Originally published on 12 May 2024 via Deep Dive Bible Adventures.

This post will really ruffle some feathers and step on some toes. “Sorry, not sorry.”

One of the things that really angers me in the Christian life is false teaching — especially if it is done by pastors and others in leadership positions.

This post is intended for readers that have been Christian believers for some time, and that are seeking clarification as world events run at an increasing pace toward the predicted conclusion when Jesus will return and “rule with a rod of iron” for 1,000 years before the introduction of the “new Heaven and a new Earth”.

That said, just in case any new believers or non-believers read this, I will give some brief definitions of a few key terms, so that no one is “left behind” regarding this important topic. The Book of Revelation predicts a seven-year period called “the Tribulation“, during which an evil man called the Antichrist will rule the entire world. His main goal will be to rid the world of Christians — whether by getting them to renounce their faith or by killing them. At some point (beginning, middle, or end of the Tribulation), Jesus will return from Heaven to establish His kingdom here on Earth. Also at some point, Jesus will “call up” believers into the sky at an event commonly known as “the Rapture” — the bodily “snatching away” of believers from the Earth. (The term comes from a Latin word that means “to snatch away” — the same word from which we get the word “raptor”, a type of bird that quickly snatches up its prey from the ground and eats it at a nest built in a high place.) A lot of people believe (wrongly) that the Rapture and the Return are the same event. That is a topic for another post.

In this post, we will examine the false teaching called the “Pre-Trib Rapture”. Yes, I said false. I believe that this teaching is responsible for a lot of people becoming destined for Hell. And, even if some of the people expecting the Rapture to occur before the Tribulation do manage to get into Heaven, then I believe that they will be living in poverty. (Not actual poverty, of course, but spiritual poverty — because they will have failed to “store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven”, as Jesus commanded His followers.) The reason for that failure will be because they did not see a need to do so, because they were lulled into believing that “we will be ‘Raptured out of here’ before the bad stuff happens”. If that were true, then why did Jesus spend so much time warning people to be prepared for tribulation??

Jesus said very plainly that “…in this world you will have tribulation.” (see John 16:33) Some people try to argue, “Oh, Jesus wasn’t talking about the Tribulation.” Well, if there are different types of “tribulation”, then this should be an easy question to answer — by going to the original Greek. The word used in John 16:33 is θλῖψις (“thlipsis”, Strong’s 2347). That is the same Greek word that is used throughout the New Testament — including seven times in the Book of Revelation alone. So, not only was there no difference between the “tribulation” that Jesus mentioned to His disciples and the “Tribulation” mentioned in the Book of Revelation, but also there is no difference between that word and the “afflictions” that Paul described (beatings, scourging, stoning, etc.) in his letters to the various churches of his day.

Further, the “will have” used in John 16:33 is the Greek Ἔχετε, the same form of the root word “to have” as is used in Mark 11:22, in which Jesus tells the disciples to “have faith in God”. In other words, it is a future imperative — a declaration of “a given” or a “sure thing” that will happen. If believers were going to be “Raptured out”, then why would Jesus use that particular imperative form? It comes from a root word that means “to hold”. In other words, Jesus told the disciples to “hold onto this sure thing” — that you will have tribulation. Again, why would He spend so much time on this warning if He were planning to “Rapture out” all believers?

So, now that we have examined the words that Jesus used, let’s examine the context of His speech to the disciples. All of chapter 15, and most of chapter 16, is a setup for this key point: “…you will have tribulation”. The main premise of chapter 16 is “tribulation”, and that the Holy Spirit will guide and comfort believers through (not “around”) those tribulations. In John 16:1, Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.” (The Greek word for “fall away” is σκανδαλίζω [skandalizo, Strong’s 4624, from which we get the word “scandal”. It comes from a root that means “to put a stumbling block in the way”.) In verse 4, He says that the warnings are “so that when their hour comes…”. Thus, he is not talking about the immediate future. And, in verse 5, He says, “Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me….” So, He meant that the warnings are specifically for a time after He ascends to Heaven.

In verse 21, Jesus uses the same “childbirth” analogy that He used in Matthew chapter 24. Thus, He further clarified the timeline of his warning in verse 33. So, His warning that “you will have tribulation” is intended for a time after the “birth pangs” that precede the Tribulation. Again, there is no “line of distinction” that separates different types of “tribulation” as being before or after the Rapture.

I was already “reading” the Bible a bit in 1973, when Hal Lindsey’s first book, “The Late Great Planet Earth” was released. I was 15 years old, and that book really opened my eyes. (Since then, after much study, I have revised some of my thinking. And yet, Lindsey remains a great and respected influence.) Even with my respect for Hal Lindsey, though, something “just didn’t feel right” about his insistence upon a “pre-Trib Rapture”. What would be the point of the self-discipline of the Christian life if we are going to “Raptured out”, anyway? As my studies grew in my late 20s and into my mid 30s, I came to believe in a “mid-Trib Rapture” scenario — that Christians would experience some of the persecution during the Tribulation, but then be “Raptured out” before the really bad stuff begins in the second half of the Tribulation. I held onto that belief for decades — until recently.

For various reasons, I have recently shifted to the “post-Trib Rapture” viewpoint. We should be prepared to go through the entire Tribulation. But then, if God decides to snatch us away at the mid-point, I certainly won’t complain. Compare that with the anguish that many “nominal” believers will feel if they are still on Earth after the Tribulation starts. Will they feel that they were “left behind”? And, if so, then will they decide (wrongly) that they are destined for Hell, anyway — and so, they might as well “party hard” during their remaining time on Earth?

That is the “collateral damage” effect of pastors teaching the “pre-Trib Rapture” scenario as if it were clearly stated in the Scriptures. It isn’t. But, a lot of preachers on radio and TV tell people that it is. They preach “pre-Trib” as if it’s the only way to interpret the prophecies. And, I’m concerned that such a viewpoint will lead people astray in the long run.

NOTE: A week after posting this column, I decided to add another point — one that should have been included in the original posting. The point is so “pointed” that I decided to post it first as a stand-alone post on Facebook. The graphic below is a screenshot of that post.

I would gladly admit to being proven wrong if we are called away “to meet the Lord in the air” sooner. But, will those “pre-Trib” preachers admit that they were wrong if we are still on Earth after all the trouble of the Tribulation starts?? There is more that I could write about this topic, but I do not want to go into “information overload”. Instead, if you have questions about specific points, then please leave them in the Comments section. Then, I can address those in a reply.