CHARLO, New Brunswick, March 15, 2024 – Speculations on the origins and purpose of the false doctrine known as the pre-tribulation rapture (or simply “rapture”) could fill a few libraries. My intention here, however, is to give a brief overview of some of the main subtopics concerning the rapture, focusing in particular on the relevance of this phenomenon to born-again believers.

If you missed Part 1 of this article, you’ll find it here.

WHO INVENTED THE RAPTURE?

Officially, the rapture was not invented but received as an insight while doing a Bible translation. The person who claimed to receive the insight was an Irishman surnamed Darby (1800-1882), and that’s all I’ll say about him, other than to mention that he was born into wealth, raised in privilege, and very likely inducted into one of the secret orders pertaining to those born into wealth and privilege. As a member of the so-called elite of his day, he would have had to toe the line of whatever his superiors mandated, so whether he had the “insight” or someone else gave him instructions, we’ll probably never know for sure on this temporal plane.

What we do know is that after Darby massaged the notion of a pre-tribulation rapture, Schofield (of the Schofield Bible fame) took the stress ball and ran with it, as did a few other well-connected, well-heeled, and well-oiled wolves in sheep’s clothing, all the way up to today’s televangelists and Internet prophets with prominent donation buttons. Considering its unholy pedigree, could the pre-tribulation rapture be yet another lie of the devil?

WHY WAS THE NOTION OF THE RAPTURE INVENTED? WHO BENEFITS?

The term “rapture” has its root in Medieval Latin rapturus, which means “seizure” or “kidnapping”. Raptura is derived from Latin and means “snatch”, “grab”, or “carry off”, such as what happens during kidnappings and abductions. It’s not for nothing that this event is called by a name that literally means the violent abduction or kidnapping of people.

Words matter.

I had a dream last summer about the rapture. I posted it here. In the dream, there was a mass abduction of people all over the world. Most of the abductees were genuine Spirit-filled believers, but worldly Christians were also caught up in the nets, specifically pre-tribulation rapture-believing Christians who were known among their family and friends to be waiting to be raptured. Along with the abductions, the pastoral snake-oil salesmen who’ve been pushing the pre-tribulation rapture are also whisked away, a few to an undisclosed location to bide their time before “miraculously” reappearing when the beast government is set up, while the rest are imprisoned, tortured, and then murdered, like the other abductees, their usefulness to the ptb having come to an end.

The sole purpose for inventing and publicizing the idea of the pre-tribulation rapture is to plant a seed in the minds of worldly Christians regarding a “disappearing” event that will herald the start of the so-called Tribulation period. A critical mass of pre-tribulation rapture believers needs to exist for this event to be successful. Are we there yet? Do enough Christians believe in a pre-tribulation rapture for the event to succeed? I have no idea. I do know that nearly every Christian I encounter these days parrots the same line “Jesus is coming back soon!” at some point in our discussion, so we could be getting close. But other moveable parts also need to be in line, which means that the snake-oil salesmen and their dupes will likely keep pushing the rapture through their churches, books, movies, videos, etc., for the foreseeable future, long after we’ve gone Home (if we do go Home!).

Anyone who wants to demoralize worldly Christians could do no better than to invent a fake rapture event where the majority of Christians are left behind, ostensibly rejected by God. This will lead to a mass falling away on a scale never seen before in any religion and will cause many to flee into the false comfort of other belief systems. Who benefits from the rapture’s invention? Everyone who hates God, Jesus, and us.

WHO’S PUSHING THE RAPTURE?

The biggest pushers of a pre-tribulation rapture are God’s enemies both inside and outside the worldly church and gullible worldly Christians. They’re doing this by preaching and teaching about a pre-tribulation rapture in the apostate churches, publishing books and websites about it, making films about it, and posting videos online about it. Many Christians believe in the rapture more than they do in the Ten Commandments, so obviously the propaganda is working.

WHY IS THE RAPTURE BEING PUSHED NOW?

If the rapture is supposed to happen just before the beast system set up, then the ptb must suspect that the beast system will be unveiled soon, as the rapture has increasingly been pushed since the 1960s. However, I don’t believe the ptb know any more than any of the rest of us exactly when it’s going to occur. It will happen when a signal is given, which will likely be when we least expect it and out of the blue, just like Jesus said his second coming would be.

But in the meantime, lists are being drawn up and kept current and scenarios are being rehearsed. If you’re a genuine born-again believer, you’re likely on one of those lists and slated for abduction. No point in trying to avoid it or fight it; if God permits it, we just have to endure it to the end, and God will take us Home.

My point in bringing the fake rapture to your attention is not to scare you but to inform you. We need to be informed about what the ptb has planned for us. Whether or not this will happen in our lifetime doesn’t matter. The fakeness of the rapture needs to be publicized as much as the fake rapture itself, so that when the abductions occur, those of us who may be “left behind” will know what’s going on.

WHY IS THIS ESPECIALLY RELEVANT TO BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS?

We are the proverbial thorn in the side of everyone who hates God or doesn’t believe he exists. But we’re especially loathsome to those who are actively working to bring about Satan’s reign. They want us gone not only because we speak the Truth and refuse to be silent, but because they know we won’t fall for their lies. It’s dangerous for them when even one person refuses to play the game.

Most importantly, though, and the reason why the ptb will implement a fake rapture as their final solution to get rid of genuine believers, is that we remind them of everything they’ve lost. The Bible reminds them, which is why they’ve ejected it from the public square, watered it down, changed its contents, and are now trying to ban it outright, and we also remind them of what they’ve lost. The very fact of our existence is a torment to them, the way that Jesus’ existence was a torment to the powers-that-be. They wanted him gone, and now they want us gone.

For the past 2000 years, the ptb has been working hard to eliminate us, side-track us, and lure us away from God. We’re why state-imposed Christianity, Islam, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, Communism, etc., were created. A fake rapture gives the ptb the chance to get rid of us once and for all, and in one fell swoop.

May we not be here when the fake rapture happens, but if we are, may we face it the same way as Jesus faced his abduction, torture, and execution.