What denominations believe in the Rapture?

[CallofChrist]

I was once told I was under Gods curse as an Assemblies of God minister because I broke with the denomination about the timing of the rapture.

I don't think one's view on the Rapture or Second Advent of Christ should be a salvational issue or a test for Christian orthodoxy. There are just too many eschatological ideas that people differ on to make it some litmus test.

How did you deal with the blow-back you got on that issue @ByTheSpirit ?

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I don't think one's view on the Rapture or Second Advent of Christ should be a salvational issue or a test for Christian orthodoxy. There are just too many eschatological ideas that people differ on to make it some litmus test.

How did you deal with the blow-back you got on that issue @ByTheSpirit ?

I resigned my ministry, had no choice as I had broke one of the core doctrines in the AG. But it's ok, one door closes and another opens.

 

[d taylor]

Dispensationalist do, that is not a single specific denomination.

 

[The Liturgist]

Who teaches that the saints are resurrected at the appearing of Christ and a then go to heaven other than evangelicals and SDAs???

Or do you mean "go to heaven while dead in Christ - before the appearing of Christ"???

Umm neither? You do understand that it is central to most churches that there is no such thing as being dead in Christ?

 

[The Liturgist]

I resigned my ministry, had no choice as I had broke one of the core doctrines in the AG. But it's ok, one door closes and another opens.

It sounds like they anathematized you, or tried to, which seems absurd over such a matter. As a clergyman however this is a risk.

 

[The Liturgist]

I don't think one's view on the Rapture or Second Advent of Christ should be a salvational issue or a test for Christian orthodoxy.

I agree, especially since the doctrine is less than 200 years old.

 

[BobRyan]

Umm neither? You do understand that it is central to most churches that there is no such thing as being dead in Christ?

The "rapture" text comes to mind just then...

1 Thess 4:
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

 

[BobRyan]

So far:

Pentecostals/AOG
Seventh Day Adventist
Some non-Denominational
Some Baptists (???)
Some Evangelicals

Yes a lot of Baptists - in fact I don't know of a Baptist denomination that does not believe in the rapture - but they are also considered to be Evangelical. However not all evangelical denominations believe in the rapture as I understand that some of them do not accept it

 

[BobRyan]

SDA believe in a post tribulation rapture for the most part.

True - but most (in fact I think it is all other) other groups that say they believe in post-trib rapture have what I call "the big bounce" where people fly up in the air after the tribulation then come floating gently back down to Earth and do not go to heaven at all.

By contrast SDAs say Jesus takes the saints to heaven for 1000 years at the end of the tribulation.

So then that gets to how do you define the term -- "Second Coming".
1. The pre-mill appearing of Christ where saints are raptured? -- then that is SDA
2. The pre-mill return of Christ to rule on earth? -- that is not SDA
3. The post-mill return of Christ to rule on earth? -- that is also SDAs who use "appearing of Christ" as the term for Rev 19, and "second coming" for Rev 20 post-mill

 

[The Liturgist]

The "rapture" text comes to mind just then...

The phrase “dead in Christ” if read exegetically clearly refers to those who are reposed in Abraham’s Bosom. And being that the souls of the deceased do rise to meet God and are protected by angels as they pass through the aerial realm, which is the abode of our adversary the devil, the “prince of the power of the air”, this is extremely important. It is a complex and nuanced text of which I feel Darby’s exegesis just failed to properly understand, instead relying on an extremely literal eisegesis which if accepted causes the text and others to become discordant.

In the case of the SDA doctrine on this issue, I don’t fully understand it, but from what you have said I find myself disagreeing with it.

 

[BobRyan]

Umm neither? You do understand that it is central to most churches that there is no such thing as being dead in Christ?

The "rapture" text comes to mind just then...

1 Thess 4:
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The phrase “dead in Christ” if read exegetically clearly refers to those who are reposed in Abraham’s Bosom.

I don't see "abraham's bosom" in scripture outside of a parable and I clearly don't see the term in 1 Thess 4.

In any case are you now saying there "is such a thing" as "dead in Christ"??

No.

interesting.

So you agree it is in that text (in red, bold, underlined) - but still no such thing as it??

 

[BobRyan]

the souls of the deceased do rise to meet God and are protected by angels as they pass through the aerial realm, which is the abode of our adversary the devil, the “prince of the power of the air”, this is extremely important. It is a complex and nuanced

is it in a text some place?

