Transcript

Well, thank you everybody for joining us.

I'm Father Chris Alar here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy.

We're with you live on a beautiful fall day in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, and today's topic is going to be the Rapture.

Now, this is one that I touched on in a series on the End Times a long time ago, but I really feel we better clarify it today.

It's going to get a little deep, like I said last week or a couple weeks ago, even a little deeper than that.

But stay with us because we want to know the difference in Catholic teaching versus Protestant views, why we believe what we believe, and why it's biblical.

So come back to seminary with me as I pull up my seminary notes.

I got the help of Chris Sparks, our theologian.

Peter, how many of you know my executive assistant?

He's Baptist and shed some good light for us, so we really got this, I think, well.

But there's a lot to go over, so God bless you.

Let us start with a prayer.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Heavenly Father, we ask you to send the Holy Spirit down upon us to open our minds and our hearts to receive the grace you wish to bestow, the grace that will lead us and all of our brethren to eternal life.

We ask all this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

So I apologize if I'm out of breath; I literally ran again across the campus.

Last night, I got in at 1:30 in the morning.

I flew in from Denver, and so I had to put this talk together this morning, and so here we are.

Now, remember, the purpose of this talk is not to condemn non-Catholic viewpoints; it's to explain what those non-Catholic viewpoints are and why we believe what we do as Catholics, so that we can understand our faith better.

Remember, you can't love what you don't know.

And so my point is not to discredit or condemn Protestant viewpoints.

My point is to lift up our Catholic view and to justify why we believe what we do as Catholics.

And the big one is the Rapture.

You are not biblical, you Catholics; you don't believe in the Rapture.

There it is right there in 1 Thessalonians.

We're going to talk about all that.

All right, for Catholics, the Bible is the Word of God.

We're told it's not; yes, it is.

And when the Word of God says that the Church is the Body of Christ, that's what it says.

This is Ephesians 1:22 and Ephesians 5:22, and that the Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth, which is 1 Timothy 3:15. The task of interpreting Scripture belongs to the Church, not to us individually.

And what I'm about to give you is the teaching of the Church.

I know you're going to write me many letters saying, I disagree with you, Father Chris.

Fine, that's great, but you're not disagreeing with me; you're disagreeing with the Church.

And the Church is the bulwark of the truth.

It's been given the authority to interpret Scripture, and that's what we're going to share with you.

All right, the word Rapture is connected to the word rapimur, okay, which means to be raised up, to be caught up.

That's where the word Rapture comes from.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is where most of the issue with the Rapture comes from.

You know this passage: The dead in Christ will rise first.

Then those 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 will always be with the Lord.

That is the passage, and there are others that tell people that the Catholic Church should believe in the Rapture.

We do believe in a Rapture, not the Rapture as it's commonly defined, though.

Oh, that's important.

Okay, we agree with the concept of the Rapture, but not before the end of time.

We Catholics believe that those remaining on earth who are alive will be caught up in the clouds, will be raptured, if you will.

So the term Rapture you have to define.

If you're talking about a rapture before a tribulation, before a thousand-year reign, that's not what the Catholic Church believes.

So here we go: Catholics believe that those Christians who are still living at the Second Coming will be gathered together with those who have already died in Christ to be brought to the Lord.

That's what we just read in 1 Thessalonians 4. We believe that that is Catholic teaching.

We agree with the concept of the Rapture, but only if it refers to what happens at the end of time, not way, way before, as many—not all—Protestants believe.

Now, another point I’ve got to make here: when I'm speaking about what the Protestants believe, I'm not speaking for all Protestants, and I'll explain that.

You have pre-tribulation, you have post-tribulation, you have pre-millennium, you have post-millennium.

We're going to explain all that.

All right, now, so Catholics do not generally use the term Rapture, nor do they believe in a rapture that will take place sometime before the Second Coming.

It will not take place way before the Second Coming; that is not what we believe.

Many evangelicals do believe this, and that's the difference.

Now again, I'm never saying all; I'm never saying all Protestants.

Some.

Now, here's what’s talked about: let's talk about the Rapture theology.

There's a good article by Tom Nash in Catholic Answers.

Catholic Answers is a great resource.

I got my data here from my seminary notes, from Chris Sparks, my theologian, from Catholic Answers, and from Peter.

Peter's a very, very Bible-loving evangelical, and so I bounce these things off him, and we're trying to understand both positions.

Now, belief in the Rapture, though I told you, as Catholics, I tell people, started in the 1800s, so it's not a tradition going back to the earliest century.

It is held by some fundamentalists and evangelicals.

What's the difference between a fundamentalist and an evangelical?

Fundamentalists are those that came out of Germany and held more to the literalist interpretation of the Bible; evangelicals, not so much.

Now let's look at our next slide.

The Rapture's faulty, unbiblical premise is in premillennialism.

There on your screen, premillennialism is the belief that Jesus will first take true Christian believers to heaven, then He will return to earth to establish His kingdom for a thousand years.

Now, we Catholics don't believe that, and I'll explain why.

This will include winning over the Jewish people and reinstituting the temple sacrifices.

Now, this is interesting because this doctrine doesn't recognize that Jesus established the kingdom for everyone.

There's not two kingdoms here.

All right?

Matthew 28:20 tells us that our Lord established the kingdom for everyone in becoming man at the Incarnation and living out His earthly ministry with the establishment of the Church in which He reigns.

Father, where are you making that up?

No, that's Matthew 16:18. Christ established His Church.

Now, these Rapture enthusiasts fail to recognize that Jesus would have no interest in reestablishing temple sacrifices.

So this is the belief that He's going to come back and reestablish the temple and the sacrifices.

He's already fulfilled that.

He's already fulfilled that.

He's fulfilled them all in His offering of the Paschal sacrifice right here.

Okay?

Right now, Jesus' Second Coming, we Catholics believe, will be the end of the world.

