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:

I believe almost all of us believe that Jesus will come back to earth someday. Acts 1:9-11 (NASB) “And after He (Jesus) had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’” That’s good enough for me. How about you? Where we should have some discussion is when. Pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation? Let’s dig a little

The idea 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?  Or what about Charles Russell the founder of 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. We should look at ourselves and wonder are we “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?” Most of us agree that certain cults and cultish ideas are outlandish! Mankind is always looking for the next new insight. And the crazier, the better. 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.”

When we read this passage we think of those foolish souls who are misled by myths never once considering the idea that it could be us. Should we blindly accept something that could be bogus as Bonafide? Or are we willing to question?

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 idea 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 book. The Baptists really bought the idea and now it is taken as fact by almost all of us. We don’t even question it. Yet there was a time when the idea did not even exist.

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!

We must be watchful! But we tend to ignore the admonishments and warnings in Scripture and proceed on our own. Quite frankly, uncomfortable subjects are left out of our church meetings. We think if we don’t talk about them maybe they will disappear. What’s left? Man’s rituals and myths? A hard look at our own individual churches might point out some mistakenly false beliefs and pitfalls, things that are not proven by Scripture but are still a part of some strange religious unity. False beliefs, rituals, religious ideology, are all there to not only sway us off the road but to destroy our eternity with Christ. We must return to truth in 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 what if it’s all a big lie?

 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.’”

Both of these Scriptural passages seem to state something completely different than what we have grown to accept as spiritual reality. Just as many have accepted 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 as the proof of our pre-tribulation exit from earth, could we not draw an opposite conclusion that we will still be here when evil assumes power? Instead of being religiously dogmatic about an idea that first came from a cult, can’t we search and ask questions? Or should we push our heads deeper into the sand?

This is serious business! We sit around forming church committees and planning banquets, singing songs waiting for the rapture to whisk us away to Nirvana, but Satan is laughing at us all the while devising our demise. I don’t know if the Church has ever been more disoriented. We have become spiritually sedated, and confusion is now the Church norm. Are you happy with that? Wake up!

The real crux of the issue is that we do not read and follow our bibles nearly enough. And worse, we do not seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We have stuffed Him so deep into our box of things we misunderstand that He no longer has any real meaning to us, or power to help. Have we lost our hunger and thirst? I think maybe. We tell ourselves, “Life is too busy. 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 believe we should question a pre-tribulation rapture. Each church should discuss this amongst themselves and if there is any question then please remove it from your core beliefs. We must return to the basics of reading and obedience to the Holy Scriptures. Use them to change your lives, not to prove myths.

I also call for a renewed respect of the voice of Christ. Every recorded word of His goes beyond vital and is always correct. He spoke of the end times. “Nation against nation, persecution of believers, earthquakes, famines, betrayals, and by endurance we will gain our lives.” Does this sound like an early exit to you?

I believe the Church is in danger because She has an aversion to the word endurance. To endure means to bear pain without flinching. Our songs and sermons are not preparing us for a battle let alone an all-out war. We have grown sleepy. We have grown comfortable. Have we grown lazy also? We think we have safety in a pre-tribulation rapture. But according to Scripture it might not be true. So, whether true or not, we must prepare ourselves for the end of all things here on earth.

Ephesians 5:14 “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”