The gathering of the church (rapture) is a promise from the Lord in John 14:1-3 with 1 Thes.4:16-18 and 1 Cor.15:51-52 being the detailed event of when the Lord comes for the church. Wrath is coming upon this earth in the form of the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments with the resurrection of those in Christ taking place first and immediately followed by the those who are still alive being changed and caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air. Since believers in Christ are not appointed to suffer wrath and Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath, then believers cannot go through the time of God's wrath, but must be removed prior to its beginning.
If you don't believe this, then you are not believing in the Lord's promise, nor are you believing that Jesus took upon himself the wrath that all believers deserve, satisfying it completely and therefore God's wrath no longer rests upon the believer.
All of those people that you mentioned above, have been mentioned over and over again and you are just repeating this same apologetic. In order to be swayed by their teaching one would have to a follower of their teachings and adopt them. That said, I have never read anything by them, but my understanding of the gathering of the church comes straight from my own studies of the scriptures, not from the teachings of men.
Instead of believing in the Lord's promise to keep believers out of that time of wrath, instead you believe and teach that believers will go through the wrath of God, which Jesus already satisfied.
If you don't believe this, then you are not believing in the Lord's promise, nor are you believing that Jesus took upon himself the wrath that all believers deserve, satisfying it completely and therefore God's wrath no longer rests upon the believer.
All of those people that you mentioned above, have been mentioned over and over again and you are just repeating this same apologetic. In order to be swayed by their teaching one would have to a follower of their teachings and adopt them. That said, I have never read anything by them, but my understanding of the gathering of the church comes straight from my own studies of the scriptures, not from the teachings of men.
Instead of believing in the Lord's promise to keep believers out of that time of wrath, instead you believe and teach that believers will go through the wrath of God, which Jesus already satisfied.
Jesus Christ is the Living Word. This earth age of flesh man, just like the earth age that was before this, shall pass away, but God Word shall never change. Jesus is the same today as He was in that first earth age, and tomorrow and into the eternity He will remain the same.
Though most all of man's theories continually change, that plan that God sets forth in His Word never changes. Men like to present God's Word in confusing ways, changing just as words of their languages take on new meanings. However this is the reason we must learn to use the tools for studying of the Scriptures for the Word of God is absolute, it never changes. The new forms of teaching systems try to take away a person's value system, and in the process, it leaves it's students in mental confusion, with nothing absolute; however in Christ, and His Word we have something that has never changed, nor will it ever. That is why we must place all of our faith in that Word.
A prime example of this are the events that are taking place on the entire earth today. Things that were prophesied many thousand years ago are taking place right on schedule. The tiny Nation of Israel has been reestablished, the world is moving to world peace, and the first beast (One World Political system) has formed and now controls the nations on the entire earth. The authority for governing the world is under its ten horns of power of the agencies of the United Nations.
My friend, God does have control of All events, as well as mankind. He sets kings up and takes them down, and the world continues exactly according to God's prophetic clock. Today the young people are told that it is the worse time than it ever has been, when in fact, it is the exact opposite. Though the future looks like it is a loss, according to the press, the actual position that we are in is quite the opposite. In a worldly sense, the future is very bright, however, in a spiritual sense, we are approaching the time of the Antichrist (instead of Christ in the Greek). That time when Satan comes to this earth with policies of peace and prosperity, as spoken of in Daniel 8:23-25.
In the phrase, "In the beginning was..." is a very deep thought, and just incomprehensible to most people. So the question should be; When was the beginning? Most Christians are taught in their church houses that that was some six thousand years ago. Friend, that shows a lack of knowledge of the Scriptures; for II Peter 3, gives us information into that first earth age, the age that Satan was overthrown, and brought one-third of the sons of God, the angels down with him. Many of the remains of creatures that are non-existing today roamed the earth in the earth age that was (that first earth age). This earth is truly millions of years old, however Adamic man (from Adam) is but about six thousand years old.
