Bill Bailey Ministries 1726 Curlew Rd Dunedin, Fl. 34698

The Set Up By Bill Bailey Chapter 5  The Rapture:       One popular idea that has risen in the 1800's is the Rapture theory which has Christ coming back secretly to translate or "rapture" His living and deceased followers before the terrible events of the great tribulation. Rapture comes from the Latin word for take away or snatch away. This is a classic case of eisegesis, or forcing one's theological presuppositions onto the text. It was never taught before the 1830's. One should be suspicious of any doctrine that has not been taught for centuries, then suddenly rears its head in one or more churches. The prophecies of Margaret Macdonald of the Irvingite sect of the Apostolic Catholic Church of Scotland saw a vision and told it to a medical doctor, Robert Norton. See a full explanation at the Last Trumpet Web page

       The key text referring to the rapture is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, which states,

      "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord."

      Problems with the pre-tribulational view are highlighted by Baptist (and premillennial) theologian Dale Moody, who wrote: "Belief in a pre-tribulational rapture . . . contradicts all three chapters in the New Testament that mention the tribulation and the rapture together (Mark 13:24-27; Matt. 24:26-31; 2 Thess. 2:1-12). . . . The theory is so biblically bankrupt that the usual defense is made using three passages that do not even mention a tribulation (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:52). These are important passages, but they have not had one word to say about a pre-tribulational rapture. The score is 3 to 0, three passages for a post-tribulational rapture and three that say nothing on the subject. Pre-tribulationism is biblically bankrupt and does not know it" (The Word of Truth, 556-7). There are three dangers of the pre-tribulational rapture theory which are:

1) 1) It gives people a "second chance" at salvation and robs believers of the urgency which we need in preaching the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost world.
2) 2) The pre-tribulational rapture was not known to the Reformers because they knew the antichrist was already at work in their day. It was not a single individual as many think today. Look up antichrist in the King James Bible to see a Biblical explanation of what that is.
3) 3) Many in those churches that teach the pre-tribulational rapture will experience bewilderment, disillusionment and doubt when faced with the real persecutions which have gone on since the day of ascension of Jesus Christ. Reading Fox's "Book of Martyrs" tells us the antichrist has always been near but also persecutions will come in the words of Paul.

      The Plymouth Brethren celebrated its arrival in England in 1831 and by 1848 had already split into the "Open" and "Closed". Those two would not accept communion with each other and another subset of the closed was the "Exclusive" group, being even more strict in dress and conduct. They taught the eminent return of Jesus Christ and a "Rapture" of followers, thus ignoring the other prophecies that had to be fulfilled in this day and age.

      C. I. Scofield is quite an interesting fellow. He was a divorced, alcoholic and corrupt politician when he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He was taught by Torrey and Moody before heading up a church in Dallas and missions in South America. He compiled the well known Scofield Reference Bible, quite a feat for a man without any formal theological education to speak of. He was very much impressed with John Darby and his ideas on dispensationalism, the idea that God deals with man differently during different church ages. Many hold his commentaries on equal par with scripture. A Jesuit priest brought his dispensationalism ideas to the Dallas Theological Seminary.

Here is a partial list of Early Church Fathers who DID NOT believe the pre-trib Rapture: Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Barnabas, Shepherd of Hermes, Tertullian, Theophilus, Hippolytus, Commodianus, Methodius, Lactantius, Cyprian, Victorinus, the Didache and the Constitution of the Apostales. Even Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Julius Africanus, the Heretical teachers in Alexandria believed in a future tribulation which would persecute the church.

The Shepherd of Hermas: (Early 2nd Century)
"You will tell, therefore, those who preside over the Church, to direct their ways in righteousness, that they may receive in full the promises with great glory. Stand steadfast, therefore, ye who work righteousness, and doubt not, that your passage may be with the holy angels. Happy ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming on, and happy they who shall not deny their own life. For the Lord hath sworn by His Son, that those who denied their Lord have abandoned their life in despair, for even now these are to deny Him in the days that are coming." [Third Vision]

      Great men of God like John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, John Knox, John Calvin, Isaac Newton, George Whitfield, John Newton, Jonathan Edwards and John Wycliffe never talked about a Pre-Trib Rapture, because the concept literally did not exist in their time. The Final Warning by David Allen Rivera.

      "Powerful globalist forces are promoting high-powered television evangelists and religious publishers who teach "end times" and "last days" religious dispensationalism talking of an ultimate "rapture" in order to help lay the groundwork for one world government." 6/24/2004 AmericanFreePress, (http://www.americanfreepress.net/)

      They go on to say, "why polish the brass on a sinking ship" mentality has taken over churchgoers today. It's a lackadaisical attitude toward the great commission and its being promoted by the New World Order people.

      Scofield's Reference Bible was first published by the Oxford Press controlled by the Rothschild family of Britain who have been major forces promoting a New World Order.

What better way to sum it all up than to give a scripture quote from the mouth of Jesus,"
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 16:25

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