No Pre-Trib Rapture! - Terry James - http://www.raptureready.com/rap16.html
Assaults are being launched against the integrity of God's promises to Christ's bride, the Church. The attacks come with increased vigor and intensity in this end-of-the-age moment--a time when most every signal of Christ's coming again is in view. This shouldn't surprise those who are steadfastly watching things unfold from the true, biblically prophetic perspective.
Rapture is the target. To be specific, the Pre-Trib view of that great promise is under renewed assault. It comes from quarters which claim they defend Israel vigorously as retaining the promises of God as His chosen nation forever. In the same breath one such proponent defends Israel against replacement theology (the claim by a growing number of even those within the evangelical ranks that the Church has replaced Israel as inheritors of God's promises), he claims that God, in effect, doesn't mean what His Word says when it comes to promising to keep Christ's bride from the time of Tribulation.
He unknowingly, in an ironic twist of self-condemnation, points starkly to his own erroneous proclamation about the Rapture--that there will be no such Pre-Tribulation event. He says the following about the view of those who claim God doesn't keep His promises with regard to the nation Israel: "This is an issue concerning the integrity of God. God is a promise keeper. And when we say that God made promises but he didn't really mean them or that he changed his mind, we are literally challenging the very integrity of God, we are accusing God of being a promise breaker. That's really what it boils down to. That is a dangerous thing."
I maintain that this is the very thing this Rapture critic has done. He, and those like him, who say the Church (all born-again believers during the Age of Grace) will go through any part of the seven years of Tribulation, have, even if unwittingly, accused God of being a promise breaker. They challenge the integrity of the Creator of all things. I'm certain this scoffer at the Pre-Trib Rapture--and that's what is being done: scoffing--would say that his take on the Rapture differs from those Christian brothers and sisters who claim that the Church has replaced Israel.
"How so?" would be my question.
Those who believe the Church has replaced Israel no doubt believe just as strongly in their position regarding replacement theology as does he that there will be no Pre-Trib Rapture. Most likely, the Rapture scoffer argument would then be that biblical evidence proves beyond any doubt that Israel, as a people--as a nation--will be inheritors of God's promises forever. Oh yeah? Then prove it, Mr. Pre-Trib Rapture scoffer. Let's see your evidence.
He would say, I have no doubt, that he has that scriptural evidence, and in abundance.
I would counter that I agree wholeheartedly. There is no doubt that God's Holy Word verifies beyond any doubt that His integrity is intact. Israel is His chosen nation and will be forever. I maintain likewise that the biblical studies done by a great number of God's most Holy Spirit-gifted men and women ever to be enlisted within His service have presented an overwhelming preponderance of evidence that God has promised to take Christ's bride, the Church, out of harm's way--not simply keep the Church through it, but keep the Church from the very time of Tribulation, a time Jesus said would be the worst of all human history (Matthew 24:21).
Although the case is, as I say, overwhelming in the preponderance of evidence to that effect, the promise is summed in a single verse: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10).
The word "from" in this promise, in the Greek language, as has been pointed out many times, is ek--meaning "out of."
The Bible is literally alive with proof texts that build the case. There is coming a moment in time--before the Tribulation begins--that Jesus Himself will step out on the clouds of glory and call believers of the Church Age--dead and alive--to be with Him forever in His Father's house (John 14:1-3).
My objection to those, such as this Rapture scoffer, is not that he sees Scriptures differently than I. My problem with these is that they mock and scoff at those who hold to the Pre-Trib view. In my opinion, this mocking is heard in the tone of his words, gleaned from an email I received recently. He says in part the following with regard to his problem with the Pre-Trib Rapture:
"It's one of the premiere pastoral issues of our day. If you're a pastor that's not preparing your people to face potentially the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation, in this hour, simply because your denomination teaches it or whatever, personally I think you're failing in your role as a shepherd and a pastor." He goes on to further scoff:
"There are some powerful winds of change presently sweeping through the church, especially as it relates to the subject of end times theology and the rapture. In fact, although these winds have been quietly bringing change for quite some time, their effects are now beginning to become far more apparent. There are ample signs that there is a mass exodus of believers who are leaving the doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture behind."
I would agree to this extent. The winds of the prophesied apostasy are blowing into these troubling times more strongly with every day that passes. I refer to the winds of false doctrines and false teachings such as those that say the Church has replaced Israel in God's promises--such as those that bring on the scoffing, mocking rants that the Apostle Peter forewarned for these last of the last days in which we are living. The apostle Paul forewarned about these days in which unbiblical declarations would be put forward, and he urged us to resist such error that would be part of end-times apostasy: "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Ephesians 4:14).
Peter further forewarns: "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Peter 3:3-4). --Terry
[1] Daymond Duck, September 2015, Newest Articles, www.raptureready.com
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