For the Lord Himself, in verse 16, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Now in this chapter, we have us meeting the Lord in the air that are alive and remaining,
and those that have passed on, they too will God bring with them, He'll bring their spirit
with them, and their bodies will come up from the grave, and they'll meet together
with the Lord, and we'll see, hey, we're all with the Lord.
What is this called?
This is a lot of times called the rapture, is what people will refer to.
Now denying that the rapture exists would be pretty foolish.
I think most Christians, most people that go to church, most people that read their
Bible, they believe that there's a rapture.
It's pretty clear in scripture, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is probably the clearest when
it describes how the fact that we're going to actually meet the Lord in the air if
you were still alive at that time, or those that are in heaven that are already
with Christ, Christ is going to bring with them.
So we see all the believers will be with Christ in this moment, but there's a lot of
contention about when this event would be.
They would say, well, when is the rapture?
When is it that people actually be with the Lord?
And the sermon tonight is 13 pre-trib arguments debunked.
13 pre-trib arguments debunked.
So let's have a little bit of fun tonight when we prove this too.
Why don't we just have fun while we're proving what the Bible really says?
But the Bible makes it clear that there will be tribulation that Christians are in, then there will
be the rapture, then there will be God's wrath.
This is what's known as the post-trib pre-wrath rapture.
It's a view that honestly, most people that don't believe it, they won't even present
it as an argument.
They'll just say, well, there's pre-trib, there's mid-trib, and there's post-trib post-wrath
is what they'll present.
They won't even present the pre-wrath position because it's just so clear in the Bible.
It's like, well, we can't present that one because then everything else will look so stupid.
So they had to take all these false views and try to confuse you and say, well, it's
not post-trib, we know it's not post-trib post-wrath, we know it's not mid-trib, ergo
must be pre-trib.
And you know, growing up in church my whole life, I thought that these were the only
positions that were really available.
Now, obviously there was preterism, which kind of says all these things happened in
70 AD.
Obviously, that's stupid.
Or there's people that would just deny all these facts, like an Amillenius or someone
that says it's all spiritual.
I knew that was stupid too.
So basically this is how the Republicans and the Democrats work.
They try to prove to you how stupid Republicans are, ergo Democrats must be smart.
Or you know, Democrats or vice versa, right?
Republicans look at all the stupidity of the Democrats, ergo meaning, oh, we must
be good.
But you know what?
I'm not going to fall for that trap because guess what?
I don't like the Democrats or the Republicans.
And look, I don't like any of those three positions.
They're all stupid.
And I'll preach against the one that's most popular.
If post-trib, post-wrath was the most popular, we'll preach against it.
If mid-trib was the most popular, we'll preach against it.
But in America today, the pre-trib rapture is by and large what most people are preaching,
what most people are teaching.
And it's so stupid, it's so ignorant of the scriptures, it's ridiculous.
I mean, when we go through these, it's going to be so ridiculous.
The only reason you can believe it, that there's so many that can believe this to
might is that they're just not saved, or that they're just repeating lies without checking
it themselves.
I mean, if you know what the Bible says, if you're studying this for yourself, it
becomes crystal clear really quick.
Now, go if you would to Titus chapter number two, Titus chapter number two.
I just looked up an article, it said 13 reasons why to believe in the pre-trib rapture,
13 arguments for the pre-trib rapture.
So I just use that as my outline.
Might as well, right?
So their first point, why do we know that it's a pre-trib rapture?
Point number one, it's called the blessed hope.
Now here's the thing, if you're ever going to try and prove something, you usually
come out with your strongest point first.
But the problem with the pre-trib rapture is, they don't even have a single verse
that they can twist to prove the pre-trib rapture.
So they have to go to allusions and parables right away, right away.
They're not even starting with any clear verses trying to prove their doctrine.
They're already starting with just mystical wording and phrases and logic.
Why?
Because they don't have a verse to support their stupid theory.
They'll say, but yeah, but it's called the blessed hope.
And if we're going to go through the tribulation, then how could you say the rapture is hope?
I mean, that doesn't sound very hopeful to have to go through the tribulation.
Look at Titus two, verse 11.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that
denying ungodliness is worldly lust.
We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.
Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior,
Jesus Christ.
So according to the Bible, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, that's a blessed hope.
But here's the thing.
Does that necessarily prove that the pre-reathe position is false or even a mid-trib was
false?
No.
All it's just saying is that it's a blessed hope.
And if we read in First Thessalonians chapter four, he said, wherefore comfort one another
with these words.
Okay.
So they'll say, well, it's not comforting to tell me that I'm going to have to go through
all this tribulation, but let's go back to First Thessalonians four now.
Go back to First Thessalonians chapter four, but what was the context?
Was it really talking about the fact that, hey, you should be comforted you're not
going to have tribulation.
The comfort was the fact that people who have died, who have passed on, they're still
going to be a part of this great event.
It's not just for the people that are alive and remain.
It's also for those that are asleep in Jesus.
It's also for those that have passed on and their spirits are in heaven.
He's saying, look, the ones that are alive and remain, they're not going to prevent those
that have already gone on.
So a lot of times you'll hear First Thessalonians four read at a funeral.
Why it's supposed to comfort those that have lost their loved ones.
It has nothing to do with tribulation or talking about the end times as far as that
is concerned, as far as the comfort.
Look at verse 15, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain in the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
He's saying, look, he's going to bring both of us with him.
Everyone's going to meet the Lord in the air.
Now go to Romans chapter number five.
So both these points, they're not really saying that the preacher rapture is true.
They're just trying to use allusion to the fact that, well, if I had to go through
tribulation, how could this be comforting?
How could this be hope?
But let me, let me prove this to you.
The question is, where does hope come from?
Where do we get hope?
You know, you get hope through tribulation.
That's what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that hope comes from tribulation.
So of course, it's the blessed hope.
Hey, if you never struggle, if you never go through anything difficult, what do you
need hope for?
I mean, if everything's blissful, if everything's great, you don't need hope.
You have hope through struggle.
You have hope through things that are difficult.
When people are going through a hard time, hope is what carries them through.
I don't need hope when everything's on cloud nine.
I don't need hope when everything's going great.
That's why it's called the blessed hope.
Because you know, when you're going through the worst tribulation ever, well guess what?
The blessed hope is going to come one day and I'm going to see the Christ in
the clouds.
This is what the Bible teaches.
Look at Romans five, verse one, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith in this grace
when we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in what tribulations also, knowing, knowing that tribulation work
of patience and patience experience and experience what?
