The Rapture Refuted, Parts 4 and 5

Taken from Carl Olson's article at Inside Catholic.

MYTH 4: "The early Church Fathers believed in the Rapture and the millennial kingdom on earth."


This clever argument, used by Ryrie, LaHaye, Lindsey, and others, is effective in persuading those with little knowledge of historical theology or the beliefs of the early Church. True, several early Christian writers -- notably Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Methodius, Commodianus, and Lactanitus -- were premillennialists who believed that Christ’s Second Coming would lead to a visible, earthly reign. But the premillennialism they embraced was quite different from that taught by modern dispensationalists.


Catholic scholars acknowledge that some of the Fathers were influenced by the Jewish belief in an earthly Messianic kingdom, while others embraced millennarianism as a reaction to the Gnostic antagonism toward the material realm. But the Catholic Church does not look to one Church Father in isolation -- or even a select group of Fathers -- and claim their teachings are infallible or definitive. Rather, the Church views their writings as valuable guides providing insights and perspectives that assist the Magisterium -- the teaching office of the Church -- in defining, clarifying, and defending Church doctrine.

Those early premillennialists did not hold to distinctively modern and dispensationalist beliefs, especially not the belief in a pretribulation Rapture and the radical distinction between an earthly and a heavenly people of God; such beliefs didn’t come about until many centuries later. The early Church Fathers, whether premillennialist or otherwise, believed that the Church was the New Israel and that Christians -- consisting of both Jews and Gentiles (cf. Romans 10:12) -- had replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people.

In attempting to prove the validity of their beliefs by appealing to early Church Fathers, dispensationalists always ignore the Church Fathers’ unanimous teachings about the nature of the Eucharist, the authority and nature of the Church, and a host of other distinctively Catholic beliefs. They also conveniently blur the lines between the historical premillennialism of certain early Church writers and the dispensational premillennialism of Darby and his disciples.

MYTH 5: "The Left Behind books are harmless entertainment that encourage Christians in their faith and help them better understand the Book of Revelation."

Even when presented with the faulty theological premises underlying dispensationalism, some Catholics still insist that the Left Behind series is just good fun -- a light read with a sound moral message. Some, however, go even further and claim the books have changed their lives, provided answers about the end of the world, and made sense of the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelation. Responding to my book, a Catholic reader wrote, "I personally believe that the dispensationalists have done Catholics a favor by alerting them to the serious times we live in and by encouraging them to search out the Scriptures." She never makes mention of Catholic scholarship or magisterial documents.

Another Catholic reader of the series told me, "You condemn these books because they are successful." In fact, I’ve strongly critiqued the Left Behind books because they’re written by a noted Fundamentalist (with serious animus toward the Catholic Church) in order to propagate a theology that is incorrect, misleading, and contrary to historic Christianity.

One message of LaHaye’s that comes across clearly in books such as Are We Living in the End Times?, Rapture Under Attack, and Revelation Unveiled is that the Catholic Church is apostate, Catholicism is "Babylonian mysticism" and an "idolatrous religion," and Catholics worship Mary, knowing little about the real Jesus Christ. It’s difficult to overstate the dislike -- even hatred -- LaHaye has for the Catholic Church or to exaggerate the ridiculous character of his attacks. He condemns the use of candles in Catholic churches, insists there’s hardly any difference between Hinduism and Catholicism, and emphatically declares that the Catholic Church killed at least 40 million people during the "dark ages."

When I asked LaHaye, via e-mail, why he never refers to Catholic sources or official documents in his writings, he replied:

Because I think that for centuries the Catholic Church has presented church history in a manner protective of "Mother church." ...I have seen more concern on the part of your church for Hindus, Buddhists, and other pagan religions than they do [sic] for those who love Jesus Christ as He is presented in the Bible and are committed to making Him known to the lost so they will not be Left Behind.

