Biblical Support for the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

Martin Luther? Oh, you mean the antisemite who wrote, "The Jews and Their Lies?" Here's an adorable excerpt:

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"I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. But since I learned that these miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I might be found among those who opposed such poisonous activities of the Jews who warned the Christians to be on their guard against them. I would not have believed that a Christian could be duped by the Jews into taking their exile and wretchedness upon himself. However, the devil is the god of the world, and wherever God's word is absent he has an easy task, not only with the weak but also with the strong... Vengeance a thousand times worse than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall give you my sincere advice:

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First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians.... Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.

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Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.

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Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death

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Hitler himself couldn't have said it more eloquently or with such venom. Raze their synagogues, schools and homes to the ground... What a wonderful source of inspiration. While the RCC got Christianity totally and completely wrong in my estimation, I think its safe to say that nobody plans on following anyone from the Papacy. They're a dying breed. Remember, Faith, there's several billion Muslims, millions of non-Catholic Christians, and billions of Hindus and Budhists. You really think the entirety of the world is just going to suddenly look towards the Pope for guidance?The scriptures are clear to say that the Anti-Christ will be the last person you'd ever expect and that pretty much everyone is gonna be duped by him before he reveals his true colors.This is just your hatred for the RCC manifesting itself and nothing more. You like to force square pegs in to round holes. And in all of that ranting you never actually made the case Scripturally, you just made an empty and hollow assertion. Edited by Hyroglyphx, : No reason given.

If he was wrong about Jews then why is he right about everything else? One of the signs of the Anti-Christ in Islam is the performing of miracles akin to Jesus. They also believe that Satan is behind all of it. Whether you want to accept it or not, a humongous portion of Judaism and Christianity has been absorbed into Islamic teachings -- including eschatology. Muslims aren't going to suddenly convert to their mortal enemies religion. That makes no sense. I'm talking about everyone else.... that's billions of people who are not practicing Catholics. So how do they somehow come to worship a pederast in a funny looking hat? Makes no sense. Seems much more logical and in keeping with eschatology that the Anti-Christ would be secular, charismatic, probably is the guy who cures diseases, is very important in tech, and is liked by everyone nearly universally. I think of somebody like Elon Musk, but even more popular and greater contributions to the advancement of civilization. That's how you get a foot in the door -- the last person you'd suspect and for face value has made amazing contributions to everyone that you wouldn't suspect have nefarious intentions. I'm not saying your loathing of Catholic doctrine is unfounded, I'm suggesting that it is clouding your judgment concerning this pet theory of yours.

Jesus was Jewish. Every single one of his disciples were Jews. Paul was Jewish. Its not about being Jewish, as such, its about belief. I think of the bible verses that distinguish between the physical act of circumcision versus the circumcision of the heart. Devout Jews believe that its obedience to the act that brings favor of God, whereas a splinter group of Jews (early Christians) believe that many were so wrapped up in the acts that they forgot the message.Whatever the case, its indefensible. Vengeance is mine saith the LORD. "The Jews" didn't crucify the Son of Man anymore than the Romans did, let alone modern-day Italians. Forgive them for they know not what they do... Translation, they cannot comprehend the deeper implications of their actions.Maybe if God didn't do a complete 180 on the Jews would this have not been an issue.

All the things we find odious about Islam -- head coverings, stoning people to death, public executions.... those weren't original pieces I'm afraid. That was all borrowed from the collection of atrocities chronicled in the Torah, Mishna, and Septuagint. Moses, Jesus, etc... all in the Qur'an. A bastardized version, sure, but all inspired by reading the bible. The other portions were borrowed from paganism practiced on the Arabian peninsula long before Christianity. Better than the Pope. And I'm not saying Elon Musk, I'm saying someone like that who will be nearly universally beloved. Granted, I don't believe any of it, but for the sake of the argument I would think somebody like that would have a greater chance of fulfilling the prophecy. Not amongst a billion Muslims and billions of Hindus and Buddhists. From what "Protestant Reformers" did you learn this? The bible is very clear not to tell you who it is and not to tell you the day or the hour. The books just say look out for these signs and wonders to know the time draws near.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.So the 69 weeks were literal weeks... that last week though, well, that one drags on for 2,000+ years cuz it never came to fruition. They thought they were living in the End Times back then. In fact, every Christian has thought they were in the End Times.Meanwhile, every single doomsday prophecy has had a 100% rate of failure. You have better odds playing the lottery.

Malign me all that you would like, Faith. I will use scripture and only scripture to demonstrate that the Early Christians fervently believed that End Times would be in THEIR lifetime.

