The Rapture vs the Bible

The rapture teaching was popularized in the 1970s by Hal Lindsey’s writings (The Late Great Planet Earth, etc.) and more recently by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in their Left Behind fictional books and films. But where did this concept of the rapture originate? Credit for the idea generally goes to John Darby, a 19th-century theologian who labored to correct common false teaching related to the second coming of Christ.

Darby correctly believed that Jesus Christ would return to the earth to establish the Kingdom of God and literally rule the world for 1,000 years. In his zeal for countering error, Darby promoted the idea that Christ would come to catch away believers prior to the period of end-time calamities lead- ing up to His final coming.