The Church in End-Time Prophecy: Rapture or Resurrection?

By Curtis Schulze

Church in Prophecy Today, the rapture of the church is one of the most disputed end-time topics in all the scriptures. No other end-time doctrine has divided the church more than this subject of the rapture. We have made this all about timing, rather than his return. Many are preoccupied with and distracted by their own particular prediction. The purpose of this book is not to refute one position in favor of another, but to come against the church's obsession and preoccupation with timing. Our focus should be directed toward his return, and not fixed on timing. This is the testimony of the scriptures! Whether he comes early, or whether he tarries, this does not matter to me. What matters to me is the readiness of the church! We need to be ready now and always if he comes early, but if delayed: we will need to be ready to go through the dark and difficult days ahead. We need to prepare our hearts now for what is coming lest it catch us off guard! We need to build our faith to stand under pressure, and we need to build our trust and confidence in Him now to keep us while in tribulation. We will need to settle the matter in our hearts concerning all those things coming on the earth, to lay our lives down at all cost! We will need to prepare our children and loved ones for the day ahead if the Lord tarry. If the Lord did return today, most would not be ready to evacuate! If he were to delay his coming, most are unprepared for the dark and difficult days ahead. I am afraid for the church! I am afraid many will fall away if the rapture does not occur as expected. I am afraid many are taking this too lightly, thinking they are guaranteed a seat on the rapture express but will be left behind because of complacency and indifference toward Christ and the gospel. Either way you look at it, the church is neither ready to leave, nor ready to go through!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098072728

Book preview

A Zeal for God but not according to Knowledge

"…For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2).

It is important to have and hold a doctrinal position, it is equally important to allow the cement to remain wet and pliable. The problem is most have allowed their cement to harden into concrete. Now fixed, unyielding or unbending and unable to hear and make the necessary changes. We must keep our cement wet to prevent this from happening to us! God resists the proud, but give his grace to the humble. No one would ever doubt Saul’s religious zeal and commitment to God in defending the faith of his fathers, but he was proud and self-deceived. He had a true and genuine zeal for God but not according to the true knowledge of God. God had mercy on him because his zeal (love) for him was true, even though his knowledge (understanding) of him was not. Paul could bear record to the zeal of his fellow Jews from personal experience. The pain Paul must have felt when he finally saw the error of his ways!

Paul had a true zeal for God but was proud in his religious training. Paul is referring here to his personal zeal for God, which was proved by God to be a true and genuine desire (love) for the truth. This is how Paul knew from personal experience the plight of his Jewish brethren. How many of us have a true and genuine zeal, and yet, we take this as a true knowledge of God? We really do love and want the things of God, but we go about it in all the wrong ways. Taking a stand for truth, but just standing in all the wrong places.

Most Christians, who are very serious about the Bible, see themselves as uncompromising (fearless, undaunted, standing tall). They unfortunately do not recognize the difference between zeal for God and the knowledge of God. Paul said in Romans 10:2-3 that these are ignorant of God’s true righteousness. Today, those who are genuinely born-again (saved) have no clue that they are going about establishing their own system of righteousness. They confuse the true knowledge of God with zeal and are leaning on their own effort instead of his Holy Spirit. When they interpret the scriptures, they do so apart from the Holy Spirit’s Illumination. Again, this is very difficult to discern if one has little to no experience with the Holy Spirit. Much of the Christian experience comes from a traditional setting or a church system of men. Regrettably, many of them are unaware of the influence of these systems, traditions (practices), and doctrines (commandments) of men that have helped to shape their beliefs and conduct. There is a big difference between a life lived by the liberty we all have and hold in Christ Jesus (which comes to us by revelation knowledge), and a life lived under legalistic restrictions void of true spiritual knowledge.

Today, we have many who doggedly hold to a specific timing to the Lord’s return for his bride, which has brought much friction to the body of all believers. This has created a strong sense of tension within the household of faith. Christians have drawn battle lines over this issue of the timing of the Rapture of the church. Brethren, we should shudder to see such a fracture in the church. This book is less about whether he will return early, or will he choose to tarry: but our stubborn lack of openness to more than one possibility. Again, it is not that the scriptures provide us with more than one possibility, but a lack of clear vision. We should be reasonable to one another and teachable concerning all these things of a secondary nature, namely those doctrines (teachings) that are open for discussion and consideration. I do not believe there is more than one answer to this question, but the one answer is obscured from full view! This is why we find more than one interpretation today in the church. Pride is the reason why we are closed minded to any other view then our own! God forgive us all!!!

We are looking through a glass darkly

For we know in part…for now we see through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:9, 12).

It is impossible for any one person to have all knowledge on any given subject. Revelation knowledge comes to us in part. The word part means only a portion. This is why it is so necessary to find a balance in everything being taught. All spiritual Knowledge is given and communicated in part! This is why great humility is needed for all those who teach the scriptures. Pride goes before the fall (pride comes before error in the scriptures). Looking through a glass darkly is the condition through which spiritual knowledge is given and communicated. It is given and communicated in part. If you are given only a few facts at a time, then our spiritual eyesight or spiritual illumination is limited or dimmed by all the missing spiritual pieces. This is why great care and patience is necessary to ensure accurate interpretation. It takes time, be patient!