That's biblical.

There will be no need to establish His kingdom after that.

There's no need for Jesus to come a second time and then establish a thousand-year reign; that's not biblical.

The Rapture is a development that was not even thought of during the Reformation.

People don't know this.

All right, so let's go to the next one.

This one makes me smile.

You see the Left Behind series?

Remember Kirk Cameron?

God bless Kirk Cameron; I love the guy.

Peter even told me that he does a lot of street preaching.

He'll go out; they have videos of him engaging gang members, talking about Jesus Christ.

God bless him.

Do I find any faults with Kirk Cameron?

Absolutely not.

This man stood up to Hollywood and stood up for his beliefs.

But here we see a picture of him in the Left Behind series, and I have to smile because even Peter said, You know, it's kind of hokey.

The thing is, even he doesn't believe it now.

Even Kirk Cameron does not fully believe what is in the Left Behind series anymore.

So why?

Why is this?

Okay, according to this, this whole series is based on dispensationalism.

That's a big word meaning what?

Dispensationalism, let's look at our next slide.

Dispensationalism, all right?

Basically, according to this, God is pursuing two purposes in history: one involves an earthly people, Israel, and the other a heavenly people, the Church.

Now remember, I just said we Catholics believe there's only one people, but the dispensationalists say, No, there is Israel, and there is the Church.

They are separated.

Now, dispensationalists believe that when Jesus Christ came, He offered those earthly people, Israel, an earthly kingdom, but they rejected Him as their Messiah.

So stay with me here; this is interesting.

So Jesus said, Ah, I struck out.

I tried to get Israel, but they didn't listen to me.

So I'm going to form a new heavenly people called the Church.

They'll be totally separate from Israel.

I'm going to reject Israel; I'm going to give it to the heavenly people, the Church, who are not meant to reign here on earth but will remain and reign with me in heaven.

However, they believe that God will fulfill those Old Testament promises to Israel, His earthly people, because they say that those promises will be kept by God.

They believe that when Christ founded the Church, all those promises were put on hold, okay?

Until the heavenly people were removed from the earth in the Rapture.

Hmm, interesting.

Now, Israel has been established as a nation, so most dispensationalists believe that the removal of the Church in the Rapture will now occur at any minute because God has to separate those Israel people, who are earthly, from my Church people, who are heavenly.

I'm going to take my Church people to heaven.

I'm going to leave those earthly people, Israel, back to their Old Testament ways.

Eh, got to be careful there.

Let's look at our next slide.

The Rapture, then, what is it?

The Rapture, you can see it on your screen, is a secret snatching up of all true believers in Christ to heaven.

So according to dispensationalists, this will happen first, then it will be followed by seven years of tribulation and the reign of the Antichrist.

So these Protestants believe in the Rapture, then the tribulation, then the millennium—the thousand-year reign of Christ—and I'll explain this more.

Now, at the end of the tribulation, which means the time of trial, Christ will come again to establish an earthly thousand-year reign called the millennium.

The millennium, that's a thousand-year reign based in Jerusalem where a new temple will be built.

This is not in the Bible.

Christ said, I'm going to tear down that temple and what?

Build a new one.

But what was He talking about?

The Bible tells us His body.

We don't need any more animal sacrifices, so this view is skewed.

Okay, let's look at our next view, next slide.

This dispensationalist view of the end times came not until the 1830s by the ex-Anglican priest John Nelson Darby, and some say he was influenced by a little 12-year-old Scottish girl.

Really?

He condemned most of Christendom as being just pure apostasy.

Well, I've got to ask: is he guilty of some apostasy?

Let's look.

All right, dispensationalism then spread in the U.S., got really popular in the 1900s, and is still common among Protestants.

Unfortunately, though, many are really opposed to the Catholic Church—not all, but many dispensationalists are.

Many believe that the Catholic Church is the biggest problem.

No, it's not.

So then let's look at our next slide.

In the 1970s, this really took off.

You ever hear of The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey?

This really popularized dispensationalism.

That's the book that swept the world, and you know what that slide says?

That slide says the number one bestseller of the decade—not even of the year, but of the decade of the 1970s.

Probably right up there with Jaws, you know?

So anyway, here's the problem: there are not two people of God; there is only one people of God.

Hal Lindsey and other dispensationalists teach that God has two people, the Church and Israel, and that they're not together.

That's not what we Catholics believe.

The Catholic Church asserts that God has always had one people.

Well, Father, then how do you explain it?

The Jews rejected Jesus.

Okay.

Through the Holy Spirit, Israel will be brought to completion at the end of time.

This is in the Catechism, paragraph 759. The Bible says that in order for Christ's Second Coming, the Jews will convert to Christ; that's biblical.

Therefore, the Catholic Church has always understood that she is the new Israel.

Father, where do you make that up?

Galatians 6:16 and Ephesians 2:11 show that the Church is the new people of God (1 Peter 2:9). Israel is fulfilled, not replaced.

This is key: the Old Covenant was not rejected by Christ; Israel was not rejected by Christ.

The Old Covenant was fulfilled and taken up into the New Covenant.

Do you know Luther and Calvin?

Interesting—they understood the Church to be the true heir of Israel, so they would have rejected dispensationalism.

The founders of Protestantism would have rejected this.

It's only emerged in the last 200 years.

So do we want to follow 2,000 years of Church tradition or 200 years?

If you're a Catholic, you're following 2,000 years; if you're a dispensationalist, you're following 200 years.

Now, people always say, Man-made, man-made.

I don't want man-made.

Well then, don't be a dispensationalist.

Am I criticizing them?

No, because many—I guarantee—are holier than many of us, holier than me.

I told you the holiest person I ever knew in my life was my little 98-pound Baptist secretary.

So we have a lot to learn in that sense.

All right, now let's look at our next slide.

