Question:
Dear Greg,
On
a recent radio program you seemed to imply that belief in what many Christians
call “The Rapture” is erroneous. If
I understood you correctly, then how do you explain 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17,
which, in part, states that “we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord”?
Pat
Answer: Dear Pat,
The
Rapture teaching of pre-millennial dispensationalism doesn’t teach what the
passage you quote teaches. The
passage simply says that those who are alive in Christ, along with those who are
dead in Christ, will be caught up in the air to meet Jesus when he returns.
That’s it.
The
Rapture teaching of pre-millennial dispensationalism teaches, in effect, that
there will be two Second Comings of Jesus. The
one you quoted is cited as “proof” of the first Second Coming, only for
those who will be whisked away to heavenly safety for seven years followed the
general second Second Coming. My
Bible says nothing about two Second Comings of Jesus, so upon whose authority
are we to accept that there will be a Rapture of all Christians to physically
save and spare them from the Great Tribulation?
At
PTM we believe that the Bible should be carefully and properly studied and
“rightly divided”, and that human interpretations that are suspect should be
just that— suspect.
If
you would like to study this general topic a little more, we have a wealth of
material available on our website. You
may wish to start with several major articles we have published in the Plain
Truth. Click on “Plain Truth”,
then go to past issues and note the following:
1.
Jan-Feb 1998— our cover story, “The End is
Here…Again”
2.
Jan-Feb 1999— our cover story, “Apocalypse
1500— Visions of the End”
3.
May-June 1999— our cover story, “Y2K— High Tech
Apocalypse?”
4.
July-August 2001— “Will You Be Left Behind?”
5.
May-June 2003— our cover story, with individual
articles, “Left Behind!
In
addition, we invite you to use the feature on our website, “Search our
Site”, and type in words or phrases such as “end times”, “rapture”,
“tribulation”, “dispensationalism” and you will be presented with many
resources, both questions and answers as well as articles we make available on
this topic.
PTM
believes that biblical prophecy is a blessing and is an important part of the
Bible. It should be properly
understood with sound, Christ-centered methods of interpretation.
Improperly interpreted biblical prophecy can become sensationalism, it
can become an addiction, and it can lead us away from the grace-based teachings
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
May
God bless you, and we pray that our resources may be helpful.
Let us know if we can be of further assistance.
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht