Reclaiming The Rapture

Another Fall rapture frenzy will carry prophecy watchers through what has become an annual roller-coaster ride of emotions. Can these life rending cycles of prophetic expectation be what Christ had in mind when He told His disciples to ¿watch?¿ Authors Douglas Hamp and Chris Steinle have discovered a healthier view of the rapture based on extensive Bible prophecy and a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. It's time to rethink the timing and purpose of the rapture. The rapture was prophesied from Genesis to Revelation. Why have dozens of rapture prophecies been overlooked by mainstream theology? Explore the ancient texts and discover God's clear and consistent revelation of end time events. End-times Bible prophecy is like a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle partially done. Many godly people have come before us and have spent a great deal of effort establishing the borders of the puzzle. Parts of the faces and the landscape are taking form, yet without the box cover showing the finished product, no one really knows how it ought to look entirely assembled. The timing of the rapture is a puzzle-piece incorrectly placed. Many times, teachers will begin with the assumption that the timing of the rapture is fixed and non-negotiable. They then demand that the rest of the end times scenario fit that assumption. *Explore dozens of verses that clearly state the timing of the rapture. *Understand the logic behind Paul's eschatology. *Learn why God's indignation, the rapture, and the Second Coming are all part of the Day of the Lord. *Enjoy dramatic vignettes from the Millennium Chronicles that bring Bible prophecies to life. *Consider the connection between the rapture and the promised redemption of the body. *Discover God's plan to gather the Commonwealth of Israel, and how the Gathering applies to the Church. *See why Paul insisted the dead must rise before the rapture. *Know the biblical signs that will precede the return of Jesus. *Includes four charts and three vignettes to showcase the authors' conclusions. Reclaiming the Rapture represents a monumental and seminal revision to the Pre-Tribulation rapture theology of Darby and Scofield.

“A highly personal, richly informed and culturally wide-ranging meditation on the loss of meaning in our times and on pathways to rediscovering it.” —Gabor Maté, MD, author of In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction A neuroanthropologist maps out a revolutionary new practice—Hedonic Engineering—that combines the best of neuroscience and optimal psychology. It’s an intensive program of breathing, movement, and sexuality that mends trauma, heightens inspiration and tightens connections—helping us wake up, grow up, and show up for a world that needs us all. This is a book about a big idea. And the idea is this: Slowly over the past few decades, and now suddenly, all at once, we’re suffering from a collapse in Meaning. Fundamentalism and nihilism are filling that vacuum, with consequences that affect us all. In a world that needs us at our best, diseases of despair, tribalism, and disaster fatigue are leaving us at our worst. It’s vital that we regain control of the stories we’re telling because they are shaping the future we’re creating. To do that, we have to remember our deepest inspiration, heal our pain and apathy, and connect to each other like never before. If we can do that, we’ve got a shot at solving the big problems we face. And if we can’t? Well, the dustbin of history has swallowed civilizations older and fancier than ours. This book is divided into three parts. The first, Choose Your Own Apocalypse, takes a look at our current Meaning Crisis--where we are today, why it’s so hard to make sense of the world, what might be coming next, and what to do about it. It also makes a case that many of our efforts to cope, whether anxiety and denial, or tribalism and identity politics, are likely making things worse. The middle section, The Alchemist Cookbook, applies the creative firm IDEO’s design thinking to the Meaning Crisis. This is where the book gets hands on--taking a look at the strongest evolutionary drivers that can bring about inspiration, healing, and connection. From breathing, to movement, sexuality, music, and substances--these are the everyday tools to help us wake up, grow up, and show up. AKA--how to blow yourself sky high with household materials. And the best part? They’re accessible, by anyone anywhere, no middleman required. Transcendence democratized. The final third of the book, Ethical Cult Building, focuses on the tricky nature of putting these kinds of experiences into gear and into culture—because, anytime in the past when we’ve figured out combinations of peak states and deep healing, we’ve almost always ended up with problematic culty communities. Playing with fire has left a lot of people burned. This section lays out a roadmap for sparking a thousand fires around the world--each one unique and tailored to the needs and values of its participants. Think of it as an open-source toolkit for building ethical culture. In Recapture the Rapture, we’re taking radical research out of the extremes and applying it to the mainstream--to the broader social problem of healing, believing, and belonging. It’s providing answers to the questions we face: how to replace blind faith with direct experience, how to move from broken to whole, and how to cure isolation with connection. Said even more plainly, it shows us how to revitalize our bodies, boost our creativity, rekindle our relationships, and answer once and for all the questions of why we are here and what do we do now? In a world that needs the best of us from the rest of us, this is a book that shows us how to get it done.

In recent years, more and more Christians have come to appreciate the Bible's teaching that the ultimate blessed hope for the believer is not an otherworldly heaven; instead, it is full-bodied participation in a new heaven and a new earth brought into fullness through the coming of God's kingdom. Drawing on the full sweep of the biblical narrative, J. Richard Middleton unpacks key Old Testament and New Testament texts to make a case for the new earth as the appropriate Christian hope. He suggests its ethical and ecclesial implications, exploring the difference a holistic eschatology can make for living in a broken world.