Catholic doctrine teaches that Christ reigns now in His Church, fulfilled fully at the end of time.

You see that picture right there?

That's a picture of the Basilica in D.C. I used to sit and stare at that image for hours.

That is Christ the King.

Look at that image—Christ is powerful!

It looks like a bodybuilder there; He's just really powerful, and that's Him reigning.

All right?

Now, in contrast, dispensationalists believe that the kingdom will be a thousand-year earthly reign of Christ known as the millennium.

Why millennium?

The word is Latin for a thousand years.

Belief in a literal 1,000-year reign on earth—now, Father, that's in the Bible.

How do you explain that?

Well, let's talk about it.

Now, dispensationalists' belief in a literal 1,000-year earthly reign is called millenarianism or sometimes millennialism.

Now, this is rejected by the Catholic Church.

Why?

Why?

Because they believe in a literal Christ returning to reign on earth for a thousand years.

We're not against a thousand-year reign; that is in the Bible, but we believe that thousand-year reign is in the Church.

See the difference?

We're not disputing the thousand-year reign; we're saying the thousand-year reign is not Christ coming a third time.

And reigning physically on earth, we believe His reign is in the Church, like the picture I just showed you of the Basilica in D.C. Remember, with God, a thousand years are like a day, and a day is like a thousand years.

All right, in 1944, the Holy See warned against this.

They said, The system of mitigated millenarianism, which teaches that Christ the Lord, before the final judgment—whether or not preceded by the resurrection of the many just—will come visibly to rule over this world, cannot be taught safely.

This is from Catechism 676. Again, His reign is already here in the Church.

He's not going to physically come again and sit on a throne here; He's already here in the Church.

There was a guy who made a YouTube video condemning my talk back a year and a half ago, saying that the Rapture is fully Catholic Church teaching and that I didn't know what I was talking about because I said it wasn't. This is what I was talking about: that the Church condemns the concept of the Rapture if you say it's anything before the end of time.

Yes, the Church does condemn it, and I'm only giving you Church teaching.

All right, so now Augustine—St. Augustine, way before John Nelson Darby—St. Augustine said a thousand years in Revelation 20 is a metaphor for the age of the Church.

That's the difference, ladies and gentlemen.

All right, so how do we read the Rapture verses?

Tim Staples did a good talk on this.

Okay, you want to summarize the whole thing?

I want to summarize for you right now, with the help of Tim Staples, the entire understanding of the Rapture.

Now, this does not apply to every Protestant; this is the predominant view.

He summarizes it in one sentence: The Rapture is a secret snatching away of all true believers in the near future, causing chaos in the world.

This will be followed by a seven-year tribulation period in which billions will die in a horrible persecution and war spearheaded by the Antichrist.

Then there will be a judgment period, followed by a thousand-year reign of Christ physically on earth.

That's our problem: physically on earth, not the fact that Christ will reign—He does in the Church—followed by yet another and final judgment.

That's a great summary of what many Protestants believe, but none of the Church Fathers believed in a secret removal of true believers before the tribulation.

None.

That's why we Catholics stick with what we do.

They said the true Church will undergo a period of tribulation prior to the Second Coming.

We believe in the tribulation.

The idea, though, of a secret Rapture developed by John Nelson Darby in the 1830s would have been both foreign and repulsive to early Christians—no question, no question.

And it was bothersome to a lot of Darby's followers as well.

So where does this come from?

Okay, now we're going to go to the Bible, and we're going to explain the difference between Catholics and Protestants on probably one of the most divisive topics of all: the Rapture.

All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 15 to 17. Let's look on your screen.

This is the main passage that causes questions: 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.

1 Thessalonians 4, verses 16 and 17. All right, millions will disappear.

So how can this be secret?

They call it the secret Rapture.

Even one of my best employees, Peter, said he's not sure where they get the word secret.

Jesus will reveal to the world all that is; it's not a secret.

So how do we get secret out of an event that has a cry of command and the angels' trumpet?

I don't know; that's the first question.

Notice also there's no mention of a seven-year tribulation and no mention of a millennium.

It doesn't mean that there are not other places in the Bible that discuss these topics, but it doesn't mention it here.

This is critical.

Just as we Catholics would expect, Paul is describing the end of the world.

Now I'm going to tell you how in a minute.

Let's take a look at our next slide: Matthew 24, verse 40. This is the other passage I'm sure you've all heard: Two men will be in the field; one is taken, and one is left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.

Watch therefore, for you do not know what day your Lord is coming.

This is the whole basis of the Left Behind series: one is taken, one is left.

So that whole series that swept the nation—and God bless Kirk Cameron; I love the guy.

I'm a big fan, but even he, again, doesn't follow this truly anymore.

This whole Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins got their names from this passage.

Now, we read, though, the verses that came before this; we read about Noah.

Now here's what's fascinating: everybody remember Scott Hahn?

Scott Hahn says we love our non-Catholic brethren, but they got it reversed.

You know what it says?

One will be taken, and one will be left.

Scott Hahn says, Well, they say the good will be taken and the bad will be left.

That's the whole Left Behind series.

You're going to come out, and all of a sudden—remember those bumper stickers?

Warning: In case of the Rapture, this vehicle will be unmanned.

So the good are taken, and the bad are going to be walking around, Oh my goodness, where is everybody?

Scott Hahn says, No, you got it the opposite.

The bad are taken; the good are left.

Let's look at Noah.

In Noah, who was taken?

The bad.

Who was left?

The good.

It's a complete opposite.

This is fascinating.

Scott Hahn says the bad will be taken, and the good will be left.

It seems from the text that the folks who are being taken away are being taken away to judgment, not to heaven.

If we go to the same text, we call it a parallel text in the Bible.

In other words, when you read about the multiplication of the loaves, it's in Matthew; it's in Mark.

