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Article by Mark Hanson
I would like to preface this article by saying that as a new christian I was taught the pre-trib view and believed it.
I actually laughed at anyone who believed mid-trib or post-trib. I changed my view on this (in 1993 shortly
after my first child was born) when I earnestly started seeking the scriptures for myself on this issue due to a concern to
help family members know what to do if I was raptured and they were "left behind". I think it is important to seek out
truth and to just brush off this issue with "It's not a salvation issue so who really cares" is a dangerous attitude.
Since when has "truth" not mattered? In the days prior to the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah the prophet proclaimed,
"Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine;
but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prohesy lies in my name: I
sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them; they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination,
and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prohets that prophesy
in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those
prophets be consumed." JEREMIAH 14:13-15. Don't believe the lies of this false teaching? Will
you still believe in the pre-trib rapture when the anti-christ proclaims he is God from Jerusalem? Will you still believe
in it when they demand that you take an implantable chip in your hand or forehead? Or will you say, "This can't be the
mark of the beast, because the church hasn't been raptured yet". Many get very excited and proclaim how bad things will
be when the restraining force of the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth with the rapture of the saints. Wait a minute
now...the Holy Spirit was in all the believers of the eartly church as the forces of evil were not restrained in martyring
them. Rather the Holy Spirit was in the believers to strengthen them to be witnesses and martyrs. Don't be deceived
, search the Bible for yourelf and you'll find that...
The Bible clearly teaches that christians will go through the Great Tribulation !
The fabled secret pre-tribulation rapture doctrine is a false teaching.
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The modern church is being spoon fed a deceptive pre-trib rapture fable.
Fueled by Tim Lahaye's popular "Left Behind" movie, is the idea that Jesus Christ will return any minute and secretly
rapture the church out of here before the great tribulation period.
This great tribulation period is a reality clearly spelled out in the Bible. During this
future prophecied period, the inhabitants of the earth will be forced to take a "mark of the beast" in order to be able to
"buy and sell" or face serious persecution or death for non-compliance. The book of Revelation clearly warns
that anyone who takes this "mark of the beast" will be thrown into the "lake of fire". It is clearly
the greatest test and challenge of all time. It will be a time of getting off the proverbial fence and choosing
who you will serve... God or the devil?
The modern day properity gospel church who believe that God would never
let them go through such an ordeal will be in for a rude awakening!
I'm here to tell you that it is time for Christians to be about our Father's business. Jesus
did not promise us a "rose garden"...
John 16:33 (King James Version)
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
It is time to prepare spiritually. If you can't take a little heat
for your faith now, what are you going to do when things get serious?
It's time to start living courageously for God!Remember the first group of
people listed in Revelation 21 who will have their part in the Lake of Fire is the FEARFUL.
Jesus also promised he would be with us till the end of the age (as
we go fourth making disciples of all the nations). Paul charged Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:1-5 (King James Version)
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." The pre-trib rapture fable came out of Edward Irving's meetings in Scotland in the
1830's. These same meetings "confirmed by the Spirit" that the American Indians are the lost tribes of Israel
(A mormon belief, which has been scientifically disproven through modern DNA analysis). This "trojan horse" secret
rapture fable was then popularized via Scofield's reference "bible".
The Bible clearly teaches a rapture of the church at Christ's return at the end of the
great tribulation period. And the Bible warns us not to be deceived by any one as to this timing.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 (King James Version)
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" Jesus lays out the end times signs and events in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:29-31 (King
James Version)
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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