He says, "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: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). Yet Paul declares that the saints are caught up to meet the Lord at the same time the dead in Christ are raised. No one denies that this means the last day of the world. And what about the promise of the resurrection? Christ said, concerning the righteous, "And I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). The righteous would be separated from the wicked seven years before the end. According to the two-stage teaching of His coming, both groups would not grow together until the end of the world.
Will It Be Secret? The secret rapture doctrine contradicts the words of Christ in Matthew chapter 13 when He said that the wheat and tares would grow together until the "end of the world" and then would be separated. Now why would Jesus promise to be with the church until the end of the world if He intended to come seven years before the end to take them out of the world? The promise would have no meaning. This is why Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). Now here is what we find in the Scriptures: Christ's coming, the resurrection, and catching up of the saints to meet Jesus in the air, all take place at the same time, at the end of the world. It is a word coined for the second advent of Jesus. It can't be found in the Bible in even a single instance. There is no second stage of His coming that occurs seven years after the so-called "rapture." By the way, that word "rapture" is also an invention of theologians.
In between those two events, the Antichrist is supposed to come into power and the great tribulation period takes place.īut the truth is that the Bible nowhere speaks of these two separate comings of Jesus.
First, He will come secretly to take the church to heaven, and then, seven years later, He will come in an open demonstration of power and glory. What about the so-called secret rapture? A large number of Christians have been exposed to this "dispensationalist" or "futurist" interpretation of prophecy and have been hopelessly confused.Īccording to this view, the coming of Jesus will be in two separate events. Multitudes have been led to believe that Christ will return secretly. That question revolves around the manner of Christ's coming back to this earth at the end of the world. Why Would Jesus Promise? There is a theological question that has disturbed millions of Christians and has lent untold doctrinal confusion to the modem religious world.
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