ALL false doctrine, allegedly based on Scripture, has misused Scripture somehow! It is NOT just the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Catholics and eternal security teachers who do that! In fact, most of the popular and respected so-called “Bible teachers” of our day do that, including the Pre-Trib Rapture scripture twisters with their myth!
Expecting The Pre-Trib Rapture In Vain
Many Christians continue to wait in vain for a pre-trib rapture! It is sad, but true. They have been misled by a multitude of authoritative independent teachers and denominations, including Harold Camping, who recently and shamefully wasted millions of dollars on his 2011 false rapture predictions to the embarrassment of all of his devotees.
2 Thessalonians 2 Is Explicit
If one would unbiasedly read 2 Thess. 2 in context and believe what it says there, no Christian could get a pre-trib rapture out of that. Just the opposite!
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day [the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him (v.1)] will not come until the rebellion [departure from the faith or apostasy] occurs and the man of lawlessness [Antichrist] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. (2 Thess 2:3)
Pre-Trib Rapture Scripture Twisting
The pre-trib rapture teachers twist the clarity of 2 Thess. 2:3 into something very different from what it actual says in context! They actually teach the departure from the faith is the rapture of the church itself! They drop the “from the faith” and just focus in upon the word “departure.” NOTE: The Greek word used there is APOSTASIA. We get our English word “apostasy” (which means departure from the faith) from it. That Greek word is only used one other time in the NT at Acts 21:21 and again it refers to a departure from doctrine and truth. There is absolutely no way to Biblically justify that departure to mean a pre-trib rapture, even though all Christians would love to be snatched up into the air to meet the Lord Jesus and escape the horrible events before the great tribulation! Folks, the Bible doesn’t teach it! To want a pre-trib rapture will NOT change anything! The Bible teaches a POST trib rapture with the wrath of God starting AFTER the great tribulation. Christians will be delivered from the wrath of God (1 Thess. 5:9; etc.) which comes after the great tribulation. That horrible time will be a “test” coming to people globally.
Don’t Ignore The Overwhelming Evidence
The pre-trib rapture proponents of the last generation wrongly think they will escape the Antichrist, the mark of the beast and everything that transpires around that time up to and including nuclear war. They won’t! When serious global problems come, with billions dying, certainly many pre-trib rapture advocates may have their faith crushed because they were not expecting such! In fact, their rude awakening to no pre-trib rapture might be part of the apostasy itself as many become disillusioned with Bible teachers! That is very sad but often the case with spiritual deception after a proponent learns of it.
Remember, many godly people suffered and died as martyrs over the centuries, besides the various ones in the Bible. God didn’t snatch them away and He will NOT snatch us either, IF we are the last generation. That makes Rev. 12:11 one of the most important verses in the Bible for that generation:
They overcame him [Satan, v.9] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Rev 12:11)
Are you ready to die for your faith? It takes courage to be a real Christian!
