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The false doctrine of the Secret Rapture
Which is taken: the wheat or the tares? (A.K.A. The rapture of the church is a lie)
There is no rapture. At least not the way the Christian church defines it. Those who are taken away, according to Scripture, are those who are "the wicked and the treacherous" (Prov. 2.21-22). The tares and chaff will fly away on the wind and be burned. The wheat (righteous) will remain to rule and reign over the nations with Him.
The word ‘rapturo’ from the latin is where people get this idea. But Scripture was not written in latin. Scripture was written in Hebrew. The verse (1 Thes 4.17), where the latin translated ‘rapturo’, uses not as most would say ‘harpazo’ but ‘arpagesometha’ in the greek. You will need to note that this verse is in regard to the coming or appearing of the Messiah and not some secret event. Paul continued telling the Thessalonians in 2 Thess 2 that the coming of the Messiah would not occur until after the great apostasy has occurred and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Paul in 2 Thess. told us that those who would say that the day of the Messiah’s coming was imminent (that it could happen at any time – as do the ‘rapturists’) are trying to deceive us.
Yeshua said that His coming would not be in secret but that every eye would see it. He also said that His coming would be after the tribulation. He taught us to not believe those who say that He has come in secret. (Mat. 24)
If you look at the translations from the hebrew the word used is ‘yachdaw’ or ‘yachad’. The hebrew gives the meaning that we will be gathered or brought together as one. Which if we will study the entirety of the Scripture, we will know that this is what the first and the greater exodus are all about. We are going to be made one, one family, one bride, serving one HaShem.
If one wants to use the ‘harpazo’ greek word, as many do — then the closest hebrew word in the scriptures would be ‘natsal’. "Natsal" means to deliver, preserve, rescue. It can even be said to mean to snatch away. If you search it out in the Scripture you will find that it is used to describe our being brought out as one from Egypt as in Ex 3.8 where HaShem says that He has come to "deliver" from Egypt and bring us into the Land. Exodus 6.6 "I will deliver you from bondage"; Ex 18.8 where Moses tells his FIL how HaShem has delivered them.
Note that they were delivered not by some secret way but before the eyes of all. They were present during all of the plagues on Egypt and were present during the wrath being poured out on Pharaoh and his armies. They were present yet preserved (natsal) in the midst of it.
Also look at:
Devarim / Deut. 23:14 “Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to DELIVER you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.
Read Psalm 91 where HaShem in vs. 3 delivers (natsal) you. In vs. 7 many fall at our side and yet it does not approach us. In vs. 8 we look on (are able to see it) with our eyes.
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:24 Yeshua presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:29 “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Mattityahu / Matt. 13:30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Note that first the tares are gathered, not the other way around as is commonly taught.
Mattityahu / Matt. 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Study what winnowing is. The winnowing fork is put to the grain (which was growing together with the tares). The tares and chaff will fly in the wind and the grain (the fruit that remains) will fall back to the earth.
HaShem will deliver and rescue us. HaShem will gather us and make us one. He will do this through the greater exodus not through the rapture. If you take the thought of being caught up from the earth and then taken away and search it through the Scripture you will find that that type of event always refers to the wicked.
So again, after taking the long way around, the tares and chaff will be taken off on the wind. The wheat will be what remains. The wheat, the upright, will live in the land and remain in it.
The history of the Christian Rapture
When we remember that the Secret Rapture theory was virtually unheard of and untaught until around 1830, it is essential to examine its origins first. Such a teaching was unknown to the early Church Fathers e.g. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, who were convinced that the Christian Church would pass through great tribulation at the hands of the anti-Messiah system before the return of the Messiah. Furthermore the Rapture theory was not taught by the great stalwarts of the Reformed Faith – Huss, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Cranmer or even by the Wesley brothers in the 18th Century. Whence came this teaching therefore and where did this novel. idea arise?
A Chilean Jesuit priest, Emmanuel Lacunza wrote a book entitled ‘The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty’, and in its pages taught the novel notion that Messiah returns not once, but twice, and at the ‘first stage’ of His return He ‘raptures’ His Church so they can escape the reign of the ‘future anti-Messiah’. In order to avoid any taint of Romanism, Lacunza published his book under the assumed name of Rabbi Ben Ezra, a supposedly converted Jew. Lacunza’s book found its way to the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and there in 1826 Dr Maitland, the Archbishop’s librarian came upon it and read it and soon after began to issue a series of parnphlets giving the Jesuit, Futurist view of prophecy. The idea soon found acceptance in the Anglo-Catholic Ritualist movement in the National Church of England, and soon it tainted the very heart of Protestantism.
