AMEN! From: Michelle Gillespie ✦ END TIME ✦ DELUSIONS: Chapter 3 "Will Gods Church Escape Tribulation?" The brightest crowns that are worn in heaven have been tried, and smelted, and polished and glorified through the furnaces of tribulation. — Edwin Hubbel Chapin (1814-1880) These two concepts come with the rapture package: 1. The Church of Jesus Christ will escape the “tribulation.” 2. Those who miss the rapture will have a second chance to be saved. Apart from what the Bible actually teaches about number 1, if you think about it, number 2 can be dangerous. Some might rationalize, “If the rapture takes place, then I’ll know God is real. Even though it may be tough, I can still become a Christian during the tribulation and resist that antichrist guy!” In this way, by adopting a lazy “let’s wait and see” attitude, lost sinners may put off their decision to repent and follow Jesus Christ right now. Die-hard, pre-tribulation supporters sometimes say, “God wouldn’t allow His people to go through the tribulation. He loves us too much!” But think about it. Does He love us any more than He would love after-the- rapture new believers during the tribulation? No. Then why would He allow them to go through such a horrific period, but not us? Could it be that the idea of escaping tribulation is really only catering to our lukewarm American tendencies? We like comfort, hate to go through trials, and can hardly bear it when our TV-dinner lifestyle is threatened. Yet historically, God’s people have gone through intense suffering. All the disciples of Jesus, except John, were brutally murdered. Thousands of early Christians were torn to shreds by wild dogs inside the Coliseum. Millions of others were horribly tortured by the Inquisition and burnt to ashes during the Dark Ages (more on this later). Believers in Russia and China have suf- fered terribly under communism, and yet American Christians say, “God wouldn’t allow us to go through the tribulation!” When it comes to “tribulation,” once again concordances come in handy. If you look up “tribulation” in a Strong’s or Young’s Concordance, you may be shocked to discover that almost every reference describes what believers suffer through. Jesus told His followers, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33, emphasis added). Paul told his early Christian con- verts, “...we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22, emphasis added). Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, “...we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure” (2 Thessalonians 1:4, emphasis added). On the lonely isle of Patmos, John was our “companion in tribulation” (Revelation 1:9, emphasis added). Jesus told His church in Smyrna, “I know your works [and] tribulation...” (Revelation 2:9, emphasis added). In the light of these Scriptures, the idea of Christians escaping tribulation seems like fantasy and illusion. Some might respond by saying, “Yes, but those verses are talking about ‘tribulation,’ not ‘the tribulation.’ ” Again, just think about it. If the majority of the Bible’s “tribulation texts” refer to what believers go through, why would God’s Word suddenly shift gears by teaching that “the tribulation” is some- thing believers will not go through? Even in Left Behind, there are after-the- rapture Christians who go through “the Tribulation.” Jerry B. Jenkins calls them “the Tribulation Force.” Therefore the thought of Christians going through this period is not so strange. Many pro-rapture advocates also argue, “If the Church is going through the tribulation, then why isn’t the Church mentioned after Revelation 4?” Let’s take a closer look. In Revelation 4:1, John was told to “come up here.” People conclude this represents the rapture and they think the Church isn’t mentioned anymore. First of all, John did not actually go to Heaven in Revelation 4:1; he was simply taken up in a vision, while his toes remained on Patmos. Secondly, the Church is on Earth after Revelation 4. How do we know this? Because Revelation says the beast will make “war with the saints” (13:7), then we read about “the faith of the saints” (13:10), and finally, during the mark of the beast crisis, the apocalypse refers to “the saints” who keep “the faith of Jesus” (14:12). Some may respond by saying, “Those are the tribulation saints after the rapture, not the Church.” But consider this. Paul wrote his New Testament letters to the “churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). What does this tell us? Wherever there are saints, there is the Church! Even if the saints mentioned in Revelation 13 and 14 are only the tribulation saints after the rapture, wouldn’t they, as sincere believers in Jesus Christ, still be the Church? Rapture teachers contend the Church won’t be here for Armageddon. Is this true? The word “Armageddon” is used only once in the entire Bible, in Revelation 16:16, which is the great chapter about the falling of the seven last plagues. Right before verse 16, during the time of the plagues, Jesus Christ thunders, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:15-16). Did you catch that? Who is Jesus talking to? To the Church! At the time of verse 15, while the seven plagues are falling, which is definitely during the tribulation, and right before the battle of Armageddon, Jesus Christ has not yet come as a thief! Therefore He must come like a thief at Armageddon, after the tribulation, and this must be the time when He comes to gather His Church. Like a good commanding officer, Paul urged the soldiers of the cross, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to with- stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). We are to stand in “the evil day.” How can we, if we have previously disappeared? Jesus Christ also said, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). How long must we endure? To the end. What about the “second chance” idea? First of all, God has given every one of us more than “a second chance.” When we sin and resist His love, He gives us countless chances to make a full surrender to His grace. The message of the gospel is continually sounding to sinners, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3); “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31); “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). But eventu- ally, God’s patience will wear out and the Angel of Mercy will take his final flight. Humanity will have passed “the hidden boundary between God’s patience and His wrath.” Paul wrote that all who are not fully on the Lord’s side when true believ- ers are “caught up...shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 4:17; 5:3). For them, their second, third, tenth, and ten-thousandth chances are over. Jesus also said, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37). After the door of the ark closed, all desperate attempts to get inside were useless. It was too late. Paul also wrote, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2, emphasis added). Friend, this is it. Don’t put off your decision to follow Jesus Christ. If you are not “caught up” when the Lord descends from Heaven with a shout, you will have blown it, big time, forever. Here’s one more key thought before we close this chapter. If the pre- tribulation rapture doctrine is false, this obviously means we ourselves—if we are alive at that time—must not only pass through Earth’s final tribu- lation, but must also face the antichrist and his deadly mark (see Revelation 14:9-10). Here’s the biggest problem. Many Christians are deeply afraid of this. Thus it seems that fear—a fear of the beast—often underlies many desperate efforts to maintain the shaky pre-tribulation rap- ture position. This reminds me of the tragic deaths of 118 crewmen inside the giant Russian nuclear submarine, Kursk. On Saturday, August 12, 2000, way out in the icy waters of the Barents Sea, east-northeast of Moscow, something went terribly wrong. An explosion took place, followed by another. The “catastro- phe developed at lightning speed,”2 and the doomed sub quickly sank to the bottom of the ocean. Newsweek ran a story on this called, “A Cry from the Deep.” Twenty-three Russians survived the initial blasts and flooding. A let- ter was later found by deep-sea divers inside a pocket of one of the corpses. “There are 23 people here...None of us can get to the surface.”3 Because help didn’t come quickly enough, they all died. As I have thought about this hor- rible tragedy, I can imagine the feeling of fear in the hearts of those hopelessly trapped Russian sailors deep down below the calm surface of the water. From what I’ve seen, fear also often lurks below the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. Deep down underneath the surface of many arguments lies the hidden scary thought of having to endure the time of trouble and face the beast. This fear may be unconscious, yet often it is there, and it seems to prevent people from being open-minded enough to even consider another viewpoint. Emotions fly high and many refuse to reasonably examine the clear scriptural evidence in favor of a post-tribulation gathering of the Church to Jesus Christ. Sadly, the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine has become the great evan- gelical escape clause for the avoidance of the end times. And for those who must have it this way, no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise. Like a triple-bolted door in downtown New York, they are simply closed to the facts. The result? Truth is left behind. Christians should learn a lesson from popular bumper stickers and trendy T-shirts which say, “No Fear.” The truth is, we don’t need to be afraid, for Jesus Christ has promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Afraid of the dark, a little girl once asked her father if she could sleep in his bedroom. “Of course, honey,” he replied. Lying next to him with the lights out, she was still afraid. “Daddy, is your face turned toward me?” “Yes dear, now go to sleep.”
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:35:32 +0000
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