Millions have read the Left Behind books based on a secret rapture. According to the most common version of the rapture, Christ will approach the earth, not return to it, to secretly seize believers seven years before His actual return. Does the Bible teach this? The basis of the teaching is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 where Paul says Christians "shall be caught up...to meet the Lord in the air."

Context: Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 after the unexpected deaths of some brethren there to remind them of the hope of the resurrection. Nothing in this passage justifies an understanding other than that it is referring to Christ’s second coming. The "shout," "voice of an archangel" and "the trumpet of God" seem anything but secret (verse 16).

Related Passages: In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul wrote that the resurrection would occur "at His coming" (verse 23) and at "the last trumpet" (verse 52). This is the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15-18, which announces Christ’s second coming, the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. Where will Christ be after meeting the saints in the clouds? "In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14:4; compare Acts 1:9-11). Matthew 24:36-44 does talk of some being prepared for Christ’s coming, and others left unprepared, but it doesn’t say God’s people will be taken to heaven.

For More Information: "What’s ‘Left Behind’ in the Rapture Theory?" (March/April 2000 Good News, www.ucg.org/gn/gn27/rapture.html), Heaven & Hell, The Book of Revelation Unveiled and the GN radio program 48 "Are Christians Raptured Away?" (www.ucg.org/radio/gnrparchive.htm).