Alan Kurschner

Alan Kurschner has had an article published on the subject of the prewrath rapture and its growing popularity on the major conservative news website World Net Daily. Kurschner is an able teacher and writer, and WND is a powerful forum to disseminate information and interest in the prewrath rapture.

In his article, entitled “Winds of Change on the Rapture,” Kurschner asserts that pretrib is dying a slow death as Christians re-evaluate key rapture passages and also learn that the Early Church taught that believers would one day face the Antichrist.

Learn more about Alan Kurschner and his upcoming debate with pretribulationist Thomas Ice here on his site.

I’ve shared these bullet points before on Twitter (follow us at @comingofchrist). Obviously they aren’t arguments, just statements to start discussion. Each one of them contains food for thought that can help you get your pre-trib friends thinking, and questioning what they’ve been taught. Most pretribulationists have never dug deeply into what the Bible actually says about the Rapture.

Here are 10 reasons to question pretrib:

1. There is absolutely no Scripture which says Jesus can come today or come at any moment. Not one.

2. Jesus said no man knows the day, but what day? Read Matthew 24: that day was after the Great Tribulation!

3. Pretrib says Jesus was speaking to the Jews in Matthew 24. But why did He say “you” 14 times? Who was “you?”

4. There is no 7-year “tribulation” or “tribulation period.” No one ever used this term in the Bible. Jesus said the Great Tribulation begins at the Abomination of Desolation.

5. There can’t be a pretrib rapture, because the Day of Christ cannot come unless the Man of Sin is revealed. (2 Thess. 2)

6. We will indeed be hid from God’s wrath… but His wrath doesn’t begin until after the 6th Seal. Unless you also think that the saints being martyred at the 5th Seal is the wrath of God? (Revelation 6)

7. Jesus says (Matthew 24) the gathering is after the tribulation of those days. They begin with the Abomination.

8. “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD arrives.” (Malachi 4:5)

9. The sun will be darkened and the moon turn to blood before the Day of the Lord. (Isaiah 13; Joel 2)

10. Justin, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, Spurgeon and Billy Graham: NONE were pretrib.

Four more bonus reasons:

11. Pretrib believers say the rapture can happen at any moment. Yet they talk about 7 ages of the church. These two ideas can’t both be right.

12. Pretrib says the Rapture can happen at any moment. If so, how could Jesus prophesy that Peter would grow old and be martyred? How could Jesus tell Paul he would bear witness at Rome?

13. Pretrib teachers say we don’t know the day or hour and that’s true. BUT… that comes from Matthew 24 – which most of them say is only for the Jews!

14. Saying the word “church” doesn’t appear after Revelation 3 isn’t an argument for a pretrib rapture. It doesn’t appear in 1 Peter, 2 Peter, or 1 John, either. Are those letters not to the Church? And John is on the Earth in Revelation 11. Does the Church come back down with him?

Let God be true…

Perry Stone gives his evidences for a pre-trib rapture

In a recent video entitled “Evidence for a Pre-Tribulation Rapture,” Perry Stone continues to repeat evidence which isn’t really evidence. Like most pre-trib argumentation, Pastor Stone takes you halfway down the road but never really arrives. There are plenty of assumptions, but no proper conclusions.

Several things jumped out at me as I watched this video:

1. I still can’t get away from Stone’s personal claims. On this video you will hear Parry Stone say he has studied the Bible for 100,000 hours. On at least one other video he has been heard to say that he has studied the Rapture (just the Rapture) for 50,000 hours. I won’t elaborate on this except to say: you do the math.

2. Stone believes in pre-trib because of the principle of the separation of the righteous and the wicked. He takes time to talk about the various separations in the Bible of the righteous and the wicked – true enough, but this principle says nothing about the timing of the Rapture. Pretribulationists make much of Noah and Lot being removed, but they ignore Jesus’ plain words about these men: when they were removed the wrath of God came immediately:

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:29-30)

3. Stone believes in pre-trib because of the principle of God’s people escaping His wrath. Again, this is a valid principle but it still begs of the question of when that wrath actually begins. Pre-trib assumes without proof that the entire 7-year “Tribulation Period” (more accurately called the 70th Week of Daniel) is the wrath of God. Stone teaches here that the first half (42 months) of this time is wrath of the Lamb, and the second half is the wrath of God.