Hope.
So you say, you know, you get hope going through tribulation.
So their whole argument is stupid.
It's immediately debunked.
It's immediately destroyed.
Look and hope make it not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.
Look someone that's ran a marathon before they successfully completed the marathon.
The next time they run that marathon and they're, they're kind of getting towards the
end, it's hurting.
I mean, man, when you run, it hurts.
I don't know about you, but legs hurt, the side could hurt.
It's mental fatigue, but guess what?
The hope can come from, Hey, I've already, I've already done this before.
I've already practiced for this before.
I know as soon as I'm done, I'm going to get to rest.
That's where the hope comes from.
The hope comes during that tribulation, but see the person is on the side, on the sidelines.
He doesn't need hope.
He's not going through any pain.
He's not going through any struggle.
So the people, these pre-tribbers, Oh, I need that blessed hope.
What are you hoping for?
You're not hoping for anything.
If you're going to escape the tribulation, what are you hoping for?
Go to Revelation chapter six.
Not only this, I think of this with women giving birth.
I mean, look, if you've already given birth, you know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
You know that once the child's delivered, you know, after you go through all these things, there's great hope for that.
But when you're in the moment, that's a lot of tribulation.
That's a lot of struggle.
That's a lot of suffering, but the hope can carry you through.
Jesus Christ, he endured the cross.
Why?
Because the hope set before him.
Because he knew, hey, the father is not going to leave my soul in hell.
That's why I could endure it.
That's why I can endure hell.
That's why I can do all these sufferings and afflictions.
And look, as Christians, we can endure the greatest tribulation on this earth.
Why?
Because we know at the end of the day, we have hope in the Lord.
We know that we'll be with the Lord when we die.
We know that some of us may escape all these things and be caught up in the blessed hope,
those that are alive and remain.
So their first point, immediately destroyed.
That's their best point.
Their best point is the fact that it's a blessed hope.
I mean, to believe in that, I already destroyed that.
You already can tell, hey, tribulation is actually what causes hope.
So their point that they thought was good, it actually proves our position.
It actually proves what we believe.
Here's their second point.
Well, we're not appointed to wrath though.
So ergo, because we're not appointed to wrath, we can't be in this tribulation.
But here's the thing.
They try to take the word wrath and the word tribulation and say that they're equal.
Say that they're exact same thing.
So they say seven years tribulation equals seven years wrath.
But there's a problem because tribulation is not equal to wrath.
And there's a lot of things that we suffer on this earth that have nothing to do with
God's wrath.
It's not God punishing you.
It's just the world.
It's just the devil.
It's just other people.
It's just yourself persecuting yourself by being a wicked person.
But they'll point to Revelation chapter six and say, yeah, but it starts off in Revelation
with the God's wrath.
Look at verse 15.
And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains
and the mighty men and every bond men and every free men hid themselves in the dens
and the rocks of the mountains and set in the mountains and the rocks fall on
us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath
of the lamb.
For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand.
Here's the problem.
Revelation has a couple other chapters like one, two, three, four, five.
If you actually read chapter six when it starts out, you have five seals before you
get to this one.
Hey, Scotty, go check in my office and see if I have that billboard still of all
the time in time stuff.
Look at and first us only is five.
You don't have to turn there.
But it says, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ.
But we don't believe in that either.
We don't believe that we're going to be appointed to God's wrath.
We don't believe that when God's pouring out his wrath, that will be there either.
So it's kind of a straw man argument to say, well, yeah, well, we know we're not
appointed to wrath.
Ergo, pre-trib rapture is true.
OK, well, that proves the point for us, too.
We believe in the exact same thing.
The problem is, though, is that God's wrath is not at the beginning of the 70th week.
It's not the beginning of those times.
So if you didn't hear this sermon, you should go check it out.
But basically, in Revelation Chapter six, starting in verse one, they open the first
seal.
So you have the first seal, then the second seal, then the third seal, then the fourth
seal, then the fifth seal.
Then you have the sixth seal.
They're taking us straight to the sixth seal and saying, well, see, there's not, you
know, we're in the wrath.
Look, the wrath is the second half of the 70th week, no doubt.
But what's the first half?
Well, it's war, it's famine, it's death, it's people being beheaded for the
testimony of Jesus Christ.
Oh, yeah.
Who has that?
Believers, people that are saved.
How can you say they're all gone when people are literally being put to death for
believing?
That's a contradiction.
That doesn't make any sense.
So they're just fast forwarding you to hear and saying, well, we're not appointed to
wrath.
You're right.
This is when the rapture is.
This is the second coming of Christ.
And then his wrath is poured out.
Look at verse one of Chapter six.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals and I heard, as it were, as a noise
of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, come and see.
And I saw and behold, a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was
given unto him.
And he went forth conquering and to conquer.
So here's my question.
Why didn't they take you here first?
I mean, this is the first thing that's happening.
This is when the first seal is broken.
We're in Daniel 70th week.
They don't want to talk about all these things because it becomes obvious that's not
God's wrath.
So they always, this is how pre-trippers have to do it.
They have to just kind of generally take you to one little place, insert you real
quick and just say, hey, here's pre-trib and then come back out.
They don't want to actually plot out all the timeline and then show you exactly where we
are.
They just want to do these like microscopic surgeries.
They just want to do endoscopic surgery on your knee.
You don't know what's going on.
They don't want to actually show you the whole timeline because then it becomes so stupid,
so ridiculous to believe in their false doctrine.
Go if you would to Revelation chapter seven, Revelation chapter number seven.
So they say, well, we're not appointed to wrath.
Okay, well, let's go with their logic for a second.
Let's say that wrath actually means tribulation, which it doesn't.
That's not what it means.
Well, let's just say that it did.
Okay.
So look at Revelation chapter seven, verse nine.
And after this, so let's see after this, he's talking about after chapter six, what he just
pointed us to.
He's saying after the wrath of God has come and lo a great multitude, which no
man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the
throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and
cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God, which sit upon the throne and
under the lamb.
So we see what this is the rapture.
This is clearly when all the Christians are here, praising the Lord.
They've been saved.
They've been saved out of what?
Well, it's going to tell us, look at verse 13 and one of the elders answered, saying
unto me, what are these?
Which are raiden white robes and whence came they?
It's like, he's like 10 hate pre-trippers.
You want to know who these are?
Well, let's just read who they are.
Verse 14.
And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest.
And he said unto me, these are they which came out of great tribulation.
Oh, but we're not appointed tribulation.
