Monster May is still on the march!
Today’s headlines are chilling. Tornadoes were reported across the Midwest, including Joplin, Missouri, Minneapolis, Minnesota and a small Kansas town. READ MORE
Monster May
During a show taping not too long ago, the Lord suddenly downloaded the words “Monster May” into my spirit. It was very much like the countless earlier times I had been given some prophetic insight rather unexpectedly but very certain, nonetheless. When the Lord spoke the words “Major March” to me on New Year’s Eve 2010, I had no idea the extent of what was coming in March, but the somber events which were to unfold proved that those words were particularly accurate and precise. Then, nine days before the Japan earthquake and again while on the air, the download from the Lord came again; “There’s going to be a 9-point earthquake somewhere in the world very soon.” On March 11, 2011 we saw Japan literally moved 8 feet and the earth’s axis shifted 4 inches in a historic earthquake of epic proportion.
The Red Lights of Prophecy are Flashing!
“Hearing from the Lord” is somewhat of a mystery to most people. But for those who read and believe what the Bible says, hearing from the Lord is not only talked about in the ancient texts, it is essential for the last days. We are told in Acts 2:17-18 that “in the last days” the Lord will pour out His Spirit, and the result of this will be prophetic revelation in the form of visions, dreams, and prophecy. This is necessary “in the last days” because as we draw closer to the end of this age, we will need prophetic guidance more than ever. In 1 Corinthians 14:39, Paul instructs the Church: “So my brothers and sisters, you should truly want to prophesy…” Paul also said in 1 Corinthians 13:9 that we know in part, and we prophesy in part. I like the way the New Living Translation explains this: “Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!”
Weather Even More Out of Control: Death By Water
In 1999, the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night and instructed me to get a pen and begin to write. One of the things He said to me was there would be “weather even more out of control: death by water”. It seems as though this particular prophetic word from the Lord is especially pertinent in 2011 as we see the weather causing record numbers of tornados and rain, and then the Mississippi River floods. This entire month of May has truly been a ‘monster’, and it’s not over yet. The effects of this ‘monster’ will be with us forever in loss of life and property, and in the ripple effect it will cause on our crops, our economy, and ultimately, our world.
Memphis Under Water
In January, 2011, Lori and I were in Memphis. As I looked out my hotel room window, I heard the Lord say “everything you see here will be under water soon”. The thought sent chills through me – but I know the voice of the Lord and it was an ominous warning. I later mentioned it on the air in a broadcast in February.
New Orleans Under Water Again
It gives me no pleasure to tell you that another prophetic message given to me in April this year is that New Orleans would again be under water, and this time, they won’t recover. As the Mississippi River swells and rushes further and further south, New Orleans is doing their best to prepare for the coming waters – but will their best be good enough?
As a “watchman” for the Lord, I see and hear these things to warn people of the coming dangers. My whole ministry is geared toward preparation for catastrophic events that are surely coming and that’s because we are in the Last Days. Jesus tells us all about it in Matthew 24 and in the Book of Revelation. But the most amazing thing about Jesus is that He loves us so much that He is again echoing His prophetic warnings throughout the world to give people plenty of time to see, hear and understand what is coming and to prepare. I can only believe He does this because He wants us to know that He has us in His heart and hand, and He doesn’t want people to suffer unnecessarily! He wants us to know that He is coming very, very soon!
Love,
Jim
Monster May – Recap
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 11)
Jesus Could Come For You
Conclusion
My former teaching that “Jesus could come today” I now regard as a half-truth. For you, Jesus could come today. You could meet with some accident or die of natural causes and be swept into His presence in a heartbeat. But as for Jesus coming back for the Church as a whole, certain events must yet take place before that can happen.
For instance, Paul wrote,
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:3-4 NKJV)
Notice, Jesus will not return until after there has been a great falling away from the truth and the Antichrist has risen to power by promising to bring normalcy to a world whose stability and security is convulsing. Paul continued,
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thess. 2:7-10 NKJV)
Paul is implying that the Holy Spirit now retrains the Antichrist from catapulting to power, but one day soon that hold hindrance will be removed, and the Antichrist will be revealed to the world. At that time the world will be clamoring for peace, but this false messiah will bring just the opposite. “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1Thess. 5:3 NKJV).
If your hope is in this world, get ready for the ride of your life. The material systems of this world, the harlot of Revelation, are about to be destroyed!
The End of the “Will We Go Through the Tribulation” Series
Though the words above were written more than 12 years ago, they were never more true than they are today.
Love,
Jim
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 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
For further study, please get the book:
Published in 1998
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 10)
The Rapture Chapter
Revelation 11 is what I like to call the real Rapture Chapter. In 11:15 we see the end of life as we have known it and the beginning of a truly new world order: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (NKJV).
When the last trumpet sounds, a number of things will happen almost simultaneously. The apostle Paul wrote about it: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52 NKJV).
Paul was implying that there will be a group of Christians who are alive at the time of the Lord’s return; we won’t all “sleep,” which means we will not all have died. But whether we are alive at Christ’s coming, or whether we have already died, we will all be instantaneously changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, our earthly bodies will be transformed into bodies suitable for an eternity in heaven. I don’t know how fast a twinkling of an eye is, but I’m sure that when the seventh angel of Revelation sounds the last trumpet, it will be too fast for anyone to repent and get right with God. There will be no time for that. The trumpet sounds, and instantly, the next thing Christians will know, we will be caught up to meet Jesus.
