Dave wrote: ____________________________________ Brothers and sisters. Here me please. Many Christians are going to be shocked, surprised and perhaps angered when these tribulations that are spoken about in Mathew 24 happen and we are still here on earth. http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/june2009/davids622.htm _____________________________________     Dave,   yours is a common mistake, but understand that Matthew does not record Jesus' words in any chronological order or context, but rather Matthew lumps Jesus' sayings together by subject matter. Therefore you cannot use Matthew to construct theories of when events will take place, as though the statements go together to form a context. Luke is the one you must go to for that since he specifically tells us that writing down Jesus entire ministry IN ORDER is one of Luke's chief contributions.   Luk 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,   It is easy to become confused by Matthew for this reason and many errors in end times doctrines are the result of failing to know this feature about Matthew. Everything Jesus taught about end times prophecy is included in one place in Matthew and not given with regard to when He said these things or what order they will occur in relation to each other. For example if you were reading a list of ingredients in a recipe for a cake, that list would not be enough for you to know how to actually bake the cake. There is an order that the ingredients must be incorporated and a procedure that must be followed. Matthew is like the list of ingredients for the tribulation period but not the order that they occur.   While many saints will be here for the trib period, many also will escape. In the star gospel, the lesser sheepfold, Ursa Minor, will escape, (Philadelphia church), while the larger sheepfold, Ursa Major, will remain for the trib.