Rapture-What is true and what is false?

July 3, 2025

Categories: Notes

Samuel Phillips Tags: believers carried away caught up rapio rapture raptus scroll true trumpet View: 1

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (not all die), but we shall all be changed (both those who have died and those still alive)—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (heaven’s timing and not earths timing), at the last trumpet (the word of the Lord spoken). For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“ODeath, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 (Bold and additional texts mine)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Now, when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying:

What really is rapture?

First and foremost, the word “Rapture” is nowhere in the Bible. Let’s get that out of the way first. Secondly, “the origin of the word “rapture” comes from the Latin “raptus,” meaning “seized” or “carried away”. The term is derived from the Latin “rapio,” which is used in the context of being “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4, referring to the event where believers are taken up to meet the Lord in the air. The Greek word used in the Bible is “harpazo,” meaning “to snatch away” or “to seize”. The concept of the rapture, as it is understood in modern Christian eschatology, is not directly mentioned in the Bible but has become a popular term to describe this event.” (Source – Brave AI generated answer to the question of What is the origin of the word rapture?)

Also, according to etimonline.com, the etymology of the word “Rapture” is:

c. 1600, “act of carrying off” as prey or plunder, from rapt + -ure, or else from French rapture, from Medieval Latin raptura “seizure, rape, kidnapping,” from Latin raptus “a carrying off, abduction, snatching away; rape” (see rapt). The earliest attested use in English is with women as objects and in 17c. it sometimes meant rape (v.), which word is a close relation to this one.

The sense of “spiritual ecstasy, state of mental transport or exaltation” is recorded by c. 1600 (raptures). The connecting notion is a sudden or violent taking and carrying away. The meaning “expression of exalted or passionate feeling” in words or music is from 1610s.

Imagine the church losing its sanity over a word that means rape, kidnapping, passionate feeling, abduction, or that which sees women as objects.

Also, will the sounding of the “trumpet” be like you are hearing a musical trumpet sounding from space into our world? Maybe not. And the reason I say this is that all of the trumpets that were blown by the angels in Revelation 8 and 9, we did not hear any of them physically, even though their effects are happening right now in the world. Remember, the Lord’s Day is not speaking of a Sunday morning, but the Day of the Lord in which we are already in, but which John was allowed to see about two thousand years ago.

Also, when you consider what happened when Jesus rose from the dead, does this event not show you what the concept of “trumpet” and the rising from the dead means? This event did not happen in heaven or in the sky; it happened right on earth, and living humans saw it physically. See the scripture below:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Mathew 27:50-53.

Is rapture really about being snatched or being changed?

To accurately describe what the church has erroneously called the rapture, I will say it is a shift from mortality to immortality, through death. Death in this case can be a physical death of the saint or the dying to self to fulfil the cross of Christ. It’s like pulling off this mortal body like a cloth and then being robed in a new state of existence. So, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“ODeath, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”

So, the concept of “rapture” is not a snatching away like a kidnapping event, but a transformation from death to life, from mortality to immortality.

I will share a recent experience I had below.

I have some questions

I am not asking these questions to necessarily debunk the theory of rapture, but to engage the mind of the reader for further studies.

If believers are God’s army, like most church denominations claim, and this army has been prepared for centuries, which war are they being prepared to fight in if they are suddenly snatched from the earth even before the war begins? Is there a war in heaven that they want to go and fight?
Where will Jesus be when He returns? Heaven or the New Earth? Remember that scripture says the saints will be with Him. If the saints will meet Him in the air and then be with Him always, is the location heaven or earth? If it’s in the New Earth, like I know the scripture says it will be, so what’s the point of a “rapture”? It’s like taking a flight on “Rapture Airways”, thinking you are going to heaven, only to find yourself back on earth. So, what’s the point?
What did the elders in Revelation 5:9-10 mean when they said:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kingsand priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.” (Bold emphasis mine). I thought these guys were the elders who sit in the presence of God, day and night? Why is their reign tied to the earth and not heaven, where they are already elders?

