11/03/2023
Again, the Rapture promoters are declaring the sky is falling. Every time a war breaks out against Israel, a Y-2K event, or any other disastrous event takes place, they are promoted as a sign of Jesus coming back to take "Christians" to a planet called "heaven."
A Rapture is a belief held by relatively a few “Christians,” who are mainly those of the American Western Evangelical Christianity, who promote one. Further back, during the Pharisaical times of the Jews, in Jesus' days, they were waiting for a Messiah to come and deliver them from the tyranny of Rome. Many of the Jews died when their leaders told them not to leave the city, as Titus’ armies were on their way to slaughter them. The people were told their Messiah would come and save them, not knowing their Messiah had been among them, offering to save them from their mistaken identity and their Mosaic Law of doing to be.
Over recent years, I have studied many ancient books that go back to the 1400’s, and also studied and written full commentaries concerning most of the Old Outlook and Perceptions books and most of what was to be the New Outlook and Perceptions books. Not once did I find any teaching on the subject of a rapture “of the Church” taking place.
One of the most often cited objections to pretribulation is that it is a new teaching in church history, having only come on the scene in the 1830’s by a minister by the name of Darby. It is often argued that if the pre-trib rapture were biblical, then it would have been taught earlier and throughout church history.
The doctrine of rapture, as it is commonly understood today, was first promoted in the 19th century by John Nelson Darby, an influential figure in the development of dispensationalism. Darby lived from Nov. 18th, 1800, to April 29th, 1882. Darby wrote his own translation of the Bible, titled “Darby Bible.” Dispensationalism is a belief in a system of historical progression, as revealed in the Bible, consisting of a series of stages. Following the beliefs in dispensationalism, Darby taught that there would be a future event in which true believers in Christ would be caught up, or raptured, into heaven before a period of intense tribulation on Earth. This belief gained popularity through the teachings of Darby and other proponents of dispensationalism, and it continues to be a significant aspect of specific Christian theological interpretations today.
The book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988" was written by Edgar C. Whisenant, a former NASA engineer. Whisenant gained attention for his prediction that the rapture would occur between September 11–13, 1988. However, as history has shown, his prediction did not come to pass. Edgar C. Whisenant's book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988" gained significant attention and popularity when it was published. It reportedly sold millions of copies worldwide, and Edgar became richer and moved to the Bahamas.
Family and physical "rapture" is not the answer for the world today. There is no place in the bible where the word "rapture is mentioned. However, the phrase caught up is used four times.
Spiritually, the phrase "caught up" in those verses is a transformative experience where one's consciousness is elevated beyond the limitations of the physical world. It signifies a shift from ordinary perception to a higher state of awareness or spiritual understanding.
The Apostle Paul experienced a time of "being caught up in the third heaven." He did not physically leave planet Earth.
Paul's being caught up represents transcending the lower levels of consciousness and awareness and ascending to a higher realm of spiritual truth, wisdom, and Divine revelation. He saw the revelation he ended up teaching to the Gentiles.
