonders so powerful that it would deceive even His own very elect
if it were possible. So how is it that He showed His elect still on earth when the Antichrist shows up to exalt himself in place of God???
Rev 3:10-11
10 Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
KJV
I have already established that our Lord Jesus comes "as a thief" on "the day of the Lord" timing, as per Apostles Paul and Peter. That is the timing those are to keep what they have in waiting for Jesus. Those keep His Word, and thus they are sealed, no one can open, nor shut from them.
Greek
tereo (Strong's 5083) from
teros is the word for "will keep". And yes it also has the meanings of 'to guard' and 'to watch' per the Greek. So if that's all you've got to support your pre-trib rapture theory from that verse, then that is very, very weak.
Also per Rev.11 along with mention of God's two witnesses, "two candlesticks" are mentioned along with them. And that's on the 6th Trumpet - 2nd Woe timing which points to the time of tribulation. According to the last verse of Rev.1, the 'seven candlesticks' are the 'seven churches'. So what are those "two candlesticks" doing there in that time of Rev.11, which represent two Churches? Simple. There are ONLY 2 Churches our Lord Jesus saw no problems with, Smyrna and Philadelphia. They represent His elect that will not... be deceived by the coming pseudo-Christ.
Thus your point #9 is disproved.
Proof #10: Angels don't resurrect people when they gather them for judgment.
When the angels are sent forth to gather the elect at the second coming (
Matt. 24:29-31), some have wrongly interpreted this as the catching away. There is one huge problem with this interpretation. If we are resurrected at this time, why would we need angels to gather us? In the resurrection, Jesus said that we will be like the angels, in our glorified bodies (
Matt. 22:30), able to travel in the air at will. Obviously, these people who are gathered are not resurrected, therefore it can't be referring to the catching away. No one would claim the wicked are caught up at this time, yet
Matthew 13:39-41,
49 says the angels will not only gather the elect, but also the wicked. This gathering is not a resurrection, but is reference to those in their mortal bodies who will have made it though to the end that seven years, they being the wheat and the tares.
Firstly, the Matt.24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27 gathering examples perfectly align with what Paul taught in 1 Thess.4 about Jesus' second coming and gathering of two separate groups of saints, one group from Heaven, and the other group from the earth. Therefore your wording there against that Matt.24 and Mark 13 Scripture is all for naught.
Nor do you show understanding of the actual "caught up" event of 1 Thess.4. The Greek word for "caught up" is
harpazo, which means to be '
siezed'. We will not fly off to Heaven of our own will!!! We will be 'gathered', siezed to Christ, at the twinkling of an eye. Surely you realize that event will not be by our own power. I don't know who put that move-about-freely idea into your head, but you're using it just as an excuse to not heed the Scriptures about that event.
And your theory that the gathering in Matt.24 and Mark 13 is about a gathering of the wicked is way... off base!
Those mentioned being gathered in those Scriptures are called "His elect", didn't you notice? how could you misunderstand that? (Matt.24:31; Mark 13:27).
Thus your point #10 is disproved.
Proof #11: Both the wicked and the righteous can't be taken first.
First Thessalonians 4:13-17 says the righteous are taken and the wicked are left behind.
Matthew 13:30,
49 says the wicked are taken first and righteous are left behind. This points to two separate events, the resurrection and the second coming.
That 1 Thess.4 Scripture does NOT... say that at all that "the wicked are left behind". That is your... addition to that Scripture you got from your Pre-trib Rapture theory preachers. The wicked are not even the subject in that 1 Thess.4:13-18 section of Scripture!!
Likewise you misuse that "left behind" moniker from men in the Matt.13 Scripture when it is not there either.
Since you are so deceived, and can't grasp Scripture as written, I guess I write the rest of this for brethren that are given by The LORD to understand.
In Matt.13:50, Jesus gives us an expression involving where the "tares" are cast to at that event of His 2nd coming on the last day of this world, with the
wailing and gnashing of teeth. Where else did He give that expression, and to whom? Look here...
Matt 8:11-12
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
KJV
Matt 22:12-13
12 And he saith unto him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?" And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
KJV
Matt 24:48-51
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, "My lord delayeth his coming";
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
KJV
Matt 25:29-30
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
KJV
If you want to know what and where that "outer darkness" will be during Christ's future "thousand years" reign, look at the Rev.22:14-15 verses. It is a place outside the gates of the holy city, which is where the wicked will be cast out to. It does not mean those are cast into the "lake of fire" just yet. It happens on the day of Jesus' 2nd coming when He will separate His sheep from those goats.
Thus your point #11 is disproved.
Proof #12: Jesus returns from the wedding.
