The Return of The King - The Second Coming of Christ.

That title is synonymous with the Lord of the Rings title, and that is because it is. An interesting thing about J.R.R. Tolkien, he was a very devout Catholic, and he wrote Catholicism into all of his books in one way or another, and the title "Return of the King" is symbolic of the return of the king to the kingdom of Gondor, Aragorn returns to claim his throne at the end of the story. He ended the strife and peace returned to the realm when the evil forces of Sauron was defeated once and for all. Well, J.R.R. Tolkien may have written Aragorn, but he was telling of the Second Coming of Christ. The Return of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, King of the Universe Jesus Christ. The Second Coming of Christ is the Word of God, God the Son Jesus Christ returning to the world from Heaven, and has come to judge us.

When it comes to the Second Coming of Christ, particularly in Protestant Evangelical and "Reformed/Baptist" circles, there are many beliefs based on the interpretations of the timeline as described in the Book of Revelation. Many of these terms you may have already heard of, especially if you are taking a serious look at the Four Last Things, which the Second Coming of Christ is a part of, C.F. Four Last Things. The terms are as follows: dispensationalist, premillennialist, amillennialist, postmillennialist, and preterist. All of these refer to the Prophesies of the Book of Revelation and the of the Rapture. 

Dispensational Premillennialism is when Christ comes before the seven-year tribulation and raptures the believers. **So that you know of my source, I am taking from a protestant source to unbiasedly state the claims there in. I will go on to explain the errors of these beliefs through Scripture and Tradition, to include writings of the Saints, a few were direct disciples to the Apostles themselves, taught directly by the Apostles.** Postmillennialism speaks of how the 1000 years is not a literal era, but Christ will return after the Church gradually makes the world Christian through the Gospel. Amillennialism states that the millennium of the Kingdom of God has already occurred, since the Resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred more than 1000 years ago. Lastly the Preterist position is that the Prophecies of the Apocalypse has already occurred, typically linked to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, but there are differing opinions depending on the specific denomination.

To refute most of the positions above I will separate into the two sides this primarily stands on, Millennialism and the Rapture. 

Millennialism - 

I will start with this topic as it is typically easier to understand why it is wrong. Millennialism is based on an erroneous interpretation of Revelation 20:1-10 . Within this passage they take the 1000 years to be a literal era, and they also immanentize the eschaton, in other words they take the supernatural acts described there in and make them tangible and real, and foretelling of a terrestrial peace for the elect. There would be an eschatology on the earth for a millennium. What is an eschatology? Well, it is a Greek term for "study of (ology) the last things (te escha)". To study the Last Things, there is a link above, this pertains to the Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell. For there to be an eschatology on the earth, there would be a terrestrial Kingdom of God here on Earth, from which Christ would reign. On Earth instead of Heaven. 

Apocalyptic texts of the New Testament disagree with the notion, and indeed heresy, of millennialism. St. Paul says quite clearly that Christ will come as a "thief in the night" 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 . Christ Himself also said that at the Parousia (Second Coming), that "He will come in the glory of His Father with His Angels; and then will render account to every man according to his works" Matt 16:27. 

Rapture - 

The catholic disagreement with the Rapture, is not the Rapture itself, but a specific type of Rapture as created by John Nelson Darby, of the Plymouth Brethren from the 19th Century. This style of Rapture is found in the "Left Behind" series (movies and books), it feels odd to reference a movie for a supposed Christian doctrine, but that is how many people know it. The idea of this particular rapture was "revived", for a lack of better term, by American fundamentalists, predominantly the American Baptists. It is such a recent theological idea that no Ancient Church (Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, etc.) teach it, nor do the churches started by the Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther or John Calvin. This form of the rapture simply did not exist prior to John Darby's ideation.

Why is this problematic? Lack of historical support, or even the support of the Protestant reformers, aside, it is built upon John Nelson Darby's very literal reading of the New Testament, which entailed that a literal nation-state of Israel must be the inheritor of the biblical prophecies, and not the Christian Church, as the prophecies did not apply to the Christians. As a result, he concluded that Christ must remove His Church (the rapture) so that the nation-state of Israel can go through the tribulation, and come out on top. That's right, the Rapture Doctrine, as posited by John Nelson Darby, takes Christians out of the Earth prior to the tribulation that points to the Return of Christ. 

Preterist Position - (First, I want to thank a friend who read my page and reminded me of this topic, it had slipped my mind when writing this page.)

The Preterist Position is an interesting position in that it isn't denounced by the Catholic Church, and even is supported by some prominent theologians and philosophers in the Church. People such as Dr. Scott Hahn, and Jimmy Akin, both are converts to the Church, hold to this position. I briefly described it above, but there is more to it that the prophecies have already come true. The prophesies, as held by the Preterist, pertains to the first few chapters, which is for the Early Church in the first or first three centuries of the faith, and then you have the main bulk of the Book of Revelation, chapters 4- part of 20. This is where the Preterist comes into play. The Preterist correlates the events in society, the sacking of Jerusalem, the various Roman Emperors (taking upon the role of the seven headed beast), and other calamitous events having an allegorical presence in the Book of Revelation. There are a couple of variants to the Preterist belief, and they're based on how close the Prophecies are to the coming of Christ. The first of the two Preterist beliefs is the Historical Preterist Position. The original Preterist position is that the Prophesies happened in the first couple of centuries, the Historical Preterist Position is that the prophesies will be more spread out between His ascension and the Second Coming, but all will happen prior to His Second Coming. The third Preterist position is that of the Futurist Preterist position, namely that all of the prophesies will come true right before His Second Coming. In manner the prophesies will happen in rather quick succession, but they will happen later in the future, and all will occur prior to Christ's return.

Catholic belief - 

What does the Catholic Church believe? Well as above, the church denies the heresy of millennialism (chiliasm). What about the concept of the Rapture? Again we deny that particular form of the Rapture as described above, invented by John Nelson Darby, but we do not deny the rapture. It's the same word? Well yes, but in the Catholic sense is as it says in the bible, in its root word rapiemur, meaning "caught-up". In the First Letter to the Thessalonians , as seen in the Latin in chapter 4 verse 16. This is actually during the Second Coming of Christ. That is so important to understand, the Catholic "rapture" is a part of His Second Coming. It is when he calls us up to be judged. It isn't clear in that verse of that chapter, but if you read on to the fifth chapter that is what is happening. We are called up when He comes in the glory of His Father, with His Angels, and man then makes account for our actions. 

*Edit*

I had realized that I did not mention the Catholic belief on the time and place of the Second Coming. The Catholic Church has never stated, and will never officially state (people may have an opinion, but it is not church teaching) the time of the Coming of Christ. Christ Himself said that only the Father knows of the time for His Second Coming. There may be signs of the Second Coming, as described in the Book of Revelation, but they are not an indicator of time. As for the place of the Second Coming, the Book of Joel 3:1-2 describes the place as the "Valley of Josaphat", but Saint Jerome explained that this is meant to be figuratively understood. As Josaphat means "Judgement of the Lord", thus "Valley of Josaphat" mean "Valley of the Judgement of the Lord". So there isn't any indication of the location where Christ will return, but that does not diminish the hope that we have in the Lord.