when is “the rapture”?

Do you believe in the Rapture?

A day is coming when all of the Believers in Christ are taken up, literally snatched out of the world, to be spared the darkest days and the judgements of God that will be poured out. That is the Rapture.

It is an event that has been depicted in such Christian novels like the Left Behind series, and other stories. The Rapture is as anticipated and dogmatic as any other eschatological expectation. In the lore of things to come, the Rapture has a place with Anti-Christ, the Beast, the Mark, and the Tribulation. In fact, it is the anti-dote to the very worst of these, and the solution to Tribulation horrors. The missed appointment with wrath.

With that prominent place in Christian doctrine, would you believe that “The Rapture” isn’t in the Bible?

The verses people like to use to support the Rapture are faulty interpretations, misunderstood descriptions, and a whole lot of wishful thinking. And, worst of all, it is a Satanic fraud intended to turn everyone into a foolish virgin.

Instead of storing up for seven years of famine, like Joseph, or ensuring that we are prepared to be the remnant that minister, teach, and preach in the darkest hour- we’ve got Christians waiting for Scotty to beam them up.

The Rapture is a cornerstone of the strong delusion.

To be fair, there ARE verses in the Bible that describe a Rapture type event. Paul gives one narrative:

1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17 ¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 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.

That sounds alot like a rapture. The Lord descends from heaven and every soul that is His- both deceased and living- are “caught up together” to “meet the Lord in the air”. I suppose it could be called “Rapture” but it is part of the Second Coming. The Wheat/Tare Harvest, the sheep/goat separation.

Jesus also describes the events at His return:

Matthew 24: 30-31 ³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Once again, we learn that upon His return, the elect are gathered.

There is one more proof provided in the book of Revelation. When the final events begin to play out, we know that the Anti-Christ and Beast system take over. Once they seize control, the distribution of the mark of the Beast takes place.

John saw that there are true believers who refuse to take the mark:

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

John makes no mention of believers getting ‘raptured’ out- unfortunately, those who refuse the mark get beheaded.

But, there is hope. There is  a Tribulation scripture I  recommend everyone remember:

Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Watch and pray. Always good advice.