Restoring Biblical Foundations

Revealing God's Plan for the Ages

Is there any evidence in the bible that supports the idea of God's people being raptured out of this world before the time of the great tribulation that so many Christians seem to believe?

Well, let us read what Jesus Christ himself has to say concerning the time of tribulation, in Matthew chapter 24 verses 15-22.

Verse 15: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”

Verse 16: “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”

Verse 17: “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.”

Verse 18: “Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.”

Verse 19: “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!”

Verse 20: “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.”

Verse 21: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor every shall be.”

Verse 22: “And accept those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”

Well, there you have it, according to Jesus Christ himself there will be no rapture of God's people. In fact, he tells us in verse 16 to flee the city of Judaea and go out into the mountains.

In other words, get out of the big city and head for the country, which is good advice for today. For the rest of the people he is basically saying, take nothing and head for the hills.

In verse 22 Christ warns us that God will shorten those days in order to save his elect. So, ask yourself this, if God's people/elect have been raptured why would God need to shorten those days. The answer is, he wouldn't, but he will because they are still in the world.

Those that believe in the rapture claim that verses 14-15 in Jude teaches that when Christ returns, he will come with his saints, those who have been raptured.

Verse 14: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”

Verse 15: “To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

By the way, the word saints is #40 in the Strong's Concordance and means sacred, pure, blameless, and most holy one.

Now in II Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7 Paul describes Christ return from heaven and who will be coming with him.

Verse 7: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.”

Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares that I have already covered in Matthew chapter 13 verses 38-39. Let us refresh our memory as to what it says, verse 38: “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.”

Verse 39: “The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.”

Yes, there is going to be a rapture, but it will be the wicked that will be removed, and the reapers will be the angels that accompany Christ in his second coming.

Now Matthew chapter 13 goes on to say in verses 41-43.

Verse 41: “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.”

Verse 42: “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Verse 43: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Those that believe in the rapture like to twist the scriptures around, so they mean just the opposite of what is truly being said.

These next verses from Christ give a comparison between Christ's second coming and the days of Noah leading up to the flood. Matthew chapter 24 verses 38-41.

Verse 38: “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.”

Verse 39: “And knew not until the flood came, and took them (the wicked) all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

Verse 40: “Then shall two be in the field; and one (the wicked) shall be taken, and the other (righteous) left.”

Verse 41: “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one (the wicked) shall be taken, and the other (righteous) left.”

The flood took the evil away, in the second coming of Christ we will see the wicked tares taken away.

As I have already stated, those that believe in the rapture like to twist the scriptures around, and that is exactly what they do in I Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16-17, they say that these two verses are evidence of the rapture, but they are wrong.

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.”

Verse 17: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so, shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Let me make this clear, Jesus Christ with his angels and the power of his holy Father are coming down from heaven to straighten this world out.

We which have not been raptured and are still alive will be drawn to Christ and will remain with Christ here on earth. These verses do not say that we will hook up with Christ and head back up to heaven.

In Christ's prayer to his heavenly Father in John chapter 17 verses 15 &20 we read.

Verse 15: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

Verse 20: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

This rapture fantasy is just that, a fantasy. There is nothing in the scriptures that support this doctrine. We know the rapture doctrines origin is said to have started with a Spanish Jesuit around 1580 A.D. For those that do not know, a Jesuit is a Roman Catholic order founded in 1534. Then in the 1830's a Catholic teenager claimed to have had a vision that reinforced the rapture belief. Even so, this new doctrine was not widely accepted until a century later.

In Matthew chapter 13 verse 49 Jesus Christ himself tells us, verse 49: “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just.”

This verse by itself makes it clear that when Christ and his angels return, his people, the just are still here and will be separated from the wicked. And how about Paul's statement in I Corinthians chapter 15 verses 51-52.

Verse 51: “Behold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

Verse 52: “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.”

Paul makes it clear that there is no rapture. For if those in Christ had already been raptured there would be no one left to experience the change stated in verse 52.

So here is your choice, you can believe a Spanish Jesuit and a teenager’s dream, or you can believe God's word and that of his Son Jesus Christ. As for me, I am going to believe my heavenly Father and my Saviour Jesus Christ.