THE "RAPTURE TEACHING" (Part II)

THE RAPTURE TEACHING (Part II)

Introduction To Part II of this Series)

Shalom! 

Part I of our studies certainly seemed to shake up the Christianity Rapture tree. But I make no apologies for the offence my articles seem to be causing. My friends, it`s time to stop believing the lies and start believing the TRUTH!


These are the days of the Spirit of Elijah; and this is the time for the restoration of the "keys to knowledge" which the "Moses Chair" teachers and prophets have for so long removed from you - just as those before them removed it from them.  And so it goes, this chain of bondage can be traced back to the severing of the original and authentic Hebrew Roots of the Faith and Gospel of Yeshua Messiah. 


WHO DID THIS? The true founder of the Christian Church did this! Contrary to what you have been told and popular belief shared by 1.4 billion souls worldwide, the true founder of the Christian Church was not JESUS CHRIST but the LITTLE HORN of whom the messenger Gabriel speaks to the prophet Daniel (Dan 7)


The true founder reveals himself plainly to us all as being that one. He it was who changed the laws and the seasons (Hebrew festivals) from those  days and times ordained by Yahweh substitute PAGAN days and feasts. (Did you never wonder why you keep Shabbat on SUN-day and not on the 7th day? (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) Or why you celebrated CHRISTMAS and EASTER instead of Peshach, (Passover) Yom Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) and Sukkoth (Tabernacles??   


He it was, this LITTLE HORN, who severed the major artery of the true and authentic faith and gospel of Yeshua Messiah from the nations, long before you were ever born or sought for God or came to believe.


It was this LITTLE HORN who ordained that idolatrous images representing his JESUS be set on a pedestal in the midst of a Roman pagan temple, surrounded by every idol known to a a godless, lawless and pagan "mankind" - throughout the nations of the sprawling yet disintegrating Roman Empire - and decreed that his JESUS was to be worshipped above all the gods whether pagan and barbarian men believed in him or not -  men of every tongue, race, creed and colour.


Beloved friends, who from a heart of sincerity and truth seek after TRUTH - this is the true founder of the Christian church   this LITTLE HORN - better known to us all by the name The Roman Emperor Constantine.


His was a spurious conversion in or around 312 AD - determined by the press of battle and political expediency.   He pledged his allegiance to this strange JESUS whom he actually believed to be the son of the Roman/Babylonian SUN-god (for this very reason did he change the day of Shabbat to SUN-day in honour of the "Venerable Sun god"- his own words.)


The long and winding road to Rev 17:17 was set in place and in motion by the Council of Nicea some 16 years later - ((325 AD) – and professing believers in Christ worldwide have been travelling down that inevitable road, to some degree or another, even until this very day. (16th/17th century and Reformation and French Revolution not withstanding)

Shocked? Outraged?! Have I got your attention yet? GOOD Now read on.

The Book of Revelation is the single most source from which the major share (or should that be snare) from which Christian Millennialism is "drawn" It is without question one of the two most studied and pored over books in the Bible with specific reference to the entire theology of Christian Eschatology; (The other being the book of Daniel)  


But it is perhaps most notorious for one thing above all – even amongst unbelievers: By reading it and studying it and trying to “work it all out too much” so that you can make sense of it all – well, not to put too fine a point on it - you can go crazy. (lol) Its funny – but it's true

The Mishnah tells the sad and sorry tale of four wise men of ancient times who took their chances and entered into the pardes – (the Hebrew name for orchard or garden – or in a mystical sense “Paradise”) to study the Book of Secrets (Revelation was formerly know as the Apocalypse meaning “The Revealing of the Secrets”) The first one died on entering in – the second stayed a while then lost all faith – the third went insane and the fourth – ah – the fourth sage came out in tact and promptly proclaimed Himself The Messiah. (The learned Rabbi`s do not mean “Yeshua”)

Its a caustic and humorous tale – but it makes the point well.

The Book of the Revelation was never meant to be “worked out” by charts and symbols and mathematical leaps of quantum proportion – which, lets face it, is the way the majority of Christians theologians and teachers seem to have approached it. -The Secrets of the Apocalypse are plainly set forth for all to see and yet, God has clearly intended that their secrets can only be known and understood by the disclosure of them – the uncovering or unveiling of them – by God Himself through Holy Spirit, and to whosoever He wishes to make privy to His secret counsel.

We don`t even need to guess or work out by formulaic charts who such men are. We don't even need to get some experience from a laid on hand by which we know that we know that we are one of the lucky few - – for God Himself tells us plainly – IN THE SCRIPTURES:

Amos 3:7 - “Surely the Lord does nothing unless He reveal it to His servants the prophets.”