The word darkly means obscurity. Obscurity is a word that means ambiguity or mysteriousness. This is something that is not clear or distinct: not easily perceived or recognizable. This is the difficulty in interpreting obscure passages of scripture without revelation knowledge. Many make this mistake in running to early with an interpretation of a text, before it is finished (before it is fully developed and fully formed). Learning how to hear with our spirit, for many, is a very difficult and aliening task. Many do not recognize and are unfamiliar with their newly recreated spirit, that receiving revelation knowledge is virtually impossible. Many only know how to USE their heads or mind! Revelation knowledge comes to us by the Spirit, into our spirit, and through our spirit into the heart, only then will it illuminate the mind. Many when interpreting the scriptures do so through sense knowledge alone. They only use their mind! The LETTER apart from the Spirit is the MIND using sense knowledge. This is the difference between the letter that brings death (bondage), and the Spirit through revelation bringing life (giving liberty: setting men free): men interpreting the scriptures from human reason! Human reasoning is why there is so much division today in the church.

We need to interpret the scriptures by the Spirit! To interpret the scriptures by the letter is to exalt the intellect of man as lord. This is why, today, there is so much resistance toward change! It is our religious traditions born out of an exalted intellect that has worked so hard for so long, that the church can no longer tell the difference between the works of the flesh and the walk of the Spirit. If something is obscure or hidden from the mind, then how can the mind be used to search and dig out its meaning? This is why the Spirit is master, and the mind or intellect operate as servant! The letter and the Spirit are not adversarial. However, when men choose to interpret the scriptures apart from the Spirit they are resisting Christ Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition (Mk. 7:13). None effect in the GK means to invalidate or to disannul: to weaken: reduce its strength: to make inoperative and ineffective. Jesus is saying, by your traditions you are rendering the word of God powerless. Wow, the word really does work, but our traditions are standing/getting in the way!

Exegesis and Eisegesis

There are two words used in biblical scholarship that lends to this matter of rightly dividing the word of truth. These two words are exegesis and eisegesis. To exegete means to draw out meaning from the text in accordance with the intended context. Eisegesis is to interpret the text in such a way as to introduce one’s own presuppositions or biases. The first draws meaning out from the text, the second reads meaning into the text. The first one is objective; the other is subjective! When it comes to the rapture of the church and end-time bible prophecy, we all run the risk of reading into the text our own personal presuppositions and biases. This is the risk we all take, when attempting to interpret difficult passages of scripture regarding the rapture and the second coming. Many end-time bible teachers apply many passages of scripture concerning the rapture and his second coming differently. Some will take a passage of the scriptures, apply it to the pretribulation rapture; while others, will take the same passage of the scriptures, and apply it to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is clear; there is a lack of agreement where it concerns the timing of the Lord’s return for his church. This is why we must remain humble concerning these things and resist the temptation to take a hardline position on the timing of his return.

My hope and prayer for this book is that the reader would open his heart to receive what God has for him in the pages forthwith. A revelation God has given me many years in the making. It unfolded before my very eyes as I wrestled over the many revelations given me in those early years. It has been very challenging as I went back and forth between two opinions. Will the Lord come early for his church, or will he tarry? The walk of the Spirit for any believer is a walk of faith without being privy to the outcome. This is the inevitable condition one will experience on a continual basis while venturing toward its ultimate fulfillment. Christ and Christ alone is our hope and rock that keeps us centered when all else fails! Many mistakes were made in those early years in the ministry, the problem was not the lack of revelation, but how to rightly understand and apply those truths. All I ask is you give these things a chance to speak to your heart, and if these things are so, then let God be true and every man a liar.

Those early years in the ministry

Over almost 40 years of ministry, I have now done or completed a 180-degree turn that started about two decades ago. I starting out accepting a pretribulation rapture without question like any good Christian would in my early years of the ministry. As I grew in the faith and in the knowledge of the scriptures, I had many unanswered questions. Most Pastors or bible teachers lacked the sufficient answers to those many questions. This set me on a course of discovery fraught with many uncertainties about the timing of the rapture. I came to many visions and revelations of the Lord in those early years. Despite this, this did not protect me from making many mistakes when interpreting and applying said revelations. The problem is never what you know, it is always what you do not know, which helps to balance what you do know. I hope this sinks down deep!! If you ignore my counsel, you are in for a world of hurt. God help us all! We have a tendency to build our doctrine on a few chosen scriptures, while disregarding those less desirable scriptures that contradict our understanding of the rapture of the church. We must not pick and choose through the scriptures, and then build our doctrine around those scriptures we have gathered, and yet we are all guilty of this.

As a young preacher, because of the many incomplete revelations, I came to believe in a pretribulation rapture. When I say incomplete, I mean untested by trial and error over time, and years. Do not underestimate the necessity for years of testing the scriptures! My ministry went through years of back and forth over this subject of the timing of the Lord’s return for his bride, which I could not reconcile in my mind. One of the greatest lessons I have learned over my many years of serving the Lord, is not to take a part or partial revelation and make it a whole. Young preachers lack the equipment (vision to see) and understanding how a truth or revelation fits into the whole. It takes years of learning to acquire enough information to come anywhere near a complete picture, and even then we are looking through a glass darkly. I do not believe anyone really ever reaches the place where he/she has a complete picture of the truth. When I was young, I thought it was possible, but now after all these years I know it is impossible. At best, I will never ever know anything more than just a part! This part is subject to the glass darkly. God help us who teach and preach the word of God. This is why the Holy Spirit is critical when searching for the truth and this is why humility is imperative when handling the word of