The Third Coming - and other Rapture myths

My Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary defines Rapture thus:

'a seizing or carrying away: extreme delight: transport: ecstasy: a paroxysm'

It derives from rapere (to seize) - the same Latin root as rapt, which means:

'snatched or carried away: abducted: carried out of this world: transported, enraptured, entranced: wholly engrossed'

And fans of the Jurassic Park film series might be interested to know that it also shares its etymology with raptor.

No wonder, then that most of the Christian Church has chosen this same word to describe that End Time Biblical event prophesied by Jesus: The resurrection and ascension of God’s saints immediately prior to his Second Coming.

Let me say here that I believe in the Second Coming of Christ and in the resurrection and ascension of his saints because that’s what the Bible says will happen. However, what I do not believe in is much of the modern mythology that has been added to the clear teaching of the Holy Bible and swallowed wholesale by a large segment of the Church.

In this article we shall not only consider what the Bible does say on this matter, but also what it does not say. When we do, we shall not only discover from the Bible what those errors are that have crept into a large part of modern theology, but shall also expose the manner in which they have been taught and infiltrated the Church.

We shall also consider why a correct understanding of Rapture theology matters, and what Jesus predicted would be the consequence to believers of its being wrongly taught and understood.

First of all, the Bible never mentions any Rapture per se - that’s just a convenient epithet theologians have adopted as a shorthand portmanteau expression (derived from a Latin translation) to describe the resurrection and ascension of believers at Christ‘s return, it is not an actual Biblical expression. Nevertheless, since it does describe actual events, we shall retain its use for the same reason - the sake of convenience.

However, as with so many doctrinal errors, the root lies not in the Scriptures, but in the way that they have been interpreted, as the emphasis has gradually shifted away from what the Bible says to what people want to hear. This often involves a distorted emphasis, by which I refer to what occurs when one particular aspect of the Gospel is emphasised at the expense of another.

It’s not that any particular aspect is wrong or that we should ignore it, but that when one facet of the truth is emphasised to the point of isolation, we become imbalanced in our understanding. A surprising example of which today is the Cross.

In a day and age when even unbelievers were a cross or crucifix as a fashion accessory, we certainly hear plenty today about Jesus’ crucifixion and ‘Jesus’ finished work at the Cross’, nor am I suggesting for one moment that what Jesus achieved at the Cross was anything less than fabulously glorious or utterly momentous - because without the Cross we would have no Gospel. It is a pivotal and indispensable part of the Gospel; but it does not stand alone, nor did the early Church imagine that it did.

In Biblical numerology, five is the number of grace and as John 1:17 says:

…the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Notice that! - The law was given but grace came, because Grace is not an abstract, nor is Grace a concept, or an idea, or a doctrine. Grace is a Person - the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Jesus came he did a lot more than just die on a Roman cross. In fact, what we call our Salvation, Jesus achieved by means of five distinct and miraculous acts, the absence of any one of which would render the other four redundant and our Salvation void.

These five miracles were: Jesus’ incarnation, sinless life, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.

Think about it -

1)  If Jesus had not emptied himself of his divine prerogatives (Philippians 2:7) the rest of the Gospel would have been a non-starter.

2)  If Jesus had not lived a perfect and sinless life he would not have qualified to be our Saviour. (Hebrews 4:15)

3)  If Jesus had not submitted to death on the Cross as our vicarious sacrifice, then his miraculous birth and perfect life would have been academic. (Philippians 2:8)

4)  If Jesus had not been resurrected, then his vicarious sacrifice would have been in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

5)  And, if Jesus had not ascended back to heaven, there would be no Church today. (John 7:39)

In a demonstration of Divine Symmetry, central to those five essential aspects of our Salvation is the Cross. But it does not stand alone. As always, God’s plan was perfect, thorough and meticulous. And notice point number 4, the crucial role of Christ’s Resurrection, mentioned in Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians.

In what is sometimes called the Resurrection Chapter, the apostle Paul tells us quite a lot about the early Church’s understanding on the bodily resurrection and ascension of believers at the return of Jesus Christ - especially in verses 42-55,

So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

And so it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul," the last Adam was a life-giving Spirit. But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual. The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven.

Such the earthy man, such also the earthy ones. And such the heavenly Man, such also the heavenly ones. And according as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. And I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"

Now, look closely at a parallel passage in 1 Thessalonians.

But I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you be not grieved, even as others who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

For we say this to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not go before those who are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall 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 so we shall ever be with the Lord.

Therefore comfort one another with these words.

To coin one of my favorite expressions: If that passage could be any clearer, I don’t see how.

