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Post by watchmanjim on May 17, 2017 22:05:03 GMT -6
So I've wondered whether the snatching up of our bodies (the living and the deceased) at the time of our Lord's return for us will be more physical, or more mystical/ethereal/molecular in nature.
Ethereal: It doesn't matter where we are, what we are doing, or how we are confined, our body will effortlessly, seamlessly, and unobtrusively be removed from our surroundings. This might result in our clothing being left behind. . . .
Physical: Our environment could be affected by our being removed from it. IE, a prisoner might forcibly blow a hole right through the top of his jail as his body is dragged skyward. This might result in our clothing going up with us. . . .
And then there is the question of whether and how this affects the dead, too. Are their bodies molecularly "beamed up" out of the dirt, simply leaving a hollow spot to settled downward later, OR-- do the bodies burst up through the earth, shattering everything in their way? (Think of the guy buried UNDER the jail. . . .) One thing I also wonder--if the Old Testament saints are also raptured when we are, what about antedeluvian saints like Adam and Eve-- would the forcible eviction of their bodies from the deep stone sediments result in immediate earthquakes as the stone is split apart to let them out?
Just wondering.
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Post by whatif on May 17, 2017 22:15:15 GMT -6
Ouch! The physical option sounds like it might hurt! If we are yanked up through our ceilings, "we who are alive and remain" might be dying and resurrecting all at once!
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Post by watchmanjim on May 17, 2017 22:24:47 GMT -6
Ouch! The physical option sounds like it might hurt! If we are yanked up through our ceilings, "we who are alive and remain" might be dying and resurrecting all at once! Ha ha! I know, but it might be much more sensational for those who see the results later.
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Post by whatif on May 18, 2017 13:58:20 GMT -6
A very long time ago, I heard a Bible prophecy scholar suggest that there are some scientific findings indicating that, at the great rate of speed that the rapture will occur in, our bodies would become very, very tiny--small enough to pass through the substances that make up walls, etc. I don't recall who it was that said that--perhaps Dr. Jack Van Impe.
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Post by whatif on May 18, 2017 14:02:33 GMT -6
Another possibility: Could it be our bodies are changed in the fraction of an instant before we are snatched? If so, our bodies would likely have the ability to pass through walls and roofs and so on, because Jesus Himself was able to do that.
And another possibility: We are being snatched through dimensional doors that will open to let us through.
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Post by watchmanjim on May 18, 2017 22:48:17 GMT -6
Yes, I suppose any of those things are possible! All I know is, we weren't given any special instructions of how to prepare for it physically, so God has it all worked out!
I remember hearing one story of an old lady who insisted on sleeping with her bedroom window open, even in the winter, so that she wouldn't miss the Rapture!
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Post by whatif on May 18, 2017 23:25:07 GMT -6
I remember hearing one story of an old lady who insisted on sleeping with her bedroom window open, even in the winter, so that she wouldn't miss the Rapture! That's adorable! Sounds like something my great-grandfather would do!
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Post by Gary on May 19, 2017 8:13:16 GMT -6
Wow, interesting question. I hadn't much thought about this before. I think I've assumed the ethereal option, but then again, the stone in front of Jesus' tomb was rolled away when He came out. But on the other hand, His linen shroud was left behind and during the 40 days after the resurrection He appeared and reappeared at whim - even through walls when the doors were locked.
I guess I would say that ethereal is all that is necessary, but if God wants to leave a testimony He might have graves burst open.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2017 7:33:00 GMT -6
I'd go with physically forceful because of the stone being rolled away and sudden destruction mentioned in 1 Thessalonians. People will take notice, but it will be so sudden they won't know what happened.
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Post by watchmanjim on May 20, 2017 12:03:43 GMT -6
Actually Jesus did not roll His stone away, He exited the tomb in an ethereal fashion according to Matthew. The angel rolled the stone back after the fact. I tend to forget that myself.
Mat 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. Mat 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
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Post by BrazenLaver on May 24, 2017 11:57:30 GMT -6
My thoughts again go to Enoch and Elijah. God took Enoch. We don't know how God took Enoch. However, we can infer that God took Enoch the same way he took Elijah. We also know that Elijah's mantle was left behind.
We also know that on Sinai God surrounding Moses with his Chariots. Therefore, I believe it will be almost like an abduction.
Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
Furthermore, we know Elisha could see the realm and host of heaven...
2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
The world will see this as an extremely hostile event. The "gnashing of teeth" is an expression of anger. Women who have had their children snatched in front of them; pregnant women will feel great bitterness and anger. It will be easy for this world to create a terrorist attack from this "snatching" event.
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13:39 ...the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels."
This hostility will unite the lost souls of this Earth in anger to prepare for war and will unify ungodly humanity against the invaders from the Heavens. This Harvest has been portrayed as terror from most Hollywood "shew signs."
In Jupiter Ascending they show that Harvesting victims souls from other planets enables the rulers of heaven immortality.
Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
The Gospel of the Antichrist has been preached since the days of Orson Welles.
The devil is a liar...and remember Isaiah 5.
However, we have a blessed peace of the true and living God.
I Thessalonians 5:2-9 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Armor up! There is a battle brewing!
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Post by whatif on May 24, 2017 12:11:57 GMT -6
Awesome, BrazenLaver! I never had considered the chariots before. Do you suppose we'll get to see those chariots around us at the Rapture? Might it be we'll be snatched up in those chariots for the ride home to God and His throne?
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Post by BrazenLaver on May 24, 2017 12:29:55 GMT -6
Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom:...
Psalm 18:7-10 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
I'm ready to get on board!
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Post by whatif on May 24, 2017 13:11:13 GMT -6
Wowww!!!! I'm ready too, BrazenLaver! Awesomeness!
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