Some say that THE RAPTURE was mentioned by this one or that one way back when. None of that matters since people still have their own THEORIES. What does matter is what it says in the Bible. Sorry, but NO RAPTURE in the Bible. Find anyone who has never heard of THE RAPTURE. Show them all the Scriptures you were taught meaning RAPTURE. With no comments from you, ask them what they think the Scriptures mean. You could do this on a Believer or a non Believer. I doubt they will come up with your RAPTURE THEORY.
The purpose of this page is to make sure you are not one of the Christians involved in THE GREAT FALLING AWAY. Let me first say that JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. He just is NOT taking us out of this world while singing, "I'll fly away". I use to believe in THE RAPTURE. Then I found Chapter 17 of John. JESUS is in the garden just before his death praying for US - YOU AND ME.
John 17:15 (JESUS praying to The Father) "I pray NOT that thou shouldest TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD, but that thou should keep them from evil." Verse 20 - Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. (That is you and me.) If JESUS asked NOT to take us OUT, we're NOT going! The Rapture theory has nothing to do with your Salvation. Just make sure you are ready to meet Jesus, no matter how or when you die, or when Jesus returns to the earth to set up His Kingdom.
Religious people are always arguing about WHEN it will happen - PRE - MID - POST tribulation. Believing NO RAPTURE solves all those arguments. Some people prefer NOT to call it THE RAPTURE, but have other names for it.
You hear people quoting Scripture when they say COME QUICKLY, LORD JESUS. They are looking for an ESCAPE from the things of this world. When things REALLY get bad, and there is NO RAPTURE, many will turn their back on Jesus because they were not RESCUED. When this happens, they cancel their ticket to Heaven. This is exactly what the devil wanted, when he started the teaching of THE RAPTURE.
I was told that when China had the revolution, many Chinese Believers turned their back on the Lord because they were expecting to be RAPTURED out of their situation.
"RAPTURE! PROPHECY OR HERESY" is a book by Colonel H. Speed Wilson (Daring Publisher). Since 1989, he has offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who can prove scripturally that the Saints are taken OUT OF THE WORLD.
The following is taken from the back cover of the book. "The Rapture theology has been one of the most controversial topics among Christians since the early 1800s to the present. The most commonly addressed questions in the popular books, pamphlets and sermons is WHEN will the Rapture occur? WILL the Rapture be pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation? And...WILL it be a secret and silent removal of Christians or a glorious return of JESUS?
As an astute Bible Scholar, Speed Wilson now raises a question in his new thought-provoking book he feels is the most important and even critical question of all, IS THERE REALLY TO BE A RAPTURE?
Topics in Speed's book include Rapture Support Arguments, Origin of Rapture, What May Happen, What We Must Do, Consequences of the Rapture Doctrine, and, finally, Your $10,000 Challenge!
Speed is offering this $10,000 reward to anyone who can, after reading his book, reference any scriptures that clearly state that the Saints (Holy Ones, Righteous, Church, Body, Bride, Wheat...etc.) Are taken out of the world! Details as to how to receive this reward are presented in the book. The publisher, Daring Books, will give a $1,000 reward to the bookstore that sells the book to the person who qualifies for the $10,000 reward!"
FROM WARRIOR MINISTRIES - ENDING "END-TIME" CONFUSION Scripture tells us "God is not the author of confusion" (I Cor. 14:33). Yet when it comes to proper end-time direction, our churches almost universally exude the spirit of confusion. Hardened neck pastors of churches refusing to acknowledge this travesty against the Saints and correct it, should be refused the support of the Saints.
Someone wise once well said: "If we don't know where we are going, we probably won't get there". So it is today in the absence of practical common sense teaching for Saints to guide themselves and future Christians toward the second coming of our Lord JESUS. As a starting point where satan apparently introduced deception to weaken and confuse the churches, we could look to a Jesuit priest named Emmanuel Lacunza. Lacunza's 1790 book titled, "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty", was in the early 1800's published in many languages.
Rev. Edward Irving, a presbyter of the Church of Scotland, translated the book to English and it was published in 1826. The error gathered momentum when in 1830 a fifteen year old Scottish young lady named Margaret MacDonald reportedly had a PROPHETIC END-TIME VISION which gained credibility and spread. Another suspect teacher of note is J.N. Darby of England. A student of Darby was Cyrus I. Scofield (1843-1921), a successful American lawyer. Scofield published widely distributed Bible Reference Notes in 1909. From these beginnings the errors have become widely accepted as "gospel".
Certainly it is the will of the Lord JESUS that we all come to a peace and sensible practical directional unity of eschatology for us and our posterity. May God speedily give us this victory.
