Sandra Jean (15 Aug 2012)
"JIMMY LISHMAN and LOU"

Thank you to Jimmy and Lou for your posts.  Jimmy, your post made for an interesting Bible study and I thank you.  Lou, your post reminded me of why I did not order John Shorey's book, Window of the Lord's Return 2012-2020.   I have seen Mr. Shorey (mid-tribber) on The Jimmy Bakker Show discussing his book; however, I decided not to get his book when he made the assertion that Mathew 24:31 referred to the rapture.  Years of Bible study have taught me to take the Word of God as close to literal as possible.  Therefore, Mathew 24:31 DOES NOT represent the Rapture as was confirmed by Jack Kinsella's article posted by Lou on August 13.  Partial repeat of Mr. Kinsella's excellent article below:

  • “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

This 'gathering' is NOT the Rapture. This event takes place after the Tribulation. It is neither secret nor signless – all the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see Him coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

This cannot be the same event described by Paul in 2nd Thessalonians 4:16-18.

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

At the Rapture, Jesus doesn’t send His angels to gather the Church, He comes for them Personally. The Church isn’t gathered from the four winds or from one end of heaven to the other. It is caught up, first from the grave, and then from the surface of the earth and into the air. In the Matthew 24:31 event, His elect are gathered from heaven, where they already are.

“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints . . .”(Jude 14)