The “left behind” theory

If you are not a Gen-Z, then there is every possibility that you watched the Hollywood movie titled: Left Behind. That movie tried to depict the days of rapture, when saints were suddenly snatched away, and what happened to those who were left behind or not raptured. That movie in itself, even though it tries to paint a picture of what could happen to those who are found unrighteous, is scripturally inaccurate. Largely inaccurate. In fact, the theory of “left behind” scripturally speaks of those who were left alive because of their righteousness when this old earth will be destroyed by fire, and not the opposite. Let me explain.

Remember that Jesus, in explaining the days of the end time to His disciples, described it as being like the days of Noah (Mathew 24:36-41) and like the days of Lot (Luke 17:28-30). In both original stories that Jesus was referencing, who were the ones who were taken and who were the ones who were left behind? You can answer this for yourself. See Genesis 8:15-16 and Genesis 19:15. It shows clearly those who were left behind after the flood and the fire.

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.

When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”

So, you see that the theory of “left behind” has nothing to do with unrighteous people who were left on earth after the righteous ones have been snatched away. But those who remained after the old earth had been removed.

And since no one knows the hour or the day of the coming of Christ, because it’s in the sole purview of the Father, we, however, know the season by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, who also knows the deep things of God. For just like in the days of Noah, the season was known. And this could be judged by how long it took Noah to finish the ark of safety, but the day God called the heavens and the springs of water to pour out was known to God. However, when God shut the door of the ark was known to Noah, which is an indication of how close the day of the flooding would be.

We can safely say that God’s shutting of the door of the ark is the same thing as the trumpet sounding, and it was known to Noah. So, watch for the closing of the ark like in the days of Noah, or listen to the trumpet sound of the Lord in your heart.

Will believers (Christians) experience the tribulation?

The answer is a resounding yes. How do I know? The words of Jesus in Mathew 24 give us a strong clue. Mathew 24:29-31 says: (please pay attention to the bold words)

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Bold emphasis mine)

There are several things to pull out of the above scriptures. First, the precursor events that must happen as signs of the coming of Christ happened after the tribulation. Meaning that darkening of the sun and the moon, as signs of the coming of Christ, did not happen until immediately after the tribulation. Second, the sign of the Son of Man appearing in heaven in itself is different from the appearing of the Son of Man. Meaning that there are things that must take place on earth as signs of the coming, but not the sign of Christ Himself. Third, after the signs of the coming of the Son of Man, there is the seeing of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven power and great glory. Fourth, and which I think is one of the verses that paints a picture of a “rapture”, was not even a “snatching away” but a gathering together from the ends of the earth and of heaven. These are the words of Christ. Not Paul’s. Not Peter. Not James. But Christ. So, the believer must ask, when the people of God have been gathered by the angels from all ends of the earth and heaven, according to the prophecy of Jesus, where were they taken to? Heaven or the New Earth?

So, what does it all tell you? The believers will not escape the tribulations. They will be here when it happens, but with a covering. For Jesus said in Revelation 3:10. It says: Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

If there is nothing to persevere for, why would He tie their safety to perseverance? Also, when you look at Revelation 7:13-14. It says:

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

So, he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Bold emphasis mine.)

Remember that when John said he was on Patmos Island on the day of the Lord (Revelation 1:9-10), he was speaking of it being a Sunday, but he was in the future, in the day of the Lord. And this happens to be where we are now in this age.

My experience

On this particular morning, very recently, I was returning home from running an errand. My family and I live in the Savannah area of Kenya. And the area we live in is quite hilly with lots of rocks and stones. So, I walked up the hill towards home, and suddenly an experience started building up within me. It’s like seeing a vision from within, but I was walking up the hill. This vision appeared to be me walking up that very hill, and suddenly it’s like a wind started pulling my unbuttoned shirt backward. It’s like the shirt was being pulled backward. But at the same time, I could sense that it was an old or mortal me that was being removed to reveal a new immortal me. It’s a bit difficult to describe. While that was happening, I also noticed that as that old me was being pulled away behind me like a cloth, the entire environment that I had left behind me was also being folded away like a scroll or carpet.