Here, the apostle Paul unequivocally links the resurrection of dead believers and their ascension along with those till living coincides with the Second Coning of the Lord Jesus Christ in his glory.

For the Lord himself shall 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.

This is essentially the same sequence of events Paul is describing in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.

Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.

The problem here for many Christians is this clear sequence revealed in Scripture linking the resurrection and ascension of the saints (the Rapture) to the physical descent of Jesus from heaven (the Second Coming).

Somehow this has been changed to a version of the Rapture where many seem to believe that Jesus comes back invisibly to take up his saints as a distinct prelude to another event called the Great Tribulation which occurs prior to his return to earth to establish his throne in Jerusalem at the beginning of his thousand year rule known as the Millennium.

However, I have one enormous objection to that scenario which is simply this; The Bible makes no mention of Jesus’ Third Coming.

If by now your eyes are starting to water as you ask yourself - 'What rubbish is he talking about? I’ve never heard of any Third Coming' - don't worry, you’re not alone. It doesn’t exist - there’s no such thing. But in order to accommodate the flawed chronology of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, a Third Coming becomes a necessary corollary.

And if you think that’s beginning to sound just a wee bitty familiar, you’d be right, because an invisible visitation by Jesus is not a million miles away from a doctrine held by another denomination.

But where on earth did this invisible return idea stem from? Not from the Bible, that’s for sure. Throughout the New Testament, God’s Word confidently proclaims Jesus’ triumphant return as a spectacularly visible event.

Nor is this, as many suggest, some oblique and insignificant point of abstruse theology. Rather it is a doctrine that so offended the Sanhedrin when Jesus proclaimed it that it led directly to his being sentenced to death for blasphemy in Matthew 26:62-66.

And the high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."

Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgement?" They answered, "He deserves death."

Nor was this the only occasion that Jesus made mention of it. Indeed, he did so many times through out his ministry, of which here are just a couple of examples:

But even if, by some wild stretch of the imagination, Jesus’ own testimony were not persuasion enough, there is the Biblical principle of corroboration laid down in Deuteronomy 19:15 and confirmed by Jesus in Matthew 18:16 -

But if he does not hear, take one or two more with you, so that on the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.

Consider then, the evidence of the angels at Christ’s ascension, in Acts 1:9-11.

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

It’s also interesting that, in teaching that his coming in great power and glory not only coincides with the ingathering of his saints and follows the Tribulation, but that Jesus takes the occasion to warn against false against false christs and false prophets who teach otherwise.

But another clincher is Jesus’ statement that we read in Matthew 13, that…

…in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.

And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

And likewise, in...

For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.

And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

And then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.

"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

All the essential elements are there:

Jesus comes down from heaven in great glory;

He is accompanied by a host of angels;

He is heralded by a loud trumpet;

And the elect are gathered to him.

But also notice two other indisputable facts that Jesus mentions:

1) …and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

So, it’s a bit of a spectacle which everybody sees when it happens.

And when might that be?

2) Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

So, Jesus returns from heaven, visibly, audibly and with great show, at which time he gathers his saints to himself…after the Tribulation.

You might wonder where that leaves any room for the impression that we’re all going to be hoovered up into heaven before the Tribulation. Maybe I’m missing something, but it’s certainly not what Jesus talked about.

Here’s a question for those who doubt my interpretation: Just who are these ‘elect’ that Jesus mentions, about whom God is so concerned that he actually cuts short the Tribulation?

The elect are simply the chosen (those whom God has chosen because they have chosen him). So the answer is simple: the elect are those who are born again, New Covenant Christian believers - whom the Bible also calls the saints.

The widespread but erroneous teaching that the elect who go through the Tribulation are somehow a different category of believer from the rest of the Church (those converted by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists after the Rapture has taken from the earth all those who are already Christians) is rubbish of the first order: Not only is it unbiblical but diametrically contrary to what the Scripture does say.

This spiritual apartheid necessitated by the Pre-Tribulation position is a pragmatic compromise to make the facts fit the theory, but which is anathema to God and contrary to his clear revelation in Ephesians 2:13-16,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

And also Galatians 3:24,

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

The fact is, the idea that the Church is going to be airlifted out of here before the Tribulation is nonsense, which begs the question - Where did the whole idea come from in the first place?

As a concept, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory evolved out a theological mishmash culminating around the late 18^th to early 19^th Centuries. And I have to say it has sold very well - although, outside of the United States and Great Britain, and those countries most influenced by their religious heritage, it is far from the prevailing view. And what popularity it does enjoy owes more to the fact that it panders to what people choose to believe rather than on any objective standard found in the Bible. It’s so large an area of study there is no room to examine every detail here, and my interest is in expounding what the Bible says rather than allocating precious time and space here to a failed argument. Suffice to say, since you are reading this on the internet, you already have adequate recourse to the resources necessary to check it out for yourself.

