In this brief article, Fr. Anthony expresses with clarity the truth of the false teaching known as the “Rapture” and how much it distorts the teachings of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures.Posted on 07/27/2016 8:46:41 PM PDT by NRx
By Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris
In this brief article, Fr. Anthony expresses with clarity the truth of the false teaching known as the “Rapture” and how much it distorts the teachings of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures.
As I was driving one day I encountered a bumper sticker admonishing me:
“WARNING! In the event of Rapture, this car will be driverless.”
The strange belief in the Rapture teaches that some day (sooner rather than later), without warning, born-again Christians will begin to float up from the freeway, abandoned vehicles careening wildly. There will be airliners in the sky suddenly with no one at the controls! Presumably, God is removing these favored ones from earth to spare them the tribulation of the Anti-Christ which the rest of us will have to endure.
Unfortunately the Rapture has been promoted widely by the Left Behind series of books that have sold over 70 million copies.
The Rapture represents a radical misinterpretation of Scripture. I remember watching “Sixty Minutes”a year ago and was appalled to hear the announcer say that “the Rapture is an unmistakenly Christian doctrine”. It is not!
It is a serious distortion of Scripture.
It is astonishing that a belief so contrary to Scripture and the tradition of the Church could be propagated by so-called “Christians”.
According to the Bible and according to the belief not only of Orthodox Christians but also of the Roman Catholic and most Protestant mainline churches, the true Rapture will not be secret; it will be the great and very visible Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the world. That is the one and only “Rapture”. It will not be a separate, secret event but one that every eye shall see (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
The word rapture is not found in Scripture but hearkens to 1 Thess. 4:17 where St. Paul says that when the Lord comes again
“we who are alive…shall be caught up…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
This “being caught up…in the clouds”—arpagisometha in Greek, is translated by some as “raptured”. The word itself is not found in Orthodox theology.
The notion of a rapture in which Christ comes unseen to take believers away secretly, and only later comes back again for everyone else publicly—this whole teaching is quite novel. It was almost unheard of until John Nelson Darby formulated it in the 1800s as part of a new approach to the Bible, sometimes called “dispensationalism”.
The purpose of the “Rapture” is to protect the elect from the tribulations of the end times. Yet Jesus said nothing about sparing anyone from tribulation. In fact, He said,
“In the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
Nowhere did Jesus ever say that He would return secretly to rapture the elect. Rather, He promised to be with His elect in all tribulations.
“Lo, I am with you always. I will never leave you or forsake you.”
He even had something good to say about being persecuted:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10).
Those who espouse the Rapture claim that Matthew 24:40-41 refers clearly to the rapture of the just,
“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”
The entire passage, however, refers to Christ’s second coming where He will judge the living and the dead and separate the just from the unjust.
Darby taught as dogma that when the Scriptures reveal that the Lord will reign on earth for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4), this figure is to be taken literally, rather than as a symbol for eternity as we believe. The Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 condemned as heresy this teaching which is called chialiasmos (millenianism or 1000 years).
In fact, the Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787 A.D.) in which the essential truths of the Christian faith were defined never mention a rapture. Yet evangelical Christians and Pentecostals keep using obscure passages of the book of Revelation which purport to give a detailed timetable of what will happen at the end of the world, despite the fact that Jesus Himself warned that no man knows either the day or the hour when the Son of Man shall return.
A major problem with the Rapture is that it ends up teaching not two but three comings of Jesus—first His birth in Bethlehem; second, His secret coming to snatch away (rapture) the “born-again”; and third, His coming at the end of the world to judge the living and the dead and to reign in glory. Yet only two not three comings of Christ are mentioned in the Bible. We have the clearest definition of this in the Nicene Creed when we confess that
“the Lord Jesus Christ…will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. His Kingdom will have no end…. I expect the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the ages to come.”
There is no mention of a “Rapture”.
As already stated, most Christians, Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Protestants do not believe in the Rapture. In fact, one Protestant pastor, John L. Bray, summarized magnificently what we Orthodox and most other Christians believe about the Rapture when he wrote these remarkable words,
Though many believe and teach this “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” theory, they erroneously do so, because neither Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, nor any of the other writers of the Bible taught this. Nor did the early church fathers, nor any others for many hundreds of years…. Did you know that NONE of this was ever taught prior to 1812, and that all forms of Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaching were developed since that date? …. If I were to preach something, or believe something, supposedly from the Bible, but cannot find that ANYONE ELSE before 1812 ever believed it or taught it, I would seriously question that it is based on the Bible.
Thus the Rapture is foreign to the Bible and to the living tradition of the Church. It is what we call a heresy, a false teaching. False teachings, such as this, happen when people—like John Darby—believe that they have the right to interpret the Scriptures individually apart from the Living Body of Christ—the Church—where the Spirit of Truth abides and leads us to all truth.
I can think of no better words to conclude than those of Jesus when He speaks of the one and only “Rapture”, the Second Coming:
“Be on guard. Be alert! You do not know when that time will come…keep watch…if he comes suddenly, do not let Him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch!” (Mark 13:32-37).
The Left sabotaged the teachings by watering them down and calling it love, instead of teaching that the hard stuff should be taught with love
Heb 5:13 For everyone partaking of milk is unskillful in the Word of Righteousness, for he is an infant.
Heb 5:14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, even those who because of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
But a few additional thoughts.
1) correction will most times feel like contempt to the recipient in this day of age, maybe always, no matter how you do it.
2) Jesus came to divide, a very harsh process. He would speak the truth and many walked away and he let them do so.
