Hey everybody, Pastor Steven Anderson here from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.
In this video I'm going to be debunking Pastor Max H. Graves' teaching on the pre-tribulation
rapture. Now first of all he starts out by admitting that there is no one clear verse
in the Bible that teaches a pre-tribulation rapture and that the teaching relies upon
going all over the Bible and sort of building a case and piecemealing it together.
Make it very clear to you, to everybody, that there is no one verse in scripture that just
completely states emphatically that the rapture of the church is pre-tribulational. So you have to
take scriptures from the different portions of the Bible and develop, present a case in order
to demonstrate that the rapture is pre-tribulational. Now those of us on the other hand
who believe that the rapture comes after the tribulation but before God's wrath is poured out
or a post-tribulation pre-wrath rapture, we have a clear scripture in Matthew 24 where the Bible
says, 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 the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So there we go. Jesus
Christ comes in the clouds after the tribulation, the trumpet sounds, he gathers the elect and it's
right there in a crystal clear scripture. Find one scripture in the Bible that says before the
tribulation you can't do it, it isn't there. But let's go ahead and get his first piece of hard
evidence for the pre-tribulation rapture. The first piece of hard evidence that we learned
about was what we call the imminent return is that Jesus told us to look for the savior. He didn't
tell us to look for wars and rumors of wars. He didn't tell us to look for, you know, great signs
out of heaven. He didn't tell us to look for the sun to be darkened and the moon to turn to blood.
He didn't tell us to look for any of those things. He told us to look for the savior over and over
again. We're told to lift up our head and look for our redemption draweth nigh. So he told us there
that we are told lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. Well that's a quote
from Luke 21 and remember he told us he didn't tell us to look for signs in heaven. He didn't
tell us to look for the sun moving dark. He didn't tell us to look for any wars or he just told us
to look for Jesus, you know, lift up your heads your redemption draweth nigh. Let's go to Luke
21 and look up that actual verse in context. Let's back up to verse 25 and there shall be
signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth distress of nations with
perplexity the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking
after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then
shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory and when these things
begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. So
the Bible flat out tells us that first we are going to see the signs in the sun and moon and
stars the waves and seas roaring all these different things all these signs and he says
when you see those things lift up your heads and look for your redemption draweth nigh. He's
teaching the exact opposite he says no the Bible only tells us to look for Jesus it doesn't tell us
to look for any of these things but actually if you read the entire chapter he says when you shall
hear of wars and commotions be not terrified for these things must first come to pass but the end
is not by and 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 there be from heaven and of course you can read this in Matthew 24
Mark 13 Luke 21 he lists all the things and tells us to look for these things and he says when you
see these things let me read it again it says in verse 28 and when these things begin to come to
pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. So he specifically tells
us that when we see the sun and moon and the stars and all these different signs happening that's
when we lift up our heads and look so to say that he told us just look for Jesus don't look for any
of these other things is just completely false and it's the exact opposite of what Luke 21 teaches
and then he quotes Luke 21 to support his false argument. Remember the word immanency meant that
he could return at any moment that there was nothing that we that would that has to take
place on the calendar on God's prophetic calendar to uh to initiate the prophecy of the of the
rapture the gathering together of the saints of his church so everything is in place for him to
do that. So again he's first of all ignoring the clear teaching of Luke 21 of all the things that
lead up to us looking up and lifting up our heads for our redemption draweth nigh but also
second Thessalonians chapter 2 says now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit nor by word nor by ladder as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand
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 worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God
showing himself that he is God. That hasn't happened yet the Antichrist has not been revealed
there has not been the great falling away and the son of perdition revealed him sitting in the
temple of God and and claiming to be God none of that has happened yet and the Bible is clear it
says that day shall not come unless these things happen first don't let anyone deceive you into
thinking that the day of Christ is at hand. So second Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 1 through 4
just clearly debunk that point. Then the next thing we looked at very quickly was the identification
that we're distinct from Israel the tribulation is not for the church for the church it's for
Israel the Bible calls it the time of Jacob's trouble. Okay now first of all the Bible never
calls it the time of Jacob's trouble in fact the only time that the term time of Jacob's trouble