So, when was the beginning? Countless millions of years ago; and if that is hard to comprehend when you are starting to get a grasp on this verse, for it was even then that this Word existed, and the Word has not changed one bit since then. We are not talking about creation here, only the existence of the Word, Jesus Christ, and the Father God and the office of the personage of the Spirit of the Living God. God and all three offices in the Godhead pre-existed before any point of time that the human mind can imagine.
Friend, the Word even existed prior to the existence of the creation of this earth, the sun, the planets, and the stars in the heavens. Don't ask me to explain it, for there is no person in human form living today that has the answer, it is one of those things you must accept as fact and by our faith in God's Holy Scriptures. By our faith, we accept Jesus Christ Who is the Word, and it is necessary and part of becoming a Christian. It is time for us to take the blinders off, and acknowledge the things of creation that are around us, and give us the physical evidence that the first earth age did exist, that this earth age is millions of years old. Then get into the Bible and learn all we can about what happened in that period of time.
Ephesians 1:4 addresses the time before this flesh earth age, that started when "the earth became without form, and void [ruin]", as spoken of in Genesis 1:2 of the Massoretic text. In that first earth age, all souls did exist in their spiritual bodies as the angels have. Paul talked about this other body in I Corinthians 15, and this is why there are no human flesh carcasses predating ten to twelve thousand years ago. When they dig up a link that appears to be man in an early form of development and run the tests on it, They find that it was a monkey, ape or whatever. In that first earth age, however, all souls did exist in their spiritual, or angelic bodies, but there was one soul that was created more beautiful, and wiser then all other created souls, and his name Satan.
There was a spiritual warfare when Satan rebelled and tried to take control, and many stood up and fought against Satan. Ephesians 1:4 addresses that first earth age when the battle took place, and those specific souls that stood against Satan, and they were judged then, and addressed in a certain manner in this earth age. This is not saying that man has existed in the flesh a second time, for that is talking about spirits of divination, or familiar spirits, and that is an entirely different matter.
Ephesians 1:4 According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
Those that were chosen in that earth age, are called the "elect" of this flesh age.
Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
"Jesus Christ" is "the Word" of John 1:1, and we are adopted through the blood of Jesus Christ to the Father. The Elect were predestined because of what each of them did in taking the stand against Satan's uprising, and not because of any specific action in this earth age. However, all souls must come to the Father in this earth age through repentance, and under the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved:
This Word always has been, and it does not need you to apologize for it. In most cases, the one that is disputing the fact simply does not the mental ability to understand it in the first place. The Spirit of God has blinded that persons spiritual eyes. The only thing man can apologize for is his own ignorance. When one seeks an apology for what is the Word, and in the Word, it shows their lack of teaching and understanding. A set of rules simply can not instruct you of the events of the first earth age, for in many cases, church doctrines assume the beginning of the earth, the angelic beings, and all living to be only 6,000 years old.
To them, science is rejected, and stones and bones have no meanings to them, but what is important to them is their church systems. We don't have to close our eyes to the past and to the things around us, but we learn from those things. Our understanding of that first earth age; the fall of Satan when the third of the angels followed him; and all the rest will be exactly as it was then, at the end of this second earth age. All of mankind will again be deceived by Satan when he arrives on earth in his role as the Antichrist with his locust army of fallen angels. Then all except those that have the seal of God in their foreheads will follow the false Christ again, as recorded in Revelation 9:4; "And it was commanded them [the locust army of fallen angels] that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men [ and women] which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."
That "seal" are all the truths recorded in God's Word of the events of the end times and stored away in your heart and mind so that you will not be deceived by the Antichrist. We need to grow in the Word whereby we can understand and become strengthened, and know how powerful our heavenly Father is.
So, In the beginning "was" the Word. The word "was" in the Greek is "aions", and it means simply that there is no number because it is so far back in time. It was then that the Word and all three offices of God still existed. It means that God and His Word preexisted before anything that your mind can place an image on.
Simply don't struggle with man's systems and designed notions of God's creation. Book knowledge is great, but when it comes time for reality, the evidence that exists is strewn all over this earth. Open your mind to the greatness of our God. Use common sense in your studying of God's Word. Don't throw out the fossils and geological data that is obvious for the sake of your defending God, for both He, and His Word simply don't need your defending. God's Word will support itself.