Study – Grow – Know

The PreTrib Rapture, and Being (Allegedly) Unprepared

September 17, 2009 at 5:23 PM 2 comments

There is a lot that is being said today about just how bad and deceptive the PreTrib Rapture is, for those within the Church.  Dave MacPherson’s been making money hand over fist with no less than 8 books on the subject alone!  Others, who follow in his footsteps, believe that what MacPherson speaks, is the gospel and stand behind him, with more “attaboys” than he likely knows what to do with.

The trouble is that folks like MacPherson, who preach the evils of believing and espousing the PreTrib Rapture position, are missing a very important point, which I’ll get into a moment.  First, it should be understood that one of the more well known reasons put forth for claiming that the PreTrib Rapture position is pure deception, is because it is stated that this particular Eschatological position breeds compromise, laziness, spiritual immaturity and the like, in Christians.

One individual, whom I have spent some time rebutting and rebuking, has written an ebook on the subject called, The Pretribulation Rapture: What if it Isn’t True?  The author, C. H. Fisher, spends the better part of his book explaining just what will happen to Christians who have succumbed to this end times deception.  He states in no uncertain terms that those who believe in the PreTrib Rapture position are led to believe that they will be taken out of the world before the Tribulation.  Since they could be wrong (he of course “knows” that the PreTrib Rapturist is wrong), then they will be fully unprepared to handle the rigors and pressures of the world’s worst time known to mankind. 

Because PreTrib Rapturists believe they will be taken off the planet prior to the Tribulation, it is charged that they will essentially stop growing spiritually.  They will become lazy, immature, unspiritual and a plethora of other things besides.  The general idea is that we Pretribbers will adopt the “Hey, I’m safe!  I’m gone before it gets really tough!  No worries!” and of course, this attitude then carries over into our daily living, which means that we will stop reading the Bible, we will become very lackadaisical when it comes to prayer, going to church, and in general, obeying Christ as He seeks to secure the souls of the lost through our testimony.

In effect, the opponents of the PreTrib Rapture position, claim that people who adopt it and believe it, will essentially stop living for Christ and during the Tribulation, will have become the antithesis of spiritual, to the point that they will give themselves over to the Antichrist and accept his mark, sealing their fate.  The real tragedy here is that intelligent people actually believe this to be a possible scenario!

Those opposed to the PreTrib Rapture position do not believe that Christ’s return can occur at any moment.  Because they believe that PreTribbers have created this doctrine of imminency (or “any moment return”), regarding the Bride’s translation to heaven, we have set ourselves up for this huge fall, when the Rapture does not occur and we find ourselves in the midst of the Tribulation/Great Tribulation.  Those opposed to the PreTrib Rapture position, are opposed because they resolutely believe that it’s going to be at least seven years (or maybe three and a half, depending on how they look at Scripture), from today, tomorrow or the next day, before the Lord actually returns!  Since this is what they believe, then He cannot come tomorrow.  Since He cannot return to earth for at least seven years (or three and a half), then those who believe that Jesus will “rapture” His Bride off the face of the planet at any moment are not only kidding themselves, but setting others up for a huge fall as well.

All right, what about life and death?  On this basis then, the Christian should NEVER think about life with Christ after they die, even though the New Testament is filled with passages throughout, which remind us of the fact that we should be eagerly awaiting for the revelation of our Savior.

Let me ask you…do you KNOW when you will die?  Do have ANY clue whatsoever as to when you will breathe your last so that your soul will be ushered into the presence of Jesus Christ?  Can you say that it will be at least seven years (or three and a half), or one year, or one day?  Who actually KNOWS when their life will come to an end on this planet?

Yet, are we not supposed to live as if every day is our last here, especially since we do not know?  In light of the fact that we are completely unaware of not only the day, but the hour and moment of our death, how then should we live?  Should we not live as if we will be with Christ in the very next moment?  If we are, will we then not automatically be living the way He wants us to live?

I contend that by considering the fact that I await a Savior from heaven to call me home, whether by Rapture, or by “natural” death, my mind then becomes set on things above.  Because my mind is set on those things above, then I am not enamored with the things found within this life.  Because I am not enamored with these things that will pass away, my time is spent glorifying Him; praying, studying, fellowshipping, worshiping, witnessing, seeking Him and more.

The charge that because someone believes that the Pretrib Rapture position causes individual Christians to become lukewarm, unspiritual, immature and unprepared, is nothing more than a charge, but an erroneous one at that.  Nothing could be further from the truth!

I am looking FORWARD to being with my Savior and Lord.  I am longing to see His face, to see His love, to sense His full acceptance of me, to HEAR His voice, and to see the place that He has prepared for me!  In the meantime, I work because that is what I am here to do, but I can still LONG for the time when this life will be over!

Jesus spoke of a parable of the evil servants (Matthew 24), who after the master of the house left, got very lazy.  Why did they get lazy?  Because they said “Where is the promise of His coming?”  They FORGOT that the master of the house could literally return home at any moment.  They thought they had plenty of time and so those in charge began taking advantage of, and abusing those under their charge.  They stopped considering the fact that the Master WOULD return.  It was THAT, which caused their attitudes to change, and it was that, which caused their sin nature to gain a strong foothold within them, so that they began to act, think and talk, as if they were NOT Christians; as if they had no sense of spirituality within them.  They became lazy, evil, immature, unspiritual and WRONG.

Friends, it is not believing in the PreTrib Rapture that causes immaturity, anymore than considering the fact that my death will usher me into His presence instantly, where I will bow before Him, and praise His Name face to face!  It is in thinking that we’ve got a lot of time, which causes laziness and spiritual immaturity.

Even if the Rapture does NOT occur prior to the Tribulation, one thing you and I can both count on is the fact that our death will one day occur.  It may not be far off at all, and in fact, it may come tomorrow.  What are YOU doing in your life NOW?

I have a book that is just now available called Does Believing and Espousing the PreTrib Rapture Create Unprepared Christians Doomed to Hell?  Yes, it’s a long title, but it gets the point across.  If you’re interested, you can find the book by going HERE.

Entry filed under: Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology. Tags: allegory, anti-christian, anti-christianity, anti-pretrib rapture, anti-supernatural, as it was in the days of noah, dave macpherson, dispensationalism, dispensationalist, earning salvation, end times, great apostasy, great tribulation, man of lawlessness, pretrib raptre, pretribulation rapture, prophecy, rapture, second coming, tribulation.