Bible Discussion Thread

That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:27 is often thought of erroneously; as if the Lord can't come back until His church gets their act together. Let's be honest for a second; there never will be a time the true saints of God will all be in this state before the Rapture; as is clear from verses such as 1 Corinthians 3:15 and other verses clearly indicate. This leaves us with only two possibilities; that not all believers will be raptured and some will be left behind to get their garments cleaned; or everyone will be raptured who is now a believer but there will be differing rewards or lack thereof. I don't wish to be dogmatic either way here as the scriptures seem to point towards the first option with close examination. In any event those who already have passed away are now in the presence of the Lamb as seen from Hebrews 9:27.

It shouldn't need to be stated that some who claim to be Christians are wolves in sheep's clothing. There is hope for some who reject Christ at present to repent in the Tribulation. There may be some now who will wake up the other side of the Rapture and realize what they thought about their state was different than reality. Some no doubt will be susceptible and fall eway to Antichrist; others will accept martyrdom rather than denounce Christ. In my opinion such a smackdown is necessary to jump start these individuals; again going against the logic that Christ is waiting for the church to be purified in their own timing. The Lord is patient and longsuffering but let's face it if we can't see how dark things are already then we are pretty well emasculated and unable to have any effective witness today. Satan isn't hiding anymore; nor his minions. Their agenda is in your face everywhere; it seems. His Bride truly is here today; but in a remnant largely hidden from "churchianity" at large.