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).
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Our Elohim has changed absolutely nothing!
The words of his prophets is being fulfilled daily.
The words of his prophets ARE being fulfilled daily.
Honestly, you're sounding like some of the other crybabies that pop up here from time to time bemoaning that someone is "bashing" them instead of disagreeing with what their religion asserts. Should we all just ignore your infamous founder who called every Christian who wasn't a Mormon part of the "whore of Babylon"? You gonna denounce him, too?
Oh?
To whom?
No; I mean Jesus.
The name the ANGEL gave to his mom's husband.
He can't; and survive Mormonism's wrath.
He 's in for a penny and damned sure in for a pound!
This is the audio clip of Dallin H. Oaks, current Mormon Apostle leader, from the PBS documentary, "The Mormons", declaring unequivocally:
"IT'S WRONG TO CRITICIZE LEADERS OF THE (MORMON) CHURCH, EVEN IF THE CRITICISM IS TRUE."Don't criticize?
1 Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost?
2 Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer?
3 Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days?
4 Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?
5 Do you live the law of chastity?
6 Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?
7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
8 Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?
9 Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
10 Are you a full-tithe payer?
11 Do your keep the Word of Wisdom?
12 Do you have financial or other oblgations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations?
13 If you have previously received your temple endowment:
Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?
Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?
14 Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been?
15 Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances?
(Yours IS up to date; ain't it??)
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Jesus is the name taken from the Rabbis curse against his name. The angel Gabriel uttered no curse.
YSHU is the acronym that the Greek translators transliterated Iesous. It stands for Yimach Shema Uzikro, “let his name be forgotten and never remembered.
Were it not for the Netzerim, the Rabbis would have been successful. The man made religion called “Christianity” created by Constantine in the mid 4th century loved the curse and propagated it.
Yeshua Lives! His Holy name lives with him.
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.>> “To whom?” <<
To the assembled multitude that came out of Egypt, consisting of several thousands of the descendants of Jacob, and several hundred Thousands of Egyptians that chose to journey with them.
Torah was given to the believing world.
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By whom?
By Yehova.
Read your Bible
A real Catch-22, eh???
Teppe, if Christianity is true, mormonism with its sweaty, created Christ, is false.
Does believing in truth make someone a bigot? Think carefully. If you say yes, than Christ would fall under your definition too.
Christianity and mormonism have much in common:
Their doctrines are both mostly man made.
“Christianity” was invented by Constantine with Eusebius’ help, while mormonism was invented by Joe Smith with much help from Satan.
“Christianity” was invented by Constantine with Eusebius’ help, while mormonism was invented by Joe Smith with much help from Satan.”
Sorry dude, but I won’t be taking any teaching from a pretend rabbi who was formerly in a cult. I’ll leave that to you amigo.
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No pretend anything.
No Rabbi, No cult.
Cults are man made, like christianity, ruled by nicolaitans, not created by Yehova.
Respecting the Sun Day is Sun God worship.
Yeshua’s disciples never respected any day but Yehova’s Sabbath, and Yehova’s appointed times.
If your days are on a Roman calendar, they are not Yehova’s days.
Bro, your false rabbi was in The Way International, a cult. That you follow his new cult disqualifies you as well. Were you also a member of The Way, or did you hook up with the false bearded guy later?
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>> “Bro, your false rabbi was in The Way International, a cult.” <<
Do you willingly post false information?
Bad practice for sure.
Rood was never called a “Rabbi,” and his falling out with them was due to his adherence to the scriptures, rejecting all of the Pharisee man made garbage.
He is now the world’s leading proponent of God’s word, without question. Churchianity is dying a necessary death, that the truth of Yehova’s word may prevail.
It is time to recognize that Grace is Yehova giving us a love for his Torah, not the license to sin that 99% of “Christianity” wishes it to be.
“He is now the world’s leading proponent of God’s word, without question. Churchianity is dying a necessary death, that the truth of Yehova’s word may prevail.”
You keep telling yourself that bro. That’s on you.
I don’t believe in any way that your fake rabbi is a “ world’s leading proponent of God’s Word.”
He was in a cult and now leads his own cult. It seems you are his follower.
Were you in The Way too?
Those under grace died to the law. We are under grace, not law.
When I get back home, I can post the Scripture if you’d like.
But otherwise read Galatians and Romans 1-8.
Those under grace died to the law. We are under grace, not law.
When I get back home, I can post the Scripture if you’d like.
But otherwise read Galatians and Romans 1-8.
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