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Original Message
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Interesting: The rapture actually IS in the bible and not just 1800's prophecy.
This is an excerpt from a much more detailed post by gone-fishin.org
Don't let the silly name fool you, this appears to be SPOT ON. There is a lot more detail there if you want it:
[link to gone-fishin.org (secure)]
HARPAZO (Rapture, Take, Snatch, Force, Pull, Pluck, Catch, Catch Up, Catch Away) Scriptures
Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen
8 years ago
Definition: Harpazo
v.
1. to seize, carry off by force
2. to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly
3. to snatch out or away
~ from Thayer's (New Testament Greek-English Lexicon)
In the Greek New Testament, the word harpazo is found a total of 17 times in 13 different verses. Each time harpazo is used this verb refers to a quick or sudden often violently physical "snatching away" or "catching away" of a person, a thing, or an idea. More important is the fact that in 5 of these 17 times harpazo is used in the New Testament harpazo ALWAYS refers to the literal physical (bodily) removal of a faithfully righteous human being from one place to another, or from one sphere of existence to another. The 5 times harpazo is used involving faithfully righteous people are when:
1. Philip is harpazo'd from the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch to a different location miles away (see Acts 8:39, AKJV)
2. Paul is harpazo'd from the Earth to the Third Heaven (see 2 Corinthians 12:2, AKJV)
3. Paul is harpazo'd from the Earth to the Third Heaven; second reference (see 2 Corinthians 12:4, AKJV)
4. Bride of Christ is harpazo'd from the Earth to the clouds to meet Her Groom (Christ Jesus) in the air (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17, AKJV); the understanding here is that the Bride will be taken to Heaven to be with Her Groom
5. Christ Jesus is harpazo'd from Bethany near the Mount of Olives to His Throne in Heaven (see Revelation 12:5; cf. Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9; AKJV) Each one of the above five supernaturally powerful acts of the Holy Spirit by which literal bodily removals of humans either from one place to another on Earth or from off of this Earth to Heaven proves that the Rapture is a biblically sound doctrine. In fact, the English words Rapture and Raptured actually are derived from the Latin verb rapio (catch up or take away), and rapio is used in the Latin Vulgate Bible (also referred to as The Vulgate).
The point here is that many of America's English words, like Rapture and Raptured, and etc., are derived from words found in the Latin Vulgate Bible - the most commonly used translation of the Holy Bible. St Jerome's late 4th-century A.D. revised Latin translation of the old Latin Biblical Texts became The Vulgate, and The Vulgate was used over 1,000 years before the Protestant Reformation started! In essence, no other Holy Bible translation has been used longer than the Latin Vulgate Bible, and that includes the highly promoted Authorized King James Version (AKJV)!
So then, believers who doubt that the idea of a Rapture is in their English translations of the Holy Bible need to understand that it is from the Greek New Testament manuscripts that St. Jerome, scholar/translator, originally renders the Latin rapiemur (the first person plural future passive indicative tense of rapio) from the Greek harpagesometha (the first person plural future passive indicative tense of harpazo). Furthermore, in the English versions of 1 Thessalonians 4:17, rapiemur has been translated from Latin into English as either "we shall be snatched," or "we shall be grabbed," or "we shall be carried off," and so forth. Similarly, harpagesometha has been translated from Greek into English as "we shall be caught up" or "we shall be taken away," and etc. Moreover, as already mentioned, with every Latin and English translation of harpagesometha the meaning of this Greek verb always connotes a catching or taking that will be a violent, sudden event.
The point to this brief grammar lesson is that, as far as the meaning and tense of the Latin word rapiemur are concerned, this word is in agreement with the Greek word harpagesometha, since rapiemur and harpagesometha are the same tense and they both mean the same thing - a sudden and physical withdrawal; a seizing; a snatching, and so forth. So then, there can be no denying that English words like rapt, raptly, raptness, rapture, raptured, rapturous, rapturously, rapturousness, raptor, and so on, undisputedly are derived from rapio's verb forms such as rapere, rapui, raptus, rapiemur, rapturo, and etc. Moreover, since rapio's verb forms are accurate translations of the Greek harpazo's verb forms, then it doesn't matter if someone uses the AKJV's "caught away" or "caught up" or if he/she uses the word "raptured," or "snatched away," or "taken up," or "plucked," or "taken by force," and so forth, because they all mean the same thing—a very sudden nonconsensual seizure.
Thus, language in this case shouldn't be used as a barrier to understanding a concept that most definitely is found in the Word of God—that concept being the Rapture. Put differently, the Greek, Latin, and English words used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 all describe exactly how quickly the living Bride of Christ's fleshly Body will be removed from this Earth and how fast that fleshly Body will be changed into a spirit Body, so it doesn't matter if one particular English word is or isn't in the English version of the Holy Bible someone is using. What should matter most is whether the concept of a Rapture is in the Word of God. Based on the words used in the ORIGINAL language of the New Testament, which is Greek, the concept of a Rapture most definitely is in the Word of God.
My comment: At this point it is not a bad idea to post this type of thing. I don't want to get preachy with people and I try to avoid it but I do have at least some responsibility to remind people about what is on the horizon and that "preps" should not be limited to food storage and power.
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