1 Thess 4 states that this is at the "coming of the Lord"

1 Thess 4:
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

 

[The Liturgist]

In any case are you now saying there "is such a thing" as "dead in Christ"??

No.

is it in a text some place?

1 Thess 4 states that this is at the "coming of the Lord"

1 Thess 4:
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Dude you just quoted it...

 

[BobRyan]

In the case of the SDA doctrine on this issue, I don’t fully understand it, but from what you have said I find myself disagreeing with it.

The SDA understanding of the Rapture in 1 Thess 4:13-18 is almost exactly what Evangelicals teach - the difference is that we place it in Rev 19 and so have the destruction of the living wicked taking place "the rest were killed" as Rev 19 states.

 

[JSRG]

Self-explanatory. I know Pentecostals do.

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "the rapture"?

In common parlance, the term is usually meant to express the idea that all Christians will be transported to heaven and then the 7-year tribulation will start. But that, technically speaking, is pre-tributional rapture. Other positions are mid-tribulational rapture (it will happen during the tribulation) or post-tribulational rapture (it will happen after). I don't know if pre-tribulational rapture is the most popular, but it definitely is the best known.

So are you referring specifically to pre-tribulational rapture or rapture at any time period? Because that changes answers. For example, BobRyan mentioned Seventh Day Adventists believe in a rapture after the tribulation. If you're talking about rapture as in at any point, then that would qualify, but if you're using the more common idea of "rapture" as referring specifically to pre-tribulational rapture, then that would not qualify.

 

[d taylor]

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "the rapture"?

In common parlance, the term is usually meant to express the idea that all Christians will be transported to heaven and then the 7-year tribulation will start. But that, technically speaking, is pre-tributional rapture. Other positions are mid-tribulational rapture (it will happen during the tribulation) or post-tribulational rapture (it will happen after). I don't know if pre-tribulational rapture is the most popular, but it definitely is the best known.

So are you referring specifically to pre-tribulational rapture or rapture at any time period? Because that changes answers. For example, BobRyan mentioned Seventh Day Adventists believe in a rapture after the tribulation. If you're talking about rapture as in at any point, then that would qualify, but if you're using the more common idea of "rapture" as referring specifically to pre-tribulational rapture, then that would not qualify.

There is a great miss teaching about the rapture and that is that believers are taken to heaven. But that is not Biblically true, no one is raptured to heaven. They meet the Messiah in the air/clouds where they stay for 7 years during the tribulation. Before returning with the Messiah at the end of the tribulation.

 

[ewq1938]

Interestingly the Rapture as a theological construct is of extremely recent provenance, originating with John Nelson Darby, a minister in the Plymouth Brethren, in the 19th century.

Paul wrote of the rapture and Christ described it so it is at least as old as the time of the gospels. What you are describing is pre-tribulation rapture, and that existed in the time of Paul because he addressed the false idea that Christ could show up at any moment listed two major events that must happen before the rapture can happen, both Great Tribulation related so pre-trib is not possible. Darby just popularized pretrib but did not invent it.

 

[ewq1938]

Umm neither? You do understand that it is central to most churches that there is no such thing as being dead in Christ?

The bible speaks of it:

1Th_4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 

[RileyG]

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "the rapture"?

In common parlance, the term is usually meant to express the idea that all Christians will be transported to heaven and then the 7-year tribulation will start. But that, technically speaking, is pre-tributional rapture. Other positions are mid-tribulational rapture (it will happen during the tribulation) or post-tribulational rapture (it will happen after). I don't know if pre-tribulational rapture is the most popular, but it definitely is the best known.

So are you referring specifically to pre-tribulational rapture or rapture at any time period? Because that changes answers. For example, BobRyan mentioned Seventh Day Adventists believe in a rapture after the tribulation. If you're talking about rapture as in at any point, then that would qualify, but if you're using the more common idea of "rapture" as referring specifically to pre-tribulational rapture, then that would not qualify.

Since my tradition (Roman Catholic) does not teach rapture, I actually do not know. I am not sure how to correctly respond.

 

[RileyG]

The bible speaks of it:

1Th_4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

There is a similar passage from 1 Corinthians that is often read at Catholic funerals.