Question-Comment: Greetings in our Fathers name.

Where is this pre trib rapture at in the Bible, i lot of people tell me where its at i cant seem to find it. Some tell me its in Matt 24:, cant find it there, some tell me 1thess4, cant find it there, and then some say 2thess2, cant find it there, so either i am not reading right or someone is wrong. Help me,see i find the subject and the object of the verse, like i am supposed to but i just cant find this so called rapture. Please ive read books that say about it but when i read those verses it does not line up with scripture. so please help me.

In christs name
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From your E-mail I can deduce that you haven't read our on-line book THE CLOCK OF THE AGES. If after you have read the first 3 or 4 chapters, you still have questions, shoot them at me and I'll try to answer them to your satisfaction. To find the on-line book, click on the CLOCK OF THE AGES button and then continues clicking on the links (i.e., the words or images that show a hand when you drag the cursor over them).

Thanks for your WRAP.

Don

Hi,

Praise the Lord for your site! It loaded fast for me. I tend to disagree with you on Revelations the time for one. Can you show me where Daniels 70th week begins with the Rapture? I can see the Bible teaches that there is 10 ½ years from rapture to the return of Christ, 3 periods of of 3 1/2 years with the the 2nd and 3rd period being Daniels 70 week. Everybody agrees that the Daniels 70th week that is for the Jews. The Lord is not done with the Gentiles at the rapture. There is many being saved after the rapture which is the Great Tribulation saints. When they are resurected that completes the first resurection. Anti Christ has power over the church and the saints for 3 1/2 years which is the first 3 1/2 years. Then the LOrd turns his hands back to the Jews which is Daniels 70th week ,or the last 7 years. Between the 1st through 6th seal there is 3 1/2 years there is also 3 1/2 years between the 6th and 7th trumpet. So where is the time for 1st through 5th seal? 10 1/2 years fits perfectly.

You are welcome to visit my site if you like on Revelations. It is a brand new site and I am currently working on Daniel.

http://run.to/revelations

REgards,mike

DON WROTE:

I visited your site and can see that you are doing a good job at building a web site. Our web site is titled doweknow because we do welcome comments. We published our web site because we have a concern that many in the church have gotten lazy and donotknow what the Scriptures really have to say, even on the most rudimentary subjects, much less prophecy. When someone sends a better understanding, thoroughly studied and documented with notes and pertinent Scriptures, we will gladly publish it. We put the words doweknow on our site so that we would not set ourselves up as some great authority but as Christians that were seeking the truth. Remember the awesome responsibility when one decides to become an "expert" of the Scriptures.

Can I deduce from your comments that you love instant gratification and that you probably practice speaking and acting before you think things through? As with the WRAP just before yours, I can see by your comments that you haven't gone very far into our site. This shows me that you are criticizing our site without actually knowing what it has to say. I also sense that there is much about prophecy that you haven't thought through. The web is already full of confusion about things of the Scriptures and I don't think that you want to be guilty of adding more.

Let me suggest that you read THE CLOCK OF THE AGES, MARK THEM, and our STUDY OF REVELATION, and them redo your WRAP to us. Chart your findings, carefully, and if you still feel as you do now, we'll WRAP with you—truly, the aim of this web site is to say that wedoknow that we are accountable for a personal study of the Scriptures.

If you are searching for the truth, then I am with you. If what you wrote in this WRAP is for "doubtful disputation," then, that is another matter entirely.

Be sure you can preface what you have to say on your web site with this Scripture.

This is no "light" thing that you are attempting to enter into and be prepared to become an "ambassador in bonds" if you are going to speak to a extremely troubled world by the internet.

We would all do well to consider the following command of the Apostle Peter:

Love,

Don

NIGHTWATCH IN BETHLEHEM

It was the 24th night of the 12th month, and as he led his century of legionaries through the
crowded streets of Bethlehem that cold night, Centurion Tullius Casinus was grateful for the
warmth offered by his thick red woolen cloak, tunic, breeches and leggings beneath his full armor.

