Hi to my Forum Friends,
In the discussion I recently began titled "Which Church Do You Attend?" -- my Forum Friend, SistahToldYa, asked, "I never heard the Rapture taught when I was a girl. I have later, but it's not something our pastor stresses. Do you mind telling us what kind of Baptist church you're a member of, Bill?"
Sistah, you might say I am a Christian with a Baptist flavor -- because my personal Statement of Faith matches well with the Baptists. In 1987 I was saved in a Baptist church affiliated with the BGC (Baptist General Conference), but, over the years, have attended several churches which were Southern Baptist. I am more comfortable with the BGC Baptist for, in the past 20+ years the Southern Baptist have been infiltrated to a large extent by those adhering to a Calvinist theology. I would guess that now at least half of the Southern Baptist Seminaries lean heavily toward a Calvinist theology.
The BGC has stayed comfortably, at least for me, in between the Calvinist and the Arminians. We do not adhere to the Calvinist teaching of Predestination whereby God chose before the Creation who would go to heaven, the Elect, and who would go to hell, the Reprobate -- with the individual not having any "free will" to follow Christ.
And, we do not adhere to the Arminian teaching that a person who is truly saved -- can then lose their salvation. In the Arminian theology there is no eternal security, no peace with God (Romans 5:1). Why? Because the person always has to be looking over his/her shoulder -- afraid that the smallest infraction will cause him to lose his salvation. That is not the way Christ wants us to have peace with God.
So, I guess you can say that I am comfortable with the BGC Baptists.
Regarding the teaching of the Rapture and End Times eschatology; you are right that many churches do not teach this. Why? Very likely because many pastors do not truly understand this part of Biblical prophecy and either consciously or unconsciously avoid the book of Revelation.
However, Revelation is only a part of the End Times eschatology. Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and many other books are key to the teaching of the End Times; particularly Daniel. It is in Daniel that we learn of the Seventy Weeks, i.e, that God has allotted 70 weeks of years for man to get his act together (Daniel 9:24-27).
The first 69 week of years (483 years) were completed the day that Jesus Christ made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem -- and four days later He was crucified. Three days after His crucifixion, Christ resurrected -- and fifty days after His resurrection, the Day of Pentecost, the Christian church was born when the 120 disciples who were waiting in the Upper Room were empowered and indwelled by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). This began the Church Age which has gone on for over 2000 years to date.
The last week of Daniel's prophecy, the 70th Week of Daniel (the final week of years, 7 years), also called Jacob's Troubles (Jeremiah 30:7), will begin after the Rapture occurs, when Christ will appear in the clouds to take His church, His body of believers from earth. Shortly after the Rapture -- maybe days, maybe months -- Israel will sign a seven year Peace Accord with the Antichrist (Daniel 9:27). This in the event which triggers the beginning of the seven year Tribulation -- truly hell on earth.
No one can know when Christ will return to Rapture His church, i.e., it is imminent, meaning that it could happen any moment -- or it may not happen for many years. However, two keys indicators of the approach of His Rapture are (1) the return of the nation Israel to its homeland -- which happened in 1948 (Deuteronomy 30:3; Isaiah 43:6; Ezekiel 34:11-13; 36:24; 37:1-14), and (2) the growing apostasy worldwide (2 Thessalonians 2:3) -- which no one can deny is happening. Secularism, atheism, and other anti-God movements are most certainly growing in intensity around the world -- and especially in America.
So, why have we not heard more about the Rapture, Tribulation, i.e, the End Times, in our churches. Well, for one thing -- this teaching goes against the traditions of some churches. For example, for the PreTribulation Rapture and the Premillennial Return of Christ to be true -- this would negate the teaching of purgatory.
And, it negates the Amillennial teaching of the more legalistic churches. Many of our Liberal Theology churches deny that the Bible is truly the inspired Written Word of God, the sole authority upon which the Christian church, the Christian faith, and the Christian life are built. Consequently, both the Legalistic church and the Liberal Theology church views the books of prophecy as merely tales of symbolism and myth, not true prophecy to be taken seriously.
