Man's idea or God's word

Purgatory and the Secret Rapture

are they real or imagined?

Good morning readers, today's topics are the word purgatory and the idea of a "secret rapture". I know there are many believers out there who place great faith in purgatory. However, I am sorry to report that this idea holds no place in the King James translation of the Bible. It is simply an invention of man, put forth by the Catholic church, and as such has no real standing in the majority of the Bibles in print today.

Believers agree that there is a heaven and hell. Both of these ideas are spoken of in the Bible no matter which translation you read. the only place the idea of purgatory is mentioned is in the Second book of Macabees; which is considered a canonical book in the Roman Catholic Bible, the Eastern Orthodox Bible and the Protestant Apocrypha.

It is simply a creation of the Catholic church which, as I have said before, is a creation of a man to give hope to some that they may reach heaven after a period of purification in a place somewhere between heaven and hell. By faith I believe that purgatory is a myth like the idea of a secret rapture. 

Allow me to address these myths.

• Some use 1st Corinthians 3:15 to claim the existence of purgatory. It says "If any mans work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by the fire." (KJV)  I believe that the loss  by fire referred to here are the trials (fires) we face in our daily walk with Jesus. To counter, I offer this:  James 1:2-4 " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying to your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." (KJV)
• As for the "secret rapture, I understand that Matthew 24:36 says "Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only."  If indeed the second coming is a "secret rapture" I challenge you to refute these verses: Revelation 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with coulds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." 1 Thessalonians 4:16 "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 Christ shall rise first." (KJV)

So if Christ's second coming truly is coming quietly like the thief in the night why would He make so much noise? As for purgatory if you are truly looking for that then look around you. The only thing between heaven and hell is life as we know it now. Jesus himself referred to death as a sleep, throughout the Bible death is referred to as sleep 54 times. So if death is equivalent to sleep how can the soul be immortal? Common sense should be enough to help a person realize that, and once we die we sleep in our graves until His second coming.

Answer a few questions for me, if you can. 

1. If at death we go to heaven why would Jesus need to come back to earth to claim the dead?  
2. How would you feel if you were already in heaven and were called back down to earth?
3. If someone dies and immediately goes to hell to suffer eternally for their sins does this seem fair?

Personally, I believe that the only purgatory that exists is the lives we live. If we live righteous lives this will be the only hell we ever experience. However, if we live an evil life then this will be the only heaven we will ever know.

Just something to think about. Peace?

Afterthought:

Acts 1:10,11 "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, Behold, two me stood by them in white apparel which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (KJV)