Progressive Christians have largely resisted studying the book of Revelation, but Reclaiming the Book of Revelation shows that the last book of the Bible has great relevance for progressive Christians and congregations in this world. It addresses themes such as how to avoid being drawn into the values of a consumerist society, how to describe our fears instead of fleeing from them, and how to live with hope in difficult times. Because Revelation has been claimed by the «religious right» and proponents of rapture theology, Wilfried E. Glabach addresses the need for more progressive Christians to give another interpretation of the book. Reclaiming the Book of Revelation offers an interpretation that stresses God's forgiveness and the «healing of the nations» rather than the destruction of many and the redemption of a few. Dr. Glabach motivates and encourages preachers, teachers, and lay readers to explore Revelation's vision of assurance, justice, and peace.

Avivah Zornberg grew up in a world of rabbinic tradition and scholarship and received a Ph.D. in English literature from Cambridge University. The Particulars of Rapture, the sequel to her award-winning study of the Book of Genesis, takes its title from a line by the American poet Wallace Stevens about the interdependence of opposite things, such as male and female, and conscious and unconscious. To her reading of the familiar story of the Israelites and their flight from slavery in Egypt, Avivah Zornberg has brought a vast range of classical Jewish interpretations and Midrashic sources, literary allusions, and ideas from philosophy and psychology. Her quest in this book, as she writes in the introduction, is "to find those who will hear with me a particular idiom of redemption," who will hear "within the particulars of rapture . . . what cannot be expressed." Zornberg's previous book, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, won the National Jewish Book Award for nonfiction in 1995 and has become a classic among readers of all religions. The Particulars of Rapture will enhance Zornberg's reputation as one of today's most original and compelling interpreters of the biblical and rabbinic traditions.

The idea of "The Rapture" -- the return of Christ to rescue and deliver Christians off the earth -- is an extremely popular interpretation of the Bible's Book of Revelation and a jumping-off point for the best-selling "Left Behind" series of books. This interpretation, based on a psychology of fear and destruction, guides the daily acts of thousands if not millions of people worldwide. In The Rapture Exposed, Barbara Rossing argues that this script for the world's future is nothing more than a disingenuous distortion of the Bible. The truth, Rossing argues, is that Revelation offers a vision of God's healing love for the world. The Rapture Exposed reclaims Christianity from fundamentalists' destructive reading of the biblical story and back into God's beloved community.

Should Christians concede ground as far as the Bible is concerned? Do the "enlightened" experts have a mortgage on the truth or can Christians simply believe the Bible in confidence. Reclaiming the Bible from the Enlightened gives each Christian confidence to believe and obey the Bible knowing that they are remaining true to their own God and Saviour. We don't have to give ground to unbelievers or feel that our minds are inferior.

The end of times is a topic that always attracts the attention of the Lord’s congregation since the beginning, because in the last days, the believers will be raised into the clouds to meet the Lord. However, Lord Jesus also stated that in the last days, there will be a severe persecution. That is why they need to prepare themselves to face this severe persecution. In this first part of the book, the authors present very basic things that should be known by Christians, namely, things relating to the end times which include: Signs and marks 666 which must not be accepted by Christians. This section explains the link between "Biochip" and 666 and the reasons and verses that explain why God's children may not accept chip666. What are the consequences for a child of God who receives Chip666 and what is the fate of a child of God who refuses to accept it. The importance of knowing the last world ruler, because from this kingdom will emerge ten kings and antichrists. There are four main end times figures, namely Satan, ten kings, antichrist and false prophets. The Bible clearly explains these four figures so we can interpret these figures today. Rapture: what and when. The rapture will occur after the time of tribulation but before the vials of God's wrath. This means that God's children will experience persecution. The difference between the tribulation period and God’s wrath period. Tribulation period: when it starts and ends. The events that occurred related to the opening of each seal of the seven seals in the Book of Revelation. Emergence and duties of “two witnesses of God.” When the appearance of two witnesses of God and what are their duties. Christian preparations and attitudes in the end times. Because at the end times all of God's children will experience persecution, so much preparation must be done. Where the preparation is not only related to the physical but primarily spiritual preparation that requires time and sincerity. In addition, at the end of this book, the estimated “The Book of Revelation in a New Structure” is included. Many Christians have difficulty understanding the contents of the Book of Revelation. This happened, for one thing, because the contents and events in the Book of Revelation were not sequential from beginning to end, there are several events that were repeated in other sections, because the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation from two visions, where some of the two visions are related to the same things. If all the same events are put together so that the contents of the Book of Revelation are sequential in time from beginning to end, then the Book of Revelation becomes easy to understand and even the meaning of the seven seals is easier to understand, without needing to be interpreted, because the meaning of the first to the third seal is found in another chapter of the Book of Revelation.