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The Pretribulation Gathering ON the Day of Christ
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There are several views as to the TIMING of the “gathering of the body of Christ”. NEVER forget the “true” subject which is “under discussion”. When Christ’s COMING is being spoken of FOR US, it is in REFERENCE to this point of eschatology; the GATHERING of the body of Christ. We say that because every pre wrath and post trib rapturist alive SLANDER the PRETRIB rapturist. Every PRETRIB rapturist TEACHES Christ comes AFTER the tribulation, but the PRETRIB rapturist also believes the GATHERING of the body of Christ is BEFORE the tribulation.
Yes, you see it immediately. What is this thing about gathering OR coming?
The PRETRIB rapturists teach the GATHERING is before HIS COMING to earth.
The posttrib rapturists don't like that because they "think" it makes more than two comings. They wrongly refer to the Lord's RETURN for the body as the "Second Coming". To them, this means he GATHERS us AT HIS COMING to the earth which is found in Revelation 19, after the tribulation.
The correct Pauline doctrine is that the body of Christ will be gathered before the tribulation. (2 Thess.2, 1 Thess.5, 1 Cor.15, 1 Thess.4) This was a MYSTERY revealed to Paul.
The other views do not believe or teach that! That is the CONTENTION. They “slander” the preweek rapturist in stating that he teaches more than one coming. They're behind time. Jesus taught that! (Luke 4,19) He also taught he was going to “gather” someone. (Matt.24) See he taught a COMING and a GATHERING. This is in DIRECT REVELATION of OT Prophecy which proclaim the same thing. (Gen.49, Isaiah 11,27, Matt.13,24,25) These folks can’t distinguish a coming from a gathering. They are distinguished in the Bible in Gen.49 and 2 Thess.2. They think a COMING equals a GATHERING. It does not. Notice a coming WITHOUT a gathering. (Isaiah 49, John 1)
Jesus Christ CAME and gathered NO ONE! He will though!
Between his TWO COMINGS to the earth, he will "appear" and GATHER those who "believed" he WAS ON THE GROUND". This is a pretribulation gathering. He will "appear again" and GATHER those who SHALL BELIEVE (Matt.24:13-15) in his RETURN TO THIS GROUND. This is a posttribulation gathering. Gatherings are appearances. He's in the air! (Matt.24, 1 Thess.4, Rev.14) The comings are also appearances. (1 Tim.1, Rev.19) He's ON the ground.
There are THREE FUTURE APPEARANCES of the Lord Jesus Christ coming up!
The prewrath and post trib rapturists FALSELY proclaim that there is ONLY “one” more appearance, which is the SECOND COMING, and at that time, the gathering takes place. (Second Coming is a non-biblical eschatological term referring to the RETURN coined by believers)
The apostle Paul taught a gathering which concerns the body of Christ (1 Cor.15,12, 1 Thess.4, 2 Thess.2) His gathering has been confused with the one spoken of by the Lord.
What is “actually” taught by the Bible is MORE THAN ONE appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ at three FUTURE times. An appearance of Christ is a revelation of himself, which concerns his coming to those to whom he appears. There were many APPEARANCES of Jesus Christ throughout the Book of Acts to Paul. (2 Cor.12)
The “appearance” of Jesus Christ to Paul SETS THE STANDARD for his teaching of the “appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ” to the body of Christ; for Paul is the PATTERN. (1 Tim.6, 2 Tim.4, Titus 2, Col.3, 1 Tim.1) The Lord Jesus will appear to the body of Christ AT the gathering. This appearance is NOT after the tribulation, but BEFORE; according to Paul. (1 Thess.4-5)
We shall look at some of the errors of the preweek rapturists. Their mistakes were made, NOT in the thesis (pretrib gathering of the body of Christ), but the manner of explanation concerning some of the prooftexts as to identification of the tribulation. This is what the prewrath and posties holler about. They “throw out” the baby with the bathwater!
