Can any Bible-believing Christians "prove" the Rapture?

Question

I am a Catholic. I would very much like to believe in the Rapture because I don't want to be around when the Tribulation hits town. I'm just asking my friends in the Protestant camp, can you pull out any Scriptures that establish the Rapture? I believe 100% in the Scriptures. I only want Protestants or Catholics (Orthodox are welcome as well!) to answer this question -- strictly no scoffers -- but I don't want to get into any kind of a debate about the rights and wrongs or truth or falsehood of my religion and fundamentalist Christianity. By the way, as it stands, I don't believe in the Rapture. I believe in the Warning and in the Sign in the sky. Can any of our "separated brethren" (!) convince me, with Scriptural evidence, to believe in a (pre-trib?) Rapture of just Christians?

Answer 1

The SECRET Rapture is not Biblical so it cannot be proven from the Bible


Where in the Bible does it say 7 yrs of tribulation?
No where

What does the Bible say about the Secret Rapture?

“No single verse specifically states Christ will come before the Tribulation.”
Tim LaHaye (author of “Left Behind”)

Friends the belief in the SECRET RAPTURE is a dangerous doctrine because it is not Biblical. Please read with an open mind. Nowhere in the scriptures does it make any reference of a “SECRET RAPTURE”. Many people reference I Thessalonians 4 but they don’t actually read the whole chapter read verse 16.

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.

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. I Corinthians 15:52

These are some of the nosiest verses in the Bible how can it be a secret?


Where is the scripture that says “7 years of Tribulation”?

It cannot be found, because it is not in the Bible

Did God save Noah from the flood or through it

Did God save Israel from the plagues or through them

Did God save Daniel from the lions den or through it


But doesn’t the Bible say that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night?

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY with a GREAT NOISE, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be BURNED up. II Peter 3:10

He comes as thief because it catches people by surprise.


What does the Bible say will happen when Jesus comes back

For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matt 24:27

Everyone will see it you can’t miss it


Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people: “Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
Psalms 50:3

I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger. Jeremiah 4:26

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:30,31
since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. II Thessalonians 1:6-8

1 angel rolled away the stone and 100 Roman soldiers collapsed in fear like dead men.

1 angel killed almost 200,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night

Jesus is coming with all his angels who will take flaming fire vengeance how can this be a secret?


But doesn’t the Bible say 1 shall be taken and 1 shall be left?


Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Matt 24:28

Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?”
So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Luke 17:36, 37


Notice how Jesus answers where the body and the vultures are gathered. The vultures devouring the flesh because those “Left Behind” will be dead.

The secret Rapture was created by a Catholic monk named Ribera. It was supposed to be used in the Counter Reformation, but no one believed it.

There is no Secret Rapture when Jesus comes he comes in glory the world does not go on for 7 years. When Jesus comes probation for sinners is over. We need to be ready now. Life does not continue on Earth after Jesus comes.



the video below explains t how Jesus will return
http://prophecycode.org/Resources/Video/PCVideo/ProphecyCode_2.asx

more topics can be found here
http://prophecycode.org/meeting-list.asp

Answer 2

Don't believe it!!! The Bible clearly says that there will be no second chances!!! (All scripture should be taken from the King James or New King James, others cannot be trusted) Jesus will come in the clouds Acts 1:10-11 & I Thessalonians 4:16-17, and gather His true followers (not those who just claim to be, Matthew 7:21) and punish those who have not obeyed Him, with everlasting destruction, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, in everlasting fire Matthew 25:41, while at the same time, the heavens and earth and everything in them will be utterly destroyed 2 Peter 3:10-12. There will not be an earth for the unrighteous to have their second chance on.
As for the tribulation, the TRUE Christians are in the tribulation now. All the false doctrines that the TRUE church has to sift through to keep Christ's Church pure, Matthew 24:23-24. The Church is constantly put down by those teaching falsehood, 2 Peter 2:1-2. And most people do not care to hear the truth, 2 Timothy 4:3-4. I could tell you so much more that would absolutely shock you about your own religion, but I know that you don't care to hear that much truth today. But everything I say about religion is backed by the Bible and "The Rapture" as most people believe it, is NOT backed by the Bible in any way.

Answer 3

The word rapture is not used in the Bible, however Paul is speaking of the rapture when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 51-54;

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

So here Paul is saying that the dead will rise with a new incorruptible body, and we who are not dead will be made incorruptible. We are raised to meet the Lord in the clouds as He comes to gather us together to the place that He has prepared for us.

