MORE EVIDENCE of the PRE-WRATH position:

The DAY OF THE LORD, a REFUTATION of a PRE-TRIB RAPTURE:

Dan 7:25 “And he shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, ..... and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ”

Dan 8:12 & 24 “And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice .... and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. ....”

dan 9:27 “He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation.... “

Dan 11:31-35 “.... and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. ...... And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days. ..... even to the time of the end.... .”

Dan 12:11 “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”

Rev 13:5-7 “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. .... He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. ....”

Rev 14:9-12 “If anyone worships the beast and his image .... he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury .... This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

Mat 24:15-23 “So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel-.... Pray that your flight will not take place in winter .... For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now .... If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ”

Clearly scripture is speaking of a 7-year period (dan 9:27) when the little horn will, in the middle of that seven-year period (dan 9:27) abolish the daily sacrifice and effect the abomination of desolation. When this occurs, only 3 1/2 years will remain (dan 9:27, 12:11, rev 13:5) to complete the prophetic decrees of Dan 9:24 and usher in the Kingdom of Christ.

In these final 3 1/2 years, scripture repetitively states the little horn will not only be in authority, but will do violence to the people of God (dan 7:25, 8:24, 11:31-35, Mat 24:16-23, rev 13:7).

Nowhere do I find an exemption for the bride of Christ that is either stated or implied. Instead, scripture says these things will happen not only to those who are ‘weak’ in the faith, but to “those who understand”, to the “saints of God” and the “elect”.

I understand that if the bride were taken out of the earth BEFORE these things occurred, then she would by definition be exempt from these things and the passages above would simply be describing he plight of those who were “left behind”.

Unfortunately, I am at a loss to find one single passage of scripture that speaks of a ‘rapture/gathering’ that is not chronologically linked in an intimate way with the initiation of the Day of the Lord, which begins AFTER the time of great distress as described in Mat 24:15-31

Mat 24:15-31 “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation .... then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now .... Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light .... At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky .... And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect ....”

From this passage we find that:

* The time of ‘great distress’ begins AFTER the abomination of desolation

* Only 3 1/2 years remain to complete the prophetic mandates of Dan 9:24 and usher in the Kingdom of Christ. ( to complete the FINAL 1 WEEK, of the 70 weeks of DAN)

* The Sixth Seal (Sun/Moon, etc....) terminates the 'great distress’ and heralds the Day of the Lord which begins with the 7th Seal.

* At that time (after 6th Seal but before the 7th Seal), Jesus comes in the clouds to gather his elect.

Now again, I understand this does not matter if there exists some scripture that speaks of another ‘rapture/gathering’ that occurs at an EARLIER time. One that is NOT in close temporal proximity to the 6th/7th Seals which are tied to the day of the Lord. However, I do not know of any such passage of scripture!!

1 Thes 4:16 – 5:9 “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven .... And so we will be with the Lord forever. Now, brothers, about times and dates [for the events just discussed] we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. “

2 Thes 2:1-2 “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him [the rapture], we ask you, brothers,not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the Day of the Lord has already come.”

1 Cor 15:52 “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet [a clear reference to the day of the Lord via the Feast of Trumpets as you are aware]. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

2 Pet 3:3-16 “in the last days scoffers will come, .... They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised?”.... The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,... the Day of the Lord will come like a thief.... since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.... Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters....”

Note carefully that Peter fully expects the believer to still be on earth as the DAY of the LORD begins. His encouragement to the believer is TO BE FOUND spotless, blameless and at peace with the Lord as that day dawns. What should we make of this? Was Peter only speaking to the ‘weak’ whom he knew would be ‘left behind’? If so, why did he not even mention the hope of the ‘pure bride’ who might escape these things through an earlier rescue and why did he not encourage his listeners to aim for THAT goal rather than offering them only the ‘path of the weak’ who will have to endure the time of ‘great distress’ which occurs between the abomination of desolation and the start of the day of the Lord?

Every passage of scripture that speaks about the Lord’s coming for the gathering of his people is clearly and explicitly linked to the Day of the Lord, which you know begins with the opening of the 7th Seal.

NOWHERE does scripture speak of another rapture that occurs BEFORE this time.

Scripture DOES speak of the resurrection of the martyrs (Rev 20:4), which occurs either simultaneously with or after the events of the above passages, but most assuredly NOT BEFORE these events.


I have come to ACCEPT that just because I desire something to be TRUE, doesn't make it TRUE: 

Blessings donna