iately after the tribulation [see The Great Tribulation] of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [see Behold, He Cometh With Clouds]. 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet [see Christ's Feast of Trumpets], and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other [see To Meet The Lord In The Air].
24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matthew 24:1-35 KJV)
The mythical "rapture" doctrine is merely a misunderstanding of the very real resurrections that are coming (see The Raptures).
"24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come [see Could Christ Return Tonight?].
24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 24:36-51 KJV)
Fact Finder: How are the Temple vessels involved in the prophecy of the "abomination of desolation"?
See The Temple Vessel Prophecies Today
This Day In History, December 21
68: Vespasian, a Roman general, entered Rome and was proclaimed Emperor by the Senate (see The Politics Of Rome and Pax Romana: The Birth Of The Roman Empire).
1620: 103 English "Pilgrims" of the Mayflower made landfall in their "New England."
1872: The HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth, England on the Challenger expedition.
1898: Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium.
1908: Klara Hitler, mother of Adolf Hitler, died of breast cancer at age 47. It was after his mother's death that Adolf Hitler began his homeless hobo years in Vienna, Austria (Hitler was born in Austria, not Germany) where he developed his warped psychological basis of his supposed "socialist" (NAZI is the abbreviation for his National Socialist party) and anti-Semitic (his resentment toward Jewish shopkeepers, while he was living on the street and in homeless shelters) attitudes (see also Presidential Quotes 