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).
But you do not believe in the one he has sent, not in the sense that believe is used by John.
And you refuse to use his given name, Yehoshua, and instead use the rabbinical curse against his name.
1John gives us the clear standard of belief, in pure understandable words, and intellectual belief will not cut it.
I once was where you are now. I “get it,” but truth will remain truth.
I don’t know if you can claim that you know what anyone’s heart state is before the living God without actually meeting them and seeing how they truly live,...now there is one thing you can see about me...I do post under my given name...(the first 2 initials stand Michael David)...because I figure the NSA as well as “The Lion of The Tribe of Judah” both have me marked anyway and I might as well try and stand for something. I understand why some don’t give their names and I get that. If you feel like the name Jesus Christ was some sort of rabinnical curse name I have no problem saying Yehoshua is the anointed one of the most high God come in the flesh, Yehoshua is the WORD made flesh(since you do cite 1 John). Can you say Yehoshua is come in the flesh? Do YOU believe it and assert it? “The Prince of Peace” is come in the flesh...can you also say that? Counsellor is come in the flesh! “The Mighty God” is come in the flesh...”The Ever lasting Father” is come in the flesh...can you confidently proclaim that Yehoshua is also one and the same as all these? I disagree that it has been factually proven that Jesus Christ was a rabinnical curse name though the Bible does say he became a curse and a target of scorn for our sakes. But hey...The “son of God” knows his own and judges the heart; when, at some point he moves to give all of us perfect speech and language, when he ends the practice where men will say to the other,,,”know the Lord”, because all will have knowledge of the Glory of the Lord as water covers the sea, then we’ll all know what ultimate name he wants us to call him and in what language...I think it will be when we’ve all been commanded to be at the knee and we are all just calling him “Lord!”
You’re on a tangent!
When one states their mind there is no need for special readings.
As for the name, Jesus, taken from the Greek, may not have deliberately mimicked the acronym of the curse, but it certainly never was his name. Cristos, on the other hand has always been Tammuz/Mythras/Zeus, and is not even close to Meshiach, his true title.
The ancient word says in many places that if we seek his blessings, we must call out his name. Names are not normally transliterated. I seek to make it possible for as many as I can to be eligible for those blessings. (especially my fellow Freepers with whom I have conversed for about 18 years).
How can I face my Lord if I fail to undertake that task?
Ok; the jury has seen your claim.
They now want you to PROVE it.
Refuse??
Interesting...
The less ancient word says that none of us are worthy of any BLESSINGS.
1John 2:
[1] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
[2] And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
[3] And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
[4] He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
[5] But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
[6] He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
[7] Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
He walked in total compliance with Torah.
He spent every day of his 70 week ministry demolishing the false law of the local nicolaitans (Pharisees in this case)
.
>> “The less ancient word says that none of us are worthy of any BLESSINGS.” <<
Your opinion only.
The apostles spent their lives showing us that we could live in a sea of blessings by living his Torah as they did.
.
>> “Refuse?? “ <<
Do you ever use his given name?
I don’t think I’m on a tangent....when we’re all bent at the knee before Him...we will be calling Him LORD!
Lord is a generic title.
He is Messiach, soon to be King of Kings.
We humans have tried to render the title generic....but there is only one Lord, one God and one King!
Really?
The fella who HEALED on the SABBATH!!??
The guy who plucked and ate grain; too?
So; do YOU?
I know this'll mean nothing to you; but to millions of others...
Luke 7:1-10 New International Version (NIV)
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
Jesus did NOT say to 'keep Torah' but extols the man's FAITH instead!
How do you pronounce it again??
You know; there is just something very compeling about...
... thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
The trouble with your compulsion is that his name is not nor ever was “Jesus.”
He was named Yehoshua by the demand of the angel Gabriel, and was known by that name the entire time he was on the Earth.
.
Yehoshua, The only begotten Son of Yehova, did indeed demand that we keep his Father’s Torah, and every follower of Yehoshua did keep his Torah until the 4th century when Constantine declared a penalty of death on all that followed the commandments Yehova.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.