We call it parallel text.

Now, if you go to the parallel text in Luke 17, listen to this: I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken, and one will be left.

There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken, and the other left.

But guess what happens next?

The apostles ask Him, Where, Lord, are they taken?

Here we have the answer.

This gives the answer of where they were taken because now we have this dispute: Catholics say the good are left and the bad are taken, and the Protestants say, No, the good are taken and the bad are left.

Well, who gives us the answer?

Jesus.

You have to go to the parallel text.

Dispensationalists would say, when asked the question the apostles did—Where did they go, Jesus?—the

dispensationalists would say, Well, they went to heaven.

One was taken, one was left; one went to heaven.

But what did Jesus say?

Uh-uh.

Jesus said, Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

What does that mean?

Jesus said, Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Okay, here's what's fascinating: the Greek word for eagles is translated into the word vultures.

And you know what vultures do?

They eat the dead.

Kyrian, so they eat the dead.

It signifies birds who feed on the dead.

Does that sound like heaven?

No, that sounds like something else—something a lot worse.

So this is the understanding that we Catholics have based on Scripture.

Now, there's another good article by Carlo Broussard called Answering the Rapture.

Now let's look at this.

Here he points out that the Catechism teaches that the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of most believers, and the religious dissension will be that of the Antichrist.

That comes right out of the Catechism, paragraph 675. Now, some Protestants believe that the Bible teaches otherwise.

Oh, that's just your Catechism; we don't pay any attention to it, even though the Catechism is sacred apostolic tradition.

Okay, Christians, they say, will not experience the persecution of the Antichrist.

Again, I'm not talking about all Protestants here; I'm not talking about all.

I'm talking about pre-tribulation ones, and we'll explain that in a minute.

But they will be snatched up by the Lord prior to the tribulation.

This doctrine is called the pre-tribulation Rapture.

This is the most common among Protestants—not all; I'm not speaking for all of you, but the most common.

Now, the passage they often appeal to is the one we just read: 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Now this is where it gets interesting.

Those who adhere to this view argue that Paul cannot be talking about the Second Coming.

So when your non-Catholic friend or neighbor or co-worker, who really knows their Bible, carries their Bible around, slapping it and pointing it at you, and basically making you feel intimidated and making you feel like you don't know your faith and you shouldn't be Catholic because Catholicism is not biblical, let's take a closer look.

All right, now they say that Paul can't be talking about the Second Coming because Jesus comes only partway down on a cloud; He doesn't come all the way to earth.

So it's not the Second Coming; He only comes partially down on a cloud and then goes back up.

So it's not the Second Coming; Jesus is just dipping His toe into the pool.

Then they go on to say that because no judgment of the nations is mentioned, like we see in Matthew 25 and Revelation 20, this must be a Rapture.

You're going to be intimidated by that, and I think that's a good point.

They have a good point.

How do we meet this challenge?

How do we explain this?

Okay, it gets a little deep.

This will be the deepest part of the talk, but stay with me.

First, a way to meet this challenge is to point out how the details of the passage reveal Paul is talking about the final coming at the end of time.

This is what he's talking about.

Notice that it's not just the living who are caught up with the Lord, but also the dead in Christ.

Notice this; this is important: verse 16, And the dead in Christ will rise first.

This is important.

Why?

Paul speaks of the resurrection of the dead, telling us that it means the end of time.

He does that elsewhere in the Bible.

The fact that Paul speaks of the resurrection of the dead tells us that he's referring to the end of time.

All right?

Not a Rapture.

We know this because Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15 that the end happens in tandem with the resurrection of the dead.

We just read in that passage about the resurrection of the dead.

That means, according to 1 Corinthians 15, that it has to happen at the end of time because Paul says the two come together—very clear, very powerful.

But we Catholics don't know this.

This is why I'm working to bring you guys, as best I can, to teach you that our Catholic faith is scriptural.

If Paul viewed the resurrection of the dead occurring at the end of time, and if he speaks of the resurrection of the dead in tandem with Christ's coming in 1 Thessalonians 4, which we've just been reading, it follows that Christ's coming in those verses is His coming at the end of time and not a pre-tribulation Rapture.

Am I condemning people who hold this view?

No way, because they're seeking Christ; they're seeking Him.

I'm just trying to explain to you why we believe what we do as Catholics.

Do you think I would sit there and criticize anybody who has a belief in Christ, has dedicated their life to Him, and has given every being to Him but holds this belief?

No, I'm not going to criticize them.

But what I am going to do is challenge you as Catholics to know your faith and why we Catholics teach what we do.

So that's the challenge.

Now, there's a second reason why Paul—and I'm probably not going to get into this one—basically, this one is because Paul at another time talks about those assembling to meet Him, and the Lord Jesus said that He will be with them.

He talks about this in 2 Thessalonians, that they will be assembled.

This is also a description of what we just read.

I can't get into this one in too much detail because of time, so let me skip ahead here.

All right, another reason that this passage refers to the end of time is that it says the Lord will descend with the sound of a trumpet blast.

This is verse 16. Guess what, everybody?

Paul speaks of the same trumpet when he describes the resurrection of the dead at the end of time.

How do I know this?

Quote: this is from Paul, 1 Corinthians 15: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

But this is not a pre-tribulation Rapture.

Why, Father?

Okay, since in Paul's mind—the critical point here—in Paul's mind, the trumpet is associated with the resurrection of the dead at the end of time.

And since he speaks of it when describing the coming of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4, we can conclude that the coming of the Lord that Paul writes about is the coming at the end of time.

See the connection?

You've got to look at the other passages.

So basically, in 1 Thessalonians 4, where it says a trumpet blasts, the dead will be raised, and we will meet them in the air, non-Catholics say, Well, that's not the end of time; it's the Rapture.

But yet in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, The last trumpet; the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised, and we shall be changed.

