Rapture, Yes Or No?

Q

My question concerns the Rapture and a show called “Beyond Today” that had a guest pastor from the United Church of God who stated there is no Scriptural validity to the Rapture. I didn’t watch the whole show but basicly he said the Bible doesn’t teach the Rapture that Jesus didn’t teach it or the Apostles and that the idea started in the 1800’s. I’m just wondering is there a strong opposition in the church that is saying we shouldn’t be believing in the Rapture?

A

Several denominations refute the doctrine of the Rapture, specifically the liberal ones and those who follow the Preterist view. And it is true that Jesus didn’t teach it. Of the Apostles, only Paul taught the rapture of the Church. But his teaching on the rapture is repetitive, consistent, leaves no doubt as to its validity, and was later confirmed by Jesus in Rev. 3:10. Paul introduced it in 1 Thes. 4:15-18 in 51 AD less than 20 years after the Crucifixion, and followed up with more detail in 1 Cor. 15:50-54 a few years later.

The idea that the rapture wasn’t taught until the 1800’s has been thoroughly refuted by a number of scholars.