Yep, I got another one of those Post-Tribber emails. I get them from time to time. Greg writes me often.

Here is what Greg had to say…

Dear Ray,

In light of all this, (I am assuming Obama's election here – emphasis mine) you need to be preparing believers for life in the Tribulation and under the AntiChrist. Time is ticking away.

Greg

I love ya like a brother Greg, but I can not agree with you in the least.

I have to say that the Post Trib position really upsets me. It takes away so much that the Lord has given us, mainly the Blessed Hope and immanency.

Now with that said, it may be surprising to all of us Pre Tribbers, but the Post Trib view is, in its primitive form, the oldest point of view. Now naturally, Post Tribbers also believe that everyone should believe their point of view because it is the oldest.

Early Christians held to a Post Trib / millennial view because of their life circumstances. The average Christian did not have the entire New Testament until the second century. So comparing scripture to scripture was not possible for many of the believers. That is until some doctrinal understanding had been put in place.

Shoot, the book of Revelation was not even around until A.D. 95. Revelation’s did not get a wide distribution for some time. In fact, it was the last book to be accepted as authoritative and be canonized. Early church views of the coming of Christ were established somewhat before believers had free access to the book which provided the most details to the Tribulation period.

Grant Jeffrey in his book Apocalypse made a very important find from early church teachings. The discovery was from an apocalyptic sermon from the fourth century. The author is designated by the name of “Pseudo-Ephrem” because there is some question whether or not the author was really Ephrem of Nisibis circa 306 – 373 A.D. who was a prolific writer and early Syrian church father. In his sermon called “Sermon on the End of the World” he speaks very clearly of the Rapture of the church before the tribulation.

“Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? … All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins.” (1)

- Pseudo-Ephrem, A.D. 372

The reason I bring this up is that so many Post Tribbers want to pin the whole Pre Trib on John Darby who lived in the 1800s.  Another person they also try to pin the Pre Trib on is Margaret McDonald who had a vision. Yes John Darby is a major proponent of the Pre Trib Rapture, but Margaret McDonald is not. In fact you read her writings regarding her visions, she is describing a Post Trib Rapture.

Why do so many Post Tribbers want to pin it on a poor little Pentecostal girl who believed in the Post Trib. This is one of their major flaw which I really do not understand. I guess it is a lack of proper research.

Another point to make in regards to the Post Trib belief is that during the second and third centuries, Christians were being persecuted left and right. They pretty much believed that they were already living during the Tribulation period. Thus they concluded that Christ was returning in the Rapture soon. (read imminent here) It really never dawned on them that Christ would return prior to the Tribulation. They did not have the New Testament to draw on and again doctrinal understanding was not really present.

So what do Post Tribbers Believe?

In a nutshell they believe that Jesus will come at the end of the Tribulation and Rapture the church. I assume that you pretty much know that one, but I thought that I would tell you, just in case.

Serious Problems With The Post Tribulation Rapture .

1. The Post Trib position ignores the many scriptural promises of escape from the wrath of the Tribulation period.

God has promised at least four times that He will save Christians from the wrath to come.

Rom 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

1Th 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Rev 3:10  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.

As you can see the Post Tribbers have a major dilemma on their hands. They either have to explain away promises of deliverance from the time of wrath found in Scripture, or they point the finger at the credibility and reliability of God’s promises. In other words they make Christ out to be a liar, which we know that is impossible.

2. The Post Trib position trivializes the Second Coming of our Lord.

Instead of being a blessed hope and a glorious mystery spoken about in the Bible, it basically is a hyper-express elevator ride… WHOOSH… we go up to our Father’s House, chow down on the marriage supper of the lamb fast food style, peek around the cool mansions He has prepared for us, get a quick judgment of what we have done here on earth and WHOOSH, right back down again to be with Christ at His Glorious Appearing.