In Paul's mind, the trumpet is associated with the resurrection of the dead at the end of time because he speaks of it when describing the coming of the Lord.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

All right, so let's connect this now—connecting the Rapture and the Second Coming.

Okay, it has always been Catholic teaching that Christ will physically and visibly return to earth.

So for that guy who made that video criticizing me, saying we believe this is Catholic—yeah, I'm not saying we don't. Catholics do believe that Christ will come again, but that will be the end—not to establish another thousand-year reign; that's already happened in the Church.

All right?

As we say in the Creed, He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

We say it every Sunday.

All right?

Yet from the Catholic perspective, we don't use the term Rapture, although the concept—yes, we believe—as long as it's at the end of time, not before.

That's the big difference.

All right?

On one hand, it can refer to being taken up to be with Christ, as we just read in 1 Thessalonians 4. We just read that.

Now, Catholics believe this will happen only at the Second Coming when our bodies are resurrected, but not before it.

Dispensationalists believe it refers to a secret snatching away of true believers prior to the tribulation.

Okay?

Now here's the thing: this will be distinct in their mind from the Second Coming.

That's not Catholic belief, nor is it biblical.

Why?

All right, let's look at our next passage, next screen.

Before Christ's Second Coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.

The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the mystery of iniquity in the form of a religious deception, offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.

Okay, what is that talking about?

The Antichrist.

What is the Antichrist?

He's part of the tribulation.

He's part of our trial.

And here's the difference, everybody: the Catholic Church has to go through that before the end.

The non-Catholic belief is, No, we can avoid all that; we'll be raptured.

We'll be raptured before this tribulation.

That's not biblical.

Why?

Why is that not biblical, Father?

Because the whole message of our faith is—and I think the best way to read it is right here—Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

That means you will have trials.

They've hated you because they hated me before they hated you.

But they will hate you.

That means you will face trials.

It makes no sense that you're going to be raptured away from this trial and never experience it.

Then you're not following Christ on the way of His cross.

That's the big difference.

So, Catechism 672 says this time of trial will be at the start of the last days, meaning the end of history.

The Church teaches that there have always been many Antichrists, but there will be one main Antichrist—the Antichrist.

So, everybody, here's a summary: what the Church teaches is clear.

You want to know Catholic Church teaching?

Here it is: there will be a Second Coming after a time of trial, which the Church must endure.

So we do believe in a tribulation after a time of trial.

The Second Coming will come after a time of trial, which the Church must endure—a trial, an Antichrist.

Then there will be a conversion of Israel to Christ; that must happen.

A definitive judgment of all people and the fulfillment of the kingdom that has already begun in the Church.

So, everybody, you want to know Church teaching?

There will be a Second Coming.

It will come, though, after a time of trial.

We're seeing that now.

Within that time of trial will be the Antichrist; we believe that.

Then all of Israel will be converted to Christ; that must happen according to the Bible.

Then there will be a judgment of the people, and there will be a fulfillment of the Kingdom of God that has already begun here in the Church.

The reign of Christ is already here in the Church.

All right, now why then are they saying they get to be raptured before all this?

What is the basis of that?

Well, we're going to get out of here before the storm hits.

No, Jesus had the apostles with Him when the storm hit in the boat.

He didn't say, Guys, the storm's coming; get to shore, get to your homes, buckle down.

Did Jesus say that to His apostles?

Uh-uh.

Jesus let them experience the storm, and we are too.

Now, this whole understanding of the tribulation—these premillennialists, which we described earlier—they hold, as do a lot of Christians, that the Second Coming will be preceded by a time of great trouble and persecution.

This we all agree on; this is 2 Thessalonians 2. This is called the tribulation.

Now here's my question: let's look at our next slide.

When is the Rapture supposed to occur?

So are you pre-tribulation?

Are you mid-tribulationist?

Are you a post-tribulationist?

Are you pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib?

Sounds like a lot of confusion, but that just means when the Rapture will occur.

So, pre-tribulation people—which is the most common view—believe the Rapture will happen before the tribulation, and we'll avoid all of this mess.

That's pre-tribulation.

Mid-tribulation is the belief that the Rapture will happen somewhere in the middle, like when the Antichrist comes in the middle of the period of tribulation, according to Daniel.

That is when the Rapture will happen; we'll be raptured midway through.

Then the post-tribulation view is that not until we go through that tribulation will we be raptured.

That's kind of the most commonly held Catholic view.

So let's unpack this.

For most fundamentalists and evangelicals, these terms—pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib—explain when the Rapture will happen.

The Rapture will happen either pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation.

They refer to when the Rapture is supposed to occur.

All right, now here's what's interesting, everybody: until the 19th century, all Christians agreed that the Rapture—although it wasn't called that; we Catholics don't call it that—would occur immediately before the Second Coming, not pre-tribulation, but right before the Second Coming.

So you have this tribulation, this time of trial, and then Christ comes again.

We believe, or most Christians believe, that you would get through that tribulation.

All right?

Most believe that this coming of Christ—that Christ's Second Coming—would occur immediately after the tribulation.

All right?

And that this Rapture would occur immediately before that Second Coming, after the tribulation.

If you cannot get that, now this is at the end of the period of persecution.

So in other words, all Christians—Catholics, Protestants, even Orthodox—all believe that all Christians would be brought to Jesus, like a Rapture, as He is returning during His Second Coming—not before the trial, not before the tribulation, but at the end.

This position is called post-tribulation because it says the Rapture will occur after the tribulation.

That's kind of mostly a Catholic viewpoint.

But in the 1800s, while this was the common view—kind of the Catholic view—some began to claim that the Rapture is going to happen before that trial.

Well, let's talk about it.

This position, known as pre-tribulation, was embraced by John Nelson Darby, the leader of the fundamentalist movement we talked about, known as dispensationalism.