No, we're not appointed to wrath, but guess what?
We are appointed tribulation.
It's stupid to say that these people weren't in the tribulation.
That's where they came from.
He's like, Hey, where'd these guys come from?
The tribulation.
Oh, but it's pre-trib.
Pre-trib is where, no, the whole great multitude came from the tribulation.
Go to second Peter chapter two.
So there's their first two points.
I mean, so far they're hitting out of the park, aren't they?
I mean, they, I'm, I'm already convinced it must be pre-trib, huh?
Look, when you just take their arguments, when you just take what they say, it's
so stupid.
It's so idiotic.
It's just skipping around on the verses.
Let's just, just go to Revelation six to a very specific part of scripture, but don't
look at seven.
Don't look at the beginning of the chapter.
You know, let's just kind of sneak in and sneak out.
I went to a church.
They taught the pre-trib rapture for like five months in a row.
It was ridiculous.
And we read Matthew 24, like most, every single week as the opening of our chapter,
they didn't touch verse 29 once.
They always skipped around and look, these pre-trib rapture, you know, frauds, they
just have to skip around in scripture.
They can't show you things in context.
They can't show you all the verses.
They don't have any explanation for all these.
They just have to kind of dance around and play their little charades or they just
hide behind that.
Well, I don't know.
We don't know.
It's kind of dark and mysterious, but we know it's pre-trib, right?
We're not playing it rough.
Amen.
I had a preacher guy get up after sermon.
He's like, nobody could disprove anything I said.
Okay.
Yeah.
Nobody.
Let's look at second Peter chapter two.
Let's go to the third reason why it's pre-trib.
Lots example.
Okay.
Let's look at verse four.
God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them
into chains of darkness to be reserved in the judgment and spared not the old world
but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon
the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should
live ungodly and delivered just lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked
for that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and reserve the unjust
under the day of judgment to be punished.
Now, I'll be honest.
This actual point that they're making was probably one of the strongest in my mind
when I was pre-trib.
Just in the fact that you can see, well, look, lot was spared from judgment.
Lot was spared from wrath.
So I kind of thought, well, I guess that makes kind of sense, right?
I mean, God's not going to take us through the fire and the brimstone.
But here's the problem.
In verse nine, he says he knows how to deliver the godly out of what?
Temptations.
Now, temptation is not the same word as tribulation.
So we have to ask the question, well, what was this?
Was this tribulation or was this God's wrath?
And did Lot even go through any kind of tribulation?
Well, let's go to the story.
Genesis chapter 19.
Go to Genesis chapter number 19.
Let's see what happened to Lot.
Let's see, did he have any tribulation?
Who was it that he actually was delivered from?
What was the punishment he was delivered from and who was he delivered it from by?
Look at verse four.
But before they laid down the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, can pass the
house around, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came into thee
this night?
Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said,
I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
So what happens in the story?
Well, two angels, they come down to see how bad Sodom and Gomorrah is.
And Lot says, hey, you got to come stay with me.
Don't stay on the street.
You got to be inside with me.
How do you know that?
Well, look, every single man, both old and young, from every corner, surrounded
his house, and they're beating at the house.
Hey, bring those angels out here.
Hey, bring them out here.
We want to know them.
That doesn't sound like tribulation.
Can you imagine every sodomite in the city surrounding your house, literally beating at
your door, trying to get you to bring out people so that they can force them?
That talks, that's a lot of tribulation to me.
I don't want to go through that.
I don't want to be there.
I'll have to get my AK-47 out, you know, bring my AR-15 out.
I'll let them know something.
You know what?
That's tribulation, my friend.
That's a lot of tribulation.
I hope that we don't have to see that.
I hope that our country doesn't degrade to that.
But you know what?
It's going in the wrong direction.
And we need some men to be men today and take these freaks out and put them to death
like the Bible says.
You know what?
By a righteous government.
I'm not going to do it.
You're not going to do it.
But you know what?
We should preach that message, and maybe we could get a righteous government to decide,
you know what?
These guys are freaks.
These guys are sick.
Let's get them out.
They're always predators.
They're always trying to force people.
They're always trying to run people.
And they already ruined all the other kids in this little area.
God said, look, I want to go visit down there and see if the cry of Sodom is as bad
as it really is.
Look, that's bad.
This is a bad place.
Lot's going through some heavy tribulation, my friend.
Look at verse number nine.
And they said, stand back.
And they said again, this one fellow came into sojourn and he will need to be a judge.
Now he will do worse with thee than with them.
And they pressed sore upon the man, even lot, and came near to break the door.
I mean, they're just beating this door, trying to get in, trying to cause all kinds
of damage to him.
That sounds like tribulation.
That's a lot of bad stuff happening at this guy's door.
I don't want that to happen to me.
Look at verse 21.
And he said unto him, see, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will
not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken, hastily escape thither.
For I cannot do anything till thou become thither, therefore the name of the city was
called Zor.
So the angels lead Lot, his two daughters, and his wife out of the city.
He says, look, I can't destroy it until you're gone.
This is the picture of the rapture.
God cannot pour out his wrath until all the saved believers are taken off of the
earth.
But guess what happens as soon as they're gone?
As soon as Lot and his daughters and his wife are out of the city, well, let's
look at verse 24.
Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord
out of heaven.
So what happens?
The same day that they're taken out of Sodom and Gomorrah, God's wrath comes upon
all these wicked people and they're burned to death.
Man, I wish that would happen today.
Go to Luke chapter 17.
There's a lot of tears amongst the wheat and God's just letting them exist so that
the wheat won't get destroyed with them.
But did this have pre-trib?
I mean, was Lot taken out before any tribulation, before any suffering?
That sounds like a lot of suffering to me.
That sounds like a lot of tribulation for me.
Why?
Because he didn't want them to do something wicked.
He was being persecuted for being righteous.
He was being persecuted for not wanting to do something ungodly.
That was the only time you could even kind of say that he was doing something righteous,
which he really wasn't because he was offering his daughters instead.
It kind of defeats the whole like being righteous part.
I mean, Lot's your good example of the Christian that never did anything good but still
saved.
I mean, point to me where Lot has good works.
Oh yeah, I lived in the most wicked city.
I married my two daughters to Sodomites.
Then as soon as I leave the city, I lay with them, commit incest, and produce the
two most wicked nations on the planet and die in a cave.
Oh yeah, that guy's real righteous.
That guy's like the Calvinist who persevered to the end.
He persevered in backsliding.
He persevered in doing a lot of wicked stuff.