Eph 3:3-5 - -- “that by revelation He made known to me the Mystery of Messiah which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.”

Matt 13:10-11 - His disciples came and said to Him “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And He answered and said to them; “”To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted granted ”

Beloved friends: The apostle John did not sit with books and maps and charts and papers to work it out did he? - No the very beginning of the Apocalypse itself reveals to us how He came to know the Secrets of the Mysteries of Messiah.

Rev 1:1- The Revelation (Revealed Secret) of Yeshua Messiah, which God have HIM (Messiah) to show to His bond-servants (apostles and prophets) things which must shortly take place . And He sent and signified it by His angel (Messenger) to his bond-servant John.

What are we talking about? We are talking about the difference between the limited abilities of the Chaldean magi to know and understand and make known – compared to the man Daniel who knew all that they knew – and to whom God had chosen to reveal the mysteries.

When it came time to help the king – the magi were of no use – and would have surely perished if God had not revealed it to His chosen vessel – the prophet Daniel – who by faith knew that only God could and so only God would.

So then; introduction being over, lets make start on the Evolution of the So called rapture Teaching – in order that seeing the facts for yourselves, not one of you should be left in any doubt concerning the true nature of this false doctrine.

The Early Evolution Of The Rapture Theory

Dispensationalists see the immediate destination as heaven, with an eventual return to earth; "in the air" can indicate a period of up to seven years. Roman Catholic commentators, for example Walter Drum (1912), identify the destination of the 1 Thess 4:17 gathering as heaven.

Some Anglican commentators, for example N.T. Wright identify the destination as a specific place on earth. Often the destination identified is Jerusalem – a popular theory often assumed especially by many Mainstream Evangelical “environmentalists”

The concept of the “rapture,” in its inextricable connection with pre-millennialism, has been well stated by many Christian thinkers who seem to hold to the theory that believers will be “caught up” in the air, followed by judgements on the earth and then - the millennium reign of Messiah will begun in the earth.

The term itself “rapture” was expressly used as far back as 1738 by Philip Doddridge and ten years later by John Gill (in their respective New Testament Commentaries) - 150 yrs before Brethren thinker John Darby began to formulate the notion into a loose Dispensationalist “doctrine.”Both Doddridge and Gill presented believers with the theory that they would be “caught up” prior to judgement on the earth and thus the second advent of Messiah.

Besides this, I know of two pre-millennialist theories dating from the 18th and 19th centuries respectively published as essays and written by Morgan Edwards 1788 (a Baptist from Philadelphia) and latterly of course England's very own John Nelson Darby.

Edwards had first voiced the concept of a pre-tribulation rapture in 1812 in the works of Catholic Priest, in the writings of a Catholic priest by the name of Emmanuel Lacunza and Darby followed in likewise fashion as early as 1827

Lacunza a Jesuit Priest, born in Chile in 1731 – held sharply opposing views to the interpretation offered by Morgan Edwards Much of what he offers is largely discredited by the fact that for a time Lacunza, having arrived in Italy, sought to pass himself off as a converted Jew and published several articles under the pseudonym Juan Josafat Ben Ezra, He also wrote a sprawling work of pseudo Apocalyptic proportions entitled; The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty (Published 1811)


Ten years after his death (1827) the book was translated into English) - it`s citation written by one Edward Irving - a friend of John Nelson Darby. It is no secret that Darby was hugely influenced in the development of his Rapture theories by the extensive research work of Irving`s rapture/pre-millennium concept. And so, in this light we are bound to wonder - "Do all roads lead to Rome after all???"   

Evidence of this influence has been presented by respected theologian and scholar S.P. Tregalles (who was himself intellectually nurtured during the development of the rapidly blossoming “secret Rapture” theory) Tregalles write a paper and later published a pamphlet tracing the rapture concept through Darby and then to the root of Edward Irving.. Edward Irving did not himself employ the term “rapture” per se – It was Matthew Henry who first used the term in his commentary of 1 Thessalonians 4.- a work to which Irving now devoted his studies. And eventually accepted the idea of the “one man” Antichrist first muted by Christian thinkers such as James Henthorn Todd, Sammuel Roffey Maitland and Robert Bellarine.

Irving now developed the heresy one step beyond; he began to teach a two-phase return of Messiah. (the first phase being a secret rapture prior to the rise of the Antichrist). In all there would be “three gatherings”–

(i): The “First”, of the “first-fruits” of the harvest, the wise virgins who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth;”

(ii): The abundant harvest gathered afterwards by God;

(iii): The gathering of the wicked for punishment.”