In a lot of the Post Trib writings they really do not deal with the Rapture portions at length. They do draw a distinction between the Rapture and the Glorious Appearing. So why get Raptured to Heaven and then turn right around to come back at the Glorious Appearing? This does not make any sense at all.

3. The Post Trib does not allow any time for the judgment Seat of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

As I pointed out above, both these events are time consuming.

At the judgment seat of Christ (Rom 14:10, 2 Cor 5:10) every Christian is going to give an account of what he or she has done, to God, for the deeds done in the flesh. You can read more about this in 1 Cor 3:9-15. According to 1 Cor 4:5 the judgment Seat of Christ follows the Rapture. Then we still have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb to attend.

Here is a common sense question for you. How many of you, when you got married, took ALL the friends, family and attendees to McDonalds? It is not proper for a wedding celebration is it? So why do the Post Tribbers make it so?

We are talking about the Creator here, our Father in Heaven. He is God, the Alpha and Omega. Why in the world would our Father in Heaven, who happens to be the proud father of the bride, take all of us to McDonalds? I mean this is one of the MAIN events in Christendom. Do you really think our loving Father, who created us, would want a big Mac and fries to go? I DON’T THINK SO.

Sorry for being cynical here, but I do it to make a point. It just is not in our character to do something like that at such a wonderful event, as a wedding supper, so why would it be in our Father in Heaven’s character?

4. The Post Trib position does not allow the time for Christ to keep His promise and to take us to be with Himself in the Father’s house.

Joh 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Please read number 3 again, we are all in the mega rush mode if we believe in Post Trib.

5. The Post Trib position places the church on the earth during the Tribulation for no clear reason.

We understand that during the Tribulation is when Israel will fulfill the seventieth week of Daniel. At that time 144,000 Jewish evangelists will proclaim the gospel of the Lord, not to mention the two witnesses and the angels. So why have the church here? Why do we have to go through hell on earth? The Tribulation is a time of God’s wrath on the world, not on the church.

6. The Post Trib position cannot explain why the church is so prominent in Revelation 1-3, but are totally absent during the wrath found in Revelation 6-18.

DUH… The church is not there, that is why.

7. One of the biggest pet peeves that I have about the Post Trib position, is they steal the blessed Hope.

We as Christians are taught to expect the Lord’s return with blessed anticipation, much like the first century church. Looking for Christ after the Tribulation converts that hope to dread. What do we have to look forward to? Let’s all accept Christ as our savior so that we can then be martyred? Where is the hope in that scenario? There isn’t any.

8. The second biggest pet peeves that I have about The Post Trib position, they destroy immanency.

When one is in immanent frame of mind, they see things differently, act differently and are accountable to the Lord.

But believing in a Post Trib position, I do not need to worry about immanency. You see, all I need to do is keep an eye out for the Antichrist and see when he signs the peace treaty with Israel. We all know that is when the clock starts, aka Daniel’s seventieth week. So, all I have to do is keep an eye out for the bad guy, count seven years in the future and I know when Christ is going to return for the Church. That means in the mean time I can party like crazy, do what ever I want and then get my act strait with the Lord right before the end. So instead of looking for Christ, I am looking for the Antichrist.

When one is lacking immanency, there is no drive to evangelize the world, live a life for Christ, share the gospel and the hope of our Lord’s soon return as well as no accountability to our Father in Heaven.

When there is immanency, all of the above are in place.

Conclusion Regarding The Post Trib

While there are a lot of great Christians out there who have embraced the Post Trib position, my Post Tribber friend Greg included. Their position creates a lot more problems with the literal interpretation of God’s Word than it solves. And while some if it may have some historical weight on their side, the Post Trib position does not meet up with the clear teachings of Scripture.

14 Reasons for Believing in a Pre Trib Rapture and being a Pre-Tribulationist

1. The Pre Trib position is the most logical view of the Second Coming Scriptures when taken for their plain, literal meaning whenever possible.
   