In other words, the Catholic Church is simply wrong and doesn’t deserve a fair hearing. LaHaye has not only revealed himself to be an anti-Catholic polemicist but a theologian with a seriously skewed view of God’s salvific work. In a newspaper interview, LaHaye said, "We’ve [himself and Jenkins] created a series of books about the greatest cosmic event that will happen in the history of the world." What is that "greatest cosmic event"? The Incarnation? The Cross? The Resurrection? No, the Rapture -- a modern, man-made belief based on a distorted Christology and an anemic ecclesiology.

But don’t the books help people understand the Bible? According to contemporary Christian music star Michael W. Smith, "Left Behind has brought understanding and clarity to [the Book of] Revelation, a book of the Bible usually seen as confusing and dark." This echoes LaHaye’s assertion that St. John’s Apocalypse "gives a detailed description of the future." But a perusal of dispensationalist interpretations of the Book of Revelation written over the last several decades suggests otherwise. Dispensationalists disagree about nearly every major element of the book, including the identity of the Whore of Babylon (i.e., a reformed Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, Iraq, the United States), the mark of the Beast (i.e., computer chips, bar codes, social security numbers, laser technology), and numerous other entities, personages, nations, and events.

More importantly, dispensationalists give little attention to the rich Old Testament allusions or the first-century context of the Book of Revelation. To the contrary, Hal Lindsey proffers in There’s a New World Coming (Vision House, 1973) that "Revelation is written in such a way that its meaning becomes clear with the unfolding of current world events." Considering that none of Lindsey’s interpretations of the book’s prophetic utterances has come to pass over the past 30 years -- including his conviction that the Rapture would occur in the 1980s -- one can only wonder at Lindsey’s unflagging confidence. Futurists such as dispensationalists have always been prone to read current events into the Book of Revelation’s mysterious passages, and prophetic speculators of the past connected it to the French Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the founding of the modern Israeli state in 1948. More recent events supposedly shedding light on St. John’s vision include the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, and the conflict with terrorism and Iraq.

The appeal of the pretribulational Rapture is understandable. The idea that those living today are "the generation" who will see Christ’s return is attractive and intoxicating. "My prophetic studies have convinced me," LaHaye writes, in Rapture Under Attack, "that we Christians living today have more evidence to believe we are the generation of His coming than any generation before us."

It’s no surprise that many people want to hear that they won’t have to die. Such promises of escape from suffering, illness, pain, and potential martyrdom are tempting, but they aren’t an option for Catholics. Each of us will endure suffering, and the Church will, one day, have to endure a final, great trial: "The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection" (CCC 677). The pretribulation Rapture, dispensationalism, and the Left Behind books, in the end, are long on promises and short on biblical, historical, and theological evidence.

The Holy Souls in Purgatory

What is purgatory? Purgatory is simply the place where already saved souls are cleansed of the temporal effects of sin before they are allowed to see the holy face of Almighty God. Revelation 21:27 tells us that “...nothing unclean will enter [Heaven].” Purgatory is God’s way of ensuring that Revelation 21:27 is true and that nothing unclean will enter Heaven. It is only through Christ’s sacrifice that we are shown this mercy! It is Christ and Christ alone Who allows us access to the Father.

Many people ask, “Where is the word purgatory in the Bible?” It will not be found in the Bible, but the concept of a “final cleansing” or “purgation” for those who require it is very evident in the Bible, in the writings of the early Church Fathers, and in the Old Testament religion whence Christianity sprang.


Those who have died in a state of grace are not truly “dead”; they are our beloved in Heaven or in purgatory (on their way to Heaven) and will forever be, world without end, part of the Communion of Saints – the Church Triumphant (the Saints in Heaven, whether or not they are beatified or canonized), the Church Suffering (the saints in purgatory, the holy souls), and the Church Militant (the saints on earth).


Because we cannot know, aside from those the Church has beatified or canonized, who is already in Heaven, who is in purgatory for a time, or who is damned, we pray for the dead for the rest of our lives, assuming they are in purgatory, while hoping they are in Heaven and not damned.


