Official Assembly of God Statement of Faith #13-The resurrection of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and their translation together with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord is the imminent and blessed hope of the church.
The rapture is, in short, when God will remove the Christians from the earth and take them to join Him in heaven without dying first. There are many different opinions about the rapture-Pre-Trib where the Christians are taken up before the 7 year tribulation, Mid-Trib where they are removed in the middle of the 7 year tribulation and Post-Trib where they are taken up to heaven after the tribulation. The Assembly of God church believes that the rapture will occur before the 7 year tribulation.
In general the time line will be that just before the 7 year tribulation, all Christians will be raptured or caught up into the air with Jesus. There will be two men working in a field and one will be gone while the other remains, two sitting together and one is gone while the second remains. Then there will be a 7 year tribulation or a period of very difficult times. It is 7 years when God is trying to draw the people of Israel to Him. During the tribulation, the Anti-Christ will be revealed and God will perform spectacular things. We believe that there will be 144,000 saved in this time frame as spoken about in Rev. 7:9-17. At the end of the 7 years will be the revelation or second coming of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon will occur and Satan will be bound. Then will come the millennial reign or 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth and after that the GreatWhite Throne Judgment when nonbelievers will be resurrected and brought before the Lord for judgment. Satan will be cast into Hell and there shall be a new heavens and earth for the rest of eternity.
To try to explain the end times here in one post as I believe it to be, is not possible and in all honesty I still have some questions about the Rapture and other end times events myself. Shannon and I are hoping to study about this at a later date in more detail. Ultimately, what this entire doctrinal statement comes down to for myself is that I need to be sure that I am a believer in Christ because I have no way of knowing exactly at what time God will choose to remove me from this earth, whether it be through death or the rapture. I need to also remember that no matter when my death or the rapture should occur, as long as I remain faithful to Christ and do not allow myself to renounce Him under any circumstances I will live with Him forever.
"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the LOrd forever." 1 Thess. 4:16-17
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