His view, Darby's pre-trib view of the Rapture, was then picked up by a man named Schofield.

Now here's what's interesting, everybody: and you want to talk about man-made stuff?

We Catholics are accused of man-made stuff?

Let me give you an example of something man-made.

This gentleman, C.I. Schofield, many Protestants read his version of the Bible called the Schofield Reference Bible.

He adopted a pre-tribulational view, even though no Christian had ever heard of it in the previous 1,800 years of history.

Then many people took it, and then even more—a third position came: notice mid-trib.

Mid-tribulation is the view that the Rapture will occur somewhere in the middle.

How do you follow all this?

Ha! Well, the problem with all this is that they basically split the Second Coming into different events.

The Second Coming doesn't happen twice.

Now, Peter made a really good—in all fairness, a really good analogy.

He said we don't see it as a Second Coming; it's kind of like if a train leaves Stockbridge and goes to Buffalo and stops in Albany on the way to Buffalo.

Ultimately, its destination is Buffalo, but it stops in Albany.

Is that really two stops?

Now, I think he makes a great point.

He says, My one stop is really Buffalo.

But if you look at an airline ticket and you buy an airline ticket and you have a changeover, what does it say?

Two stops.

Two stops.

So the Catholics said it's two Second Comings, and we can't have that.

We can't have that.

So the problem with this is the Second Coming doesn't happen twice.

Therefore, in the case of the pre-tribulation view, Christ actually has, according to my view—the way I see it—three comings.

Now, here I am going to not speak for everybody; I'm going to speak for the way that the Catholic Church sees it.

The Catholic Church basically says the pre-trib view can't work because that means Christ has three comings: one when He came as a baby in Bethlehem, two when we refer to the second coming for the Rapture at the beginning of the tribulation, and then again He returns at the end of the tribulation to establish the thousand-year reign called the millennium.

This is not Scripture.

Well, Father, the millennium is Scripture.

Yeah, but not Christ being physically here on earth again for a second reign.

Now let's look at this.

Let's look at our next slide: Revelation 20. All right, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be loosed for a little while.

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth.

All right, so Father, the millennium is scriptural.

Yes, it is.

The period of a thousand years, this period of the reign of Christ, is called the millennium.

However, Augustine tells us it's the age of the Church.

You know what's really fascinating?

Here's what's really interesting: you know the high point of the Church?

The high point of the Church was really from Charlemagne in the 800s, and when we really started falling apart was at the end of the 1800s.

Do you remember what the end of the 1800s were?

Satan appeared to Christ.

Pope Leo XIII saw a vision where Satan approached Christ and said, I can bring down your Church.

I need more power; I need more time.

And He said, How much time?

He said, About a hundred years.

The Scripture says right here, After that, he must be loosed for a little while.

He told in 1884—this is fascinating—Pope Leo XIII heard Satan tell Jesus, I need just a little bit of time.

What does the Scripture say in Revelation 20? He must be loosed for a little while.

And so Jesus granted him the time.

He said, I need about 100 years.

This was 1884. Guess what happened 100 years later exactly?

John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1984. Satan's reign is over, but we are now still feeling the effects of it.

We are still feeling the consequences of it, and it's reaching its peak right now.

Now, Satan in 1884 seemed to have been unleashed.

But you know what's interesting?

Revelation 20 right before it said he was bound for a thousand years.

Guess what?

From Charlemagne to that day of 1884, exactly a thousand years.

Fascinating!

That thousand-year reign of Christ is the reign of the Church, according to Augustine and according to the Church.

The high point of the Church, the golden age of the Church, was from Charlemagne to that time when Satan was released in 1884. That was exactly a thousand years.

Now, is that dogma?

No, no.

Are you going to read that in a pope's encyclical?

No. But to me, it makes perfect sense.

I'm not claiming this is dogma; please don't write my bishop.

I'm saying it's an interesting observation.

And all these other things I'm talking about here—I'm not claiming all Protestants believe them; I'm claiming that this is a belief held by many.

So this millennium we Catholics do believe, but not that Christ will come physically during that millennium.

That's what many Protestants believe.

So let's look at this: the millennium will signal the beginning of the end times.

Revelation 20, that I just read about Satan being chained and then released, can be interpreted in three ways by Protestants.

All right, let's look at our next slide.

If Brother Mark can put that up there: when will Christ return?

According to Protestants, there are three schools of thought: postmillennialism, amillennialism, or premillennialism.

This is when Christ will come again—one of these three.

That means Christ will either come before that reign, that thousand years; He will come during it, or He will come after it.

Now, actually, that's probably not the best way to say it.

Let me go into more detail.

Let me strike that from the record.

Let's start with post-millennialism.

What is that?

Post-millennialism is a view held by some Protestants that came, according to Lorraine Butner in her book The Millennium.

Post-millennialism is the view of the last things which holds that the Kingdom of God is now being extended in the world through the preaching of the Gospel and the saving work of the Holy Spirit.

That the world will all become Christian, and the return of Christ will occur at the close of that period, at the close of the millennium.

You got that?

So post-millennialism means that there'll be a thousand years where the whole world will become Christian, and then Christ will come again.

Well, the problem is that's not what the Bible says.

This view was popular among 19th-century Protestants, but then guess what happened?

The 20th century, and they realized, Nope, the world's not becoming Christian anymore.

In fact, the world is losing its Christian roots.

So post-millennialists say that the millennium spoken of in Revelation 20—what I just read about the sealing of Satan for a thousand years—should be understood figuratively, and that a thousand years refers to not a fixed period of ten centuries but some indefinite long time.

Okay, I can buy that.

But then they say at the millennium's end, at the end of that thousand years, then will come the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgment.

Okay, I can go with that.

The problem with post-millennialism is that Scripture does not depict a world as experiencing a period of complete Christianization, or at least relatively complete Christianization, before the Second Coming.