We also ask those who have died to pray for us. While those whom the Church has deemed to be of the Church Triumphant (the canonized Saints) are in Heaven for certain and are, therefore, in no need of our prayers, we have always asked for them to pray for us. As to the Church Suffering in purgatory, St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that they are not able to know, by themselves, our prayers; however, it is piously believed, and taught by St. Alphonsus Liguori, that God makes our prayers known to them – not directly, as they are deprived of the beatific vision until they enter Heaven, but by infusing this knowledge into their souls. St. Bellarmine teaches that because the Church Suffering is so close to God – much closer than we are and having the great consolation of knowing they are saved – their prayers for us are very effective. So, as you pray for your dead loved ones and all the holy souls in purgatory, ask them to pray for you, too!

Christianity on Trial

We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realixe this fully. We are no facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel.. This confrontation lies within the planning of Divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church, and the Polish Church in particular, must take up. It is a tril of not only our nation and the Church, but in a sense a test of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization, with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.

~ John Paul II

Częstochowa is a Light in the 20th Century

During World War II, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany. This entry by the ruthless German governor Krank in his diary is quite revealing:

"At a time when Poland was completely overwhelmed by darkness, a light always remained lit: the Shrine of Częstochowa and the Church."

After the war, Poland regained its independence but with a Communist government imposed by Moscow. During that somber period, Stephane Cardinal Wyszynski protected his people from the lure of the Communist government. To commemorate the millennium of the evangelization of Poland, he organized the "pilgrimage" from house to house of a copy of the image of Częstochowa. (When this devotion was banned, the pilgrimage still continued with an empty frame evoking Mary's presence.) This pilgrimage had a very strong popular impact and was the ferment of resistance to the oppressors of the Polish people.

Polish Madonnas: Our Lady of Ludźmierz

The Miraculous Spring

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ludźmierz in Ludźmierz, Poland is home to Our Lady of Ludźmierz, known as the Shepherdess of Podhale or in Polish Gaździna Podhala.

Ludźmierz is the oldest Roman Catholic parish in Podhale. Its history stretches back to the 13th century. In 1234 Teodor Gryfita began raising a simple wooden church with a shingled roof and three altars, after obtaining permission from the bishop of Kraków. Pope John Paul II visited the sanctuary in 1997. In 2001 the church was declared a Minor Basilica.

Perhaps the most well-known story regarding the shrine is an incident during the crowning of the statue by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in 1963, attended by the future Pope John Paul II as Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków. The statue accidentally slipped during the ceremony and the future pontiff caught the scepter which had fallen out of the statue's grasp, a scene that was later interpreted as a prophecy of the young Bishop's future selection as Pope.

There is a medieval legend from about 1400 that refers to the Shepherdess of Podhale or the Gaździna Podhala which refers to a Hungarian merchant on his way to Nowy Targ who after having lost his way in the nearby swamps, was miraculously led out by a mysterious lady to the church. When he understood that this mysterious figure had been Mary, the mother of Jesus, he attempted to kneel to give thanks in prayer when a miraculous spring burst forth. He pledged to commission a statue that would depict Mary as he'd seen her and bring it back to the church.

Polish Madonnas: Our Lady of Gietrzwald

Our Lady of Gietrzwald

In Gietrzwald, Poland, between June 27, 1877, and September 16, 1877, the Virgin appeared to two children, Justyna Szafrynska and Barbara Samulowska. On June 27, Justyna and her mother had just left the church when they heard the bell ringing the Angelus. Justyna began to pray, and then she saw a bright light over a maple tree, and a beautiful lady who was seated on a throne surrounded by angels. The next day Justyna returned with her friend Barbara. They recited the rosary and the Virgin appeared to them. These apparitions continued daily at different times.



On June 30, 1877, the apparition said, in Polish: "I would like you to say the rosary every day."

On July 1st, she declared: "I am the Most Blessed Mary Immaculate."

Many people joined the girls in the following months. Some asked the Virgin questions about imprisoned priests, missing people, and the freedom of Poland. Others asked for healing, especially from alcoholism.