   
2. The Pre Trib position clearly and logically untangles the contrasting details of Christ’s Second Coming.
   
   
3. The Pre Trib position allows time to have the important events, IE: being taken to our Father’s house, Judgment Seat of Christ, Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
   
   
4. The Pre Trib position is the only view that distinguishes between Israel and the Church.
   
   
5. The Pre Trib position is the only view that makes the “Blessed Hope” truly a blessed hope.
   
   
6. The Pre Trib position is the only view that takes God at His Word and claims the promises literally to save us out o the wrath to come.
   
   
7. The Pre Trib position preserves the motivating power of immanency teaching found in the New Testament that was such a challenge to the early church.
   
   
8. The Pre Trib position is looking for the coming of the Lord, not the coming of the Antichrist.
   
   
9. The Pre Trib position, the Rapture is a major event.
   
   
10. The Pre Trib position flows with the book of Revelation.
    
    
11. The Pre Trib position explains why the church is not mentioned after Revelation 4:3 through Revelation 18.
    
    
12. The Pre Trib position preserves the credibility of Christ’s own words to the Christians that they will be kept from the Tribulation.
    
    
13. The Pre Trib position maintains 1 Thes 4:13-18 as a comfort passage and explains why the young Christians in Thessalonica were so upset about the death of their loved ones. Thus the reason why the Rapture is called the “Blessed Hope.”
    
    
14. The Pre Trib position explains why there is no biblical instruction for the church on the preparation for the Tribulation.

Special Note of Contribution

In this article I want to give major credit to Tim LeHaye and his book “Rapture, under attack” as well as Tommy Ice which much of the research used in this article came from. I highly recommend Tim’s book and also recommend Tommy’s website http://www.pre-trib.org

Note to Post Tribbers.

If you are a Post Tribber, I am not interested in hearing your point of view or debating you. I am a staunch Pre Trib Rapture believer and no matter what you say I am not going to change my mind. My line in the sand has been drawn. Pre Trib Rapture is the official stance that I and the Prophezine Ministry take as I state in the following…

About Prophezine

Prophezine deals with Bible Prophecy and World Events from a Pre-trib, pre-millennial, dispensationalist stand point. We currently serve close to 7500 (and growing)  people world wide with a newsletter, news updates and website.

Luk 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Now, doesn’t that verse have so much more meaning and encouragement being a Pre Tribber vs a Post Tribber?

Are You Ready For The Rapture?

I would encourage you to not delay in receiving Christ as your Savior today if you have not already done so. He died for your sins, and rose from the dead. He offers you eternal life, but that's your choice to make. I hope you will consider doing that today.

Sinners Prayer:

Father in Heaven, I know that I am a sinner in need of a savior. I need your forgiveness through Jesus Christ who died on the cross just for me to cover the sins that I have committed against you. Please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart. I want to live for you Lord Jesus and from this day forward be known as a Child of God. Thank you for forgiving my sins and coming into my life, in Jesus’ wonderful name. Amen

If you are a Christian, but have fallen away from the Lord, come back to Him. Our Heavenly Father is a good and loving Father. Just ask and commune with Him. You see, He never left your side, we just left Him. Reach out and renew your relationship with Jesus Christ our Savior today.

I also ask that if you know someone who would benefit from this article, please freely share it with them. If you are an owner of a website, please feel free to post this article to your site. I also ask that you do not edit this document in anyway by adding to or taking away from.

If I can be of any help in answering any questions, please contact me at ray.gano@prophezine.com

About the Author:

Ray & Tracye Gano are the Executive Directors of Prophezine. Prophezine deals with Bible Prophecy and World Events from a Pre-trib, pre-millennial, dispensationalist stand point. They currently serve close to 7500 (and growing) people world wide with a weekly newsletter, daily news updates and community based website. Please visit Prophezine by going to http://www.prophezine.com

Endnotes:

1. Grant Jeffrey, Apocalypse. Frontier Research Publication, 1992. Pgs 85-94