is ever used in the Bible is Jeremiah chapter 30 verse 7 where it reads 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
and this is a verse that's just being completely ripped out of context has nothing to do with this
seven year period in the end times that they're claiming that it refers to it's referring to a
single day as being the time of Jacob's trouble they just want to pin that title on whatever they
want and just apply it to this seven year period in the end times with no evidence no basis okay
but not only that if we actually look at the events of the tribulation in the book of revelation
they don't apply to Israel because he's saying oh it's all about Israel it's the time of Jacob's
trouble they actually apply to the entire world not just to Israel you know let me just give you
a couple of examples and when he had opened the second seal I heard the second beast say
come and see and there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that
sat there on to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given
unto him a great sword so the earth is at war it's not just Israel that's at war there okay
and then if we look at the events of the fourth seal it says when he had opened the fourth seal
I heard the voice of the fourth beast say come and see and I looked and behold a pale horse
and his name that sat on him was death and hell followed with him and power was given unto them
over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the
beasts of the earth so the events of the fourth seal again they don't affect Israel only they
actually affect one fourth part of the entire earth okay so that's a huge area that's impacted
by that and then if we were to go to the trumpets of God's wrath you know after the tribulation when
God begins to pour out his wrath in the trumpets and vials again they affect the whole earth the
trumpets affect the whole earth or one third of the earth or one third of the sea or the
fountains of waters it's not all about the Jews all about Israel this is a myth in fact the only
time the Jews are even mentioned in the book of revelation is to call them the synagogue of Satan
in chapter two verse nine and chapter three verse nine that's the only time you'll even find the
word Jews in revelation and then the only time you'll find the word Israel is in regard to
the 144,000 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel and of course there's a difference
between being an Israelite and a Jew I'm not going to go into that for sake of time but to say that
the tribulation is all about Israel or the Jews that's a contradiction of clear scripture because
all the descriptions of it show it affecting the entire earth not just Israel the next thing that
we learned is that we are that we have a position as children of the life according to God we're
children of the light and of the day not of the night so we have nothing to fear according to
first first Thessalonians chapter five now let's actually look up that passage in context and see
if it says what he says that we have nothing to fear because we're the children of light I mean
according to him he's saying that we're just going to be gone for all of this because we're going to
be raptured in a pre-trib rapture let's see if that's what's actually taught in first Thessalonians
five and keep in mind this is right after he just described the rapture in chapter four chapter five
verse one but of the times and the seasons brethren you have no need that I write unto you
for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when
they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a
woman with child and they shall not escape but ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should
overtake you as a thief ye are all the children of light and the children of the day we are not
of the night nor of darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober
so he's not saying here that we are not going to be here for these events because we're the
children of light what he's saying is that because we're not in the dark about these things they're
not going to overtake us as a thief we will be watching and that's why he says therefore let us
not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober if we're supposedly going to be gone before
any of this happens then what would we be watching for if supposedly there are no prophecies that need
to be fulfilled and the rapture can happen in any moment imminence you know he can come today then
there'd be nothing to watch for he flat out says ye brethren are not in darkness that that day
should overtake you as a thief see it's going to come upon them unawares but we will be watching
and that's why he even said let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober so it does
not teach that we have nothing to fear of course we do have nothing to fear in the sense that
greater is he that is in us than he is in the world and and though we walk through the valley
of the shadow of death we will fear no evil for christ is with us but you know we're going to be
here when these events happen they just won't overtake us as a thief we know that the truth
of the rapture is found in first thessalonians chapter four and that's just very clearly put
the rapture does take will take place the problem with first thessalonians four is it doesn't give
us a time frame it just states the fact that it will take place so according to him the problem
with first thessalonians four is that it doesn't give us the time frame well all you have to do is
keep reading into chapter five and you get the time frame so but at the beginning of chapter
five is a conjunction okay so he leads into the timing as soon as he finishes talking about the
rapture in first thessalonians four but of the times and the seasons brethren you have no need