The Virgin Mary's answer was always:


"Pray and say the rosary, priests will be freed, the sick will recover, Poland will regain its independence thanks to your prayers."

Our Lady asked the faithful to build a chapel on the place of her apparition, with a statue of the Immaculate Conception. She promised to bless a spring at the edge of the forest and encouraged the people to drink the miraculous water.

A theological and medical committee examined the girls and the content of the message: everything was found to be normal. On September 10, 1967, on behalf of Pope Paul VI, the cardinals S. Wyszynski and C.Wojtyla solemnly crowned the sacred image. On September 11, 1977, one hundred years after the apparitions, the bishop declared the authenticity of the apparitions, with the permission of the Primate and the Holy See.

The Penny Catechism

Also known as A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, The Penny Catechism gives 370 Questions and Answers on all aspects of the Catholic Faith.  Having been approved by the Archbishops and Bishops of England and Wales for use in their dioceses, it is an official catechism of the Catholic Church.  Topics covered include God, the Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Precepts of the Church, grace, virtue, sins and so forth.  The Penny Catechism is excellent both as a basic class text and as a pocket-sized review of Catholic teaching for everyone. It contains concise, direct answers and provides a wonderful summary of the Catholic Faith



Faith in God

1.Who made you?
God made me.

2. Why did God make you?
God made me to know him, love him and serve him in this world, and to be happy with him for ever in the next.

3. To whose image and likeness did God make you?
God made me to his own image and likeness.

4. Is this likeness to God in your body, or in your soul?
This likeness to God is chiefly in my soul.

5. How is your soul like to God?
My soul is like to God because it is a spirit, and is immortal.

6. What do you mean when you say that your soul is immortal?
When I say my soul is immortal, I mean that my soul can never die.

7. Of which must you take more care, of your body or of your soul?
I must take more care of my soul; for Christ has said, 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and suffers the loss of his own soul?' (Matt. 16:26)

8. What must you do to save your soul?
To save my soul I must worship God by Faith, Hope and Charity; that is, I must believe in him, I must hope in him, and I must love him with my whole heart.

9. What is faith?
Faith is a supernatural gift of God, which enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed.

10. Why must you believe whatever God has revealed?
I must believe whatever God has revealed because God is the very truth, and can neither deceive nor be deceived.

11. How are you to know what God has revealed?

I am to know what God has revealed by the testimony, teaching, and authority of the Catholic Church.

12. Who gave the Catholic Church divine authority to teach?
Jesus Christ gave the Catholic Church divine authority to teach, when he said, 'Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations'. (Matt. 28:19)


The Apostles' Creed is divided into twelve parts or articles.

16. What is the first article of the Creed?
The first article of the Creed is, 'I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth'.

17. What is God?
God is the supreme Spirit, who alone exists of himself, and is infinite in all perfection.

18. Why is God called Almighty?
God is called 'Almighty' because he can do all things; 'For God everything is possible'. (Matt. 19:26)

19. Why is God called Creator of heaven and earth?
God is called 'Creator of heaven and earth' because he made heaven and earth, and all things, out of nothing, by his word.

20. Had God any beginning?
God had no beginning: he always was, he is, and he always will be.

21. Where is God?
God is everywhere.

22. Does God know and see all things?
God knows and sees all things, even our most secret thoughts.

23. Had God any body?
God has no body; he is a spirit.

24. Is there only one God?
There is only one God.

The Rapture Refuted, Part 3

The Hejnał continues the 5-part series on the Rapture, with an article by Carl Olson that first appeared in Inside Catholic. Olson presents five myths about the Rapture which Catholics should know in order to refute this false teaching.

MYTH 3: "The Rapture is a biblical and orthodox belief."

LaHaye declares, in Rapture Under Attack, that "virtually all Christians who take the Bible literally expect to be raptured before the Lord comes in power to this earth." This would have been news to Christians -- both Catholic and Protestant -- living prior to the 18th century, since the concept of a pretribulation Rapture was unheard of prior to that time. Vague notions had been considered by the Puritan preachers Increase (1639-1723) and Cotton Mather (1663-1728), and the late 18th-century Baptist minister Morgan Edwards, but it was John Nelson Darby who solidified the belief in the 1830s and placed it into a larger theological framework.

