Rapture Theory – Deceiving the Elect of God
Rapture Theory is a 17th Century modern day theological invention.
To quote:
“The concept of the rapture, in connection with premillennialism, was expressed by the 17th-century American Puritans Increase and Cotton Mather. They held to the idea that believers would be caught up in the air, followed by judgments on earth, and then the millennium.”
Further Historical Proof?
To quote:
“The Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, Lutheranism and many Protestant Calvinist denominations, have no tradition of a preliminary return of Christ. The Orthodox Church, for example, rejects a preliminary return because it depends on a premillennial interpretation of prophetic scriptures, rather than an amillennial or postmillennial fashion.”
Source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture
Please note this phrase carefully from the above quote:
‘preliminary return of Christ’ = “Rapture Theory”
I know you don’t believe in rapture and neither do I nor any Christian especially for the first 500 years or first 1600 years but I couldn’t resist sharing this Fact.
P/S: Christ’s Own Words Debunks Rapture Theory as follows:
Highlight:
“Immediately AFTER the TRIBULATION of those days…” = Christ Appears Once only AFTER the TRIBULATION (Matthew 24:29)
“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect” (Matthew 24:31) = “Rapture” happens during the SAME DAY He Returns to ‘gather all the Elect, His Bride with the Trumpet Sound’ AFTER the TRIBULATION
Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 highlights the “Trumpet” part Linking these two Verses to this same event; please note the ‘gathering of the elect only’ on this Day ‘Context’ in both these Verses, Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 – 17 Linking these two irrefutably.
The First Resurrection for His Bride, the Church or Elect only, happens after this (1 Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation 20:4 -6) as clearly explained in writings of St. Justin Martyr and St.Irenaeous of Lyons too.
In Full:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 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. 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.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:29 – 31, KJV)
P/S 2: First Christianity Taught this
Example:
Justin Martyr (c. 100 – 165 AD, Christian Apologist) taught this
“But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.
For Isaiah spake thus concerning this space of a thousand years:
‘For there shall be the new heaven and the new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, or come into their heart; but they shall find joy and gladness in it, which things I create’…
For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years.
We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, ‘The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,’ is connected with this subject.
And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal [age-during]resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.” – Justin Martyr (Dialogue. Chapters 80-81)
[emphasis mine]
Please be careful of what we believe as Christians.
Always ask, ‘When is the first time in history is did a Credible Christian believe the same as you regarding a Verse if an exegetical Writing survived’?
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:24, KJV)
No One knows the Day or Hour of His Return as the Jewish Tradition of the Bridegroom coming suddenly for marriage states as determined by the Father only as it is analogous to this ‘Gathering of the Elect (Church, Bride, Revelation 19:7, Matthew 25:1 – 13) toward Christ (Groom)’ in FULL and this is NOT Rapture but His Return only (Matthew 24:36, Revelation 19:11 onward).
Please note that the ‘Gathering of the Elect’ in Full (1 Thessalonians 4:16 – 18, Matthew 24:29 – 31, 36, Revelation 19:7) all Speak of His Marriage Context (Matthew 25:1 – 13) as if ‘Rapture Theory’ was true, according to ‘their own experts’ those who refuse to take the mark of the beast are saved. This is a Contradiction because how can there be ‘more elect’ when the ‘full elect’ has been gathered during Rapture?
Can you see it?
They will come up with ‘new explanations NOT found in Holy Scripture’ as the Bible Verse clearly Speak of One Future Coming of Christ and One Gathering of the Elect only (1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 17, Matthew 24:31, Revelation 19:7 – 8) which is accompanied by the Destruction of the Antichrist (Revelation 19:11 – 21, 2 Thessalonians 2:8), His Marriage with His Bride (Church, Revelation 19:7, Matthew 24:29 – 31), i.e. ALL ELECT gathered from ends of ‘heavens and earth’ (Mark 13:27, Jude 1:14), The First Resurrection (Revelation 20:5, 1 Thessalonians 4:16) and His 1000 Millennial Reign (Revelation 20:4 – 6).
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,” (Jude 1:14, KJV)
Even the Ancient Christian-Jewish Sibyline Oracles Prophesies exactly as these Verses mean as demonstrated in Post Below for further edification:
“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,” – apostle Peter (2 Peter 1:20, NASB)
Alternate Position: Reject Church History & all these Earliest Most Authoritative Christian Writings & Bible Verses, and believe in the 17th Century ‘Puritans’. I wonder who taught them?