Rev 22:18 For I testify together to everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add on him the plagues that have been written in this Book.
Rev 22:19 And if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which have been written in this Book.
In 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul was comforting those whose loved ones had died (are asleep) and explains that our grief is tempered with the hope of the resurrection (vs 13) because those who are alive “shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.”
“The dead in Christ shall rise first.”
Then, in 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul writes to calm them again because someone said the Lord had already come!
Paul explicitly states that the Lord’s return will not be until after the anti-Christ is revealed. So, the key is the resurrection. There are two. In Revelation 20:5 is the first resurrection of the faithful martyrs from the Great Tribulation and “”the rest of the dead did [do] not come to life until the thousand years were [are] completed.”
The first resurrection occurs AFTER the anti-Christ is revealed and upon the return of the King of kings and those who survive the Great Tribulation join them. Before the destruction of the universe after the thousand year rule, all others are resurrected, believers gathered, to be with God forever. Followers of Satan join him.
Oh, those who are resurrected in the first resurrection (those martyred) rule with the King of kings during the thousand years. The survivors do return to earth with Him, but do not rule with Him. What a wonderful time! I believe they will live hundreds of years, like before the flood. But that is just my opinion.
FOOLS!
I was taught the pre-trib rapture in a Scoffield independent Baptist church. Went to a Christian junior college and met my first Calvinist who was/is a post-tribulationist. After my shock of how a Christian could believe such heresy I went back to my room, cried in prayer for 30 minutes or so, and finally gave it all to God and ASKED TO KNOW THE TRUTH no matter what. I opened my Bible and did my own study. I read the whole New Testament in the coming days and trusted what I read. Still do. Always read the whole chapter of any reference, especially in church.
Wadi el Arish, the River of Egypt.
quote-
Is it the biggest theological fraud inflicted upon modern Christianity?
no.
That’s where my apologetics classes come in ;)
Modern Christianity is pretty much all heresy.
1. Baptizing babies
2. Rapture
3. Instant salvation
4. Religious schools ordaining priests and preachers
5. Paid preachers
6. Gay preachers
7. Ordaining women
8. Pedophile priests
etc...
Jesus and the original Apostles spoke of two completely different types of “believers” in the last days. And they gave some signs to look for...There would be the real believers and those that are basically fooling themselves.
Jesus spoke in plain words when teaching about this state that people would be in during this time period. And He said that the real believers would be few in number. Jesus said that the fake believers will have deceived themselves so completely that they won’t truly understand it until that moment that they are cast out of His presence at the judgement.
Paul gave a couple signs of these fake churches. Paul said some “abstain from meat” and others would “forbid to marry”. And called these the doctrines of the devil. These weren’t just bad doctrines these are signs of false churches. Which among all the “Christian” churches forbids their leadership to marry? Which one doesn’t eat meat?
Another sign is people claiming you can receive salvation without adhering to the eternal laws of God concerning salvation. Instead they rationalize it away as if that gives them a pass at the judgment. But it doesn’t.
Every rationalization always comes back to the same thing, they don’t have to do anything. Jesus Himself said every person that actually enters the kingdom of God will have to be as a little child here on earth. Humble, meek, forgiving, full of truth, repentant... there’s no getting around that for any human being. But the fake believers say all you have to do is believe. Even though Jesus said otherwise... it doesn’t matter to them.
John says there are true Moses like prophets in the last days. Does it matter to the fake believers that they don’t actually know any? Nope. Does it matter that God hasn’t spoken to any of their leaders in 2000 years? Nope. Nothing will change their minds until Christ Himself closes the door on them at the judgement. Jesus said their reaction to being finally made aware of the truth will be “weeping” and “gnashing of teeth”.
And it’s all unfolding the way Jesus and the prophets said it would.
1997? I must re-read my book 88 REASONS WHY THE RAPTURE WILL BE IN 1988!
Then I have another prophecy date made in the neo-nazi SPOTLIGHT tabloid back on Oct 10 1983 that stated the End Times would begin with an universal earthquake in 1983 and the Apostolic Age would begin in on Oct 5/6, 1984.
None of the Prophecies of the end times have ever panned out, so the modern day “pro-fits” of the end times keep changing the dates.
Today’s Christians spend too much time on speculation. So many spend too much their time trying to “prove” the first chapters of Genesis, others spend their time trying to prove Revelation(Apocalypse), and the IMPORTANT part between gets ignored.
I did the same thing.
Sometimes, I think Christians focus disproportionately on homosexuality; maybe it is because society has really encouraged the lifestyle and behavior. There are many ways people fall short of the glory of God; we have to all remember that.
FYI the author is not Catholic. He is Eastern Orthodox. And we don’t subscribe to Purgatory thing.
Umm OK. Not sure what that has to do with anything here since the article is not about Catholicism and the author is not Catholic.
LEFT BEHIND first published in 1995. People were expecting the end to come then but it didn’t, so a series was written. Too many people I know spent all their time reading this series and not reading the Bible.
These books are available cheap at any second hand store, Salvation Army, Goodwill, yard sale, ect, as People finally realized they are FICTION and tossed them out.
I personally dislike religious fiction, except Pilgrim’s Progress. I would rather read the Pilgrim’s Progress or Homer’s Odyssey any day.
Why instant salvation? Jesus forgave the thief on the cross.
What about Enoch’s “obligation”? It says, “Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.”
It’s like the TV preachers....none of them actually believe, they’re in it for the money.
I think its the perniciousness of the agenda. It focuses on children and developing teens. There is not a protected class of thieves or murderers that are threatening to use government to force their views on us.
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