We cannot establish this from Scripture. The fact that Christ opens the seals does not mean the first seals are the eschatological wrath of God. In Stone’s scheme, the 5th seal martyrdom of the Great Tribulation (Revelation 6:9) would be the wrath of God, which makes no sense: it even contradicts his own words.

4. Stone says the Church won’t go through the Tribulation because his blood can’t purge anyone. Of course we agree with Perry Stone that only the Blood of Jesus can save us from sin. We know of no one who teaches that suffering death or martyrdom has the effect of forgiving sin. But this doesn’t mean that God will not use many things to purify His Church, even pressures and persecutions.

5. Finally, Stone says that the Church isn’t mentioned after Revelation 3, therefore we are raptured at that point. This argument has been made and refuted many times, but as weak as it is, it keeps getting repeated. When we look at the whole sweep of the Book of Revelation, we also see John back on the Earth in Revelation 11, being told to measure the Temple area. Using the logic of Pastor Stone and others, isn’t the Church therefore present during the events of Revelation 11?

Don’t be afraid to challenge the assumptions of pre-trib, which give the appearance of being spiritual and academically solid, but which are truly weak and easily punctured.

In a recent video, well-known pretribulation rapture teacher Gary Stearman claims that the Day of the Lord is the same thing as the “Tribulation Period.”

Many pretribulationists make this claim, and it’s easy to see why. All Christians who take prophecy literally agree that we will not experience the wrath of God before Jesus returns physically to the Earth. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)  We must either be miraculously preserved through that wrath or removed (raptured) out of it.

Therefore, if the Day of the Lord’s wrath and the 7-year “Tribulation Period” are one and the same, the Church will avoid the entire seven years. But does this claim match the biblical evidence? No. Here’s how to approach the issue:

1. First, agree with Gary Stearman that the Day of the Lord begins at the Rapture. Why? Paul says (1 Thessalonians 4:17-5:2) that the Church doesn’t need him to explain the timing of the Rapture because they know the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. So Paul clearly ties the Rapture to the Day of the Lord. This pattern is seen in multiple places within the Word of God: God’s people are delivered, and then His wrath falls. But as we will see, Stearman’s admission that the Day of the Lord begins with the Rapture actually disproves pre-trib and establishes the pre-wrath rapture instead.

2. Second, cut through confusing talk about the “Tribulation Period.” It is common for pre-trib teachers to talk about the Tribulation Period, as if this were a biblical term. But it isn’t. A better term for the last seven years before Jesus arrives is the 70th Week of Daniel. This refers to Daniel’s prophecy that there would be 70 important sets of seven years before the end. The last seven years before Jesus returns is the 70th, and final, set of seven years.

No Bible writer ever used the phrase Tribulation Period. Jesus spoke about a Great Tribulation, which begins in the middle of the 70th Week. (Matthew 24:15-21) But no one ever called the 70th Week the Tribulation or the Tribulation Period.

3. Finally, prove that the Day of the Lord is not the entire 70th Week (“Tribulation Period”) by looking at what comes before it. There are a number of things which must happen before the Day of the Lord. Review them and notice that this means the coming of Christ is not an imminent, signless event.  Because these events come before the Rapture, and because some of them happen after the middle of the 70th Week, the Rapture also cannot happen until after the middle of the 70th Week:

1. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, etc., before the Day of the Lord. (Isaiah 13:9-11; Joel 2:30-31)
2. God will send Elijah before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. (Malachi 4:5)
3. The Day will not come before “the falling away;” and
4. The Man of Sin (Antichrist) is revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 applies to nos. 3 & 4)

Since Stearman and many others admit that the Day of the Lord begins at the Rapture, these events must therefore come before the Rapture. And yet we know that these signs occur deep in the 70th Week.  We believe that the Rapture does not become imminent until after the 6th Seal is opened, an unknown amount of time after the middle of the 70th Week. This is known as the Prewrath Rapture.