Paul described that event for the Thessalonians, who were concerned about some of their number who had died. What good would a Second Coming be for them? The apostle answered their question (and many of ours too) with what has become a favorite passage concerning Christ’s return. Again, speaking of those who have died as having “fallen asleep,” Paul informed us:
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will 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. (1 Thess. 4:13-18 NKJV)
Those who believe in a pretribulational rapture do not consider the last trumpet mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and the trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 to be the same as that mentioned in Revelation 11:15. But why not? Scripture certainly does not delineate between the trumpets described as the last. Had God wanted to show a clear difference between the trumpets – as He did with the seven trumpets of Revelation – He could have done so. It seems rather presumptuous to read something into the account where there is little room for conjecture. I believe that the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52, and the trumpet sound of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 are the same as the seventh trumpet sounded in Revelation 11:15 – the last trumpet mentioned in Revelation. Furthermore, I believe it is the trumpet to which Jesus refers in Matthew. Notice the order of events one more time.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (24:29-31 NKJV)
For a number of years I taught that Christians should be ready to meet Jesus at any moment – which I still teach today – but I also taught that the Rapture could occur at any moment. That I no longer teach, because I believe the world is on a crash course with the worst trouble ever known. And we Christians, along with nonbelievers, are going to experience some extremely perilous times, possibly as much as three and a half years’ worth, maybe more, before Jesus Christ returns.
After that time of tribulation, the wrath of God will be poured out. I do not believe God will subject His faithful children, who have remained steadfast and true through the Tribulation, to remain on earth for that awful time of His wrath. The Tribulation will be a time of testing; the pouring out of God’s wrath will be a time of condemnation and judgment. No, I do not believe that Christians will go through God’s wrath. Nevertheless, I do believe the Christian church should be preparing people now to go through some portion of the Tribulation, weaning believers away from the things of this world, and teaching Christians how they can endure the difficult times ahead.
(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 9
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. 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. 8)
What Does It All Mean?
For a number of years I believed that Christians would not have to go through any of the tribulation period described in the book of Revelation. Like many of my contemporaries, I assumed that everything between chapter 4 and the end of chapter 18 was going to be God’s pouring out of judgments on a rebellious, sinful world. I believed that we Christians would have been conveniently raptured out of this world before those horrible things began to come upon the earth. I taught that only after the Christians escaped would the awful tribulations come, followed by the final return of Jesus Christ described in Revelation 19, where we see a picture of Christ as Conquering King.
Then I read chapter 10, verse 1.
And read it.
And read it again.
The more I read it. The more convinced I became that this can only be one person – Jesus Christ. It is not Gabriel, Michael, or some other special angel, as I had been taught and as I later taught thousands of other people. The characteristics John describes can only be rightly attributed to God, not any created being.
Keep in mind what we know about the signs of the presence of Almighty God – He appears often in a cloud, the rainbow, bright light, and fire – and look at what I believe is the point in Scripture where Jesus Christ returns:
I saw still another mighty angel (messenger) coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. (10:1-2 NKJV)
I believe with all of my heart that the Person being described here is Jesus Christ. He is coming in the clouds. Only God Almighty has a rainbow on His head. Only His face is like the sun. (Moses reflected a bit of that glory when he came down from Mount Sinai, after receiving the Ten Commandments.) His fiery feet indicate that He is coming to judge the world. (Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (NKJV). And he places one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, to show that He has absolute power and authority over the world.
This is the Jesus that every eye shall see – not the Babe of Bethlehem, not even the Lamb for sinners slain. This Jesus is the regal, awesome Judge of all creation!
For nearly ten years I kept my thoughts on Revelation 10:1 to myself. Finally, as I continued to study, and as I began to speak about what I believed God had shown me in prison and in the years following my release, I felt that I must go public with the message He had given me. I knew it would not be a popular message, and I knew that the prevailing opinions in many Christian circles would be adamantly against my views. Nevertheless, late in 1997 I began to voice my opinion that although the picture of Jesus in Revelation 19 is indeed a portrayal o four King, Revelation 10 is an equally accurate presentation of our victorious Lord. And if we are to understand these Scriptures in any chronological way, it might well be that Jesus will return some time after the tribulation period begins.
I had just spoken on the subject for the first time when I was riding with my daughter, Tammy Sue, and my assistant, Shirley Fulbright. We turned on the radio and to our surprise heard Bible teacher David Jeremiah speaking about Revelation 10. Dr. Jeremiah was one of the Bible teachers I had often listened to on my tiny transistor radio while I had been in prison, and I had greatly benefited from his shound, careful analysis of Scripture. Now, as we listened in the car, I was intensely interested in hearing what he had to say about Revelation 10.
David Jeremiah presented an exposition of the passage and then said, “people won’t agree with me, but I believe this can be only one Person: His name is Jesus.”
I was thrilled! I had thought that perhaps I was a Lone Ranger in my thinking that Revelation 10:1 refers to Jesus. Not that I minded: I had long since learned that the majority opinion can often be wrong. Still, it was a tremendous encouragement simply to hear that a devout student and teacher of the Word had come to a similar conclusion as my own. In his book Escape the Coming Night, Dr. Jeremiah examined the issue again and stated succinctly, “Although the identity of this messenger from heaven seems clear to me, there has been quite a controversy about who He is. I believe this angel is the Angel of Jehovah, the Lord Himself.”
The angel, or messenger, as the world can also be translated,
Cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” (10:3-4 NKJV)
This passage is a great enigma to Bible scholars because it is never explained further. Apparently when the Angel cries out like the roar of a lion (see Rev. 5:5), the message resonates throughout the world and is answered by the seven thunders. It is the only part of the Apocalypse that John was not permitted to disclose. The message of the seven thunders remains sealed to this day.
What happens next is one of the true high points of all Scripture.
(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 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. 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
