Like many, I once believed in part in a rapture but even in my early years found little credence to what I was taught. I had always wondered where this doctrine came from as the word Rapture is not in the bible.  Today I stumbled upon an exposé.

Yes it all started way back in the 1800's and when you discover who the author of this lie was, you will be shocked.  It was a Jesuit Priest Emmanuel Lacunza who posed as a converted Jew under the pen name of  Rabbi Ben Ezra.  Strange how the Zionists have succeeded in permeating their lies into mainstream Christianity, and even today many hold to these traditions of men as truth.

What is a Jesuit?  Extract from Wikipedia

The Society of Jesus, (Latin: Societas Iesu, abbreviated as S.J. and S.I.) is a Christian religious order of the Roman Catholic Church at the service of the universal Church. Its members are known as Jesuits, and have colloquially been called "Soldiers of Christ", first, and "Foot soldiers of the Pope", second, partly because the Society's founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a priest.

Today, Jesuits number 20,170 (with 14,147 priests), and compose the largest male religious order in the Roman Catholic Church (the Franciscan family of OFMs, Capuchins, and Conventuals has approximately 31,899 members, of whom 20,786 are priests; however, the "family" consists of multiple orders).

Jesuit priests and brothers are engaged in ministries in 112 nations on six continents. No work, if it has an evangelical perspective, is closed to them, but they are best known in the fields of education (schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, theological faculties), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. They are also known in missionary work and direct evangelization, social justice and human rights activities, interreligious dialogue, and other 'frontier' ministry.

If you are happy waiting for Christ to appear externally in some future time, read no further.  This is really going to burst your religious bubble. 

If you are serous in seeking truth read on.

You can also read a full history of Zionist and Catholic influences in Mystery Babylon the Great which documents in detail from early to current times with all references cited and mapped to other website links.  Not a universalist site.

The fact that there are three views, Pre-trib, Mid-trib and Post-trib on this "event" should be enough of a red flag to research a little deeper.  They cannot all be correct can they?

What if they are all wrong?  Got your interest?  READ ON.

In my quest for TRVTH, the revelations and exposés I discover will be posted here.

Excerpt from Elwin R Roach, The Rapture Question.  Read the full article here

THE RAPTURE QUESTION
 

THE RAPTURE, what an intriguing subject! Scores of untold saints have wondered with great concern, "When will it happen? Will it be in my lifetime? Who of my loved ones will miss it and have to go through the tribulation, and then off to an eternal hell? Or will I myself miss it, and stand below watching the few lucky ones fly away into the clouds when the trumpet sounds?"

There are so many professing Christians who have their hope set in the rapture, it has become a tenant of faith through much of the church system. Some go as far as to say that you must believe in IT to be saved. Such a thought places their hope of salvation on an exterior event, rather than the indwelling Christ who died so they could be saved. In this study, there are three primary purposes in mind: (1) To bring to light some truths the reader has possibly never considered. (2) To confirm and clarify what the Spirit has already been speaking to many. And (3), to shake, to pull down, and destroy, as Jeremiah wrote, a few man-made doctrines that are preventing people from progressing in their quest for life. We then hope to plant and build up from there. If any or all of these are accomplished, then we will be satisfied.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE RAPTURE'S ORIGIN