[This is where the modern Rapture theory started]
Now for some Scriptures and more good stuff that also came from Speed Wilson's book:
Matthew 24:37-41 (Jesus speaking) But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, THEY (the wicked) were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And THEY (the wicked) knew not until the flood came and took THEM (the wicked) ALL AWAY; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
THEY and THEM are clearly the WICKED (ungodly unbelievers).
Verse 40 - Then shall two be in the field, the (WICKED) one SHALL BE TAKEN, and the other left.
Two shall be grinding at the mill; the (WICKED) one SHALL BE TAKEN and the other left.
Luke 17:26, 27 and 34-36 (Jesus speaking) As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the day of the Son of Man. THEY (the WICKED) did eat, THEY (the WICKED) did drink, THEY (the WICKED) married wives, THEY (the WICKED) were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed THEM (the WICKED) all.
...I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed,; the (WICKED) one SHALL BE TAKEN (destroyed) and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding together; the (WICKED) one SHALL BE TAKEN (destroyed) and the other left.
Two men shall be in the field; the (WICKED) one SHALL BE TAKEN (destroyed) and the other left.
RAPTURE believers think THEY will be the ONE TAKEN. If you think YOU will be TAKEN, lets see what Jesus says will happen to you.
Luke 17:37, Jesus answers the disciples question of what happens to the TAKEN ONES. Jesus said, WHERE THERE IS A DEAD BODY, THERE THE VULTURES WILL GATHER.
2 Peter 2:5 (Peter speaking) (God) saved (kept safe) Noah...bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly (WICKED).
Matthew 13:24-30 The parable of the wheat and the tares. Gather together FIRST THE TARES. Jesus continues, The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they will gather OUT of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity....
Luke 17:29,30 (Jesus speaking) ...(in) Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed THEM ALL. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. THE WICKED were destroyed, once again.
Matthew 13:47-50 (Jesus speaking) Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but THREW THE BAD AWAY. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and SEVER THE WICKED from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire...
Once again the GOOD remain and the BAD are thrown away. THE WICKED TAKEN and destroyed "from among the just," who remain on the earth.
I Thessalonians 5:3 (Paul speaking) For when THEY (THE WICKED) shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction shall come upon THEM...and they shall not escape.
Matthew 24:21,22 and Mark 13:19,20 (Jesus speaking) For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved (survive); but for THE ELECT's sake whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.
How can there be THE ELECT during this time IF they went in THE RAPTURE?
ELECT is also mentioned in Luke 18:7; Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12; Titus 1:1
Proverbs 2:21, 22 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall REMAIN in it, but THE WICKED shall be cut off (taken/destroyed) from the earth and the transgressors shall be rooted OUT of it.
Psalm 145:20 The Lord preserveth ALL that love him; but ALL THE WICKED He will destroy.
Proverbs 10:30 The righteous shall NEVER be REMOVED;
Proverbs 11:31 The righteous shall be recompensed IN the (world) earth...
Psalm 101:8 I (God) will early (first) destroy THE WICKED of the land...
Psalm 119:119 All THE WICKED of the earth you discard (throw away) like dross.
Proverbs 25:4,5 Take AWAY the dross from the silver...Take AWAY THE WICKED from before the King...
Isaiah 5:24 and 29:5 The flame consumeth the chaff (WICKED).
Job 21:18 THEY (THE WICKED) are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth AWAY.
Job 38:13 (Speaking to God) ...take hold of the ends of the earth that THE WICKED might be shaken OUT of it.
Malachi 4:1 For behold the day cometh...and all that do WICKEDLY, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up...
Psalm 37:29 The righteous shall inherit the land (earth) and dwell therein FOREVER.
Psalm 37:9-11 For evildoers (WICKED) shall be cut off (destroyed); but those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth.
Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger...and He shall destroy the sinners thereof OUT of it (the earth).
Psalm 104:35 Let the sinners be consumed OUT OF THE EARTH (world), and let the wicked be no more.
Psalm 52:5 God shall likewise destroy THEE (THE WICKED) forever; He shall take THEE AWAY, and pluck THEE OUT of thy dwelling place.
The above are just some of the Scriptures that make it CLEAR that the righteous STAY, and THE WICKED GO.
Ezekiel 9:4-6 and Revelation 9:3,4 talk about THE WICKED being destroyed in the midst of the RIGHTEOUS.
Was Job raptured out of his time of tribulation (testing)? NO
Was Joseph raptured out of the pit or prison? NO
Was Daniel raptured out of the lion's den? NO
Was King David raptured out of all his tribulation? NO
Exodus 7:18 through 12:30 records the Israelites were IN Egypt for all ten plagues of God's wrath.