Look, he has a bad legacy.
But you know what?
He was still saved.
In the eyes of God, he still looked at Lot and said, that guy's just.
Why?
Because of his faith.
Because he believed in the Lord and they were saved by his faith.
And he was justified by faith, not with the works of the law.
Look at Luke 17, verse 24.
For as the lightning that lighteth out of one part under heaven shineth unto the other
part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day.
So what's the context?
We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ returning, right?
We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming.
It's going to be, the world's going to light up.
I mean, this thing is going to be noticeable.
Look at verse 25.
But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given a marriage until the day
that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought,
they sold, they planted, they built it.
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven
and destroyed them all.
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
So we see the Bible's consistent.
The Bible says the same thing over and over and over.
And when we read in Revelation chapter number six, what happens?
Well, the great day of the Lord, the wrath has come.
The wrath of the Lamb has come in Revelation chapter number six.
Then in chapter number seven, well, we see the great multitude in heaven.
Then in Revelation chapter number eight, verse one, he says he opens the seventh seal and there was silence
in heaven for the space of a half an hour.
Okay, that's 30 minutes.
So guess what happens the same day?
Well, go to Revelation chapter eight, go to Revelation chapter eight.
What would we expect?
What have we seen so far?
Well, there was tribulation, then Lot was taken out.
Then what happens immediately after?
Fire and brimstone from heaven.
So what do we have in Revelation chapter number six?
Well, we have the Lord returning.
That can picture the angels.
Then we see what the great multitude in heaven.
That's like Lot being taken out.
So what do we have next?
What do we have in Revelation chapter eight?
Look at verse seven.
The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they
were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burned up and all green
grass was burned up.
Exactly the same.
God rains fire and brimstone from heaven upon the people of the earth right on the
same day.
The same day that God, we are taken out, God's going to rain fire and brimstone on
the earth, just like he did to Sodom.
What that perfectly proves what we believe.
Look, Lot's example is great at proving the rapture.
It's a perfect example.
It's a perfect archetype, but what of the pre-wrath, the post-trib pre-wrath position.
It does not prove pre-trib.
Go back to Genesis chapter number five now.
Genesis chapter number five.
Look, their arguments are so silly.
They're so ridiculous.
There's no part of scripture that confirms a pre-trib rapture.
I mean, there's some things that are kind of mysterious.
There's some things in the Bible that are hard to be understood and when we talk about
mystery Babylon, there's a lot of different theories that could be true, but when we
come to the pre-trib rapture, I mean, this thing is just a proven fraud over
and over and over and over.
Here's their fourth point.
Enoch's example.
Well, they say, look, Enoch, he walked with God and then he was not.
Look at verse number 24.
And Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him.
Now this would be the only time, you know, they have this stupid idea that people just
like disappear.
That's the pre-trib rapture.
If you watch the movie or you read the books, it's like, there's just people and
then there's all just, there's just like a pile of clothes or something.
You know, they always disappear or whatever.
This would be the only place in the Bible that could really say, you know, someone
just like disappeared.
Obviously with Elijah, he's carried in a chariot of a whirlwind up into heaven, but
Elijah's servant saw it.
And so, you know, this would be the only real example where you just see somebody kind
of quote unquote disappear.
But is this really a picture of the pre-trib rapture?
Here's my thing.
Luke told us there was two examples.
Who were they?
Noah and Lot.
He didn't say Enoch was an example.
He didn't say Enoch was a picture of the pre-trib rapture.
And if you actually study the timeline, it looks really stupid.
Look at verse number 23.
And all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
Now I've plotted out several times the age of the earth or different timeline charts
or whatever.
If you try to figure out when Enoch was born, he was born in the 622nd year of
the world, as far as like how many years are in time.
So Enoch was born in year 622.
If he lived 365 years, that would be 987.
That would be the year that he was taken away.
So you would expect, I mean, if this was a picture of the rapture, that'd be pretty
close, right?
I mean, pretty relative, especially if it was the same day.
That's what Lot's example was, right?
That's what Noah's example is.
Well, when was the flood?
When was it the flood that actually came?
Well, it came in year 1656.
So they're only 669 years off.
I mean, basically Enoch is translated into heaven immediately, then 669 years later, then
the flood comes.
I don't think that's related.
If you put this in modern vernacular, that would be your 1349 if you go that many years
back from today.
If you go back as many years, so you're going to say things that happened in 1349
have a direct correlation to what's happening in 2018.
That's kind of weird.
America didn't even exist the way we believe it today.
I mean, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and wind 1492, right?
So America hadn't even been invaded by English settlers, by anybody from Europe.
Not only that, in 1349, I just looked it up.
I was like, I don't know what happened in 1349, right?
Well in January 9th, 700 Jews of Basel, Switzerland were burned alive in their houses.
In February 13, Jews are expelled from Bergeslort, Switzerland.
In February 22, Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland.
It's like all about Jews.
It's like Jews are killed in this country, they're expelled from this country, they're
killed from this country.
Look, throughout history, the Jews have always been persecuted and hated.
You know why?
Because of their money lending practices.
Every time you look it up, it's because they were exactly usury on people and they
always got caught up in a bad situation on the usury, and so people hated them and
kicked them out of every single nation.
That doesn't sound like anything different today.
If I was going to point to these events though, and say, oh, this is proof of the rapture
coming or the second coming, you'd look at me like I'm an idiot.
Something that happened 669 years ago, that's their best picture.
Go to Genesis chapter six, just go to chapter four.
How about Noah, who's actually told by Luke chapter number 17, that he is a picture.
Let's see what his was like.
When did the flood happen?
What was happening?
Look at verse five.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.
You're going to tell me that every single imagination is evil and Noah's not suffering
persecution.
He's not suffering any kind of tribulation on this earth.
Can you imagine everywhere you go, every thought of every single person is evil.
That's going to be a really rough world to live in.
Look at what it says in verse 11.
And the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Look wherever you go, people are dying, being killed, and that's what happens in
what?
The tribulation.
The world's filled with murder and war and famine and death.
Look, it's a perfect parallel to what was happening with Noah, not Enoch, 669 years ago.
That's stupid.
Look at verse number 13.
And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth
is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
So what happens?
The same day that Noah gets on the ark, it rains and floods, and God's judgment
comes and kills all of these wicked people, all these people filled with violence.
Now go to Daniel chapter number three.
Again, you could argue, yeah, Enoch, he was disappeared, but you have no other verse
that proves that Enoch has anything to do with the second coming, with his translation.
