Anonymous asks about the tribulation... therefore I will speak to it.

Acknowledged first that the tribulation is a topic that has caused wide confusion... much of which is caused by confusing translations of our sacred text.

Perhaps a good starting point would be to one passage that has caused a great deal of the confusion...

1Thess 5:9 "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ..." (HCSB)

What many have done is to equate the idea of wrath with the idea of tribulation... yet... scripturally they are anything but the same.

I tremble as I recall hearing a very prominent, nationally recognized pastor, thunder... "God would be immoral to allow even one of His children to go through tribulation!" ... and quoting this text as his defense. (Yahweh... have mercy!)

Many have failed to realize that the wrath of Yahweh and tribulation are two distinct realities... two very different things... for... indeed God's children will not go through God's wrath... yet scripture clearly teaches that God's children will indeed go through and endure tribulation. We must know the difference.

The wrath (Greek is "orge" used 45 times in the NT) and tribulation (Greek is "thlipsis" used 43 times in the NT) are two very distinct words and two very distinct realities.

The trouble is that each word is often translated using different English words causing much of the confusion... for example we see the use of tribulation in the following 3 verses to list a few...

1Thess. 3:3 "So that no one will be shaken by these persecutions(thlipsis). For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. (HCSB)

Acts 14:22 "Strengthening the hearts of the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith, and by telling them, "It is necessary to pass through many troubles(thlipsis) on our way into the kingdom of God." (HCSB)

Revelation 7:14 "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.(thlipsis)" (HCSB)

... and then this statement from the lips of our Lord stressing the same point with the root word for thlipsis... thlibo... meaning to "narrow" or to put under great pressure...

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow(thlibo) gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow(thlibo) is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it." (HCSB)

However... God's children will not endure... but have been delivered from the wrath of God.

1Thess 1:9-10 "You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath(orge). (HCSB)

The result is this... God's children do in fact endure tribulation but our tribulation is not God's wrath. As the scripture said, we are in fact appointed to endure tribulation. Even the Revelation 7:14 tribulation is a tribulation that Christians do in fact endure as the text does not say that they are prevented from enduring... but in fact it says that Christians are in and come through the said Great Tribulation if one understands the Greek grammar... for them to come "out of" the tribulation means in fact that they were right in the midst of it all along.

One can read about the reality of Christians in great tribulation during just our last century, the 20th century, as I wrote about it here... for a partial understanding.

Now... concerning the end... when the last child of God is removed from the earth... tribulation will cease... and the Holy Wrath of Yahweh will begin... such as has not been before... nor will ever be again... on the earth.

Maranatha.

xtnyoda, shalomed