The Rapture

Ephesians 4: 11-16 (NASB) “And He gave us some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

Most likely you are asking, “Why would he pick this scripture to talk about the rapture?” Seems like a valid enough question to me. There is a sickness in today’s society of “church goers” that has rampantly invaded all lives, for both the true believers and the pretenders. If it feels right and good, then we readily accept it into our doctrine. Here comes some tough love! Example:

The theory of the rapture did not exist until the 1830’s. A woman, Margaret Macdonald, who belonged to an off-shoot cult of the Catholic Church, had a vision of the rapture, and called it “by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Doesn’t it seem that cultists are always having these spiritual enlightenments, with no scriptural backing? Sound like Joseph Smith and the Mormons?  And what about the Jehovah’s Witnesses? These cults all came about at the same time. Looks like there was a real spiritual attack back in the mid-1800s. These cults and cultish ideas are always full of man’s thoughts bringing a new way to break away from some tradition they felt was off-base. We are always dissatisfied with the norm! But if you really want craziness, just look to the first norm, the Catholic Church itself! It is full of man’s ways, money, and control.

We have got to stop making things up to suit ourselves!!

Paul prophesied about this in his second letter to Timothy; 2 Timothy 4: 3-4 (NASB) “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Why do we swallow these beliefs with no thought process at all? And the more fantastical, the easier we accept! A quote from Adolf Hitler said, “The bigger the lie, the easier they will believe.” The real disaster comes when someone thinks that what is being taught sounds wrong. They see a need for a change. But we make these needed changes up by our own concoctions. Case in point; the theory of the rapture has become church doctrine and is widely accepted as religious fact. We throw a few scriptures in (1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17) to make it believable and “poof” we have a new and improved doctrine. Remember, we can always use Scripture to prove anything we want if we stretch it far enough.

Back to the history: The one who really took hold of this theory in the early 1900’s was a man named John Darby who was looking for a way to sell books and gain notoriety. It always seems that behind these theories is the pursuit of fame or money or both. The Baptists really bought the idea and now it is taken as fact by almost all of us. We don’t even question it. And if you think money is not behind this then look at Hollywood which has produced movie after movie about the rapture’s validity. Do you actually think Hollywood is concerned about increasing our faith?

Why does the Church allow this kind of heresy to invade Her core belief system? My troubled thought is that it is because we are always looking for an easier way! We prefer our own ideas and fantasies to the hard truth of the Gospel. Jesus said, “The gate is narrow and the road is hard. Carry your cross. And die to self.” Well, that just doesn’t sit right with most of us. We want a stroll to heaven, not a grind! We are too busy living a life of make-believe when we should be preparing for battle. Laziness and mediocrity have made us indifferent to the commands of Christ. What happens if there is no rapture? We are completely out-numbered and out-classed. It will be a slaughter!

This theory of the rapture should bring other questions into our minds. How about “Once saved always saved”? There are so many warnings in Scripture about falling away from the call of Christ that it would be difficult to write them all down. But again we ignore the admonishments and proceed on our own. A disease has crept into the Church. Uncomfortable subjects we leave out of our church meetings. If we don’t address them maybe they will disappear. What’s left? Mere rituals, fairy tales, and myths. A hard look at our own individual churches will point out many false beliefs and pitfalls. Things that are not proven by Scripture but are still a part of our religious unity in falsehoods. False beliefs, rituals, religious ideology, are all there to not only sway us off the road but to truly destroy our eternity with Christ. We must return to Scripture and abandon our own way. Isaiah 55: 8-9 (NASB) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Now, we all hope for a rapture, including myself. But we have got to think. The first mention of this idea came from a cult. That’s a bad start! We want a pre-tribulation rapture and nothing else. But is it true?

 Let’s consider 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-4 (NASB) “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God”

Also Revelation 7:13-15 “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.’”

This is serious business! While we sit around forming church committees and planning banquets, singing kumbaya songs waiting for the rapture to whisk us away to Nirvana, Satan is laughing at us all the while devising our demise. I don’t know if the Church has ever been more off-base or in more trouble! Yet we continue to allow confusion to rule our destiny. Wake up!

The real crux of the issue is that we do not study our bibles nearly enough. Have we lost our hunger and thirst? We tell ourselves, “we just don’t have the time, so we will let our teachers guide us.” But that is a very bad idea. That is how cults are formed! The truth of God is in Scripture to be consumed by His followers (those that love Him). We cannot afford a day not buried in His word! I call for a return to the basics of reading and obedience to the Holy Scriptures.

I also call for a renewed respect of the commandments of Christ. And if you don’t like the word commandment, then choose to change your ways or stop coming to church and polluting the rest of us. I am tired of the pretentious games that have replaced a true walk with Christ. Either follow Him, or quit!

What say you?