Rapture

ViaCrucis

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Explain ? I feel like I need to fight, instead of wait. Is that unbiblical?

"The rapture" is a term that is most commonly used in association with the Dispensationalist teaching that at some point Jesus is going to take Christians into heaven prior to a period of major tribulation. There are variations of this teaching, for example that this event happens mid-way through this tribulation, and others that it will happen afterward. These views are often described as "pre-tribulation rapture" (before) "mid-tribulation rapture" (mid-way), and "post-tribulation rapture" (after).

Historically, however, the idea that Jesus is going to remove Christians from the earth in a massive exodus like this is entirely foreign. The historic position is that when Jesus returns, He returns in glory as judge of the living and the dead--so He comes in judgment, and when He comes the dead are raised, and those alive at His coming share in the same glory of the resurrection, as St. Paul says, "We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed". The Lord comes, the dead are raised, there is the final judgment, and God makes all things new. There's no "rapture" at all in the historic Christian teaching. The idea of "the rapture", as popularly conceived, dates to the early 1800's, to an Irish preacher named John Nelson Darby.

Darby became prominent among the Plymouth Brethren movement, and his and their teachings ended up attracting a bit of attention with some notable figures, the apostles of Dispensationalism in the United States include Cyrus Scofield (whose Scofield Reference Bible included Dispensationalist commentary and interpretations in the margins, his reference Bible became one of the most popular in the US for a time) and Dwight L. Moody.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries several Dispensationalist seminaries and Bible colleges were opened with the express purpose of teaching the Dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible, of these are included the Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary. These Dispensationalist schools became the breeding ground for successive generations of Dispensationalist preachers and theologians, and their influence largely came to shape and dominate in American Evangelicalism; it was this fertile ground which gave rise to a number of popular Dispensationalist works, such as Hal Lindsay's Late Great Planet Earth in the 70's and 80's, and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkin's super-selling Left Behind series of novels in the 90's and 00's.

Mainline Protestant churches have been much more resilient against Dispensationalism, but Mainline Protestantism is less visibly present in America than it used to be, and Evangelicalism has become far more prominent in the US (culturally and politically) with the rise of the Moral Majority and Religious Right in the 60's-80's as well as the Jesus People Movement of the 70's.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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longwait

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From the culture that I have come from no one has even heard of the word rapture and they do not know what it is about. However, nowadays some of them might be more aware as a result of the internet. But it is not mentioned in our churches or in our christian circles at all. In the West people seem to be only thinking of the rapture.
If by fighting you mean fighting as a soldier of Christ, resisting the mark of the beast and dying as a martyr for Christ then I am totally with you on that. Nowadays the internet is accumilated with various videos on the rapture. Some of them are so convincing that even someone who does not believe in the rapture starts to wonder about it. They glorify the rapture. Why is there not a single video glorifying those who will be beheaded or martyred for Christ and will come back to reign with Him for a 1000 years. Thats completely Biblical and no need to twist the words of the Bible on that. Thats what it means. The devil does not want it to be glorified. Yes, it does say in Revelations that those who endured patiently will be kept from the hour of trial. But couldn't it just mean that such people could be kept protected in safe havens.
The Western belief seems to be that anyone who believes in Christ will be raptured. How is it that those who have known only luxury be taken out of here without being tested for their faith? Even Jesus's disciples who walked with Him and knew Him personally denied Him when the going got tough. This belief in being raptured out is very dangerous. It will cause you to get offended with God when you will find yourself here during the tribulation. You will deny Christ and fall away. Even John the Baptist who lived in the wilderness on only locusts and honey and who introduced Christ to everyone got offended with Jesus because Jesus did not save Him from being beheaded. So be careful about such rapture doctrines. You need to pray that you will not deny Christ under any circumstances. Off course you can pray to be counted worthy to escape all that is coming to the world. Thats Biblical.
 
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1watchman

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Longwait, the bible teaching on the translation (called rapture due to the joy of being lifted up to the Lord) is very real; and one should note in Scripture that if one is NOT translated out with the coming "in the air"of the Lord for His Bride, then when He "appears" on the earth to the world again with His bride, it will be too late for salvation. That is because He will be coming to destroy His enemies and establish His reign for a thousand years (the Millenium). Feel free to write me personally if you would like to see more full ministry on this. Saints of God need to appreciate these two comings ---in the air and then on the earth. Continue to trust the Lord Jesus, and all will be well (and I know many "born again" Christians will be surprised and then glad at the rapture time because they did not know about it).
 
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