Let us initiate this study with the words of one of today's most prolific and anointed writers, J. Preston Eby. Without his diligent research of these long forgotten facts, the expose of the Rapture's Origin would be incomplete, to say the least. He writes: "It wasn't until the early or mid 1800's that there was any significant group of believers around the world that looked for a "rapture" of the Church prior to a seven-year tribulation period. It may come as a shock to some who read these lines, but it is a fact, nonetheless, that the "rapture" teaching was not taught by the early Church, it was not taught by Church of the first centuries, it was not taught by the Reformers, it was not taught by anyone (except a couple of Roman Catholic theologians) until about the year 1830. At the time of the Reformation, the early Protestants widely held and were convinced the Pope was the supreme individual embodiment and personification of the spirit of antichrist, and the Roman Church, the Harlot System of Revelation seventeen. This understanding was responsible for bringing millions of believers out of the Roman Catholic religious system. It therefore became expedient for certain Romish theologians to turn the attention of the people away from the Papacy, and this they endeavored to do by inventing a counter-interpretation to that held by the Protestants. This new scheme of prophetic interpretation became known as futurism. Rather than viewing the drama of the book of Revelation spiritually and historically, they would consign it all to a brief period of time at the end of the age. It was a Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera who, in the days of the Reformation, first taught that all the events in the book of Revelation were to take place literally during the three and a half years reign of the antichrist way down at the end of the age. Thus, Ribera laid the foundation of a system of prophetic interpretation of which the secret rapture has now become an integral part.

"Later, Emmanuel Lacunza, also a Jesuit priest, built on Ribera's teachings, and spent much of his life writing a book titled "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty." Lacunza, however, wrote under the assumed name of Rabbi Ben Ezra, supposedly a learned Jew who had accepted Christ as his Saviour. With Jesuit cunning, he thus conspired to get his book a hearing in the Protestant world they would not even permit it in their homes coming from a Jesuit pen but as the earnest work of the "converted Jew," they would consume it with avid interest! Within the pages of this elaborate forgery, Lacunza taught the novel notion that Jesus returns not once, but twice, and at the "first stage" of His return He "raptures" His Church so they can escape the reign of the "future antichrist." His book was first published in Spanish in the 1812 and soon found its way onto the shelves of the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London, England.

"Now, enter the name of Edward Irving. Born in Scotland in 1792, Irving became one of the most eloquent preachers of his time, and a leading figure of the Catholic Apostolic Church of England. In 1828 his open-air meetings in Scotland drew crowds of 10,000 people. His church in London seated one thousand people and was packed week after week with a congregation drawn from the most brilliant and influential circles of society. There were some among them who by prophetic declaration announced that the Lord was coming soon, and this idea became prominent in their prophetic utterances and teachings. Out of those prophetic declarations some began to study the scriptures in the light of a physical, literal coming of the Lord. Up until that time the coming of the Lord was understood as coming of the Lord TO His people, and IN His saints, and there was no sense of His fleshly coming. Irving discovered Lacunza's book and was deeply shaken by it, in fact, fell in love with it, translated it into English, and it was published in London in 1827. At this time Irving heard what he believed to be a voice from heaven commanding him to preach the Secret Rapture of the Saints. Irving then began to hold Bible conferences throughout Scotland, Emphasizing the coming of Jesus to rapture His Church.

"About this same time there began the emergence of a new movement which came to be known as the Plymouth Brethren. The Brethren movement had its beginning in Dublin in 1825 when a small group of earnest men, dissatisfied with the lethargic condition that prevailed in the Protestant Church in Ireland, met for prayer and fellowship. Soon others joined the fellowship and associated groups sprang up in various places. Though the movement had its beginning at Dublin, it was Plymouth, England that became the center of their vast literature outreach, thus the name Plymouth Brethren became attached. Although there was interest from the start in prophetic subjects, the center of interest was on the body of Christ as an organism and the spiritual unity of Christ of all believers in reaction to the deadness of formalism of the organized church systems and the ecclesiastical hierarchy. A man by the name of John Nelson Darby was the leading spirit among the Plymouth Brethren from 1830 onward. Darby was from a prosperous Irish family, was educated as a lawyer, took high honors at Dublin University, then turned aside, to his father's chagrin, to become a minister.

