Amillennialists don't believe in the Millennium as a specific period of years, and regard Biblical reference to it as symbolic. They believe that the millennium began when Christ was born on earth and will end with the second coming.
Amillennialists say that Christ is reigning now, both in heaven, and on the earth in the hearts of believers. The doctrine, which was made popular by St Augustine, is accepted by the Roman Catholic church and many middle of the road Protestant denominations.
The Rapture is the event in which Christ carries the faithful believers off to heaven before the Tribulation. This word refers to a "taking up" of Christians, both alive and dead, at the return of Christ.
The idea is based on 1 Thessalonians 4. Rapture derives from Latin for "to seize" rapere , also the root for raptor , a bird of prey. During the Millennium the believers will remain in heaven, and God will be working on earth with the people of Israel.
Some Christians believe in the rapture, but disagree about the timing. Some think the rapture will occur at the end of the tribulation period and others believe it will occur in the middle. This doctrine says that Christ will come to earth and take all the true believers to heaven before the Second Coming.
Christians disagree as to exactly when in the "end times" this will happen, and the Bible itself doesn't explicitly say whether it will happen before, during or after the great tribulation.
The rapture is described in 1 Thessalonians 4, which says that believers will be "raptured" or "caught up" Latin: rapiemur in the clouds to meet Christ in the air. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Some Christians have encapsulated the idea of the rapture in the phrase "beam me up, Jesus" because they believe that the way the transporter works on Star Trek is the closest thing we have to the way the rapture will work. Someday, a day that only God knows, Jesus Christ is coming to take away all those who believe in Him. He is coming to meet all true believers in the air. Without benefit of science, space suits, or interplanetary rockets, there will be those who will be transported into a glorious place more beautiful, more awesome, than we can possibly comprehend.
Earth and all its thrills, excitement, and pleasures will be nothing in contrast to this great event. Many Evangelical Christians, including the Brethren, follow John Nelson Darby in believing that the rapture will happen before the great tribulation, sparing Christians from a terrible experience. Other Christians believe that the Rapture will occur during the Great Tribulation, or after it, while yet other Christians don't believe it will happen at all.
Darby added a new element to millennial beliefs when he said that Christ's second coming would come in three parts:. The antichrist is the enemy of God who appears during the final years of the world's existence and takes over the world.
He is a very powerful and evil ruler who pretends to be God and appears to perform miracles. Some Christians believe that the antichrist will take over the earth at a time in the future and will bring great destruction until eventually overthrown by Christ. One modern writer has suggested that the antichrist will emerge as the leader of a European super-state, impose a peace settlement on Israel "and possibly her neighbours," get assassinated and then resurrected, win the Nobel Peace Prize and be named Time's Man of the Year; after these triumphs, he will set himself up as God and rule the world.
The Christian doctrine of the antichrist is a development of a similar Jewish belief, which makes it all the more regrettable that the antichrist doctrine has been used as a weapon of anti-Semitism. The Jewish references are found in the book of Daniel. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
But there are many other New Testament passages that have been regarded as referring to the antichrist. Here are a few of them:. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. To help counter the rapture tide, she is developing a Sunday school curriculum to teach kids that Jesus loves everyone and would not leave anyone behind. Moderate Christians will never come up with a story that can compare, he said.
But it will be inferior because the story will be inferior. The success of the graphic novels is just one indication of the strength of belief in rapture, Armageddon, and the subsequent second coming of Jesus Christ. Repeatedly, believers in Communist lands have told me how they can hardly wait for that blessed event called the rapture.
The Lord has left no greater hope for His church than that the Bridegroom would return for his Bride before the Tribulation. The Biblical writers speak of the rapture as being a blessed hope Titus ; a purifying hope 1 John ; a comforting hope 1 Thess. We at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary are united in our conviction that the Scriptures teach that the rapture will occur before the Tribulation. We concur with our doctrinal statement on that glorious event:.
We believe that Jesus Christ will return to the atmosphere of this earth; that the dead in Christ will rise first, then believers who are still living will be caught up together with them to greet the Lord in the air and to ever be with the Lord; that the rapture is the next event on the revealed calendar and that no prophecy need be fulfilled before it occurs.
Our doctrinal stand coincides exactly with that of our fellowship. Article XIX of the Doctrinal Statement of the GARBC reads in part: We believe in the premillennial return of Christ, an event which can occur at any moment … and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seven years of the Tribulation.
Let us briefly note the promise of return John 14 , the picture of His return 1 Thess. If believers must endure the judgments of the Tribulation, they would meet Him in the air at the second advent and immediately return with Him to earth. In 1 Thess. Wherefore comfort one another with these words, 1 Thess.
Were believers destined to endure the Tribulation, Paul should have said, Wherefore scare ye one another with these words. Instead, he assures the Thessalonians again, as he has done earlier, that God has not appointed them unto the wrath of the Tribulation but unto salvation 1 Thess.
Many Reconstructionists are not premillennialists but rather postmillennialists, believing that the Second Coming will only occur after years of Christian rule on earth, and therefore that they should focus their energy on bringing Christianity into the political sphere, rather than anticipating an imminent rapture. When this Christian nation is in place or back in place , Jesus will return.
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