In doing so, they become “NEW AGE” followers of Hymanaeus and Philetus, who REJECTED the truth, “when” it was there. The prewrathers and posties reject the truth “now”, AFTER it has been reilluminated for these LAST DAYS. (2 Tim.1-4)
They have the “unique” honour of being those, who were spoken of by Paul as REPROBATE concerning the truth, evil men, and seducers, departing from the faith, while giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (Tough stuff, folks.)
They are the PEOPLE who lead the apostasy within the body of Christ. They “boldly” tell you so, for they will state they “once” believed the pretrib rapture of the body of Christ was the truth. Instead of “searching the scriptures”, to explain the errors of preweek rapturism, they DEPARTED from the faith.
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The Historical Pretribulation Rapture
The actual teaching should be called Preweek Rapturism.
The preweek rapturist position teaches that the body of Christ is gathered by the appearance of Christ Jesus before or immediately at the 70th week of Daniel. Their teaching is a break between the 69th and 70th weeks which allow for the mystery to interrupt the prophesied kingdom, as presented in proclamation by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus, the 12 and 70. They totally separate the last week of Daniel, which is a prophecy of Israel, from the mystery of the body.
This was the teaching of Darby, Scofield, Larkin, and is the teaching of every preweek rapturist today. They have not changed on this point since Darby. Although they varied in their views, as to the day of the Lord, in all practicality they TAUGHT it started with the week of Daniel. They believed this was when the son of perdition was revealed.
Now the system has “flaws” in it.
As stated throughout this site, they are CORRECT on their “thesis”, which is the GATHERING of the body of Christ before the tribulation. The body of Christ does not go into or through the great tribulation.
There are several glaring “errors” presented by the preweek rapturists which cannot be prooftexted by the Book. You see, instead of studying the Book, they have been worried about the incompetent works produced by APOSTATE post-trib rapturists, AFTER the REILLUMINATION of "Pauline dispensational truth". They have been studying "how to prove" a preweek rapture from the Greek and Hebrew texts, (analyzing words and phrases), the church fathers in history, and defending Darby, Scofield, and Larkin from "Satanic attacks" of the brethren.
If you read any book, by most posttrib or prewrath rapturists, they will make comment about John Walvoord, and his “infamous” statement. He is considered to be today’s foremost theologian of the pretrib rapture. Pentecost, LeHaye, Ice, Ryrie, and all the others just “rehash” what Darby, Scofield and Larkin put down on paper.
His statement was to the effect that the gathering is not fully documented by verses to be pretrib or posttrib, but is learned through ecclesiology and dispensationalism. What he MEANS is this. The PREWEEK rapture is not documented. He is correct in that aspect of his statement for PRETRIBULATIONISM is viewed as being PREWEEK by them.
NEVER MISTAKE the "correct" doctrinal teaching of PRETRIBULATION RAPTURISM by Paul with Walvoord's statement. You see, "the preweek rapturists have misdefined the tribulation"! That makes a world of difference in "locating" a pretribulation rapture.
The ISSUE is the pretribulation gathering of the body of Christ.
The pretribulation rapture OF THE BODY OF CHRIST is documented by Paul. (1 Thess.1,4-5, 2 Thess.2) It is documented by plain statement that the BODY of Christ ESCAPES the day of the Lord, when the woman is in travail, wherein is wrath. That is plainly the time of Jacob’s trouble, (Jer.30), which Daniel also spoke of as being the time of trouble, identified by the Lord Jesus as great tribulation, tribulation, affliction, the days of vengeance, and the wrath to come. The wrath to come is identified by John the Baptist, Matthew, Luke, Jesus, and Paul as the tribulation. There is COMPLETE documentation by Paul of a pretribulation gathering. There is no "documentation" which shows that it is PREWEEK, POSTTRIB, NOR PREWRATH.
