The teaching that the Church--in whole or in part--will be caught up to heaven before the reign of the man of sin, the anti-Christ, did not appear in church history until the early part of the 1800's.

Neither any of the early church fathers, neither the early saints like Augustine of the Coptic church and Ephraim of the Syriac church, neither later church writers taught this' doctrine. Neither did the early church creeds of modern times before the 1800's teach this doctrine. On the contrary, when they referred to the last days of the Church, they said that the Church would continue on earth to the end of the reign of the anti-Christ.

Of course, belief of Church fathers' creeds does not prove always a doctrine is true. The Bible is the proof standard, and it is the only thing we stand upon and follow.

In the 1700's and 1800's, the best noted Bible teachers were Matthew Henry and Adam Clark, who each wrote a complete commentary of the whole Bible, verse by verse. They did not teach this new doctrine. I studied both commentaries and nothing is mentioned about "Rapture."

How have we gotten this new doctrine?

In March, 1830, a woman in Richard Baxter's church in London, England, when under supernatural power, prophesied that the Lord Jesus might come any time and that true believers in Him might any day be caught up by translation to heaven. This woman and this church were connected with the Irvingite movement that soon went astray on many false doctrines. The Irvingite movement placed much emphasis on prophesying under supernatural power, etc.

At the same time, John Darby and a little group of men gathered at PLYMOUTH, England, to engage in independent Bible study which later they formed The Plymouth Brethren group which still exists in England and other countries. Although Darby and his group of Plymouth Brethren were not part of the Irvingite movement, they nevertheless accepted this prophecy as coming from the Lord and they incorporated it in their teaching.

Darby was one of the most influential preachers in England at that time. He liked this easy way, escape-tribulation doctrine. But George Muller, of the famous Muller orphanage, and Spurgeon and many other famous preachers opposed this new teaching. But Darby and his group proceeded with the new interpretations and went on teaching this new doctrine. Later, Charles Schofield became one of the Darby line and closely associated with the brethren teaching of the secret Rap- ture of the Church and eternal security teaching.

Another man named W. E. Blackstone wrote a book called Jesus Is Coming. He summarized the Darby-Schofield teaching of the secret Rapture of the Church, and with the help of some rich believers at that time published this book and spread it widely to preachers and missionaries around the world, free of charge. Oswald Smith of Canada and Henry Frost (American secretary of the China Inland Mission)--prominent men at that time-- opposed this doctrine, but it was too late to reverse the wide spread of the book, Jesus Is Coming. And later the Church went on, preachers divided into two opinions and doctrines. Some believe in the secret Rapture, easy escape, of the Church prior to the tribulation, while others believe that the Church will go through the tribulation and the Lord Jesus will come after the tribulation and the appearing of the man of sin, as I explained in the beginning of this article.

Note: You can believe either way you want.

It does not make any difference and will have no effect on your eternal salvation. What will affect your eternal salvation is if there is secret sin in your life and any disobedience of any clear Scripture that pertains to holiness and righteousness. But Rapture prior or at the end of Tribulation is not a basic doctrine. The one basic Doctrine is that He is coming to take the Church, His body of believers who lived for Him and kept holy as He is holy. And holiness without no man shall see the Lord. Sin will keep one out of heaven and the pearly gates, as Jesus told those who professed they knew Him.

He told them, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:23.)

There was secret, hidden sin in their lives.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;..." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3.)

From reading the above mentioned verses carefully, it definitely states that the coming of Christ and the translation of the living believers [saints] would not be until after the reign of the man of sin.

The man of sin MUST first be revealed. On this basis, we believe that Christ will appear to gather His saints to him after the reign of the Anti-Christ at the end of the tribulation. And we quote the Scriptures from the Holy Bible. So we can base our belief on what is written in the Bible.

"And as [Jesus] sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

"For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet....

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place [see Dan. 11:3135], (whoso readeth, let him understand:)...

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be....

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."(Matt. 24:3-6,15,21,29-30.)

The Christian world is divided into two opinions. Some believe that there will be a secret, invisible return of Jesus in the sky where the saints will be translated secretly before the beginning of the tribulation and the revelation of the man of sin which will start soon in our time by the appearing of the beast and the world ruler and climax by the rulership of the man of sin.

The other group who makes the majority, believe that the Lord will come after those days of tribulation as it is mentioned clearly in the Scripture proofs we mentioned.

"And he that overcometh [overcomes sin and the world], and keepeth my works [life] unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." (Revelation 2:26).
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*P.O.B. 225646, Dallas, TX 75222, USA
Reprinted from "Miracles & Missions Digest"