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"Truly I tell you, THIS GENERATION will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." -- Matthew 24:34

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"Truly I tell you, THIS GENERATION will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." -- Mark 13:30

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Truly I tell you, THIS GENERATION will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." -- Luke 21:32

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"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue US from the PRESENT EVIL AGE." -- Galatians 1:3

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"Dear children, THIS IS THE LAST HOUR; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour." -- 1st John 2:18

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In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in THESE LAST DAYS he has spoken to us by his Son" -- Hebrews 1:1-2

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"But he [Jesus] has appeared once for all AT THE END OF AGES to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." -- Hebrews 9:26

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"He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in THESE LAST TIMES for your sake." -- 1st Peter 1:20

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"These things happened to them as examples and were written down as WARNINGS for US, upon whom the END OF THE AGES HAS COME." -- 1st Corinthians 10:11

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"Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I AM COMING SOON" -- Revelation 3:10-11

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"Jesus, who rescues US from the coming wrath." -- 1st Thessalonians 1:10

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So..... as you can see from HOLY SCRIPTURE, that you can cross reference for yourself so that you can know it didn't come from a demon, or the anti-christ, or Satan, that the early Christians unmistakably believed that the end of days would be in their generation..... Meanwhile, 2,000 + years later....Straight from the horses mouth.So what to make of it? It is possible that the early Christians could have believed this but would have been wrong. It doesn't necessarily mean that it cannot happen at a later time. BUT if you believe that the bible is inerrant, and you seem to be in that camp, in the sense that whatever has been scribed is 100% accurate and incapable of being altered, the scriptures have failed to meet its objective.If they got that wrong then you can't claim inerrancy and, if nothing else, is it unreasonable that it should cast a measure of doubt as to the validity of the bible?

Even supposing that the word generation was poorly translated or transliterated, you still have other identifiers that use present tense. That's the funny thing about tenses in sentences, it helps establish timelines. Are you so arrogant that you would appeal to authority instead of reading the scriptures themselves? Super ironic of you to say because the RCC said that the commoner cannot read or understand the bible and therefore required priests to do it for them. Martin Luther encouraged the commoner to read the bible for themselves and to stop listening to doctrines invented by the church.You and MacArthur have suspect motives because admitting that the verses don't say what they clearly spell out, your whole narrative falls apart. You have a lot to lose by admitting it. It's no sweat off my back what it says. I have no skin in the game. I'm just relaying what it says and you've now read it for yourself. Don't shoot the messenger.

I'm glad to see that you are thinking critically, and no, that is not sarcasm. I am being sincere.As to the "Sons of Men," the phrase appears in a few places in bible and usually seems to infer angels. We know from scripture that Lot was harboring two angels and the men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to rape them. Seems like its implying that angels can take on human form; I can only assume with full anatomy -- genitalia and all.As we know from the story, the Nephilim were the progeny of these unholy unions. Their existence seems to play a big factor in the great Flood. The Book of Enoch was discovered in several different places, like Ethiopia and even fragments were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. While it holds no place in the modern cannon, it seems like it was of enough importance to Jews and early Christians to salvage it; presumably because it was revered as legitimate scripture.I'm sure you know who Enoch is in the bible. And the book itself implies that Noah was the author. We can deduce this from Table of Nations:

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"And they shall confine those angels who disclosed impiety. In that burning valley it is, that they shall be confined, which at first my great-grandfather Enoch showed me in the west, where there were mountains of gold and silver, of iron, of fluid metal, and of tin." -- Book of Enoch; Chapter 66:4

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The contents of the book is basically a really long form version of Genesis 5-6. In it, it discusses the names of supposed fallen angels and what happened as a result:

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"These are the names of their chiefs: Samyaza, who was their leader, Urakabarameel, Akibeel, Tamiel, Ramuel, Danel, Azkeel, Saraknyal, Asael,
Armers, Batraal, Anane, Zavebe, Samsaveel, Ertael, Turel, Yomyael, Arazyal. These were the prefects of the two hundred angels, and the remainder were all with them.

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Then they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees.

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And the women conceiving brought forth giants,

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Whose stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all which the labour of men produced; until it became impossible to feed them;

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When they turned themselves against men, in order to devour them;

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And began to injure birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, to eat their flesh one after another, and to drink their blood.

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Then the earth reproved the unrighteous." -- Book of Enoch; Chapter 7:9-15

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Of course, 300 cubits is a ridiculous size... For perspective and scale Noah's Ark was 300 cubits. So are we supposed to believe that Ark-sized giants were procreating with normal-sized women? And no physical evidence to support it? But I digress...The other thing is, if the Flood wiped these Nephilim out (as we know who the survivors of the Flood were) then how is it they reappear in scripture elsewhere?

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The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. Numbers 13:32-33

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So just so you know, its these kinds of internal inconsistencies and absurdities that erodes one faith... The more you know about the bible, the less you start to believe. That's been my case in any event. Would it matter either way? Everyone likes a good mystery but would knowing the answer or not knowing the answer effect your salvation?

3.5 years of peace before he reveals his true colors followed by 3.5 years of hell on earth....Or as Daniel would put it, a time, times, and half a time.