Rapture Theology

Today’s Gospel text about the end of time has become very popular in certain Christian circles that believe in what is called the “Rapture.” Sadly, this mistaken and un-biblical doctrine has spread even to many Catholics, particularly through the Left Behind series of popular novels.



The title of the series even comes from today’s text: “Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.”

One of the fundamental mistakes of Rapture theology is that it incorporates a mistaken approach to preparing for “the end time.” One of the manifestations of this is a kind of fixation on looking for signs that the end is near. Some folks “hear of wars and rumors of wars,” and “nation … ris[ing] against nation,” or see circumstances where Christians are “hated by all nations for [Jesus’s] name's sake,” and they interpret “all this” as “the beginning of the birth-pangs” and conclude “then the end will come” (Mt 24:6, 7, 8, 9, 14).

Are they correct in their interpretation of current events? Perhaps. But then again, ever since the beginning of the Church Christians have experienced terrible tribulations: from the Roman persecutions of the first two centuries, to the invasions of the Huns, the Barbarians, the Turks and the Moors, to the wars and persecutions after the Protestant “Reformation,” to the terrible wars of the 20th century. And in every age some group has seen these trials as a sign that the end would come any day.

Yes, the end of the world will come, and Jesus will come again in glory. And yes, there will be signs beforehand. But Jesus insists: “You do not know on which day your Lord will come.” In fact the purpose of Jesus’s warnings is not to encourage preoccupation with future cataclysmic events, but to call us to be prepared right here and now. And not to be prepared just for the end of all time, but also for the end of our time. Each man faces the end of his time at the moment of his death, and no man knows when that will come. So Jesus warns us: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

But how do we prepare? Some people focus on the worldly interpretation of this preparation — even storing away food or planning to escape when the final tribulations come. But Jesus has a different type of preparation in mind: “If you would enter [eternal] life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19:17). Recognizing signs is not part of Jesus’s essential plan for preparation — living a holy and upright life according to His will is.

The Church presents this reading to us on the first Sunday of Advent as a reminder that we are entering a season of preparation for Christ’s coming — both His first and second coming — and calls us to prepare not according to our worldly inclinations, but according to God’s eternal will. This is a season, then, of spiritual and moral preparation — preparation to celebrate the anniversary of His birth into life in this world, and preparation to celebrate our birth into eternal life in the world to come. The former comes every year on December 25, but as for the latter, “You do not know on which day your Lord will come.” “So… be prepared.”

[Editor’s Note: For a detailed examination of the many errors of Rapture theology, Father De Celles recommends Carl E. Olson’s book Will Catholics be “Left Behind”? published by Ignatius Press and available now in our online store.]

Fr. De Celles is Parochial Vicar of St. Michael Parish in Annandale, Virginia.

(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)

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