Dear John and Doves:

One popular (and I believe, erroneous) interpretation of the seven letters in Revelation is that the letters are intended to serve as a sequence showing the sweep of church history from John's day to the end.  I'm more inclined to believe Jesus was addressing seven aspects of His church that are applicable to every church in every age, to varying degrees.  For this reason, we can't discount the first six letters as if they were intended for believers long since gone, and believe that only the letter to the Laodiceans speaks to us today.  On the contrary, each letter has warnings and encouragements for us.

If I'm correct, we can see something of interest in the letter to the church in Smyrna that may be immediately relevant.  If we take the text literally, we see that some will be thrown into prison and will have tribulation ten days.  This is not some vague or abstract warning.  We must either look back into church history and see some particular 10-day period of church imprisonment and tribulation, or we must believe that this event is yet future.  That brings me to my conjecture.

Tom Bigbee has written an interesting item, posted here: Happy New Year (a week late).  He calculates the possibility of a rapture event as a final fulfillment of Firstfruits.  He doesn't specify a year, but if it's this year the date of interest is 20 Nisan.  If that is the end of ten days of tribulation, the ten days begin on a date we're already watching: Nisan 10-11 (March 22nd).

The devil throws some of us into prison for ten days.  Ever wonder about that?  Will Satan have second thoughts after ten days and turn us loose?  Or will he hold us for ten days and then execute us?  How about a third possibility:  that at the end of ten days there is a rapture event.  This seems likely to me, because Satan isn't rounding us up and throwing us into brick-and-mortar prison cells.  Rather, this could be Satan thrown down and making Planet Earth into a "prison planet."  Maybe not exactly what Alex Jones had in mind, but every bit a prison.  Will Satan be cast out of the heavenlies - the spiritual realms - nine days hence?  Will he then require embodiment, and will he find a willing host in either BHO, the Pope, or perhaps another we have not considered?  Will the earth, then, become a "prison" of some sort?

I don't know, of course.  I'm expecting significant events this month, and a lot more clarity if we're still here in April.  In the meantime, Firstfruits is a good Rapture candidate, as Tom has pointed out.

Let's all be ready, as Overcomers, to be the bride King Jesus deserves.

Best,

Steve
Anakypto Forum

P.S.  The Bible does not explicitly say there will be a "seven year tribulation period."  It speaks of Daniel's 70th week, which probably has a lot of overlap with the period of "great tribulation" Jesus spoke of, but it need not coincide with it.  Scripture also speaks of the seven-year period of weapons-burning following the defeat of the Magog alliance, which need not be seven years to the day.  This comes after a conflict which begins when Israel is dwelling in peace and safety, without gates, walls, or bars - a far cry from their condition today.