Christianity is the largest religion with 31.6% of global population. The global body of more than 2 billion Christians is separated into 45,000 different denominations worldwide. For comparison, Islam has seven and Judaism three main denominations. A religion of Jesus Christ who preached about unity has 45,000 different branches and each branch thinks that they have the ultimate truth. A religion that agrees on one true God and one Bible, yet can’t agree on the interpretation of the Bible and practices across those denominations. Why is that? Why Christianity can’t come to a mutual agreement on those aspects? Some churches believe in pre-tribulation rapture, some post tribulation rapture, some don’t believe in the rapture at all. In the Bible we see that Jesus was preaching about the gate being narrow and only few will find it, yet all those 45,000 different denominations with different perceptions to one another think that they have the ultimate truth and their church will be raptured. If that’s the case, why Jesus said this would be the narrow gate? If the belief in Jesus is enough, all those people should be accepted to the Kingdom of God, why then “only a few find it.”
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7: 13-14
In my previous post I explained how church, in my opinion, is not the Bride of Christ and therefore cannot be raptured for the wedding, because Jesus did not come to build the church. Jesus could not have used the word “church” in the way we understand it today because physical churches as buildings didn’t exist during his time on earth. The Greek word translated as “church” in the Bible is “ekklesia” and refers to a gathering or assembly of people called out for a specific purpose, which is how Jesus would have used this concept. We can only assume he meant “church”, however he could have also meant synagogue, gathering assembly or temple. The buildings we call churches weren’t present then and in fact the word “church” came to existence in the 13th century and it comes from the Old English word “cirice”. When we look at the origin of the word “cirice” – it means pagan temple.
Therefore Jesus could not have meant “church” but he was referring to the third temple, a promise that he will build when he comes back to reign as a King on earth. He would fulfill the Messianic promise required to be considered as the Messiah.
The idea of the church having an easy ride to the kingdom of God, where Israel, the chosen nation of God, whom God is under the covenant with and who will have to go through the pain, is so false and arrogant. There is not going to be separate and different treatment to Israel and to all the believers. How could God overlook His chosen nation and favor the church of believers who can’t even agree on the teachings of the Bible?
The church does not believe they are “grafted in branch” and were not supposed to be a separate religion, the church rejects the Law of God and the church does not even worship God the Father but the Son only, whom they think it’s one and the same God. And if you ask Christians from different denomination who created heavens and earth, they can’t even agree on that. Some say God the Father, some say Jesus and some say both. According to the Bible, Yeshua will restore and unify God’s people, however it’s not going to be a separate program for the Israel and the church.
Why Rapture? Where does this concept comes from?
For those who don’t know, rapture is another concept that distinguishes Christianity. Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still alive, together will rise “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” This view of eschatology is typically part of dispensational premillennialism, a form of futurism that considers various prophecies in the Bible as remaining unfulfilled and occurring in the future. The idea of a rapture as it is defined in dispensational premillennialism is not found in historic Christianity and is a relatively recent doctrine originating from the 1830s. The term is used frequently among fundamentalist theologians in the United States. (source wikipedia)
Therefore we can see that this idea came from United States in the 19th century. We can see it has been widely popularized by the Hollywood movies, especially movies like “Left behind: The movie” in 2000, “Rapture: the Beginning of the End” movie in 2014 and many, many more. Suddenly people started using this term as a confirmed future event and something to look forward to.
Where in the Bible we can see “rapture”?
The word rapture is not actually being used in the Bible. In the Old Testament we see prophet Elijah being “taken away” into heaven:
“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” 2 Kings 2:11
Where else we can see similar event? One of the famous references we see in the book of Genesis and the story of Enoch:
“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:24
Here we don’t have much information of how this happened and if it was by death or by “whirlwind into heaven” like Elijah. The only further interpretation of this we get from Apostle Paul, who said:
“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5
Paul had the same amount of information as we have, however Paul’s assumption has been made into a fact that this is exactly what happened. But there isn’t enough information or evidence so I would be careful with making assumption as a fact. Paul in his teachings popularized the idea of rapture by saying the church, which he falsely believed to be the bride of Christ, will be raptured or caught in heaven to meet Jesus:
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17
This in fact is the only verse of Paul’s teachings about the rapture, therefore we don’t have much information found in the Bible about the “rapture”. If there is so little found about this concept in the Bible, why this has been popularized so much? Apart from the obvious – through American movies, later it has been brought into the teachings at the churches and now we can see videos with “Rapture coming soon” that flooded the internet. In fact, this concept has not been taught in the early Christianity at all but as I mentioned above, only started to be commonly used in the 19th century.
