Why Catholics MUST believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

For those who don't know, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is a Catholic dogma that Protestants took from us and turned it into a heresy. The Protestant doctrine of PTR teaches that Christians (specifically White Evangelical Americans) will be taken away to safety in Heaven before the world gets too difficult to endure, because they think true Christians shouldn't have to suffer in this life. But the Catholic dogma derived from Scripture teaches the exact opposite. The truth is the PTR has already happened, and applies to those who have already endured some of the most painful suffering in this life. Since the dogma of "The Pre-Tribulation Rapture" is too long of a phrase, the Church decided to shorten it down to just calling it the "Assumption," where the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken up to heaven some time around 66AD, just before the Tribulation began on Jerusalem, ending with the destruction of the city and Temple in 70AD (just as our Lord predicted, see Matthew 24). In this post, I would like to look at some of the specifics of the Protestant heresy/perversion of this orthodox Catholic dogma.

First, the very term "rapture" comes from the Latin Vulgate, where St Jerome translated the Greek word meaning "be taken up". Thus, Protestants stole a Catholic word. Second, the Protestant side holds that the PTR is done in order to avoid having to suffer, but the Bible plainly says that only those who survive persecutions are those who reign with Christ (Rev 20:4), so the point of rapturing is not to save you from having to suffer. Third, Protestants hold that all true Christian believers are taken up immediately to heaven when they die, so this logically means Mary was immediately taken to heaven when she died. Yes, Mary had her whole body and soul taken up, but the soul is the more important detail, so Protestants already affirm 75% of the Catholic dogma, they just don't like that Mary's body was included.

Fourth, the first half of Revelation 12 most naturally refers to Mary, even if it can be read to include other figures, so only preconceived anti-Catholic agendas would really make such a stink about it as Protestants do. In fact, I cannot think of a better refutation of the Protestant heresy of Sola Scriptura than their treatment of Rev 12:5 which says: "She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron," which obviously refers to a woman who gave birth to Jesus, and yet Protestants get very rabid and insist there's no way in a million years (or at least a millennium) that "she who gave birth to Jesus" could ever be Mary. Fifth, Protestants are 10000% sure the Assumption is the worst heresy ever that prevents them from ever converting to Catholicism, until these same Protestants decide to become Eastern Orthodox, when suddenly this dogma is perfectly acceptable to them and is the easiest dogma to accept. Basically, it means their ABC mindset (ie Anything But Catholic) is the real motivation in their mind and not the fullness of revelation, Scripture, tradition, etc.

Sixth, Protestants claim that to accept the Catholic PTR opens the door to having to believer literally any doctrine imaginable, as in if we hold that Mary was taken into Heaven that means the Pope is granted the power to invent numerous dogmas that have no basis in Scripture. But when you ask Protestants what are these numerous dogmas that we've been opened to blindly accepting, suddenly the Protestant side is unable to generate any such list. Of course, this is all to hide the fact that literally every unique Protestant dogma has no basis in Scripture, Tradition, or even logic, and they desperately want to hide this from you (e.g. see their complete lack of evidence for Imputation of Christ's Righteousness, which I've posted on many times). Seventh, the fact Protestants would rather have a hatred and low view of Mary, when Christians have always honored her in prayer, song, and devotion, than to grant any ground to Catholicism, shows just how desperate Protestants are to avoid becoming Catholic. The smarter the Protestant, the more they are aware of how much they must resist anything that could make Catholicism look good, because to allow the Catholic Church any credibility would trigger an avalanche of other good/true features of Catholicism, which would sweep Protestantism away. And finally, eighth, the Protestant side which holds to PTR literally admits Christians can and will be taken up bodily, yet somehow this is cringe to them when applied to the Blessed Virgin, which is a completely inconsistent application of the concept of rapture. 

I'm sure there are others to add, but this is what came to mind today on this Glorious Feast!

The OG Pre-Tribulation Rapture