Nor is there any shortage of other arguments that may be deployed against a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Several of these are scriptural, and still more arise from the practical evidence of current events.

Just look at the world economy, as well as the every proliferating spectres of war, famine and natural disasters. And also witness the increasing hostility towards Christians and Christianity in previously ‘Christian’ nations, which I‘ll come back to.

And, brothers, we entreat you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together to him, for you not to be quickly shaken in the mind, nor to be disturbed, neither through a spirit, nor through speech, nor through letter, as through us, as if the Day of Christ has come.

 

Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because that Day will not come unless first comes the falling away, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, the one opposing and exalting himself over everything being called God, or object of worship, so as for him "to sit in the temple of God" as God, setting forth himself, that he is God.

 

Do you not remember that I told you these things, I yet being with you? And now you know the thing holding back, for him to be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst. And then the Lawless One will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume by the spirit of His mouth, and will bring to nought by the brightness of his presence.

 

His coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and miraculous signs and lying wonders, and in all deceit of unrighteousness in those being lost, because they did not receive the love of the truth in order for them to be saved.

This scripture is often interpreted as suggesting that the Antichrist is not revealed until the Church is removed from the earth, based on the reference, ‘only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst.’

It is argued that this refers to the Holy Spirit who is restraining wickedness meantime during the Church Age, but will one day be taken from this world. This hypothesis is then extrapolated by applying a principle from Hebrews 13:5, where God says "I will never leave you nor forsake you". And since the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer, he cannot leave this world without taking us with him. If he goes, we go - QED.

This is nonsense, and completely ignores the context, as well as the fact the Holy Spirit is God who, as the rest of the passage makes very clear, is not only active throughout, but orchestrating events. The whole argument is a clear case of eisegesis - which is the theological error of reading into Scripture what we want to find, rather than constructing our doctrines according to what we find already there.

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must occur; but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then they will deliver you up to be afflicted and will kill you. And you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will rise and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold. But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe.

Sometimes called the Olivet discourse, parallel accounts of Matthew 24 are also found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. In this passage Jesus delivers one of his sternest warnings regarding the for coming persecution we call the Great Tribulation, about which he shares three very telling insights:

1) Then they will deliver you up to be afflicted and will kill you. And you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

2) And then many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another.

3) And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold. But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe.

These reveal the root of the problem, which is the clear link between tribulation and offence. The idea that those being afflicted and killed are not Christians is belied by verse13 which says that ‘the love of many will become cold’, where the Greek word for love is agapé, which is only ever used in the New Testament in relation to God or his people.

And why, might you suppose, would ‘many be offended’? - Because they are suffering a persecution they had never been warned to expect. Indeed, they are suffering a tribulation they had been led to believe they would escape.

And I would just mention here another well known passage from the same chapter that is often mistakenly trotted out in support of the Pre-Tribulation position, which at a cursory glance it might appear to do:

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Look! proponents will say, here are people going about their daily business who just suddenly disappear - surely that’s describing the Rapture.

Not at all. Look again at what Jesus is actually saying and you realise that the Rapture argument turns his meaning upside down. To illustrate why, let’s examine another scripture where Jesus illustrates his point in the same way.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Verse 16 is arguably the most familiar scripture in the Christian New Testament. But notice how Jesus introduces it: It‘s a rabbinical example of a Hebrew parallelism .

…as Moses lifted…so must the Son of Man be lifted…

For God so loved…that he gave…that whoever believes…should not perish…

Even a complete dunce can see what Jesus is doing here - he is illustrating a New Testament truth by drawing an Old Testament parallel. It’s an illustrative technique also often called ‘Type and Shadow’ theology, where a type is an analogous representation of a reality we call an antitype.

In this case the type is found in Numbers 21:5-9.

And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."

Then Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Son of man, Jesus explains to Nicodemus in John 3:16, is the antitype of Moses’ bronze serpent. And, just as when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole and all who had been bitten by the venomous snakes who looked upon it and were saved, so will all those who have been bitten by sin be saved if they believe in Son of Man lifted up on the Cross.

As always, God’s typology is perfect because bronze is the metal Biblically associated with judgement and condemnation. And so it was that God’s condemnation of our sins was laid on Jesus at the Cross for our salvation.

Which brings us back to Matthew 24, where Jesus says:

…and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away…

…so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

…Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.

