Rapture Theology was developed in 1830 by John Nelson Darby and members of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Proponents of it point to 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 which states, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord” (RSV).
The problems of Rapture Theology include:
1) It teaches a secret coming of Christ which predates his Second Coming. It is during this secret coming that the rapture occurs. But the Bible only describes a first and second coming of Christ (and not a “1.5 Coming”).
2) The rapture is considered an eschatological event, and yet none of the Bible’s eschatological / apocalyptic passages actually describe it. For example, it does not appear in Revelation, and therefore proponents of Rapture Theology have to make excuses such as, “Revelation simply states what will happen in the end times after the rapture.” Although there are a couple of “rapture sounding” passages in the Bible, in order to formulate Rapture Theology in its fullness, one has to make a number of extrapolations beyond the plain words of Scripture.
3) Rapture Theology has never been taught by the Catholic Church nor any of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, nor any of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Moreover, it was unknown to the Protestant Reformers. A doctrine which did not appear on the scene until the 19th Century can hardly be considered apostolic. If St. Paul actually intended to be teaching about a secret coming of Christ and a rapture of Christians prior to the Second Coming, then why didn’t anyone catch on to this for nearly 1800 years?
4) The basic idea of Rapture Theology is that authentic Christians will not have to suffer the tribulations that will afflict the earth at the end of time. But Jesus taught that his followers would be persecuted and that they are to carry their crosses daily. We see this throughout all of Christian history, and it goes on today. Why should it be any different for the final generation of Christians?