Without Excuse: Apologetics Blog

I've heard many accusations against the pre-trib rapture over the years, but I admit, this is one is new to me. It goes something like this: The first person who formulated this eschatology was a Jesuit named Ribera in 1591AD. He interpreted the book of Revelation suggesting an end-time personal antichrist, a rebuilt Babylon and a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem at the end of the Christian Era. This doctrine began to fester within the system of Romanism which by now had a few dozen more erroneous and blasphemous doctrines introduced as biblical truths by its own leadership. But it wasn't until 1745AD that another Jesuit named Manuel de Lacunza y Diaz began to really distort the Scriptures through doctrines that perfectly fit the category of the kind of doctrines whose destructive results we are warned about by Paul. (2 Tim 4:3-4). Back in the 18th Century, there was a Spanish family living in Chile named the De Lacunzas. In 1731, they had a baby boy whom they named Manuel. After fi...

The ancient Galilean wedding ceremony is the model for the rapture, specifically the pre-trib rapture. When the Scriptures are compared to the Galilean wedding ceremony, it explains the purpose of the rapture, why the church won’t go through the tribulation, and puts certain biblical passages into proper context. There are very few who understand the significance of the Galilean wedding ceremony, and even fewer who understand the parallels with the pre-trib rapture. That significance, however, would not have been lost on Jesus or His disciples, all of whom were Galilean except for Judas. Nor would it have been lost on the Galileans of the first century, whom Jesus spent most of His time around. It may be no coincidence that Jesus’ first recorded miracle was turning water into wine at a Galilean wedding. It was as if He was trying to draw attention to the wedding for reasons that will soon become apparent. It’s been said that Jesus taught about the resurrection but not the rapture. Ye...

  Where does the concept of the rapture come from? The word “rapture” is not in the Bible but is based upon the catching away ( harpazō ) in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up ( harpazō ) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The Greek word “ harpazō ” is translated as “ rapturo ” in the Latin Bible. This is where we get the word “rapture” in English. What is the pre-trib rapture and its origins? The pre-trib rapture is the belief that in the latter days believers on earth will be taken up to heaven prior to the tribulation and God’s wrath is poured-out. It’s said the pre-trib rapture is new. However, in reality, all rapture doctrines are fairly modern. Elements of every rapture position can be found in early Christian writings, however, they didn’t have a codified rapture doctrine and eschatology wasn’t their primary focus. However, the concept of imminency, a crucial...

"For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." -Pseudo-Ephraem This is in response to Pseudo-Ephraem does not teach the Rapture! I would like to address some of the statements made by this website. "The false teachers who believe pre-tribulation Rapture theology desperately misuse an ancient document called, "Pseudo-Ephraem" as proof that someone before 1830 AD believed it." I first want to take issue with calling those who teach the pre-tribulation rapture "false teachers". The Bible defines a false teacher as 1)One who denies Jesus is Christ (1Jo 2:22), 2)one who preaches a different gospel, which is defined as the good news concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, according to the Scriptures (Gal 1:19), and 3)Exhibits qualities that are unbecoming of a Christian ...

"for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done" (Isa 46:9-10) "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end ." (Ecc 3:11) "And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end ." (Rev 21:6) History is circular in that the end will mirror the beginning and we will eventually come full circle. This is why God says he knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. If we look at Genesis backwards we see it perfectly mirrors end time events, including the rapture. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit preceding the return of Christ Gen 8:8-12 "He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground." Joel ...