Hi Gary:

 

Thanks for the inquiry.   I'm honored to reply.  Your inquiry has three questions as I read it so I will taken them in order.

 

1.  The Biblical narrative of the four Gospels uniquely record specific events; however, they do not provide the reader with an outline of the chronological unfolding of events in the life of the Messiah.

 

Think of the recorded facts as "snapshots" through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  All four Gospels report specific observations and facts.  Sometimes Matthew, Mark, Luke and John report the same event, other times only two or one may report an event or observation.  One Gospel writer may omit something that one of the others reports on like a journalist might do.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the "Synoptic" Gospels.  "Synoptic" is a theological word which basically means "similar" or "same" in content.  John is unique because he focuses on the Divine, Spiritual, and the Supernatural.  John's point is driven to strengthen or emphasize "belief" in Jesus.

 

God inspired each of the Gospel writers, including the book of Acts to record what God wanted to be preserved for future generations of humanity.  Collectively, we have four different accounts of this carpenter's Son from Nazareth.  The four Gospels presents Jesus in special ways, for reasons that we are not always conscious of. 

 

Your perspective about Jesus ministry beginning is not different from my point.  Your perspective is skewed by where you stand in the parade of events.  Think in terms of being at a baseball game.  Not everyone wants to sit behind home plate, and not everyone wants to sit in the bleachers, some prefer being near first base or third base side.  Each writer's perspective adds to the larger panorama of watching the game.

 

It is helpful to have a "Harmony of the Gospels".  A "Harmony of the Gospels" is a tool used to organize the sequence of events.  It organizes the text in four columns in chronological order, pegging each writer's related verse to a particular event on an extended time line.  I have a "Harmony of the Gospels' that I purchased some twenty-five years ago.  It reconciles the timing of events recorded by the Gospel writers.  There are a couple that have been around for a number of years.  They are not perfect, however, but there are gifted scholars that have used computer algorithms to "fine-tune" the chronology of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ into a sequential order which we refer to as a "Harmony of the Gospels"..

 

Time-wise between Jesus' baptism and your notation of his first mention of preaching the Good News is only a few days at most.  We are not looking at long periods of time here.  It was at John's baptism of Jesus, when a voice was heard from heaven saying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased"  (Matthew 3:16-17 & John 1:33-34).  Notice, your reference quotes Matthew 4:12-17, and Mark 1:14 takes place as early as the next day after His baptism and anointing.  And certainly not more than a couple days after that, at the latest.  Within a week of Jesus' baptism, Jesus begins to perform miraculous acts, the first being turning water into wine at a wedding.  That is significant in ways that I can't go into here. 

 

Someone published a "Chronological Bible" similar to what I refer to as a "Harmony of the Gospels".  In this case the entire Bible has been structured on a time scale.  I had a copy but gave it away when I donated my personal library to a Bible college four years ago.  I recall that it was priced at around thirty-five bucks or so.  Nice to have when trying to plug in events in the time line from Creation, etc.

 

2.  As to your second part, I recommend you read my posts on "Standing in the Gap" series.  Despite what you have been led to believe, the Seventy Weeks of Daniel are not contiguous or continuous seventy weeks without any break.  Bear with me because I know that is a shock for some because of what others have to say on another prophecy site.  They are so stubborn in their rants and ravings they are not open to learning the whole story.

 

The confusion that exists is the result of improper translation, a failure to use correct punctuation and proper grammar.  This will shock you.  Both the King James and the Geneva Bible took liberties in translating the Hebrew text of Daniel 9:26.  They took short cuts elsewhere in the translating the Hebrew and even the Greek in the New Testament as well.  I use the KJV, I have a copy of the Geneva but the old English and letter fonts I don't need because I don't use them to communicate with.  People think the Geneva or the KJV is the only "true" Bible.  I respect their views but differ with that view.  They don't read Greek and Hebrew and so that's all I can say about the preference issue.  When I do Bible study, research, etc.  I have a KJV on my left and I have a Greek or Hebrew Interlinear on my right.  I have an 8-volumn Hebrew dictionary and a 6-volumn Greek dictionary.  I use a "Textus Receptus" or "Received Text" as it is known.  It contains the Hebrew Masoretic Text, This is the basis for all our English translations, from the beginning until the late 1800's when the heretics Wescott and Hort sold out to Rome in creating a "new" Greek text.  Wescott and Hort are the text used by every translation since the late 1800's until today.  Wescott and Hort were Satanists, did not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, they rejected the virgin birth, a literal resurrection, and so much more.  The various Bible Societies, (American, United, Wycliffe, and a few others) sold out to Rome by allowing Rome to participate in their translating work.  To make a long story short, they were persuaded by Rome to use the method of expression "Dynamic Equivalency" instead of the former "Functional Equivalency", which had been used for centuries.  Doesn't sound like much but it is the difference between a .30.6 bullet and a Mark 48 nuclear torpedo, if you understand what I am saying.