The documentation shows it to occur at the MIDST of Daniel’s week! You see, today’s dispensationalists state the day of the Lord is Daniel’s 70th week. It is not, by any prooftext. That’s why they can’t prove that it is PREWEEK.
The teaching errors of preweek rapturism are:
1. the day of the Lord CONTAINS the week of Daniel
2. the he who lets of 2 Thess.2 is the Holy Spirit, within the body of Christ
3. the gathering of Matt.24 is at Armageddon which is the NATION of Israel, to the exclusion of Gentiles
4. the churches of Rev.2-3 are local assemblies of the body of Christ
5. the wedding and marriage supper of the Lamb occurs during the tribulation, with the supper being in heaven
6. that Paul’s gospel message was a CONTINUATION of the 12’s FROM the day of Pentecost
7. the insertion of Pauline truth into the mouth of the Lord Jesus before it was given to Paul (Matt.13,16, John 14,17)
This is the point which "gets them in trouble" with the posties and prewrathers. Their "non-distinguishment" of Pauline teaching from Christ's EARTHLY TEACHINGS and the 12's instructions, while MAINTAINING that he is different FROM them to the posties and prewrathers! Problem? They're SCARED TO DEATH that they "could be" IDENTIFIED as "hyperdispensationalists", such as Bullinger, Ohair, Baker, and Stam.
The dispensationalists of preweek rapturism distinguish Paul's gospel from the gospel of the kingdom, but STILL USE the Lord's teachings concerning the KINGDOM "as doctrinal statements" FOR the body of Christ, which was UNKNOWN.
These are a just a few of them.
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The Prewrath Rapture
This doctrine is the idea of Robert VanKampen, who successfully drew Marvin Rosenthal out of the preweek camp. Rosenthal released his book first on the systemization of the doctrine with VanKampen following. Rosenthal had it in print first, but Van Kampen SURMISED THE THESIS. It is also taught by H.L. Nigro and Dave Bussard. Their books have previously been mentioned on this site. All of these people agree on the basics, and it is recognized that there are differences among them in certain specifics.
It divides Daniel’s 70th week into three parts which are, the beginning of sorrows, the Great Tribulation, and the Day of the Lord. The first part includes the first 3 and one half years of the week with the Great Tribulation beginning at the MIDPOINT. They, as the midtribulationists, misidentify the MIDST OF THE WEEK as the middle point, or mid point of 7 years, being after 3 and one half years. The rapture of the church is AFTER THE TRIBULATION, before the Day of the Lord according to their teaching. They are UNSURE of the length of the tribulation, but state the SIGN connected with the rapture is the sun, moon, and stars being darkened which signals the RETURN of Christ. This occurs before the Day of the Lord, which finishes the week.
Rosenthal has the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord divided into 21 month periods in his book. He gives no prooftexts for such division. He has Moses and Elijah coming AFTER the tribulation in his book, but he ALSO has them prophesying for 42 months DURING the last half of Daniel's week. They have problems with their identification of the day of the Lord. VanKampen, as all, INSIST on “only one second coming”, which occurs at the triple sign. Nigro has the Lord REMAINING on earth “manifesting” himself in wrath during the VIALS, although it is plainly stated that he RETURNS from heaven in Rev.19. She states this is “not” another coming, but a MANIFESTATION of himself!
The false teaching of the wrath of man, wrath of Satan, and God’s wrath is taught, with the wrath of man being the beginning of sorrows FROM SEALS, the wrath of Satan in the great tribulation through trumpets, and God’s wrath BY the vials.
They, as dispensationalists, (while some deny that fact), REJECT Pauline dispensationalism, which teaches right division, INSTEAD of “amalgamation, synthesizing, and integration” of ALL TEACHINGS within the Bible.
Their system has multitudes of mistakes. They have essentially taken up a posttrib position (in the ASPECT of the Lord's REMAINING on earth), but have it earlier.
PREWRATH RAPTURISM
The points of prewrath rapturism can be summed up, as taught by the prewrath rapturists (Rosenthal, Van Kampen, and Nigro), as follows.