You could maybe point to the fact that some people have believed that Enoch was maybe
one of the two witnesses, but there's probably better evidence that it's Moses and Elijah
than Enoch, really.
The only real argument I've heard people say is, well, he never died physically.
So he has to die physically, so that's going to be when he's a witness or something.
But Moses makes a lot of sense because of the 10 plagues, and the devil disputes
with one of the archangels about where the body of Moses was.
Not only that, we see Elijah actually went as a whirlwind up into heaven.
So the same argument can be made for both of those guys, and those guys look like
a better picture of the two witnesses, but either way, him being a witness doesn't
determine whether or not that's a preacher of rapture, again, a bad illustration.
Now here's the next example.
Again, they always have to look through a glass darkly.
To say that because Enoch was translated means preacher of rapture, that's a pretty
big stretch to just believe that, right?
You should have some clear verses that prove your doctrine whenever you believe.
Here's their next really looking through a glass darkly.
They say, well, Daniel in chapter number three is a picture of the preacher of rapture.
You say, well, is Daniel mentioned in chapter three?
No.
So because Daniel is not mentioned in chapter number three, and Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego are thrown in the furnace of fire, they say, well, Daniel's a picture
of the church.
The church doesn't have to go through that tribulation ergo, since he's not mentioned
in the chapter, preacher of rapture.
That's stupid.
Look at verse number one.
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits,
and the breadth there of six cubits.
He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
So what's happening?
Well, when you read the first verse, it tells you, hey, they're going to go worship
somewhere else.
They're going to go out with outside the camp, and they're going to go worship together.
Now it says that all the kings, the rulers, and chief princes are gathered together,
but it makes sense that there is at least somebody in charge.
I mean, they didn't just leap, like there's nobody in charge left alone.
Daniel was considered the chief of all the chief rulers.
He was put above.
I mean, other than Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel's the one ruling these things.
Here's a good explanation.
Daniel stayed behind while they went to worship the devil.
Why?
Nebuchadnezzar already attested him, already realized this guy worships the Lord.
Maybe he just realized, I'm not going to take this guy.
I'm not going to take the guy that's already in charge of everything while we go worship,
you know, this great owl in the Bohemian Grove.
You say, what's the great owl?
Look, there's a place in San Francisco called the Bohemian Grove where all the chief
rulers and all the chief princes of America and all the sick celebrities, they go and
they literally worship a 30-foot owl, go worship the devil, go perform fake child sacrifices,
human sacrifices to it.
I don't know how fake it is.
I don't know.
I want to know.
In the groves, in the secret, in these disgusting places, it's like this.
There's no new thing under the sun.
The children of the devil have always gone in secret, gone off somewhere to go worship
the devil, and we see some of God's people are accidentally taken with them.
They're kind of forced to go along, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and they say,
we're not going to worship it.
We're not going to do it.
And guess what?
They literally suffer tribulation.
They literally suffer affliction, and then God rescues them.
How is that a picture of the pre-trib rapture?
Stupid.
Go to Luke 21 again.
Luke chapter 21.
The fact that Daniel's missing to then say ergo, we believe in a pre-trib rapture,
that's a big stretch.
That's a big stretch to be that your crowning verse, to be your crowning point.
They still have 13 points.
We've only gone through five.
They just keep getting more stupid.
I mean, if you thought that was dumb, just wait.
Verse number six, they say, well, we're supposed to pray for escape.
So they say, well, pre-tribbers, they're escapists, is kind of an argument people, you know,
put on them.
They'll say, y'all are escapists.
And they're like, yeah, but we're supposed to pray to escape.
Look at verse number 36.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these
things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
So they say, look, it tells us we could escape.
But here's my question.
If you're being told to escape, what are you being told to escape from?
If you're not going to actually go through the tribulation, do you need to escape it?
No.
So what are they being prayed to escape from?
Well, look at verse nine.
But when these shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified, for these things must first
come to pass, but the end does not bind by.
Then said he unto them, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
and great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilence, and fearful
sights, and great signs shall be there from heaven.
So we see there's a lot of stress on the earth.
There's a lot of war.
And look, we as Christians should pray and ask God to deliver us from these type of
events, to deliver us from this type of tribulation.
We could make it through there.
We could be counted worthy to escape those type of things.
But they'll say, yeah, but the only people that are going to escape are the saved.
So they have to take everything and twist it so hard to say, yeah, but the only people
that will actually escape this are those of the true believers.
The true believers, they'll escape these things before they'll be in the preacher rapture.
And all these false professors, they're going to have to go through all this suffering
affliction.
And the ones that end up getting saved, they're going to kind of go through tribulation.
But that's stupid because look at verse 12.
But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought for kings and
rulers for my name's sake.
So we see Christians, people that are saved, they are going to suffer tribulation.
Why?
Because they're a Christian, because they love Christ, because they actually believe
the Bible.
That's why they're going to be persecuted.
But does it say everyone?
No, that's why it gives us the promise at the very end of the chapter saying, look,
why don't you pray that you're worthy to escape?
You know, a lot of these people I think are, they're the lame Christians.
They're the ones that actually don't want to preach the gospel.
They're the ones that actually don't want to serve God.
They're going to be the first ones to go.
They're going to be the first ones destroyed.
We see this consistently through the Bible.
You see Jeremiah and you see another guy, Urijah.
Urijah, whenever he's told like, we don't like what you're preaching, he just flees
to Egypt.
And then they bring him back and they kill him.
But Jeremiah, he stands strong.
He stands exactly where he is.
He goes through all of it.
He makes it all the way to the end.
Why?
Because God is going to keep those alive that are actually doing as well.
He's not going to keep all the Christians that aren't doing anything alive.
He's going to keep all the ones that are actually doing what he wants alive.
So why don't you pray that you're kind of worthy to escape, but why don't you do the works
too?
Why don't you actually go out and preach the gospel and get ready?
So you say, what's our hope?
Well, your hope is that you're worthy to escape.
Your hope is the fact that eventually Christ will come.
Go to John chapter 14.
But to say because they're supposed to pray for escape means ergo, pre-trib, rapture.
Well, that just flies in the face of the whole chapter, the whole context of the
chapter, which makes it clear, look, a lot of people are going to be going through this
persecution.
A lot of Christians, why?
Because of the testimony of the Lord.
Here's their seventh point.
They say pre-trib rapture is true because the Jewish wedding ceremony in John chapter
14.
Well, I've read John chapter 14 a lot of times, I miss that whole Jewish wedding
ceremony that they're talking about.
