Do you believe in immortality? Many people don’t answer “yes” or “no,” they say: “I’m not sure.”
But we can be sure of our answer: Yes. Throughout the gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible), Jesus continuously talks about God’s Kingdom-the place of immortality and throughout the New Testament books, Jesus’ disciples (students/followers) continue to talk about this. The Old Testament also tells us about it. The entire bible is the story of God’s never ending love of us, the revealing of His future plans for us in eternity and how we can be certain of being with God in eternity.
Why don’t more people talk about this? We talk about death. Why not talk about life instead? Why not talk about the eternal future? Eternity is so much more exciting to look forward to than anything here on earth. Our physical death is just a transition to something better, if our faith and trust is in Jesus. Why don’t we focus all our attention on eternity? Isn’t that being short-sighted thinking about the “here and now” without regard to “eternity”?
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Luke 9:25
The earth and heaven will be completely destroyed someday (2 Peter 3:10), but God has a new earth and heaven planned for His “children.” Jesus destroyed death when he died on the cross and resurrected (that is why his resurrection is celebrated among Christians in the springtime). The absence of death in God’s Kingdom is referenced here:
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Revelation 21:4
But not everyone will experience this: those who reject Jesus and his teachings will have a different experience:
“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8
When we finally understand what Jesus did for us, how much he loves us, we are filled with gratitude and want to do all we can for him, for God’s kingdom, for God’s will which is to have as many people as possible come to his kingdom. Jesus came to save us. Until our eyes are opened to this, we just don’t “get it”- even though we know the “facts.” I was like that. I knew the words, but it wasn’t “real” to me. It didn’t happen until I started seeking God, reading the bible and praying daily, then I finally understood; it became real. Jesus very openly tells his disciples about this happening (it’s God that allows us to finally understand, when we truly seek to know Him):
He (Jesus) replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Matthew 13:11
If something in the bible doesn’t make sense to you, ask someone knowledgeable, ask several people, pray about it, read all the different entries in the bible on that subject. You can do a word or topic search, but keep at it, don’t give up or forget about it because evil wants you to do that, so you will become separated from God, destroyed. Don’t blow this off, your future depends on what you do, your persistence matters.
If something bad happens after you start seeking God, expect it, it will happen. I didn’t know about this, but experienced it and then, after the fact, was told by others. This happens because evil is real and wants to separate you from God. Just push through it and seek God more. The bad will be temporary, just keep trusting and praying to God during that uncomfortable time.
If you hear about what Jesus did, but then don’t stay connected in prayer and through scripture, your focus can easily go towards worrying about things in your life or about building up wealth. Don’t worry about anything, pray about it and trust God. He will provide. Don’t focus on building up wealth, you can’t take it with you; it’s meaningless and can become an idol (something more important than God) which will then separate you from God and miss out on eternity.
I believe in immortality, through Jesus. Jesus proved immortality to be real by his own resurrection from the dead when he ate and visited with friends and his physical presence after death was witnessed by hundreds. We have immortality because Jesus paid the penalty of death for us. (More about this) Recently I read this book: The Resurrection and You, if you are skeptical about the claims regarding Jesus, read this book. It addresses many questions. After reading that book, I have a different, more meaningful understanding of the commonly known holiday of Easter. The greatest act of love (dying for the benefit of someone else) was done by Jesus for all of us. I am grateful to Jesus. Remember this on Easter.
Recently during an evening walk, I started thinking about mental strength, discipline, endurance and the reward. Our mind can be the first to give up when our bodies could endure more, therefore having mental control and discipline is what can turn average people into athletes. And we get a reward for the mental strength and discipline by design: it’s the release of endorphins – “those happiness hormones”.
We seek that reward in life, so while I’m on that subject, I’ll share Healthline’s suggestion of 8 natural ways of obtaining endorphins:
Exercise
Laugh
Listen to Music
Get Acupuncture
Eat Dark Chocolate
Have Sex
Dance
Meditate
Mental Strength certainly helps in athletic ability, but it also helps us in every day life situations. A common description for Mental Strength is resilience. When a person has mental strength, they are resilient. Becoming a resilient person is beneficial for all of us. Mental Strength or Mental Toughness is described as:
“The process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress.”
