Reviewed by Lou Jacquet
Mention the term “rapture” to most Catholics and you get a blank stare. Or at least you did, before the successful fiction series Left Behind made the rapture a common word in the vocabulary of many Christians and even many Catholics, spreading confusion and no small amount of anti-Catholic teaching in the process.
That’s why Paul Thigpen decided to write The Rapture Trap, a brilliant and important analysis of what the term means, its origins, its lack of acceptance even in mainstream Protestant thought, and its lack of biblical and historical roots despite its sudden emergence in fiction and now on film. Most “rapture” thinking comes from a misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which describes events at the Second Coming, not at a special, secret coming of Jesus prior to the end of the world, as rapture advocates believe.
Thigpen, a senior editor for Servant Publications and associate editor of Envoy Magazine, is a former Protestant evangelical minister who embraced Catholicism in 1993. Because of his past ministry, he knows what the lure of teaching on the rapture is all about and dissects it, in interesting and highly readable prose, for those who have never encountered the term before.
As its adherents understand it, “the rapture” means a secret “extra” coming of Jesus Christ before the end times to “snatch up” believers so that they are able to avoid the final tribulations that Scripture promises will be visited upon the Church before Jesus comes in glory a second time at the end of the world. As Thigpen convincingly argues, the concept appears nowhere in the Bible, was unknown to the greatest thinkers of every age down through the history of the Church, and was largely developed as the result of mistaken but widely accepted biblical interpretation among some Protestants in the past century. Mainline Protestantism has never embraced the concept.
Not the least of Thigpen’s fascinating research deals with the many problems such a doctrine has caused among its adherents, who frequently are so focused on “being ready to go” that they have little or no interest in righting injustice in this world. Beyond that, many have lost all they have in scams or simple miscalculations by following those who espouse this false doctrine.
Perhaps Thigpen’s most telling point is simply that the concept of the rapture flies in the face of what Jesus repeatedly assured his followers about what would happen to them. Far from guaranteeing that they would be saved from all trial and tribulation in this world, He tells them, in Thigpen’s words, that “the days of trial are not a time of escape, but rather a time of sifting, proving, and purging, a season of strengthening the faithful and sorting them from the unfaithful, the wheat from the chaff.” Down through the centuries, millions have died in persecution for their belief in Christ, and many more will do so, rather than being saved by some miraculous intervention, writes Thigpen.
Furthermore, as Thigpen observes, Scripture repeatedly tells us the Second Coming will be far from a secret event known only to true believers. Rather, it will be gloriously announced by trumpets and accompanied by light that will make the sun and moon pale in comparison as those who have opposed the Lord will quake in fear. Christ’s coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment are all interrelated and will happen when Jesus comes again for the final time.
Thigpen presents compelling evidence that the popularity of the Left Behind series is unfortunately built largely upon false information about – and outright attacks upon – Catholic beliefs uttered by its characters and authors. Avoiding the “rapture trap” thus becomes an important point for Catholics interested in keeping their young, especially, from falling into the hands of those in some denominations who make a living of creating congregations filled with former (and mostly theologically illiterate or under-educated) Catholics.
“Soldiers in the Church militant should seek to change history, not to escape it by being snatched away when the going gets tough,” Thigpen challenges his readers. He adds: “The rapture is a conveniently comfortable doctrine that has led many Christians into a kind of smugness about their own immunity to divine judgment.” Well said. Highly recommended.
Lou Jacquet is the editor of the Catholic Exponent, the newspaper of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio. Used by permission.
See the Ascension Press press release on The Rapture Trap, previously published on Catholic Exchange.