Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Pre Wrath Contradiction

Here's an email I sent to one of my brothers who leans to the Pre Wrath side at the moment:

Hey brotherman, something popped into my head last night out of the blue (from the Lord maybe?) :-) and I wanted you to give me your thoughts on it.
It has to do with the rapture. Two of the bible verses that make me lean heavily toward the pretrib scenario are:
Luke 21:36-Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
and
Rev 3:10-Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Now, we've been through these before however....here's the thought.
Pre-Wrath(PW) folks argue that Rev 3:10 does'nt say we'll be taken out of the world, but rather we'll be somehow "kept" while still in the world. This argument is the rub. On one hand, PW argues that christians have no valid reason to be "kept"/protected from tribulation, but on the other hand they argue that in this one case, christians ARE to be "kept" or somehow protected while still on this world in order to debunk the idea that christians are taken out of this world. Now we know that during the tribulation, the enemy will overcome the saints:
Daniel 7:21As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them
Daniel 7:25He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.
Revelation 13:7He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
It seems clear from these passages, that the saints who are in the world during the time of the tribulation will not be "kept" from anything. They will be conquered, they will be handed over, they will be defeated. So what's the only other alternative to the idea of:
" keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole" in Rev 3:10?
See what I'm saying? Also, when we are told to pray for escape in Luke 21:36 this directly contradicts the idea that believers are bound to tribulation. The idea of praying for escape is precisely not to have to go through something very bad which negates the PW argument that christians have never gotten out of tribulations before or ever will in the future. I'm trying to approach this with the most open mind I can, do you see the perspective I'm looking at this with? Do you see the contradiction? What are your thoughts? Brother D

Monday, March 06, 2006

Walking With God

Is there any higher aspiration we could have than to walk with God?

Genesis 5:24Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Genesis 6:9This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

What are the requirements that must be met in order to walk with God? We have to find out, then do what is necessary. There is nothing better we could aspire to during the days we walk this earth than to walk with the creator day in and day out. What greater honor could a man have than to walk side by side with the creator of the universe every day? It's an awesome thought. Lord, may we be counted worthy to walk with you.

~brother D