Author David Currie grew up convinced that one day all true Christians will suddenly be snatched up to heaven. The unfortunate souls left behind by this "rapture" will endure seven horrible years of tribulation, at the end of which Christ will return to earth for a glorious thousand-year reign.

Today, millions of Christians accept this end-times theology, assuming - as Currie did -- that the Bible clearly teaches it. Many plan their whole lives around it. But, after studying Scripture for decades, Currie has come to see that if you accept the Bible, you have to reject the rapture.

He considers all the relevant verses (and there are hundreds!) and examines them in the light of ancient history, the writings of the earliest Christians, and the claims of rapturist theologians. With painstaking thoroughness, he unlocks the meanings of the key biblical prophecies that culminate in Christ's Messianic Kingdom - including those verses in Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation that rapturists turn to most.

Marshalling evidence that's as startling as it is compelling, Currie argues that these prophecies of war and tribulation don't point to some still-unrealized apocalyptic future. Rather, most of them were fulfilled long ago: the spiritual, priestly Kingdom prefigured in the Old Testament was inaugurated on Calvary, consummated in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the Temple, and continues to exist today . . . in the Catholic Church! That may surprise you. Yet, shows Currie, it's the only conclusion that fits all the scriptural and historical evidence.