"Mithra, but it’s cold!" he muttered, rubbing his mittened hands together as the decurion chanted
marching cadence with his bull-like voice to the rhythmic clash of a hundred pairs of iron-shod
sandals striking the cobblestoned streets...

"Aye, it is," his decurion, a seasoned NCO, a veteran of many years in the ranks, acknowledged.
"I’ve served in Britain, Centurion, and it was cold there, too."

"Aye, it was," agreed the centurion. "But Palestine is just as cold, some seasons."

"That it be," the decurion replied.

"The fourth hour after sunset and still they come pouring in," the centurion eyed the masses of
newcomers flocking down the main street of the small town, seeking, for the most part, in vain for
shelter, and even hot food and drink.

" ‘Tis the decree of Caesar Augustus; every man to return to his place of birth to be listed on the
census and pay the head tax," sighed the decurion. "More work for us, that is certain."

"Aye," the centurion agreed. With the possibility of disorders erupting, which could flare into
outright rioting, or even a full-scale revolt, the Governor of Palestine, and the Proconsul of the
region, had ordered strong patrols throughout the land for the duration of that season; so in full
centuries, the legionaries patrolled that night, swords drawn, shield on their arms, spears and
pillums(throwing spears)unslung, ready in hand.

As the century of troops passed another going the opposite way, the two centurions exchanged
salutes. "I hope ‘twill remain quiet," the centurion muttered after the other century had passed.
"I’m at the age where the prospect of running a man through does not fill me with delight."

"Too cold for the people to work up much mischief; were it spring, summer, even early fall, I’d be
worried. But this cold will keep their minds on other things than their hatred of us."

"Which the Governor’s good friends Herod the King and the High Priest do much to encourage,"
grunted the centurion. "If they would follow their own Holy Books’ injunctions more, there would
be less foment and dissent for troublemakers to exploit, among the masses of the poor."

"You know of their Holy Books, Centurion?" the decurion raised an eyebrow.

"My wife, Ruth, is a devout Jewess, although she married me," the centurion muttered with a wry
smile. "She goes to the synagogue every Sabbath and reads the sacred Scrolls whenever she can.
She even has copies of several of them at home; she instructs our children in her faith."

"What would the Tribune and the Legate say about that, Centurion?" asked the decurion with a
trace of anxiety in his voice.

"What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Or me. Besides, I have been told I am to be transferred
to Rome with the next draft. Ruth and our sons will, of course, go with me. There they will be safe
from any charges of heresy and sedition. In Rome the authorities feel safe enough to overlook
such things, but not here.

"I am glad; eventually this place will erupt like Hades itself, and when it does, she and any other
who married a Roman and bore his children would be killed as traitors by the religious fanatics.

"Mithra, these Jewish Zealots make the Celtic Druids seem meek and mild by comparison. During
my posting in Britain I had to go in one of the frontier expeditions to put down a Celtic uprising,
so I know whereof I speak."

"Why do you think there will be an uprising eventually, Centurion?" asked his century’s topkick.

The centurion considered, then answered the decurion. "Nowhere else in the known world where
the Eagle of Rome stands do people hate and resent us with such unyielding minds. For now is
quiet, but eventually..." he sighed, remembering the talks he had had with his wife on many
evenings when he had been able to spend time at their small house near the barracks.

"As long as it remains quiet tonight, tomorrow can take care of itself," the decurion muttered,
and began anew to chant the marching cadence in a bull-like voice.

The centurion agreed with his NCO; a man did his duty, kept himself, his armor, weapons, and
uniform clean; the rest was the Commanding Officer’s worry.

Nonetheless, he feared an uprising, fearing for the safety of his wife and children...

The centurion was a thoughtful man, considerate of the welfare of his troops as far as regulations
and the immediate tactical situation allowed; which was why he called his patrol to a halt when
they came to a fire burning near the side of the road.

"Let us rest for a brief time," he ordered, and the legionaries eagerly fell out to huddle round the
fire. Some fanned out to scrounge more wood, and presently the fire was blazing high and hot; the
original builders of same remaining near, but wisely yielding the closest space to the legionaries.