The rapture of the body of Christ was INTRODUCED by the Lord Jesus Christ within his earthly ministry.
Daniel’s 70th week (a period of 7 years) is divided into three phases, which are the beginning of sorrows, the great tribulation, and the day of the Lord.
The beginning of sorrows is the first part lasting three and a half years. The great tribulation follows which starts at the midst of the week, but does not run the full length, due to it being shortened. The day of the Lord begins after the great tribulation within Daniel’s week, and runs to its end. (Nigro states the day of the Lord does not have to END with Daniel’s 1335 days [75 days PAST the week of Daniel], but can extend on into the millenium.)
The rapture will occur immediately prior to the day of the Lord before the end of Daniel’s week.
The great tribulation, which begins at the midst of the week, is not “part” of the day of the Lord, and it is “cut short”.
The day of the Lord begins sometime within the second half of Daniel’s week, AFTER the abomination of desolation, and invasion of Jerusalem by the Son of Perdition at the midst of the week.
The cosmic disturbances of the sun, moon, and stars of the sixth seal are SIGNS to the BODY OF CHRIST that the day of the Lord is IMMINENT, “warning” them the gathering is imminent also.
The day of the Lord begins with the opening of the seventh seal, which is LONG AFTER the midst of the week. (At least 21 months, according to the Rosenthal’s chart)
The gathering of the body of Christ is by angels, and his presence is VISIBLE to the world, who WITNESSES the body of Christ being caught up into the air.
The NEXT coming of the Lord is the SECOND, ONLY, and LAST APPEARANCE of Jesus Christ there will be. He doesn’t COME DOWN from heaven, but once more, which will be after the tribulation BEFORE Armageddon.
The ERRORS of the prewrath rapturists are numerous. This is a “partial” list.
Their FAILURE and REFUSAL to honour the God given (Pauline) principle of “rightly DIVIDING the word of truth” while INTERJECTING their own system; SYNTHESIZATION of “all” the verses on the subject of the COMING of the Lord. (They synthesize, synchronize, amalgamate, integrate, homogenize without due regard for words, TESTAMENTS, or progressive revelation of truth.)
Their refusal to honour the “Golden Rule of Interpretation” (literal meaning of reading), which they blatantly ignore repeatedly after defaming pretribulation rapturists who “apply verses spiritually to non-doctrinal statements”.
Their “rank” private interpretation of terms, words, and phrases within the Holy Scriptures.
Their belief that the ministry of Paul is a "continuation" of the 12 apostles, in which, the "revelations" GIVEN TO HIM, are allegedly already being taught by them, and had been taught by the Lord Jesus personally, within his earthly ministry.
Their REJECTION of the Lord’s own statement that his ministry was to the NATION of Israel and his plain teachings to the 12, who REPRESENT them (the new nation of believers, the church of the firstborn), as their JUDGES. These concerned the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which relates to Israel and the Gentile nations, (not the body of Christ) in FULFILLMENT of the OT scriptures. (Matt. 16, 19, 21, Luke 12, 1 Peter 2, Heb.2, 12)
Their CENTRAL TEXTS used to establish the teaching are found within the gospels, BEFORE the salvation of Paul, the “revealer” of the body of Christ and its DOCTRINAL TRUTHS by “plain” statement.
Their rejection of the bible principle and violation of the RULE of the law of FIRST MENTION concerning SIGNS, which are “doctrinally related” to the NATION OF ISRAEL through Moses. (Ex.4) What is the “sign” of thy coming? (Matt.24)
Their ABSOLUTE IGNORANCE of and REFUSAL to expound the words within the verses of scripture which “refute’ the theory to which they subscribe.
The rejection of the bible principle that correct doctrinal truth REAPPEARS, RESURFACES, or is REINTRODUCED in time “after” apostasy FROM the given doctrinal truth. (See the “historical basis” for Pretribulation Rapturism in their books.)
