I am not sure what percentage of born-again Christians believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. There are a lot of pastors and Bible teachers that preach and teach this doctrine. I have seen estimates as high as 90%. A pre-trib rapture is false teaching but very popular.
Whatever the number, it is going to be hard to get most Christians to pray for our country to change God’s mind from His coming judgment. Why pray, believing we are not going to be here to experience nuclear war and God’s judgment. On top of this, why pray since nuclear war killing more than 2.5 billion people seems so foreign to us all.
My purpose in doing this study is to try and convince you that at best we can only hope for a mid-trib rapture. It will be either a mid-trib rapture or Post-trib rapture with the following evidence.
Pre-tribbers will put this verse at the top of any discussion on this subject. 1 Thessalonians 5:9: For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
I totally agree, but there is a great difference between Judgment and wrath. Rev 6:14-17: The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
The wrath of God only happens at the very end of the 7-year tribulation and it only takes hours at best to accomplish. It all happens in less than one day. Seal and Trumpet Judgments have happened over many years and we are now into the 4th Seal and 5th Trumpet judgment. All 7 Vials take place within the 7th Trumpet “wrath” Judgment at the very end of the Tribulation. (Vials, KJV and bowls for other translations.)
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3: Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, (Rapture of the church) that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord (Rapture of the church) has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, Note: apostasy means “falling away”.
Paul is saying here that the anti-Christ has to be revealed first before the rapture can take place. We know from scripture that the son of perdition, the anti-Christ, only comes to power and reveals himself in the middle of Daniel’s week at the 3 ½ year point, or the “Mid-Trib” point.
And now the most powerful scripture supporting “Mid” or “Post Trib”. Revelation 20:4-6: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Pre-Tribbers believe the above verses refer to the 6th resurrection and only involves the Tribulation Martyrs. Yet the scriptures are very clear that this is the 1st resurrection and describes the Mid or Post-Tribulation rapture of the saints. If the saints had been raptured at the beginning of this 7-year period as the Pre-tribbers believe then this couldn’t be the first resurrection as the scriptures very clearly say. Are these false teachers saying God is a liar when the verse is very clear saying “This is the first resurrection“? Only after the antichrist comes to power (3 ½ years in) and the Holy Spirit is not allowed to restrain him, do his followers begin to behead the saints and put their mark on the foreheads and or hands of un-believers. For the be-heading of the saints and marking of the un-believers to happen, it takes the next 3 ½ years. (See the chart at very end of this study showing what the Pre-tribbers believe for their multiple resurrections.)
The Pre-Trib teachers will next point out that the book of Revelation is chronological in its description of the End times and the “Church” is mentioned only in the first 3 chapters and then never again in the book. In these 3 chapters God is taking issue with 7 specific churches that are functioning in Asia Minor (Turkey) that have specific issues He is addressing. A church that lost its first love; Compromising church; Corrupt church; Dead church; Lukewarm church; and two that are doing fairly well. Further on in Revelation we have specific references to the “Saints” starting in chapter 5 and verse 8; 8:3-4; 11:18, 13:7; 13:10; 14:12; 16:6; 18:20; 19:18; 20:9.
In Rev 4:1 we read this: After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
Pre-Tribbers believe the “Come up here,” is the Church being raptured when it is God only speaking to John to come up.
By the way, the book of Revelation is not written chronologically. This will become very obvious to you as you read the Bible and come to better understand the book.
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8: And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 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. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
Pre-Tribbers love the above scripture verse but misunderstand it. They believe this shows the Holy Spirit is taken off the earth when the saints are raptured at the beginning of the 7-year Tribulation. This scripture only shows the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way of the antichrist allowing him to do what he has been restrained in the past from doing. Think about this, we all know that the Holy Spirit does the convicting in a person’s heart and only He can bring a person to repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus and His resurrection. Many will come to faith in Jesus in the last 3 1/2 years.
Rev 7:14: I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Many of these Tribulation martyrs find the Lord in the last 3 ½ years during this 7-year period. These new believers come to repentance through the Holy Spirit’s work on earth during the Tribulations Judgments. Rev 13:7: It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
In Mathew 13:25-30: we read “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
This scripture verse above makes me believe we the Church will be raptured at the end of the 7-year tribulation period. This period will be the greatest time of evangelism ever and we believers will be here to win many hundreds of thousands to the Lord Jesus as we all go through this. We will have the 144,000 Jews as helpmates and the 2 witness in Jerusalem all pointing to Jesus as the Messiah. A lot of us will lose our heads and be imprisoned but will have the Holy Spirit comforter with us.
Mathew 24:29-31: “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.
Pre-Tribbers will say the above verse is where the angels gather the 7-year martyred Tribulation Saints. I believe these are all of his saints, including you and me that live through to the end.
And my last scripture proof of a Post-Trib rapture. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53: Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
This last Trumpet is the 7th Trumpet Judgment and very last one to sound on the last day of the Tribulation. We are raptured and changed into our new body just before the vials are poured out with God’s wrath. Revelation 19:11-16: And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He Judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself, He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
We the Bride of Christ right after the rapture must meet the Lord Jesus briefly in Heaven so we can mount our white horses to join Him watching from our horse backs as He defeats Satan and the nations gathered for the Battle of Armageddon.
The armies in heaven spoken of above are not an angel army but a saint army. Proof is in this next scripture.
Rev 19:7-8: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Right after this battle is the Marriage Super of the Lamb. We certainly will have a lot to talk about from that day’s events. What excitement and joy we will all experience.
Can you see now how we the United States of America will pay for our sin of sanctioning abortion even though many of us are saved and forgiven for our personal sins? Many of the United States believers are democrats and every time they vote for a democrat they approve of aborting babies. (Supporting abortion is one of the main tenants of the Democratic platform.) If you are not willing to get on your knees and beseech God to deliver us from this sin then we are lost as a nation and will experience our country losing 100 million plus, to nuclear war.
One last comment about this false teaching of a Pre-trib rapture. There is a falling away mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
I believe this scripture verse will be fulfilled by the hundreds of thousands of Christians in name only, that have been taught the pre-tribulation rapture and then find out it is not true after we lose the first 1/3 of humanity in the first nuclear war. This teaching is very dangerous and will cause thousands upon thousands to lose their faith.
Here is an excellent debate on Pre-Trip vs Post-Trib.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhrRs_jlSdU
This is a great teaching on the Post Trib rapture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSbXkGf1kT0
This You Tube video is 1 hr. 23 min. which is long but does a good job of showing why the Post-Trib rapture is correct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXO2MiWYUis
Pre-trib rapture is only 150 year old teaching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otubZM0APN4
Check the chart below for False teaching of the so-called 7 resurrections supporting the false pre-trib theory.