The American Psychological Association (2014)
Searching for “how to build mental strength” the results identified many articles and books covering this topic, however the most complete book addressing this was not listed as a reference book. Many people probably wouldn’t even think of reading this book to develop mental strength, yet it has the best examples of mental strength within it and words of wisdom making it an excellent reference book on mental strength. This book is the Bible. After studying the Bible, and hearing various sermons or bible studies from Pastors of churches, I realized how so many of the common topics or reasons people go to therapists are addressed in and solved by the Bible! If the Bible was referenced, we would know the answers, the solutions to so many problems. To illustrate this point, the list below was obtained from various articles about “how to build mental strength” and I added a few links to the Bible’s verses, chapters or books that illustrate and direct people towards these habits. There are many more than what I’ve referenced- they can be found throughout the Bible.
taking full responsibility for their status: Matthew 16:27
In summary, the Bible has excellent examples of mental strength throughout. Paul who wrote the letters to the Thessalonians, Ephesians, Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians and Romans in the Bible exhibits this mental strength in many of his letters and during the time he was imprisoned. Jesus exhibits this in his avoidance of temptation (Mark 1:13) and when Jesus followed through with God’s will: (Luke 22:42). Most of Jesus’ disciples were executed but had such great mental strength that even the threat of death did not keep them from telling people about eternal life. So if you want to improve your mental strength, read the Bible, you will be amazed at how it will change your life. This isn’t “just a book”, this is the “living word” of God. (2 Timothy 3:16)
I didn’t publish this on Monday 2/21/22 because I couldn’t decide on a Title and then I reconsidered and thought, maybe this was just something God wanted to say to me, not something to write about? But this morning 2/23/22, the subject showed up in my morning bible read and since I drafted all this Monday (and it’s long) I decided to publish today (Wednesday). This verse stood out to me:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1
and this one:
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” Romans 7:14
(Makes sense why this is not easy to understand!) You may be interested in reading Romans 6, Romans 7 and Romans 8 further. The following is what I originally drafted a couple days ago:
I had another one of those moments where I woke up in the middle of the night (2/20/22) having more clarity about a biblical concept I’ve continually struggled with: sacrifices and death. It’s been hard for me to understand why God allowed and required both (in the Old Testament) and sometimes even assembled people to kill others, when I know God is love. A couple years ago I wrote about “Sacrifice” and looking back on that article, I didn’t fully understood, I had part of the concept, but not all of it. Last night, more became very clear and it literally woke me up. I wrote down everything that came into my thoughts so I wouldn’t forget when morning came. (The evening before this thought, I had a conversation with someone and told them I still struggled with how it was “fair” to allow innocent animals to be killed as a substitute for people’s sins.) I guess I received the answer last night? This is how the thoughts came to me:
God created Life.
God created the Laws.
One of the Laws was explained by Paul: “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The payment or penalty in (God’s) court of Law for sin is death. This is the way for justice to prevail. God’s future kingdom will not have sin present in it. Sin entered the earth/world through Satan. Sin is the separation from God. Satan separated himself from God. Jesus told us that he is the vine and we are the branches, if a branch is disconnected from the vine it shrivels up and is burned. (John15)
Satan quoted scripture in the Bible; he is familiar with it and uses it in a deceptive, manipulative way. He knows his future, he will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10), his time to affect those on earth is limited by God and he is aware. I think that is why corruption on earth appears to get worse as time goes on- evil now has a sense of urgency to complete it’s goal: to murder.
Sin can’t be in the presence of holiness or death will occur. (Exodus 19:12)
So because of the Law, death must occur for the sin. (Enforcing this law is also distorted scripture by Satan because God is the only one with the authority to judge if someone has sinned; people are not. Jesus made this apparent when he said the one without sin is the only one who could stone the woman caught in adultery. John 8 But if people judge others they will be judged by God in the same way they judged others.) Luke 6:37 Jesus will be the one to judge when Jesus returns.
The Law of death allowed a substitute death, to pay the penalty/wages for sin. Remember death came into the world as a result of Satan’s presence. God doesn’t want the sacrifices (Psalm 50) (Isaiah 1:11) God desires mercy not sacrifice. (Matthew 9:13) (Proverbs 21:3) (1 Samuel 15:22)
The Law of God does not change, unlike man made laws. Matthew 5:17 Therefore the Law requiring death as the penalty for sin will remain- unchanged.