When Jesus returns to earth at the second coming, He will return from a wedding (
Luke 12:36). At the resurrection, Jesus, the Bridegroom is married to His bride, the Church. After the wedding, He will return to earth and we with him.
Here we go with all that Jewish wedding/bridegroom stuff. That is NOT... a blueprint for how our Lord Jesus returns at His second coming and gathers His Church. The marriage supper of The Lamb is when The LORD said it would be, according to this...
Rev 19:7-9
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, "Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."
KJV
Notice there that "fine linen" is the "righteousness of the saints". It's about the New Jerusalem, that is the Bride...
Rev 21:2
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
KJV
In the verses of the Rev.19 chapter, it is about Jesus' 2nd coming to end this present world and battle against Satan's host on earth. That's is what that "supper of the great God" is about, i.e., "the day of vengeance; and to comfort all those mourn" timing from Isaiah 61:2, the phrase our Lord Jesus did not read in Luke 4 at His 1st coming. That is a "day of the Lord" event, the end of the 1260 days timing, Jesus back on earth with His saints that will reign with Him.
Thus your point #13 is disproved.
Proof #13: Jesus will receive us to Himself, not us to receive Him (John 14:2-3).
Jesus said He would prepare a place for the Church in heaven, then He would come again to receive us to Himself. Why would Jesus prepare a place for us in heaven and then not take us there? At the resurrection and catching away, He will come to receive us to Himself, "that where I am (heaven), there you may be also." If the catching away occurred at the same time as the second coming, we would go up to the clouds and then immediately come back to earth. That would contradict
John 14:2-3.
The reference to "mansions" in John 14 is about the priest's abodes per the Book of Ezekiel, for the last 9 chapters are about the time of Christ's Millennial reign forward. That's what the Greek word "mansions" means, i.e., abodes. In that future time per Ezekiel, that temple that will be built for the time of Christ's future "thousand years" reign will be called "God's House" per Ezekiel. In Ezek.47, God's River and His House is shown at a specific location... ON THE EARTH. That's the place Jesus said He prepares for His elect priests that will reign with Him.
But because the majority on the Pre-trib Rapture theory don't take time to discover what's written in Scripture like Ezekiel about the future Millennium, they tend to go off on tangents and wrongly assign things like John 14 as taking place somewhere else, or about something else, or outside the timing the OT Scripture prophecies for fuiture that were first written about them.
Thus your point #13 is disproved.
Proof #14: The one who restrains is taken out of the way.
In
2 Thess. 2:6-7, Paul says "the one who restrains will be taken out of the way" before the Antichrist can be revealed. We believe this refers to the catching away because the Church indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is clearly the biggest obstacle to the Antichrist becoming a world ruler.
Easy. It has nothing... to do with a rapture. Nor is the restrainer The Holy Spirit either.
In Daniel 10, he was shown a heavenly vision of angels representing powers on earth, and using titles of powers on earth. Within that chapter the one who retrains the Prince of Persia (i.e., Satan) is the Archangel Michael.
Dan 10:13
13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
KJV
Dan 10:21
21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
KJV
Thus the restrainer of 2 Thess.2 is the Archangel Michael. He is holding the coming Antichrist back until it is his time to be revealed. Simple as that.
Thus your point #14 is disproved.
Proof #15: The separation of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46)
If the resurrection and catching away occurred at the second coming, why would the sheep and the goats need to be separated immediately after the second coming? A catching away at the second coming would have already separated the sheep and the goats. With a Pre-Tribulation resurrection and catching away, the people saved after the church has been removed will need to be separated after the second coming. Also, notice that in Rev.20:4, only a resurrection is mentioned, but there is no mention of living believers being changed and caught up.
That's called 'begging the question', a fallacy where the arguer includes the conclusion to be proven within the premise of the argument. The actual matter above, is that the premise is faulty to begin with, because the resurrection is what the "caught up" event of 1 Thess.4 is about, as Apostle Paul also covered it in 1 Cor.15 about that same event.
Thus your circular argument of point #15 is disproved.
Proof #16: Who will populate the Millennium? If the catching away occurs at the second coming and the wicked are cast into hades at that time, who will be left to populate the millennium? Only people in their natural (non-resurrected) bodies will be able to have children (
Matt. 22:30). With a Pre-Tribulation catching away, the people saved after that who are alive at the second coming will populate the earth during the Millennium.
Fallacy again, because you're suggesting that Christ's 2nd coming does not involve His literal return to this earth, to Jerusalem, as the Zech.14 Scripture is written, as also in Acts 1.
So your argument falls flat from the start.
Your point #16 is disproved.