The Secret Rapture doctrine was given a second door of entrance at this time by the ministry of one, Edward Irving, founder of the so-called ‘Catholic Apostolic Church’. It was in Irving’s London church, in 1830, that a young girl named Margaret McDonald gave an ecstatic prophecy in which she claimed there would be a special secret coming of the Messiah to ‘rapture’ those awaiting His return. From then until his death in 1834 Irving devoted his considerable talent as a preacher to spreading the theory of the ‘secret rapture’.
However, it was necessary for Jesuitry to have a third door of entrance to the Reforrned fold and this they gained via a sincere Christian, J. N. Darby, generally regarded as the founder of the ‘Brethren’. As an Anglican curate Darby attended a number of mysteriously organised meetings on Bible Prophecy at Powerscourt in Ireland, and at these gatherings he learned about the ‘secret rapture’. He carried the teaching into the Brethren and hence into the heart of Evangelicalism. With a new veneer of being scriptural the teaching spread and was later popularised in the notes of the Schofield Reference Bible.
Written by Teresa Smith
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LoueyNoorey
October 24th, 2010 - 16 Marheshwan 5771 at 4:10 pm
[Saw this while surfing and I present it without comment on my part!]
I'm surprised to see anyone still using "Dr." Thomas Ice as an authority. His so-called "Ph.D" came from a tiny Texas school that was fined by the state of Texas for illegally issuing degrees (Google "America's Pretrib Rapture Traffickers")! And Google "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)" which reveals that he somehow left out a collective total of 49 words when he reproduced Margaret Macdonald's 1830 revelation -- the same 49 words in the same places that Tim LaHaye omitted when it reproduced it three years later! Ice also had four copying errors that Hal Lindsey had when he had reproduced it three years before Ice did! (So-called prophecy experts habitually (mis)copy each other, warts and all, instead of doing their own research!) Also Google "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Deceiving and Being Deceived" by Dave MacPherson, and (the most shocking) "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty." Now you know why many these days are swapping pretrib for midtrib, prewrath, or posttrib!
Nicole Pearman
October 25th, 2010 - 17 Marheshwan 5771 at 9:30 pm
I'm so glad more and more people are coming forward to refute this escapist nonsense.
I LOVE your website.
kenneth Henderson
May 22nd, 2011 - 18 Iyar 5771 at 12:42 pm
i have always believed this 'Rapture' teaching was way off base and thank you for the research and truth… Shalom.
Glory
August 4th, 2011 - 4 Menahem Av 5771 at 7:05 am
I have heard christian preachers tell their congregations, and any who might be watching by television (if they happen to be aired on TV), that they have nothing to fear because they wont have to endure the tribulation since they will be raptured and thus, spared. What a bunch of bologna!! Anyone who reads the 24th Chapter of the book of Mattityahu/Matthew IN ITS ENTIRETY will see that Mashiach/Messiah will not return to gather His own, the elect, until AFTER the great tribulation, the times as were not before nor ever will be.
kare smith
January 31st, 2012 - 8 Tevet 5772 at 10:38 pm
ineedhelp.ihavecalledothermessianicjewishchurchandtheybelieveintherapture.icalledthetempleandhebelievesinthe rapture.i said the disciples didnt believe that and it wasn'teven brought up until the 1800 hundrens.he hungup on me.do some messianic jewsn believen in the rapture and some don't? help me
bethaderech
February 1st, 2012 - 29 Tevet 5660 at 2:58 pm
Hi Kare, some Messianic believers have bought a lot of Christian doctrines. Our job is to strip them out from the true faith.
LooeyNoorey
June 2nd, 2012 - 12 Sivan 5772 at 1:02 am
[Just collided with this goodie on the exciting net. Enjoy.]
PRETRIB RAPTURE SECRETS
How can the “rapture” be “imminent”? Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He's now there with the Father) “until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. ("The Rapture Question," by the long time No. 1 pretrib authority John Walvoord, didn't dare to even list, in its scripture index, the too-hot-to-handle Acts 3:21!) Since Jesus can’t even leave heaven before the tribulation ends (Acts 2:34,35 echo this), the rapture therefore can't take place before the end of the trib! (The same Acts verses were also too hot for John Darby -- the so-called "father of dispensationalism" -- to list in the scripture index in his "Letters"!)
Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening (Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! The "rest" for "all them that believe" is tied to such destruction in II Thess. 1:6-10! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who'd be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54). (Will death be ended before or during the trib? Of course not! And vs. 54 is also tied to Isa. 25:8 which is Israel's posttrib resurrection!)
Many are unaware that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 this "rapture" was stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!).
Other Google articles on the 182-year-old pretrib rapture view include "Pretrib Rapture Politics," "Pretrib Rapture Scholar Wannabes," “Famous Rapture Watchers,” "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," “X-Raying Margaret,” "Edward Irving is Unnerving," “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” "Walvoord Melts Ice," “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” "Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thieves' Marketing," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," “Deceiving and Being Deceived,” "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty," and "Christ's return is NOT imminent!" – all by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” (see Armageddon Books).
edward
September 1st, 2012 - 29 Tevet 5660 at 3:09 pm
The 144000 witnesses can not be killed according to revelation. You could just as easily argue that those were the fruit that fell back to earth after the winnowing fork was used. After the tribulation period we will return to earth and rule with Jesus.
bethaderech
September 2nd, 2012 - 15 Elul 5772 at 2:09 am
Then rabbits lay eggs, and the great unicorn learns how to fly. Come on Edward you are dreaming!
LooeyNoorey
January 10th, 2013 - 28 Tevet 5773 at 8:30 pm
[Greets, BH. Here's something else I just found on the surprising web. God bless.]
Pretrib Rapture Pride
by Bruce Rockwell
Pretrib rapture promoters like Thomas Ice give the impression that they know more than the early Church Fathers, the Reformers, the greatest Greek New Testament scholars including those who produced the KJV Bible, the founders of their favorite Bible schools, and even their own mentors!
Ice knows that his own mentor, Dallas Sem. president John Walvoord, was unable to find anyone holding to pretrib before early 19th century British teacher John Darby -- and Walvoord called Darby and his Brethren followers "the early pretribulationists" (RQ, pp. 160-62). By claiming to find "imminence" in the 1st and 2nd century Fathers, Ice knows that his followers can change "imminence" in their mind to "pretrib" -- but Ice is reluctant to admit that whenever any of those Fathers seemed to hold to "imminence, it was because they thought they were then in the tribulation and were near the end of it!
Google "Famous Rapture Watchers" to see the rapture view that Walvoord said "has long been a common doctrine held by the majority of the church" (RQ, p. 127). Note how those unsurpassed lexicon and Greek grammar experts interpreted Rev. 3:10 which pretrib promoters often claim is the greatest Biblical proof for an any-moment pretrib rapture.
Journalist/historian Dave MacPherson has focused since 1968 on the pretrib rapture's long-covered-up, 183-year-old history. His habit has been to examine Darby's earliest writings and then painstakingly search for the earliest occurrences of certain words and phrases like "coming for," "coming with," "rapture," "imminence," "any moment," etc. Since several of Darby's contemporaries have at times been nominated for the title of "Pretrib Rapture Originator," MacPherson has done the same laborious word-and-phrase search in the earliest writings of Macdonald, Norton, Irving, etc.
Since many pretrib promoters favor the King James Version of the Bible, it's interesting that the other writings of the KJV translators that are in the British Library in London (where MacPherson has researched) don't have even a hint of a pretrib rapture! Is it possible that Ice and other pretrib merchandisers have found proof of pretrib in the KJV that even the KJV translators couldn't find?
Pretrib didn't flourish in America much before the 1909 Scofield Bible which has pretribby "explanatory notes" in its margins. Not seen in the margins was jailed forger Scofield's criminal record throughout his life that David Lutzweiler has documented in his recent book "The Praise of Folly" which is available online.
Even some well-known evangelical schools have played fast and loose with pretrib. MacPherson's "The Rapture Plot" -- the most documented and accurate work on pretrib dispensationalism's history (Google "Scholars Weigh My Research") -- includes on p. 222 Biola's original doctrinal statement which stated that the "Lord Jesus is coming again to his earth, personally, bodily, and visibly." Later on, those who evidently felt superior to the founders added this Scofield-like "explanatory note" which says that "the return of the Lord for His Church will be premillennial" and "before the Tribulation." (Also Google "Pretrib Hypocrisy.")
