the rapture

Sorry, I have taken a few days off due to spring break.

I would like to discuss what some people call the rapture. The main verse that people used to tell about the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17.
1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17,"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethen, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep, For the Lord Himself will descent from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will 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 this we shall always be with the Lord"
You can see the words "caught up" is where the rapture comes from. No one has seen this before but I see three different groups of people. I discovered this when I was reading the verse and the "asleep in Jesus" were coming back in the clouds with Him and the "dead in Christ" came out of the tombs to meet them in the air. The question hit me, "How can I rise up if I am already up there?" The answer is I can't. So, the dead in Christ must be a different group of people.
First, those who are asleep. These are the Christians that have died and as Paul said, "absent from the body is to be present with the Lord". These are the ones who will return with Christ in the clouds.
Group two is the dead in Christ. Most preachers said that this is your physical body coming out of the grave to join with your soul in heaven. I don't think this is it at all. Before Christ, everyone who died went to a holding place called Abraham's bosom. It was divided into two chambers, paradise and hades.
Paradise was for the righteous ones and hades was for the unrighteous. Luke 16:22-31.
Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "today you will be with me in Paradise" After Jesus died and went to Paradise, the people in Paradise were released and they walked the streets of Jerusalem and appeared to many,Matthew 27:52-53. They were released to go to Heaven. Jesus had to be the first of the living dead. Now, when you die, you go to be with the Lord or you go to a place called death. Death is a holding place for the unrighteous ones until the tribulation. Revelation 20:13, "and death and hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged, and death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire". This comes after the 1000 years of peace that follows the seven years of tribulation. So, the dead in Christ are the ones who die in the tribulation and do not take the mark of the beast.
Finally, the third group is those who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. They are alive at His return and they will be snatched up to meet those who return with Jesus. This is definitely the rapture.
The problem I have is most people teach that this time of being snatched up is at the beginning of the tribulation. As there were three groups of people, there are also three timeframes discussed in 1 Thessalonians 4. First is the shout. Second is the voice of the archangel, and third is the trumpet of God. Now, no one else has ever seen this either. When I study prophesy, if you have a key word, like shout, you must put them altogether at the same time frame unless proven otherwise. I believe the shout, is the "come up here" shout discussed in Revelations 4:1, "after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "come up here". Also, in Revelation 11:12, "and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them "come up here". This voice is talking to the two great witnesses after they have been killed and lie in the streets for 3 and 1/2 days. They rose up and went into heaven in the clouds. The two great witnesses prophesied for 3 and 1/2 years of the tribulation. It is easy to see that the rapture that is discussed in 1 Thessalonians happens during the tribulation. Exactly when will be discussed next time.
The "voice of the archangel" is Michael the archangel. His job is to protect the nation of Israel. He will proclaim, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his had he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God. We have already learned that the "abomination of desolation" is when the antichrist proclaims himself to be god on earth and makes everyone take the mark. This happens around the middle of the tribulation.
So, again the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4 is during the tribulation.
The third timeframe is denoted by "the trumpet of God". It is easy to see that there are seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. The trumpets are in the middle. I believe that the Trumpet of God is the same trumpets that we saw in Revelation 11:12. You can see that after that is the seventh trumpet, the trumpet of God, "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord". Again, you can see "the wrath of God" which is the last seven bowls is next.
Come on, please tell me you see it fits. Here is the real problem. What if all of the churches are telling the world by preaching, popular movies, and books that the rapture will come first and it doesn't, what will happen? The answer is the world will see a signing of a peace treaty or the rebuilding of the Temple and no rapture. The world will turn away from a religion that lies.
The problem is the Bible didn't lie, man interpreted it wrong.
Here is the verse that the pre-rapture teachers never seem to read, 2 Thessalonians 3-4, "Let no one in any way deceive you, for it(see verse 1, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gathering together to Him) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Apostasy is the falling away because the world thinks the chuch has lied to them and the man of lawlessness is the antichrist. When is he revealed? At the abomination of desolation which is during the tribulation. Then Christ will return and gather His believers.
Ok, if I am right, some believers will have to go into the tribulation. For once in my life the holocaust makes sense. God used the Jews to give us an example of how to go through tribulation without denying your faith.
God bless, Dean