Small wine jugs were produced and hooked to the tips of spears, chunks of meat, bread, and
vegetables appeared and were likewise shishkabobbed from spears or pillums and cooked over the
flames.

"Ah, this is a fine thing on a cold night," the decurion sighed as he took a deep draught from the
wine jug. He proffered it to the centurion, who took but a small sip. In his youth the centurion
had drunk deeply, but now, as age and marital responsibilities beckoned, he had become a
moderate drinker.

The decurion lifted the wine jug to drain the last few droplets, and his eyes suddenly bugged out
and he choked, a paroxysm of violent coughing wracking his body.

"The star, Centurion! The star!" he wheezed, pointing with a shaking finger, coughing up some
wine that had gone down the wrong way.

Casinus followed the pointing hand, and he, too, gasped in amazement as he beheld the great,
blazing star high above, almost directly overhead. Like a beacon, it hung there, large, beautiful,
radiating a rainbow of colors...



"What does it mean, Centurion!?" the decurion gasped in frightened awe. Clearly this celestial
vision was an omen. Of good, or evil? What did it portent?

The troops were beginning to stir and murmur among themselves as well. With an assurance in his
voice he didn’t entirely feel, the centurion said: "No doubt the priests of the Temples will tell
us--after our watch is over," he said pointedly. "Let us march on." And they did; iron-shod sandals
clanging as one, the bull-like voice of the decurion calling cadence.

By the eighth hour after sunset, the flood of incoming travelers had diminished to a trickle;
among them a man leading a donkey, a woman vastly pregnant sitting astride it. They were
Nazarenes by their dress, and as the couple came close to the marching column, the man hailed
the centurion.

"Centurion!" he called, in a voice just this side of beseeching, "My wife’s time grows near; indeed
she has had the first of her labor pains. Is there anywhere we can find shelter!?"

Casinus halted his column, and studied the man and the woman. He considered the request, then
shrugged; gesturing with his sword toward a nearby inn. It was small, rude, but all he could think
of.

"You may try there; if all else fails, mayhaps the innkeeper will let you take shelter in the stables.
‘Twill be better than nothing." Then something moved him, an inner part of the man only his wife
had seen. "Have you money?"

"Only for the tax," replied the man uneasily, fearful the centurion might wish to extort some.

Reaching into his pouch, the centurion produced a small gold coin, and then a somewhat larger
silver one, and tossed them to the traveler. "Get your wife some hot food; she looks like she needs
it."

"Thank you Centurion! May the Lord God bless you!" he cried as they moved on.

The decurion spoke. "The Tribune, the Legate, even the Proconsul, never mind the Governor,
would consider you to be a Jew-lover, Centurion."

" ‘Tis my money, I spend it how I please," Casinus replied dourly. "Besides, who’s going to tell
them?"

"No-one, Centurion," replied the decurion with a meaningful gaze at the ranks of troops. Were
any tongues to wag about this, the owners thereof would discover the decurion’s vine-staff could
wag even faster--and sting far worse...

Again they marched on, reaching the outskirts of the town. As they did so, a handful of men,
shepherds to judge by their garb and the long staffs with the crook at the top-end that they
carried, came running along the roadway, heading for the town.

"Hold!" called the Centurion. "Why do you travel in such haste?" Were they fleeing from
robbers? If so, routing a band of cutthroats would provide a worthwhile way to spend their time
rather than the endless marching...

"As we tended our flocks this night, a great host of Heavenly angels descended, singing hosannas
to God and wishing peace on earth to all men, and told us the Messiah had been born this night!"
cried a shepherd. "They told us he would be found in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and so we came with all haste to see for ourselves!"

They continued in their journey, still running, and as they passed the tail-end of the century,
Casinus muttered: "I wonder what was in the wine-jug that they must have had a draught from?"
Then he ordered his troops about-face and marched back whence they had come...

As they passed by the small inn Casinus had directed the Nazarene couple to, he halted the
century and walked over to reconnoiter, walking round the inn itself to the back yard where the
stables were.

