I was stunned the other day as I watched a fairly well-known Bible teacher answer questions that people sent in. He picked up a piece of paper and read the question, “Do you believe in the Rapture.” He got a disgusted look on his face, and he yelled, “No!”  

No? Did I hear him say, “No?” He explained that he believes the Second Coming and the Rapture are identical events. Then he admitted that prophecy was not his forte. He continued his rant by downplaying the seriousness of the Tribulation period, suggesting that it won’t be as bad as some of the prophecy teachers have asserted.  

First Resurrection and Rapture

This teacher admitted that he doesn’t clearly understand the prophetic writings as the Book of Revelation. Yet, he was basically telling his followers that he doesn’t believe in the Rapture of Believers.

Do you want to know the truth? Here’s the truth: If you don’t believe in the Rapture of the Church, it’s because you don’t believe in the promise of the resurrection. The Bible teaches there will be a first resurrection which will happen simultaneously with the Rapture, and there will be a second resurrection (at the end of the 1000-year reign of Christ on Earth) which will be the resurrection of the damned. 

1 Corinthians 15:51-55
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.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Unfortunately, many Christians are throwing their hats into the ring, seemingly volunteering to participate in the Great Tribulation spoken of by Jesus himself and prophesied by the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Paul, John, and others. Some well-meaning Christians are reading the writings of men who have failed to “rightly divide the Word of Truth.”

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

If you carefully read the prophetic Scriptures, you’d never walk away believing the Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of Jesus will be simultaneous events. It’s not even possible. The Scriptures relating to the timing of the Second Coming are totally different than the conditions and timing of the Rapture. At the Rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air. At the second coming, believers return with the Lord to the Earth (Revelation 19:14).

Some say the word “Rapture” is not in the Bible. Bad argument. The word “Bible” is not in the Bible, so you’re not going to believe the Bible? We get the word “Rapture” from a Latin word (Raptus), meaning “a carrying off, a transport, or a snatching away.” This is the Greek word, “Harpazo,” which means a sudden catching away, as with great force.  

The Rapture is the end-time event when God “catches away” all true believers from the Earth before His wrath and righteous judgment pour out on the Earth during the tribulation period. The Tribulation is seven-years of terrible judgments. Thankfully, God promised that His followers are not appointed to wrath but deliverance.

1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
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 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.

It’s like a magnet picking up a piece of steel. When I was a kid, I’d sometimes go over to Glick’s Junkyard in Jackson, Michigan. They had a huge electromagnet on a Crane, and when they hit the right button, it would lift a car off the parking lot and place it in another machine to compact the car into a small cube, then ship it by rail to be recycled.

The Rapture will be kind of like that.  

If you are of the “right material”, you’ll be suddenly lifted from the Earth and taken to a distant paradise (heaven) where you will go before the Judgement seat of Christ to determine your rewards (Salvation is a gift but your position in the millennial kingdom is a reward).  

Extracted From Earth

If you have the attraction of heaven by following Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you’ll be extracted instantly. If a room was full of nails and plastic nails (fakes) and the giant magnet is turned on, only the real nails would be lifted by the magnetic force. And only genuine Christians, followers of Jesus, will be lifted suddenly when Jesus comes for HIs bride.

If the Church was to be on Earth for the Tribulation period, we would know the exact day Jesus would return to Earth. It would be 1,260 days after the world leader (Antichrist) moves his image into the holy rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. Yet the Scriptures say, “No man knows the day or the hour.” And that’s true of one event: The Catching Away of Christ’s bride, the Church. We don’t know the day or hour of the Rapture, so we must be ready at all times.

The sands of time are quickly falling. The conditions are here, pointing to the Tribulation period of seven horrifying years. The Rapture will come at least seven years before the wrath of God is loosed on Earth in the worst time of anguish ever. Everyone trapped on Earth will participate in unthinkable horrors. Best to believe the word of Jesus in John 14:3 and Revelation 3:10.

Jesus promised: 

“I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3)

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Revelation 3:10)

Jesus really is coming back. Repent of your sins now; believe that Jesus died on the cross for you. Ask Him to forgive you, confess Him as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.  

Be ready to leave this planet in a moment and the twinkling of an eye!

My book, Hope in the Last Days, has gone into another printing. I urge you to get your loved ones a copy before it’s too late. In the book, I show you the prophetic timeline and help you understand what’s coming. Learn more.