The "rapture" wording has been in the literature for years. I think at least since 1995 and the generation change.
Just nobody talks about it. I brought it up to an elder and he just shrugged his shoulders.
No Reporting of Time, Tithing is OK, Now WT Teaches a "Rapture" - What's Next?
by Sea Breeze 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Sea Breeze
The "rapture" wording has been in the literature for years. I think at least since 1995 and the generation change.
I never went to another meeting after that Nov. issue of the '95 Watchrtower that changed the generation doctrine. So, maybe you are right. I thought the idea was that the Annointed would just grow old and die even in the New System.
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Duran
those who will be taken to heaven will first need to be “changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, during the last trumpet.” Therefore, while we do not use the term “rapture” here because of its wrong connotation, the remaining faithful anointed will be gathered together in an instant of time. - The Watchtower—Study Edition | July 2015
Isn't the 7th trumpet the LAST TRUMPET? Guess Rev 11:15 was not fulfilled in 1914 after all. Still future AFTER the GT!
[15 For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death; 16 because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. 17 Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord.]
[51 Look! I tell you a sacred secret: We will not all fall asleep in death, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we will be changed.]
[29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.]
[15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.”]
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NotFormer
Interesting 🤔. Could they be paving the way for a heavenly destiny for all the faithful? They usually avoid talking about heaven and try to pump up the R&F with the pair-of-dice Erf scenario.
The cynic in me says that it could be a way for the GB to explain the sudden absence of themselves and all the WT funds. 🙄
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Beth Sarim
....the $$$ is about to vanish along with the gb
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Dagney
Hi Sea Breeze - me too. I always thought deep down inside it was all made up BS, but when that Watchtower came out, I knew it really was fo sho. It took me a few more years to leave, but I did a lot of research on my own before I did. I brought my New Jerusalem bible to the meetings after that. Read all scriptures in context referenced from the platform.
Yes they would have just a sentence in a paragraph like the one quoted above, (which makes no sense BTW, and that's why most just pass over it), that would speak of an instantaneous gathering of their heavenly bound. You can't just ignore those scriptures and take only other verses edited to fit your dogma. Lol I mean well WTBS can and do.
Their math just doesn't add up. Take the martyrs and ancients, add them to the WTBS claimed anointed number, (remember they stopped reporting the numbers some time in the 70's), and it far exceeds their 144K. Just do the math. They are just making it up as they go along.
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Beth Sarim
Making it up as they go along.
Ever since about the time of CT Russell.
Maybe sooner.
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NotFormer
Even the "mainstream" "doctrine" of the rapture is cobbled together from a few unconnected bible verses. The bit in Thessalonians, plus the passages in Matthew and Luke about one being taken and one being left behind. Sometimes they'll try to find something in Revelation that hints at it. Among the rapture believers there is fierce argument about when the rapture will occur, whether before the Great Tribulation (Pre-Tribulation), during (Mid-Tribulation) or after (Post-Tribulation). Some will condemn you to Hell if you have the wrong view of when the rapture will occur. I believe Texe Marrs was one of those (he was post-trib). The late Tim Lahaye (The Left Behind series) was pre-trib. The different timings are related to the various prophecies, interpreted to be about the GT, featuring a period of seven years and an intermediate period of three and a half years (long time JWs will be fully aware of those, I imagine).
Back to the WT version. If the GB are now allowing for a rapture, are they pre, mid, or post-trib?
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Rattigan350
They were not teaching anything like a rapture.
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a watcher
NotFormer, mid-trib.