There are other reasons to support a prewrath position, but this proof comes from the words of the pretribulationists themselves. Don’t be afraid to lovingly challenge your pre-trib friends to examine the doctrine of the Day of the Lord. It is the key to understanding the 70th Week, and the timing of the events leading up to the Return of Christ.

Problematic points in this video include the following:

1. Revelation chapters 6-18 follow the Rapture? This statement by Stewart seems to assume that when John the Apostle was told to “come up” and view his visions, it was somehow telling us that the whole church is raptured before the scenes of chapters 5 and 6. This is a pure assumption, and a natural reading of the text would lead us to think that John is simply being transitioned by God from the earthly sphere (where he was already seeing Christ) to the heavenly sphere, seeing future events.

2. The Abomination of Desolation is the “one sign” that we are near the end?This is very sloppy language for Stewart to use. Jesus gave many signs of the end. In fact, this statement directly contradicts the fact that Jesus said we would know He was coming when we see all the signs He mentioned –  including the signs of the sixth seal, which include the sun being darkened and the moon being turned to blood. (Matthew 24:33) The prophets mentioned that sign as a precursor to the Day of the Lord, as well as the return of Elijah.

3. The prewrath rapture is a 3/4 rapture? Stewart states flat out that the prewrath rapture occurs three-quarters of the way through the Tribulation. This is an oft-repeated claim which is completely false. The failure (refusal?) of pretribulationists to acknowledge that this is not what prewrath teachers say is troubling. For some, if not Stewart, it may rise to the level of bearing false witness.

4. The Tribulation is seven years? Another oft-repeated statement which is not biblical. The only Tribulation or Great Tribulation that is known to Scripture is the one that begins in the midst of the seven years (70th Week of Daniel). Jesus linked this Great Tribulation to the Abomination of Desolation. In this, of course, He agreed with Daniel, to whom it was revealed that the persecution would last for 3 1/2 years. This is not a matter of mere semantics. It bears heavily on the next point.

5. The Rapture is pre-trib because Christ will save us from wrath? Again, this is terrible argumentation. It assumes that the entire seven years is the wrath of God. Stewart says flatly that Revelation chapters 6-18 are the wrath of God. But of this is the case, what do we make of the first four seals (four horsemen)? And the fifth seal is martyrdom… is that also the wrath of God against His saints? God forbid. The world knows that the wrath of God is coming only at the sixth seal, and only then does the Rapture become imminent.

6. Two more comings of Jesus? Stewart and Laurie believe that Jesus will come two more times, once to rapture the Church and then again seven years later. Does this mean Jesus comes three times? The Church has always held to the doctrine of the Second Advent, not the Second and Third Advent. Of course, there are a number of events in the Second Advent, just as there were in the First Advent. But the Second Advent involves His coming and wrath being known, as Christ comes in procession to the Earth.

This video is actually an encouragement to me, as I can see that people will no longer sit still for this level of argumentation. The plain teaching of Scripture is that the Day of Christ will not come until the Man of Sin is revealed. (2 Thess. 2) The Rapture cannot come before the midst of the 70th Week of Daniel, and also not before the Sixth Seal.

I recently had opportunity to watch Bible teacher and pastor Dr. Mark Hitchcock teach his message “When Will The Believing Be Leaving?” (See video here.)

In this message, Dr. Hitchcock provides a defense of the pretribulation rapture doctrine which is more savvy than many. To his credit, Hitchcock doesn’t rely too much on questionable typology to construct his case. He’s an enging and sincere speaker. However, despite his appeal, he still makes the typical pretrib leaps of logic. This is more the fault of pretribulationism than anything else. The inconsistencies and false definitions required to maintain the pretrib rapture doctrine will entangle even its most winsome proponents.

