The Rapture

Is it near? Or, is it wishful thinking?

Warning to Mormons, Muslims and Jehovah Witnesses

Note: That Paul thought this above message was so important--that he repeated it twice.

The first time I can find where anyone ever preached the gospel other than the gospel that the apostles taught was when a British preacher named John Darby did this about a coming "rapture" in 1830.  

Or, was it?  See Mathew 24, Revelation 3:10, Luke 17:36,  Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 below... Also, read the pronouncement by "Our Lady at Bayside" (NY) below about the Rapture.  These are all pretty strong arguments for a Rapture. 

Darby taught that the church would be raptured before the "falling away" period, probably based on a prophetic "revelation" a 15-year old Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald is said to have had about a "rapture".  These (Darby & MacDonald) seem to be among those who first started the actual "doctrine" of a rapture. 

Perhaps it was Darby who was just the first to put together all the scriptural "hints" about a coming rapture. Margaret MacDonald's revelation is said to have been about a post-tribulation Rapture. She said that the Holy Spirit would protect the Church through the Tribulation.  Yet, of interest, John Darby was declaring a pre-tribulation Rapture as early as 1827, three years before Macdonald's vision.  Christians should be aware that the Darby/MacDonald theory of a coming rapture ---was never scriptural.  

There is no doubt that the gospel teaches about a coming Anti-Christ, a final war (a tribulation of sorts), and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as the King of Kings. But I can find no direct teachings by the Apostles about something as important as a "secret Rapture".

AND, Christians never believed or taught about any pre-tribulation "rapture" before that young Scottish (Margaret MacDonald) girl had her "vision" in 1830. I do note that Grant Jeffrey, along with Hal Lindsey (both Christian book writers) both teach a pre-tribulation rapture. Grant also says that an ancient church theologian (373 A.D.) named Ephraem the Syrian taught a pre-tribulation rapture. Both have also sold many books teaching a 7-year tribulation. BUT WAIT! Is there anything about a 7 year tribulation in Scripture at all? Not if you interpret Scripture as early writers wrote it. That was how it effected the ancient Jews and Israel.

In the 1820's a Scottish preacher named John Darby was teaching that the church would be raptured before the "falling away" period. And then in 1830 a prophetic "revelation" by a 15-year old Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald is said to have had about a "rapture" pushed Darby further along into his "Rapture theory". These (Darby & MacDonald) seem to be among those who first started the actual "doctrine" of a rapture.

Perhaps it was Darby who was just the first to put together all the scriptural "hints" -- like those listed above -- about a coming rapture. Margaret MacDonald's revelation is said to have been about a post-tribulation Rapture. She said that the Holy Spirit would protect the Church through the Tribulation. Yet, of interest, John Darby was declaring a pre-tribulation Rapture as early as 1827, three years before Macdonald's vision.

Christians should be aware that the Darby/MacDonald theory of a coming rapture ---was never scriptural, or ever taught by the Apostles. 

BUT WAIT!  Is there anything about a 7 year tribulation in Scripture at all?  Not if you interpret Scripture as early writers wrote it.  That was how it effected the ancient Jews and Israel. 

"Omega Code" , and the "Left Behind" books and movies may actually be teaching false theology about some misinterpreted coming tribulation and "secret" rapture.  Darby traveled widely in the 1800's preaching his "secret" rapture.  Can it be that John Darby is the one who convinced southern Protestant Seminaries (who still teach secret rapture) of his new teaching?

The Christian world needs to take a look at the Prophecies of Daniel.  Why should we interpret these as anything other than prophecies of the Jewish Messiah?

Below are some very crucial hints that some Christian ministers use for their "Rapture theory", however.  But, of course Jesus may not have wanted to burden the first century Apostles with signs and times, 2000 years later that they would never understand.  Of note: many "mainline" Christian Churches do not preach a coming rapture.

I think the next time Jesus comes it will be exactly as Scripture says.  And, it will NOT be any "secret" rapture.  In fact, it will be a very, very highly visible and very noisy event.

