As the title suggests, I propose here to discuss briefly several important ideas related to an event often billed the "Rapture." For those unfamiliar with the term, this popular doctrine invites the idea that believers in Jesus will silently and swiftly -- in an instant -- translate (change) into heavenly glory. The Lord Jesus, descending from heaven to remove them from the earth, will thereby usher in a seven-year tribulation that will engulf the planet in war, famine, and plagues -- dare I say it -- of biblical proportions. Supposedly, carting off the saints in this fashion will make for missing pilots, trains and planes plunging and crashing, panic in the streets, and all manner of cancelled basketball games. Tens of millions, pulpiteers warn us, will just vanish in mid-stride of the day or night -- for the hour of this putative event remains unknown -- with no prior notice. Presumably, landlords with Christian tenants will simply pocket the deposit.

Now, I have taken up this topic for three reasons. First, this teaching enjoys widespread popularity among, perhaps, hundreds of millions of Christians, and has formed the topic of bestsellers (i.e. Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth), of movies, and an untold number of questionable sermons. The second reason I have chosen it stems from the fact that the Bible -- just about as clearly as anyone might do so -- falsifies this doctrine. Third, I have seen firsthand how it can ruin the lives of people who, at any moment, expect all their work and livelihood to come to nothing. It completely stifles the impetus -- and the biblical commandment -- for men and women to "be frutiful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it," which commandment God has never revoked.

The "cosmic slingshot" theory requires Christians to forego the idea that we must stay and build to advance the kingdom of Christ on earth. It fosters a do-nothingism that refuses to "polish brass on a sinking ship" -- as many of its proponents have said. This effectively calls the whole earth "evil," when the Scripture calls it "good." But no one -- okay, very few -- could construe as a good thing the boarding of a ship destined to sink straight to the bottom with passengers aboard it. By this aquatic metaphor, Rapture fans actually propose to excuse themselves for abandoning their post, for shunning the dominion mandate and Great Commission, and for rejecting the commandment of God to glorify Him by working to build a Christian, cultural legacy as "profitable servants."

But enough commentary for now, and onto the proof against this doctrine from the Bible itself. Keep in mind, we have put the five reasons offered against the imminent rapture doctrine in the form of five handy questions you can have at the ready for your pastor or other people espousing the view.

First, we should note that the Bible teaches that the Great Commission will succeed, and that the nations will convert to saving faith in Jesus Christ. This makes any idea of any premillenial "rapture" -- a wanton escape pod -- unnecessary, unbiblical and unfaithful.

Psalm 22:27-31 reads [just following a prominent passage of the Psalms recounting the suffering of Messiah]: All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Matthew 16:18 says: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock [which foundational rock turns out to be all the apostles and prophets, and not merely Peter, see Eph. 2:20], I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

1 Chron. 29:11 teaches that God always has the victory in these words:

Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

Daniel 4:35 declares: 'All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He [The Lord] does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?"'

Matthew 28:18-20 reads:

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Question 1. So our first question for pastors teaching the Rapture theology is this: Why do you want the saints to flee from their responsibility of pursuing the great commission and dominion mandate -- which includes the building of hospitals, schools and businesses that last for generations -- when the Bible says we will win? How is teaching them, "We all might go away tomorrow" consistent with the idea of building for generations? Fact: those who believe in the secret rapture myth do not build beautiful cathedrals; they do not build anything to last over generations. They often meet in "motel 6" churches, buildings designed for little more than an overnight stay.

Second, the Bible presents the Word of the Lord as a powerful and effective tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says that God's word cannot fail its intended purpose, and that it remains an instrument by which God will convert the nations.

Isaiah 55:11 reads: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

Psalm 19:7 tells that "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul ..." This indicates the purpose for which God has sent it (the "thing whereto" God sent it in the verse above) -- the conversion of the nations to saving faith in Christ.

Heb. 4:12 tells us that "The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword..."

Question 2. If the word of the Lord works so powerfully as to accomplish all for which God sends it, and if God has sent it to convert souls -- or the nations of the world (according to Matthew 28:18-20) -- then how could it fail to do so?" And if it succeeds, what need have we of any "Rapture"? Shouldn't we rather spend our time building up and improving our communities for the generations to come, and not squander our time staring up into the sky hoping for a quick exit?

Third, the Bible holds forth The Lord Christ as One who cannot fail. It is His nature to secure victory, and overcome all obstacles to his goals because as the Sovereign Lord, He both made and controls all things. Yet the rapture needs the great commission -- given by Christ -- to fail. Otherwise, why would Jesus have to return personally to intervene and rescue the saints? If you will recall, the early Christian church overtook the Roman Empire just BECAUSE God refused to rescue his martyrs from death. If He had "Raptured" them to keep them from harm's way in a world gone mad, how would the gospel then have prevailed? Any theory that needs Jesus to fail in his plans for humanity has doomed itself to failure from the beginning.