There's a wedding in John chapter number two, but I don't remember it in John chapter
14.
Look at verse one, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me and my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to repair a place for you.
And if I go and repair a place for you, I will come again and receive you into myself
that where I am there, you may be also.
I miss that whole wedding in the middle of this, right?
They say, well, being a 21st century Gentile, we miss out on how the original disciples
would hear and understand this.
Jesus used the terminology of the Jewish wedding ceremony.
So I guess if you understood, like the disciples did, there have been all kinds of bells ringing
off in your ear, wedding bells, as you're reading this part of scripture.
And you would have realized this is a wedding ceremony.
This is some Jewish wedding ceremony because they say, look, the bride, the husband, the
bridegroom, he would first go and prepare a place for his wife.
Then he would come and return and take his wife from living with her parents and
they would go to his abode and they would live happily married ever after.
So this is a picture of Christ and the fact that he's going to repair a place for us,
then he's going to come and receive us to himself.
First of all, even if that was all true, which I think it's just conjecture, it's
kind of stupid, it's putting stuff in the Bible that's not there.
But even if that were true, how does that prove that there's a preacher rapture?
What does that have to do with a preacher rapture?
Go to Revelation chapter 19.
And again, they take words that people are somewhat familiar with, oh, the bride
of Christ, oh, the marriage subgroup of the lamb, and they just kind of hit you and pepper
you with these things, maybe throw a verse at you.
You don't know what the timing is, so it sounds right.
But to say, all right, to say that this is a picture of the marriage supper of the
lamb or this is the wedding ceremony, well, let's just see where it is on the chart.
Let's see where the marriage supper of the lamb is.
Oh, yeah, it's over here.
Pre-trip, huh?
Okay.
Look at verse six.
And as I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb is
come and his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
And he saith unto me, write, blessed are they which are called in the marriage supper
of the lamb.
And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God.
Now what happens at the end of Revelation 19?
Well, Christ comes on a horse and he destroys the Antichrist and all of his armies gathered
against him at the battle of Armageddon.
And then the Bible says, all the birds, they eat the flesh of all these men.
And that's called the marriage supper of the lamb.
So if you were to say that that is when we were raptured, well, then you now all
of a sudden are post-wrath because you would have gone through all the wrath of God.
So they completely contradict all of what they're even believing, all of what they're
saying.
And look, John chapter 14 has nothing to do with you going through the wrath of God,
through the marriage supper of the lamb.
That's stupid.
It has nothing to do with scripture.
Go back to verse or chapter one now.
Go back to chapter one of Revelation.
Their eighth point, well, the outline of Revelation.
Oh, okay.
I've got the outline right here.
I think it makes perfect sense what I have written out because I actually plotted all
the events out and it all fits together perfectly with every chapter of the Bible.
There's not even one where I'm like, well, I don't know where it, no, it fits perfectly.
It all lines up.
Not because of me, but because the Bible is so consistent because it's God's word,
because it's the truth.
The truth always makes sense.
It always comes together quickly.
People that believe in a pre-trib rapture, they're always oftentimes confused.
They don't really know what's going on, but they say, yeah, but Revelation chapter
one, verse 19, it says, write the things which thou has seen and the things which
are and the things which shall be hereafter.
Now, when I preached on this series, I covered this verse and I agree with that point.
If you read Revelation chapter one, he tells you all the things he saw.
Revelation chapter two and three, he tells you the things which are.
The churches that are in their current situation is giving you the present tense.
Then in chapter four, all the way to the end, he's going to tell you the things which
shall be hereafter.
So that's very consistent.
Well, here's the thing.
They say, yeah, but in chapter four, John, he's caught up into heaven.
And John is a picture of the church, if you didn't realize that already.
I mean, it just clearly points it out that John is the church, okay?
And since John is the church and he's in heaven, and since the word church is never mentioned
from Revelation chapter four to chapter 19, ergo, that means that the church raptured.
That means pre-trib.
That means the church is not present.
This is their logic.
They'll say, yeah, I never read Revelation where it uses the word church, specifically
between chapter four and 19, you know, it's not there in those little spots.
What a stupid way to interpret the Bible.
You know what also isn't mentioned there?
Jews.
And they want to say it's all about the Jews.
Guess what?
The Jews aren't mentioned there either.
We were mentioned a couple of times in chapter two and three about being the synagogue Satan,
having nothing to do with God.
And God's not trying to save the children of Satan, by the way.
They're twofold more the child of hell.
They're twice dead.
God said, look, Jesus Christ, when he's on the earth said, you can't believe you
child of the devil.
Look, he's not trying to save those that are children of the devil.
Go to chapter 12.
Go to chapter number 12.
Look, it's clear in Revelation chapter seven, we already read it.
That was a saved.
That was the church.
That's when they're caught up.
Just because it doesn't use the word church doesn't mean the church isn't in those chapters.
They are.
It's very clear.
Where did these come from?
Whence came they?
From great tribulation.
Here in the tribulation.
How about chapter 12 verse 17?
And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of
her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Now who has the testimony of Jesus Christ?
The Jews?
No.
The church.
Those that are saved.
Here's another mention of the church.
Look at chapter 13, chapter 13, who's the anti-Christ even making war with?
He's not making war against people that are unsaved.
They're already damned to hell.
They're already, you know, the people that are taking the mark.
He's not fighting against them.
They're definitely damned to hell.
Look at verse six.
And he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle
and then that dwell in heaven.
What happens in chapter 13?
It's when the anti-Christ is revealed.
When he goes into the temple, when he declares himself God, that's the ultimate
blasphemy to say that you're God and the temple of God and the Holy, I mean, this
guy is trying to just do the worst things imaginable.
It's called the abomination of desolation.
What does it say in verse seven?
And it was given unto him to make war with the Jews, with unbelievers.
With the saints.
Who's that?
The church.
Believers.
And to overcome them and power is given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations.
Look, this is why it's called great tribulation because all the saints are being persecuted
and they've been given power, the anti-Christ has given power to actually overcome
them, to actually kill a lot of them.
Their hedge of protection has been taken just like Job's was and they go through one
of the greatest trials that man has ever seen on a wide scale.
You know, on a wide scale.
Go if you would to Revelation 2.
So we're looking at a lot of Revelation.
Again, they kind of just pick and choose verses.
They don't want to actually show you all the chapters of Revelation.
His ninth point from this article is that some churches went through a conditional tribulation
ergo that's prophetic of the fact that we will also have conditional tribulation.
