The Rapture! What is the Rapture???

The Rapture
By: Aristobulus (Roger) Allen

The Rapture doctrine, which was the invention of the Plymouth Brethren led by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), has today been adopted by most Baptist, Pentecostals, Assemblies of God, and a variety of other fundamentalist sects. The idea that Jesus Christ will return for His true Church just before the beginning of the Great Tribulation in a secret gathering or "catching away" was an important part of Darby's teaching. The movement in which this teaching began originated in small groups in England and Ireland about 1828 and by 1831 was part of the official teaching of the Plymouth Brethren. By 1860 the "rapture" had made its way to the United States.

In the late 1800's, America was fertile ground for a wide variety of religious extremists, most notably the Adventist movements. These movements, which produced new denominations, sects, and cults, almost always had as one of their chief tenets the belief that Christ was going to return to earth "very soon" and that they could tell you when. As the eschatological and apocalyptic teachings of the Plymouth Brethren entered this mix of religious fervor, some of their teachings became a permanent fixture within the newly formed sects. Among the many heresies of the "brethren" the Rapture was the most successful. It even went on to affect millions of people in denominations which had not yet been formed. Two examples of this are the Assemblies of God and the United Pentecostal Church which were not founded until early in the 20th century. At about this same time the Rapture made its way into the theology of the Southern Baptist Church, which had not previously known of the teaching.

more to read...
www.apostle1.com...

This article brings up a very good point. I believe the teaching of the Rapture as an escape from the tribulation (so particularly pre-tribulation Rapture) does not come from Holy sources. I believe it could ultimately lead to the great apostasy that is predicted in the bible.

The Rapture is not part of the foundational Christian tenents (i.e. the belief in the Rapture is not required in order to be a Christian).

However, there are scriptures that allude to some type of separating out of the believers at some point in the tribulation. And those scriptures have been there all along...not just since the Protestant movement. The only thing that is new concerning these scriptues is the word "Rapture"...which doesn't mean that the concept is new, it means a word was created to name the concept that was already there.

For me personally, whether there is a Rapture at all, is a nonissue.

Originally posted by helen670
The Rapture
By: Aristobulus (Roger) Allen

The Rapture doctrine, which was the invention of the Plymouth Brethren led by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), has today been adopted by most Baptist, Pentecostals, Assemblies of God, and a variety of other fundamentalist sects. The idea that Jesus Christ will return for His true Church just before the beginning of the Great Tribulation in a secret gathering or "catching away" was an important part of Darby's teaching. The movement in which this teaching began originated in small groups in England and Ireland about 1828 and by 1831 was part of the official teaching of the Plymouth Brethren. By 1860 the "rapture" had made its way to the United States.

In the late 1800's, America was fertile ground for a wide variety of religious extremists, most notably the Adventist movements. These movements, which produced new denominations, sects, and cults, almost always had as one of their chief tenets the belief that Christ was going to return to earth "very soon" and that they could tell you when. As the eschatological and apocalyptic teachings of the Plymouth Brethren entered this mix of religious fervor, some of their teachings became a permanent fixture within the newly formed sects. Among the many heresies of the "brethren" the Rapture was the most successful. It even went on to affect millions of people in denominations which had not yet been formed. Two examples of this are the Assemblies of God and the United Pentecostal Church which were not founded until early in the 20th century. At about this same time the Rapture made its way into the theology of the Southern Baptist Church, which had not previously known of the teaching.

more to read...
www.apostle1.com...

Helen....
I don't really think it is proper to label the Seventh-Day Adventist as a "cult or sect, etc." I think, if one really wanted to, the Cathoilic Church could be applied to the same term?

I have done some studying of various denominations. In no way is the SDA to be considered a "cult." They believe, in detail, as many, many churches and denominations do. They differ in certain beliefs, as per any denomination based on interpretation(s) of scripture. They believe that the Sabbath was never to be changed and that God nor Jesus authorized such a change. Ellen G. White was a very significant person to the SDA. Her influence has influenced the view of Jesus's return. She was attributed to having 'visions' that God was giving her 'glimpses' of His will for the direction of the church and their views of the furture, etc. I see no difference between her 'visions' and the Catholic Church believing or heeding their sanctioned 'visions'....ie: Fatima, etc.

The SDA, did make a prediction of sorts concerning the return 'time' of Jesus back in the late 1880's (?)...I would have to look again. They spread the message and prepared for His return likewise. When that date had come and gone, the SDA concluded that they had erred in interpreting that aspect of scripture and have admitted so. But other than those few occurances, the SDA is a strong, fundamental church and one that is truly seeking God.

I'm wondering if your or the articles hint to them is because they are a big opponent of the Catholic Church? They feel the Catholic Church is erring in a variety of ways in respect to the scripture....ie: the changing or decree to change the Sabbath day, etc.

I am personally having a major problem with the Catholic Churches attitudes towards other denomination being considered: "sects, cults, etc." Its a mockery in itself and eludes to a "holier than thou" attitude that I find quite sickening. The Catholic Church has always asserted and maintained that all denominations of Christian churches heed or bow to the Catholic church.

