The month of November saw terrible events happening from all over the world c/o Islamic extremists (Beirut bombings, Paris attacks plus Mali hotel hostage-taking yesterday!), and it had a lot of people wondering if we are in the end-times already. I wondered too (since June actually), and personally, I think we are truly in the end-times. All I'm really waiting is for the "abomination of desolation" to occur, and then it's fast going from there according to doctrine.org and other websites: the rapture of the Church (believers) / Day of the Lord --> 7 years of tribulation for those who were left behind (the Anti-Christ will appear here) --> Jesus comes back to reign for 1000 years in New Jerusalem (Millennial Age) --> final war with Satan / Armageddon --> all of believers in our heavenly bodies will live eternally with Yahweh.
I have to admit that I've always thought Revelations was the only book that details the end of the world (as we know it). Turns out the books of Mark (my favorite!), Matthew and Luke contained prophecies too, as well as Paul's letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians. There are also detailed prophecies in Ezekiel and Daniel, among others. I am not a Bible reader before, sad to say, and I'm currently rectifying that mistake these days. Blessedly, the Holy Spirit has guided my Bible studying sessions, and I'm learned so much Truth about who Jesus Christ truly is, His salvation message for us, and of course, about the end-times which involves the rapture and tribulation. Christians today, however, are divided on when rapture will occur-- pre-tribulation, mid-, or post-?
I have to admit that I've always thought Revelations was the only book that details the end of the world (as we know it). Turns out the books of Mark (my favorite!), Matthew and Luke contained prophecies too, as well as Paul's letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians. There are also detailed prophecies in Ezekiel and Daniel, among others. I am not a Bible reader before, sad to say, and I'm currently rectifying that mistake these days. Blessedly, the Holy Spirit has guided my Bible studying sessions, and I'm learned so much Truth about who Jesus Christ truly is, His salvation message for us, and of course, about the end-times which involves the rapture and tribulation. Christians today, however, are divided on when rapture will occur-- pre-tribulation, mid-, or post-?
Frankly, I didn't even know such terms existed or what they meant. When I read the Gospel of Mark, I made notes (last 10/18/15) for chapter 13 where the end-times was prophesied by Jesus. This is what my outline looked like from Mark 13:5-27: end-times signs* --> abomination of desolation (will happen very quickly & Jews should hide in mountains) --> great tribulation (more false prophets, few will survive!) --> sun and moon will darken (eclipses?) -> stars will fall down (meteor shower?) -> powers of heaven 'shaken' (great earthquake?) --> Son of Man in clouds --> His angels gather the elect in earth AND heaven (rapture!). The end-times signs* include appearance of false prophets (prosperity gospel, idol [money/fame/etc] worship), wars (Middle East), lots of quakes, famines & troubles (Syrian refugees, Africa), gospel preached to all nations, and Christians persecuted (ISIS beheadings, US shootings).
If you follow current events news, I'm sure you've noticed that all the end-times signs have already appeared! All we're waiting for now is for the "abomination" to occur, which I honestly don't have any idea. Some say it's a hateful object on the Lord's holiest ground (Temple Mount? Western Wall?). For daniel11truth.com, it's when the Palestine flag is raised in Temple Mount (current caretakers are Muslims, and Jews have limited access to it). Also worthy to note, ISIS' end-goal is to attack Israel and their invasion may be the abomination. We will know soon enough! Anyway, if you compare the end-times timeline in the first paragraph and my end-times outline in the third paragraph, my notes say that rapture occurs AFTER the tribulation. From Mark alone, I got post-tribulation rapture. Funnily enough, I haven't read a single website that proposes this! All I've read were pre-trib!
Right now I'm not sure why I was shown via my Bible studies that the rapture is post-tribulation. Maybe it's a way for the Lord to warn us to be strong because a LOT of stuff are still going to happen. We might be horrified with the Paris attacks, the plight of the Syrian refugees, the barbarism of ISIS, but these are all nothing compared to what will come. (SCARY!) Pre-tribulation rapture would have been awesome because us believers (yes, I am saved and I will be raptured!) will be spared from the tribulation distress (detailed in Revelations, beginning with the sixth seal). But if my studies are correct then we have lots to do~ strengthen our faith, get more believers, make ourselves self-sufficient (so we can say NO to the mark of the beast!), study God's Word more, and basically prepare for the worst. Thankfully, we "can do all things with Christ who strengthens" us :) AJA!
P.S. I am NOT claiming to be an expert on these matters. Heck, I just started seriously reading the Bible 4-5 months ago! Plus I have looots of questions! Foremost on my mind is that maybe we're in the tribulation period already. No worries though, answers will come with more diligent Bible studies + discernment from the Lord. And yes, I shall be blogging whatever I learned by God's grace <3
ADDITIONAL READINGS:
http://www.generationword.com/_notes/50.html
http://doctrine.org/when-will-the-lord-return (pre-trib)
http://www.theposttribulationrapture.com/uploads/Changed_For_Website1.pdf (post-trib)
If you follow current events news, I'm sure you've noticed that all the end-times signs have already appeared! All we're waiting for now is for the "abomination" to occur, which I honestly don't have any idea. Some say it's a hateful object on the Lord's holiest ground (Temple Mount? Western Wall?). For daniel11truth.com, it's when the Palestine flag is raised in Temple Mount (current caretakers are Muslims, and Jews have limited access to it). Also worthy to note, ISIS' end-goal is to attack Israel and their invasion may be the abomination. We will know soon enough! Anyway, if you compare the end-times timeline in the first paragraph and my end-times outline in the third paragraph, my notes say that rapture occurs AFTER the tribulation. From Mark alone, I got post-tribulation rapture. Funnily enough, I haven't read a single website that proposes this! All I've read were pre-trib!
Right now I'm not sure why I was shown via my Bible studies that the rapture is post-tribulation. Maybe it's a way for the Lord to warn us to be strong because a LOT of stuff are still going to happen. We might be horrified with the Paris attacks, the plight of the Syrian refugees, the barbarism of ISIS, but these are all nothing compared to what will come. (SCARY!) Pre-tribulation rapture would have been awesome because us believers (yes, I am saved and I will be raptured!) will be spared from the tribulation distress (detailed in Revelations, beginning with the sixth seal). But if my studies are correct then we have lots to do~ strengthen our faith, get more believers, make ourselves self-sufficient (so we can say NO to the mark of the beast!), study God's Word more, and basically prepare for the worst. Thankfully, we "can do all things with Christ who strengthens" us :) AJA!
P.S. I am NOT claiming to be an expert on these matters. Heck, I just started seriously reading the Bible 4-5 months ago! Plus I have looots of questions! Foremost on my mind is that maybe we're in the tribulation period already. No worries though, answers will come with more diligent Bible studies + discernment from the Lord. And yes, I shall be blogging whatever I learned by God's grace <3
ADDITIONAL READINGS:
http://www.generationword.com/_notes/50.html
http://doctrine.org/when-will-the-lord-return (pre-trib)
http://www.theposttribulationrapture.com/uploads/Changed_For_Website1.pdf (post-trib)