"Then the seventh angel sounded [the trumpet]: And there were loud
voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
(Revelations 11:15)
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall
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 incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
(1 Corinthians 15:51, 52).
"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. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them to meet the Lord in the air."
(1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).
"And immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened
... and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of
a TRUMPET, and they will gather together His elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to another.
(Matthew 24:29-31) (Italics mine).
According to many popular Bible interpreters and end-time prophecy buffs today, including some leading men of God, Jesus could come back at any moment in and secretly whisk true believers away. Those who are not ready will be left to face the rise of the Antichrist and the eventual outpouring of the wrath of God on the earth. According to most of the proponents of this view, those left behind will effectively get a second chance at salvation, because they will realise that all these end-time prophecy teachers were right after all, so now they need to believe in Jesus and get serious with God, even though they also know they are going to lose their heads under the cruel Antichrist regime.
The upshot of all this seems to be, "You should live a holy life now so you don't have to go through the Great Tribulation. But even if you don't, all is not lost, you'll get another chance after the Rapture." BUT, what if judgment comes and there is no second chance? Friends, when people die in their sins and go to hell, there is no second chance. Why should the Second Coming be any different?
One film I viewed a while back had this old gentleman with one of these charts of "God's end time prophetical calendar" after the secret rapture had taken place, who was ticking off the events as the judgments straight out of the book of revelation came down on the earth. Scary stuff.
Multiplied millions of dollars have been spent promoting this view through books, films and tapes. There's good money to be made today as a end-time bible-prophecy buff, if you can give the impression that you really know what you are talking about. But is this view correct? Is it true? Is it Scriptural? And if it is not, could there be harmful consequences for people?
What if you believe with all your heart that God has promised that you yourself will never be hauled up before antichrist authorities, that there will be a secret rapture before the AntiChrist appears? For one thing, you are a candidate for being deceived by the AntiChrist when he does come, and the Scripture indicates he will arise out of the temple of God (2 Thessalonians 2:4) [the church is the temple of God]. How could this spiritual man be the AntiChrist, if God has promised to rapture you first? Millions will either be deceived, or go on to lose their trust in God because of the persecutions they thought God had promised them they would never face. America today is ripe for such deception. If you give the people what they want to hear, it is very good for your offerings.
I am not writing as one who knows it all, but at least I am willing to admit the fact. Someone may be able to overcome all my Scriptural objections and cause me to see the true light. However, the real truth on what is in store in the last of the last days may be a little more uncomfortable than what we have been led to believe by the various pop prophecy books and films. And if that is true, its better to know now, rather than to backslide later.
I don't dispute that some people have been saved and come to Jesus out of a real conviction that these things are going to happen exactly as pop prophecy preachers have been saying. And if the end justifies the means, I guess there is a strong case for keeping silent on the subject. But the end does not justify the means, and error carries within it seeds of destruction which will eventually bear their devastating fruit.
We don't need the doctrine of the Secret Rapture to get Christians or anyone else to repent.. If it is false after all, there are some yet to be revealed major negative consequences that could easily come to pass and hurt the Body of Christ. So I think its worth speaking up, not out of a desire for controversy and endless cavilling with those who already think they know, but so that we as believers in Jesus can truly be ready for some of the tribulation which has been the normal lot of serious Christians for the last 2 millenia.
There Will Be a Rapture of the Saints
The word "rapture" does not occur in the Bible. But the Bible clearly indicates in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back for His church. We who are alive when He comes will be caught up to meet Him. Its says nothing about us going back up to Heaven for a few years after this meeting. It says nothing about a quiet event which will leave the people of the world wondering, "Where did the Christians go?" No, it will be with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and most importantly, with the trumpet of God. And at the sounding of the last trumpet, it will be the end of the game for the antichrist and those who have followed him.
When will the Rapture Take Place?
God has given us enough clues in the Scripture to put to rest the foolish speculations
of secret raptures. If only we will read them and take the word as it
is written, there is little room for doubt on the subject. The key to it all
is the repeated emphasis on angels but especially the TRUMPET of God. If you
believe the Script
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I agree, pre-trib is a deception
I have written about this myself on my blog. I believe that pre-trib is a deception of satan. I go into a few details of why it is IMPOSSIBLE on my blog.
I read where another lady said that if you read your bible as much as you should, you cannot be deceived into believing in a SECRET rapture. There is nothing secret about it in scriptures. Yashua EXPLICITLY spoke against it, and so did Paul the apostle.
Glad to see that a *few* are fighting for truth.
Hello Michael, I have
Hello Michael, I have questions on what is and when(timing) of Marriage supper of lamb. I know we learn from one another through the bible.Hope you CF people will contribute to this
God bless you
Ev. Steve
Jesus is Love
Jesus is God
By his stripes we were healed
Rapture + Secret Rapture
Why do we spend so much time studying,questioning such things?!
We should be in a place with God, and our walk with him that "WE" wont be left behind.
We should be able to decern the seasons, as Jesus said.
I have been saved since 1968, and have heard everyone from Henery Kissenger, to Pope John Paul as being the Anti Christ. I was taught way back then , that we (the generation of that time, were to be the generation to see the return of Christ). Now the Generation of this time are supposed to be the generation that will witness his return. The point being , That no one knows the time of his return, and wont until he does return, SOOOO BE READY!
