The Rapture – Indisputable Christian Heresy

Preachers Institute ^ | 04-10-2010 | Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris

[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).

[Talisker]

In my hypothetical question, the Christians are the ones who believe in the Rapture. As in is it reasonable to expect some sort of posthumous planning for the ones left behind?

If REAL Christians are suddenly gone, what's left? A world without Christians? There would be chaos. You could leave behind property or money, but there would rise up, immediately, a predatory government far worse than anything now, which would probably go for full enslavement.

So what could you leave that would actually be effective, is the real question. What could be kept by those you left it to? When the Hillarys and Bernies of the world would be seizing everything? I don't know.

[SubMareener]

If you do not pray to be found worthy to escape the Wrath to come, then I expect that YHWH will let you go through the Great Tribulation. Remember don’t take the mark of the Beast and have a happy beheading!

[cport]

I agree with you to some extent, but on the other extreme, the "Love Affair with Jesus" teaching is also partly responsible for a watered down message that has allowed liberals to co-opt traditionally conservative churches. As a church member, it is easier to vote new by-laws to change scripture's meaning and excuse your sin than it is accept your hypocrisy and deal with sin. "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2nd Timothy 4:3, NIV) That is how the liberals co-opted many of the established protestant churches.

You can rebuke with love, in fact, correction is love; to allow someone to be held unaccountable offers them no reason to need God, that is a tenant of humanism. We cannot just un-write the passages that described Jesus' righteous anger at the temple, nor the assertive manner in which it was displayed. And yet, there was love in that action, his love for his people that the money changers and sacrificial animal dealers preyed upon, and the love for His Father in his despair at how they soiled His temple.

And we don't have to turn ourselves inside out with guilt to those who have been offered God's love, but refuse it. Christ told us to stay in the places that are worthy and give them peace, but to those who don't welcome you or listen, leave and shake the dust off your feet. there is no need for this angst that Christians heap upon themselves because chastised liberals co-opt scripture and say what bad Christians we are because we are judgmental and don't model Christ's love when we offer His message of salvation, but also His requirement of confession and repentance.

[Talisker]

For the most part I agree with you, but I’m specifically not watering down the teachings here. For example, everyone knows Special Forces go through grueling training, with a lot of harshness. What’s not so known is that after the training starts the really nasty stuff is taught with a kind of gentleness and sensitivity - precisely because of how severe it is. Likewise it should be with the hard truths of Christianity, IMO. 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 - totally different thing. The former creates cowardice, the latter creates courage.

[60Gunner]

"Is it the biggest theological fraud inflicted upon modern Christianity?"

No; that would be Roman Catholicism.

[EliRoom8]

You are badly misfiring. The question was the origin of the term “rapture.” When someone just tried to tell you that it came from a Latin TRANSLATION of the original language, you replied Paul didn’t speak Latin. What are you missing?

Lol

[BuckeyeTexan]

BFL

[5cents]

The Greek word harpazo G726 is where the thought of the non-scriptural word “rapture” stems from. It is used in the following passages in the so-called New Testament (KJV), and shown in italics.

AV Mt 11:12 and the violent take it by force.

AV Mt 12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods,

AV Mt 13:19 then cometh the wicked [one], and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.

AV Jn 6:15 . When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force

AV Jn 10:12 : and the wolf catcheth them

AV Jn 10:28 neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.

AV Ac 8:39 the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip

AV Ac 23:10 commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them

AV 2C 12:2 I knew a man in Christ such an one caught up to the third heaven.

AV 2C 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise,

AV 1Th 4:17 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.

AV Re 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne.

The sense of the Greek word harpazo, correctly and accurately rendered is best represented by “snatched away”, a forceful motion and effect. It fits in all the above occurrences. Read with this correction Thesselonians 4 takes on greater light in verse 17.

His first appearing or so-called “second coming” (also an unscriptural phrase) to human eyes will be for the saints of the Circumcision when He descends to Olivet, opposite the manner in which He left.

He is not returning for us in that manner. We will be changed to adjust to the celestial environment, meeting Him in the clouds of heaven, with transformed bodies along with those in Christ who were in repose.

