No Pre-Tribulation “Rapture”–God’s Elect on Earth During Tribulation

The Scriptures do not support a “Rapture” that happens before the Tribulation starts, as millions have been taught.  They do support a post-tribulation event where Christians are “caught up to meet the Lord in the air”  (see post “The Pre-Tribulation Rapture–A Parachute That Will Not Open here  http://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/the-rapture-a-parachute-that-will-not-open/ ).

If we can see in the Scriptures the church, actively and literally living on earth during the Great Tribulation, then we will have proof positive that Christians were not “raptured” out of the earth before Tribulation started.  If you will stay with me for a moment, I will show you proof of this.

In Matthew 24, Christ’s disciples ask Him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (v. 3).  He lists many signs like deception, wars, famines, earthquakes, which “are the beginning of sorrows.”  Then “false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many (v. 4-11).

Then He says, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (v. 12).  The end of what?  The “end” of the tribulation that precedes His coming back to earth.  Then He says that “this gospel of the kingdom” will go out all over the world, and then the end will come.

Then the big sign comes when He says to watch for “the abomination of desolation.”   This is when the Anti-Christ desecrates the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.  When you see that, you better run for cover.  Remember He is talking only to His disciples, which are a type of all of His disciples.  “For then shall be great tribulation” like the world’s never seen.  It will be hellish, as seen during the seven trumpet plagues and the seven vials of wrath in Revelation ch’s 8, 9, 16.

Stay with me, now.  Almost to the proof-text.  It is so bad and destructive to mankind that “except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Mt. 24:22).  In other words, if God allows the destruction to continue, no human beings would survive!  “But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (v. 22).

If the church, God’s elect, have already been “raptured out” to safety before tribulation started, then why would God be so concerned about saving His elect from the physical destruction happening on earth?

“For the elect’s sake” means He doesn’t want His body of believers to die with the wicked in a total annihilation of earth.  For their sake, so that they won’t perish with the wicked, He cuts the tribulation short to prevent total destruction.

It will be horrendously bleak.  Christ’s followers will be looking for their Savior’s return.  He warns that at that time false prophets “shall show great signs and wonders…that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mt. 24:24).  These false teachers are so convincing that they almost deceive the elect of God!

If God’s church, His elect, are already in heaven, then how could they almost be deceived by imposters on earth? They would be in the very presence of God.  They couldn’t be deceived.  No, during this horrible time, His church, His body of believers are still on earth, enduring the suffering, waiting patiently for their Savior’s return.

But some will say that “the elect” spoken of here in Matthew 24:22, 24 are not the church, the body of Christ.  Don’t believe this falsehood.  His elect is His true church.  I will prove this in the next post entitled, “The Elect of God–His Body, His True Church.”  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

For more, check out my books found here:

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See also:  “The Cup of Fury”–Yahweh Has a “Controversy With the Nations”

“God’s Elect”–His Body, His Chosen, His Church

The Pre-Tribulation Rapture–A Parachute That Will Not Open

Millions of Christians are depending on a pre-tribulation “rapture” to save them from going through the Great Tribulation Period.  But it is a parachute that will not open.  This teaching has become so pervasive since 1900 that few question its truthfulness.

I certainly don’t blame my Christian brethren for wanting to escape all the destruction that’s coming to this earth during the Tribulation.  And I do certainly believe in a “catching away” of the saints when He comes back.  But the Rapure doctrine teaches that He will come for His church before the tribulation starts.  That sounds so good.  But there’s only one thing wrong.  The scriptures don’t back it up.  They speak of Christ coming back and the church being “caught up to meet Him in the air” at the end of the Tribulation.

Proponents of the “rapture” teaching usually base it on one-half of one verse in the Bible. It is found in I Thessalonians 4:17.  Christ comes back to earth; and the Christians who have died shall be raised first.  “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

We see here that Christians, who will have been changed into their spiritual bodies (II Cor. 5:1-2) “shall be caught up” to meet Christ as He nears touch-down on earth.  We will meet Him “in the clouds” and “in the air.”  Clouds and air are only found in the earth’s atmosphere!  We will rise up to meet Him in the earth’s atmosphere, and then we will come right back down here to earth!

“And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” This is the second half of verse 17 that is never quoted.  He is coming back to earth at the end of the Great Tribulation Period, and since we are ever to be with Him, then we will be coming right back to earth with Him!

I Thessalonians 4:17 does not support Christians being caught away into the third heaven, the traditional concept of heaven, mystically up there somewhere in another dimension.  Yes, there is a rising up in our new spiritual bodies, to meet Him for a moment “in the clouds” and “in the air.”  However, it is a temporary lift-off, for He is on His way to earth, and we are ever to “be with the Lord.”

He is coming here to establish His 1000 year reign of peace, setting up His government, the Kingdom of God, right here on earth.  And few doubt that He will come back here after the Tribulation Period is over.  So the “catching away of the saints” happens at the end of the Tribulation Period, at the moment of Christ’s return to earth to establish His Milennial Reign.

This “Rapture Doctrine” is of utmost importance for us to either prove or disprove, for our families’ future is at stake.   We are told to “purge out the old leaven” doctrines ( see post http://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/brutal-honesty-with-ourselves-purging-out-the-old-leaven/ )

Future posts will show scripturally the church, the body of Christ, active here on earth during the Tribulation Period. We as God’s princes and princesses must get this right.  We must study these things out in great detail in order to prepare ourselves to be rulers in His kingdom (see “Studying to Be…” at http://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/studying-to-be-a-prince-and-princess-of-god/ ).   What’s your thoughts?         Kenneth Wayne Hancock

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