He then saw the stables behind the inn itself; a poor place even for animals--only the back wall
offering any real protection from the winds, and a space round the manger shielded by meager partitions,
the front end completely exposed.

A baby, well-wrapped in swaddling clothes, lay in the manger. An ox, a donkey, and three sheep
occupied it along with the mother, now sound asleep on a pile of clean straw, exhausted by her
labors.

There were the shepherds kneeling before the manger, and as Casinus watched, they rose,
gathering up their staffs, and gave the father some cloth-wrapped packages. Then they departed.

Casinus shook his head. "What kind of mulled wine were they drinking?" he muttered as the
shepherds headed back toward the hills where their flocks were, and he returned to his century of
legionaries.

On they marched, the decurion calling cadence in his bull-like voice, iron-shod sandals clanging as
one, torches flaring, the light glinting on their speartips, swords, shields and burnished armor,
continuing their watch.

At yet another pause at the edge of the town, Casinus saw a procession of mounted men coming
toward the hamlet. There was sufficient torchlight to make out their appearance and number as
they neared the Roman legionaries.

Leading the procession were three richly-attired men. The remainder of the cavalcade wore plainer
garb; including helmets and assorted armor, obviously a retinue of bodyguards and servants for
the trio.

As the procession came nearer yet, he realized they were riding camels, rather than horses or
donkeys. "They’ve come a long way through the vast desert," he remarked aloud.

The decurion grunted. "Magi--Wise Men--from Persia, by the look of them. I once saw Persian
nobles several years ago; these have the look of those."

The leading riders halted their beasts, and the foremost called: "Hail, Centurion!", his Latin
strangely accented, but understandable.

"Hail," replied Casinus, saluting. They wore obviously expensive, even rich apparel, so it would be
wise to observe the proper courtesies.

"We seek the newborn King of Jews," called the rider. "We have followed His Star lo this long
way from our homeland, all the way to this city where He dwells, according to the ancient
prophecies! We come to pay Him all due homage."

Casinus shrugged. "I know of no such King, save for Herod."

"No, not Herod," smiled the mounted man.

"The star!" cried the second rider, waving at the sky where the great celestial beacon blazed,
seemingly more brightly than before, now. "It hangs above the town! We shall surely find Him
there, directly below the star!"

Casinus shrugged again. "Some time ago this night, shepherds came down from the hills with a
wild tale of angels singing to announce the birth of the Messiah, and had gone to an inn a ways
down this road," he waved his sword in the general direction. "Mayhaps you shall find what you
seek there."

"We thank you Centurion. Hail!" and the riders urged their steeds forward.

"Hail." He returned their salutation. "Have they had a draught from the same wine-jug as those
shepherds!?" he muttered aloud.

Casinus was about to order the century to about-face and march back there to fully investigate
this strange matter when the deep brassy blare of the fortress trumpets sounding recall,
end-of-watch, echoed clear and strong through the distance.

Instantly all such thoughts were banished from his head by visions of a warm bed, a bowl of stew
and biscuits. He ordered his men into quick-time march, and presently they were marching
through the fortress gates where he returned the opito’s salute. The century was assembled on the
barracks square, and were dismissed.

He made a brief report to the Tribune’s Legate, but omitted any mention of the mysterious Star,
the shepherds and the three Magi who had appeared with their retinue of servants and
bodyguards, all seeking the same thing--the newborn babe in the manger of the poorest inn of all
Bethlehem.

A wise centurion wishing nothing to affect his soon being posted to Rome itself would not ruffle
his superiors’ feathers by raising any questions he lacked answers for.

Then he sought his bed in the officers’ cubiclums, and slept soundly...

l

The following morning, after fruitless trips to speak with the priests of the temples of Jupiter,
Mars, and others in the pantheon of Roman gods and goddesses, Casinus walked to the house of
his wife’s uncle, a rabbi of some renown, and spoke with him of the night’s strange events and
asked for any explanations.

