Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of the Rev. Billy Graham, warns the Rapture is coming and will cause "mass chaos."
In a recent blog post on her website titled "Is God’s Judgment Coming?" Graham Lotz wrote God's "judgment is coming on America and on our world, and it's going to be ugly."
"I believe Jesus is soon to return to take all of His followers to Heaven with Him in what is referred to as the Rapture," she wrote. "While this will be deliverance for His people, can you imagine the impact on our nation, let alone the world, when suddenly every single authentic Christian disappears?
"Institutions will collapse. Banks will close. The Stock Market will plunge. Planes will fall out of the sky. Cars will crash on the road. Government in America at every level will disintegrate. Families will be torn apart. In the unprecedented turmoil, our nation will be vulnerable for our enemies to seize the moment and attack us. There will be mass chaos, confusion, fear, grief, despair, anger, threats, danger … judgment."
Surveys find that more than half of Americans think the Rapture is real, while other surveys find that 27 percent of Christians think Jesus Christ will return to Earth by 2050.
Add to Graham Lotz’s view of the imminent Rapture, the "Left Behind" series of books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. For years the books have made for are captivating reading based on the concept of people vanishing, physically disappearing from earth, just before the return of Christ. The books are all about the end of time and the Rapture.
Question... Is there really going to be a Rapture like these books and Anne Graham Lotz talk about? What does the Bible really teach on this concept?
Straight answer... No. The Rapture refers to a passage in First Thessalonians chapter 4, where Christians are "caught up" in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." Many Christians believe, and the "Left Behind" books and vocal preachers like Anne Graham Lotz promote, that this being "caught up" to meet the Lord will occur before the Great Tribulation sometime in the near future. Christians will simply vanish, meet Jesus somewhere in the air, and then return with Him to Heaven to await the end of time.
But notice, in verse 15, Paul says that "...we who are alive, who are left," shall be caught up. This is a very important point to stress to rapture enthusiasts. Those who are "left" get caught up to meet the Lord. Keep that in mind as we look at these next couple of Scripture passages.
The "Left Behind" books get their name from a passage in Luke 17, and a similar passage in Matthew 24, which compares the coming of the Lord to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Matthew 24 puts it this way: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man ... [they ate, they drank, they married] and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field, one is taken and one is left. Two women grinding at the mill, one is taken one is left."
"One is taken, one is left" — the Rapture right? Jesus takes the Christians and leaves behind non-Christians!
That's how rapture enthusiasts interpret these passages. Well, you need to say to them: "Not so fast, folks."
There are two problems with the "Left Behind" interpretation: First, in the passages from Luke 17 and Matthew 24, Jesus' coming is compared to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Let's think about that for a moment. After the flood, who was left? Noah and his family — the good guys. The bad guys were taken and the good guys were left behind! After Sodom and Gomorrah went up in smoke, who was left? Lot and his daughters — the good guys. The bad guys were taken and the good guys were left behind!
The second problem with the "Left Behind" interpretation has to do with what I mentioned above: 1 Thessalonians 4 says that those who are "left" get to meet Jesus in the air. You want to be left behind. Why? Because those who are left behind get to meet Jesus on His return to earth. Again, when you put 1 Thessalonians 4 together with Matthew 24 and Luke 17, it becomes quite apparent that the good guys are the ones left behind to meet Jesus.
And, if you need further proof of that, there's a passage in Matthew 13 that pretty much seals the deal. Matthew 13:39-43, "... and the enemy who sowed them [the bad seed] is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
So when Scripture says that "one is taken and one is left," as it does in Luke 17 and Matthew 24, it is not talking about the Rapture, it is talking about the harvest at the close of the age. The ones who are taken, as it says in Matthew 13, are the evildoers. The angels have taken them and tossed them into the furnace of fire.
So, the "Left Behind" books and preachers have got it exactly 180 degrees wrong. The ones taken are not the good guys, they are the evildoers. The ones who are left behind are the ones who get to be caught up in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air at His Second Coming, when He will bring all of the angels and saints with Him and there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth.
Be warned... The "Left Behind" books and ministers who preach this notion, teach the opposite of what Scripture actually says about the events of the Second Coming of Christ. In other words, there will be no Rapture like the one the "Left Behind" books talk about. In fact, if anyone’s getting caught away... its not the good guys.
True Christians want to be left behind!