 

Back to point.  The confusion that exists between our brothers and sisters at that other Rapture site and Five Doves comes as a result they see the English Bible as the accurate Word of God.  They just do not understand the changes that have occurred from the Biblical languages into English.  The Geneva Bible is only a few years distant from the KJV, which it self, went through a number of revisions, some minor and some more significant.  My point is you can never be sure your English Bibles are exact, word-for-word translations from the Greek and Hebrew. 

 

There is no continuous "seventy" weeks as many of those folks want you and others to believe.  I am not offended by their rhetoric and insults.  They just do not know how the Bible has been tampered with.

 

Here is the big point of this discourse.  The translators of the Geneva Bible and the KJV Bible took short cuts all throughout the Bible.  Since the issue here is Daniel 9:24-27, I will just deal with verse 26, which changes everything for all of those posting at either site.  Because of improper translation, they failed to include the "definite" article "THE" in verse 26.  Here is how verse 26 should read, the first clause of the text:

 

    "And after [the] threescore and two weeks shall the messiah be cut off,........."

 

Because the translators left out the "definite" article [THE] just before "threescore" , everything changes in its meaning completely.  There is also another spot in the text where verse omits the "conjunction" [AND] .  I'm typing this at my daughter-in-law's computer and I am not handy to my resources.  My point basically is the translators' careless handling and omission of the Hebrew "definitive" article of speech and the "conjunction" AND changes completely the understanding of what the passage really says.  In my posting series "Standing in the Gap" I have been explaining this in depth.  The fact there is a "GAP" of close to 2,000 years is valid.  I have given Biblical evidence and antidotal supporting evidence to prove that the 70th week is "future" and not past.

 

The Jehovah Witness 'New World Bible' does the same thing with John 1:1 as to the use of the "Definitive" article of speech.

 

I learned a long time ago, our English translations have been corrupted.  This goes back almost to the very days of the beginning of the Church.  Catholics were trying to change the Greek text of Revelation because it sounded too close to home for them.  All that is the subject of David W. Daniels book 'Why They Changed The Bible".  The Roman Catholic Church has been using every trick in the book to bring about their one world Bible. 

 

I can't impress enough my point of how important the Hebrew or Greek is and that correct grammar is applied, in this case, as well as others, it has been improperly applied.  I doubt that  they [the translators] realized how big a problem they created by taking the short cuts.  Now, the problem is further abrogated by the fact that 95% of clergy today are not trained in Biblical Greek let alone Biblical Hebrew.  When I took my academic studies in Greek and Hebrew I cursed the fact that I had to take two years of Greek and a year of Hebrew.  Frankly, I was oblivious to how important knowing the Greek and Hebrew is to the task of teaching and preaching today.  I have been studying both for more than thirty years and continue to do so even though I am retired from a resident pulpit. 

 

3.  As to third point of your inquiry., I have nothing to lead me to the conclusion there will be more than one Rapture.  Paul is explicit, distinctly so, to note that the dead in Christ rise first and we who are alive join them in the "Harpaizo" .  I have studied the 13 references to the "Harpaizo" for an infinite number of hours over the last fifty years, and in this "snatching us out by force" I find nothing, not so much as a hint of more than one Rapture.  One cannot rule out something to the contrary but if I were a betting man I would have to stand on a single Rapture event. 

 

I hope that I have helped you Gary but you have to make your own decision.  God is not a God of confusion, but that does not preclude the possibility that His creation (imperfect as we are) will be faithful to the Word.  In the last twenty years, all kinds of self-proclaimed prophets have come to the fore on the Internet and claim to know it all.  Most of them see themselves as sort of called last days prophets.  For the most part they have not done their homework on the basics or of what are essentials.

 

I have a personal principle, that what I believe in my heart has to first make sense in my head.  When I look at the Biblical narrative of Daniel, which is the lynch pin that ties the Old and New Testament together, I can easily see how Lucifer has dirtied the waters here to throw people a curve ball.  Just remember, your salvation does not depend on whether you are Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib, or Pan-Trib.  When the trumpet sounds and you hear "Come up hither" you're going to go up regardless of your view, provided you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord!  I sense you will be with us when we go.  Lucifer is the liar, the deceiver of many.  As I said the book of Daniel is so important for many reasons, the chief one teaches us that God has all things under control!

 

God bless, 

 

Pastor Bob

 

God bless,