Leave behind Rapture Theology
The American church is overrun with eschatological escapism. For decades, Christian men have been taught that the faithful path is one of passive waiting, eyes to the sky, hands in their pockets, hearts disengaged from the world they were commissioned to disciple. This is not biblical hope. It is cowardice dressed up as theology.
In a recent episode of The Patriarchy Podcast, Rusty Thomas and I tackled the lie of modern rapture theology. What we uncovered should disturb every Christian man who claims to love Christ and His Kingdom.
The Theology That Makes Men Soft
Dispensationalism is not just a harmless end-times chart or a quirky theological position. It is a framework that has gutted the church of its courage and poisoned the will of Christian men. At its root, dispensationalism teaches that Christ's first coming failed to bring the Kingdom. Instead of establishing His rule, He offered it to the Jews, who rejected it. As a result, God supposedly hit pause on His Kingdom plan, inserted a "church age," and pushed the Kingdom into the far future when God can finally get back to the Jews.
The implications are devastating. If Christ is not reigning now, then the church lacks power to disciple nations. If the Kingdom is delayed, then faithful men are told to sit quietly and wait to be removed from the battlefield. Why fight? Why build? Why suffer? It's all going to burn anyway. As one famous dispensationalist said “why polish the brass on a sinking ship.” There is no impetus to advance the truths of God into the political realm, the culture, or even to build long term.
Rusty Thomas, who has spent decades in the trenches of gospel ministry, shared how God had to first change his eschatology before He could call him to real obedience. The belief that Christ would rapture His people at any moment was not neutral. It weakened his resolve. It turned his faith into a resignation instead of a mission.
When the Lord opened Rusty's eyes to the truth, that Christ's Kingdom had already come, and that He reigns now, everything changed. The cost of obedience suddenly made sense. Fighting abortion, planting churches, raising up warriors for Christ, these were not futile efforts. They were acts of war in an ongoing and advancing Kingdom.
The Kingdom Came With the King
Jesus did not come to earth to delay His throne. He came preaching, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." He said, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you." He announced a present, active rule that began with His incarnation and was sealed by His resurrection and ascension.
The book of Daniel foretold this reality. In the days of the Roman Empire, a stone cut without hands would crush the kingdoms of men and grow into a mountain that fills the whole earth. That stone is Christ. The Kingdom began in seed form with Christ's first coming, advanced with the Spirit's outpouring at Pentecost, and has continued to grow ever since. Like leaven in dough, the Kingdom is spreading. Like a mustard seed, it is becoming a mighty tree.
The New Testament affirms this again and again. Hebrews 12 tells us we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, and to a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. Colossians 1 says God "has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son." Past tense. Accomplished reality.
Of course, Christ will return. We are not full preterists. The final return of Christ will bring the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the full visible consummation of His reign. But to act as if we are in a holding pattern until that day is to deny the power and clarity of Scripture.
Biblical Hope is Active
Rusty told the story of how he and fellow pastors were arrested standing outside an abortion clinic. The police told them, "We don’t want to arrest you. You’re doing good." Yet they were led away in cuffs. Inside that jail, a man was led to Christ. It was a picture of what the Kingdom looks like in action.
Biblical hope does not flinch at hardship. It leans in. It plants churches with little money and no guarantees. It starts families in a world that mocks fatherhood. It takes dominion with calloused hands and clear eyes.
Men, You Were Made for This
You were not made to sit on the sidelines, refreshing your prophecy charts and wringing your hands about the Antichrist. You were made to build. To fight. To lead. And yes, to suffer if need be. Not as a victim, but as a soldier of Christ.
We do not need more end-times speculation. We need men who believe Jesus is King now, and who live like it. That belief will change how you raise your children. It will change how you worship on Sunday. It will change what laws you demand your magistrates uphold.
This world does not need more escapists. It needs fathers who will fight for their households, pastors who will preach with fire, and laymen who will die on the right hills.
A Call to Reformation
Theology is not a game of trivial pursuit. It is the blueprint for how you live and die. If your doctrine causes you to shrink back, to wait quietly while evil advances, then it is time to repent.
The Kingdom has come. The King is on His throne. And He is not calling His men to retreat.
He is calling them to rise.