Moving Away From Anti-Christ (Literally!)

It is my contention that the Bible, especially those points of great importance, is understandable by the average reader. (Even a child can understand?) The scriptures were not given by God to frustrate us with multiplied rabbit trails and dead ends. That is not to say that there are portions of scripture that do reveal themselves only when a person takes time to meditate upon, study and apply them to life. But, as a whole, the Bible is easy to read (especially in some of the new translations) and is reasonably clear to any modern day reader.

That being said... I would like to take some time talking about the Rapture. The Rapture is the taking up of believers, both dead and alive, to be with Christ. This is an actual future event that happens at some point near the "end of the age" of our present world. I can confidently say that there are millions of the faithful worldwide who believe that we are in those "last days" right now. The rapture is referred to as "the blessed hope" by Bible-believing Christians and is considered by many (most?) Evangelicals as the next event on the prophetic calendar. I.e. Nothing needs to happen or be fulfilled for Jesus Christ to return today!! "Imminent" is the word that is used. It means, "about to happen". The coming of Christ for His church is imminent!

Now, that is comforting news to hear. Especially if it is true! But,... is it true? Could the return of Christ happen today? A lot of American Christians are counting on it!!

We're going to take three passages from the New Testament and see how they read. Are they understandable? Do they flow with a logical direction to a clear conclusion? Or, are they shrouded in mystery and need multiple other references to perceive the meaning of what is being communicated? We will look in the gospel of Matthew, in 2 Thessalonians and in Revelations.

I am NOT a Biblical scholar! But, I've been reading these passages for over 40 years. Thinking about them... rolling them over in my mind. And, as I said at the top of this piece, I do not believe that God reveals important information to us in ways that only a gifted, few people can get at their meaning,... then sell us their books. ( A LOT of this is our fault. We let others do the study after having been told to study it for ourselves!) So, it is my contention that the return of Christ can be clear and understandable by any reader who takes some moments to follow through with what Scripture is laying out in a logical way.

An aside: Beware the unending use of Christian manuals. A "manual" is a book of instruction according to my dictionary. And therein lies a problem. When I was younger, I had the understanding that the Bible was THE book of instruction. The book on "how to" live life. As time has passed and I have gotten older, I have noticed that we Christians expend more and more energy and money (a key idea $$) in books about the Book. I'll try not to go too far overboard with this... but, we desperately need to know the original. We need to know God's word in a far superior way than ANY other book or any other area of learning we have in this life. We should hunger for that kind of personal understanding that can only come through personal contact with God Himself in His word... Time with Him in His word... a desire to walk with Him in His word! Every "extra-Biblical" manual is at least one step away from that face-to-Face life that every Christian needs. (If this doesn't apply (to you), let it fly!)

That brings us back to our subject. The Rapture of the church.

There are three main schools of how and when the rapture takes place. I am not going to get deeply into the three because that, in itself, gets us off the point. Here are the three along with a couple of important features of each viewpoint.

1. The Rapture takes place before the Tribulation. I.e. a Pre-Trib rapture The Tribulation is a seven year period of time at the end of the age. It is a time of grave trouble, especially to the nation of Israel, and was foretold by prophets in the Old Testament. This is by far the most "popular" of the viewpoints. Many, many manuals have been written based upon this teaching.

2. The Rapture takes place at or near the middle of the Tribulation. I.e. a Mid-Trib rapture The Tribulation is a 7 seven year period of time at the end of the age and is divided into two parts of 3 1/2 years. The least known of the three viewpoints.

3. The Rapture takes place just after the Tribulation and initiates the Millennium. I.e. a Post-Trib rapture The Millennium is a 1,000 period of time on earth. (Nice to note... The earth doesn't "end"... just the age!) The Millennium is a time of fulfillment of promise by God to His people, Israel and His bride, the church. It is my understanding that the early church adhered to this view.

There is a LOT of force and feathers behind these 3 viewpoints! I will leave those ruminations for another manual. Suffice it to say, there is a more than enough argument over these teachings to last through the Millennium. I do have a concern, however, over the weight being given to the Pre-Trib scenario. When I was twenty (over 40 years ago) you would almost always hear a "balanced" presentation of these three views at Bible studies, on radio, etc.. All viewpoints would be covered and, often, the listener would be allowed to make his or her own judgement. As time has gone by it has become a much more dogmatic portrayal. A few years ago I heard a beloved radio/TV evangelist (I like him a lot!) lay down the law on all theories but his own... a pre-Tribulation rapture. To not believe it was to almost not be a Christian! It amazed me when I got to thinking about it. What happens to that pastor's church the day after they realize the Tribulation has begun and the Rapture did not happen??!! I think it would be rough going.

So, all that being said, let us begin.