Now when will this happen? Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8:

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

Here Paul is telling the church at Thessalonica that the man of lawlessness, Antichrist, will be revealed after the rapture.
Don't get upset that I have used that word here. I will clarify in a minute.
The first He pertaining to the restrainer is masculine in definition, the second He is neuter in definition. What does this mean?
The first He is the Holy Spirit, the second He is the church.
So until the church is taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit will continue to restrain the Antichrist.

So when will the rapture take place? It is before the Antichrist is revealed.

For much more detail, go to www.kingdom-principles.org, there is much more under the title Prophecy.

Answer 4

No. You can only believe in "The Rapture" if you have faith in the relevant sections of the Bible. Faith is not justified by empirical proof.

Obviously not all Protestants believe in "The Rapture", but only (some?) evangelical fundamentalists. Sadly, these Churches often seem to have faith in a very simplistic text of The Bible. Liberal Protestants and Catholics alike have subjected the Bible to far more rigorous examination to identify the earliest texts and how the Bible came to be as we know it. In the light of such examination the idea of "The Rapture" becomes much more problematic.

If one leaves aside "The Rapture", scientific observations about global warming and the difficulties of population growth, and our increasing knowledge of environmental catastrophes such as asteroid strikes, have considerable relevance to Christian ideas of the end of the world without challenging sober scientific investigation.

Answer 5

Those who believe in the "secret rapture" use two texts in particular:

Matthew 24:36-44
Luke 17:22-37

Each of these passages speaks of two in the field, one taken, the other left. Or two in bed, one taken, the other left....etc. Rapturists correctly believe that those who are taken, are taken unawares.

The question is, to put it in the disciples' own words: "Where, Lord?" Jesus answered "Wherever the carcass is, there will the vultures gather." (Luke 17:37) Cryptic, perhaps, but revealing.

Revelation 18:2 equates unclean and hateful birds with the demons. A carcass, obviously, is a dead body. So, Jesus was saying that those who are "taken" are the "dead" and they are taken by the devil. I put "dead" in quotes because this is symbolic not of literal death, but of spiritual death. Remember that Jesus also likened the Pharisees to "whited sepulchres" full of dead men's bones.

So, yes, the rapture is true--but it is quite opposite from what most understand it to be. Study Luke 17:37 particularly, and compare to Matthew 24:37-39 where Jesus said the flood came and "took them all away." It is obvious that those taken were not the righteous, but the wicked. They are taken to their destruction, taken by the deception of the devil.

Answer 6

Well, I'm neither and believe it's backwards. In my religion, the trouble comes first and the Avinu Tamid will come down on the temple mountain to stop the destruction of all life which is imminent. Then comes the peace of a thousand years. Then the world ends and a new age begins. The difference is the ending is happy, like the beginning was, and all trouble and craziness is eliminated so exhistence can be fully enjoyed. ("The lamb shall lie down with the lion".....)

Answer 7

In the Bible, the Old Testament, Moses strikes a rock not once, but twice. The rock was a type of Christ. That's also Biblical. The reaction from God wasn't good for Moses. Moses was to strike the rock only once. Got it?

Now to continue, the church is called the 'body of Christ.' God's wrath was poured out on the body of Christ, the literal one, on the cross, for the sins of man, right? So Jesus suffered in our place. And we being the 'body of Christ' are then not to also be struck, that the Great Tribulation is the Wrath of God poured out on the Earth, and those that love God, that are the body of Christ, will not also suffer, that we will be taken away as (KJV) 'that which letteth' (or hinders) the spirit of antichrist (a personal being that will inhabit the person written about in Daniel).

So As the rock which was struck was a type of the body of Christ, so is the church a type of the body of Christ, so that we will not suffer the Great Tribulation.

I have many pieces of scripture that I normally have to share with you that is packed away, but is that clear? Is it beginning to make sense?

Answer 8

I think that I am right in thinking that this particular piece of nonsense ( The Rapture) was thought up by a particularly drooling American Lunatic sometime in the 1800's and has no basis in either the old or new Testaments, but people ( I use the term in it's looses sense) will believe what they want to believe.

Answer 9

We all can prove the rapture by acting like we enjoy life, not at the expense of others, but expanding our experience in a manner that is respectful to all we encounter. Only when we accept that we all need each other regardless of man made boundaries and differences will we grow into rapture status. all of us together.
rapture

Answer 10

"The Rapture," that is, the removal of Christ's earthly Church before His return in Glory, is a much debated theory that can, without damage to Scripture, take place before, during, or after the Tribulation.

So convincing you that it is "pre-Tribulation" will be difficult. Scripture is unclear as to when it will take place.