This brings us to our next signpost on the path to establishing a biblical basis for the pretribulation rapture: church history. The purpose of this signpost is not to justify our belief in the pretribulation rapture on the basis of history nor is it to convince those who reject it on this faulty basis.
Rather, my intent is to provide those who already believe in the rapture with evidence of a belief in it from church history.
The Rapture in Church History
What did the early church believe about the rapture? Is there evidence that some believed Jesus would take His church out of the world before a time of tribulation?
Of course, we must base our beliefs on the words of Scripture, which is our only sure guide. But because the our belief is relentlessly mocked is something that cannot be true because no one in the early church believed it, I provide evidence to the contrary.