In this case the type is of those sinners who were taken by surprise by the Flood and swept away by God‘s judgement, whereas the antitype is of those who are taken away at Jesus’ return. So, Jesus is not talking about some Rapture of the righteous, but of the extinction of the unrighteous.

I said earlier that when Jesus warned that many would be offended he probably had in mind many believers who had placed their trust in a false promise that they would escape the Tribulation by being airlifted out at the Rapture. But why would anyone want to make such a false promise?

Think about it. I also mentioned earlier that Pre-Tribulation Rapture theology is part of a paradigm most popular in the United States and Great Britain, as well as those countries most influenced by our religious heritage. Hitherto, our nations have been relatively free societies, standing at the forefront of the defence of the Free World and its democratic values and ideals.

Thus, have many of our religious ideas evolved to mirror our own comfort-oriented worldview. The Lord God of Israel revealed in Scripture has too often been subtly refashioned as a true-blue American or an English gentleman, upon whom we have superimposed our own values - thereby robbing him of his own identity.

We have similarly tended to airbrush out whatever difficult scriptures do not suit our personal preferences and proclivities. But, as I often say, a difficult scripture is seldom one that we find hard to understand: Far more frequently it is one we find hard to accept.

Today there is a great emphasis on churches being ‘Seeker-Friendly’, which has often led to the dilution of unpalatable truths resulting in the presentation of a compromised Gospel. And, to coin a theatrical phrase, church growth has too often degenerated into a matter of ‘Bums on seats’. Too many pastors seem to covet church numbers at the expense of maturity. But Jesus did not command his followers to go out and make converts, but to go out and make disciples, which is something else entirely.

I’ve watched and listened carefully to many Pre-Tribulation Rapture teachers over the years and often recognised the same psychological techniques I was taught when I worked in sales.

One of these is called the ‘Power of Agreement’ or ‘Nodding Dog Syndrome’. You simply set up a string of proposals which everyone agrees with, then, when everyone is nodding their heads and agreeing with everything you say, you throw in a questionable but reasonable-sounding point which no-one by that time feels comfortable about questioning or disagreeing with.

This is often reinforced by a particular favourite among many preachers which is to back up all their straight doctrines with solid scriptures cited in context, then introduce their disputable point with either no scriptural backing, or backed only by some tendentious scrap of scripture taken out of its legitimate context. Indeed, another shameful use that this technique is often deployed for is to manipulate the congregation’s giving.

There are other sales techniques and mechanisms that are entirely obvious to the trained eye and the Biblically literate, and God hates them all. And so do I.

I teach grace; I teach tithing; I teach prosperity; but I refuse to compromise the Word of God. If the Bible doesn’t teach it I don’t teach it. And if the Bible does teach it, I teach what the Bible teaches and not what other people say the Bible teaches but I don’t find there. And I am fastidious about backing up what I teach with scripture that others can check for themselves.

And why? - Because James 3:1 says I am answerable for what I teach:

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

And if God says 'Be Warned!' I take that warning seriously.

Wherever we turn nowadays we seem to find compromise seeping out of the Church’s every pore. Sin is tolerated rather than addressed, and church ministers and elders have become politically compulsive in their efforts to avoid offending anyone with talk of repentance.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I teach God’s grace and I teach God’s grace radically. I do not believe in legalistic heresies such as Judaising or Galatianising, where grace is surrendered to Law and believers are dragged back into bondage. However, I also believe what Paul said in Romans 6:14,

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

The Bible does not instruct ministers to gratuitously hurt God's people or beat them up with Scripture - although you could be forgiven for thinking that that's exactly what he told some to do.

The Word of God says to build up, strengthen and exhort the flock, to be gentle, and speak the truth in love - but it doesn‘t admonish the ministry not to speak the truth at all. Jesus did not say ‘Beat my sheep’, but ‘Feed them’, so I don’t jump on people or bruise them with condemnation, but neither do I condone any sin they might be involved in. Jesus was a ‘Friend of Sinners’ not a proponent of sin, and Jesus is our example of true ministry. It is perfectly possible to take a strong line on sin and still be compassionate to the one trapped in its grasp - or to coin an old phrase: to love the sinner and hate the sin.

Repentance is an often overlooked essential aspect of Salvation and the Gospel message today, but the New Testament Greek word for repentance (metanoia) does not connote a change of one’s outward actions alone, but a change of mind, because we only truly conform outwardly when we first transform inwardly. Or, as the old axiom goes:

A man persuaded ‘gainst his will

Is of the same opinion still.

Nor is there any shortage of other arguments that may be deployed against a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Several of these are scriptural, and still more rest on the practical evidence of current events.

