Why is the Rapture So Popular Among Evangelical and Charismatic Christians?

[Blade]

We REALLY need to search on this. In my own searching I found a man that wrote Hymns and was a preacher. He lived around 300-400 AD and wrote ..I READ IT.. about CAUGHT UP how Christ was coming back for His Church and we would be caught up.

Then there was this preacher.. was on TV for YEARS. He found MORE scrolls about Caught up aka Rapture way before 300-400 ad. And did not Christ say He was going and make us a home and would come back and receive us unto Him self so WHERE He is we will be. Did not HE say WHERE I go YOU KNOW.

Then Paul by the sweet sweet Holy Spirit talked about voice, shout, trump and dead rise and then we change and get caught up with them to meet Christ in the AIR to be with Christ for ever? Paul wrote to people if we SEARCH.. People that thought they missed Christs return. Paul t old them.. no.. you have not missed Him.

So.. to say there is NO rapture sorry is a lie. Its clearly written CAUGHT UP. What man can not say is WHEN. Fact.. voice shout trump then dead rise .. we will change and get caught up with them and we will meet Christ in the air. So say WHEN that will happen.. is not written. So just like John 3:16 is true yes? Then when Christ said He will come back and get us (receive us unto Himself so WHERE He is we will be ).. WILL happen. He can not lie.

 

[Bass4Jesus]

Your response made it sound like you assumed he believed in the rapture.

Understood. But again, my point was/is this: Relative to how we live our daily lives, what's the relevance in all this? It's all well outside our scope of influence. No rapture? What can I do about that? Nothing. Rapture? What can I do about that? Nothing. Rapture details of one sort or another? What can I do about those? Nothing.

To the heart of the matter: In none of those cases, were someone in Authority (note the cap) to give me the real answer and it happened not to line up with my own prior assumptions -- Bible-supported or not -- I wouldn't change anything I'm doing today, because I try real hard every day to behave in ways that'll make my Father proud of me. I just don't see the value in troubling myself over things a) that are far out on the periphery, and b) over which I have zero influence. Chasing after wind, etc.

Anyway, I do hope you guys get it sorted out.

 

[Hermit76]

Understood. But again, my point was/is this: Relative to how we live our daily lives, what's the relevance in all this? It's all well outside our scope of influence. No rapture? What can I do about that? Nothing. Rapture? What can I do about that? Nothing. Rapture details of one sort or another? What can I do about those? Nothing.

To the heart of the matter: In none of those cases, were someone in Authority (note the cap) to give me the real answer and it happened not to line up with my own prior assumptions -- Bible-supported or not -- I wouldn't change anything I'm doing today, because I try real hard every day to behave in ways that'll make my Father proud of me. I just don't see the value in troubling myself over things a) that are far out on the periphery, and b) over which I have zero influence. Chasing after wind, etc.

Anyway, I do hope you guys get it sorted out.

Lol... I'm not sorting.
I see what you are saying and I have thought that quite a bit. However, I think the significance of this particular teaching is the massive influence it has had on Christianity and the perception of Christianity. In some circles it is the nucleus of the church life. I think that is the purpose behind this whole thread. Even if it is not, it is amazing how emotional this makes some folk. It is definitely a hot button topic.

Peace...

 

[Steve Petersen]

While the Rapture has been spoken about by other Protestants, it wasn't until John Darby (1800 to 1882) began spreading Dispensationalism and stories of a Pre-Tribulation rapture that "the Rapture" began to become popular. Does God need to wait 1800 years to reveal a new doctrine?

Please Discuss

They want cheap grace and not to suffer for the Master.

 

[akaDaScribe]

They want cheap grace and not to suffer for the Master.

Have to tell you, I have no desire whatsoever to potentially want to watch my family and loved ones die and witness unspeakable suffering. If that's my lot, that's my lot. But if this cup may pass, let it pass.

 

[Athanasius377]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this but in the US it seems that the Scofield reference bible has had a long history of teaching Dispensationalism. So much so that it sometimes appears from the outside that Dispensationalism seems to be evangelical default eschatology. Some dispensationalists are not even aware of where this teaching came from.

 

[Willie T]

They want cheap grace and not to suffer for the Master.

Did you know that even Jesus asked not to have to go through His suffering? It is not some sort of badge of Holiness to have junk dumped on you.

