Tag Archives: pantrib

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 9)

It’s All Over But the Shouting

Have you ever wondered, Just how long God is going to put up with this sinful world?  The answer is:  this long, and no longer.  John wrote:

The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. (Rev. 10:5-7 NKJV)

In other words, the messenger stands on the sea and on the land and announces, “Time is over!”  Notice, the angel says, “There should be delay no longer” (v. 6).  The seventh angel is about to sound the seventh trumpet, and when it sounds, the mystery of the ages will be solved and the Lord’s return is at hand.

Ask ten Bible teachers what this mystery is and you may get ten (or more!) different answers.  I believe the mystery to which john refers is the same one the apostle Paul spoke of frequently, the mystery of the gospel.  Paul wrote, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began…” (Rom. 16:25 NKJV).  He uses the term in a similar way when writing to the Ephesians:  “And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel…” (6:19 NKJV).

To the Colossians, Paul was more specific, writing, “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:  which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:26-27 NKJV).  It is the preaching of the cross and the opportunity to accept the rich, full salvation Jesus offers that is finished.  The only thing left for this world to experience is the wrath of God, but before that wrath is poured out, Jesus says, “That’s it.  Game over.”

With this in mind, Jesus’ statement concerning the Great Tribulation is easier for us to understand.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake thouse days will be shortened. (Matt. 24:21-22 NKJV)

Time is no more, the gospel is completed; it is time for the Lord to return!

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 7)

A False Hope

The more I studied the Scriptures, the more I became convinced that we are living in the last days, and that we will soon begin seeing the fulfillment of the predictions in the prophetic books of the Bible, including the cataclysmic conditions on earth, which will precipitate the rise of the Antichrist.

I also saw a connection between the escapist Rapture and those who espouse a materialistic gospel.  I became convinced that we are wasting so much time and energy teaching people how to get rich and how to become self-fulfilled, we have not adequately prepared them for what is to come.  Instead of the Church presenting a false hope by preaching the pretribulation Rapture, we should be spending this time informing believers that they will have to go through the Tribulation, or at least some part of it.  We should be teaching people to fall in love with Jesus.  We should be spending our time, energy, and resources getting spiritually ready for a severe period of persecution and a time of unparalleled upheaval.

To think otherwise, one must totally ignore church history.  Brutal persecutions have often been the normal experience for believers.  From the earliest years of Christianity, believers were stoned, burned at the stake, dragged through the streets with their feet tied to stampeding animals, and used as human torches.  During these persecutions God did not magically remove His people from their tormentors’ grasp, but He gave them the grace necessary to go through their tortures.  What makes us think God should cut us a break and allow us to escape before the onslaught of hell comes on the earth?  Have we been more faithful than those early saints?  Are we more worthy of an easy ride to heaven than they were?

Going back to Matthew 24, I found that throughout Jesus’ listing of the signs of the times, He does not even hint at a pretribulational Rapture.  In fact, He laid the emphasis on just the opposite order of events.  Jesus described some of the signs that are even now beginning to take place, but the overall tenor of the passage is that even though we will see these things, the end is not yet. Jesus then said:

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.  And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short.  (vv. 21-22 NASB)

Reading the account naturally, without imposing our own ideas or wishful thinking into it, the order of events seems to take place logically.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.  And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.  (vv. 29-31 NASB).

Notice the order of events.  These things happen after the Great Tribulation, “and then… (we) will see the Son of Man coming.”  And they certainly do not seem to be done in secret.  In fact, the tribes of the world, those who do not know the Lord, will mourn at His coming.  In the chapters ahead, we will see that they have good reason to mourn.

Will Christians go through the Great Tribulation?  I believe we will experience at least some part of it before Jesus Christ returns.  When I speak on this subject nowadays, I facetiously tell audiences, “I tried my best to keep us out of the Tribulation.  For years I preached that we would escape it.  In my studies while in prison, I searched for hours on end, trying to find some way that believers would escape the difficult times about to come on the earth, but I couldn’t do it.  I am convinced now that we are going through.  Hold on tightly to Jesus.  It’s going to be a wild ride!”

