Hi John & All:
Upon reading Ted's writing, I wanted
to mention a couple of things. Although Ted and I hold the same stance in
relation to the rapture timing, this is neither in support of nor in opposition
to his post, but merely an expansion upon the scripture verse mentioned:
"Let no man deceive
you by any means:
for that day [of Christ] shall not
come,
except there come a
falling away first,
and that
man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth
himself above
all that is called God,
or that is worshipped;
so that he as God sitteth
in the temple of
God, shewing himself
that he is God."
- 2 Thessalonians 2:
3-4
Obviously I am using the
King James Version. The parnethetical addition is for clarification purposes
only, and not in the text itself.
There are two schools
of thought here (as Ted has pointed out). The first one is that the "falling
away" (or whatever transliterated word one substitutes) refers to the physical
removal of the Church from the earth. The second group points out that such
an interpretation is nonsense, and that it clearly references a time period
in which sinfulness abounds, and people depart from the faith.
By the way, before going
on further, I would like to point out that no matter what stance one takes,
there are clearly two events outlined in the abovenoted scripture verse.
The "falling away" is said to occur "first". This is additionally
supported by the conjunction "and", which leads to the
second event, namely the revealing of the man of sin.
It seems highly dubious
to me that the "falling away" references a time period of sinfulness coupled
with a departure from the faith. For one thing, there has never been a timeframe
(post Eden), where sin has not abound. Secondly, the concept of departing
from the faith, whether of the Old or New Covenant, has been with us from
the beginning of time.
Sinfulness and faithlessness
is hardly a big prophetic revelation. Both of these sins were thriving like
weeds, during the time of Paul's writing. Yet he says to the Church at Thessalonica
that said "falling away" and the appearance of the "man of sin", are future
events.
But to head another horse
off at the path ....
Additionally, the proposition
that sin and faithlessness in the final generation is worse than any other
generation, is outrageous at best. While the cumulative effect of 6,000
years of sin, coupled with the appearance of the anti-christ will make this
the most dangerous time ever, nevertheless, sin is sin in the eyes of a
Just and Holy God. There is no 10-scale with Him. As difficult as this might
be for man to understand, a little white lie will send you to hell just
as quickly as the sin of murder or pedophilia.
It is only man who gives
sin a ranking, and tolerates one over another.
See ya in the air,
Eric