TAKE NOTE OF THESE WORDS IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 (SLV)
"...I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have died, that you sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN, even so the souls of those who have died BELIEVING IN JESUS, will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we who 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
There is one condition necessary for both the living and the dead to meet Jesus at the Rapture of the Church: that is, they must have believed the Gospel message: that is, the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ was for their sins according to the Scriptures (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 1:16; 10:8-17; 1 Cor. 15:1-4)! PERIOD!
The words "CAUGHT UP" are translated from the Greek ἁρπάζω (harpazō), which is translated: "catch up" (4X - 2 Cor. 12:2, 4; 1 Th. 4:17; Rev. 12:5); "take by force" (3X - Mt. 11:12; Jn. 6:15; Act. 23:10); "catch away" (2X - Mt. 13:19; Act. 8:39); "pluck" (2X - Jn. 10:28, 29); "catch" (1X - Jn. 10:12); and "pull" (1X - Jude 1:23). Notice that the word always indicates the action happens to someone or something.
Some have suggested that the removal that takes place during the Rapture of the Church, is the same as that of Christ's Ascension, but Jesus was not "yanked up into the clouds"; He simply rose up, much like a balloon filled with helium. The Greek word for Christ's Ascension is ἐπαίρω (epairō), which occurs 19 times and is always the result of the individual's own volition.
JESUS IS COMING FOR YOU "IF!"
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