Just look at the world economy, as well as the ever proliferating spectres of war, famine, disease and natural disasters. And also witness the increasing hostility towards Christians and Christianity in previously ‘Christian’ nations, which I‘ll come back to.

In too many churches today love has been misidentified as tolerance of just about any sin or error to the point where we consider how people feel or what they think to be more important than what the Word of God says. There’s a time and place when correction should be meted out, albeit gently - unless it is ignored or rejected.

Nor do I subscribe to gratuitous severity, because few people are likely to take kindly to being corrected by someone who has not first taken the trouble to show themselves kindly towards them - which God calls relationship.

But nowadays it seems as if correction is no longer fashionable at all - and besides, we don’t want to alienate good tithers, do we?

If it feels good do it. If it sounds good believe it. And if mentioning sin upsets anybody, keep quiet about it. Thus has so much error today entered the Church from where it has always come:

For a time will be when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts, they will heap up to themselves teachers tickling the ear; and they will turn away the ear from the truth and will be turned aside to myths.

Which of these might you suppose will sound more attractive to most of us? -

Hard times are a-coming and you will be persecuted, but God will strengthen you and protect you, and see you through your trial.

or

Hard times are a-coming, but you needn’t worry because God will airlift you out before it happens and you’ll never have to face any testing.

Our modern Western society is fundamentally pleasure-seeking and risk-averse, and those proclivities have infiltrated and influenced the Church more than many realise, to where church-goers are taught what they want to hear rather than be confronted with a truth they don‘t like. And the reason so many churches now teach and are taught a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is because most Western Christians have it so easy - and want to keep it that way. But the same cannot be said worldwide.

Hitherto it has been easy for a very long time in Britain and America and the West to be a Christian - although that situation is changing at an ever-increasing pace.

When was the last time the police came into your church, arrested the pastor and poured molten lead down his throat?

 

Never? - Did it occur to you that that’s because your church is not in North Korea?

 

 

When was the last time a new covert in your church was beheaded by their own father?

 

Never? - Did it occur to you that that’s because your church is not in Pakistan?

 

 

When was the last time rioting locals burnt your church down and indiscriminately murdered the members?

 

 

Not lately? - Did it occur to you that that’s because your church is not in the Sudan, India or Indonesia?

Corrie ten Boom died in 1983 but is still remembered by millions as a woman of the highest courage and integrity who survived the Holocaust which killed the rest of her family in Hitler’s death camps after they were arrested for harbouring Jews in occupied Holland during World War 2.

Corrie’s family were devout and loving evangelical Christians who took their faith so seriously that they refused to compromise to the point of death. So Corrie's words carry weight, and of the Pre-Tribulation rapture she wrote the following as part of a letter in 1974:

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

 

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured." Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,

"We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution, rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes, – to stand and not faint."

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it.

 

We are next…

 

…In America, the churches sing, "Let the congregation escape tribulation", but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.

 

Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

That was 1974. Today, over 200-million Christians are persecuted in more than sixty countries across the globe and estimates of the number of Christians martyred for their faith each year vary around 176,000, with a projected 210,000 martyrs-a-year by 2025, although some admit a true figure is so difficult to assess it could be very much higher.

The Tribulation is not sent by God; it is the manifestation of Satan’s wrath against the Church that many have confused with the Wrath of God that follows it, which is what he pours out on an unrepentant world that is fully surrendered to Satan’s system.

But how many of today’s Western churches have taught their believers ‘to stand and not faint’? I suspect not as many as should have done. Rather, as Jesus solemnly warned his followers two thousand years ago, too many of today’s believers have been prepared to be offended when a Tribulation they had be told never to expect befalls them.

The apostle Paul wrote:

…God has so composed the body, giving greater honour to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:24b-27)

And in John 13:35 Jesus famously declared,

By this all shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love toward one another.

Maybe that’s no longer true, and our modern Western churches have selfishly outgrown such old fashioned sentiments to where we have redefined tribulation to encompass ‘only that which directly affects me’.

Maybe the time has come for many to contemplate a major rewrite of Jesus’ words to something more consistent with their Pre-Tribulation Rapture theology. How about -

By this all shall know that you are my disciples, if you say to your hurting brother, “I'm all right Jack!”

All the signs are that our Western Churches have grown more selfish, which is what the Tribulation will be able to feed upon. Because the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory is an inherently selfish doctrine, while one major reason why believers are persecuted in growing numbers is the indifference of other believers who fail to pray for them.

So, just maybe there’s another way of escape, a way that is so eloquently encapsulated in 2 Chronicles 7:14 -

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.