Tag Archives: Tribulation

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. 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

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 3)

Believing and expecting the return of Jesus Christ is something most Christians can agree on, but the question that rankles the hearts and minds of many believers – and sometimes even divides Christians into separate camps and denominations – is the issue of whether believers will have to experience some or all of the rough times described in the book of Revelation and other prophetic Scriptures.

Basing their beliefs on information found in the Old Testament book of Daniel and the New Testament book of Revelation, conservative Bible scholars generally concur on the fact that the Great Tribulation will last a total of seven years. During that time the earth will undergo a horrendous time of chaos, including unparalleled earthquakes, floods, famines, pestilences, meteor strikes, and wars. Out of the chaos, rising on a platform of peace and security, will be the Antichrist, a powerful world leader under the direct control of Satan himself. The question is this: will Christians who are alive at that time (which I believe is coming upon us in the near future) escape the Tribulation, or will we have to go through part or all of it? Sincere Christians and intelligent Bible scholars can be found on both sides of the issue, holding to radically different opinions of just when Christ will come and when His church, the body of true believers, will be removed from Earth.

For many years I believed and preached adamantly that Christians would not be here to see the horrors of the Tribulation period. Admittedly, most of my thoughts on the matter were not original; nor were my views arrived at by years of studying the Scriptures and coming to biblically based conclusions. For the most part I simply believed what my mentors had taught, naively accepting their positions as absolute truth. When I continued to teach the things I had heard other sincere men and women of God proclaim – namely, that Jesus was coming back before the seven-year Tribulation, in an event we called the Rapture.

(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 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
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. 2)

Procrastinators, Beware!

Maybe Jesus did not get more specific so we would live with a constant sense of expectation, looking for His soon return.  Clearly that was the message of His story about the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), five of whom were prepared for the bridegroom’s coming and five of whom were not.  Jesus emphasized the point of the story:  “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (25:13 NKJV).

God knows that some of us are terrible procrastinators.  We would gladly put off until tomorrow what we should have done yesterday.  On the other hand, my mother always prepared well in advance.  She had a disciplined manner, and my family members could set their clocks and calendars by Mother’s schedule.  She washed clothes on Monday; she ironed on Tuesday.  She bought groceries on Friday.  Her pattern rarely changed.  If we planned a picnic, and something happened that we could not go, my mother cried because her plans had changed.

Perhaps as a reaction to Mother’s rigidity, I have always been just the opposite.  I hate to prepare for trips ahead of time.  An hour (or less) before it is time to go, I will be scouring my clothes closet, tossing shirts, socks, and underwear every which way, trying to figure out what I should pack.  Similarly, if I am preaching at a church, I wait until the last minute before getting dressed, usually arriving just in time to walk onto the platform.

By not telling us the exact time and date of His coming, perhaps Jesus was being especially gracious to procrastinators like me.  If Jesus had given us an exact date for His return, some people would no doubt waste much of their time, talents, and treasures on meaningless or trivial pursuits.  They would wait until the last minute to prepare to meet the King of kings face to face.

When it comes to the Second Coming, we will not read an announcement in the newspaper the day before Christ’s return.  You will not hear an anchorman declare on the evening news, “And tomorrow at five o’clock, Jesus Christ will return to earth in power and glory, with His holy angels, Film at eleven.”

Yet, if you listen carefully, you will hear prophetic “voices in the wilderness” proclaiming the message that Christ’s return is imminent.  It is “gettin’ ready time.”  This is no dress rehearsal, this is the real thing.  Furthermore, we need to fall in love with Jesus now, and not wait until the last minute.  If Jesus really is coming soon, how much more important it is that we get to know Him better, and that we center our lives around the things that are important to Him.

Years ago, an artist painted a scene in which a young woman was standing on a cliff, looking out to sea, her hand shading her eyes as she eagerly scanned the horizon, watching for the first sign of her husband’s returning ship.  Her face is filled with love and desire, as though she is recalling exactly what he had promised her concerning his return and when she might expect to see him again.  As she looks for his ship, she is already preparing a welcome for him in her heart.

Christians who truly love the Lord Jesus will have a similar attitude as we look for signs of His soon appearing.  We should be recalling His every word, studying the Scriptures to help us remember what is important to our loving Lord, scanning the horizon, watching for hints that the time is drawing near, and preparing our hearts in anticipation.

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
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
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. 1)

Some dramatic events on God’s calendar must take place before the Lord returns to earth, and many of these are not going to be pretty.  Those Christians who have adopted a materialistic, escapist view of the Christian life may be terribly surprised.

Many of the world crises we are beginning to experience were predicted in the Bible hundreds of years ago.  What is shocking, however, is the rapid-fire speed at which these events are now racing ahead.  Against all odds, the frameworks of the world’s economic, political, and social systems are being shaken and are beginning to crumble.

Before going any further, allow me to make a confession:  I do not understand everything the Bible reveals to us concerning the Second Coming.  I consider myself a student of the Scriptures, but I must admit, I still have questions about many aspects of eschatology, the study of future things.  I do not know when Jesus is coming – it may be in my lifetime or it may not – but I believe He will return to Earth in power and glory, just as He said.

I used to listen in amazement (and sometimes with amusement) to some of the prophecy teachers we hosted at PTL.  With their charts and graphs they would dogmatically teach exactly when the events described in the book of Revelation were going to come to pass.  “This is going to happen, then this will happen, and then will be the Battle of Armageddon…” on and on they would go.  I do not mean to imply that these teachers were insincere in their teaching or unlearned in the Scriptures.  They were godly Bible teachers who felt strongly that they had exceptional insight or an unusual understanding of a complicated message.

Yet the truth is, we do not know when Jesus Christ is going to return.  I can point you to the Scriptures that describe what will happen before His coming; I can (and will in the pages ahead) show you Scriptures that describe His return in power.  But to set a date for His return is not my intention.  Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32 NKJV).  In one of His last statements to His disciples, after the Resurrection and just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7 NKJV).  For me to give you a play-by-play description of the events scheduled to take place in the future, events whose timing is known only to our heavenly Father, would be the height of presumption on my part.

On the other hand, I do not subscribe to the popular notion that it is impossible for us to know approximately when to expect our Lord’s return.  Many Christians are fond of saying, “I am neither pretribulational or posttribulational.  I am pantribulational.  I just believe it will all pan out in the end.”

That’s a cute (and non-confrontational) way to look at the last days, but it flies in the face of Scripture.  Jesus definitely gave us a lot of information concerning His return and, as I noted previously, numerous signs to watch for, signs indicating that the time of His return is near.

Sometimes I wish Jesus had been more specific in the information He gave to us.  Imagine all the theological arguments He could have prevented if He hand only said, “I am coming back at the beginning of the Tribulation period, or the middle, or the end of the Tribulation.”  Better yet, He could have said, “I am coming back on January 1, 20XX, so be ready.”

(To Be Continued)

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
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998