Question:  Dear Greg,

            My question is about the rapture.  I was saved and baptized in the Southern Baptist Church.  I now attend a community church in Pennsylvania.

            I watched John Hagee and Jack Van Impe when I was first saved.  They helped me a lot but now I have a doubt about the rapture of Christ’s church.  Most pastors I speak to have said that they feel we are in the last days.  I agree, but Jack Van Impe once said that because of the Jewish calendar he expects the timetable to be between 2007 and 2013.  God said, “No man shall know the day or the hour.”

            What is your learned opinion about the rapture?  My grandchildren are asking me about this and I want to speak the truth.  Is there going to be a rapture of the church before the tribulation, after the tribulation or none at all?  Also, if the rapture is to be after or during the tribulation or not at all, why did Christ die? 

            I know we could never be good enough for heaven and without Jesus’ sacrifice we could never reach heaven.  He died for us, for our sins.  Do you see why I am having a hard time explaining to my grandchildren?

            Please help me.

            Denise

Answer:  Dear Denise,

            You seem to be thinking clearly about this topic, thank God!  We are particularly concerned about this issue as it seems to be like a virus or an addiction that plagues Christians. 

            The rapture:

1.      Christians somehow “got by” without believing in a rapture until about 200 years ago.  Why?  Why didn’t Christians believe in a rapture before--if it is biblical?

2.      Just how biblical is the rapture?  There is one main passage in Thessalonians, and maybe one or two others depending upon how they are read.  So is this
“enough” to place the emphasis that many are placing, for example, in the “Left Behind” series?

3.      Why do we need to worry about being left behind (as you infer in your question)?  All of our worries about being left behind were answered at the cross and the empty tomb.  We are not left behind and we never will be.  Jesus will never forsake us.

4.      Speaking of being “left behind”—the fact is that the vast majority of Christians today, and for that matter an even bigger majority for the last almost 2000 years, do not and did not believe in the rapture.  Will Christians be left behind simply because they do not believe the rapture and preach it?  What does “being left behind” tell us about God and his nature that differs with biblical teaching about God?

5.      Are we in the “last days”?  Christians, pastors and laymen alike have been teaching and believing that the end will come in their generation—just a few short years, or a decade or two away is the usual message.  That message has been proclaimed for almost 200 years since a man named Darby came up with a unique way to interpret the Bible, called dispensationalism.  What has been the fruit of all this “last days madness”, this end time “prediction addiction”?  When the predictions have failed (and ALL of them have so far—ALL) many have lost faith.  A number have left Christianity altogether.  Our Lord says that we may know them by their fruits.  The fruits of continuously being in some high pitched, feverish state of anxiety, thinking the end is only a few years away?  Not good, not good at all.

6.      The rapture causes Christians to be concerned about saving their own necks and those of their loved ones.  The efforts that they take to ensure that they will be raptured are far closer to religious legalism than they are to the glorious gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.  Are such folks deeply concerned about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, for instance?  What if all the money that people have spent on “Left Behind” books would have been donated to ministries like World Vision, who are actively involved in reaching out to those affected by AIDS?  What about Matthew 25:31-46?  Is there much there about the rapture—or about feeding, clothing, visiting and reaching out?

            Just a few off-the-cuff thoughts about the rapture.  We at PTM believe that it is the time for Christians to face the fact that all of this end time madness is just that—it is causing Christians to be mocked by the world at large.  It is misrepresenting God.  It is causing many to lose faith when prophecies fail and it is causing many to turn inward—worried about saving themselves.

            Hope this helps.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht