So Ricky and RC, when the Lord returns next, are the Christians then caught up in the rapture, or does that happen after the millennium?
The rapture will happen before the Lord returns. The question then is will the rapture occur before the tribulation of the anti-christ or not.
That depends if you are pre-trib, post-trib or pan-trib. Pre-tribulation folks believe Christians will be taken out of the earth before it gets really nasty. So they could be here for the first 3.5 years or so after the anti-christ appears and then get taken out, under that scenario. Post-trib folks believe He will not come back until the full tribulation has passed, the anti-christ has been defeated, and right before the Lord returns. I'm of the pan-trib persuasion believing that God is in control and if it happens and when it happens, it will all pan out fine. And by if it happens, I don't doubt it will, but it may not in the way we might now be thinking. God is a bit mysterious in how He handles some of his grander miracles.