There is also another reason why this doctrine came to life in later Christianity. During the protestant movement where a lot of truths came to light about the deception of the Catholic church, The Jesuit Order, also known as the Society of Jesus, came up with a plan of distraction.
Francisco Ribera, a Spanish Jesuit theologian, created a futuristic eschatology that places Antichrist in a distant future therefore diverting the attention away from the Catholic church corruption. The doctrine of rapture was just a distraction and a false hope that promotes passivity among people to not strive for righteousness because they will be raptured anyway. It created this unpreparedness, spiritual laziness and passive waiting to be snatched away instead of preparation to endure prosecutions. This is a false doctrine that keeps people in a false hope of being removed from the great tribulation and is designed to divert people away from the true gospel of the endurance of suffering through those events.
You have to ask yourself this question, if God did not take away Israel from Egypt but helped them to go through, if God did not take Lot from Sodom and Gomora but showed them an escape route, if God did not take Noah but asked him to build the ark, do you really think that God will take you away to avoid God’s wrath, which would contradict the teachings of the Old Testament? The Old Testament teachings are showing us that believers are called to endure suffering, not to be magically removed from it.
The book of Zechariah clearly states that 2/3 of the earth will die and only 1/3 will stay alive. It does not say that 2/3 will be taken away to heaven just because they have a strong faith, and that they will be rescued from all the consequences of sin without prior repentance and bettering themselves. This really does not match to what the prophets were warning us about! It’s only due to Paul’s philosophical approach, his gospel of grace that now people believe in lies! And in my view it’s better to believe in a salty truth than a sweet lie!
“And it shall come to pass in all the land,”
Says the Lord,
“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
But one-third shall be left in it:
I will bring the one-third through the fire,
Will refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ” Zechariah 13: 8-9
“For the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand:
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.
A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like swift steeds, so they run.” Joel 2: 2-4
For by fire and by His sword
The Lord will judge all flesh;
And the slain of the Lord shall be many.” Isaiah 66: 16
Those verse clearly shows us that the Day of the Lord will be a “day of darkness” and many people will die. The Lord will bring one-third of those people that will survive and still take the through the fire and “will refine them, as silver is refined.” The silver is refined usually through heating, roasting, crushing and then forming into what we can call silver. Therefore going through pain before we can see the final product. This is how God was forming His chosen nation Israel and God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God will not change and suddenly, through grace and forgiveness, remove everyone just because of strong faith. God shows grace and forgiveness to those who not only repent but put action towards change. Who humbly accept the punishment:
“For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you;
Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
Yet I will not make a complete end of you.
But I will correct you in justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’” Jeremiah 30:11
God desires to bring people back into communion with himself, yet God’s holiness cannot simply allow their sin to pass without retribution. For if God would allow our unholy nature, He would be contradicting with His own holy nature. God is motivated by love and His holiness, which requires punishment and taking accountability of one’s actions. God cannot surpass seriousness of sin by allowing people to remain sinners, therefore He wants to brings sinners back into communion with him and to shape us into the holy vessels he originally created and that requires action, work on yourself, striving for better and humbly accepting punishment. Only in that way we can learn something. If everything is forgiven without any action and any improvement – how can we learn?
“Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
For the day of the Lord of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
Upon every high tower,
And upon every fortified wall;
Upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all the beautiful sloops.
The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
But the idols He shall utterly abolish.
They shall go into the holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the earth,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship,
To the moles and bats,
To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crags of the rugged rocks,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.” Isaiah 2: 10-21
Here we have a terrible reality of the “Day of the Lord”. It will not come with magical wand of taking people away but with anger and wrath. This is the time we can all humble ourselves before God and hope that we will be able to go through the time of tribulations. Even Jesus warned us that we will have to go through the time of tribulation:
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
“I will utterly consume everything
From the face of the land,”
Says the Lord;
“I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens,
The fish of the sea,
And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.
I will cut off man from the face of the land,”
Says the Lord.” Zephaniah 1: 2-3
“And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,
“The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh!
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.
“And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,
Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”
The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
“I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”
Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the Lord’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.” Zephaniah 1: 8-18
“Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
And they will be afraid.
Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.
Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
“I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hosts
And in the day of His fierce anger.” Isaiah 13: 6-13
It is clear to see that the idea of rapture completely contradicts what the Lord said it will happen. People will not be snatched away to avoid those events but rather those who survive will go through fire and will be refined as silver is refined. It is better to prepare for this time and endure through the pain, rather than expecting better treatment just because of faith. Just as God said, those who say in their heart that the Lord will not to any evil, will be unpleasantly surprised and disappointed that they believed in all those false doctrines.
By Dagmara Z.