 

[mark kennedy]

While the Rapture has been spoken about by other Protestants, it wasn't until John Darby (1800 to 1882) began spreading Dispensationalism and stories of a Pre-Tribulation rapture that "the Rapture" began to become popular. Does God need to wait 1800 years to reveal a new doctrine?

Please Discuss

The return of Christ and the resurrection of the Church is certainly nothing new.

 

[ViaCrucis]

While the Rapture has been spoken about by other Protestants, it wasn't until John Darby (1800 to 1882) began spreading Dispensationalism and stories of a Pre-Tribulation rapture that "the Rapture" began to become popular. Does God need to wait 1800 years to reveal a new doctrine?

Please Discuss

There were several sources of how Dispensationalism gained popularity in the United States:

- The Cyrus Scofield Reference Bible was one of the most popular reference Bibles in the US in the early 20th century.

- Evangelists such as Dwight L. Moody preached it, and it became institutionalized in Dispensationalist seminaries and Bible colleges, such as Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary.

- One of the leading and most important figures in mid-late 20th century Evangelicalism, Francis Schaeffer, was a "Pre-Tribulationist".

- The late 20th century saw a rise in popular Dispensationalist media: Hal Lindsay's Late Great Planet Earth, or Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' Left Behind series.

It became institutionalized in ways which produced seminarians trained in its doctrine; influential leaders propagated it, and it became entrenched in public consciousness through a lucrative media industry of books, movies, and other media.

The net effect is that, at least in the US, it's hard work to be Evangelical and avoid Dispensationalism. There are plenty of non-Dispensationalist Evangelicals, lots of them; but Dispensationalism is thoroughly entrenched in the Evangelical subculture of America.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[drjean]

Actually, the word "rapture" comes from the Latin Vulgate translation by St Jerome much, much earlier. The event has always been in God's Word, and has been promised since God spoke of His wrath (time of tribulation) being only for the Israelites who did not keep jubilee.

The Vulgate (/ˈvʌlɡeɪt, -ɡət/) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that became the Catholic Church's officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible during the 16th century. The translation was largely the work of St Jerome, who in 382 had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Vetus Latina ("Old Latin") Gospels then in use by the Roman Church. Jerome, on his own initiative, extended this work of revision and translation to include most of the Books of the Bible, and once published, the new version was widely adopted and eventually eclipsed the Vetus Latina; so that by the 13th century, it took over from the former version the appellation of "versio vulgata" [1] (the "version commonly used") or vulgata for short, and in Greek as βουλγάτα ("Voulgata").

• The Rapture
  
  Behold, I tell you a secret; we will not all sleep, but we will 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 imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15.51-52).
  
  The Word “Rapture” (ἁρπάζω)
  
  The word “rapture” does not occur in our English Bibles. We get the word by way of St. Jerome (c. 347-420 A.D.). In his work of revising the Latin New Testament from the Greek New Testament, he translated the Greek word ἁρπάζω into the Latin “rapiemur.” The Latin verb form is “rapio” and means to be “caught up” or “taken away.” From these Latin words come our English word “rapture.” While Paul used the word ἁρπάζω only once (1 Thessalonians 4.17), he taught the doctrine of the Rapture in other places using other expressions. The Greek word ἁρπάζω means to “seize” or “snatch away.” It is used 13 times in the following verses: Matthew 11.12, 13.19; John 6.15, 10.12, 28-29; Acts 8.39, 23.10; 2 Corinthians 12.2, 12.4; 1 Thessalonians 4.17; Jude 1.23; Revelation 12.5.
  

 

[ViaCrucis]

The word "caught up", harpazo in Greek, rapiemur in Latin, is in the Bible. The doctrine of "the rapture", i.e. Christians being taken up into heaven prior to a period of tribulation is not in the Bible.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 does not describe Christians being taken up into heaven. It describes the coming (Parousia) of Christ, the dead are raised and those who are alive at the Lord's coming are caught up together with the resurrected dead to meet the Lord at His coming.

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. 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, and so we will always be with the Lord."

The Lord is coming to earth, we are not going to heaven. We meet the Lord in the air, and we will always be with the Lord where? Not "in heaven", because the hope of the resurrection is not to go up to some place called heaven for eternity, but that Christ is returning, and God will renew and restore the heavens and the earth:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'

And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.' And he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.'" - Revelation 21:1-8

"'For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,'
says the Lord." - Isaiah 65:17-25

We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting in the age to come. Amen.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Monk Brendan]

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it

Okay, show me Scripture that shows that Jesus will come back THREE times.