"Thus Irving and Darby were contemporaries, though associated with different spiritual movements. Another series of meetings were in progress at this time. A group of seeking Christians were meeting in the castle of Lady Powerscourt for the study of Bible prophecy. Many clergymen attended, and quite a few who were Irvingites. The Irvingites came to the meetings obsessed with the ideas of the "Secret Rapture" and the "future antichrist," imbibed from the Jesuit teaching of the Secret Rapture and the futurist interpretation of prophecy, as well as the famous book by Rabbi Ben-Ezra, or, actually, Jesuit priest Emmanuel Lacunza! Darby was himself a prolific writer and from the time a constant stream of propaganda came from his pen. His writings on biblical subjects number over 30 volumes of 600 pages each. Darby developed and organized "futurism" into a system of prophetic teaching called "dispensationalism." Darby's biographers refer to him as "the father of dispensationalism." And the crown jewel in the kingdom of dispensationalism is, of course, the so-called SECRET RAPTURE!

"The Secret Rapture teaching was introduced into the United States and Canada in the 1860's and 1870's though there is some indication that it may have been taught as early as the 1840's. Darby himself visited the United States six times. The new teaching was spreading. A Congregationalist preacher by the name of C.I. Scofield came under the influence of Darby and the Plymouth Brethren. The Scofield Reference Bible was destined to have a tremendous impact upon the beliefs of may, when, three million copies were published in the first 50 years. Through this Bible, Scofield carried the teaching of the Secret Rapture into the very heart of evangelism. Some ignorant souls look on the notes in this Bible as the Word of God itself. I do not doubt for one instant that many who read these lines have been influenced somewhere in their spiritual lives by the footnotes in the Scofield Bible.

"There is one final link in the chain of the development and spread of the rapture theory that should be mentioned in passing. I would draw your attention again to the source, the origin, of the rapture doctrine and the chain of contact by which it has been brought down to this day. It began as a Roman Catholic invention. The Jesuit priest Ribera's writings influenced the Jesuit priest Lacunza, Lacunza influenced Irving, Irving influenced Darby, Darby influenced Scofield, Scofield and Darby influenced D. L. Moody, and Moody influenced the Pentecostal Movement. How? you ask. The Assemblies of God is today by far the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. When the Pentecostal movement began at the turn of the century, and the Assemblies of God held their first general council in 1914 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, they were a small movement and didn't have their own publishing house. They needed Sunday School and study materials for their churches so where do you suppose they got it? They bought it from Moody Press and had their own cover stitched on it! So what do you think the Assemblies of God people believed? They believed what Moody Bible Institute taught! This had its impact on Pentecostal theology, because in the early years there were practically no pre-millenialists in the Pentecostal movement. Most of the ministers in those early days came from Presbyterian, Methodist, or other historic denominations men who, being baptized in the Holy Spirit and leaving their denominations, joined themselves to the Assemblies of God or one of the other emerging Pentecostal denominations. That is how the Pentecostal movement became influenced and saturated with the 'Secret Rapture' doctrine by a direct chain right back to THE ROMAN CHURCH." --End quote.

MARGARET MACDONALD'S ACCOUNT

The doctrine of the "PRE-TRIB RAPTURE" can also be credited to what began in Port Glasgow, Scotland in 1830. A young Scottish lass named Margaret MacDonald had a revelation of the coming of the Lord before the great tribulation. Several noted Bible teachers of that day picked up on this thought, but it was Edward Irving and John Darby who were responsible for it being popularized in Scotland and England. It is said of Darby that he borrowed from Margaret MacDonald's revelation, modified her views, and then taught them under his own name without giving her credit. He visited the U.S. at least five times, and his dispensationalism became part of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), as quoted above. It was the notes in Scofield's Bible that caused this new teaching to find favor in this country.