Therefore, it is basically only the Conservative Theology churches and denominations, i.e., those who take a dispensational view of the Bible -- which believe and teach the PreTribulation Rapture and the PreMillennial Return of Christ to establish His 1000 year Millennial Reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
And, this is why you will see the more Liberal Theology groups being anti-Israel -- teaching a Replacement Theology, i.e., that the Christian church, the body of believers, has replaced Israel as the chosen people of God. This view teaches that the church has become the "spiritual chosen people of God" and has replaced the apostatized Israel, the prior "physical chosen people of God."
However, my belief in PreTrib/PreMillennial eschatology is not based upon any particular church. It is based upon my own personal 20+ year study of eschatology. In 1991, when Iraq had invaded Kuwait and all over the news we saw images of burning oil fields and skies blackened by this -- many pastors and Bible study leaders began to talk about the End Times.
At that time, I was in a Bible study taught by a very knowledgeable leader, Tom Fletcher. When he began to talk about the Rapture, the Tribulation, etc. -- I had no idea what this all meant. I was totally lost, but, I was not about to show my "new Christian" ignorance of the Bible by asking him to explain. In hindsight, I am sure that I was not the only one at that Bible study who was lost and, not wanting to appear ignorant, did not ask.
After that night I determined to study the End Times, i.e., eschatology -- and I have been doing this since. During this time, I have spent four years creating charts which take us from Eternity to Eternity, emphasizing the key points of End Times prophecy. Over that four years, I drew my charts -- and, several times I have had to go back and correct errors when I gained new or more correct knowledge.
At this time, I feel that they are pretty accurate based upon my knowledge of the Bible. However, whenever a Friend can point out an error or misunderstanding on my part -- I am eager to take a look at this new evidence. And, if need be, I will make additional changes in the charts.
And, for Bible studies I have led, I have created several PowerPoint based "End Times Bible Studies" presentations. These I have used to lay the groundwork for the beginning of a Bible study in the book of Revelation. These basically define the terminology and the core of what we will study when we begin the verse by verse study of Revelation.
I will be very happy to e-mail these End Time charts and the PowerPoint presentations, which are easy to understand, to anyone who will send me a PM (Dialog) with your e-mail address.
But, Sistah, like you I had never heard of the Rapture before 1991. As a youth growing up in Sheffield, I first attended the Nazarene, then the Baptist, and sometimes the Methodist churches. After leaving home in 1955 to join the Air Force, over the years I was in and out of many churches -- Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Baptists, and many others, including non-denominational churches. It was not until I became involved with the BGC affiliated Baptist church in Southern California that I first heard about Bible studies. I am not kidding -- in all those years, in all those churches -- I never heard about Bible studies and was never invited to any Bible studies.
To me, this is a great weakness in many of our churches. Considering the process of learning about our Christian faith and growing in our knowledge of God's Word -- I view the local church like a three-legged stool: the three legs being the sermon, Sunday School, and Bible study. Cut off any of those legs -- and the stool is unstable. Cut off both the Sunday School and the Bible study legs -- and the stool is almost impossible to balance.
I realize that many churches replace the evening of Bible study with an evening of prayer. And, an evening of prayer is very, very important. However, this should NEVER replace Bible study or Sunday School in a local church fellowship. So, my suggestion to most churches -- have your Wednesday night Prayer Meetings. But, also have a Friday or Saturday night Bible Study. And, most certainly have Sunday School.
If you think people are not interested -- try them. You will be surprised. In my own personal opinion -- Sunday School and Bible study are where most people get 80% of their Bible knowledge. For this is where we can interact and have discussions; which increases our depth of knowledge of God's Word.
Sistah, I realize that I have rambled on quite a bit. But, this is an indication of how important I believe the subject of prophecy should be for all Christians. Thirty percent of the Bible is prophecy! If prophecy were not very important -- would God have written about it that much?
And, when folks question the validity of our Bible -- the best proof of its validity is prophecy. In the Bible, there are over 1800 prophecies. Of that 1800+ prophecies -- all except the few dealing with the return of Christ have been fulfilled -- with 100% accuracy. This is why we can know that our Bible is valid -- and why we know we must take a serious look at all prophecies, especially End Time prophecies.
Sistah, thank you for opening this subject and for allowing me to expand upon it.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
