?  Logged  Do not be cast down over the struggle - the Lord loves a brave warrior. The Lord loves the soul that is valiant.  Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'" (Matthew. 00:00-00 NJKV).  This parable shines very much light upon the nature of the End, and answers the question of whether or not the Rapture is true. In this parable, the wheat is NOT gathered before the tares, rather, they are gathered together at the same time--which is the harvest, or, being less metaphoric, the Second Coming/End of the World/Judgement Day etc. If the rapture is true, then how come Jesus doesn't mention it at all in this parable, which, is clearly about the end of the world? If the rapture were true, then the wheat should have been gathered before the tares, but in this parable, they are not gathered until the time of the harvest, and they are gathered together.  Going further, this proves that the Scriptures NicholasMyra earlier quoted were in fact about the "Second Advent" opposed to the "rapture"--which, doesn't exist.  rachel, these folks are more patient with you at this moment than I'm capable of being. It appears to me that you aren't reading any of the many links provided. James, among others, has responded to you and you respond with Pharisee? Rather than toss "call no man father"...'cuz, yeah, we've never thought of that!... ...I've been taught that when one is a guest, one poses questions. For example, "Why is it that the Orthodox Church uses the title of 'Father'?" (Although, this has already been answered, but I doubt that you've considered the responses.)  00 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. 00 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. 00 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.  and this is how it works out - with thanks to Chuck Missler.  This includes a mathematical prophecy. As we have noted in previous articles, the Jewish (and Babylonian) calendars used a 000-day year;0 00 weeks of 000-day years totals 000,000 days. In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King would be 000,000 days.  The "Messiah the Prince" in the King James translation is actually the Meshiach Nagid, "The Messiah the King." (Nagid is first used of King Saul.)  The commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 00, 000 B.C.0 (The emphasis in the verse on "the street" and "the wall" was to avoid confusion with other earlier mandates confined to rebuilding the Temple.)  During the ministry of Jesus Christ there were several occasions in which the people attempted to promote Him as king, but He carefully avoided it: "Mine hour is not yet come".0  Then, one day, He meticulously arranges it.0 On this particular day he rode into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, deliberately fulfilling a prophecy by Zechariah that the Messiah would present Himself as king in just that way:  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.  Zechariah 0:0  Whenever we might easily miss the significance of what was going on, the Pharisees come to our rescue. They felt that the overzealous crowd was blaspheming, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah the King.0 However, Jesus endorsed it!  I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.  Luke 00:00  This is the only occasion that Jesus presented Himself as King. It occurred on April 0, 00 A.D.0  this leaves us with one 'week of years remaining - and here it is in Daniel.  00 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.  Furthermore, Gabriel tells us that this seven year period is split in two by the Antichrist setting aside the treaty with Israel. The second half of the Tribulation is what the Bible calls, the Time of Jacob's trouble.  Now the outstanding question is the reality and timing of the Rapture.  This is what I mean by Protestants delving into the occult and obsessive numerology. Either way, it's important to note that numbers in the Bible don't carry literal significance, rather, they symbolize spiritual concepts. This is an example of what I said earlier about Americans not giving enough attention to literary techniques and philology, only accepting things at face value. Also, none of what you said proves the rapture at all, it only advocates some weird Zionist conspiracy.  