Hebrews 4/12: For the Word of God [is] quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
Various Subjects
The heresy of the rapture of the church
Is the first century, Paul writes to the believers of Thessalonica and in a given moment, he remembers or makes memory of those believers of that location that had previously died, and comforts them by telling them that they are not dead, but they are sleeping, that they do not need to be sad, that they are going to resurrect. I Thessalonians 4/13: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope."
But later, Paul makes an unused and dangerous movement, he reveals the believers of Thessalonica, something that was considered astonishing and wonderful in his time, that there were those, who were not going to die, and among them he included himself, because supposedly the Messiah would come in their lifetime:
I Thessalonians 4/15-18: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in the Messiah shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
So, situating the action in its due historical context, you may ask: To whom did Paul wrote? Making that question is basic and elemental, because there are those who believe Paul wrote to posterity, but the letter is clear, Paul was not writing to the believers of posterity, he was not writing to the believers of the later centuries, he was not writing to you, he wrote to the believers of Thessalonica, to the believers of his time, to the believers of the first century. And what does history relates? Were the words of Paul fulfilled? What history relates is that Paul died in Rome, decapitated by the roman emperor Nero, furthermore, all that generation of believers of Thessalonica died. Everyone, absolutely all, each and every one of them.
So, neither history nor time, support what Paul wrote, because nobody had him speaking of the end of times, that is why, he failed obstreperously saying that the Messiah was going to return in their time. They had him working in the Work of God, and instructing, forming and exhorting the believers and not encouraging them that all was about to end, and that they were about to go in the clouds "to meet the Lord in the air."
Later, with the pass of time, something happened that Paul writes once again to the believers of Thessalonica, and tries to amend and rectify what he had primarily written, because a great turmoil and expectancy had been created among the community of believers, where there were even those that did not wanted to work anymore because they believed that they were going in the clouds. He tells them: II Thessalonians 2/1-2: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and [by] our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Messiah is at hand…"
In this second letter, one can see, if one is to read very carefully, that Paul does not mention that the day of the Lord is near, that is imminent, that it is just around the corner, but rather mentions that a series of events must first take place before the Messiah returns, and writes them: II Thessalonians 2/3: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come,] except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition".
Therefore, the one who reads the first letter to the thessalonians must obligatorily update Paul's words with the second letter that he later addressed to them. If this is not done, the one who insists in believing in an event that does not appear in the Book of Apocalypse or Revelation, will stay dressed and disturbed, the same way the believers of the first century stayed dressed and disturbed waiting for nothing, because in the end of times, the faith of the believer will be tested, and nobody is leaving or escaping from the End…
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