What are "Millennialism", "End Times", and "Rapture"?
Paul’s writings contain, “some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). Never can it be seen clearer than in the doctrine of “Millennialism” (“thousand year”). People have taken fragments, words, & phrases from Scriptures & manufactured a false doctrine that claims:
- End Times: Earthly events give warning (signs) of Jesus’ Second Coming; (this concept is shared with several world religions in various forms);
- Rapture: the righteous will be snatched away, and non-believers will be "Left Behind" on Earth;
- Millennialism: Jesus enthroned on David’s throne in Jerusalem to physically reign on Earth for 1000 years;
- Tribulation: a final climactic battle between Satan & God before a final Judgement (separate from the "Rapture" above)
None of these are actually taught when the Scriptures are properly understood! The “thousand-year reign” is positioned in this doctrine in relation to some events, “pre-millennial“ if before, “a-millennial“ if without regard to, or “post-millennial” if after. By misapplying “the sign” warning of the coming destruction of Jerusalem (which occurred in 70 A.D.), people have ignored Jesus’ statement that His Second Coming has absolutely NO warning events in their Millennial Doctrine! (cf Matthew 24:1-51; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36)