This historical background leaves the dispensationalist with two options: claim the pretribulation Rapture is biblical but went undiscovered for 1,800 years, or argue that it has been the belief of "true Christians" ever since Christ walked the earth. Ryrie, in his apologetic Dispensationalism Today (Moody, 1965), makes a case for the former by stating: "The fact that the church taught something in the first century does not make it true, and likewise if the church did not teach something until the twentieth century, it is not necessarily false." LaHaye and others argue for the latter, pointing to passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, and Matthew 24 as clear evidence for the pretribulation Rapture (those passages make several appearances, for instance, in the Left Behind novels).


1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is especially vital to the dispensationalist: 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.

There are three problems with claiming this passage refers to the Rapture. First, neither it nor the entire book of 1 Thessalonians mentions Christ returning two more times, or makes any reference to such a distinction. Second, dispensationalists believe the Rapture will be a secret and silent event, yet this passage describes a very loud and public event. This is all the more problematic because dispensationalists insist that they interpret Scripture "plainly" and "literally," allowing for symbolism only when such is the obvious intent of the author. Finally, dispensationalists teach that all other New Testament references to Christ coming in the clouds (Matthew 24:30 and 26:64; Mark 14:62; Revelation 1:7) refer to His Second Coming but inexplicably deny that that is the case here.

1 Corinthians 15 and its reference to "the twinkling of an eye" is often used as a proof text but is equally unconvincing. The point of the passage is that Christians will be glorified at the Second Coming, not that they’ll be secretly whisked off the planet prior to the tribulation. It describes an event that will occur at "the last trumpet" and states that "the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Yet LaHaye and Left Behind coauthor Jerry B. Jenkins, reflecting the common dispensationalist interpretation, claim in Are We Living in the End Times? (Tyndale, 1999) that Matthew 24:29-31 describes the Second Coming, which will include "a great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31). So how can 1 Corinthians 15, which speaks of "the last trumpet," refer to the Rapture when there is yet another trumpet to be sounded, several years later, at the Second Coming?

Some dispensationalists have admitted, at least in a backhanded fashion, the recent roots of the pretribulation Rapture. In an article titled "The Origin of the Pre-Trib Rapture" (Biblical Perspectives, March/April 1989), LaHaye’s colleague at the Pre-Trib Research Institute, Thomas D. Ice, writes that "a certain theological climate needed to be created before premillennialism would restore the Biblical doctrine of the pre-trib Rapture." He continues: "Sufficient development did not take place until after the French Revolution. The factor of the Rapture has been clearly known by the church all along; therefore the issue is the timing of the event. Since neither pre- nor post-tribs have a proof text for the time of the Rapture... then it is clear that this issue is the product of a deduction from one’s overall system of theology, both for pre- and post-tribbers"

In fact, the Rapture as dispensationalists conceive of it was never part of the early or medieval Church’s theology but is the modern creation of Darby less than 200 years ago.

Gleanings…November

Seal the cross openly on your forehead and on your children’s, so that the demons, seeing the royal sign, will tremble and flee.
~St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The saints were so completely dead to themselves they cared very little whether others agreed with them or not!~ St. John Vianney

The perfection of a Christian consists in mortifying his will for the love of Christ. Where there is no great mortification, there is no great sanctity.
~ St. Philip Neri

We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend upon material success . . . but on Jesus alone.
~St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

One must see God in everyone. ~St. Catherine Labouré

Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head.
~St. Charles Borromeo

Leave sadness to those in the world. We who work for God should be lighthearted.~St. Leonard of Port Maurice

Refusing further service as a Roman soldier: I am a soldier of Christ: combat is not permitted to me.~St. Martin of Tours

The Child, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Word in our flesh,
Wisdom in infancy, Power in weakness, and in true Man,
the Lord of Majesty. ~Pope St. Leo the Great