 

[Monk Brendan]

Because:
1) it's a comfort to the believer and
2) it makes sense

Are we called to be comfortable? NO! We are called to spread the Good News, no matter what the cost to our life and limb.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Because:
1) it's a comfort to the believer and
2) it makes sense

The Gospel is our comfort. If we are preaching a doctrine of material comfort instead of the comfort of God's grace and forgiveness in the Gospel then we are preaching a false message. Jesus never told us this life would be easy, on the contrary, He said this life was a cross which we were to carry, and that we would have trouble in this world. The encouragement, the comfort, we have is not that this world will be easy, but instead Christ's word, "Be courageous, for I have overcome the world."

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Monk Brendan]

I believe that it is so popular because it brings with it a sense of security, belonging, and affirmation that is lacking in the Protestant Church. With no sacred tradition, Apostolic Succession, Sacraments, and history, there's not much there that screams, "we're right." However, if you can make the Bible claim that God is going to perform some covert night ops to rescue the entirety of your version of Christianity (because Catholics, Orthodox, etc. are all left behind), it makes you feel, well, special.

Thanks for the help. However, we are NOT called to feel secure or special. Our only call is to make disciples, and in the process love God and love our neighbor.

 

[Monk Brendan]

Your response made it sound like you assumed he believed in the rapture.

Sorry, but I don't. If (and I say IF) there is a Pre Trib Rapture, I will be the most surprised!

That is not to say that I don't trust God, or trust His promises. All prophecy will be filled, and that means that there will come a time when we will be, "caught up," But it will be AFTER any tribulation.

 

[Monk Brendan]

Did you know that even Jesus asked not to have to go through His suffering? It is not some sort of badge of Holiness to have junk dumped on you.

He also said, "Your will, not mine be done."

 

[Hermit76]

Thanks for the help. However, we are NOT called to feel secure or special. Our only call is to make disciples, and in the process love God and love our neighbor.

Lol... I didn't say that I believed in the rapture or that I believe these were good reasons to have a doctrine.

 

[Ken Rank]

We REALLY need to search on this. In my own searching I found a man that wrote Hymns and was a preacher. He lived around 300-400 AD and wrote ..I READ IT.. about CAUGHT UP how Christ was coming back for His Church and we would be caught up.

Then there was this preacher.. was on TV for YEARS. He found MORE scrolls about Caught up aka Rapture way before 300-400 ad. And did not Christ say He was going and make us a home and would come back and receive us unto Him self so WHERE He is we will be. Did not HE say WHERE I go YOU KNOW.

Then Paul by the sweet sweet Holy Spirit talked about voice, shout, trump and dead rise and then we change and get caught up with them to meet Christ in the AIR to be with Christ for ever? Paul wrote to people if we SEARCH.. People that thought they missed Christs return. Paul t old them.. no.. you have not missed Him.

So.. to say there is NO rapture sorry is a lie. Its clearly written CAUGHT UP. What man can not say is WHEN. Fact.. voice shout trump then dead rise .. we will change and get caught up with them and we will meet Christ in the air. So say WHEN that will happen.. is not written. So just like John 3:16 is true yes? Then when Christ said He will come back and get us (receive us unto Himself so WHERE He is we will be ).. WILL happen. He can not lie.

Perhaps... but sometimes words are used idiomatically. For example... when we say "3 days" in the modern western culture, we are generally talking about 3 full days and rarely might we be talking about "the day after tomorrow" or even 26 hours. An hour of one day can count as full day to the Hebraic mind. My point is... can "caught up" be idiomatic? God appeared as a cloud by day long ago.... so the cloud in that sense was a manifestation of God Himself. If that word in the NT is being used similarly to how it was being used in the OT (which is certainly possible seeing the 1/3rd of the NT is a direct quote or inference from the OT) then being caught up in the cloud can be idiomatic for being caught up in the presence of God. There is that and we have Phillip... in Acts 8:39 we read "the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip." The word for "caught away" is harpazo... the word we would translate as "rapture." The problem however, is Phillip went horizontal, to another town... not vertical. And one more... if you really want to study this.... here is where "harpazo" is found in the LXX (Septuagint, Greek OT)... you might find the fact that it is NEVER used as we take it in English to be an interesting twist.