J.N. Darby, hailed as many conservative Evangelicals as the apostle of neo Dispensationalism, continued to publish his pre-millennium - pre-tribulation rapture – and this position eventually became the official doctrine of the Plymouth Brethren (England) But before long, this teaching was being embraced by a wider group of trans-denominational sects both in Britain and in America. This mass impacting of the Trans Atlantic Churches came primarily by their writings (Irving and Darby) but later through key events staged by the Bible Conference Movement, starting in 1878 with the Niagara Bible Conference. These conferences, which were ostensibly to be inclusive of historicist and futurist premillennialism, quickly gave way to the presentation of the private interpretations of the two British preachers. The theory became increasingly popular even being embraced by by futurist pre-millennialists from within the denominations of the Christian church.

The futurist pre-millennial theory readily joined hands with the pre-tribulation rapture members of the Presbyterian, Baptist and Congregational assemblies. Numerous Popular (sensationalist) books fanned the flames of its widespread acceptance.

The minority faction of Amillennialism holds to a differing perspective again – yet somehow manages to retain 

the popular themes expressed by Pre and Post factions. Their idea of a preliminary rapture originated not with MESSIAH YESHUA or even Jewish apostles, but with Alexandrian scholars such as Clement and Origen – (both of whom would lay the theological foundations for the soon to appear Roman Catholic Ecumenical Empirical “Church” - (the true mother of Christianity) by the grafting in of Augustine of Hippo.

Critics of the Pre-Tribulation proponents (me being one) maintain that the earliest known extra-Biblical reference to the "Pre-Tribulation" rapture is from a sermon attributed to the fourth-century Church father Ephraim the Syrian who writes - “For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." Other scholars continue to debate whether the interpretation of this writing actually supports a Pre-Tribulation rapture at all. As my good friend Bob Gordon (a Theologian of note in his own right) liked to tell us “With theologians its always a case of maybe – maybe not.” lol. (let the reader understand – especially *Rosanna ) ----- {* my daughter}

But in the horizontal . Very temporal and limited 3D world in which we live and move and have our being – its forever business as usual – grey areas and all – and the more the better. Today, the convoluted doctrine of the rapture continues to be an important component in North American “Fundamentalist” Evangelical Protestant Christian Eschatology

MY CONCLUSION TO PART II

The Eschatology of the Original Messianic Believers of Yeshua Messiah.

The original Messianic congregations founded by the apostles of Yeshua had NO tradition whatsoever of a preliminary return of Messiah – and would today reject the doctrine root and branch (as indeed do we of the Jude 3 Hebrew Roots faith)

The reasons for such rejection, by the early believers and by us also, are simply twofold:

For one thing there is no mention nor reference to such a notion among any of the NT apostles (despite the absurd claims of most Christians to the contrary – Nor indeed amongst the early Church fathers (often called the Patristic fathers)

Nor is their any record of any traditional teaching amongst the Messianic assemblies of the first and and second century and besides all that – it is contrary to the Law and the prophets thus not to be received or acknowledged according to the authority of the prophet Isaiah. In short. IT IS SIMPLY NOT BIBLICAL – NOT SCRIPTURAL. - and to prove it, it blatantly contradicts the chronology of End Tome events as taught by Yeshua messiah Himself.

Its not just a dichotomy of Christian thought – its not just a disagreement between brothers and sisters – its not even a potentially heretical banana skin; what it is is Antichrist teaching.

Yes – that is right – you heard me well – I said it is ANTICHRIST TEACHING. And all who believe it believe in an ANTICHRIST teaching which is a LIE and not the TRUTH. It comes from the Abyss through the natural minds of men not sent to reveal secrets – being neither apostles nor prophets – and does not come from God on High through Holy Spirit.

If by some chance I have failed to say this plainly enough please tell me and Ill make that correction straight away.

Let me tell you in plain words the precise reason why it is ANTICHRIST TEACHING – that which is ANTI- (Greek) is whatever is offered in the place of – or in substitution for – or in preference to – the original and authentic article – in this sense MESSIAH – and specifically His Testimony which is the Spirit of Prophecy. Rev 19:10

Since this Rapture Teaching is just so, on all three counts – then it is as we have said without shame ANTICHRIST TEACHING.

Some of you who have walked with us until now will leave us now – I expect. And we will be sad that you do – but even tho` you do – it will change nothing for you – what you believe will still be as ANTICHRIST as if you had stayed. This is the Truth. Others will argue and contend and remonstrate and complain that I am rude,offensive insolent and arrogant. My the envelope is flawed – not the colour of your preference – but what of the message; will your vain contentions make your beliefs any less ANTICHRIST than they truly are? Not in your own minds perhaps – but even so – in the eyes of GOD.

In Part III we shall finish the series by looking in some depth at the various popular notions of the Rapture Teaching in relation to the Tribulation.

Until then May God abide in True Shalom between you and me.