The rejection of the bible principle that there is a “remnant”, which holds the truth of God Almighty. (Referencing the silence of pretrib rapturism through history.)
Their IGNORANCE of the plain statement by Paul, that there was an APOSTASY during his day, in which ALL ASIA had turned away from him and his teachings. (Referencing the "continued" WITNESS by the CHURCH FATHERS, via the Roman Catholic Church! They call this "historic teaching"!)
Their day of the Lord "starts" AT the opening of the seventh seal, past the MIDST OF THE WEEK, negating the FACTS of the OT and NT, which reference it’s TIMING as to the INVASION of Jerusalem by the Son of Perdition in the midst of the week.
Their confounding, distorting, non-biblical, fabricated INTERJECTED term of substitution and MISQUOTATION, “God’s wrath”, PUT FORTH to detract from and OVERTHROW Paul's plain biblical term, being that the body of Christ is "delivered from the WRATH TO COME". The wrath to come (1 Thess.1) and wrath (1 Thess.5) is not “whose”, but WHEN. It is, “the wrath to come”, plainly identified by four writers, AND the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The wrath of 1 Thess. 5 is directly associated with the DESTRUCTION of the day of the Lord.
Their substitution of non-biblical terms to SUBVERT and DISTORT the biblical ones, while FORMULATING their “own” foolish questions AGAINST the context of the correct terms BY USING THEIR FALSE TERMS to generate the questions. (God’s wrath, divine wrath, the second coming of Christ, dogma, the DAY of God’s wrath) This “manner of deceitful teaching” is one of SUBTERFUGE to create “questions” in the mind of the reader. It’s all built on the false terms though, INTERJECTED into the text! (Throughout their books.)
Their substitution of their “own” GREEK knowledge to CORRECT the statements of the Authorized Version Holy Bible, by INSERTION of their “terms and words” which CORROBORATE their own theory.
Their UNORTHODOX use of “non-biblical, UNINSPIRED” texts to document and prooftext their teachings.
Their BLATANT DISREGARD, after several mentions, concerning “comparing SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE” to define a “biblical word or phrase”.
Their PLAIN MISREADING of statements of the text of the Holy Bible. This folks is just common illiteracy!
Their constant and habitual distortion of the biblical words, his people, church, saints, and elect as MEMBERS of the body of Christ, when “progressive revelation” HAS NOT made that truth known to anyone; therefore being references to those MENTIONED EARLIER within the OT scriptures or "prophesied" WITHIN A FUTURE PERIOD OF TIME.
Their habitual confounding of passages which are NOT THE SAME, and PATHOLOGICAL lying insertions of words, terms, and phrases in contexts and chapters, WHERE THEY ARE NOT FOUND, but “presumed”.
Their refusal to BELIEVE that John “could have been” ELIJAH, which teaches that there is “more than one OUTCOME” noted within the FOREKNOWLEDGE of God, as testified to by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. (Matt. 11) This “reflects” the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ as being, NOT FOR the body of Christ, “within the gospels” but to those of Israel who CAN, but “did not” believe. It is then FORWARDED to a “future” time. The book of Revelation. (He that hath EARS TO HEAR! Matt.11, Rev.2-3)
Their ignorance of the fact that God “changes” the times and the seasons, in REFERENCE to the “prophesied” kingdom to Israel, and the TIME of wrath, which was to be manifested at their STANDING UP against the Lord Jesus. (Dan.2, Acts 1, 1 Thess.5, Psalm 2,110, Acts 4) [The Pauline revelation of LONGSUFFERING (1 Tim.1) under the dispensation of the grace of God was introduced INSTEAD! Eph.3.]
The violation of the RULE of the law of FIRST MENTION, as it refers to tribulation, as being a TIME PERIOD and to whom it pertains. Tribulation, as a time period, NEVER refers to the body of Christ. Paul’s use of the word is plainly stated to affect OTHERS, not US (2 Thess.1), showing a DIFFERENCE in word USAGE!