This does not happen; apostasy happens.

That's scriptural.

There are numerous passages that speak of the age between the first and the second coming as a time of sorrow and strife for Christians—not that the whole world is going to be living all Christian in beauty and happiness; that's not true.

Many passages say that the age between the first and second coming of Christ will be great strife for Christians, who will be a minority.

One revealing passage?

The parable of the wheat and the weeds.

Remember that from Matthew 13? Christ declares that the righteous and the wicked will be both planted together, and they will grow together, and they will intermingle together, and not until the end will they be separated.

Christ declares that the righteous and the wicked will both be planted and grow alongside each other in God's field.

God's field is the world, and this will not happen until the end of the world.

All right, exciting—last page, last page.

Let's bring it all together.

All right, that was post-millennialism.

Now let's talk about amillennialism or amillennialism.

They view Revelation 20, that I just read about the chaining of Satan, symbolically, and they see the millennium not as an earthly golden age in which the world would be totally Christian, but as the present period of Christ's rule in heaven and on the earth through His Church.

So the millennium is the reign of the Church.

We Catholics can agree with this.

We don't call it that, but we can agree with it.

This was the view of the Protestant Reformers.

So wait a minute—the Protestant Reformers held to this?

This wasn't that bad.

We Catholics can agree with this, and it's still a common view among traditional Protestants.

But now many have fallen away from this—Catholics too, in a way.

But again, we don't use this term amillennialists or amillennialism.

They also believe in the coexistence of good and evil here on earth.

That's the parable of the wheat and the weeds.

The tension that exists here on earth between the righteous and the wicked will only be solved by Christ's Second Coming.

It's going to happen until the end; He will have the presence of wickedness until the very end.

So this view addresses the post-millennial problem that there will be no problems—that's the problem.

So the golden age of the millennium is instead the heavenly reign of Christ with the saints in His Church.

The Church on earth—we participate to some degree here, though not in the same way as we will in the Second Coming; that's the height.

So Satan is bound in that he cannot deceive the nations.

Well, actually, before that, here's what I wanted to say: but Revelation 20—and this is very important—nowhere states that Christ is physically on earth during this reign with the saints.

Nowhere.

Satan, this is important, is bound in that he cannot deceive the nations by hindering the preaching of the Gospel.

So Christ is reigning through His Church, which is preaching the Gospel.

The millennium is a golden age—not when compared to the glories of the Second Coming; that's greater—but in comparison to all the other ages of prior human history because the world was in pagan darkness before that.

So amillennialism or amillennialism is not too far off from Catholic teaching.

So when this guy made this video condemning my talk and saying that the correct Catholics do hold to this, I'm not denying that.

We even hold to some form of Rapture, but we don't call it that, and we certainly don't believe that it happens before the Second Coming.

And to this guy who made this video: sorry, you are absolutely wrong if you say that we Catholics believe in the Rapture prior to the Second Coming.

That is heresy—heresy.

So let's finish with the most common argument: pre-millennialism.

You getting all this?

All right, pre-millennialism—Christ comes first, then we have the millennium of a thousand years.

All right?

Pre-millennialists hold to the pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib views.

You're probably thinking, What the heck?

So pre-millennialists can believe that basically Christ comes first, then the millennium—the thousand years.

He's physically here.

We Catholics do not believe that.

There's nothing in Scripture that says Christ physically will come back to earth to reign again physically.

He did, and we believe in the thousand years from Revelation 20, but in His Church.

Now, pre-millennialists can have the pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation views.

Remember, what is that?

When the Rapture occurs—before the tribulation, during, or after.

Now, pre-millennialism is probably the most popular among fundamentalists and evangelicals.

Most of the books written about the end times are from a pre-millennial perspective.

All right?

Like post-millennialists, pre-millennialists believe that the thousand years is an earthly golden age during which the world will be thoroughly Christianized.

Again, nah.

Unlike the post-millennialists, though, they believe that the millennium will occur after the Second Coming rather than before.

So Christ comes, then we have the millennium.

That's what they believe.

So Christ reigns physically on earth during the millennium for the pre-millennialists.

They believe that the final judgment will occur only after that millennium is over.

But Scripture doesn't support a thousand-year span between the Second Coming and the final judgment.

That's what they're saying: Christ will come, then there'll be a thousand years, then there'll be the final judgment.

Scripture does not support that.

All right, so I'm going to finish before we come back, and I'm going to wrap this all up.

We're just about done with a video.

Now, please don't be offended by this video; this is just a little fun.

It's the Simpsons, and it's the Simpsons' view of the Rapture.

Now, I had to show this not because I'm making fun of the Rapture—no, this is our salvation at hand, okay?

Let me emphasize that I am not making fun of anything.

What I wanted to show was how permeated this view has become in society that even the Simpsons make an episode about it.

Okay?

Now the Simpsons make this episode about the Rapture, and the reason I'm showing it is to illustrate how this misunderstanding has permeated through our Christian culture—at least in our country that used to be Christian.

We're still holding on tight to those roots.

So I would much rather see a belief in the Rapture than atheism, but I would much rather see a belief from us Catholics in following what the Church teaches us.

So let's watch this quick video of the Simpsons.

Again, not to make fun of anybody, but to show there's a lot of misunderstanding.

My pious husband is missing the baby I chose to have that day.

I never knew true love.

I never used those pizza coupons.

Why aren't we ascending into heaven?

Oh right, the sins.

Where do you think you're going, missy?

Okay, everybody, so again, please don't take offense; just a little fun showing that this deep teaching has been misunderstood.

But yet, at least they are coming to Christ; let's rejoice in that.

Now for us Catholics, let's try to understand this better so that we can come to Christ in the way the Church teaches us.

So let's finish now with the Catholic position.

This is only a few lines; it's very simple.