G726
Total LXX Occurrences: 33
αρπαζειν (2)
Eze_19:3, Eze_19:6
αρπαζοντες (4)
Isa_10:2, Eze_22:25, Eze_22:27, Mic_3:2
αρπαζων (1)
Psa_22:13
αρπασαι (3)
Psa_10:9 (2), Psa_104:21
αρπασαντες (1)
Job_24:2
αρπασεις (1)
Lev_19:13
αρπασετε (1)
Jdg_21:21
αρπαση (5)
Psa_7:2, Psa_50:22, Eze_18:18, Amo_3:4, Mic_5:8
αρπαται (1)
Eze_18:7
αρπωμαι (1)
Hos_5:14
ηρπακεν (1)
Hos_6:1
ηρπασα (1)
Psa_69:4
ηρπασαν (2)
Job_24:9, Job_24:19
ηρπασεν (8)
Gen_37:33, Lev_6:4, 2Sa_23:21, Job_20:19, Eze_18:12, Eze_18:16, Amo_1:11, Nah_2:12
ηρπασμενος (1)
Deu_28:31

 

[claninja]

Revelation 19 is quite clear who gets destroyed and it's not the Jews in Jerusalem

the beginning of revelation 19 is absolutely about the destruction of unfaithful old covenant Israel:

After this I heard what sounded like a large crowd of people in heaven. The people were saying, “Hallelujah! Victory, glory, and power belong to our God. His judgments are true and right. Our God has punished the prostitute. She is the one who ruined the earth with her sexual sin. 1.) God has punished the prostitute to pay her back for the death of his servants.” These people also said, “Hallelujah! She is burning and her smoke will rise forever and ever.” Let us rejoice and be happy and give God glory! 2.)Give God glory, because the wedding of the Lamb has come. And the Lamb’s bride has made herself ready. Fine linen was given to the bride for her to wear. The linen was bright and clean.” (The fine linen means the good things that God’s holy people did.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Great blessings belong to those who are invited to the wedding meal of the Lamb!” Then the angel said, “These are the true words of God.”
Revelation 19:1-3,7-9 - Bible Gateway passage: Revelation 19:1-3, Revelation 19:7-9 - Easy-to-Read Version

1.) it is unfaithful old covenant Israel who Jesus said would be punished for the shedding of the righteous blood of his servants:

35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Matthew 23:35-36 - Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 23:35-36 - English Standard Version

2.) the wedding of the lamb takes place after unfaithful old covenant Israel is destroyed:

7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Matthew 22:7-10 - Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 22:7-10 - English Standard Version

 

[claninja]

The Scriptures do support two resurrections. Revelation 20 shows this.

Paul also supports 2 resurrections

1.) being born again:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 6:4 - English Standard Version

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Colossians 2:13 - Bible Gateway passage: Colossians 2:13 - English Standard Version

2.) new bodies at Christ’s return

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:20,23,42,44 - Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:23, 1 Corinthians 15:42, 1 Corinthians 15:44 - English Standard Version

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 - Bible Gateway passage: 1 Thessalonians 4:16 - English Standard Version

Jesus also supports 2 resurrections:

1.) being born again

`Verily, verily, I say to you -- He who is hearing my word, and is believing Him who sent me, hath life age-during, and to judgment he doth not come, but hath passed out of the death to the life. `Verily, verily, I say to you -- There cometh an hour, and it now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those having heard shall live;
John 5:24-25 - Bible Gateway passage: John 5:24-25 - Young's Literal Translation


2. New bodies at Christ’s coming

and they shall come forth; those who did the good things to a rising again of life, and those who practised the evil things to a rising again of judgment.
John 5:29 - Bible Gateway passage: John 5:29 - Young's Literal Translation

and this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who is beholding the Son, and is believing in him, may have life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day.'
John 6:40 - Bible Gateway passage: John 6:40 - Young's Literal Translation

So now, when we know the nature of the 2 resurrections, revelation 20 is better understood. Additionally, it is important to look at the verb tenses in this passage.

The vision that John receives here in revelation 20 is about the lives of those who were beheaded.
During their lives They did not bow or worship the beast, they did not have the mark of the beast, and they did reign with Christ.

These lives were the first fruits of the spirit, who were the born again. This was the church, the royal priesthood of God, who was persecuted for their testimony of Christ. And over those who are born again, the second death has no power.



And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those who have been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and who did not bow before the beast, nor his image, and did not receive the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they did live and reign with Christ the thousand years; and the rest of the dead did not live again till the thousand years may be finished; this [is] the first rising again.
Revelation 20:4-5 - Bible Gateway passage: Revelation 20:4-5 - Young's Literal Translation