A future End Times event anticipated by many Evangelical Christians and Charismatics as well as the vast majority of Fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christians, it is the literal bodily ascension of Christians to rendezous with Jesus Christ. Most Christians who hold a belief in the Rapture see it as a signature event in relation to a seven-year period known as the Tribulation; however, among those Christians ascribing to a belief in the Tribulation, thoughts differ as to whether the Rapture occurs at the Tribulation's beginning, middle, or end.
(see ReligiousTolerance.org "The Rapture")
usage. Generally "the Rapture"
(see the Tribution, including the Rapture, as a chronological chart (4.5MB) as rendered by a Fundamentalist Christian family on their website)
(see Frontline's "Apocalypse!" glossary)