Was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego raptured out of the firery furnace? NO
Was Jesus or any of the Apostles raptured out of their persecution? NO
Was Paul raptured out of all his tribulations (2 Corithians 11:23-27)? NO
NO RAPTURE, JUST MUCH TRIBULATION
1 Thessalonians 4:17 is the SINGLE Scripture used to justify THE RAPTURE by false doctrine. Based on Scripture, you cannot make a doctrine on a SINGLE Scripture. The word RAPTURE does not appear in the text of any translation of the Bible, in any language.
"CAUGHT UP" are the words used by many when referring to THE RAPTURE. King James must have missed this one because the words "CAUGHT UP" are not found in the Young's Concordance for 1 Thessalonians 4:17. However, "CATCH" is listed under that Scripture. That word appears 13 times, and is translated six different ways: catch, catch away, catch (caught) up, pluck and take by force. In the 12 other Scriptures, it has nothing to do with the physical removal of living people from the earth/world to heaven.
Also in THE RAPTURE CHAPTER, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, is to meet the lord IN THE AIR. According to the Strong's and Young's concordance, "AIR" is the Greek word "AER", as used in the following Scriptures:
Acts 22:23, ...and threw dust into the air (AER).
1 Corinthians 9:26, ...not as one who beateth the air (AER).
1 Corinthians 14:9, ...for ye shall speak in the air (AER).
Another Greek word which is also translated, AIR, in the KJV of the Bible is OURANOS. That translation is found in Matthew 6:26, 8:20, 13:32; Mark 4:4 and 32; Luke 8:5, 9:58, 13:19 and Acts 10:12, 11:6. Each one of these Scriptures refer to "the birds/fowls of the air (ouranos).
Grab a handful of dust and throw it into the air. That's about where you would be hanging IF there were to be a RAPTURE, based on the recorded meaning of the word AIR.
Next we have the phrase "with them in the CLOUDS". If you look outside, you can see the clouds WAY UP there. BUT, is that what the Scripture means? No.
In the following Scriptures, the CLOUD came DOWN to earth:
Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34
In 1Corinthians 10:1,2, they were UNDER the CLOUD, and were baptized IN the CLOUD.
Hebrews 11:36 through 12:2 talks about SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES.
With all of the above, let us read 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning at verse 13, with a much more accurate and clearer understanding of the words and terms used therein. For clarity, the following Scripture quotes from 1 Thessalonians are in capital letters.
"BUT I WOULD NOT HAVE YOU IGNORANT, BRETHREN, CONCERNING THEM WHICH ARE ASLEEP (this Scripture is primarily about the departed/dead saints in Christ) THAT YE SORROW NOT, EVEN AS OTHERS WHICH HAVE NO HOPE (the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection). FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN (we all believe that), EVEN SO (in like manner) THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP (are dead) IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM (Jesus). FOR THIS WE SAY UNTO YOU BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, THAT WE (Biblical believers) WHO ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN (on earth) UNTO THE COMING OF THE LORD SHALL NOT PREVENT (precede) (have any advantage over) THEM WHICH ARE ASLEEP. FOR THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN (Acts 1:11, Jesus went directly from earth to Heaven and shall return "in like manner" directly from Heaven to earth. No rapture back to heaven for a later third coming!) WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, AND THE TRUMP(et) OF GOD: AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE (Greek word, anistemi: to set up or be resurrected) FIRST: THEN WE WHO ARE ALIVE ("We shall not all die, but shall be changed/transformed/transfigured" (1 Cor 15:51) AND REMAIN (on the earth in the "aer") SHALL BE CAUGHT UP (made one) (harpazo) TOGETHER (at the same time) WITH THEM (the dead in Christ) IN THE CLOUDS TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR (the "great cloud of witnesses" that will "be made perfect" with us on earth when Jesus brings their spirits "with Him" to be united with their bodies resurrected out of the ground "first" into the air [aer] with us in the air, on the surface of the earth): AND SO SHALL WE (for) EVER BE WITH THE LORD (in the air [aer] here ON earth forever). WHEREFORE, COMFORT (reassure) ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS." (Notice, the Lord "descended from Heaven" before we are "caught up" to Him; just as the "New Jerusalem" came down to dwell with us--Rev. 21:2.)
It is a fact that no Christian churches, congregations or fellowships existing prior to 1830 proclaimed a RAPTURE doctrine, and all accepted the Biblical truth that Christians would be on earth during the time of great tribulation. Before 1830, the single RAPTURE Scripture of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 were accepted as resurrection verses.
The SCOFIELD Bible and the DAKE'S Bible were the first to carry FOOTNOTES about THE RAPTURE. It's all (BAD) history from there!
REMEMBER THAT THE MODERN RAPTURE THEORY WAS STARTED BY A 15 YEAR OLD CATHOLIC GIRL IN ENGLAND BY THE NAME OF MARGARET MAC DONALD IN 1830 WHO HAD A VISION.
