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Summary
- Many churches believe the living will be caught up to meet Christ, as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and they part over when that happens and whether it is a separate event.
- The Assemblies of God teach officially that the Church will be raptured before the Great Tribulation, and a Baptist Bulletin column posted by the Regular Baptists teaches the same.
- Southern Baptists have no official position on the end times, and their pastors hold several views.
- The Catholic and Orthodox churches and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod look for one visible return of Christ and do not teach a rapture before it.
- The Westminster Confession and the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer say nothing about a rapture.
- When Lifeway Research asked 1,000 Protestant senior pastors in 2016, 36 percent chose a pre-tribulation rapture and one in four said the rapture is not literal.
- Latter-day Saints have their own account of being caught up, and Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the word while teaching that the anointed go to heaven.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Bible passages are quoted from the King James Version: Matthew 24:29–31, 24:40; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; Titus 2:13; Revelation 3:10, 20:4.
- Assemblies of God, Statement of Fundamental Truths
- Assemblies of God, The Rapture of the Church (1979)
- Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), Declaration of Faith
- Foursquare Church, Declaration of Faith
- United Pentecostal Church International, Articles of Faith (2023)
- UPCI, The Coming of the Lord (2005)
- General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, Rapture of Believers (Baptist Bulletin Q&A column, June 2001)
- Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article X
- Southern Baptist Convention, FAQ
- SBC LIFE, Southern Baptists and the Millennium (2014)
- Lifeway Research, Pastors: The End of the World is Complicated (2016)
- Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, A Lutheran Response to the “Left Behind” Series (2004)
- Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Doctrine FAQ
- Augsburg Confession, Article XVII
- Westminster Confession of Faith 32.2 (OPC text)
- Westminster Larger Catechism 87–88 (OPC text)
- Second Helvetic Confession (1566)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 675–676
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, The Truth About the Rapture
- Orthodox Church in America, Kingdom of God
- Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, Rapture
- Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, Millennium
- Ask The UMC, Where does the Rapture fit into UM beliefs?
- Methodist Articles of Religion
- Episcopal Church, Book of Common Prayer (1979), Catechism
- United Church of Christ, Nicene Creed
- United Church of Christ, Evangelical Catechism (1929)
- Disciples of Christ, The Church for Disciples of Christ (1997)
- Disciples of Christ, Identity Statement and Principles
- Christian Courier, Rapture
- Christian Courier, Y2K and Millennial Mania
- Church of the Nazarene, Articles of Faith
- The Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrine
- Mennonite Confession of Faith (1963)
- Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995), Article 24
- Evangelical Friends Church Mid-America Yearly Meeting, Faith and Practice
- The Lausanne Covenant (1974)
- Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief 25
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Guide to the Scriptures
- The Watchtower, 15 July 2015
- Enduring Word, Was the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Invented Only 200 Years Ago?
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