Our Blessed Hope: The Return of Christ

This one is guaranteed to ruffle feathers. John MacArthur:

Christ could come at any moment. I believe that with all my heart—not because of what I read in the newspapers, but because of what I read in Scripture. 

From the very earliest days of the church, the apostles and first-generation Christians nurtured an earnest expectation and fervent hope that Christ might suddenly return at any time to gather His church to heaven. James, writing what was probably the earliest of the New Testament epistles, expressly told his readers that the Lord’s return was imminent:

Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! (5:7–9)...keep reading

Rapture Teaching Before Darby?

Was the rapture ever mentioned before John Darby or Irving or MacDonald? You bet.

The rapture before John Darby? Say it isn’t so!

Some years ago Grant Jeffrey excitedly contacted Dr. Thomas Ice and announced that he’d found a pre-Darby pre-conflagration rapture statement. The document was from someone dubbed Pseudo-Ephraem. PE presumably believed in a pre three-and-a-half-year rapture.

According to PE:

"Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord! For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins…."

Seems pretty straight forward doesn’t it? But it really messed with some peoples' heads.

I recall a few non-pretribulationists working themselves up into a lather over it. Bloggers scrambled to spiritualize PE’s words into the “Catholic language of his day.” Robert Gundry quickly wrote an article asserting why PE couldn’t have meant what he plainly wrote. In turn, Dr. Ice responded to Gundry.

Why was it so important to debunk PE? Prewrathers and posttribbers didn’t like the fact that someone prior to Darby incorporated the Day of the Lord into the final three-and-a-half years of tribulation, and kept the church out of it...keep reading

I've already had one individual hound me on Pseudo Ephraim. Not only did he miss the point but he confirmed the essential premise of the article!

The Non-Pretrib Club Cult

I just got an e-mail from a fellow who thanked me for subscribing to his website. In fact I didn't subscribe and I don't know how he got my email - though I have some ideas. Whatever the case, the guy is a busy man with a mission. Here's his blurb:

Thanks For Subscribing To NoPreTrib!

NoPreTrib is a ministry that I started because pre-tribulationism is one of the most dominant false teachings to be found amongst professing evangelical, Bible believing Christians. Jesus and the Apostles warned the early believers about what to expect in the last days before Christ returns. They warned of spiritual deception regarding His return, apostasy, Antichrist, tribulation and more. Pre-tribulationism conditions believers to think they will not have to face these things and sets them up to fall away.

NoPreTrib consists of a blog, Facebook page, and a Twitter feed. I'm currently co-authoring a book on the subject with Pastor Joe Schimmel of Good Fight Ministries, and helped to contribute to the recently released video: Left Behind or Led Astray.

You Can Help!

If you believe in pre-tribulationism, I'm just glad that you're reading this. It is my prayer that you would approach this subject with an open mind and heart, recognizing that it is important to consider, especially in light of the times in which we live.

If you are in agreement with me that the Church in America is being set up for a last days apostasy; then pray. Pray for those that have been lulled into a false sense of security. Pray that the false teachers would be exposed. Pray for your friends and family members that are caught up in this false unbiblical teaching. Pray that they would have their eyes opened and be prepared for what is coming. Pray for me, for strength and encouragement in the face of opposition.

Speak out. Don't allow yourself to be bullied, or shamed for standing up for the truth. In bringing this issue to light, I have been told numerous times that I should stop writing these articles. I've been told it is unimportant, divisive, peripheral, Satanic, you name it. Yet the same people that tell me to stop, do not cease to promote pre-tribulationism. God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but power and love and a sound mind. We should not be ashamed to speak the truth in love. Ezekiel 33:6

Lastly you can consider helping financially. Most if not all that has been done with the NoPreTrib Ministry has been done with my own limited resources, while I work a regular job supporting a family. If you believe God is calling you to support what I'm doing, please click on the link below. 100% of what you contribute will go to pay for the expenses related to maintaining the website and advertising to enable the ministry to reach a broader audience. Thank you!

Quote: "Speak out. Don't allow yourself to be bullied, or shamed for standing up for the truth."

Ah yes, pretribulationists bullying posttribulationists. We must stamp it out!

Incidentally, Joe Schimmel's DVD is four-and-half-hours. He's another busy man. I've seen the trailer. Darby gets called a cultist and there's some old footage of Walter Martin linking Darby with MacDonald. Riveting stuff. Participants include Jacob Prasch and Joel Richardson. Prasch seems to have forged a reputation for verbally bashing pretribulationism and just about anyone else he disagrees with. It's hard to take them seriously and hard to totally ignore them. Some of these critics seem to be obsessed with eschatological polemics, as a perusal of their websites often shows.

But, seriously, when you start asking for money to finance an attack on the pretrib rapture because you think it's dangerous - you've lost the plot! This is fanaticism.

Remember the gospel? Spend your money on that. The cheque (Aussie version) is in the mail.

Note: Dr. Paul Wilkinson is working on a rebuttal to the Schimmel DVD.

Addendum:

I don't like harping on this because it is divisive. But I will. There's a follow up response to Paul Wilkinson's comments about the Left Behind Led Astray video. It appears on the site of the person who sent me the letter I mentioned above. The 1 hour and 45 minute talk involves Jacob Prasch and Joe Schimmel, with John Haller as mediator. It seems that these two gentlemen are out of sorts because of Wilkinson's comments.

Interestingly, one of the persons who left comments was Joe Ortiz who I've blogged about before.

Sadly, there are a string of individuals who have a reputation for consistently taking potshots at pretribulationism and pretribulationists, and being divisive. For some almost a full time occupation. In contrast, they circle the wagons and cry foul when someone reciprocates.

As mentioned in my response on our Zeteo 3:16 website, I didn't watch the lengthy video. Hence I cannot judge it on that basis. However, the trailer was a catastrophe of propaganda. Could the video have been better after such an abysmal introduction? It seems rather unrealistic of them to not expect some sort of blow back to this kind of material.

The Rapture Trap?

The Rapture Trap? is an article I originally wrote for the Omega Letter. It has since appeared on Jan Markell's website and generated some interest. I finally posted it on Zeteo 3:16.

I don't really need to go into explanations. Rapture = controversy = pretrib is bad. You know the drill.

Excerpt:

Is the belief in a pretribulational rapture a trap? Is it really the rapture trap that some people claim? Every once in a while a magic lever gets pulled releasing a wave of criticism against the pretrib rapture belief and pretribbers. Lately, Facebook and YouTube have been full of anti-pretrib proclamations. One critic recently claimed it was the belief in an imminent rapture which is why Christians don’t care what happens to the world. He added that this belief is what keeps us from the being the salt and light we were intended to be...keep reading