WE WILL NOT be raptured (Christ descends from heaven and meets TRUE BELIEVERS in the air: 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1) before the Antichrist (Son of Perdition) arrives.

There will be NO rapture/taking up until an apostasy, AND until AFTER the Son of Perdition is revealed. The Son of Perdition will arise in the wake of the "great apostasy" (or falling away).  There are signs of this "falling away" to satan's religion (Islam/Satanists/New Age, etc.) as the world is taking sides right now with satan or the true God.  As to apostasy.  What does one call allowing a homosexual priest or even "bishop" prance about an alter dedicated to Jesus Christ --who calls homosexuality an abomination.

The Apostle Paul told us, Jesus Christ WILL NOT come to gather His people to Himself until after the Great Apostasy (falling away), and until AFTER the Son of Perdition is revealed.
 

Yet, 

In the tribulation chapters (4-19) of the Revelation to John we find that during the tribulation the Church is participating in a Marriage Supper of the Lamb during a glorious reunion in Heaven with Christ, and all those who have died in faith in earlier generations. 

"But as the days of Noe (Noah) 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"

Matthew 24:37,38

"Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."  Revelation (3:10)

Why is it that Revelation shows that  the "shift of balance" of power will be to the European Union?  Is it any wonder that "Euro Money" was recently introduced, and that many in the European Union are now calling for a President of Europe?  What about the One World Religion?  Isn't the religion of Babylon what is very popular now (Satanists, idol worshippers, witchcraft, sorcerers, new Age earth/self worshippers, fortune tellers, mediums, star gazers, masons, Islam and its lies)?  What happens to America?  Will America become insignificant when millions of its followers of Christ just disappear one day?

Is there a "bean count" going on in Heaven right now?  Is the Head Angel getting excited as the bean count reaches another million Faithful in Christ?  Does this same Angel get giddy every time another 500 people get saved?  Only God knows the Day--but perhaps this angel is hoping the next significant rise in the tally could be the day.  As soon as the Body of Christ reaches a certain number will the Church be Raptured?

Could this be the reason America doesn't show up in Revelation and instead the balance of power shifts to the European Union, with power centered in Rome?  Rome of all places?  Why not Brussels?  

For those Christians that don't know what "shadows & types" are you should really be looking just beyond the literal to the significance of Jewish Holidays and Feasts, and what turns out to be not just hard to understand true stories about Abraham & Isaac, and others like Joseph and Esther--but in the story structure a future message.  Believers should absolutely take the Bible literally as the Word of God, but also look for an altogether set of hints and truths in shadows and types.  One book you can get a good grounding on "types and shadows" is a book by Chuck Missler called "Cosmic Codes", or John Hagee's book, "Final Dawn Over Jerusalem".

Understand one thing.  Do not for one minute stop studying Israel.  Israel is God's timepiece and who He has chosen to reveal His Word to.

Jesus Christ is coming back to earth in bodily form, just as He went away (Acts 1:11)

On the sixteenth day of A'bib, immediately after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First fruits commemorates the day Israel went down into the depths of the Red Sea and came out the other side alive.  They marched into a watery grave and God raised them on the other bank a nation of free people.  This was a real happening, but it was also a demonstration of how God would bring salvation.  The Jewish Feast of First fruits is also a "foreshadowing" of the work of both Christ on the Cross and His resurrection on Easter.  It is also a "type" of both the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Saint Paul wrote, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (the dead)" I Cor 15:20.

Has the "Body of Christ" ever been called up before?

Yes Bible Probe thinks so!  Did the "Body of Christ" ever rise with Christ before?  Yes I think so!  See these non-canonical reports of thousands of dead seen in and around Jerusalem after the resurrection of Christ here.  These ancient dead probably later ascended into Heaven with Christ.  Did Jesus' ascension from the Mount of Olives probably cast the "shadow" into the future to foretell of the catching away of the Church? 