To uphold an imminent, signless, pretribulation rapture, Dr. Hitchcock used the memorable acronym PRETRIB to help the audience track with him:

1. Place
2. Rapture vs. Return
3. Exemption from Divine wrath
4. Time gap between the Rapture and the Return
5. Removal of the Restrainer
6. Imminency
7. Blessed Hope

Place those points in order and you get the word “pretrib.” But there’s nothing in his presentation that hasn’t been seen or ably countered before by prewrath and posttribulational believers. As with most pretribulation rapture teaching, there are many unproven assertions in Hitchcock’s message which are somehow claimed to provide support for this tenuous doctrine.

General Issues With Pretribulational Teaching
Hitchcock sets forth a few common errors. First is the typical identification of the term Tribulation with the entire last seven years of Man’s rulership of the world before the Millennial Kingdom begins. We would do better to call this the 70th Week of Daniel, based upon our understanding of Daniel Chapter 9. Pretribulationists do not seem to be willing to grasp that Jesus never called this 7-year period the “Tribulation.” (Nor did anyone else!) When we read Matthew 24, we find that Jesus only referenced a time of “great tribulation.” And that Great Tribulation begins at the Abomination of Desolation, in the midst of the seven years. It is later cut short by the beginning of the Day of the Lord. Simply put, there is no such thing in the Bible as “The Tribulation” or the “Tribulation Period.”

This entangles nearly all pretribulationists, for in their laudable desire to say that God will not cause His children to experience His eschatological wrath, they conclude that the entire 7-year “Tribulation” is His wrath and so the Church must be absented from it. In fact the Bible never says anything of the sort. Definitions matter.

Another error in Hitchcock’s presentation is the persistent and unfortunate reference to prewrath as a “Three-Quarters Rapture.” This is a complete misrepresentation of the Prewrath Rapture viewpoint. We choose not to think that Dr. Hitchcock will knowingly misrepresent someone’s position – and he seems to know better – but neither will he refrain from using it as a shorthand name for prewrath.

For some pretribulationists, this may be more than sloppiness, because it obscures the truth that prewrath is based on imminency, similar to pretribulationism. However, following the words Jesus and Paul, prewrath asserts that the Rapture does not become imminent until certain signs come to pass, namely the cosmic signs of the Sixth Seal.

I’ll touch briefly now on some of the problems with this argument in case you run into Hitchcock’s particular approach to arguing pretrib.

1. Place. Hitchcock’s first contention concerns the place of the Church in the Book of Revelation. He asserts that the word “church” is used in Revelation chs. 1-3 nineteen times, and then not again until Chapter 22. He admits that this is an argument from silence but he also says “the silence is deafening.”

Response: Aside from being an argument from silence, Hitchcock is also committing the word-concept fallacy: assuming that studying the uses of a word is the same as studying the entire concept that it represents. The fact that the particular Greek word for “church” doesn’t appear in Revelation chs. 4-22 is irrelevent to whether the Church is on teh Earth at a particular point. As Alan Kurschner points out:

[T]he word “church” is absent from the books of Mark, Luke, John, 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, and Jude. Does that mean those books do not pertain to the church? It is patently misguided to demand that the New Testament writers must only use the term “church” to discern if a passage applies to the church.

(I strongly recommend Kurschner’s article for an in-depth treatment of the issue of the Church in Revelation.)

2. Rapture vs. Return. Hitchcock next wants to make a disctinction between the Rapture of the Church and the Return of Christ physically to reign upon the Earth. He says this is one coming in two phases. He takes time to shows the difference between the two events, or two phases of the one event, if you like.

This is not as strong an argument for pretrib as pretribulationists would like us to think. To say that there is a difference between the taking up of the Church and the Lord’s descent may first of all be only a matter of perspective. Hitchcock and other pretrib teachers must play down passages such as 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, where Paul says:

…it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe… (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 KJV, emphasis added)

Notice that the saints’ rest and the recompense seem to be tied more closely than pretrib brothers suspect. Notice also that God is paying back tribulation to those who have suffered it. This is problematic for pretribulationists, who do not expect to be here for any of the last seven years before Jesus descends.

3. Exemption From Wrath. Hitchcock’s says we all face tribulation, but he asserts that “tribulation with a capital T is the future time of the wrath of God when it going to be poured out on the earth.” During the Tribulation, he says, the wrath of God is added to the wrath of Man and Satan. He cites 1Thess 1:9-10, where Paul says Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. He says this is the Day of the Lord wrath.

