The church i joined in 04 was not a Catholic church. I was taught there about the end times. That in the end all the faithful would just disappear. The ani christ would be in charge for 7 years during which time those left behind could still have a chance to come to Christ…basically every thing in the Left Behind book series. Now that I am in the Catholic church i understand Catholics dont believe this. Im quite sure i will be dead long before Christ returns but im a curious type and would like to know what the thoughts and beliefs of the Catholic church is. I am also the type of person who needs to know why! If you could please give me verses to support the beliefs it would sure help me understand.
Thanks
We believe what the scriptures say and it doesn’t say :
That in the end all the faithful would just disappear. The ani christ would be in charge for 7 years during which time those left behind could still have a chance to come to Christ…basically every thing in the Left Behind book series.
The passages they quote do not describe what they say will happen. for example: The scripture that says we will be caught up (raptured) is 1 thes chapter 4
"16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive
and are left will be caught up( raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. "
Trumpets blaring, dead rising. that doesn’t sound like a secret return to get the believers so they won’t have to suffer. This is describing Christ’s triumphant return once and for all. Notice it is those who are left that are raptured
Now lets look at the “left behind” passages:
Matthew 24
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39
and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.*** 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. ***
Luke chapter 17:
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32* Remember Lot’s wife! *33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” [36] [e]
And what does the bible say about the people who were destroyed in Sodom and gohmora?
Genesis 19
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here,*** or you will be swept away when the city is punished.***”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain***! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”***
Notice that in both the “Left behind” passages the event is compared to Noah and Lot and it’s the bad guys who were taken and the good people left behind.
You want to be left behind.
Why? because
Matthew chapter 13;
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters:*** First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned;*** then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
So to summerize. Everyone stays here. Then 1 day Jesus returns in Glory. The dead rise, trumpets blare. The wicked are taken and burned. Those who are left behind (the saved) will be caught up (raptured) in the air with our lord and the new creation begins.
This is the view of the church from the beginning. The “Left behind/ Rapture” concept of the evangelical Protestant Christians has only been around for about 150 years.