When did Jesus ascend? Jesus of Nazareth died on Passover (March-April).  He was raised three days later on First fruits; and ascended forty days after that.

But, in keeping with the above, if there will be a rapture couldn't the Rapture of the Faithful occur in a year of His choosing, but forty days after the Feast of First fruits?  Pray there will be a rapture before the Tribulation. 

Jesus Raises a great Multitude from Hell (Hades) on Easter Sunday

The word "Hades" "Sheol" refers to the realm of the dead, a temporary place where they await the resurrection. In the New Testament, the word "spirits" is used to describe angels or demons, not human beings. Souls describes human souls...

Matthew 27:52-53

"and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

When Christians recite the Apostles' Creed they affirm their belief that Jesus descended into hell (Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek ). Early church fathers, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, among others, regarded the descent literally....

Is this speaking of a "secret rapture"?  I don't think so!  I think it speaks to the time period when Jesus will return.  Nobody will know.  Like a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

THERE IS a startling revelation that the Church is not even mentioned once in the "tribulation chapters" of Revelation 4-19!  Can it be because true believers are already gone?  There are also hints in by the prophets Micah and Isaiah, as well as by John in Revelation. 

Bible Probe believe that many of the Apparitions of Mary are counterfeited by Satan. Many even contain false messages which contradict Scripture.  One recent series of Marian Apparitions, however, stands out with consistent messages that are in line with Scripture.  This was the appearance of our Lady at Bayside, New York.

Here is what was told to the woman Veronica by Our Lady at Bayside about the Rapture:

"And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

"Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Revelation 7:2,3).

At this point, the elect representatives of Israel's Twelve Tribes are "sealed." It is generally agreed that they are sealed for the specific reason that they have work to do. During the dark days of the Tribulation, they are God's chosen spiritual assembly. At this time, the believing Church has been removed from the earth. Someone has to be sent forth among men to achieve God's purposes. These are the chosen.

The 144,000 are seen again in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. There, they are seen as redeemed and justified before God. Furthermore, they are said to be virgins - a mark of purity and dedication. In this vignette, they are shown singing a victory song that is specific to their work. In other words, they were chosen - sealed - for a specific reason.

                                                                                              Steve Keohane

                                                                                                 Bible Probe

The School of Rabbi Elijah

(world to last 6,000 years)

Rabbi Elijah (not the prophet) lived approx. 200 years before the birth of Christ. It was taught in the school of Rabbi Elijah: The world will endure 6000 years -- 2,000 years in chaos (without the Torah), 2,000 years with Torah, and 2,000 years will be the days of the Messiah' ('Talmud,' Sanhedrin.97a). This remarkable quotation from the Talmud shows that Rabbi Elijah knew of the 6,000 year plan of God based on the six working days of the week, each day representing a 1,000 years in God's Plan, followed by a 1,000 year Sabbath rest (compare II Peter 3:8-10; Psalm 90:4; Rev. 20:1- 4).

The phrase '2,000 years will be the days of the Messiah' is also remarkable, showing Rabbi Elijah -- knew Christ would come after 4,000 years. Adam and Eve were created in 4004 B.C., and Christ Jesus/Yeshua Moshiach was born literally in 4 B.C. -- after precisely 4,000 years. The implication is that He would be 'preached' for the next 2,000 years, till His second coming, which will be 2,000 years after His first coming -- within the next decade!

Since Adam and Eve sinned after living for seven years in the garden of Eden, according to the book of Jubilees (see the cover article in the June-July issue of Prophecy Flash), the 6,000 years of man's 'work week' actually began in 3997 B.C. This means that very likely the 6,000 years of 'man's work' (6 thousand-year 'days') would terminate in early in the 21st century at Tishri 1 (Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah).  How exciting it is that this truth, about the 6,000 year plan of God, was actually taught by Rabbi Elijah and that we are living in the days of the very 'countdown' to His Second Coming!