Wow -- I step away for a few days and this post is still active! I would just like to say to all my Pre-Trib brethren that I was truly attempting to reach out to a very small number of people who are babes in the Word or confused about the Rapture conjecture they hear/read continuously. I was not looking to stir a tense debate. Dates have been set in the past and have disappointed those of us (including me) who are strong in the Word and are every day "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). The Word tells us that it WILL happen and we can't wait. We would absolutely LOVE TO KNOW the specific day ahead of time. Whether we will get a warning in advance or we will be taken up "in the blink of an eye" without any warning, my opinion is that we won't know until it happens one way or the other. Thus, we can't speak with absolute certainty unless God has absolutely, positively, unquestionably, undoubtedly, unequivocally, and without any uncertainty spoken to us like he did the prophets of old. I very-much appreciate that Yohanan understood that I was not trying to be divisive and that my point "was not that watching for “high watch dates” was wrong but the way some people chase them, holding to man’s teaching vs. sound Biblical doctrine." Thank you for that Yohanan! I still get excited when I read sound postulation about possible "dates" derived from Biblical Exegesis (as was well-articulated by David Roche above) that coincide with current happenings in the human environment -- political alliances, military alliances, potential treaties, heavenly occurrences of eclipses, formations, etc., etc., etc. When things look like the should happen in our mortal eyes we get very excited; however, all too often in the past, we become just as disappointed when the event that absolutely looked like it would occur ended up not happening. Looking for the Rapture Date is a roller-coaster ride that may not end until it is upon us without us even knowing it. We are definitely in the season, and know that it WILL happen soon, but we may not know exactly when. A simple analogy is like when a hurricane is forming over the ocean, we know that it will hit land within days in the future -- but we still don't know the exact minute it will roll in to land or if it will take a sudden turn and bypass our location. Only when the strong winds hits our area do we know for sure that the hurricane is upon us for absolute surety. Geri, Tammie, David, Yohanan, 2ndcoming, and tenderreed -- you all have posed some very intelligent, researched, and interesting hypothesis that may or may not be the answer. We just will never know what is going to happen before it happens because we are not God. Like David said above in his post, you cannot "rely upon your own private interpretations and dismiss the thoughts of others as meaningless". Amen! We can share our thoughts, our research, our understanding, our postulations -- but we can't be claim that our what we think or say is indisputable. A good summation for all this is how tenderreed concluded his last comment: "We can agree to disagree because of grace and love". In the essentials, UNITY; in doubtful matters, LIBERTY; in all things, CHARITY. God bless you all! Humbly LOL yeah Humbly ... this thread was the ”go to” thread for the past few days. :yes: So many heated Totally agree Geri! And Blake7, I am so sorry to hear about your pain and discomfort. Hopefully that will be history soon. I appreciate your strength to be able to faithfully state: "But Gods wisdom has always been there taking care of me no matter mine or anyone’s interpretation . My love in Christ to all here and all my family in and thru the blood of Jesus Christ. " May God bless you with a shinier crown in Heaven for all of your travails on earth. Humbly Aha I found it! The subject of “No man knows the day or hour doesn’t refer to the rapture but for the 2nd coming” came up again on the RITA facebook side and this time I copied Thomas Maples view. Its a good one ... here it is: “The whole no one knows the day and the hour don’t pertain to the rapture, but the second coming. As I’ve mentioned countless times before, the word “know” in that verse means able to perceive. The placing of it in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 after the Lord turns off the light of the sun and the moon correlates nicely to Joel 2, Zechariah 14 Isaiah 13 about the Day of Judgment of the Lord. Considering the next Feast of Trumpets (Trumpets being blown when the Lord’s people go to war) also works nicely since it begins at the first sighting of the first sliver of the new moon. Which won’t be able to be perceived since the light of the sun and the moon are darkened. Not by mankind, not by the angels. But God always knows. This is not saying that date setting is forbidden. It’s saying that when the moment comes, they won’t be able to see the day or hour that it comes. From a practical viewpoint, there’s no sense being adamant about any particular date not because it’s forbidden, but because He didn’t give us enough information to figure it out. Which has kept the entire Church on its toes since the early days when even the Apostles seemed to expect His return imminently.” - Fair Use - ———————- So call me “fickle Fiona” I’m climbing back over the fence to the green pasture side once more. :yes: I believe we shall get a heads up confirmation of the rapture date :mail: ... we all just need to be very alert and watchful for the clues. B-) Thom says, "... Which has kept the entire Church on its toes..." Most of the Church today are evidently able to sleep well standing on their tippy-toes. A good trick. :whistle: :yes: :unsure: Yeah ... and sadly some others in the Church morphed into a “modern day Lot” and have tap danced over to the bright lights of the mega Laodicean “churches” to be entertained by the circus shows. :negative: Stupid is as stupid does! Again, God can heal all manner of disease, sickness, illness and sometimes death. But He can't heal stupid. TR
fights :stinkerbell: I mean great discussions! :good: I enjoyed reading the knowledge that so many of you long time watchers have ... I gained more knowledge! Even though ... some are wrong in their theories ... just kidding, just kidding ... its truly is a wait and see how it all unfolds. Glad we can all agree on this ... we don’t have long to wait! Right, siblings? We can at least agree on that fact. B-)
