“Does the Church of Christ believe there is a rapture, or do we believe there’s two raptures or even one at all? I’m reading different things.”

When someone asks me about the rapture, my first response is to clarify what they have been told because there are multiple versions of the rapture that have been circulating in the U.S. since the mid-1800s.

After they explain the rapture, as they have been told, I ask them to take out their Bibles or Bible app and do a search for the word “rapture” in the Bible. Each time they find nothing because the word doesn’t exist in most English Bible.

This word “rapture” is not found anywhere in the Bible but is based on the Latin rendering of the words “caught up.”

What is the rapture and how is it typically taught?

The version typically known as the historical rapture goes something like this…

When Jesus returns, He will do so initially hidden in the clouds. Jesus will ‘rapture’ (i.e. take up in the clouds with Him) the faithful Christians so that they can avoid the seven years of tribulation.––Advocates say that a wife and husband will be in bed together and when they wake one will be gone and other left. The one will wonder the world looking for the spouse and never find the spouse. Advocates will say that if you will be on a plane and if the pilot is a faithful Christian when the rapture happens, then he will be taken up and those unfaithful to Christ on the plane will be left in the plane without a pilot. Advocates will say that you could be in surgery with your chest cracked open and if your surgeon is a faithful Christian and the rapture comes, he will be taken up and you will be left with no one there to help you.

Advocates teach the purpose of this rapture is to call up the faithful to Christ in the clouds, so they don’t have to suffer through the Great Tribulation. Now different versions of this teaching will say that the rapture comes at different times, which is why when you go looking on the internet for information on the rapture, you find different times of the rapture. Some teach the rapture happens in the middle of the Tribulation, others teach the rapture happens at the end. Initially and historically, the rapture was Christ taking the faithful into the clouds to protect them from the Great Tribulation.

This rapture is part of a greater eschatological doctrine of how the world will end. The events go like this: (1) Christ secretly returns in the clouds, (2) the Lord raptures the faithful to Him, (3) the seven years of Great Tribulation begins, (4) the anti-Christ comes and for 3.5 years he convinces people that he is on their side to help them, (5) the anti-Christ turns on people and seeks to enslave them, (6) Christ comes again at the end of sevens years with his army of angels to defeat the anti-Christ and his army in a literal battle of good versus evil called the Battle of Armageddon, (7) once Christ wins, He brings the faithful back down to earth and establishes an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem where He reigns on earth for a thousands years in His kingdom. (8) After a thousand years, Christ takes His kingdom to heaven.

What does the Bible say?

It is true that Christians will be “caught up” with the Lord, but it will not be for seven years as they teach. When Christians are “caught up” (raptured, Latin), they will ‘ever be with the Lord” in that caught up position (I Thessalonians 4:17).

“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: 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.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17

While this verse shows that Christians will be caught up in the clouds, this disproves that Christ will come back in secret, Christ will come back with the shout of the archangel. All will know when Christ returns, the dead in Christ will rise first.

This description is more open and not so secretive. All will see the dead rise up and all see the coming of Christ.

People will not be wondering the earth trying to find people because they will see Christ and see the dead raised up. They will know what is happening.

Furthermore, this passage states that they will forever be with the Lord up the sky, they will not return to earth to reign with Him for a thousand years because it says they will forever be with the Lord up in the sky.

Let’s look at some other verses in the Bible that contradict the historical version of the rapture.

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” 

Matthew 13:24–30

When the end of the world comes, the Bible says the tares will be gathered up first, then the faithful will be left. The rapture theory says the exact opposite.

This doesn’t fit their narrative.

“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 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; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:40–43

Scofield, who was an advocate of the historical rapture, states in his Scofield Reference Bible, “first the wheat is gathered into the barn.”––That’s not what the Bible says!

Scofield contradicted Christ in his reference work in order to make the rapture fit.

Furthermore, the Lord says, “at the end of the world.”––That also doesn’t agree with the rapture narrative because the rapture says that their will be seven more years after the gathering of the faithful, and a thousand year reign on earth!

“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”

Mark 9:1

This also contradicts the rapture because the advocates of the rapture say the kingdom is still to come. They say the kingdom of God comes after the Lord’s return in the Second Coming and after Christ defeats the anti-Christ at the end of the seven years of the Great Tribulation.

Christ says that people during His ministry in the first century would see His kingdom come with power. Furthermore, Paul says the those in the church of Colossae have been “translated in the kingdom” (Col. 1:13). According to Christ and the apostles, the kingdom of God is already here, which contradicts the rapture theory.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. There are so many verses that contradict the theory of the rapture.––The rapture is not in the Bible, and it is false doctrine.

I will end with a note about the last thing this person said in the question, “I’m reading different things.”

If you google the rapture, then you will see and read so many different and conflicting teachings that it would confuse anyone. I would encourage you to read about it in the Bible first. You can ask google or AI to give you all the verses about a particular topic, but I would suggest reading the Bible first because reading what other people have said about a topic before reading the Bible will create a bias in your mind as you read the Bible. You might end up putting things into your reading from what you have heard that you wouldn’t put into the reading before looking at the online commentaries.  

The church offers great video teachings on a number of topics. The evangelism table has a card that says, “Christian Gift Card.” The back of it has a QR code on it that leads you to WORLD VIDEO BIBLE SCHOOL (WVBS). That website or app has hundreds of videos about Bible topics, including the rapture, so I would recommend using the church resources rather than doing google searches and reading the first things that comes up, always check your sources in what you are reading because there are a lot of false teachings online.

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