Secret Rapture?True or False
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We hear so much about the so called secret rapture these days, so let us have a look at what the Bible has to say about the subject. We shall search the Scriptures together and hopefully you will come to the conclusion that the rapturing away of Christians at the end of the age, is a false doctrine.
The word "Rapture" comes from the Latin word "Rapare" which means to take away or to snatch out.
In Matthew we read the following verses.
Matthew 24:36-44. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 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. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
We see so many books in Christian Bookshops today explaining the so called secret rapture of Christians at Christ’s return to this earth, which I can assure you is fiction, in-fact it is a false doctrine. Search as you will, you will not find a single verse in the Bible where it mentions anything about a secret rapture, yet to hear some Ministers preach you would think that it was as self evident as the Virgin Birth or the Resurrection and that the subject could be found throughout the written Scriptures, which it cannot.
This doctrine was never ever taught in Evangelical Protestantism prior to 1830 it just was not known. Even John Wycliffe and Tyndall who had translated the Scripture of God never preached or wrote about a secret rapture. Would you not have thought that great men like that who had translated the word of God would have known about a secret rapture? Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Latimer, Ridley, Cramer, the martyred Bishops, John and Charles Wesley, not one of them believed or taught about this strange novel left behind secret rapture doctrine, in other words its origin is not found anywhere in the Holy Scriptures.
What do they mean when they talk about the left behind or missing the secret rapture, what do they mean by this whole doctrine. What they are saying is that Christ does not return a second time, but really a second and a third time, they split the second coming into two comings, and they tell you that the Lord Jesus will return firstly in secret to rapture or remove the prepared ones of his Church, suddenly they will be called away off this scene of time and lifted off to heaven and there they will spend three and a half years or seven years depending on what brand of left behind teaching you are getting.
Then they tell us that those that are left behind are the unsaved people or unprepared or unworthy Christians who will suffer terribly and be persecuted during what they call the great tribulation, they say that this tribulation will last three and a half or seven years, but this depends on the teaching you have had. They tell us that during this period a one world dictator who they term the Anti-Christ or the beast will rule planet earth.
Then he will launch a terrible reign of terror and during this period he would also make a treaty with the Jews and during this time the Temple would be rebuilt and then the blood sacrifice would be reinstitution, which is an abominable insult to Christ’s finished work at Calvary, Jesus paid it all, and yet they tell us there will be blood offerings again (This will never happen). Then in the midst of the week or three and a half years into it, the Anti-Christ will break that treaty with the Jews and he will march into the so called rebuilt Temple of the Jews, where he shall receive the worship of the masses. Then it is said that God will use one hundred and forty four thousand Jewish evangelists, in other words evangelists like Jewish Billy Graham’s. Even though they say that the Holy Spirit and his restraining influence has been taken off the earth, we are told that they will save more people in three and a half years without the Holy Spirits presence than Gods true church has been responsible for bringing to salvation with the Holy Spirit in the last two thousand years.
We are then told that those that do not receive or be branded electronically with the mark of the beast in their forehead or in their hand, they would not be able to buy or sell. This doctrine is based on wilful and deliberate misinterpretation of the Scriptures and to me is nothing more than a dramatic novel.
We are told that only those who are ready, worthy and holy will be taken at the rapture and everybody else will be left behind, they base this on the Scriptures-Two shall be in a field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left. They go on to dramatise this by saying that planes, trains and cars would be crashing as Christian drivers are whisked away in the rapture. Some American airlines make sure there is always a non believing pilot as well as a believer on a plane, just in-case the Christian pilot is whisked away. We even see bumper stickers which reads, keep your eye on this car as the driver could be raptured at any minute. Adults are even told that one day they may find their husbands, wives or children missing because they have been raptured away. These Churches are using scare tactics so as to get the people to make a commitment.
Then they say that those that are taken are the holy, the righteous and the good. Yet we read in Isaiah ch4:v2-3. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
1 Peter ch1:15-16. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Leviticus 19:2. Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
It is clear for all to see in the above verses that it is the believer or holy that remain behind.
If you now go to the book of Revelation we read the following.
Revelation chapter 7:13-17. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.Where did these people come from, they came out of great tribulation, it is therefore obvious, if they came out of the great tribulation then they must have been left behind.