But I've given you all of the understanding of the Protestant view.

What do we as Catholics believe?

All right, what is the Catholic position?

As far as the millennium goes, yeah, we agree with Augustine and with amillennialists.

The Catholic position has thus been amillennial and has been a majority of the Christian position in general, though we do not typically use this term.

The Church has rejected pre-millennial positions, sometimes called millenarianism.

Now that's in the Catholic Catechism, paragraph 676. You can read that for yourself, but I pointed it out, and I want to say it again: in the 1940s, the Holy Office judged that pre-millennialism cannot safely be taught, though the Church has not dogmatically defined it.

So again, that guy who made that video trashing my talk never said the Church officially declared it heresy or dogmatically defined it.

I'm telling you what was said by the Holy See, okay?

So this is important.

While we believe in a Rapture concept—that the dead will be resurrected and the living will be brought up into the clouds—we don't believe it in the same way.

For us, it will be at the end of time.

For many Protestants, it will be way earlier, even before a tribulation and before a millennium, a thousand-year reign, and before the Second Coming.

That's not what we believe.

People will not be raptured before the Second Coming of Christ or even before the tribulation, according to the Catholic Church.

So when somebody says, Do we believe in the Rapture?

you've got to ask, In what sense?

Do we believe that the living will be brought up into the clouds to meet Jesus?

Yes.

But do we believe that will happen way before a tribulation or before the Second Coming?

No, it will mark the Second Coming.

And so people will not be raptured before the Second Coming or even before the tribulation.

You know, Chris Sparks, the theologian, said it best.

He said, You know, the problem with the Rapture is that it denies Christ's teaching: 'Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'

If you're raptured before the tribulation, you're really not going to get a chance to experience those true trials.

You're not going to get a chance to experience that as a Church.

Now, individually, yes, but not as a Church.

The Church must go through it.

This is Matthew 16. But they didn't go through it; they got taken away.

So everybody, the Church on earth will share the fate of Christ, not escape it.

We will share the fate of Christ in His passion, death, and resurrection.

Right now, the Church is going through the passion.

And why?

Why?

Because this is necessary before the resurrection.

Right now, the Church is going through a sanctification, a purification through the scandal.

It's being purified; it's being nailed to the cross by society, as we should be.

It is being condemned, as it should be, for any wrongdoings.

But it must go through that if it is to experience Christ, if it is to be fulfilled in the resurrection.

It will go through the passion; that is happening right now.

The Church must go through this period called the tribulation and face the Antichrist.

Christ faced Satan; the Church will face the Antichrist.

If the Church is raptured before this trial, the Church never gets to face the Antichrist.

Christ faced Satan; the Church must face the Antichrist.

All of that must happen before the Second Coming and our being resurrected to life.

So hopefully that makes sense.

Praise be to God that you could join us today.

I'm heading out to the Hartford Men's Conference.

If you're in the Hartford area, I'll be speaking there at 2 o'clock, so I'm going to get in the car, race down to West Hartford, and be able to talk there.

So we hope that you will keep us in your prayers.

Continue to join us.

The last couple of slides I want to show, if I may—if Brother Mark can show one, please.

Become a Marian Helper.

This is a great way to share in many graces that we give to you through the edict of the Holy See, the decree of the Holy See.

Just visit micprayers.org;

you can become a Marian Helper.

It doesn't cost anything; it takes but a few minutes of your time.

It doesn't cost anything and doesn't take much time, but you can share in the graces of being just like a Marian priest or brother through the graces of our Masses, prayers, and penances.

It's awesome!

I write about a lot of this that we talked about today in my book Understanding Divine Mercy.

You can get that at shopmercy.org

or call us at 800-462-7426. We'd love to get you a copy of an easy-to-read book that understands everything you need to know about Divine Mercy.

Even though the concept is beyond our grasp, God makes it simple through St. Faustina.

And last, unfortunately, this book, After Suicide, There's Hope for Them and You, is sad that it's actually selling more now than when I first wrote it.

Unfortunately, suicide is a reality, and if you know anybody who has experienced a loss, please get them this book.

I promise you it will help.

You know, I learned speaking with a family friend when I was at the monastery with the Carmelite monks that a family member of mine is blaming the Church regarding my grandmother's suicide.

My own family member is saying, How dare this rotten Church say that my grandma's going to hell?

That's the whole point of the book.

The book says my grandma has a chance for salvation.

Anyone who has taken their own life has a chance for salvation, but an important part is your prayers and my prayers to be able to help them.

This book will give you hope, and it's not just for suicide.

If you've lost anybody—car wreck, cancer, natural causes—this concept in this book of how to help you applies to all of that.

So please visit shopmercy.org/suicideandhope.com

and get a copy.

If you can't afford it, I'm happy to send you one for free.

Just contact Zach Peters in the office today.

If you can't afford a copy of this book and you want to read it or give it to somebody, I'll send it to you for free.

You can call Peter right now; he's at 413-298-1303. That's how important I feel about that book.

God bless all of you.

Thank you for being with us.

And remember, Father, this was kind of a boring topic.

Know that you cannot love what you do not know, and if we don't know our Catholic faith and we're told by non-Catholics that we're not biblical, we won't love our faith.

But if you understand your faith and that we are biblical as Catholics, you can love it.

Praise be to God now and forever.

Thank you.

God bless you.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Thank you, everybody.

Now, how exactly will the judgment occur?

When we appear before our Lord after death, will the Lord tell us, You go to hell, you go to purgatory, and you come with me to heaven?

Nothing like that.

God is the good Father.

We will see God face to face with open arms, and we will say—and it is we who will say—No, Father, I cannot get close; my clothes are stained.

How can I appear like this before all saints and angels?

I'll change my stained clothes; I'll go to purgatory and dress nicely.

Then I will come and be with you forever.

Purgatory is the place that cleanses us.