I'll be back either later tonight, or tomorrow... I've got some things I need to tend to atm...
... for now, I'm just going to leave here something I had planned to post many pages back, when it was being discussed, about
Irenaeus... I've noticed something for years about how
post-tribbers (etc) are reading this quote, but which (
b/c of what else he says elsewhere) I do
not believe they are interpreting correctly what he is saying, here:
[quoting Irenaeus]
"And therefore, when in the end
the Church shall be suddenly
caught up from this, it is said, 'There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.'(2) For this is the last contest of
the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.”
--Irenaeus
--
post-tribbers (etc) see him EQUATING
the green and
the blue [he isn't ]
--pre-tribbers (not that he was necessarily "pre-trib / pre-70th-Wk") are pointing out that he is MAKING A DISTINCTION (JUST AS WE "pre-tribbers" are!) BETWEEN "the Church [which is His body]" (all those saved "in this present age") and "the righteous" (who are the ones coming to faith FOLLOWING "our Rapture"--that is, IN / DURING / WITHIN the trib years--i.e. "the righteous" in Matt13:43 / Matt25:[31-34]46)
It's like a mental block... when they read the words "the righteous" they automatically think "the Church [which is His body]" and declare, "SEE! Irenaeus said WE WILL BE HERE THEN"... No, he isn't saying that.
At least not here in THIS quote (and several others I've read, of his writings... where he seems to believe there are three levels of "destination" for believers [as in, levels of reward, type of thing]: Heaven, paradise [I think he said], and earth... )
I've seen people do this, for years, when reading this quote. = )
[same thing took place in one of my posts while back, in this very thread... I was talking about "the righteous"/the "BLESSED"/those who come to faith FOLLOWING "our Rapture," IN the TRIB years, but this was seemingly not recognized that I was saying this, by the poster/commenter... as far as I could tell, anyway)]