The premillenial Rapture adherent has Christ returning bodily to keep his Church from extinction, as though the Lord's original plan -- convert the nations by the gospel -- will have had failed altogether. And yet God does not have a "plan B." He doesn't need one.

Proverbs 21: 30, "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel [which can prosper] against the LORD."

Daniel 4:35 proclaims: All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He [The Lord] does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?"'

Question #3. If God authored the Great Commission, how can it fail to convert the nations -- God's stated goal in Matthew 28:18-20? Can God fail? This question lies at the heart of the matter. Don't be surprised if your pastor launches into all manner of metaphor when you ask this question.

Fourth, the Bible plainly tells its readers that the very noisy and quite public "rapture" occurs at the parousia, the bodily return of Christ to earth from heaven, which itself will occur at the END, not the beginning, of the millenium. Paul makes this plain.

1 Corinthians 15 (vv. 22-54) says that:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he [Christ] must reign [from heaven], till he [God] hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

... But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: ....But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him ... There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishono

ur; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. .... And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Likewise, 1 Thessalonians (4:14-18) discusses also the resurrection of Jesus and then mentions this same resurrection-rapture trumpet in these words:

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Note that this Thessalonian passage teaches of the resurrection of Jesus (v. 14) as the basis for the resurrection of "them also which sleep in Jesus." This primarily aims at the resurrection of the dead ("The dead in Christ shall rise first") as the comfort and hope of the Christian -- note the same trumpet as mentioned in 1 Cor. 15 -- and only the translation (i.e. rapture) of those who remain alive until his coming at the resurrection of the dead, when Christ shall raise those who died in the Lord.

When does this happen? 1 Cor. 15 says only when Christ has subdued all his enemies (here Paul follows Psalm 110) under his feet, will he leave heaven's throne from which he reigns. It says: "For he must reign [from heaven], till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." This means Jesus will not return, and the rapture-resurrection trumpet will not sound, until the end of the millenium. We know this, because at the end of the millenium, Christ still has enemies he has yet to subdue, who plot mischief on the earth:

Revelation 20: 7-9 says this plainly:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death, when death is swallowed up in victory -- at the post-millenial resurrection. Thus, no one living today has any right to expect God to deliver them from anything by removing him or her from the earth. God has never promised this. The premillenial secret rapture doctrine amounts to only so much theological spam from the spam factory.

Moreover, Psalm 110 says that the Messiah will remain seated [on a throne] at God's right hand until ALL Christ's enemies are made his footstool: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies."

Here, God promises that He will subdue Christ's enemies -- all of them -- and that Christ will "sit at His right hand" until God subdues them all, the last of which names death. This means that Christ will not leave his throne -- not for a rapture, not for some alleged "rescue" from the Great Commission, and not for any other reason -- until the end of the millenium.

Hebrews 10 (vv. 11-13) says it even more plainly [alluding to Psalm 110], "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting [i.e. waiting] till his enemies be made his footstool."

Christ sits on the throne waiting for God to subdue all His enemies. Until that happens, he will not leave His throne. Since none of us will live until the end of the millenium, we have no right to expect that any of us will ever see anyone raptured - or "left behind" for that matter. The only people I can see getting left behind are those who continue in false doctrine, contrary to the clear teachings of the holy Scripture.

Question 4. How can you say Christ will descend in the Rapture -- thereby leaving his throne -- before Scripture says He will? Were the Psalmist and Paul simply mistaken, or are the Premillenial Rapture proponents in error?

Finally, all the parables of the Bible relevant to the topic of how history will proceed until the Lord returns indicate that history will progress in a continuous (if bumpy) fashion, with no major interruptions (or "discontinuous events") like the rapture.

Matthew 13:24-30 recounts the parable of the wheat and the tares, which Jesus afterward explained to his disciples in private. Here Matthew reads,

"Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Matthew 13:36-43 then explains this parable in these words:

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father ....

This last line clearly corresponds to revelation chapter 20 above -- the final resurrection: unto damnation on the one hand, or else glory on the other. The angels in this parable even ask the Lord if he wants to separate out the good from the bad -- as the rapture would accomplish -- and the Lord flatly declines, suggesting that human history will continue its bumpy ride without any major discontinuous events, such as the Rapture. The separation transpires only at the very end.

Question 5. How can you say that history will encounter a global sifting event -- which separates the wheat from the chaff IN HISTORY -- which God Himself has stated He does not want?

We would do far better in the end to drop any foolish notions of some cosmic "Great Coffee Break" the Bible never promised -- and which God does not want -- and get on with the business of preaching the historically orthodox gospel, which calls Christians to build up their communities - to leave them better than we found them - for the glory of God, and for the benefit of men and women everywhere, both now and in the generations to come. For, Paul said, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works ...."

And good works begin with shunning bad doctrine, saying only what God has said. For it is written, "Do not add to the words of the Lord, lest he reprove thee and show thee a liar" (Proverbs 30).

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