All of this Theology came about because of the teaching on the establishing of Israel as a Nation in 1948. Where has this teaching come from? Who was the author of it? How much of what YOU personally believe, has its roots in the Theology of the Fig Tree? If you take 1948 out of the equation how much of what you beleive will still stand?
I believe that the whole teaching of the Fig Tree, and 1948 are both false teachings.
(Right out of the PIT)
Rapture theology and Zionism.
There are many links between what we are taught by many pastors within the evangelical movement and the political goals of zionism.
As stated in Michaels article, there potentially lethal implications for those who are misled into believing this unsafe doctrine.
I asked my pastor about end time events many years ago and his reply to me was "Dont worry about it, just concentrate on following Jesus".
I believe that this is a wise comment.
No-one knows when the "Day of the Lord" will be but we should always be ready with our lamps filled with oil.
God bless,
Pete
The Indentity of He Who Now Letteth/That Wicked
In a pre-tribulation model, "...he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way...", is usually identified to be the Church, or the Holy Spirit's influence through the Church. But who is he, and what does it mean that he shall be "taken out of the way" - in a post-tribulation model?
And where it says, "...then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming," does this imply that "that Wicked" is an individual who shall still be alive physically at the time of Christ's coming? If so, that would seem to preclude any first-century identity for "that Wicked" (such as Nero).
How to Test Whether Your Doctrine is Gospel or an 'Americanism'
I often say that one way in which we can test our doctrine - to know whether it is true Gospel, or an Americanism - is to put it through the "persecuted Church test". That is, to ask ourselves, "What would believers in a persecuted country think of this doctrine?"
For example: prosperity. Any statement about prosperity, probably isn't the Gospel - unless it can apply equally to both a tortured, imprisoned Pastor on death-row in China, and to one of your fellow-televangelists in the United States. Or at least, such a statement may need some qualification (especially if it's being broadcast around the world to audiences who are facing varying degrees of persecution).
And vice versa. Perhaps Pastors in the persecuted house-church movement in China could similarly guard against any extremes in their thinking, through testing how any of their statements might apply in a more peaceful, prosperous environment.
The Church can thrive during persecution and prosperity alike. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me". Extremes in doctrine can sometimes occur in persecuted countries, but unfortunately, we in developed countries are not immune from the opposite extreme, the tendency to dilute the Gospel's message.
It was good to read a post that brought Gospel doctrine and values into focus again.
Secret rapture?
You are one of the few that have hit the nail on the head! People need to stop fearing "the left behind" syndrome. For those that would disagree, there can only be ONE last trump. Many try to say there is a Levitical trump, and endeavor to make the Bible fit their traditional dispensational beliefs, but they are not scriptural. The introduction of this heresy was through the Scofield Bible in footnotes. Some of his staff resigned rather than go along with Scofields desires. In visiting countries outside North America, many do not have this belief. Something else that goes along with that last trump is the ending of time. This should be considered to establish further estachological views in regards to other things also introduced during the reformation by renagade Jusuits. I don't wish to be secific here, as it is another subject that I will comment on in the appropriate area.
Good elucidation Michael! I
Good elucidation Michael! I will check the scriptures to determine TRUE timing. Your explanations are biblical based and that is good because whatever Scripture says is true.
Michael sounds to me an Apostle!
Anyway I'm believing nothing on timing of rapture so as to examine these two concepts independently
God bless you!
Jesus is Love
Jesus is God
By his stripes we were healed
Secret Rapture?
Michael,
You and I are pretty much on the same page as to the rapture of the Church. As a new believer, some 34 years ago, I was taught that the dispensational veiw was what the Bible taught. When I did my own study on it and really looked at what the Bible said, rather than what Hal Lindsey said, I could not find any passage that remotely taught a secret rapture before the great tribulation. I have asked many people over the years to show me just one passage that taught this, no one has yet. I have been told, many times, that they just believe it because they hope that is what will happen. I don't want to write war and peace, but I find it sad that many hang on to this view when it is clearly not scriptural.
in His love,
Darryl
Yes but
I agree that there will not be a "secret rapture", but I have to disagree about the trumpets. Paul was writting twenty to fourty years prior to John's vision in Revalations. To equate the two trumpets as the same seems a bit of a stretch. Check out my blog entry "The Timing of the Rapture" for more on my take.
will there be a secret rapture of the church
hi , Michael , thank you for this article , which is truly based on the Word of God . many of our brothers and sisters are in for a rude awakening if they live to see the antichrist rule . the fact that many are willing to believe that somehow they will escape through "righteous living" tells us that something is rotten in today's "churchianity" . first of all , truly righteous people , who know who enabled them to gain this righteousness , consider themselves honored by suffering for Christ's sake .
this attitude clearly indicates , on the other hand , how selfish most us have become : the Lord Jesus Himself said that the greatest commandment was to love our God with all our might and heart ; but i am afraid many are "lovers of themselves" instead , taking all steps they deem necessary to avoid suffering and pain and still manage to get the supreme "candy" : go to heaven and have fun , flying around with the angels! let us remember the words of the Lord Himself :"in this world , you will have tribulation , but take heart , for I have overcome the world " . this is what the Lord expects of us , to stand on His Word and to rely on His strength to have His commandments come to life in our daily lives , no matter what situation we may find ourselves in .
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