This is truly the fatal flaw of pretribulationism. To say that God’s wrath will not be poured out upon the Church says nothing about the timing of the Church’s removal from the Earth. It only upholds the principle which is maintained by all Rapture viewpoints that the saints are not appointed to His wrath. There is only an assumption in pretrib that the entire 70th Week is God’s wrath, supported (in the minds of some) by the fact that Christ is the one who opens the seals. But if we look at Seals 1-4 we see Man’ wrath against Man reaching its height. Yes, with God’s permission, but this doesn’t mean that it constitutes God’s wrath.

Seals 5 and 6 are more problematic for pretrib. In Seal 5 we have the massive martyrdom which likely begins at the midpoint of the 70th Week or soon thereafter as Antichrist begins his 42-month reign. Shall we say then that God’s wrath includes the 5th Seal martyrdom of the saints? And at the 6th Seal, people see the cosmic signs in the heavens and conclude that the great day of the wrath of God and the Lamb has come. It is only then, after seeing all those signs, that the Church should expect an imminent Rapture.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matthew 24:36 KJV) Every pretribulationist teacher knows this verse, but none seem to know what comes ahead of it.

4. Time Gap Between The Rapture And Return. Granted, there is a gap fo some kind between these events, but it is a pure assumption for the reasons given above to say that the gap is seven years in length.

5. Removal Of The Restrainer (2 Thess. 2:6). Hitchcock says that the Restrainer who must be removed before the Man of Sin is revealed is the influence of the Holy Spirit in the Church. He gives the typical arguments that, first, only the Spirit is stronger than Satan. I find this hard to accept. Certainly Michael and his angels prevail against the enemy. And at Christ’s return, a single angel will bind Satan in the abyss.

Looking at the Greek verb (katecho) translated as hold back or restrain, I think Hitchcock rightly says that Paul is speaking in 2 Thessalonians 2 of a neuter principle (a restraint) and a masculine person (a restrainer). He says in essence that the Spirit can be that what and who. In the context of the Antichrist being revealed, it is better to see the restraint in terms of the interplay between Michael and his armies and Satan and his armies. Most prewrath writers see Michael and the Restrainer. Some prewrath and posttrib writers see the restraint as a negative (holding on not holding back) and view it as Satan. In either case, what keeps the Antichrist from being revealed with the power of Satan is the fact that Satan is still in the heavenlies and is not yet thrown down and confined to the Earth until the middle of the 70th Week.

Paul says the Day will not come until the Man of Lawlessness has his apocalypse, his unveiling. (2 Thess. 2:3) And in 2 Thess. 2:6, Paul says there is currently a restraint or a holding on so that Antichrist may be revealed (the Antichrist’s unveiling) in his time. What is the time of the Antichrist? Is it the entire seven years or is it the latter 42 months? I suggest it is his God-appointed reign of 42 months, the time period of three and a half years already known to Paul from the Book of Daniel. We have the additional evidence from Revelation 12 of Satan being hurled to the Earth and persecuting the Jews and the saints for 1,260 days or 42 months.

Whether you see the restraint as a positive (Michael holding the enemy back) or as a negative (Satan holding onto his spot in the midst of the heavenlies until he is thrown down) can be debated but is not as important as the mid-week events that begin the Great Tribulation, enabling the Man of Sin to be revealed in his time.

6. Imminency. Dr. Hitchcock says other events may happen before the Rapture but no events must happen before it. He also says that if there is no pretrib rapture then we can’t expect Jesus to come today, as we should. To this I say: that would be fine if that were what the Bible teaches, but actually it doesn’t.

The Rapture is not imminent and has never been imminent. It will not be imminent until, as Jesus says in Matthew 24, we see all the signs. We can give numerous reasons why the Rapture has never been imminent:

• Paul plainly says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the Rapture cannot happen until there is a great falling away and the Man of Sin is revealed.
• Pretrib Rapture teachers often say there are 7 ages of the church. But if that’s true, how could the rapture ever have been imminent?
• The Spirit told Paul that in the latter days people would depart from the faith. That being the case, the Rapture could not be imminent for literally centuries!
• The Lord told Paul he would bear witness in Rome. That being the case, the Rapture could not be imminent.
• Jesus said Peter would grow old and be martyred. If this is true, and it is, then how could the Rapture ever be imminent?