The following is quoted from a book by Dave MacPherson (historian) called THE RAPTURE PLOT:
"What generally hasn't been known about Margaret is the extent to which she was open to the world of the 'occult' (definition: 'secret or hidden knowledge of supernatural phenomena').
...Take the word 'rapture'. Many still don't know that this word (body-lifting sense) had been used for CENTURIES by medieval mystics to describe their own levitation a few inches (or even several feet) above the floor or ground. Such 'raptures' were often condemned by Catholic leaders... And Robert Norton, the pretrib origin chronicler, revealed the following about Margaret and one of her friends: 'I have seen both her and Miss Margaret MacDonald stand like statues scarcely touching the ground, evidently supernaturally'." (pp. 51-52).
Here is an article that came from http://world-ministries.org:
Left Behind Movie Misleads Believers
Gary North - http://LewRockwell.com - 1/10/2001
Christians are being led into false doctrine by the best-selling book series "Left Behind" soon to be in a major movie of the same name.
Jesus taught us in the parable of the wheat and tares that believers and nonbelievers would live together until the end of the world. "Only at the end of time will the corporate separation take place: sheep and goats, wheat and tares, saved and lost, covenant-keepers and covenant-breakers. Until then, the separation remains confessional and institutional, not physical and corporate.
"Until 1830, the Christian church universally taught this doctrine of temporal non-separation. In 1830, a tiny English Protestant sect known as the Irvingites proclaimed a new doctrine. The church will escape the prophesied future tribulation by being removed from history. The church will be pulled into heaven at an event that is today referred to as 'the Rapture' ...
"The Irvingites' idea was immediately adopted by John Nelson Darby, a leader of the small British sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. Darby brought this doctrine to the United States. Decades later, in the 1880's, it finally began to spread among American fundamentalists, especially those who were upset by the appearance of what soon became known as the Social Gospel, which identified the kingdom of God with the Progressive movement. The Social Gospel's defenders secularized the older postmillennialism of the Puritans and American Presbyterians, concluding that the interventionist State will progressively manifest the political aspect of the kingdom of God in history.
"Fundamentalists rejected such a notion, but offered in its place the Irving-Darby doctrine: the pre-tribulational, pre-millennial Rapture. The Rapture will take place 1,007 years prior to the final judgment, seven years prior to the bodily return of Jesus to set up an international Christian bureaucracy to run the world. This thousand-year era will be known as the millennial kingdom of God. Jesus will therefore return pre-millennially.
"What was new in this premillennial outline was the doctrine that Christ will remove the church from the world 3.5 years prior to the great tribulation period, which will last for another 3.5 years. Seven years after the Rapture, He will return to set up His earthly kingdom. Traditional premillennialism, which has a long history, had previously taught that Christ will return after the great tribulation of His church. There will be no period in history where there is not continuity for His church. So, Jesus will come secretly to rapture his church into heaven. Then the antichrist will set up an international government to rule the world. "
This false teaching of the rapture has caused Christians to think they need do nothing. Teaching that the rapture can occur any day is false, because it causes Christians to think that we are soon to leave earth and do not need to be active in Spiritual Warfare. But God needs us to be salt, and speak truth, and make a difference in the world today.
FOR ANOTHER INDEPTH STUDY ON NO RAPTURE, COPY AND PASTE http://www.ricter.com/wordline/rapture.htm
The following information came from an email:
"Grant Jeffrey has found an ancient citation from a sermon ascribed to Ephraem of Nisibis (306-373 a.d.), which clearly teaches that believers will be raptured and taken to Heaven before The Tribulation. Ephraem of Nisibis was the most important and prolific of the Syrian church fathers and a witness to early Christianity on the fringes of the Roman Empire in the late fourth century. He was well-known for his poetry, exegetical and theological writings, and many of the hymns of the early Byzantine church. So popular were his works that in the fifth and sixth centuries he was adopted by several Christian communities as a spiritual leader and role model. This sermon is deemed to be one of the most interesting apocalyptic texts of the early Middle Ages. The translation of the sermon includes the following segment: "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." The sermon describes the events of the last days, beginning with the rapture, the Great Tribulation of 3 1/2 years duration under the Antichrist's rule, followed by the Second Coming of Christ. In Ephraem's book The Book of the Cave of Treasures, written about 370 A.D., he expressed his belief that the 69th week of Daniel ended with the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah. This, of course, doesn't prove that the pre-tribulation view is correct; only that it was held (by some) in the early centuries and was not unique to the revival of the 1830's. It simply documents that this view was held by a remnant of the faithful from the beginning until today."
Remember, THE RAPTURE is a THEORY, a bad one.
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Poster Comment:
For more proof the rapture theory is a false teaching, from a different perspective and better Biblical proof than this article offers, visit the website www.endtimeinsights.com. Thessalonians "rapture verse" is clearly talking about the ONE Second Coming of Christ.