The rapture - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The rapture doctrine – Trash or Truth?

1. What about 1 Thessalonians 4:17?

1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

I believe that we who are alive and remain shall be caught up, but not as the church has been told. If the earth is round as we have come to believe, then if I’m caught up (height) those in China are caught down (descent). If He comes as a thief in the night (darkness) it means those in the light on the other side of the world will not be taken.

I believe that we will be caught up the same as Paul experienced in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4

2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Was caught up to the 3rd Heaven; something to note, there’s no height involved as we have been toughed. What I have come to know from scripture is that heaven is not a place but a dimension.
Paul never left the earth but was caught up (so also Phillip)!, Paul also calls it paradise which he just previously called heaven or 3rd heaven.
The main point is caught up does not mean leaving the earth; I believe we shall be caught up (keep in mind not leaving earth (in the clouds).
Clouds in Strongs Hebrew and Greek (G3507) defines it as cloudiness or cloud (singular), reading this in context means we shall be caught up in the CLOUD. I believe paradise or heaven is not up there somewhere.!

Luke 23:43

Lu 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Invisible/Higher life).

Paradise – (d) Park; Eden; Place of happiness, right after these words Jesus gave up the Holy Ghost and died!

Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:15
Ge 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
God has never removed the Garden of Eden or Paradise or Heaven if you will, it’s still exactly where God left it, God however did remove man though!!!

Could it be that Eden was an invisible realm or Higher life where man was placed to rule the Visible and Lower life?
Man messed it up and God kicked man out of the Invisible, Higher life and shut it. It is still exactly where God placed it but man now dwells in the Visible and Lower life.

Genesis 1:26-27
Ge 1:26 And God said, Let us (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Ge 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

Something happens prior to the creation of man that makes man even more like God!
Ge 2:6 But there went up a mist (fog, vapour) from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

Meaning before God made man a cloud appeared because man had to be exactly like God (God dwells in the cloud).
Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Man was conceived in a cloud – placed in dust-breathed into by God-became a living soul. God has never moved Eden but He moved man. Eden (or heaven or 3rd heaven or paradise) is exactly where God left it, on earth, but God moved man.

2. What else lies in this dimension?

Luke 16:20-26
Lu 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, Lu 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Lu 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Lu 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Lu 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Lu 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Lu 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Lazarus and the rich man both lived on earth.
Heaven and hell is on the same level.
The saw each other and could speak to each other.
It is not height but dimension.
There is this gulf between heaven and hell that can’t be crossed.

Revelation 5:13
Re 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

They are all on the same created plain and no height difference.

James 1:17
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

It is not height but dimension, anything that comes from God is always higher and anything from heaven will always come down because it’s on a higher authority, rank and purity. If you were looking for your answer from heaven (height wise) it must fall because there’s no other way of getting there.