You've Been Left Behind .com

[Vandyyke]

http://www.youvebeenleftbehind.com/index-1.html

[outdeep]

http://www.youvebeenleftbehind.com/index-1.html

I guess it is been so long since I thought about it, I've kind of forgotten.  Why is it that some Christians believe that all believers will mysteriously disappear seven years before Christ comes?  Is there anything in the Bible that actually states this exactly or is it just based upon some eschatology assumptions?

[Vandyyke]

[edit]Scriptural basis

Supporters of the doctrine of the rapture generally proof-text the following primary sources[14] in the New Testament (the following are quoted from the NKJV):
"In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
(John 14:2–3)
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."
(Philippians 3:20-21)
"And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?""
(1 Corinthians 15:49–55) Note that the saying that is quoted toward the end of these passages comes from the Old Testament as follows: "Death is swallowed up in victory" is from Isaiah 25:8 and "O Death, where is your sting?" is found in Hosea 13:14.
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
(1 Thessalonians 4:15–17)
"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way."
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-7)

[Vandyyke]

History


The Catholic and Orthodox churches as well as the Reformed denominations have no tradition of such a teaching and reject the doctrine, in part because they cannot find any reference to it among any of the early Church fathers[1]. Some also reject it because they interpret prophetic scriptures in either an amillennial or postmillennial fashion, as being more spiritual than physical.
In a Catholic Bible, e.g. The Douay Rheims Bible, 1 Thes 4:15~17 and 1 Cor 51~55 seem clear on this subject. These passages describe "The resurrection of the living" or "First resurrection" which other denominations have named "The Rapture."
Proponents of the rapture insist that the doctrine of amillennialism originated with Alexandrian scholars such as Clement and Origen[2] and was later brought wholly into Roman Catholic dogma by Augustine.[3] Hence, the church up until then held to premillennial views, which see an impending apocalypse from which the church will be rescued after being raptured by the Lord. This is even extrapolated by some to mean that the early church espoused pretribulationism.[4]
Some Pre-Tribulation proponents maintain that the earliest known extra-Biblical reference to the "Pre-Tribulation" rapture is from a sermon falsely attributed to the fourth-century Church Father Ephraem the Syrian, which says, "For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins."[5][6] However, the interpretation of this writing, as supporting Pre-Tribulation rapture, is debated.[7][8]
There exists at least one 18th century and two 19th century Pre-Tribulation references, in a book published in 1788, in the writings of a Catholic priest Emmanuel Lacunza [9] in 1812, and by John Nelson Darby himself in 1827.[10] However, both the book published in 1788 and the writings of Lacunza have opposing views regarding their interpretations, as well.
The rise in belief in the "Pre-Tribulation" rapture is sometimes attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald (a follower of Edward Irving), who in 1830 had a vision that was later[11] published in 1861.
The popularization of the term is associated with teaching of John Nelson Darby, prominent among the Plymouth Brethren, and the rise of premillennialism and dispensationalism in English-speaking churches at the end of the 19th century. In 1908, the doctrine of the rapture was further popularized by an evangelist named William Eugene Blackstone, whose book, Jesus Is Coming, sold more than one million copies. The first known appearance of the theological use of the word "rapture" in print occurs with the Scofield Reference Bible of 1909.[12]
In 1957, Dr. John Walvoord, a theologian at Dallas Theological Seminary, authored a book, "The Rapture Question," that gave theological support to the Pre-Tribulation rapture; this book eventually sold over 65,000 copies. In 1958, J. Dwight Pentecost authored another book supporting the Pre-Tribulation rapture, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology, that sold 215,000 copies.
During the 1970s, the rapture became popular in wider circles, in part due to the books of Hal Lindsey, including The Late Great Planet Earth, which has reportedly sold between 15 million and 35 million copies and by the movie "A Thief in the Night" which based its title on the scriptural reference 1 Thessalonians 5:2.[13] Lindsey proclaimed that the rapture was imminent, an idea that he based on world conditions at the time. The Cold War and the European Economic Community figured prominently in his predictions of impending Armageddon. Other aspects of 1970s global politics were seen as having been predicted in the Bible. Lindsey suggested, for example, that the seven-headed beast with ten horns, cited in the Book of Revelation, was the European Economic Community, a forebear of the European Union, which at the time aspired to ten nations; it now has 27 member states.
In 1995, the doctrine of the Pre-Tribulation rapture was further popularized by Tim LaHaye's book series, Left Behind, which sold tens of millions of copies and was made into several movies.
The doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component in fundamentalist Christian eschatology today. Many fundamentalist Christians continue to feel that world conditions point to the rapture, Tribulation, and return of Christ occurring soon.