As to the "rapture", I don't believe in it, but that is my opinion. The "rapture" is something that many churches and denominations feel is being interpreted from the Bible and thus teach of its concept. I will belittle it not nor question it. Personally, no matter what you believe, if the ultimate goal is the belief in God and the return to His divine Presence, thats all that should matter. I will and have always steered from condemning and analyzing "doctrinal" beliefs because they tend to lend towards debates, etc. on interpretations. Interpretations are obviously from a 'Man' point of view and ultimately lends to being flawed. Your doctrinal beliefs are no more perfect and correct than someone elses...its all in how you interpret a line of scripture, etc.

THe gola should ultimately be to seek from the Source the answers to ALL questions....the scriptures are not a perfect source...the only perfect source is the Source itself.

Please do not take no insult from this for none was given. I merely gave my view and what I felt was beng insinuated. May God be our guide and may He always be the one that we sek for true discernment and guidance.

regards
seekerof


[Edited on 25-7-2003 by Seekerof]

[Edited on 25-7-2003 by Seekerof]

[Edited on 25-7-2003 by Seekerof]

Seekerof......no offence taken!

The teachings of the Apostles were handed down from Jesus Christ........The reading of the Bible and the interpretations of it has been done by many people and all have different views on what the future holds....or what Revelation is telling us...
I trust in the teachings and the translations of the scriptures of the early church fathers mainly because the Christian Church was one and the same everywhere.......The translations are in English and there for all to read........Any new age ,modern day prophets are not in my opinion true prophets because many seek the visions or the prophecy for their own fulfillement to only get attention .....many that do recieve prophecy that relates to the end of the world is just tricks that the devil plays.....eg....My mum knows a woman who says that she talks to the mother of God all the time,and that she receives lots of prophetic visions about the end of the world (she is telling the truth about the visions and what she sees ,but that does not make it a True Vision from God!)and she has been told what to do when the time comes.....She is give visions of hiding in the wilderness and taking food with her to hide from all that will happen....This woman my mum knows also reads 'coffee cups'but she says it is just for fun..and using any type of tool for fortunetelling is against God and it is forbidden .
How can someone that 'read coffee cups'' as a fortune teller be a servant of God......You cannot serve God and do as you wish.....you cannot have both ways and be true to God.....although many that do this type of fortune telling do not actually know that it is wrong!
Many fathers of the Church received prophecy due to long prayers and fasting and being true to God ........living in the wilderness and with tears cried for forgiveness of sins for many......Prophecy was given to them in visions that they did not ask for,and only after their death, were writings of their visions and prophecymade known......they did not wish to be thought of as being special or rightous to receive these visions...many people came to see these monks or fathers for advice and many felt the simplicity of these visionaries(monks,fathers,rightous people) .......A prophecy from God will come out as said , but a prophecy that is not from God will be jumbled so that it will seem like it is true prophecy, and sometimes making the person that is receiving the vision as being rather special and rightous when in fact they are not!

Well said Valhal.....
Valhal.........quote//This article brings up a very good point. I believe the teaching of the Rapture as an escape from the tribulation (so particularly pre-tribulation Rapture) does not come from Holy sources. I believe it could ultimately lead to the great apostasy that is predicted in the bible.


The rapture is something that people will await for in order to be saved from all the chaos that will happen during the end of times......and thinking that the Rapture will occur before Jesus Christ comes is in fact quite scary because many will be tricked by the Antichrist and receive the mark of which Revelation speaks of...........That is why Jesus Christ says,''Unless those days are shortened, no flesh will be saved'' (Matthew 24:22)
''For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time,no,nor ever shall be'' (Matthew 24:21).

Satan's deceptions are beyond mere human ability to resist oer even detect.''For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect''(Matthew 24:24)
One of Satan's greatest achievements has been to seperate people from the living traditions of the Church and to instill in their minds the notion that each person has the right and ability to interpret Scripture for himself.

Let me clearify that by saying, the happening of the Rapture, should not make any difference in one's search for their place with God. All it really does is allow for some event to signify itself as the Rapture, either giving the non-believer a cut off date to make up their mind, or giving the believer an eventual safe zone that they just have to hold on long enough till they get too. Neither one of those situations should have anything to do with one's choice, it only serves to force a decision which is not an honest choice at all. Rapture is Idealistic at best for the beleiver, while being a nice escape route for those who don't yet, but still want to if things get bad enough...

Another thing, all organized religions can be called cults, cause they all are in a way. If they help you to understand then that is good, but it is neither required nor needed. Neither is the Bible, for both of them are creations of Man trying to represent God. That doesn't mean that it's wrong, for anything that helps you understand, still helps, but once you do understand you will understand regardless of "Church" "Book" or even "Words" themselves.

in Revelations. Just that unless you're a male virgin, and a descendant from the original 12 tribes of Isreal, you're # out of luck, hehe.... Not to mention, there are only 144,000 spots (or a similar number)....

[Edited on 25-7-2003 by Gazrok]