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 6)

The Origin of the Pretrib View

When I dug into the matter further, I was surprised to discover that many of the ideas associated with the pretributional Rapture originated not in the Bible, but in an extrabiblical vision experienced by a young Scottish woman named Margaret Macdonald in 1830.  The woman sent handwritten copies of her “revelation” to Edward Irving, a controversial minister, who, with his great gifts of oratory and his magnetic personality, was drawing large crowds to his church in London.  In his pamphlet, “Why I Believe the Church Will Pass Through the Tribulation,” David MacPherson described what happened after Irving got hold of Margaret Macdonald’s vision.

It was from this supposed revelation that the modern doctrine and modern phraseology respecting the pretribulational rapture arose; it came not from Scripture, but from that which falsely pretended to be the Spirit of God.  Irving accepted this teaching and it was taught at prophetic meetings at Powerscourt House in Ireland, attended by Plymouth Brethren organizer John Darby.  Irving’s views influenced Darby, C. H. Mackintosh, and C. I. Scofield, whose Bible popularized the new theory.  Later, some of the leading Plymouth Brethren scholars, including Benjamin Newton and S. P. Tregelles, rejected this pretrib theory.  For 1,800 years the Church had believed only in a postrib coming which, during persecution, was occasionally thought to be imminent.  There is not a shred of historical evidence before 1830 that the Church ever believed in a double coming, or rapture before the Tribulation.

David Mac Pherson goes on to list some of the elements of Margaret’s radical vision, which included splitting the second coming of Christ into two phases – first, a pretrib rapture; then later, after the tribulation, the return of Christ to earth.  Her own statement clearly contains more of the major tenets found today in pretrib dispensationalism – meeting the Lord in the air, secrecy, suddenness, invisibility, immanency, a pretrib separation of believers and unbelievers, distinction between the raptured bride and the tribulation elect.

How, you may wonder, could a vision experienced by a relatively unknown young woman with no platform or sphere of influence have such an impact?  Actually, most people of her time did not know the vision was Margaret Macdonald’s.  They thought the new truth was something Edward Irving had discovered in the Bible.  Keep in mind that Irving was a popular preacher in those days, and his views were quickly adopted.  In The Rapture Plot, David MacPherson lists four reasons why he believes the young woman was not “credited” with her vision at first:  “She was a female in the male-dominated theological world of 1830; she was young; she was uneducated; and she had been a Christian only a year.”  Interestingly, many of the tenets in the teachings of highly respected prophetic teachers, and other advocates of a pretribulational Rapture, are similar to those first espoused by Margaret Macdonald.

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 5)

For me, belief in the Rapture played right into my prosperity theology.  It made for a perfect package: people could get saved by saying a few words, they could live in luxury and excess throughout this lifetime, and then Jesus would return to take them out of the tough times that others were to experience during end-time tribulation.  It was pure escapism.  My favorite prophetic passage was, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the son of Man” (Luke 21:36 NKJV).

I liked that verse because it gave me an out.  Christians did not really have to suffer.  They would be taken home to glory before all the bad stuff started happening on earth.  I felt it went against God’s very nature to allow His family to go through the horrors of the Tribulation.  Surely He loves us too much to allow that.  “Just keep praying, brother and sister, that you may be counted worthy to escape.”

Not only that, but it was easier to raise money if one believed in a pretribulational Rapture.  Many sincere Christians who want their lives to count for Christ are easily stimulated to give to ministries when they believe that Jesus Christ could come back at any moment.  After all, who wants to send money to a ministry that tells them tough times are coming and you will have to go through them?

