[greenbear]

Jassy, I have to make one more comment.

You said: "It isn't promised, until it gets REALLY BAD and there are almost no true Christians left! (A remnant)"

The rapture of the church can happen at any time. There is nothing that has to be accomplished first. The rapture could have happened in the first century anytime after 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed, the Kingdom offer withdrawn from Israel, and the revelation of the mystery of the gentile church had begun. There is no timing given for the rapture of the church. The prophetic clock stopped with the sacrifice of the Jewish Messiah, and the withdrawal of the Kingdom offer to Israel. It won't start ticking again until the Church is out of the picture and the Son of Perdition confirms a covenant with Israel. At that point the 7 year Tribulation, or Day of the Lord, begins.

Daniel
9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Timing and prophecy and numbering (census) have to do only with Israel. The gentile church is a mystery, as we know, not revealed until Paul. The gentile church is never numbered, never given any prophetic time line. We might guess it's about over because we might assume 7000 years from creation through the millennium. We may feel it is close because we see the signs increasing that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 & Luke 21. Yet, Jesus said,

24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

The second coming of Christ when he places His feet on the Mt. of Olives, when He comes to rule the earth for 1000 years can be timed once the anti-christ confirms the covenant with Israel and not before. That coming will happen 7 years after the anti-christ confirms the covenant with Israel, and 3 1/2 years after the abomination of desolation. Jesus says that no man knows the day and the hour, only the Father, and to "therefore be ye ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Matt 24:44.

If you are interested, there are some straight-forward, short books on pre-millennialism and pre-tribulation rapture by John Walvoord that are really good, like "The Return of the Lord" and "The Rapture Question". Allen Beechick, "The Pre-Tribulation Rapture" is easy and excellent. Tim LaHaye's "No Fear of the Storm" is good, as well. You may have already read it but a "must read" (that is, I must read it again after all these years) is "Things That Differ" by C.R. Stam. I found "Delving Thru Daniel" by Noah Hutchings to be very basic, readable, and informative regarding Daniel's prophecies.

I hope you find any or all of this information helpful.

Your sister in Christ,

Jennifer