Not everybody has to go through the tribulation.
But that completely contradicts his point eight.
Because he already said in point chapter, in point number eight, that the outline
of Revelation was what?
The things which thou has seen, which are, and which shall be hereafter.
So if now he's going back and saying, oh yeah, but two and three, the things
that are, they're actually also prophecy two.
So they just want to pick and choose however they want to interpret the Bible.
Sometimes chapter two and three, they're prophetic.
Sometimes they're not prophetic.
It's just whatever point they want to make.
They're not consistent with it.
And look, I don't believe chapters two and three are prophetic of any of the pre-trib
and post-trib rapture.
They're just the things which are, and they're examples unto us of how the church
can be through all the ages, through any time.
There's not seven dispensations of the church ages, and this is all prophetic.
Look, when they want it to be prophetic, all it's church ages.
When they don't want it to be prophetic, well, it's not prophetic because, see, we
have the church, and they disappeared in chapter number four, and everything before that
was just about wazar.
They can't figure out what they like.
Look at verse 22.
Behold, I will cast her into bed, and then that committed adultery with her into
great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
So you see, ah, see, if she repented, she would not go through tribulation.
Ergo, if Christians repent, they won't go through the tribulation.
You know, all those that have repented.
So what do they have to do?
They have to have a false gospel.
They have to have this gospel that says, well, if you repent of all your sins, then
you're saved, and all those who have truly repented, they're the ones that are
not going to enter the tribulation.
But all those Christians that haven't repented of all their sins that are in church, they're
going to have to go through this tribulation.
Look, wicked, false doctrine.
Look, you're either saved or you're not saved.
It has nothing to do with the repenting of all your sins.
It's stupid.
But here's the second thing.
Where is this tribulation coming from?
Is it coming from man, or is it coming from God?
Because tribulation coming from God, that's his wrath.
And let's see what it actually says.
Look at verse 20, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou suffer'st
that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants
to commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed in idols.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her, into great
tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
And I will kill her children with death.
And all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reigns and hearts,
and I will give every one of you according to your works.
Now let's think about, this is a side point.
Here's my side point for tonight, all right?
Is this Old Testament or New Testament?
This is New Testament.
This is after the death, burial, and resurrection.
This is after Christ has, you know, returned up into the clouds.
And guess what he's saying?
He's literally going to kill this woman's children with death.
Why?
Because of fornication.
Yes, God still kills in the New Testament because of fornication.
It wasn't just an Old Testament story.
No, it still happens today.
And you know what?
Ananias and Sapphira, they were killed because they just lied.
They lied to church, killed.
New Testament.
Don't look at all the, oh, in the Old Testament, God was so mean.
He said he's going to kill all of her children with death in the New Testament.
But guess what?
It's God's wrath because she's in fornication, because she's committing adultery, because
he's teaching lies, because you have a church with a woman pastor.
Like people in the SBC, that Southern Bastard Convention, they got women pastors.
What kind of ridiculous junk is that?
Well, look what it says in verse 24.
But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,
and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you
none other burden.
So is this for the whole church?
I mean, he's saying, look, this is specific to her because she's in wicked sin.
So their whole logic doesn't even apply to the church to say, look, hey, these
people, if they repented, they wouldn't have gone through tribulation.
Well, no, everybody in the church that isn't her isn't already going through tribulation.
Look at chapter, or look at verse number 10.
We'll find a church where he actually says, you are going to go through tribulation.
It's not like conditional.
It's like, it's going to happen.
Look at verse 10.
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer, behold, the devil shall cast some of you
into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation, 10 days.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
That doesn't sound very optional to me.
That doesn't sound very conditional.
The only condition is getting a reward in heaven.
That was the condition, not whether or not you're going through tribulation.
And look, the Bible makes it clear that Christians will go through tribulation.
If you're godly, go if you would to Revelation chapter 11 now.
They say, yeah, but the rapture, the timing is unknown.
Their 10th point is it has to be pre-trib because otherwise we would know the exact
timing of the rapture.
False.
Again, they have to point you to the three false views.
They say, well, it's pre-trib, mid-trib, or it's post-trib, post-wrath.
Well, since we know the timing of mid-trib, we'll know exactly like it's at the midpoint
of the week.
Since we know the end of the week, ergo, it can't be these either two times.
But here's the thing.
I don't believe that it isn't either of those two times.
It's right here.
It's after the midpoint of the week.
It's sometimes shortly spaced.
And look, there's different ways you could calculate, have an idea.
Maybe it's 75 days.
Some people believe that.
I think that's a pretty good theory when you study a lot of the different things.
But look, even if I knew there was 75 days after the midpoint, I still don't know the day or the hour.
I don't know what day it is.
I'm not putting a date.
I'm not saying, you know, November 15th, 2022.
So look, that's a stupid straw man argument to say, well, just because it's unknown.
Look at verse two.
But the court, which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is
given unto Gentiles.
The holy city shall, they tread under foot forty and two months, and I will give power
unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
days, clothed in sackcloth.
So they say, because we know those events, we can picture, we know when the Battle of
Armageddon is, and they say, since the Battle of Armageddon is the second coming of Christ,
that's weird, because I don't think that's the second coming of Christ.
I don't see that as when we're being raptured.
Even though we might know this timeline, guess what?
That is not what the Bible is picturing, what we believe.
That's not the pre-wrath position, okay?
So again, it's just straw man arguments.
Go, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter three.
We're almost finished.
2 Timothy chapter three.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4, it says, for this we say unto you by the word of
the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.
So we know that, look, the coming is when the rapture is.
Since they will, eventually they'll kind of say, well, we understand that this is
the coming, and this couldn't be when the rapture is.
They separate the coming of the Lord from the rapture.
But the clearest verse was in 1 Thessalonians chapter four that told us that was the coming
of the Lord.
That is when the Lord is returning.
That is when we're going to see and meet the Lord in the air.
So it's stupid to separate the coming of the Lord from the rapture.
They're the same event.
Here's their 11th point.
Tribulation is unnecessary for the church.
Unnecessary?
Who gets tribulation if the church doesn't?
That's my question.
Who's getting tribulated for the testimony of Jesus Christ if it isn't the church?
That's self-contradictory.
They'll say, yeah, but in Jeremiah 30 it says, alas, for that day is great, so that
none is like it.
It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
So he says, look, the whole Bible is about the Jews, and the whole reason God gave tribulation
is so that Jews would turn back to God.
It's not about the church.
The church doesn't suffer tribulation.
