The Conclusion to the RaptureWritten by Michael Bradley
Conclusion If there is going to be a Rapture, I believe that God will rapture His believers off of this earth sometime before start of 7 year Tribulation. I don’t think He will wait to midpoint of Tribulation where Antichrist seats himself in Temple proclaiming himself to be God and then starts all persecution. I feel Antichrist will be fully revealed to world at beginning of 7 year Tribulation when he enters into a peace treaty and covenant with Israel, and then allows them to start rebuilding their Temple so that he can eventually get into it at midpoint of Tribulation to proclaim himself to be God. And remember very first verse above, that Antichrist cannot be revealed until "He" is taken out of way. And when "He" is taken out of way, then Antichrist can be fully revealed to rest of world. And "He" in my opinion may be Church or Body of Believers that are living at time of these events. The other reason I think Rapture will occur sometime before start of 7 year Tribulation is that Antichrist is going to need some time to set things up. Once Church is taken out, he will be free to start operating at full scale. The first thing he is going to do is convince and persuade rest of world to follow him and I feel he will do that by trickery and deception. If he starts persecution too early on those who will not take his mark, he will risk not being able to gain full control of everything. I feel he will first suck everyone in by peace and diplomacy and promise of a better world. Then once he has enough of nations on his side and Jewish Temple is once more rebuilt, that will be time that He will then go for all of marbles. He will seat himself in temple at midpoint of Tribulation, proclaim himself to be God, kill anyone who will not accept his mark, and will then seek total world domination and control. Think about this. This one man, through power of Satan, will get a chance to have more power and control over entire world than any other man has ever had during entire course of our human history. This will be ultimate ego trip for a power hungry human being. I think that last three and half years of Tribulation is going to be last and final history lesson from God to us. With Church being taken out of way so Satan and Antichrist can operate at full force, I feel that God is going to show all of us how much terror, death and destruction humans and demons are capable of committing if given half chance without God directly intervening. In three and half years, Satan and Antichrist are going to cause so much death and destruction on this earth, that Jesus Himself says that had these days not been shortened by God Father Himself - that no flesh would have been saved! I really feel that Satan, if he knew he had chance, would set up entire scenario with Antichrist to destroy entire world through nuclear weaponry.
| | A Scriptural Look At SinWritten by Stephen Kingery
To Christian, subject of sin should be one of interest - not for benefits or pleasures of it, but rather what it can do to hinder Christian walk. Every church "worth its salt" should be preaching against sin and teaching its members to avoid pitfalls that result in one wallowing in mire created by sin. But is it enough to just be taught to avoid sin? I don't think so! We, as Christians, must also understand sin and what it can do to us. So, what is sin? I have heard it preached that sin is "missing mark." In other words, "the mark" being that kind of behavior which we might describe as perfection. Therefore, when we fail to reach perfection, we have sinned. If that is case then we sin a multitude of times each day. The analogy used here is one of a marksman (perhaps with a bow & arrow) aiming for bulls eye or "the mark." When he shoots and does not hit bulls eye he misses "the mark." So therefore (the analogy), when one does not hit what he aims at (perfection), he is sinning. I think that assumption made here is that all Christians aim for perfection. I personally do not like above analogy of sin being simply "missing mark." There is some truth to analogy however, if we are really aiming for perfection - as we should be. But I also feel that analogy fails to take into consideration that most "sin" is far from merely "missing mark." Sin is terrible and we must continuously strive to avoid it. So, again, what is sin? Well, first of all, sin is breaking of God's law. "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4) Anytime we do not abide by law of God or commands of Christ we are sinning. Please don't get confused by teaching that we (Christians) do not come under law. The "law" (or our obeying of it) will not be used to determine state of our salvation. Christ died for our sins, and as such we have been given forgiveness for them. However, we are still expected to obey laws and commands which are applicable under New Testament. When we fail to obey laws and commands, we sin. These failures can be intentional or unintentional, but nonetheless they are sin. Sin is also a failure to do good that we know we should. "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17) Is there a single one of us who have devoted our lives to following Christ that could not find "good" to be done all around us? How about supporting those in missions field? How about feeding hungry and clothing needy? How about reaching out to multitude of lost in our communities? How about reaching out a loving hand to a brother or sister in Christ who is having a problem or tragedy in their life? The list goes on and on. There is much good that can be done and we should be about our Father's business and doing it. Sin is attitude of desiring to do evil and inclination or intention of carrying it out. "He who plots to do evil will be called a schemer. The devising of foolishness is sin, and scoffer is an abomination to men." (Proverbs 24:8,9) In our society today we hear about various people who are extremely evil in their nature, serial killer for example. This is evil to very bone. Is this sin? Yes! I know that no person who claims Jesus as their Lord and Savior would be guilty of plotting such lawlessness. However, when we talk about sin, this too fits definition. Rather than plotting to do evil, Christians may be more likely to fall into trap of inappropriate attitudes. Being arrogant, selfrighteous, proud and so forth is also a sin. "Haughty eyes, and a proud heart, lamp of wicked, are sin!" (Proverbs 21:4 NIV) These kinds of attitudes are also sin. It may indeed be true that someone may really not want to have these attitudes and may be striving to overcome them. If this is so, then when they fall back into those attitudes occasionally, they could be said to have "missed mark." However, if we are a person who has these attitudes and don't take steps to correct our behavior, then we are intentionally sinning; not just merely "missing mark." To sum it all up in our short discussion of what sin is, we can just say that anytime we do not do right thing for all concerned, it is sin. "All unrighteousness is sin. . ." (1 John 5:17) Who is there among us - either Christian or non-Christian - that has not sinned? We all know answer to that question. No one! I have known many dear people in my life that seem to be good Christian people and I have admired them for their faith in Christ. However, if we were to take most righteous person we know, that person has sinned! Just look at what Bible has to say concerning those of us who have sinned: "For all have sinned and fall short of glory of God," (Romans 3:23); "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10); "But Scripture has confirmed all under sin" (Galatians 3:22); "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8).
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