Paluch 1

Jessica Paluch
Professor Elaine M. Bak
English Comp. 1020
21 April 2016
Apocalypse of the Christians
Christians call it the rapture; others call it the apocalypse, whats the
difference? The apocalypse by definition is the complete final destruction of the world,
especially as described in the biblical book of Revelation or an event of destruction of
catastrophic proportions. The definition of The Rapture is the transporting of believers to
heaven at the Second Coming of Christ. The definitions of the apocalypse and the rapture both
say that the end times will involve the book of Revelation. During my research the past few
months, I have learned more about the rapture than I ever have in my 19 years of being a
Christian. Going in I thought the apocalypse was the way non-Christians thought of the end of
the world and that those people were close minded. Now I know that the apocalypse is actually
what is going to happen after the rapture.
According to the Bible, the rapture will occur when the whole word has heard about Jesus
(Mark 16:15) and nobody but the Lord really knows when the Lord will come back to Earth
(Matthew 23:36). The book of Matthew chapter twenty-four consists of Jesus telling his disciples
what will happen when the end comes, but not once does he ever say when it will happen
exactly, however, he tells of the occurrences that will happen before he returns. Essentially, this
is the most important chapter about the end times that the Bible holds. So far, most of the things

Paluch 2

that are told on Matthew 24 have already begun happening. Matthew 24:6 writes, You will hear
of wars and threats of wars, but dont panic. Yes these things must take place but the end wont
happen immediately. The wars have been threatened and fought. There is still war and fighting.
Verse seven reads Nation will go after nation and kingdom after kingdom. There will be
famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. (8) But this is only the first of the birth
pains, there is more to come. In the world we live in today, this is already happening.
Earthquakes happen frequently, famine is all over. The Lord says he will never use water to
destroy earth again, meaning that this time, it will be destructive. When the rapture occurs all of
the dead Christian souls will be taken first, then the living. Those left behind will suffer.
The best real life, modern day example is a book series titled Left Behind. It is a book
written by two Bible scholars who give a modern day version of what the rapture will be when it
does occur. The main character Rayford is a pilot, a husband, and a father of two. His wife, Irene,
is recently huge on religion and is attempting to change his views as well. Their two kids are still
kind of skeptical about it all. During a routine plane ride, while most were asleep, passengers
started disappearing including the Rays co-pilot Christopher. All of their clothes and personal
belongings were left behind but they were not in them and could not be found anywhere on the
plane. Meanwhile on the ground Rayfords two kids were at the mall when his son, Ray Jr., just
vanished into thin air along with other young kids and several adults. Unknowing to Ray or his
daughter, Irene had also vanished. The world was in a panic but nobody knew where their loved
ones had disappeared to. With the help of Rays daughter, Ray landed the plane safely with all
the passengers alive. They were the ones who were left behind and have to figure out what to do.
The world was crumbling around them. They didnt know it yet, but this was only the beginning.

Paluch 3

Many Christians are generally confused about the rapture and how it is
different from the apocalypse. Author, Amy Johnson Frykholm, who is a born
evangelist and grew up in the church, over time drifted away from it. In her
book, Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America, Frykholm
discusses what it was like for her to be an evangelist in todays society. Her
family is very religious people and she has grown away from her faith.
Frykholm does research and questions people of different religious
denominations in how they feel about their specific religion and also about
the idea of the rapture, or apocalypse. She speaks a lot on John Nelson Darby
who paved the way for interest in a prophecy called, dispensationalism. This
was the belief that human history was divided into eras that would end with
a thousand year reign of Christ. Darby believed that the rapture would come
in secret and that people would be taken up into the clouds. People in this
age thought that only the true church would be taken and the hypocrites be
left. He saw the book of Revelation as the most literal truth about the end
times.
The book of Revelation is a detailed writing of what will happen when the world
ends from a Heaven perspective. Since the early 1800s the discussion of dispensationalism has
been common in the Bible scholar world. It is the most literal interpretation of the end of the
world or as Darby calls it, the secret rapture. The idea is that the Christians who are saved will be
safely taken off the earth while those left behind suffer great tribulation. Darby claimed that after
war, famine, and disease would happen before the return of Jesus Christ. He proclaimed that this
period of tribulation would last one-thousand years. Darby interpreted the book of Revelation in

Paluch 4

the 1800s; we still use his interpretations today. These same interpretations of Revelation are
written in different ways in several other parts of the Bible. Matthew 24 explains the worldly
views of the rapture while Revelation describes it in a way as seen from Heaven.
Scientists say that the Earth was built with a bang and that humans
evolved from monkeys. Scientists say that the original scrolls of the Bible
that were found written in Hebrew were made up, written and placed to be
found as if they were ancient. The scrolls were converted from Hebrew to
English of that time period and have since been even more translated to
make sense to current users of the Bible. History shows evidence that what
the Bible says is true. Matthew 24:6-8 tells of the wars to be fought, the
famine, and the earthquakes across the world. So far, all of these things have
come true. Therefore, the Bible is the Truth.
Written in England, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Religion,
War, Famine, and Death in Reformation Europe by Andrew Cunningham, Ole
Peter Grell is a history review book combining the history with the book of
Revelation. The author uses the four horsemen as his main topic to
organize his data around. He uses different color horses to represent
different things such as, the red horse for weapons, war, and wounds and the
black horse for feast and famine. There are two other horses, one is pale to
represent disease and death and the other white to represent religion. These
horses were discussed in Revelation 6:1-8 as when the seals were opened
the things that were written in them happened. The white horse carried a

Paluch 5

rider who wore a crown with victory, the red horse carried war and slaughter,
the black carried three loaves of bread, and the pale horse was named death
and carried a rider who was given ability to kill by disease and famine. All of
these things were used as description in the English Civil War. The Bible has
been documented for as long as time stands and gives proof of what is
happening in our present day world.
To sum it all up, the rapture and apocalypse tie hand in hand with one
another in the aspect that the rapture will occur before the apocalypse. The
rapture is the ascending into Heaven of all Christians souls, what happens
after that is what Christians call the Armageddon. In current age, the
apocalypse is the common term for the end of the world. There are
apocalyptic survivalists who believe they can build a bunker in the ground
and supply it with food to survive in there for years at a time. I believe that
this is a possibility; however, they wont survive through Gods one-thousand
year tribulation. There will be destruction, disease, and suffering and
someone can only survive for so long in a bunker underground. Now that I
have researched and found more information, I believe that the apocalypse
is the modern day term for Armageddon. Therefore, the apocalypse is
possible but not survivable. So therefore, the apocalypse is the aftermath of
the rapture.

Paluch 6

Paluch 7