Look, you have to be a weird dispensationalist to even believe half of that junk to already
get there.
That's the only type of people they can even convince with this stupid stuff.
2 Timothy 3 verse 12 says, yay, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution.
Yes, persecution is appointed to Christians.
Yes, tribulation is appointed to Christians.
Not just some of them, all of them.
And look, obviously, God used tribulation in the Old Testament to turn Jews back to
the Lord, but that's the same way he does it even today.
Look, you can get God's chastisement and punishment if you're not serving him.
He wants you to turn back to him.
Go over to 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Thessalonians 2.
Their 12th point, it says it squares up with the 70 weeks of Daniel 9.
Well, first of all, Daniel 9 doesn't have the 70 weeks in it, so that was a really
stupid point that they made up.
But I'm not going to go into a long dissertation.
They say, well, if you study the timeline, there's 490 years.
We've already gone through the 483 years, which took us from Cyrus making the great
proclamation that New Jerusalem would be built to the time that Christ came, but we're
waiting for the last seven weeks, which is the last seven year period.
And since it was only dealing with Jews then, well, it only has a deal with Jews in
the future.
But here's a problem.
In Ephesians chapter 2 this morning, that there is no more Jew nor Gentile.
We're now citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel.
We've been graphed in.
We're still of the prophets.
We're part of that citizenship.
There is no more Jew and Gentile, so you have to believe a bunch of stupid junk to
even get there.
Only dispensationalists who try to take the Bible and just kind of pick parts out
that they like and try to dig around and try to find the things, they can't make
sense of the Bible as a whole.
Here's the last point, and this is the one you'll hear all the time.
The rapture's imminent.
Oh, before I'm preaching, Jesus Christ would come back right now.
Wouldn't that be great?
I've got 100 problems, and there isn't one that couldn't be solved with Christ coming
back right now, and I just can't wait, and I'm just ready for that glorious
period.
Maybe if we say amen loud enough, Christ will just come.
I mean, they just say over and over, hey, it could happen right now before we know it.
You better get right with God because he could be here before the altar call's done.
You better come down as the song plays.
You better repent of all your sins.
You better ... Whatever they want to say, they're trying to use this thing as a gimmick.
Look, the Bible makes it clear it's not imminent.
There's things that have to happen before he can come back.
Look at 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering
together unto him.
That sounds perfect with 1 Thessalonians 4, right?
He comes, and then we're gathered.
Look at verse 2.
That ye be not so shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter
as from us, as the day of Christ is at hand.
Well, that flies in the face of immanency.
He's saying, look, if someone's telling you it's about to happen, they're a liar.
Don't listen to this guy.
Look, why?
Because there's certain things that have to happen.
He tells in verse 3, 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, who opposeth and exalted himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God, sitting in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, remember ye not, that when I was
with you yet, or was yet with you, I told you these things, and now you know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let until
he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming."
Now, here's the thing.
What they'll do is they'll take verse 7, and they try to build a really false
doctrine about chapter number 7, or verse 7.
They'll say, well, who is the he that'll be taken away?
And I've heard this so many times, they say that he is the Holy Ghost.
They say, because, look, the rapture has to come, and when the rapture comes, all the
Christians will be taken out, ergo, the Holy Ghost is somehow magically taken out
of the world, even though I thought God was omnipresent, but either way, the Holy
Ghost somehow magically is gone, even though in the Old Testament, nobody had the indwelling
of the Holy Ghost, and he was still present.
The spirit of the Lord still came upon people, even though they weren't indwelled.
So again, their whole argument's stupid, but that's not what it's saying here.
But if you actually look at the midpoint, when you study all the scripture, the Antichrist
is killed at this point.
He receives a deadly wound, and then the Bible says that the devil literally enters
in his body, and he's possessed with the devil.
The devil is taking control of him.
Now when it says, when he's taken out of the way, what is he talking about?
He's talking about the person of the Antichrist.
He's taken out of the way, so who can come?
The devil.
The devil can literally inhabit the Antichrist and masquerade himself, and then he's going
to be revealed.
The Antichrist.
That's who he's talking about.
But I actually heard the pastor that I grew up with, he'll read 2 Thessalonians chapter
number 2, he'll read it, and he says, well I believe the Antichrist will not be revealed
until after the rapture.
He just read 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2, which says, look, the man of sin has to
be revealed before the coming of the Lord.
He literally can read it, and then still say, well I still think the Antichrist will
not be revealed until after the coming.
It's stupid, it's ludicrous, they can literally read clear scripture, and it still just goes
right over their head.
They just still don't even get it.
So what has to happen?
Well, you have to have the midpoint.
It can't be before the midpoint, because that's when the man of sin is revealed, that's
when the wicked is revealed.
So it must be after this point.
So every view before this point, stupid, idiotic, don't let any man deceive you that
it's at hand.
Now after the Antichrist is standing, you know, in the temple declaring himself God,
you won't have to worry, because you know what he's going to do?
He's going to say, if you don't receive a mark in your hand or your forehead, you can't
buy or sell, and you have to worship the Antichrist.
You know what the Bible says?
No true Christian is going to be deceived by that.
They're all going to be persecuted and killed, everybody's going to wake up at
that point.
You don't have a choice.
You're either worshipping the devil literally on earth, or you're being killed for the
cause of Christ.
Go to Matthew 24, the last verse I want to look at, Matthew 24.
Look the Christians are the one who the Antichrist is persecuting.
The Christians are the ones he's trying to kill.
And you say, yeah, but no man knows the day or the hour.
You're right.
I don't know the day or the hour.
I don't know the exact timeline of when Christ is going to return, but there is
something I know.
Look at verse 29.
Immediately after the tribulation, I do know that Christ's second coming is after the
tribulation.
I don't know the day or the hour, but in the same chapter, guess what?
I do know that it's after the tribulation.
So the preacher of rapture, it's a fraud, it's a joke, it's a hoax.
Don't let people lie to you.
Look, we looked at 13 reasons.
They're all stupid.
If you believe in any of those reasons, you're an idiot after I just showed you what
the Bible said.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you so much for giving us clear scripture.
Thank you for just giving us such a consistent word of God that's so true that we can
just believe your scriptures, that you can lead us into all truth.
I pray that we would just never be deceived by the cunning craftiness of man, that we
would continually read our Bibles, that we'd study to show ourselves approved, and that
we can look for that blessed hope, that we can keep doing the works, and we can
pray that we'd be counted worthy to escape all of those things.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.