The Rapture Teachings

Since the 18th century, countless preachers in church pulpits have been teaching that according to I Thessalonians 4:16-17 and I Corinthians 15:52-53, when Jesus returns to the earth, all true Christians will be called up to some special meeting space in the air. This will be the beginning of an event some theologians insist upon calling "The Great Tribulation." They contend, that this tribulation will last seven years. When these Christians meet Jesus in the air, they will either:

      1. (Pre-Tribulation Rapture) Go up to heaven and spend seven years eating and drinking in the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb." Then after they finish their seven-year party, they will accompany Jesus as he returns to earth to judge the Antichrist and his false prophet, and then after He finishes that task, He becomes the King of the Earth.

      2. (Mid-Tribulation Rapture) Another group of Christians argue that this Rapture will happen three and one-half years after the beginning of the tribulation. Then the Antichrist will take control of the earth in Hitler-like manner and kill every "tribulation saint" they can find. Then at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus and the people he "Raptured" will return to the earth, judge the Antichrist and his false prophet, and then rule the earth.

      3. Jesus will return at the end of the "Great Tribulation," rescue the "tribulation saints," judge the Antichrist and his false prophet, and then rule the earth.

The only trouble with all of these teachings is that nobody is right. To begin with, the phrase "the Great Tribulation" does not appear anywhere in scripture. The phrase "great tribulation" appears three times, but then, the word "great" is used as an adjective, not as a noun! In each of the three scriptures that talk about great tribulation, there is no time frame applied. Even in Matthew 24:21, one of the great end-time passages of the Bible, the time frame is after the "Abomination of Desolation," not before as many Bible teachers like to proclaim. However, our goal here is not to rehash the various theologians' theories on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There are plenty of websites on the Internet that do this very nicely.

Since this is a Bible Code research website, we are more interested in what they may tell us about coming events. Several years ago, prophecies began to emerge in the Body of Messiah (Christ) about a false or fake rapture that would remove a number of so-called Christian leaders from the earth. When these so-called Christian leaders depart the earth, the remaining followers, the "Left Behind" people (to quote authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins), will feel betrayed and either fall away entirely or reassess their faith (unfortunately though, they will do it based upon the doctrines of their departed leader). We decided to put these prophecies to the Bible Code test. Click here to visit the next page.