Furthermore, Hitchcock identified the Rapture with the start of the Day of the Lord, but without realizing how much trouble this created for pretrib. For there are many things which must happen before that Day: the Apostasy, the Man of Sin, the coming of Elijah, and the 6th Seal signs. If the Day of the Lord begins at the Rapture, and it does, then the Rapture cannot become imminent until the 6th Seal.

7. Blessed Hope. Hitchcock says we are to be looking for the blessed hope (Titus 2:13). The Rapture is meant to be a comfort. If Paul didn’t teach pretrib, he asks, would the Rapture really be that comforting? He says that if we have to face the Tribulation, then Jesus would have to change those words to “Let your hearts be troubled.”

I find this preposterous, and even a little sad. Does this not fly in the face of the words of Christ and the Apostles in so many ways? Quoting Tim LaHaye to the effect that anything other than a pretrib rapture makes the rapture a “blasted hope” may be cute, but is it biblical? No.

When using Titus 2:13, pretribulationists would do well to look at the entire verse. It speaks of His glorious appearance, his epiphany:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing [ἐπιφάνεια (epiphaneia) – G2015] of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ…

I recommend readers to do additional research on the word epiphaneia. The blessed hope and the glorious appearing of Christ are one and the same. They are not separated by seven years. The sign of the Son of Man lets the world know the Great King is coming even as He catches the Church up into His Presence.

Conclusion. It is likely that the prewrath viewpoint will continue to grow in popularity because it is most nearly comports with the actual Scripture passages which speak of the end of the age. As long as pretrib relies on watchwords, slogans, and catchphrases without exegesis, it will continue to decline. Dr. Hitchcock’s message does little to arrest the decline of pretribulationism. Contrary to his assertions, the believing won’t be leaving just yet.

Without wanting to sound sarcastic, watching Perry Stone’s latest video on the pretribulation rapture (Settling the Pre, Mid and Post Tribulation Controversy Part 1 – #719) doesn’t give me much hope that he will even explain what other people actually even believe, much less “settle” the issue. Maybe in Part 2! (The prewrath rapture was not even mentioned.)

First, Stone begins by mentioning the 7-year “Tribulation Period.” As people who don’t subscribe to pretribulationism know, this is problematic quite simply because there is no Tribulation Period. Jesus only spoke of a Great Tribulation, which I think all parties would agree begins at the midpoint, the halfway point of the 7-year period become Christ physically returns to this Earth.

Pastor Stone then discusses Matthew 24:29-30, which he says people often ask him about. Is that post-tribulational coming the coming when Christ comes WITH his saints. He says, alarmingly, that the context doesn’t reveal the answer.

Stone must maintain that position, because to read the passage contextually (as we should read everything inside and outside of the Bible!) would reveal the answer. If he had even hopped just 2 verses below, he would have found that Jesus’ words defeat his argument entirely:

So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors…. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matt. 24:33, 36 – emphasis added)

Notice my emphasis on the words ye and all. Jesus wants us to know that He is speaking to His saints, and that they must see all those things, including the abomination of desolation and the frightful sights of the 6th Seal. Not only that, the famous passage that all pretribulationists rely upon – concerning the fact that no one knows the hour – comes after all those prophesied signs.

What unknown day is He referring to? In context, it can only refer to the post-tribulational gathering of which the Lord speaks in Matthew 24: 29-30.

Pastor Stone also says to “avoid rational arguments.” What he means by this is not as it would seem on its face. He doesn’t really mean to avoid rational arguments, just illogical ones. One example of such an argument, he says, is that the Church must go through the Tribulation because the Church is backslidden. While we may debate the extent to which God may in His own purposes allow persecution to try the saints, this issue is quite irrelevant to the issue of when the text says we might expect to be raptured.