that i write unto you why not why not tell us the times and seasons for yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night so the reason why he doesn't have to
write to us about the times and the seasons because we already know that the day of the lord
so cometh as a thief in the night now if the day of the lord and the rapture were two different
things then that would make no sense it wouldn't make any sense to say oh you don't need to know
the times and the seasons of the rapture because you know the timing of the day of the lord is as
a thief in the night if those were two totally different things that would make no sense
but the day of the lord and the rapture are the same thing okay why is that because the sign
associated with the day of the lord over and over and over again in scripture is the sun
and moon being darkened just look up the term day of the lord old testament new testament
sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great terrible day of the
lord come over and over again the sun and moon being darkened is mentioned in conjunction with
the day of the lord okay then in matthew 24 when he says after the tribulation christ comes in the
clouds the trumpet sounds and he gathers his elect what does it say the sun and moon will be darkened
at that time because the rapture takes place on the day when the sun and moon are darkened why
because the day of the lord and the rapture happened at the same time and so that's why he
tells them about the rapture in first thessalonians four and then he ties that in with the timing of
the day of the lord so there's no problem with first thessalonians four there's a problem with
the guy reading first thessalonians four because he's stuck on a pre-trib rapture he will not accept
the clear teaching of chapters five verses one and two where he just flat out says look the day
of the lord's so coming as a thief in the night that's why you don't need me to write to you of
the times and seasons of the rapture same day and it's very very interesting when you start studying
what the the way a jewish wedding was uh was laid out so after he goes through these pieces of what
he called hard evidence for a pre-tribulation rapture then he gets into his soft evidence for
the pre-tribulation rapture and he gets into the jewish wedding ceremony then as the groom went
back to his bride in the chamber the members of the wedding party returned to the wedding guest
and announced the consummation of the marriage upon receiving the good news the wedding guests
remained in the groom's father's house for the next seven days
seven days they celebrated for seven days all right
they celebrated a great they had a great feast for seven days during the seven days
of the wedding feast the bride and groom remained hidden in the bridal chamber
for seven days of the hookah and afterwards the groom came out of hiding bringing his bride with
him but with her veil removed so that everyone could see her he presented his bride to the people
at the wedding party at the end of the seven days the last day of the wedding party the final day
all right and if i had a nickel for every time i heard about this jewish wedding ceremony
i'd be a wealthy man but you'll never find it in scripture they read all these books by christ
rejecting rabbis and and christ hating jews about their wedding feasts and wedding ceremonies and
then they try to foist these rabbinical talmudic jewish teachings onto the scripture but if you
actually study the bible you won't find what they're talking about you know the bible goes
through all these different feasts of the lord and holidays and and symbols and and rituals in
the old testament but it never mentions a wedding feast ordained by god they say oh it's a it's a
seven day jewish wedding well if you study your bible you'll find two different groups of people
that had a seven day wedding in the bible the examples of this you'll find are jacob when he
goes to laban that's laban's tradition of course laban is an idolater laban worships little statues
of gods okay he is not one who is worshiping the true god of the bible okay and then secondly
we see the philistines have a seven day wedding feast with samson okay so this is a totally
extra biblical teaching it's not found in scripture so instead of just going with the
clear teaching of scripture matthew 24 mark 13 and luke 21 which all clearly show that the rapture
happens after the tribulation the clear reading revelation six and and tying that in no they go
with extra biblical judaizing jewish fables is what they are by the way uh let me just say
something dispensationally speaking we have to understand something this is a jewish book
all right it's a jewish book very early on god established his people the jewish people almost
almost every one of the people who penned this book are of jewish descent whether it's old
testament or new testament much of what we find in the culture of this book is from the jewish
from the jewish culture the jewish mind we have to take that into consideration when we read it
then he holds up his bible and says this is a jewish book and and that's his justification
for using these extra biblical jewish teachings to try to interpret the bible well the new testament
is not a jewish book the new testament is actually negative toward the jews as being
the ones who killed jesus and rejected jesus christ let me ask you this if if the new testament
is a jewish book then why is the first epistle written to the romans why is the next epistle
written to the corinthians people living in greece why is the epistle to the galatians there
ephigians philippians colossians these are all gentile places these are all
churches in asia or in greece or in macedonia thessaloniki right thessalonians okay guys like
timotheus titus philemon and sure there's a book written to the hebrews there's the book of james