Because of sin, death was in the world; the world became cursed (Genesis 3:17) when sin entered. Satan holds the power of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15) Cain was the first to make an animal offering (killing an animal) which God was not pleased with; Cain also was the first to kill someone, when he killed his brother Abel. (Genesis 4)
Jesus came into the world to become the final sacrifice and make the payment, pay the penalty for mankind’s sin. (Hebrews 2:17) He was the only one who could do that because he was sinless. (Revelation 5)
The punishment by Law for all of us would have been death if Jesus didn’t come. That’s what it means when we hear Jesus came to save us. This is literal, Jesus came to save us from death because every sin is punishable by death. There is no tolerance of any sin. The original sacrifices were not of equal value, so that is why the kept recurring. No sacrifices could save. (Hebrews 10) No one was able to remain sinless because Satan corrupted all. Jesus was obedient and followed the Law. Jesus was able to fulfill the Law. The Law is God’s will. “Not by my will, but Yours” Jesus prayed. (Luke 22:42-43) Jesus paid our debt.
God is being gracious to us in allowing so many years to pass before judgement occurs. (2 Peter 3:9) He wants all his children but there will eventually be a time, where the time runs out and it’s time to face Judgement. It is our decision. We’d have to be ignorant to choose “death.” That’s what Jesus meant when he said: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6). “Through me” means Jesus was the final sacrifice making it possible for us to be in eternity. Mankind’s works or effort to be good was not successful throughout history. It was failure. We are not capable as God is. We need God’s spirit as humans. Romans 8:11 God’s spirit can’t dwell in someone sinful because sin separates from God. When we willingly give our life to Jesus, we are telling him: I give up. I can’t do it. I need you. When God hears this, he has mercy because He loves us and claims us as his children. Until we make that clear to God, we are not God’s children; we remain children of the devil; slaves to Satan/sin. When we become God’s children (Romans 8:14) we understand what is happening. God wants more people in eternity. He is patient, but there is a cut off point. We are in a race, a race against time.
In some ways it may be easier for the non-religious to be saved than the religious because of all the tradition: the repetition of words can sometimes become meaningless if the words are not put into action. (James 2) If we are not mindful, the words can become so repetitious that they loose the meaning to us.
Our time is limited, we need to take action. God loves us, but some won’t love God back. Just like personal relationships: sometimes we love people who don’t love us back. God knows what that’s like, He experiences it also. Not everyone who is loved, will love back and we just have to let go and let people make their own decisions, that’s what God does.
The fear of death is from the devil/Satan. (Hebrews 2:15) Death is not forever, that’s a lie, it’s not the end. Satan is a liar. (John 8:44) And this is one of the biggest lies. People will be immortal, but not all will reside with God in eternity. There is a physical death (the first one), but it is not permanent, it is only temporary until Judgement Day. The second death is the separation from God/being cast into the “lake of fire” for eternity. That is what should be feared. (Luke 12:5) Satan influences people to live for the moment in this world- not for eternity. But which is longer? Which is more important? The moment or eternity? Our death on earth should not be feared. Proceeding without God should be feared.
My past. Churches and religion were all the same to me: full of righteousness, rules and tradition and I wasn’t, I was the outsider, a little rebellious and the rejected one. I wanted God in my life, but I didn’t want the rejection I felt in the church or through religious doctrine, so I avoided it. You wouldn’t find me reading a bible, I wasn’t that type of person. I wanted to be a “good” person, but if I was honest with myself, I knew I wasn’t. I prayed occasionally but not regularly.
In hindsight. I know now, what I didn’t know then, and life became clear when I finally read the Bible. No one could have reached me the way the Bible did. In fact, I believe it was God who reached me, the first time I was seeking an answer from the Bible, I prayed and asked Him to show me something that would answer my question. I randomly opened the Bible and there was the answer to my question. I believe God answered me. So many of the questions I had about life, situations, afterlife, etc. were eventually answered, but not immediately. I had to read, search, discover and study to find the answers. This was a long process.
