The Catholic church introduced the secret "rapture" or "left behind" theory so people won't bother to read Revelation, where the beast and mark of the beast is revealed. They are led to believe they won't be around when the prophecies of Revelation occur, so why bother reading it? Know what I mean?
The foundation of the "rapture" or "left behind" theory was laid over 400 years ago upon the specific orders of the Catholic Church! And this doctrine is down right dangerous and has NO valid Biblical support!
The "Secret Rapture or left behind" teaching is a down right and dangerous doctrinal distortion, because it could delude the majority of professed Christians into being lost. The "left behind" theory is a major deception that many Christians believe to be true!
There is not the slightest hint that this final separation of the saved and lost will be done in any secretive manner. Yet, this connotation has been applied by those who are desperately trying to find inspired support for an empty tradition. The unscriptural two-phase coming has been repeated so often and so persistently that millions believe it must be true.
The amazing thing is how people have taken such obvious verses and twisted them out of context to support a doctrine which does not even appear in the Bible.
Others, who profess to have studied its pages, contend that the book is of little practical value to the committed Christian expecting to be raptured to Heaven. Why? Because most of the events it foretells, they think, are going to occur after the main body of the church has been caught away to Heaven. In other words, the book need not concern true believers because they will not be on earth when the events it predicts come true.
His second coming will be visible to both the righteous and the wicked (1 Corinthians 1:7; Hebrews 9:28; Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). It will be audible (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Matthew 24:31; Psalms 50:3). It will be personal (Acts 1:11); bodily (John 14:1-3). It will be glorious (Matthew 24:30; 25:31; Luke 21:27; Mark 13:26). It will occur before the thousand-year millennium, and it is imminent (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; Revelation 29:6; Matthew 24:36-39, 44).
The Bible plainly says that Christ's return will be anything but quiet or secret: "Our God shall come and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him" (Psalms 50:3).
No wonder Jesus warned: "Take heed that no man deceive you."
Paul adds to the information about the final fate of those who are not ready for Christ's coming: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints."
At the very same time that the righteous are glorified, the rejecters of His grace will be slain by the brightness of His presence.
This interesting revelation brings us face to face with the massive deception which has misled millions of Christians. Obviously, there will be nothing secret about the rapture of the saints, and the so-called "secret rapture or left behind" is only a figment of the imagination.
There is absolutely no scriptural indication that the return of Christ takes place in two phases. The popular concept that Jesus comes secretly seven years before the end of the world to snatch away the saved Christians has no Bible support whatsoever. The wicked do not continue living in the earth for seven years after the mythical rapture of the righteous. They are slain, Paul says, "When he (Jesus) shall come to be glorified in his saints."
Matthew 24:42-44: "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."
There it is! So simple that a child can understand it. It will be unexpected. The advent will take the world by surprise. His coming will burst upon this earth when people least expect it. They will be just as unprepared for it as they would for a midnight thief. These words do not convey the least idea that our Lord will come sneaking around like some common criminal. He was just using a striking illustration of the unexpectedness of His return. Jesus reinforced the point He was making in verse 50, "The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of."
The amazing thing is how people have taken such obvious verses and twisted them out of context to support a doctrine which does not even appear in the Bible. The same thing has been done with the illustration of two woman grinding together. Jesus did say, "The one shall be taken and the other left," but what does the context tell us about the meaning of those words? Is there any indication whatsoever that Jesus was teaching a secret rapture of the saints?
The words in question are found in Luke 17:24-27, but let's read the verses before and after in order to get the full picture. Beginning in verse 26 Jesus likened His coming to the days of Noah: "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all."
The similarity is beyond question. Before the flood some were taken and some were left. The ones taken were taken into the ark and saved. The ones who were left were all destroyed by the raging water.
Christ continued His discourse with another illustration. "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Verses 28-30.
Again, the parallel is obvious. Some were taken out of the city to safety and some were left. What happened to those who were left? They were all destroyed by the fire.
Now we come to verses 34-36: "I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
Please keep the continuity of Christ's previous illustration in mind as you consider these words. In every case there had been a separation of the good from the bad, and then the wicked were slain. If the context teaches us anything at all, we must conclude that the one who is left will be left dead, just as it was in Noah and Lot's days. And when we read the next verse, there can be no doubt that this is exactly what Jesus was saying. "And they answered and said unto him, Where Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." Verse 37.
After Jesus said one would be taken and the other left, the disciples asked where they would be left. His answer clearly reveals that all who were left would be dead. Their bodies would be food for the eagles to devour. This is in perfect harmony with what the rest of the Bible says on the subject.