In the preface to his book The Rapture Plot, author David MacPherson hints at a link between pretrib theology and money.  MacPherson describes belief in the Rapture as “Protestant evangelicalism’s most popular and most lucrative view of the future.”  Not surprisingly, most popular prosperity teachers – with a few rare exceptions – hold strongly to a pretribulational view, including belief in a Rapture that will allow believers to escape the calamities to come.

My own thinking on the matter began to change when, in prison, I began a daily, concentrated study of the Scriptures, especially those relating to Jesus Christ.  Naturally, I wanted to learn about Christ’s return, so I began searching for those passages that described a rapture that preceds the Tribulation.

To my amazement, I couldn’t find any.  Oh, sure, I found Scriptures that I and other preachers had twisted or had imbued with our own interpretations, but when I allowed the Bible to speak for itself, I came face to face with the fact that my preconceived notions of a pretribulational Rapture were baseless.  About that same time, God began to impress upon me that I myust warn people concerning the dark days to come.

Over the years since then, I have discovered that I am not alone in my opinion that there is no biblical basis to believe in a pretribulational Rapture.  For instance, Dr. George Eldon Ladd, the esteemed former Professor of Exegesis and Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, wrote, “The Scripture nowhere asserts that there is a Rapture which will take place before the Revelation.”

Dr. Ladd studied the prophetic Scriptures carefully and wrote numerous books on the Second Coming, including The Blessed Hope and A Commentary on the Book of Revelation.  In his book The Last Things, Ladd contends:

The only coming of Christ that is spoken of in Matthew 24 is the coming of the glorious Son of Man after the tribulation and the only thing that resembles the Rapture is the gathering of the elect from the four winds (Matt. 24:31).  There is not a hint of a pretribulational return of Christ and Rapture of the church before the Great Tribulation.

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 4)

The word rapture comes from the Latin rapiemur and means “we shall be caught up”.  Although the word rapture does not appear in the Bible, we based our concept of it on a passage in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, in which he encouraged the believers:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.  (4:16-18 NASB, emphasis mine).

This catching away of the saints was to take place secretly, at least as far as unbelievers were concerned.  Only believers, it was thought, would be able to witness the appearing of the Lord.  Suddenly, Jesus was to appear for us, and in a twinkling of an eye we would be gone, whisked off the ground to meet the Lord in the sky.  The dead in Christ, believers who had died prior to His coming, would rise first and together we would all meet Him in the air.  From there He would take us to live with Him eternally.  Later, Christ would return again, this time in power and glory to judge the word and set up His eternal kingdom.  Some Christians who agreed on a pretribulational Rapture had more difficulty agreeing on just how much time would elapse before Christ’s final return – some thought it to be after the one thousand years of peace predicted in Revelation 20:3, others thought it might be before that millennium – but all pretrib preachers and teachers were confident of Christ’s final victory over Satan and the Lord’s return for His people.

Many Christians plastered bumper stickers on their cars with slogans such as, “If Jesus comes, this car will be driverless.”  Pastors sometimes quipped, “If the Rapture takes place while I am preaching, you’ll have to get someone else to finish this sermon.”  Christians often joked, “Imagine what a mess it’s going to be when the Rapture occurs – when millions of people don’t show up for work the day after the Rapture because we are all in heaven!”  Those with a more morbid outlook fretted over what would happen to planes being piloted by Christians, or buses being driven by Christians, or patients being operated on by Christian doctors at the moment the Rapture takes place.  Planes spinning out of control, buses careening off highways, and patients left to die on the operating table were part of the down side to the Rapture.

Although most of my pretribulational mentors were relatively unknown, some of the more recognizable names associated with pretribulational Rapture position include C.E. Scofield, whose notes in the Scofield Bible influenced many of the preachers of my generation; Hal Lindsey, whose book The Late Great Planet Earth did much the same for many laypeople; John F. Walvoord, a Dallas Theological Seminary professor whose book The Rapture Question has impacted many who have studied the issue from a more scholarly approach; and Charles C. Ryrie, whose study Bible was one of the best-selling study Bibles in the 1980s.

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998