Looking back to my “anger” with churches and religion: I was aware of the 10 Commandments but I also saw the hypocrisy, fakeness within the church, it seemed no one was truly living in accordance with them. I must admit no one had been truly unkind to me, and I wasn’t judging others, I was observing. I think it was my own self-conviction, guilt and disappointment in myself that made it so uncomfortable for me to be there. It made me “resentful” in a sense, I knew others were not perfect, but for some reason I felt rejected even though they were included/accepted. This was likely spiritual warfare. I didn’t know about spiritual warfare until I read the Bible, but this could easily be a situation of being attacked spiritually to keep me from being a part of the community, separate me from God. It was so easy to no longer have the obligation of going to church, (that meant more free time to do what I wanted). And that’s how I remained until God shook up my life in many ways (before I read the Bible). Now, I can see others in my former status having the same reaction I had: anger, distancing, intolerance to hear or spend time (in church, studying the Bible, etc.).
The further we get away from God, the easier it is to fill that time with things that take us away from God and the easier it is for evil to influence us. (I saw this following quote from the bible, 3 days after I drafted this- see what I mean about the bible answering questions!)
“The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” Romans 8:7
I’m writing this to reach someone who feels the way as I did (rejected) and who doesn’t know about spiritual warfare. I no longer feel this way- thankfully! But it would have helped me if I had known this.
Please know this happens; allowing evil to misguide us will eventually lead us to a place we don’t want to go Hell/death- eternal separation from God. This is exactly why we need the opposite of “avoiding”. We need God. If the people at church are a deterrent, don’t go, but pray, read and study God’s words which is the Bible (it is spiritually influenced), as often as possible. (If you continue reading the bible, you will eventually become aware that this is not like any other book, and you will see that it is spiritually influenced.) Whenever fear, guilt, shame or disappointment sets in, remember what is in John 3! Know that God loves us and wants us to be in a personal relationship with Him. It is so much better once we cross to the other side (meaning with God and not against Him): there is a feeling of peace in all circumstances.
Let’s just get to the point. Russia is currently setting up outside Ukraine. China has been threatening Taiwan. Iran is enhancing its nuclear capacity and openly expresses its unacceptance (to put it mildly) of Israel and the United States. The Middle East in general is continuously in some level of conflict.
If you haven’t done this yet, it’s time to make sure your ETERNAL future is in the place of your choosing, because you may not end up where you expect. You need to make a decision and take action now. So here are 12 questions to know where you may end up and find out what you need to do if you don’t get the answer you want:
Do you believe that JESUS is the ONLY way that you can be in eternity with God? (You can’t be “good enough” based on your own actions.) Yes or No?
Are you familiar with the 10 Commandments? Yes or No?
Do you admit that you break God’s commands? Yes or No?
Do you know the following is prohibited by God and those who continually do this (and don’t change these ways) will not enter God’s eternal kingdom? (sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, theft, lying, slander, “magic” such as seances, astrology, mediums, practice of witchcraft, spiritist, interpreting omens, casting spells, anger, getting drunk, sexual perversion, false teachers of religion, false prophets of religion, pride, a person who stirs up conflict in the community, a person who loves and practices any false teaching, hypocrites, taking advantage of other people, practicing homosexuality, slave traders, anyone who speaks against God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit), being conceited, prioritizing money or wealth) Yes or No?
Have you rebelled against/sinned against God by doing anything in #3 or #4? Yes or No?
Have you asked God for forgiveness and subsequently made an effort to avoid all things listed in #3 or #4? Yes or No?
Have you told God that you want and intend to be obedient to Him by not breaking anything in #3 and #4, even though it is hard to do and you will mess up occasionally, but not regularly? Yes or No?
Do you ask God for forgiveness then change the behavior if, or when, you do anything listed in #3 or #4? Yes or No?
Have you publicly shown your commitment and surrendered to God and without hesitation state your belief in Jesus being the Son of God, the Messiah, who made it possible for you to be in eternity with God by being Baptized? Yes or No?
Have you asked Jesus for God’s spirit (the Holy Spirit) to help you live according to God’s will? Yes or No?
Do you know God personally? Do you have a personal relationship (ie. pray, read the bible, study the bible) with God? Yes or No?
Is the Spirit of God residing in you? Yes or No?
If you honestly answered “Yes” to ALL the questions above, you can know that you will have eternal life with God. If you answered “No” to any of the questions above, then you have work to do if you want eternal life with God.
