I don't believe in it at all. My concern is that if people are taught they will be raptured then they will be deceived when the anti-christ makes his appearance.
I see it as the main deception that he will use to make people believe he is Christ, coming to rapture them away. He does something that "deceiveth the whole world", something that will make Christians that have loved Christ all their lives change suddenly and follow him. The Christians that I know love Christ so much that that would be unthinkable to them so it has to be done deceitfully. They will believe it is Christ because they haven't been taught what will happen.
Many family members and friends of mine believe in the rapture and I am very, very worried about it. When I have talked to some of them and showed them scripture that I feel destroys the rapture doctrine they just do not want to hear it. As a dear sister-in-law said, but you should hear my preacher. It brings to mind when Jesus told us to "take heed and follow no man".
Another sister-in-law said, "but I'm saved, so why should I worry about that?" If she follows anti-christ, even unknowingly, then who is she saved to? He will never leave us but we can leave Him. He is a jealous God and said "have no other gods before Me".
I was taught that the rapture would occur then the anti-Christ would reign and...to be honest, I don't know.
I wish more people would keep that open mind and read what the Bible tells us will happen, not what man tells us. To those that continue to believe in rapture I try to tell them that if we all disappear, as the Left Behind books tells us will happen, then there is nothing to worry about but if someone comes looking like Jesus, doing miracles like Jesus, etc., as the Bible warns he will and we are still in our flesh bodies - go the other way - it is the fake. When Jesus arrives at the 7th trump we are all changed into our spirit bodies and the anti-christ can't do that.
That's how I feel about rapture, just very concerned.
......Ping
I won't go that far. I do believe that we will be taken up...
1Theselonians 4:15-18 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
I just don't know when it's going to happen. I believe that we; (1)must admit that we are sinners, (2)believe that Jesus is the Son of God and was sent to this world to redeem us from those sins, (3)Confess that He is the Son of God, (4)and accept Him as our personal Savior for it is by Grace through Faith we are saved.
Those are the things that we must agree on. Everything else, including eschatology, we can debate, discuss, and learn from. I just wish we could do it in a way that is honoring to God and not boastful and attempting to be honoring to us.
In Christ,