If this is not clear to the student of the Scriptures, then more investigation is needed until the damaging effects of orthodoxy and theology can be dispelled.

Ambassadors are removed from their by their governments when war or conflict is imminent or declared. When He returns to earth it will be for war and judgment, and the Gospel of the grace of God will be removed along with the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit.

[LukeL]

Depends on the person. An individual who knows what they are doing is sinful and doesn’t care, then your words should be harsher than with one who is it ignorant of their sin. Remember Christ told the woman, go and sin no more. Also read the seven letters to the seven Churches in Revelation.

[carcraft]

I don’t think the Word “Trinity” is found in scripture.

[pacific_waters]

first-person plural future passive indicative of rapiō "we shall be snatched, we shall be grabbed, we shall be carried off"

[pacific_waters]

Strange, Ihave yet to encounter an similar attitude in most Christians. Most that I know condemn the act not the person.

[Mark17]

I remember forty years ago when Duane Edward Spencer, who had the radio program WORD KEYS WHICH UNLOCK SCRIPTURE

I have his book with the same name. Me and my friend met him at his church in San Antonio in 1973. I think it was Grace Bible Church.
He had been sick for awhile, and we stood in line to meet him. This nice, but clueless woman in front of us, said she hoped he would get better, and asked how do you feel? He smiled and said, with my fingers. We laughed, but it went completely over her head. I don't think she ever figured it out. 😎

[wardaddy]

I was taught we die and sleep till judgement day after end times

Now some evangelicals tell me no we go to be judged at death

So what is it and do diff sects see it different

Answers appreciated but no long cut and pastes please

[wardaddy]

Ever the social liberal talisker.....and Christian criticizer

And always about homosexuals

Are you a homosexual talisker?

And if you’re not a Christian then why does it bother you how we feel about sin and sinners?

Since you don’t believe

Don’t dodge with agnosticism....what heritage were you born to?

Defend your own creed.....it’s easy to attack Christians

The left and ISIS make an industry of it

[castlegreyskull]

I am not sure if I believe in the rapture. I think it is just important to live for the Lord, and be prepared for the possibility of living through the Great Tribulation. Who knows, we may die during the wars, plagues or from being persecuted, but ultimately we should keep the faith and we will be rewarded.

However, if there is a Tribulation:
I believe the young, those under the age of accountability (13) will be saved. They are still innocent. Certainly, babies will be taken up. However, that is just my opinion.

As for the elderly, they had a lifetime to live for the Lord. This isn’t an f-them. Think about a person like Hillary Clinton or the other aged liberals who openly mock Christianity. There is still time for them right now, but it is running out. Their hearts appear harden. The World will be in complete upheaval.

Also, during the Tribulation there will be 144,000 Witnesses spreading the Word, and many will be saved and will refuse to worship the Anti-Christ to the point that they will become martyrs.

[castlegreyskull]

144,000 Witnesses. They are the second look.

[jimbug]

That’s nice. But Paul did not write in Latin. He was not a native of Italy and Greek was the almost universal language of educated men in those days.

Paul didn't write in Latin, but the Catholics did--specifically to hide the liberating truth of God's Word from the masses so they could be enslaved by the hierarchical priestcraft and mysticism of the early Catholic Church.

An attack on God's Word--coming from a Catholic 'father' is really ironic considering the history of the Catholic Church.

Read Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotionals and you will get a flavor of how the Catholic church was perceived in 19th Century England. Spurgeon regularly referred to them as 'Papists".

[castlegreyskull]

If a homosexual wants to be saved and know the truth, he will listen. Many Christians will be quick to point out the obvious that a homosexual is an abomination and that they should immediately forsake their homosexual tendency. However, many Christians committed sexual sin among many other sins, so they should remember that whenever they witness to someone.

I will also say, that if the person wants to be argumentative and get into a theologic debate as to the existence of God, then it might be best to end the discussion. Many liberals or non-believers do this one.

[castlegreyskull]

There will be 144,000 Witnesses saving souls like never before.