Here are some (but not all) links to scripture validating the questions above:
Christians have very different view points on this subject: some never heard of it, some don’t believe it, some think the “rapture” will happen before “the tribulation” occurs, some think it will happen in the middle of “the tribulation” and some think it will happen at the end of “the tribulation”- before God’s wrath occurs. In my opinion, the timing doesn’t matter, but a person’s knowledge about this event and preparation does matter. As we know, the Bible is open to interpretation and people present compelling reasons for their beliefs, but the truth will exist (despite any erroneous beliefs), so on this subject (because it is not a Heaven or Hell topic, but could be), it’s important to know about it and consider all views, look into it yourself, pray about it and most of all be prepared no matter what interpretation turns out to be correct on the timing. The “Rapture” event is in the Bible, I can confirm that!
NORTH AMERICAN(the Rapture)(according to some millenarian teaching) the transporting of believers to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ.
When I first heard it explained I heard that it was derived from the Latin word which had the meaning “snatch, carry off” which is where “rapture” came from. In scripture, the Greek word is harpazō which is defined as:
to seize, carry off by force
to seize on, claim for one’s self eagerly
to snatch out or away
raptura ( Latin)
rapturus ( Latin) Future active participle of rapiō (“snatch, carry off”).
So that is how the word “Rapture” came about, and Yes, it (the event) is in the Bible.
Jesus was crucified, was dead for 3 days, then rose from the dead and visited numerous people, it was reported that he had been seen (alive again) by a group of over 500 people over a series of days. (1 Corinthians 15:6) He then ascended, was “carried up” while he was giving a blessing to his disciples. (Luke 24: 50-51), (Mark 16:19) (Acts 1:9) In a similar way believers will ascend. Enoch was also believed to have experienced this, maybe that’s why Paul refers to Jesus as the “first fruits” (plural) because Enoch also went this way; and fruit, seeds, growing, and harvesting is a commonly used symbol used throughout the bible.
Secondly, where is “The Rapture” of believers mentioned in the Bible?
BABY CHRISTIAN. Before I read and began studying the Bible, I never heard of “the Rapture”, yet I called myself a Christian. I was a little shocked at what I found in the Bible: so many things I never heard about, nor remember being taught. Not knowing much of what is the Bible, besides the “famous” Bible stories of Noah’s Ark, The “edited” 10 Commandments, Miracles, The Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and I was raised “Christian.” What I realized is that I was “a baby Christian“- at least that’s what I call it now! I didn’t understand what a true Christian/Believer meant or entailed. But I think this is very common, Paul refers to it in the Bible! I believed in Jesus and I knew I was supposed to “be good” and I hoped in the end, God would decide that I lived my life “good enough” to make it to Heaven. I now know those beliefs are not correct, according to the Bible: we can know right now if we WILL or we won’t be in eternity with God: it is a simply a heartfelt DECISION (decide to love God, prioritize Him, ask Him to guide your life, give your “control” to Him/surrender, willingly accept His commands with the intent to abide by His commands) we choose and by the grace of God, a “gift” made possible by Jesus’s death and resurrection, we are offered eternity, because God loves us that much! A hugeamount of anxiety goes away when a person finally comprehends this! We can be “saved” while we are still broken, imperfect people, working towards improvement, if we simply choose God, prioritize God in our life, believe the information found in the Gospels about Jesus.
Places that mention “the Rapture” (being taken, caught up)
Matthew 24: It’s important to read and pay attention to every statement in this chapter in regards to the timing of the rapture. It tells us “one will be taken and the other left” when Jesus returns. I believe Jesus will take the one who prepared and leave the one who is not prepared, as the wrath will occur next. Also in Revelation 14, One like the Son of Man (Jesus) gathering his people, the “good grapes” (the earth was harvested) and then leaving the remainder for the angels with the sickle. Logically thinking when a harvest occurs, the good is gathered and the rest is left to perish, right?
1 Corinthians 15: especially verses 23 and 52, this is when the resurrection occurs for those “who belong to Him” meaning those who have surrendered/given/chose to give their life to Him
1 Thessalonians 4: this tells us those who have died (as Believers) will rise first, then those true believers who are still alive will be “caught up to “Jesus in the clouds when he returns (the Second Coming)- I think this happens to protect the true believers during the Wrath of God. This is very interesting because this could be something we experience!