Although Ice's mentor John Walvoord couldn't find any pretrib teacher before 1830, Ice has been "honoring" Walvoord by promoting some pseudo-scholars who claim they've found pre-1830 existence of pretrib! (Google MacPherson's "Deceiving and Being Deceived" for the details.)
Ice, BTW, has a "Ph.D" issued by a tiny Texas school that wasn't authorized to issue degrees! Ice now says that he's working on another "Ph.D" via the University of Wales in Britain. For light on the degrees of Ice's scholarliness, Google "Bogus degree scandal prompts calls to wind up University of Wales," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," and "be careful in polemics -- Peripatetic Learning."
Another pretrib trafficker, Hal Lindsey, asserts on p. 124 in "The Late Great Planet Earth" that the famous Egyptian Sphinx has the head of a woman even though encyclopedias say it's the head of a man!
In a Google article "Pretrib Expert John Walvoord Melts Ice," Ice's mentor demolishes Ice's desperate assertion that the "falling away" in II Thess. 2 is a pretrib rapture! (Ice should have said that the TEACHING of such a rapture is a falling away!)
Can anyone guess who the last proud pretrib rapture holdout will be?
Irv
March 24th, 2013 - 13 Nisan 5773 at 11:16 pm
Morgan Edwards' Rapture View
by George Wilson
In 1995, in a 24-page booklet on 18th century pastor Morgan Edwards, evangelist John Bray claimed that Edwards taught a pretrib rapture in his 1788 book titled "Two Academical Exercises…."
Those echoing Bray include Thomas Ice who wrote "Morgan Edwards: Another Pre-Darby Rapturist." Edwards' 1788 work can be found on the internet.
In order to claim that Edwards held to pretrib, candidates for the I-can-find-pretrib-earlier-in-church-history-than-you-can medal -- including Bray, Ice, LaHaye, Frank Marotta etc. -- have intentionally covered up Edwards' "historicism," his belief that the tribulation had already been going on for hundreds of years. (How can anyone in the tribulation go back in time and look for a pretrib rapture?)
Here's proof of Edwards' historicism and its companion "day-year" theory which can view the 1260 tribulation "days" as "years."
On p. 14 Edwards described the Ottoman Empire (which was then already 400 years old) as the Rev. 13:11 "beast." On p. 20 he defined "Antichrist" as the already 1000-year-old "popery" and the "succession of persons" known as "Popes" -- his other Rev. 13 "beast." He necessarily viewed Rev. 13's 1260-day period as 1260 literal years in order to provide enough time for his two "beasts."
On p. 19, while discussing "the ministry of the witnesses" of Rev. 11, he allotted "about 204 years" for their "years to perform" -- years impossible to fit into a 3.5-year period!
What about Edwards' rapture? On pp. 21-23 he wrote about "the appearing of the son of man in the clouds, coming to raise the dead saints and change the living, and to catch them up to himself….The signs of Christ's appearing in the clouds will be extraordinary 'wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines,' &. (Matth. xxiv. 6-8.)….The signs of his coming, in the heavens will be 'the trump of God [I Thess. 4:16], vapor and smoke, which will darken the sun and moon [Matt. 24:29],'…and also cause those meteors called 'falling stars'….
Right after his combined rapture/advent (!), Edwards said: "And therefore, now, Antichrist…will…counterfeit the preceding wonders in heaven…causing 'fire to come down from heaven'….And that godhead he will now assume, after killing the two witnesses….Now the great persecution of the Jews will begin…for time, times, and half a time…."
Thomas Ice's article on Edwards (listed at start) quoted only the first 27 words in the above quotation which end with "to himself" -- and you can see why pretrib defender Ice stopped quoting there! (For an Ice-covered piece, Google "Pretrib Rapture Pride.")
Not only had most of Edwards' historicist tribulation occurred before his combined rapture/advent, but incredibly his Antichrist kept raging for 3.5 years even after the Matt. 24 signs! No wonder his tutor advised him to correct his thesis!
To read Edwards' complete work, Google "[PDF] Two Academical Exercises.. .www.breadoflifebiblestudy.com."
For more info on Edwards, Google "McPherson Page (thebibletruth.org)." Also Google "Deceiving and Being Deceived" by historian Dave MacPherson.
/ The preceding composition popped up on my computer screen. Reaction, anyone? /
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