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).
You too, I enjoyed this discussion.
Jesus did not support hatred of gays.
Correction with love, yes.
Hatred, no.
You display hatred. Worse, you lie about it, and hide behind scripture. In fact, you don’t even address teaching gays with love. Or anyone else, really.
Jesus said all the teachings “hang from” love. That means Christians are to teach ONLY with love - whatever they are teaching. So that practice should literally be at the heart of Christianity.
But it’s not in practice.
Anyone can read the Bible, and condemn others. Christianity is teaching with love, so that the love of Christ flows through you and effects change in others. Only that Divine love can work the miracle of change in someone - not your strident condemnations. You block grace with your hate and your claims of sanctity. You are a fraud that Jesus Himself specifically warned against, and you are legion.
THAT is Testimony.
Bumper sticker slander. Why aren't you more courteous and civil to me? Maybe because you don't want to acknowledge the slander I was replying to? How dishonest of you, how calculating.
What a surprise.
PS: Don’t knock the giving a good clean clothes to the Salvation Army...they are a good organization. But hey...5 dollars for undies and 5 dollars for socks at Walmart. 10 to 20 dollars for a tee shirt and a pair of teen shorts or pants. Give to Salvation Army brand new and you’ve just clothed a stranger or her child...nothing hard about it and yes God will notice!
That is a good point. I give the salvation army what I do not want or need anymore. However, I doubt anyone wants to wear used socks or underwear. I never would. But to others, they have no choice.
One thing that I find interesting about the Salvation Army, is that their General makes like 80K; for someone in charge of such a large important organization, that isn’t much, especially when you. compare that to the CEO of United Way or Make a Wish.
And you know this how?
Hey bro. It's already Friday morning here. Thursday night where you are. Good morning, good evening. My watch is set to Singapore time. 😀😆
Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris, Pastor Emeritus, St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, Minneapolis, MN.
http://www.stmarysgoc.org/fr-anthony-coniaris/
Christianity teaches accountability and that you are not the sole arbiter of what is right and wrong. That is why liberals hate Christianity
Agreed. But Christians who have accepted Christ have not done so because they crave rules, restrictions and threats of hell from God. They do it because they've experienced the love and forgiveness, the compassion and strength, of Jesus Christ.
Liberals have not experienced that - they just see the rules and threats of hell.
And we have an absolute catastrophe of liberals in this country. So my question is how to reduce their numbers.
Most Christians say, well, you've got to choose. Jesus set up the rules, not us. So if liberals reject them, that's their choice.
On the other hand, part of those rules, is HOW Christians are to TEACH those rules.
And it just so happens that not only did Jesus actually give teaching rules - literally rules about how to teach the rules - He also declared them His most important rules of all.
Which, with a little thought, is also the deepest teaching of all. Because in my opinion it's this: that none of us can bring anyone to Christ. We can't do it - we don't have the power or knowledge, no matter how educated or pure we think we are. So what Jesus did instead was tell us to love one another. But why? After all, even our love is tainted. But when we love in His Name, even with our limited love, HIS ACTUAL DIVINE LOVE can flow THROUGH us. And THAT - and ONLY that - can bring others to Christ.
So to me, that is the essence of Christianity - upon which, as Jesus said, ALL the other rules "hang," or in other words, are dependent, because it enables Jesus's love to flow through the one teaching the rules. Because without that divine love flowing, no rule means anything - because it can't reach anyone's heart. And that's why, and how, Jesus personally changes the game of the entire Bible.
And that's also why you can be "right," but wrong at the same time. Because if you're not teaching with love, you're blocking Jesus's divine love from flowing through you to reach the one you're teaching. And without that, their heart is not touched, they are not changed, and they just see you as someone damning them - and so they reject you and Christianity as false. And from there, IMO, many of them embrace socialism to try to soothe their hearts with its lies.
If just citing damning doctrines was enough, if that's the "tough love" that's necessary, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to specifically command we love each other above all things, and declare that all teachings are dependent upon that love. But He did, and THAT, IMO, is the constant challenge of living a Christian life. Because if you can't love someone, it's better to just shut up - Jesus also said it's better to put a stone around your neck and throw yourself into the sea, rather than harm one of His little ones. And so, if you teach without love, and they turn away from Christ as a result, you have indeed harmed them in His eyes. Because what you've ACTUALLY done in that case, is BLOCKED Jesus from flowing through you, and thereby DENIED your student that VITAL experience.
That's my "Christianity." Upon that, I rest my soul. And where I don't see that, I also don't see any Christians.
Quote-Actually, Catholicism and Islam are.
Old yeller, the further I go down this journey to Truth and sanctification, all religion is finding its way into Babylon..
And the the only place to go- is out..
but I admit to being to being different. I can’t help it- the King of Kings led me out...
And it is rarified air up here!
Summary: Orthodox Believers of History Have Believed in a Pretribulational View
As stated earlier in this link, the timing of the rapture debate should not be classed as an "A" level truth. The fact of Christ's coming is a larger issue. Then next in the scale would be if Christ will rule on the earth as King over all the earth. Those two issues are higher on the scale than the exact time of his rapture of the church age saints. To divide a fellowship or to break fellowship with a body over this one doctrine shows a sign of immaturity.
However, Christians must recognize that those who paint pre-tribulationists as fanatics, fringe movement Christians, or as heretics who have embraced some strange and novel idea never heard of until the 1800's have done a disfavor to the entire body of Christ. Whatever position one holds to in this area, everyone should at the least admit good, sound, and orthodox believers have taught this view before the 1800's time period. And many today continue to see this as a valid position to hold from the Scriptures when properly interpreted in a plain, consistent, and normal manner with the words given their ordinary usage in historical context.
It is astonishing that the belief in the catching up (rapture) of the believers in Christ is thought by some so-called Christians to be "contrary" to Scripture!
You don't know the story of the thief bro. Matthew 27:44. Both initially mocked him. Later, one changed his mind.
Amen GC.
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