The "three fold sign" of the sun, moon, and stars being darkened, and stating that occurs BEFORE the day of the Lord, IGNORING the day of the Lord is a period of time made up of days, which BEGINS with the SIGN of the SUN GOING DOWN at 12:00 noon. (They misquote the verses. It states great and dreadful.)
Their constant MISREFERENCE to a “single day” EQUATED with “a time period labeled a day”. This shows they do not know what a day consists of within the Holy Bible. There are several biblical statements as to what constitute a day contained within the scriptures, which DEFINE the day of the Lord explicitly.
The "cutting short" of the ministry of Moses and Elijah in their system, which is stated to be 1260 days in duration. The prewrathers RUN OUT of time and are contradictory. Remember, Elijah “shows up” before the COMING of the great and terrible day of the Lord, but yet, HE’S THERE “all” of the last half of the week, according to them!
Their failure to distinguish and discern the coming of the Son of Man IN HIS OWN GLORY and his coming IN THE GLORY OF THE FATHER. They make “both” synonymous, when they are not.
The confounding and mistaken teaching stating the coming of the day of the Lord AS A THIEF IS the coming of the Lord AS A THIEF. There is a difference folks! (Peter speaks of the Lord’s coming and the coming of the day of the Lord.) One speaks of a day coming, while the other speaks of a person who is coming. He comes WITHIN the day (as a time period), after the great tribulation to gather living tribulation saints, and comes BEFORE the day, to gather the body of Christ.
The irreverent, illiterate, incompetent, ignorant handling of the mentioning of the days, by stating the day of the Lord and the day of Christ are synonymous, when stated the rapture OCCURS before the day! Unbelievable.
The FALSE chronological and consecutive “interpretation” of the book of Revelation, which totally disregards the MANNER OF WRITING from its COMPANION book written by Daniel. (Both books are RECORDED with a passage concerning a period of time, then followed by a passage of statements which GOES BACK into the first passage, along with INTRODUCING new subjects. A subject is mentioned within the passage, and then “built upon” by following passages throughout the entire book. Both books refer to a major subject, minor subjects, events, periods of time, with the insertion of more information BACK INTO those items mentioned. The SUCCESSIVE TIME PERIODS keep getting narrower and smaller, with a sharp, precise presentation of the “specific” truth of the subject within them.) The subject of Daniel is the identification of the king and kingdom of the mystery of the beast, while the Revelation of Jesus Christ concerns the book of Revelation. (The seals, trumpets, and vials are consecutive in the book, but the trumpets fall within the 4th-5th seals, while the vials, fall between the 6th and 7th seals, after the 7th trumpet.)
The falsehood that the book of Revelation applies “doctrinally” to MEMBERS of the body of Christ. It’s a strange twist, for ALL HYPERDISPENSATIONALISTS, along with myself teaches that the “churches” of Revelation are within the tribulation, as does Rosenthal. Problem is, the body of Christ is not mentioned, identified, inferred, or doctrinally RELATED to the teachings within the book of Revelation. In fact, the teachings are CONTRADICTORY to Pauline doctrinal truth.
The false teaching that the 144,000 are NOT his servants, the prophets, who have the spirit of prophesy. Folks, these guys PREACH. They have the spirit of prophesy. THEY PROPHESY. That’s PREACHING the gospel of the kingdom which is proclaimed at that time TO GENTILES!(Rev.7,11,12,14,19,21, Matt.24,2 Nigro does not teach this doctrine though.)
The false definition of the body of Christ, which is not according to Pauline statement. (Saints before Acts 2 and saints AFTER the delusion has been given.)
The false assumption that the other apostles write to the body of Christ, denying their ministry was to the Jews as biblically stated and prooftexted WITHIN their epistles. (Gal.2, Hebrews (self-explanatory), James 1, 1 Peter 1-2, 2 Peter 1, 1,2,3 John, Jude, and Revelation) Good grief folks, they ARE called the Hebrew epistles!