As this was happening within me like a vision, and because I had started getting a bit of a clue of what was happening, I consciously spread my arms on both sides to depict the pulling off of the shirt I was wearing. It was then I remembered this scripture that says:

Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Revelation 6:14

But what does the experience mean? I know what it means, because I have been told. But I will not impose the meaning on you, so you don’t say I am trying to validate the message of this article with my experience and not events in the scriptures. Let wisdom guide you always.

God kept eternity in man

Let me say this quickly, in the grand scheme of things, and in the hierarchy of kingdom agents, the Devil or Satan is not the most important entity; death is. This is why the last enemy that shall be destroyed is not Satan, but death. Satan is just that guy or agent within the story of God that brings us before God as an accuser brings a suspect before a judge, for us to find mercy before God through the finished work of Christ. While death is the last process, we all must go through to enter immortality. And this death could be through dying to self or physical dying. But what does it mean for God to keep eternity within man?

Eternity is a deathless state, either in hell or heaven. But both heaven and hell are within a man’s heart. The heart is the Garden of Eden, and both the tree of life and the tree of death are present in the center of that Garden. According to Revelation 20:14, death and Hades (hell) are both spirits, not destinations, and spirits can dwell in a human body. The same way Satan entered into Judas before he betrayed Christ. See John 13:27.

Meaning that whatever the content of your heart is, is what feeds either of the two trees, that is, either Hades or Heaven. Which is why immortality is not magic but a pulling off of this mortal body like a cloth, to reveal the immortal celestial body made of light. It’s the same way it happened with Jesus. His post-crucifixion body could pass through walls, travel to heaven and back in seconds, disappear at will, and at the same time, He could be touched and He could still eat physical food. This is the change from mortality into mortality, and it’s different from the theory of rapture, which is a snatching away.

In conclusion

I have not written any of the above to tell you what is true or not, or to try and convince you about what you should believe. But I will ask that you take it all back to God and ask questions, or you can just dump the entire thing.

Let me leave you with this transcript that I got from Jonathan Cahn’s YouTube video. I think he is a prophet or a Jewish Rabbi. This is my second time ever to watch any of his videos. He spoke about what “Rapture” is not. I will only share a small portion of the transcript.

My friend, you have heard it preached from pulpits and whispered in endtime discussions: the rapture, the great catching away, the moment when the trumpet will sound and the saints will rise. But what if I told you it won’t happen the way you think? What if you’ve been looking for clouds when you should be looking into your heart? What if you’ve been waiting for escape when heaven’s been waiting for your surrender? The rapture won’t be a Hollywood special. It won’t be the sanitized virgin painted by feel-good theology. It won’t come on your schedule, your theory, or your timeline. It will not check in with your calendar. It will come in a moment, yes, in the twinkling of an eye, but not before everything is shaken. And you think you’re ready, but are you

prepared to be forgotten by the world to be remembered by God? Are you ready to leave behind not only possessions, but ego, pride, bitterness, and secret sin? You’ve been taught that the rapture is a get out of jail free card. But the truth is it’s a holy separation, a divine divide. It is the moment the bridegroom returns for a bride without blemish. But what if you’ve been playing the harlot with the world and claiming the garments of the bride? You’ve imagined a peaceful vanishing. But the word says it will be as in the days of Noah. People were eating, drinking, marrying until the flood came and swept them all away.

Misunderstanding the Mystery of the End

The flood didn’t come with warning signs in the sky. It came when they least expected it. You think the rapture is about escape, but it’s about encounter. You think it’s about being taken, but

it’s about being found faithful. You think you’ll rise just because you raised your hand once in a service. But heaven is not collecting hand raisers. It’s gathering heart surrenderers, cross carriers, truth walkers. The oil in your lamp must be burning. This isn’t about hype. It’s about holiness. Not about religion, but relationship.

Please watch the full video via this link.

Shalom. From your brother.