[Vandyyke]

"...some Christians.. " Dave Sable

         My impressions are most *Christians are in this camp. Not you Brute'?


 *Protestant Fundamentalist

[outdeep]

"...some Christians.. " Dave Sable

         My impressions are most *Christians are in this camp. Not you Brute'?


 *Protestant Fundamentalist

To be honest, I haven't had sufficient time (or interest really) to really pursue this.  The "if this car is empty the rapture just took place" teaching feels a bit odd to me but I can't say I understand the arguments enough to argue for or against it.  And I'm not sure I'm going to really take the time now to understand them.

I really liked a series on Revelation by D. A. Carson (see http://pjtibayan.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/d-a-carson-audio-sermonslectures/ #39).  He treated Revelation as, though inspired, using an apocolyptic genre of literature that was highly symbolic - whose symbols would have been understood by his audience even though we may struggle with them.  This makes alot more sense to me than the "Revelation is the newspaper of future events" approach that Hal Lindsey used.

I've never read the Left Behind series.  Or Purpose Driven Life.  Or Prayer of Jabez.  Or Your Best Life Now.

-Dave

[Vandyyke]

To be honest, I haven't had sufficient time (or interest really) to really pursue this.  The "if this car is empty the rapture just took place" teaching feels a bit odd to me but I can't say I understand the arguments enough to argue for or against it.  And I'm not sure I'm going to really take the time now to understand them.

I really liked a series on Revelation by D. A. Carson (see http://pjtibayan.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/d-a-carson-audio-sermonslectures/ #39).  He treated Revelation as, though inspired, using an apocolyptic genre of literature that was highly symbolic - whose symbols would have been understood by his audience even though we may struggle with them.  This makes alot more sense to me than the "Revelation is the newspaper of future events" approach that Hal Lindsey used.

I've never read the Left Behind series.  Or Purpose Driven Life.  Or Prayer of Jabez.  Or Your Best Life Now.

-Dave

    I can respect your position Dave, on one hand you don't want to be associated with current trends in Christendom and on the other you want to embrace the Bible.

[amycahill]

Everything you ever wanted to know about rapture theology but were afraid to ask!  This is a great resource; thanks for providing it!

[Joe Sperling]

Dave, you said:
I guess it is been so long since I thought about it, I've kind of forgotten.  Why is it that some Christians believe that all believers will mysteriously disappear seven years before Christ comes?  Is there anything in the Bible that actually states this exactly or is it just based upon some eschatology assumptions?

Dave----

I do not believe the word "rapture" occurs in the Bible, but there is strong evidence to support
it in Thessalonians and also the Book of Revelation.  Revelation in chapters 2 and 3 addresses
the "churches", and appears to cover the churches through all of their ages, up to the end-time
church, the Laodicean church, which is "luke-warm", and outside of which Christ stands knocking.

Revelation chapter 4 starts with "come up hither" and John sees an open door.  From that point on
the church is no longer mentioned-----the tribulation starts and God's judgment falls on the world as the
Anti-Christ arises. The church has thus been removed from the scene.   1 Thessalonians says this:

"For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words". (1 Thess. 4)

The fact that it says "then we who are alive, who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" strongly suggests a "rapture" of living saints right before the end.  It doesn't say it will be specifically right before the 7 year tribulation, but it seems to imply it will be near the end of time.

Much of Revelation is "symbolic" in the sense that when "the sea" is mentioned it most likely means the nations of the earth, and other such terms-----but we need to be careful we don't turn the whole book into some type of symbol, and miss the reality of all the future events it definitely mentions. If we do that we can diminish grounds for great hope and joy!!

[Vandyyke]

When Dave starts getting E-Mails THEN he will BELIEVE!