directed to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad there are scriptures that are directed
them but what about the book of revelation is it written to the jews no it's sent to the seven
churches in asia so at the end times or tribulation or these different events are all
about the jews then why does he send the book of revelation to seven churches in asia if the new
testament is a jewish book then why is the new testament written in the greek language if it
were a jewish book wouldn't it be written in hebrew or aramaic no it's written in greek why
because it's not a jewish book it's a book being written to the entire world and no the jews
culture does not help us interpret the bible because the bible transcends the culture of
human beings okay it's it's for all people and it's from god who dwells outside of time and
culture much of what we find in the culture of this book is from the jewish from the jewish
culture of the jewish mind we have to take that into consideration when we read it he even goes
so far as to say that it came from the minds of jews no this came from the mind of god not from
the mind of jews okay this is god's word and today's jews are not even the jews of the bible
because today's jews are christ rejecting people okay they're people who worship another god
because the bible says if you don't have the son you don't have the father the jews of today
worship a different god than the jews of the old testament so that doesn't make any sense to take
jewish teachings from after christ and foist them onto the scriptures then lastly as part of his
soft evidence for a pre-tribulation rapture he points to revelation four one as symbolizing the
rapture and and he points to revelation four and five to prove that the rapture comes before
the tribulation the bible says uh as a door is opened in heaven immediately he was he was
transported into heaven right he raptured into heaven if we're gonna if we're gonna use that
terminology which is perfectly fine caught up into heaven right is the is the word and we see some
things about this john being a representation of the of a church-age saint right he is the
contemporary of of the church so we know that in revelation chapter four and five not only do
we see john in heaven but we also see the elders 24 elders the representation of the saints think
about this for a month those those are those are people represented in the throne room in heaven
well what's funny about this is that earlier in the sermon he claims that it's a literal
interpretation that leads you to a pre-trib rapture and an allegorical interpretation
that leads you to you know another position excuse me most important aspect of that
of that truth is the fact that when you approach the bible dispensationally uh then it forces you
to approach the bible literally and when you approach the bible literally then that uh that
brings you to the conclusions that we presented last week well listen to revelation four one
after this i looked and behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which i heard was
as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said come up hither and i will show the things
which must be hereafter and immediately i was in the spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven
and one sat on the throne so a literal interpretation of that verse is that one person
john was caught up to heaven not even bodily not even physically just in the spirit one guy was
caught up to heaven but he's taking the allegorical interpretation of saying oh this one guy
represents all believers and i know he's only caught up in spirit but you know that represents
the bodily catching away in the rapture when you know there's a bodily resurrection and then we
which are alive and remain are cut up together with them in the clouds that's a big stretch and
and here's the thing about it this whole thing of literal versus allegorical is foolish anyway because
the bible is understood both literally and allegorically i mean the bible flat out tells us
in galatians 4 that the story with isaac and ishmael is an allegory now of course we also
believe that it literally happened but it's also an allegory so this either or between literal and
allegory is a foolish way to read the bible anyway they claim we take everything literally well if
you take everything literally then you're going to end up believing a lot of weird doctrine like for
example the catholics go too literal when they think they're actually literally eating the body
and blood of christ when they partake of the bread and the cup of the lord's supper or communion
if you take the bible too literally in revelation i guess you think that there's actually a woman
literally standing on the surface of the sun and then she actually has the moon on her head
and that she actually is wearing a crown of 12 literal stars okay so that's just that's just
kind of a silly argument anyway but who's being allegorical now you know we're we're taking the
plain reading of the text in matthew 24 mark 13 luke 21 telling us that the rapture comes
after the tribulation he takes an allegory and the allegory doesn't even make sense because
how can one guy who goes up in spirit be a good representation of the resurrection of all
christians who've ever lived and all christians on the earth at that time being bodily caught up to
be with the lord so again thank you for watching and again if you're not convinced if you still
think that there is any merit to this pre-tribulation rapture teaching i would
strongly recommend that you watch our film after the tribulation it's free on youtube the whole
documentary is there for you to watch after the tribulation there's also a verse by verse
revelation series going through all 22 chapters of the book of revelation verse by verse and just
annihilating this false teaching of a pre-trib rapture god bless you have a great day