The any moment doctrine is probably the heart and soul of the rapture. Most followers of the rapture, believe Christ could return at any moment. The Bible clearly teaches us against this. We can read about what we should look for before we can expect the return of Christ in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

2 Thessalonians 2

1) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2) That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

If you can read, then it is crystal clear in verse 3 that we will not gather back to Christ until two things happen. The falling away- apostasia (deflection from the truth; apostasy) and the man of sin, the son of perdition must first be revealed. Perdition means to perish and only one "named" entity has been sentenced to death at this time. This would be Satan and you can read where God sentenced him to death in Eze. 28:13-19. Anyone who tells you the falling away is the rapture has not researched the words in the Greek language and they are misleading you (whether intentional or not). This is irrefutable proof that Christ will not return at any moment. Satan has not been revealed to us and the falling away has not reached it's full.

4) Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Here we read about what the man of sin will be doing when he appears on earth. Do you see this happening today? This is why so many times in the Bible we are told to watch. If the rapture were true, we would have nothing to watch for. Here we can clearly see that we do have something to watch for, before we can expect Christ to return. Who will you believe, a preacher or God? Now we will look at the verses that are used to support the any moment rapture scenario.

1 Thessalonians 4 13-17

13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

If we wish to understand the Bible, we have to stay with the subject. The subject here is those which are asleep, the dead in other words. In verse 14, we learn that we shouldn't worry about those who are asleep because God will bring them with Him.

15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

We are still talking about the dead. Those of us, who are alive and remain here on earth, unto the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have already passed on into the next life. We will not precede them because they are already with God. Notice it says we which are alive and remain. Paul did not qualify this statement, which means everyone who is alive and remains. In 1 Cor. 15:51, we read that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. All as in everyone who is alive and remains at His coming.

16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

We are still discussing the dead. Verses 16-17 will give us the order in which we gather back to Christ.

17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Now we see those which are alive and remain will gather back to the Lord with those who have already passed on. Verse 17 is describing the order in which this happens. It is not describing how to the extent that he wanted this to be our authority on the matter. What did Paul say he wanted to talk to us about in this chapter? In verse 13, he says, those which are asleep, not our gathering back to Christ. You will read about our gathering back to Christ in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2.

1 Corinthians 15:52 is a parallel verse to 16-17 and it will help us to determine which trump is the Trump of God

52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Remember we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. So if either of these verses are describing the rapture, then that would mean we all would be leaving the earth. We know this cannot be true. Everyone agrees there will be people on the earth during the tribulation. The key here is the last trump. This clarifies which trump we are talking about. If we go to Revelation and read chapters 8-11, we will find there are 7 trumps.

I know some will try and confuse this by saying "There are many references to trumpets in the Bible, and there is no clear association - no direct statement stating that the trumpet referred to by Paul is the same as written about by John." This may be so but the word last is an identifier and in the Greek it means the furthest one out or final. So by that reasoning, this is at the very least the seventh trump. In addition they also say "Paul wrote the letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians long before John penned Revelation. So how could Paul make an association with a truth that was not yet revealed by God?

This is a desperate attempt to discredit a scripture they cannot reconcile with their doctrine. Who is the author of the Bible? Is it Paul or John or Isaiah. No, the author of the Bible is God, these were just men that God used to pen the books. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God. So maybe Paul couldn't make the association with what was to be written in Revelation but do you really believe that God himself didn't have the foresight to know this would be an important prophecy? If that was the case, could we rely on any of the prophecies in the Bible? After all, Revelation means to uncover or reveal. Suggesting that some things were hidden or covered before the book was written. Now you will see why they cannot except the last trump as being the seventh, even though, there is no other rational explanation.

15) And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

This is what we have been reading about in Corinthians and Thessalonians. We have not been reading about some rapture "secret" or otherwise. All those things we read about happen at the last trump. Jesus returns to reign on the earth at the last trump, not to rapture us away and come back again. The last trump is the final one, meaning the tribulation is over and the millennium is about to begin. If you read through the trumps this is very easy to determine. 1 Thessalonians was written to comfort us and let us know our loved ones are coming back and we will see them again. In verse 18, Paul says, "comfort one another with these words". They are very comforting, God loves us and doesn't leave us without knowledge. The question is, will you listen to Him? I hope you enjoyed this study and found it interesting. Please read all of our studies and feel free to contact us with comments or questions. We are here for you most anytime of the day. God Bless!