The Big U-turn

'Pre-tribulationists' teach that when Jesus comes to rapture the Church, allegedly, after doing so, He then reverses direction 180 degrees and returns with the Church to heaven.

'Post-tribulationists', in contrast, teach that the Church does a 'U-turn' and returns en masse to Mount Zion, after having been gathered from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. The following portion of an article by 'post-tribber', *Dr. James McKeever, clarifies this disputed topic.

WHO DOES THE REVERSING?

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, we see that the Christians "meet" the Lord in the air. The Greek word for meet here is "APANTESIS" (which is #529 in STRONG'S CONCORDANCE). This word APANTESIS only occurs two other places in the New Testament. One is when Paul is going to Rome and the believers come out to meet him.

14 There we found some brethren, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and thus we came to Rome.

15 And the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. - Acts 28

Here we see that the brethren came out to meet (APANTESIS) Paul. However, the principle actor in the drama, which was Paul in this case, kept going and the people doing the meeting did the reversing, as one would expect.

The only other place this word is used in the Scripture is in the parable of the bridegroom and ten virgins. These ten virgins went out to meet (APANTESIS) the bridegroom.

The bridegroom, who was the principle actor in this drama, kept coming and those doing the meeting reversed course.

If this same usage holds true in 1 Thessalonians then when we "meet" Christ in the air, He does not reverse course---we do. This is solidly consistent with the use of this word. If we reverse directions, where do we go? When we meet Him in the air, we immediately go with Him to the Mount Zion, Jerusalem area, from which He will rule and reign for a thousand years. As we are caught up and get our resurrected bodies, we go with Him to Mount Zion.

*Dr. James McKeever is with the Lord now. He is succeeded by his wife Jean who is the president of Omega Ministries:

OMEGA MINISTRIES, P.O.B. 1788, Medford, OR 97501, Ph. 1-800-343-1111, or Email: CEnewsltr@aol.com (OMEGA MINISTRIES publishes endtime magazine "EDGE".)

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