The following is Margaret MacDonald's handwritten account of her 1830 revelation as it appears in Memoirs of James & George MacDonald, of Port-Glasgow (1840) by Robert Norton, pp. 171-176; The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church (1861) also by Norton, pp. 15-18; and The Incredible Cover Up by Dave MacPherson, (1980) (The above statements were also taken from this book):

"It was first the awful state of the land that was pressed upon me. I saw the blindness and infatuation of the people to be very great. I felt the cry of Liberty just to be the hiss of the serpent, to drown them in perdition. I repeated the words, 'Now there is distress of nations, with perplexity, the seas and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear -- now look out for the sign of the Son of man.' Here I was made to stop and cry out, 'O it is not known what the sign of the Son of man is; the people of God think they are waiting, but they know not what it is.' I felt this needed to be revealed, and that there was great darkness and error about it; but suddenly what it was burst upon me with a glorious light. I saw it was the Lord Himself descending from Heaven with a shout, the glorified man, even Jesus; but that all must, as Stephen was, be filled with the Holy Ghost, that they might look up, and see the brightness of the Father's glory. I saw the error to be, that men think that it will be something seen by the natural eye; but 'tis spiritual discernment that is needed, the eye of God in His people. Many passages were revealed, in a light in which I had not before seen them. I repeated, 'Now is the kingdom of Heaven like unto ten virgins, who went forth to meet the Bridegroom, five wise and five foolish; they that were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them; but they that were wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.' 'But be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is; and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.' This was the oil the wise virgins took in their vessels -- this is the light to be kept burning -- the light of God -- that we may discern that which cometh not with observation to the natural eye. Only those who have the light of God within them will see the sign of His appearance. No need to follow them who say, see here, or see there, for His day shall be as the lightning to those in whom the living Christ is. 'Tis Christ in us that will lift us up -- He is the light -- 'tis only those that are alive in Him that will be caught up to meet Him in the air. I saw that we must be in the Spirit, that we might see spiritual things. John was in the Spirit, when he saw a throne set in Heaven. -- But I saw that the glory of the ministration of the Spirit had not been known....I said, Now shall the people of God have to do with realities -- now shall the glorious mystery of God in our nature be known -- now shall it be know what it is for man to be glorified. I felt that the revelation of Jesus Christ had yet to be opened up -- it is not knowledge about God that it contains, but it is an entering into God -- I saw that there was a glorious breaking in of God to be. I felt as Elijah, surrounded with chariots of fire. I saw as it were, the spiritual temple reared, and the Head Stone brought forth with shoutings of grace, grace, unto it. It was a glorious light above the brightness of the sun, that shone round about me. I felt that those who were filled with the Spirit could see spiritual things, and feel walking in the midst of them, while those who had not the Spirit could see nothing -- so that two shall be in one bed, the one taken and the other left, because the one has the light of God within while the other cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven. I saw the people of God in an awfully dangerous situation, surrounded by nets and entanglements, about to be tried, and many about to be deceived and fall. Now will THE WICKED be revealed, with all power and signs and lying wonders, so that if it were possible the very elect will be deceived. -- This is the fiery trial which is to try us. -- It will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus; but Oh it will be a fiery trial. Every soul will be shaken to the very centre. The enemy will try to shake every thing we have believed in -- but the trial of real faith will be found to honour and praise and glory. Nothing but what is of God will stand. The stony-ground hearers will be made manifest -- the love of many will wax cold. I frequently said that night, and often since, now shall the awful sight of a false Christ be seen on this earth, and nothing but the living Christ in us can detect this awful attempt of the enemy to deceive -- for it is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness he will work -- he will have a counterpart for every part of God's truth, and an imitation for every work of the Spirit. The Spirit must and will be poured out on the church, that she may be purified and filled with God -- and just in proportion as the Spirit of God works, so will he -- when our Lord anoints men with power, so will he. This is particularly the nature of the trial through which those are to pass who will be counted worthy to stand before the Son of man. There will be outward trials too, but it is principally temptation. It is brought on by the outpouring of the Spirit, and will increase in proportion as the Spirit is poured out. The trial of the Church is from antichrist. It is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept. I frequently said, Oh be filled with the Spirit -- have the light of God in you, that you may detect satan -- be full of eyes within -- be clay in the hands of the potter -- submit to be filled, filled with God. This will build the temple....Jesus wants His bride. His desire is toward us. He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Amen and Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus." End quote.