The “private interpretation” of HISTORICAL EVENTS fulfilling verses of scripture, which CAN’T BE PROOFTEXTED by any verse. Folks, prophecy IS NOT history UNTIL it’s fulfilled!
The “assumptions” that the Lord and his apostles UNDERSTOOD what “the prewrathers” WANT them to and SAY and UNDERSTAND.
The proffering of verses which DON’T STATE or CONTAIN the points proclaimed.
The INTERJECTION of “false ideas” into TEXTS (eisogesis), where they are not found.
APOSTASY is EXACTLY what the “faithful teachers and members” of the body of Christ are “witnessing” at this time. (The APOSTASY of the body, which is the “falling away” from Pauline doctrinal truth, mainly, the pretribulation rapture.) [2 Tim.4]
One more error folks.
Their REJECTION of the biblical principle that ALL DISPENSATIONS “end” in apostasy. Nobody comes out “smelling sweet” in the end of any dispensation. They are in unbelief and apostasy. This fact is in direct contradiction to the body of Christ being PURIFIED through the FIRE of tribulation. They are WASHED, (Eph.5), and their works are TRIED, in the fire at the JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST. (1 Cor.3)
That’s just a few of them, which are repeatedly stated throughout their books. Well, that's just a few errors TOO MANY for serious bible students.
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The Dispensational Post-tribulation Rapture
There are four different types of post-tribulationism. We find classic, semi-classic, futuristic, and dispensational. J. Barton Payne (Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1973), Alexander Reese (The Approaching Advent of Christ, London; Marshall, Morgan, Scott, 1932), George Ladd (The Blessed Hope, Grand Rapids, Mich., Eerdmans, 1956), and Robert Gundry (The Church and the Tribulation, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1973) respectively exemplify these positions.
We are dealing with ONLY the dispensational perspective, held by Gundry, which is seen commonly among most of the modern day “rejectors” of preweek rapturism, such as Tim Warner of the Last Trumpet Website. Now Warner has "finetuned" it with his teaching of Progressive Dispensationalism (another heresy).
As I’ve stated so many times, the posttrib rapturists ONLY reject Pauline dispensationalism as a fact. They ARE dispensationalists. Warner is claiming to be a “progressive dispensationalist”. In other words, he can’t get the BODY OF CHRIST “differentiated” from the Israel of God, which is the bride MARRIED to the body (Eph.5, Rom.9-11, Gal.2, Eph.1-3, Heb.3), and the NATION OF ISRAEL. He blasphemes Pauline dispensationalism by teaching the BODY OF CHRIST has no "heavenly inheritance". (See Eph.2)
The postrib rapturists hold to the foolishness that there is ONLY ONE VISIBLE RETURN APPEARANCE of the Lord Jesus Christ (after his ascension in Acts 1), and it occurs AFTER the tribulation, which is also AFTER Daniel’s week.
They have “thrown out” the words of the Lord in John 10,14, Matthew 24-25, and Luke 12 that he returns to GATHER his elect to “attend” a marriage, from which he leaves, where the BRIDE awaits. They reject the Pauline mystery of the gathering BEFORE the day of the Lord, making it synonymous to the day of Christ. (1 Cor.15, 1 Thess.4-5, 2 Thess.2) They reject John’s words which places the Lord WITH ONE CROWN on his head “at a gathering”, while LATER has “many” crowns when he appears again to squash the troops of the Beast. (Rev.14, 19)
They can’t get the fact that John’s book of Revelation RECORDS 4 different appearances of the Lord at different TIMES. There’s certainly more than “one coming”. ANY COMING IS AN APPEARANCE, BUT IT’S NOT SYNONYMOUS TO A GATHERING! (Mal.3-4, Gen.49, Isaiah 49)
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