Where did the Rapture Theory Originate?
If you will look into any protestant history books during the time of 1500-1600 or even look at the original beliefs of the reformers, who formed the present day popular religions, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, etc, you will find that all of them believed that the Roman Catholic church was the antichrist and fit in every respect the antichrist in Daniel and Revelation. How did this change? Jesuit priest named Alcazar in the mid-1500s felt a need to turn the peoples’ minds away from Romanism as being a part of the Antichrist, because of their belief that the pope was the Antichrist which was widely held by the reformers during the time of the Reformation. He effectively produced an interpretation that claimed the prophecies of the Antichrist were fulfilled before the popes ever ruled in Rome. On the other hand, a Jesuit priest named Ribera in AD 1580, brought to the forefront the futurist system, which equates the Antichrist to some future supernatural individual, who is yet to appea