The rabbi, much interested by his Roman nephew-in-law’s remarks, searched the Scrolls diligently,
and then, laying aside one with eyes full of awe, said: "What you have told me of corresponds
exactly to the ancient prophecies of the coming of the Messiah himself. ‘He shall save His people
from their sins; and yea, be a light unto the Gentiles!’ "

"The three Magi from Persia called Him the King of the Jews," mused Casinus.

"But not as we know it; His is a different Kingdom," the rabbi declared.

"Herod wouldn’t think so; he would have the Babe and His parents killed should he hear of this,"
Casinus muttered.

The rabbi spat at the mention of the evil king’s name. Casinus merely smiled dourly and thanked
his uncle-in-law and departed.

l

Red cloak flowing, iron-shod sandals clanging, Centurion Tullius Casinus returned to the stables
behind the small, rude inn and peered at the somewhat sheltered space about the manger. Both
mother and father lay on clean straw now, sound asleep. Only the sheep, the donkey, and the ox
stabled there saw him.

As Casinus beheld the tiny Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger, a great sense
of mystic awe settled upon him, like a cloak of finest down, and in that instant he knew beyond
any doubt whatsoever that he was gazing at the very Son of God.

Drawing himself to rigid attention, as though on parade before the Emperor in the Praetorian
Barracks’ Square of Rome itself, he saluted. "Hail, Son of God!" he murmured softly.

The Babe’s eyes opened, and for a moment they beheld one another--the Son of God, and the
hard-bitten veteran Centurion of Rome.

Again Casinus came to rigid attention, saluting stiffly. "Hail, Son of God!" he again murmured.

Then he broke his brace, bending over to lay three gold coins on the packages left behind by the
shepherds and Magi.

The lamb suddenly bleated, the ox stirring, his hoof thudding against the back wall of the stables.
As the mother and father of the Babe began to stir, Casinus withdrew after saluting again, so they
should not be frightened if they were to wake and find him standing there...

l

"Mary, we must flee to Egypt!" Joseph declared as he helped his wife to arise from her bed of
straw. "An angel of the Lord appeared to me in a dream, and warned me Herod would seek to
slay the Babe!"

Mary looked about them. "But how shall we travel, Joseph!? Will we have enough money?"

Joseph eyed the small amounts of gold, frankincense and myrrh given them by the Magi, and the
poor gifts from the shepherds.

Then his eyes grew wide as he beheld the three gold coins on top of the gifts.

"These!" he cried. "These were not here before!"

Mary, a sensible woman, at once sized up their value. "With the gold we have already, and when
we sell the frankincense and myrrh the Magi gave us, added to these coins--that will be enough to
feed us as we travel, dearest!" she cried.

"But how came they to be here?" Joseph pondered.

"Perhaps they were a gift from God Himself," Mary smiled with inner wisdom.

"Indeed, they must have been," agreed Joseph...

l

Red cloak flowing, iron-shod sandals clanging, Centurion Tullius Casinus marched through the
streets of Bethlehem, his journey to the small house his wife and children dwelled within, near to
the Roman fortress.

He would have a confidential conversation with her about the night’s events; Ruth would be
fascinated by his tale, he knew. A devout Jewess in spite of her marriage to him, and the
impending transfer to Rome itself, she would love to hear this story, and her uncle’s interpretation
of it.

But when he arrived at his home, she and the children were gone. A note left behind explained
they had gone to visit her extended family in Bethlehem yet again, before their move to Rome.

Casinus shrugged, fixed himself a hot meal and drink, then lay down upon their bed to catch up
on his sleep.

No longer a young man, able to carouse the free time away with dice, the wine-jug and other
amusements common to soldiers down through the ages, he had stood nightwatch three times
running, and needed his rest.

When his family returned, he wanted to be refreshed and able to give them the love and devotion
that they truly deserved.

‘A light unto the Gentiles, He will be, eh?’ Casinus thought. ‘Perhaps I, too, shall see that
light--although I be only a thickheaded legionary.’

And with that, Centurion Tullius Casinus fell asleep...

The End

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