| (Copyright) by Rich Traver (Clifton, Colorado) |
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| In this season which focuses on the Second Coming of Christ and the establishment of the millennial Kingdom of God on Earth, there’s a corresponding belief system that will impact vast numbers of sincere believers. In the past, there was an event that shook the foundations of what we know as the fundamentalist persuasion. Are we about to see a similar repeat of that spiritual earthquake just ahead? A century and three quarters ago, an anticipation of an imminent event gripped a major segment of the religious world here in the United States. That supposedly pending event was the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was alleged, and widely accepted, that He would appear in the month of October of 1844. The fact that no such thing happened on or even around the announced date led to what is known as the “Great Disappointment of 1844”. (This preceded the time when the rapture teaching took hold a generation later!) Wikipedia has this: “The Great Disappointment in the Millerite movement was the reaction that followed Baptist preacher William Miller’s proclamations that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth by 1844, what he called the Advent. His study of the Daniel 8 prophecy during the Second Great Awakening led him to the conclusion that Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” was cleansing of the world from sin when Christ would come, and he and many others prepared, but October 22, 1844 came, and they were disappointed. “These events paved the way for the Adventists who formed the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They contended that what had happened on October 22 was not Jesus’ return, as Miller had thought, but the start of Jesus’ final work of atonement, the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to the Second Coming.” (That being what we might see as a face-saving explanation.) Wikipedia continues: “The rapture is an eschatological theological position held by some Christians, particularly within branches of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all Christian believers who are alive, along with resurrected believers, will rise “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” The origin of the term extends from Paul the Apostle’s First Epistle to the Thessalonians in the Bible, in which he uses the Greek word harpazo (Ancient Greek: ἁρπάζω), meaning “to snatch away” or “to seize,” and explains that believers in Jesus Christ would be snatched away from earth into the air. “The idea of a rapture as it is currently defined is not found in historic Christianity but is a relatively recent doctrine of Evangelical Protestantism. The term is most frequently used among Evangelical Protestant theologians in the United States. Rapture has also been used for a union with God for eternal life in Heaven.” “This view of eschatology is referred to as premillennial dispensationalism. (It’s not the only view!) “Differing viewpoints exist about the exact timing of the rapture and whether Christ’s return would occur in one event or two. Pre-tribulationism distinguishes the rapture from the second coming of Jesus Christ mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, 2nd Thessalonians, and Revelation. This view holds that the rapture would precede the seven-year Tribulation, which would culminate in Christ’s second coming and be followed by a thousand-year Messianic Kingdom. Pre-tribulationism is the most widely held view among Christians believing in the rapture today, although this view is disputed within evangelicalism. Some assert a post-tribulation rapture.” (Which is more in keeping with the Church of God position.) On an internet religious website, the following post has: “The rapture of the church will kick off the tribulation. Make sure you are rapture ready. The rapture is going to strike without warning. The rapture is going to be one of the most astonishing events to ever occur.” As we can see, another even Greater Disappointment is looming that’s to come upon sincere believers. That disappointment coming as people realize that such an event will not happen before the tribulation as was affirmed to them for decades! The evangelical / fundamentalist world fully expects protection from the extreme trials of the Great Tribulation. The mechanism for that being the “Rapture”. It provides a great hope for many – the answer to their fears of persecution and tribulation prophesied to come on the world. But there are clear problems with the rapture as presented in the evangelical communities. One rapture advocate explains: “Jesus Prophesied the Rapture” He says, “For clarity, allow me to define a couple of terms so that I will not be misunderstood below. “Phase 1” will refer to the first part of Christ’s second coming, which we all call the “rapture” (His return for believers occurring prior to the tribulation period to resurrect and / or glorify the physical bodies of believers and bring them back to Heaven with Him). “Phase 2” will refer to the second part of Christ’s second coming, which is often called the “second advent” (Second Coming) This ‘scholar’ admits that the rapture is not actually the Second Coming! From this admission, we can see that some of their own teachers recognize that there are problems with the theory as it’s taught. Those problems include the timing question and the obvious admission that the rapture itself is not the full and complete Second Coming where Jesus assumes direct power over the nations! Thus, the need to explain Christ’s Second Coming happening in actually two distinct and separate occasions. This I recognized as a teenager in the early sixties. My Baptist background was of this persuasion. But there’s another area where there’s a problem with the idea. It’s a problem created in association with the premise that the event exists for the primary purpose of providing protection to saints of the end-time. Saints are provided with protection from the Tribulation by being ‘snatched-up” into heaven for the duration, and in simpler belief systems, for eternity! When, “one is taken and the other is left” as we read in Luke 17: 34-36. Author of the above quote admits as much. Many other pre-tribulation advocates aren’t as candid! But that isn’t the only ‘problem’! “Associating the Rapture with the Last Trump, as presented in 1st Corinthians 15:52, places the event AFTER the Great Tribulation, rather than before it! Essential to the (rapture) theory is its occurring before the 42 month – (3½ year) tribulation period. The seventh (Last) Trump of Revelation 11:15-18 is the occasion of the First Resurrection. (Re.20:6) The Rapture is presented as being the occasion of the First Resurrection also. This anomaly places several (seven) Trumpets after the “Last” Trump, and another resurrection occurring before the “First” Resurrection! The Saints are in it described as being taken to heaven for protection before the Tribulation, yet in 1st Thessalonians 4:15-16 we see the dead in Christ rising up from their graves to meet the returning Lord in the air at His Second Coming, AFTER the Tribulation. Such things happen when a prophetic event is misplaced in time. The Rapture Theory obviously has serious problems when reconsidered in the light of clear Scriptures!” So, even the evangelicals themselves recognize their problem!! But, focusing on the “protection” aspect (which is posed as the underlying reason for the Rapture event), we are drawn to ask just why the deceased saints are raised at this point in time? Aren’t the deceased in their graves fully protected from the Tribulation? Then again, the saints who are “alive and remaining”: The accompanying resurrection of the dead saints (occurring just moments before the living are ‘changed’) (1st Thessalonians 4:13-17) is the occasion for the flesh-to-spirit change of the living at the time. IF they are changed into their spirit bodies in that instant, WHY would they need to be taken off to Heaven for the duration? Wouldn’t their spirit status be sufficient ‘protection’ to exempt them from any harm evil men would attempt against them? It’s the purpose of this treatise, not to point out or to chide the error of a particular belief system, but to make us aware of a pending “Greater Disappointment” to come upon an even greater segment of the religious communities than in 1844. What are we to do when the realization dawns on so many otherwise ‘sincere believers? There will be an opportunity for those of us who know the scriptures regarding this event to acquaint people to the realities of the time. There’ll very likely be people who ‘throw-in the towel’ and give up on their former belief systems entirely as they find themselves where they thought they’d never be. We’ve seen something like that happen in the recent past. There will be others who’ll enter ‘listening mode’ after realizing the anomalies associated with their former persuasion, who will be open to hearing the truth about the event we know as the Second Coming. It’s not just a religious teaching, but a real event in the history of the world. All of us, religious or not, will at some point in our future, see the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom of God on Earth. It’s fundamental to the foundation of our Faith to know what’s happening and why, and from the present perspective, WHEN! When the ‘catching-up-of-the-saints’ is put in its proper time setting, the anomalies of a two-phase Second Coming and the ‘protection from the Tribulation’ issue will be resolved. The ‘rapture’ event will be after the Tribulation, not before it. There’s the clarifying difference. Will we be up to the task once the obvious becomes realized in the evangelical community? ———————————————————————– Reprinted with permission from: Golden Sheaves https://www.goldensheaves.org/ ———————————————————————– |
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