Peace to you
No Rapture Prior – Why does Christ Come only after the Tribulation?
Explanation:
“And therefore throughout all time, man, having been moulded at the beginning by the hands of God, that is, of the Son and of the Spirit, is made after the image and likeness of God: the chaff, indeed, which is the apostasy, being cast away; but the wheat, that is, those who bring forth fruit to God in faith, being gathered into the barn. And for this cause tribulation is necessary for those who are saved, that having been after a manner broken up, and rendered fine, and sprinkled over by the patience of the Word of God, and set on fire [for purification], they may be fitted for the royal banquet. As a certain man of ours said, when he was condemned to the wild beasts because of his testimony with respect to God: “I am the wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.” – St. Irenaeous of Lyons (‘Against Heresies’, Book V)
Source:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/irenaeus-book5.html
The only ‘rapture’ the Bible Speaks of is During His Second Coming (Verse 31 in image, Christ’s Own Words) where He send His angels to gather His Elect from all over the World when He Returns, (e.g. This Gathering of the Elect is Described further in Verses such as Matthew 24:36 – 41).
Here’s a rarely known description of the ‘Rapture of Gathering of the Elect during Christ’s Return’ from an Apocrypha (A Possible Description for Matthew 24:31 & Matthew 24:36 – 41):
“.On that day the Christ will pity those who are His own. And He will send from heaven his sixty-four thousand angels, each of whom has six wings.
3.The sound will move heaven and earth when they give praise and glorify.
4.Now those upon whose forehead the name of Christ is written and upon whose hand is the seal both the small and the great, will be taken up upon their wings and lifted up before his wrath.
5.Then Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light leading them into the holy land.
6.It will be granted to them to eat from the tree of life. They will wear white garments…and angels will watch over them. They will not thirst, nor will the son of lawlessness be able to prevail over them.
7.And on that day the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth.
8.The birds will fall on the earth, dead.
9.The earth will be dry. The waters of the sea will dry up.
10.The sinners will groan upon the earth saying, “What have you done to us, O son of lawlessness, saying I am the Christ, when you are the devil?
11.You are unable to save yourself so that you might save us. You produced signs in our presence until you alienated us from the Christ who created us. Woe to us because we listened to you.
12.Lo now we will die in a famine. Where indeed is now the trace of a righteous one and we will worship him, or where indeed is the one who will teach us and we will appeal to him.
13.Now indeed we will be wrathfully destroyed because we disobeyed YHWH.
14.We went to the deep places of the sea, and we did not find water. We dug in the rivers and papyrus reeds, and we did not find water.”
15.Then on that day, the shameless one will speak, saying, “Woe to me because my time has passed by for me while I was saying that my time would not pass by for me.
16.My years became months and my days have passed away as dust passes away. Now therefore I will perish together with you.
17.Now therefore run forth to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them.
18.Bring up the saints. For because of them, the earth yields fruit. for because of them the sun shines upon the earth. For because of them the dew will come upon the earth.”
19.The sinners will weep saying, “You made us hostile to YHWH. If you are able, rise up and pursue them.”
20.Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the saints. He will fight with them again.
21.The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords.
22.It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire.
23.And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble.”
24.A true judgment will occur.
25.On that day, the mountains and the earth will utter speech. The byways will speak with one another, saying, “Have you heard today the voice of a man who walks who has not come to the judgment of the Son of YHWH.”
26.The sins of each one will stand against him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or of the night.
27.Those who belong to the righteous and … will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and those who handed them over to death in their torments.
28.Then the sinners [ in torment ] will see the place of the righteous.
29.And thus grace will occur. In those days, that which the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them.” – Apocalypse of Elijah
Translation Source (2nd in link):
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/copticelijah.html
An Important Comment:
The last line “And thus grace will occur. In those days, that which the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them” = refers to prayer for Salvation of the Wicked by the Righteous (Sheepfold1) for them to be Reconciled from the Lake of Fire later (Revelation 22:17) or Torments prior will occur but only after ‘asking many times’ and in ‘those days’ (latter times) as even the Sibyline Oracles clearly Reveal agreeing to this Ancient Christian Prophecy as well.
More Biblical Proof and Church History regarding the Correct Doctrine pertaining to the Second Coming of Christ as it is Taught in First Christianity, please consider the write-up below:
https://www.anonymouschristian.org/blog/rapture-theory-deceiving-the-elect-of-god/
Please don’t be deceived.
