Truth Be Told..

Whats Wrong With The Modern Day Teaching of Pre or Mid Tribulation Rapture?

In my opinion the teachings of a pre or mid term rapture of the church that are being taught today is a very dangerous and injurous teaching. The damage done by it is very deep; stick with me through this article maybe you will be able to understand why I make such claim!

Before I continue, I want to tell you that I believe in the rapture of the Church, just not in the same time frames as most people, as we know this is going to happen if we are reading Revelation 19:11. I just wanted to clear that up before we get started and I do not want you to misunderstand my bold statement; the BIBLICAL teaching of the rapture is not in anyway dangerous or injurous - however, the false interpretations of it are.

From my understanding; there are 3 groups of peoples - one group thinks that God will rapture His Church BEFORE the great tribulation years, another group believes that His Church will be raptured about MID - WAY through, while another group believe the rapture will not happen until the END of the tribulation years. This should be raising flags in every single Christian everywhere! Just on this very subject we find a great division among us! Don't believe me? Try holding a discussion with someone that believes the rapture will take place at a different time than you!

I personally believe that the rapture will take place at the END of the tribulation when the 7th trumpet is blown and Jesus is coming in the clouds with the army of heaven with Him. We read this in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 as well as in various other places in our Bibles. I really do not understand how confusion and different assumptions can exist as it seems to be open and shut, but here we are... anyway, in Gensis 1:26-28 God tells us there is no difference to Him, that we are all equal in His eyes. We also read in Romans 2:11 there is no partiality with God. The teachings of a pre - trib or mid - trib paints a different picture because not only does it cause division it also has a tendency to do great mental and spiritual harm.

Whats The Harm?

We learn by reading the Bible that the whole idea behind the tribulation years is to bring people back to God and to end this evil system of things. If the rapture were to take place right BEFORE the tribulation years, I do believe it would cause an exact opposite reaction. Lets take a few minutes to consider how people would feel if the rapture did take place right before the tribulation years started; now try to imagine being one of the ones "left behind." How would you feel? what would you think? Do you think it would draw you closer to God or further away? I mean, really, you know the world is ending and you some how didn't make the cut. Maybe you might start to think that you just wasnt a good enough Christian and why even try anymore. Maybe you might think that God has abandoned you. It is easy to sit here right now and say "no way, I have more faith than that!" or some other way of puffing yourself up, but, truthfully - it will do you good to truly consider the deep harmful cut something like this could do to a person and realize it is not achieving the goal of bringing people back to God.

Now, lets consider another reason why this teaching is not good; how do you think people will feel when the "pre-trib" does not happen? Do you think they will start to believe in the "mid-trib" rapture? Maybe they will just stop believing in God and in Jesus. I mean they spent their lives banking on this, they believe it in their very hearts. I know they do, because I believed in the "pre-trib" rapture in my younger years. Can you imagine the pain they will be in when they wake up one day and wonder: why am I still here? I was suppose to be gone by now, the church was supposed to have been raptured by now! it really has a way of shaking the faith and will provoke much of the same mental thoughts that we just talked about people having if there was a PRE - Tribulation rapture!

Looking at the Mid - Tribulation Rapture Theory

Now if we look at the MID trib rapture - the above still holds true; but consider what we know by reading and understanding. The beast must expose himself about this time - about mid way, because he reigns for 3 - 4 years and that puts him at the end of the tribulation years when Jesus comes back. So, what does the beast do when he is exposed? demand that everyone rich or poor take his mark - or be ostercized and basically hunted down. This is where we understand fully, that there are still brothers and sisters here at this time as lots of people will be put to death by refusing the mark. Truth B Told; so far in my studies, the whole idea of people being "left behind" really cannot be found in our Bibles, and in fact are told there is a specific order of call:

Some Famous Misinterpretations

If we look at Matthew 24; we find a parable, an illustration to use toward understanding HOW His return will be. It is meant to show us we will be carrying on eating, drinking and marrying, not really paying attention, asleep and not awake, it is meant to make the reader understand that His return will happen when least expected. Trust me when I tell you, the last thing a Christian is going to be doing during these days is working in the fields as we will be hunted, persecuted and being killed by this time.

There is also a section in our Bibles that talk about the 144,000. In Revelation 7. According to the text, there will be 12,000 taken from each one of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is during the interlude that takes place between the 6th and the 7th seal. Brothers and sisters, these are literal numbers; please do not be one of the ones that try to make the number connect to the total amount of people saved out of the tribulation! This is another false teaching that is meant to cause stumbling! If this were true then only males would be saved! According to Revelation 14: "These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless" We must accept that these 144,000 are all males with the use of "firstfruits" - as we all know that "firstfruits" was and still is referring to the first male son born to your family.

From what I can tell so far is that these 144,000 are a special class as they will be sealed from before their birth and groomed to conform to the above description. Remember there is a hierchy in the heavens and there will also be a hierchy when God brings His Kindom down. If we continue to read this passage, we find that AFTER these 144,000 are taken to a safe place; in verse 13 we see them discussing the vast amount of souls present and are told that these have come out of the great tribulation (meaning the rising of the dead in Christ and then those that are His and are still alive without the mark of the beast on them), the true rapture of Gods Church :)

Wrapping up

So, according to all that I have read and mentioned, the rapture of the church takes place at the END of the tribulation. After satan has appeared and all the deceptions have been played, and right before the battle of Armageddon, as no flesh is going to be able to survive all that fire and spiritual battle. However, until then, All those living on the earth during the years of tribulation will be tested by it; as it says in Revelation 3:10. It also says something else very interesting: Because you have kept My word of perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of the testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who live on the earth. Some would say: "See? keep you from the tribulation!" But I want you to look at this with some understanding: the whole of the Tribulation is to last 7 years. The battle of Armageddon will be short and sweet with the victory declared before the battle! One hour, folks..to toss satan and his false prophets into the lake of fire along with all of his followers. We are told in Matthew 24:13 that every living person on the earth must endure this test until the end and if we do, we will be saved. If we take a look just a bit further in that passage, Jesus tells us when the end will come - He says this: "And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." And what "good news" is it that Jesus is speaking of? Verse 13! "and the one who endures unto the end will be saved!" Amen!

I would also like to take a minute to remind everyone that by "enduring" we should understand and keep in mind our "model"; how did Jesus endure, did He rob, beat, steal, kill or lie to anyone? Most assuredly, He did not! So as times start to get tougher, we need to get more righteous not less righteous. We need to always ask ourselves: 'What would Jesus do?' and hold tight to what we know He would do; because folks, that is exactly what will be expected of us!

Are you ready? Will you deny Jesus when things start to get too hard for you? how about if someone was holding a gun to your head? Or will you remember not to fear the one that can kill the body, but fear the One that can destroy both body and soul" Brothers and sisters, we are not going to be considered a "good and faithful servant" by going the way of the world. Trust me when I tell you it is not going to be a nice smooth road and if you have not already read my article about the Armor Of God I suggest you do, we will all most assuredly need His armor in order to stand against what is coming! Anyway, if you are someone that is believing in anything other than what we are told in the Bible, please take the time to do some solo research and pray for some truthful understanding, it is important so that you do not freak out when things on our earth start really get rockin'!