Much of American Evangelical Christianity embraces some form of a “rapture” theology. The “rapture is a “secret” removal of all Christians from earth usually placed by such theologies as just prior to 7 years of terrible judgments and tribulation on earth. In the “rapture”, Christians suddenly disappear and leave unbelievers behind. A multitude of scenarios are proposed. My main concept for today’s post is that the biblical, singular, second advent of Jesus at the end of the age is wrongly made into a 2-stage event – a “secret” rapture first and a “visible” (second) return happening at the very end, at the battle of Armageddon.
You may know that the concept of a “secret rapture”/2 stage return of Christ was not a historic teaching in the Christian church nor did it come from a careful examination of the Scripture and thoughtful development of known, solid Bible truths. According to John Nelson Darby, who had theological issues of his own, in 1830 a Glasgow Scottish Pentecostal woman had an ecstatic revelation in which she claimed God revealed to her the true understanding of a double return of Christ. Darby incorporated her vision into his expanding version of Dispensation theology to form the foundation of today’s Premillennial/Rapture belief systems. Darby was a tireless worker and organizer, founding the Plymouth Brethren and spreading his beliefs in England, Europe, and the United States. Over time his and other closely related belief systems were embraced by a significant portion of evangelical churches, refined and enshrined in the Ryrie, Scofield, Thompson, and other study Bibles, and mainstreamed over more than a century by books, movies, Internet, and other resources. Millions of Christians have been trained to “see” it taught by Bible passages that do not actually teach it. This sad state of theology is a good reminder of why the Bible holds “those who teach” to a much higher standard of accountability before God than the average layperson. A greater error and exposure to more severe judgment belongs to those who should know the Bible better than than to accept, preach, and teach faulty and false doctrine to others.
But, back to the main issue, the rapture belief. As we look to the verses used to “prove” it, we can clearly determine that it is a presupposition based on non-biblical sources. The belief in a rapture must be in place before Bible verses can be seen to teach such an event. My next post will focus on this.
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