Re: "Is church too rapture-dependent?"
Joseph,
You attempted to write a good column regarding Christians' reliance on the rapture. However you missed the mark.
When studying the Bible, one needs to be aware of what time it is. That is, the time referred to in the passage. You correctly identified the rapture as referenced in 1 Thessalonians 5:13-18. This occurs pre-tribulation. Those already dead arise, and those alive meet Him in the air. Christ is above the earth in the atmosphere. He is removing all believers from the earth at this time to save them from entering the tribulation. Only unbelievers enter the tribulation. However, the gospel will be preached throughout the tribulation, and there will be many believers.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 references the Second Advent when Christ returns with His church. Here, He rescues Israel from annihilation. He stops the Satan indwelt anti-christ and locks Satan in the abyss for 1,000 years. Then He separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep (believers) enter into His millennial kingdom, where He rules for 1,000 years, and the goats are sent to Torments to await the second judgment and their sentence to the lake of fire.
Obviously, the Son of Perdition will be born during the Church Age; he will not appear on the scene out of nowhere one minute after the rapture. He may not be fully revealed until the tribulation is under way.
The church was a mystery, which was not revealed in the Old Testament. There is no prediction as to when the rapture will occur. All we know is that it is imminent; it can occur at any time, thereby ending the church dispensation. This is in God's perfect timing. Once the rapture occurs, then 1,007 years of human history remain (seven-year tribulation and 1000-year millennial kingdom).
Information on Dispensations, eschatology, exegesis and hermeneutics, etc. can be obtained from two great sources (Col. Robert Thieme Jr., Berachah Church in Houston, Texas, and Joe Griffin, Grace Doctrine Church in Chesterfield, Michigan).
Terry Nobile