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Home Jan | Feb | Mar | April | May | June | July | Aug| Sept | Oct| Nov | Dec Powerpoint - May 2007"But continue thou in the things which you have learned, and hast been assured of..." (2 Tim. 3:14)NO OPTIONAL DOCTRINEThere is a Bible doctrine familiar to our readers, but incongruously unfamiliar in too many congregations. Why? If we truly believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, we are compelled to believe in the Rapture of the Church, a doctrine presented in such a way that it cannot reasonably be allegorised or overlooked. of course we may legitimately choose to call it something else, like "The Translation of the Saints". We may dispute the precise timing relative to other end-time events, but we cannot dismiss this mystery so graciously revealed to us in 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-14, fulfilling the promise of John 14:3 and amplified by 1 Corinthians 15: 50-54. To deny this truth is to disobey God's injunction to "Comfort one another with these words". What comfort can be derive from what we neither teach nor understand. Failure to believe or teach the Rapture may be occasioned by all or any of the following: A vagueness among believers about the eternal relationship between the body, soul and spirit. An inability to fit this event into preconceived prophetic programmes and a stubbornness to admit that such programmes may be wrong . A reluctance to accept an event which so inevitably threatens the status quo and interrupts our personal agendas for "Kingdom building". This also happened 2000 years ago. A fear that the miraculous element in the Rapture may discourage outsiders, and the idea that it is easier to gain acceptance of a watered down message than to rely upon the Holy spirit to convince and to convict based upon the whole counsels of God. Away with defeatism!! Let us never be ashamed of our glorious hope.
Donald Cameron
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