ON ENOCH AND OTHER DISAPPEARANCES -

There are a number of disappearances (you could not call them abductions) that go on in the bible that prefigure the "rapture" of the saints. In some ways they are going to remind you of the classic abduction experiences but in others they are radically different.

First off the saints who get "translated", that is taken up to heaven in some way, usually are not dead except for one remarkable instance at the resurrection of Christ.

Next they ALL stay in heaven (sort of), Elijah makes an appearance at the Mount of Transfiguration and very possibly again at the end of days in Revelation 11.

Here's the list I have compiled:

Enoch:
Ge 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Elijah:
2Ki 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

The Saints at Christ's Crucifixion:
Matthew 27:
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
(they were taken up at the same time as Christ at the Ascension)

The two witnesses of Revelation 11:
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Then there is the classic piece on the Rapture:
1Thess 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:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

If one is only making a superficial reading of the "taking up of the saints" they might easily say "its just an abduction by aliens" but when you read the context it is entirely different. This is NOT to say that the rapture, or sudden disappearance of all the Christians, won't be BLAMED on the visitors, nothing could be a better set up from the alien/demonic side.

Here's the context:
Enoch simply "walked with God" and was no more because God "took him". He didn't die because in Hebrews 11:5 it says he didn't see death.

Elijah was taken up IN the whirlwind to heaven, NOT the chariots of fire (that was only his escort).

The saints at Christs time got up and walked around Jerusalem scaring the Holy Living Daylights out of the population (and causing many to BELIEVE) before they were taken up. Their resurrection accompanied the earthquake and sun darkening at Christ's crucirfixion (talk about special effects).

The coming "translations"; the rapture of the saints is to comfort those who have lost loved ones in Christ. It also explains how the Lord can return with "10,000 of his saints" according to Enoch in Jude 14 (you gotta go up before you can come down!)

The mysterious two (who obviously WEREN'T Marshall Applewhite and friend) are most likely Elijah and Enoch, the only two who DIDN'T experience death in the bible. For we all must go through that vale.

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BOTTOMLINE: the taking up or "abductions" of the Bible are nothing at all like those of Travis Walton or Betty Hill. Context is everything...