This young Scottish lass was not only maligned and called a heretic by the church and the news media in her day; but her credibility has also been attacked from all sides today. Those who believe in a literal "post-trib" rapture as well as those who see it more as an inward catching away, have brought her under fire. The post-tribbers have tried to discredit her, because she had said one has to be filled with the Spirit of Christ to see the Lord coming in glory and for saying His coming to His church will be without observation -- only those with an eye (spiritual eye) to see will see Him when He appears. Those who have the vision of an inner catching away have used her name in a negative way, because it sounded as if she believed the saints would at that time meet Jesus in the literal air. Due to ignoring the spiritual reality of being caught away, her vision was one of the things that helped to enforce the concept Ribera and Lacunza founded earlier. Both factions, the post-tribbers and the spiritual minded, have undermined the authenticity of her vision because it did not line up with their views, and being a female, a young one at that, did not help.

After reading her account of the vision, as well as other letters she had written and what others in her day wrote about her, we can see she had a very close walk with God and what she had seen could have very well been by the Spirit. The problem appears to lie with what Darby, Irving, and Scofield had done with her vision and with her own apparent lack of understanding in what she was seeing; namely that, the soon appearing of the Lord was speaking of His appearing in them, for in the prophecies that came through them almost always ended with, "BEHOLD HE COMETH, JESUS COMETH." This would indicate He was ALREADY COMING to them at that time (JESUS COMES -- A PRESENT ACTION); but they had failed to see the spiritual reality of Him that COMES, they too were looking for that which was outward rather than inward.

AS THE DAYS OF NOAH WERE

When the words of this heading are heard or read, a lot of people's minds form images of what they think it says. To them it is generally a picture of the Rapture. But let me encourage all who embrace that thought to read these verses, in context, and hear as they plainly speak:

"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage...and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And...there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:37-40 & 51.

Please consider the following parallels:

Who were eating and drinking in Noah's day before the flood came? The wicked!

Who were eating and drinking before Titus came? The wicked!

Who were taken away by the flood in Noah's day? The wicked!

Who were taken away by the flood of Titus in his day? The wicked!

Who were weeping and grinding their teeth in sorrow in Noah's day when the flood came? The wicked!

Who were weeping and grinding their teeth in sorrow in Titus' day when his flood came? The wicked!

Now, who were left, who were spared in the days of Noah when the flood came? The righteous!

And who were left, who were spared in the day of Titus when his flood came? The righteous, of course!

Let us set the record straight. The righteous was not taken in 70 A.D., and they will not be taken in a future rapture. These verses do not remotely suggest such a thing. But rather, Jesus was very clearly drawing a comparison between the two events of the flood and the destruction of Jerusalem. He was speaking plainly that in the same manner the wicked were taken by the flood, so it would be with the wicked in 70 A.D. And so it was! The wicked of that day were taken in judgment, while the righteous were left. They were spared the judgment of the son of man coming in the authority and power of God.

"As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" and the verses following it, is a passage of scripture that is a foundation for substantiating the rapture teachings. Many horrible sermons and stories have been fostered from the words Jesus spoke, and we could expose many of them as hype, as lies, as pseudo psychological jargon. However, we don't have the time, nor does space allow us to go into the sum of what has been conceived in the minds of men concerning this subject. Suffice it to say, the precepts of the rapture were birthed out of the minds of two Jesuit priests; namely, Francisco Ribera and Emmanuel Lacunza (rf. The Rapture Question free upon request). It was popularized by Edward Irving, John Nelson Darby, and C.I. Scofield in the notes of his Scofield Reference Bible. That which began as a Roman Catholic invention was then nurtured by the students and parishioners who set under that teaching until it grew into the flood we see today. Nevertheless, in due season, and perhaps this is the season, truth will push back those overflowing waters and open the vistas of reality to those who seek it.

Read the remaining article here