His other “rational arguments” are even worse. There is an emotional appeal as Stone says that the Bible doesn’t teach we will be purged by being decapitated but, rather, we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. This is a complete straw man in my opinion, and mixes a lot of incongruent points because no one that I know of (except maybe Mormons!) says we have to be purged by the shedding of our own blood.

Stone also counsels the congregation to avoid making a comparison between saints being saved through the Tribulation and Daniel’s friends going through the fire. He notes that Jesus compared the days of His coming to the days of Noah and Lot. In the days of Noah the wicked are taken away, and in the days of Lot the righteous four escape.

Pastor Stone looks into Genesis 19:22, where the angels say they cannot act in judgment until Lot’s people are removed, and says this is a pretrib verse. Why exactly this verse has anything to do with the pretribulation rapture is never stated – it is a mere assumption.

Looking at Genesis 19 does demonstrate the principle of God removing His people before He pours out His eschatological wrath, but Genesis 19 is not a pretribulation passage. Here’s why: Pastor Stone and other pretribulationists fail to leave out an important detail about the days of Lot. Jesus takes pains to say that on the same day they went out of Sodom they were consumed. And then He says this:

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.  (Luke 17:29-30)

Pastor Stone is at pains to assert that righteous people will be separated. They will be! But the principle of God reserving wrath for has enemies does not necessarily mean that the Rapture is pretribulational, and Stone must assume it is so to make that point.

Perhaps most alarmingly, Stone misquotes 2 Peter 2:9, leaving out an important word to make his point. Peter said there that the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment…

But Stone left out the phrase out of temptations, which creates an entirely different pretribulational meaning, at least in his mind.

Watching this video was disappointing. I’d have to say even the audience did not look impressed. I will watch Part 2 but I highly doubt this will settle things, and the handling of the text saddened me.

Occasionally, I dip my toes into Twitter to see how matters like the rapture and the tribulation are being discussed by the Christian community. It’s disconcerting to say the least.

I’ve expressed concerns before about how we are inoculating the world against the truth because we have taught the world that pre-trib is what all Christians believe. Finding oneself unexpectedly in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel will be a disaster of the first magnitude. Having to explain to others that you were actually wrong about the rapture will be even worse!

I do try at times to engage pre-tribulationists about their beliefs because I want them to see that pre-trib has almost no foundation whatsoever in the Word of God.

A person who undoubtedly means well told me today that Revelation chapter 4 demonstrates that there is a pre-trib rapture. After all, it starts with a trumpet and John being told to come up there, and then the lamps are seen in Heaven, signifying the true church.

Nothing could be further from the truth. John says in Revelation 4 that he hears a voice like a trumpet. He does not hear a trumpet. What’s even worse, the lamps referred to are actually stated in the text to be the seven spirits of God. There is absolutely no indication that the lamps stand for the church in any way. They are the seven spirits of God, as the text explicitly states.

If this is the level of argumentation that pre-trib advocates are engaging in, we must pray harder to reach people before it is too late.

This one is an HBO show about a rapture with a twist: others besides Christians are taken away and there’s no rhyme or reason.

This will have the effect of further muddying the waters. Christians are already at war about the issue, while the popular success of Left Behind has convinced the world that all Christians believe in a pretribulation rapture. It is hard to imagine a more dramatic spiritual catastrophe than what will flow from the certain failure of “pretrib.”

As we have said before, pretrib preaching is little better than an inoculation against the truth. How will people who find themselves in the middle of the 70th Week, or the Great Tribulation, convince people that Jesus really is coming? After all, what happened to your Rapture?

In Isaiah 19, the prophet spoke of a great civil war in Egypt, the fulfillment of which seems yet future because of the participants crying out to the LORD, and speaking the language of Canaan. This would likely place those events during or very near to the 70th Week of Daniel.

Such calls for assistance, coupled with the already historic crowds gathering in support of and in opposition to the military removal of the Brotherhood, make us think that we are very close to Egypt being ignited.

More here: Qaradawi Summons Foreign Jihadis to Martyrdom in Egypt.