What are the various beliefs about when it happens and why do people believe what they do? Here is an excellent resource (link) for detailed thoughts and opinions about this question: www.gotquestions.org
Are the Rapture and the return of Jesus are the Same Event? To be honest, this is my thought/opinion. I have a different view from the Got Questions link: I believe the second coming and the rapture ARE the same event after reading the bible, I don’t think the rapture is kept “secret,” because it is revealed in the Bible, for any of us who read it. It is only “a secret” for the people who don’t read the Bible, they will not know about this, that’s where the “secret” is. There are many “secrets” about the universe that only those who read scripture learn. After reading the Bible, my opinion is that Believers will go through Tribulation, but will not go through God’s Wrath, I believe the rapture is the first resurrection described in Revelation. (Revelation 20: 4-6) and because in Daniel 7:21-22: The “saints” are being persecuted by the AntiChrist (described as the “horn”) so how could the saints be persecuted if they were already raptured? In Daniel 7:25 the saints/holy people are persecuted for 3.5 years (a time, times and half a time)- just prior to Jesus’ return. Revelation 13:7-8 this says that the saints will be at war with the beast that was “given authority” through the power of Satan, the ruler of the air- the saints are those whose names are written in the book of life.
Defining Saint. It’s probably important to define the word “saint” because I understood through the religion I grew up with there was a special process that had to be done to determine if someone was a saint and there were miracles involved typically, but today, I believe differently, yes those are definitely saints but so are more people than those who were involved with miracles, there is much to study in the original scripture to arrive at this conclusion: (link here) from this, I believe that “saints” or “holy people” are all those who have surrendered their life to God; those who have God’s spirit residing in them as a result of surrendering their life to God. As Jesus once said, “only God is good” meaning we are all sinners, there is not one person who is “good” naturally, it is a choice that someone makes; therefore all people have the ability to be a “saint” or “holy”. It is a choice and when a person chooses to live their life according to God’s commands, God sends his spirit to help that person (God’s spirit resides within a person), therefore they are a “saint”. Revelation 7:13 also seems to explain this: those who have washed their robes (ie. symbolically made themselves “clean/holy” by changing their natural ways, deciding to live by God’s commands).
Defining Tribulation. As I mentioned, my opinion is Believers will go through Tribulation, but not Wrath. So what is the Tribulation? Everything that happens before Jesus returns (Matthew 24: 29-30) John 16: 33: Jesus warned everyone that in this world we will face trials, trouble, etc. known as tribulation (but it is temporary). Tribulation is the persecution, trouble, affliction caused by evil people/Satan, not punishment from God prior to Jesus’ return. The Great Tribulation is the final test of faith that God allows to happen, just like he allowed a test of faith with Job, just like he allowed with Abraham and Issac, just like he did with Noah and the flood, just like he did with Moses coming out of Egypt and the manna. Why should we think we will avoid all tests when some of the most faithful in the Bible were tested? We need to be prepared. If we are certain that we will avoid the Tribulation, then what happens if we see these things occurring? Will we doubt God’s promise? Will we think we are not in the Book of Life? Will we loose faith? No, we shouldn’t. We should keep this possibility in the back of our mind (or in the forefront ideally), we could very well be here during the Tribulation, but remember it is only a test of our faith; it is not punishment from God. We just need to endure it, persevere, don’t loose faith, because Jesus forewarned us about this.
Defining Wrath. As I mentioned, my opinion is Believers will go through Tribulation, but not Wrath. So what is the Wrath? Wrath is God’s punishment. Here is a link to wrath references. God is not going to punish His people (the people who have committed to Him; made Him a priority; agree to live by His commands, have His spirit residing in them)! God’s wrath is pretty intense. Here is a link, if you want to know about it.
1 Thessalonians 1: 10: This tells us Jesus will deliver the saints from wrath, not from Tribulation.
1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17: This happens with the sound of the Trumpet (and this is usually a warning signal)
In summary. The Bible is clear to me that the “Rapture” will occur. There are many differing opinions which I shared and explained my personal opinion too. Ultimately when it happens doesn’t matter as much as being prepared PRIOR to it happening. That means seek God, reconcile/make up with Him, don’t be an enemy of God, tell Him you choose to give Him the rest of your life, ask Him for the Holy Spirit to help you through the rest of your life, then you/we have nothing to worry about! The rest is in His very capable and powerful hands. We will be “fine”, and better than “fine”, once Jesus returns! After God’s wrath, it is going to be AWESOME. This is what God has planned: Revelation 21
S.A.I.L. 