ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 24, 2025
So, if you are reading this, then it means you were not taken away to heaven yesterday. Of course, there is always the possibility that folks can continue to receive email and peruse social media after being snatched from this world and taken into the clouds. Whatever the case, I have not heard of planes crashing to the ground because pilots were raptured, though I did witness some really bad driving today, but from what I could tell, there were still people behind the wheels of those cars. No one can blame the rapture, just a usual day of driving in Harris County, Texas.
If you are wondering why I am referencing the rapture, then you probably had better things to do with your life then follow the nonsense on social media that predicted that the premillennial dispensationalist rapture would occur yesterday, aligning itself with the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah. Let’s be clear—the idea of rapture as depicted in movies and fiction of the last thirty years is not Biblical. Oh sure, creative people can cherry pick the Bible and create all kinds of nonsense, but that doesn’t make something Biblical, as respecting its historical context and original purpose is what it means to take the Bible seriously.
Let me give you an example, something I am calling prohibeoism, which I have coined to describe an important theological concept of anti-preventionism. Prophbeoism is the idea that Jesus does not want us to prevent forest fires. In fact, Smokey the Bear is the enemy of prohibeoism. The Latin word, prohibeo, means to hinder or prevent, and it is the Latin translation of the Greek word found in Mark 10:14, where Jesus says, “Do not prevent…” This clearly means that Jesus did not want us to prevent forest fires.
Of course, what you have just read is utter nonsense, and frankly, a rather stupid example… but the best I could create on short notice. However, it sort of gives you a hint of how the concept of the rapture came into existence. The word rapture comes from the Latin word that is used to translate a Greek word found in 1st Thessalonians 4:17, probably meaning nothing close to what some have tried to claim it means. Mark’s Gospel, as a whole, does not present an escapist theology, where people have to leave this realm to escape its evils. Instead, Mark presents a new era, a new world, breaking into the current world through Jesus. It is truly an example of heaven coming to earth.
The concept of rapture, as defined in certain left-behind fiction, is less than 200 years old, and it really changes the heart of Christianity. It’s not about bringing healing and wholeness to this world through humble and self-giving love. It’s not about becoming like Jesus, but about taking the name of Jesus as if it were a secret password, giving people access to the earth-escaping shuttle that has only one destination: heaven. This misguided reading of a single word has also become the lens through which people read the Book of Revelation, turning it into a blueprint of the end times, while dismissing its intended message within the historic genre of apocalyptic literature. This would be like reading Charlotte’s Web and Animal Farm, convinced it was a window into a future when English-speaking animals would take over the world, and the only safe place would be those living in the city, as far away from the rural landscape taken over by these talking animals. It would be interesting if a real estate mogul, owning a lot of city housing, was the one claiming this theory about the need to flee the rural landscape. There is almost always an alternative motive. Sometimes money, other times it power or prestige. At the end of the day, it rarely has anything to do with what initially claims.
Continue to impart wisdom, O Spirit of Heavenly Insight, for I desire the tools to make well-informed decisions, rather than blindly accepting the latest unfounded claims that purport to be your truth. Encourage me to explore, always asking the pertinent questions and the ones that follow, in my sincere pursuit of Jesus and his life-giving example of love and compassion. Amen.
