Hi, I’m Joshua Toupos and Christian Apologist for Amos37 Ministries. Here you will find some of the best resources for The Pre Tribulation Rapture. In recent years the Pre-Tribulation Rapture position has come under more and more uninformed attacks. False information like Secret Rapture, Marget MacDonald, John Darby, the Last Trumpet, Day of the LORD, Antichrist Revealed, 2 Thes 2:1-6, Persecution, Biblical Typology, Hebrew Roots, The Jewish Wedding, Greek, the purpose of Tribulation, Israel, Revelation, 2nd Coming, and False Date Setters Get the facts and Enjoy!  All listed below.  Poke around and enjoy.

Evidence for a Pre Tribulation Rapture

First things first the word rapture, For the record, the word “rapture” comes from the Latin word “rapturo,” which in turn was a translation of the Greek verb harpazo “caught up” found in 1 Thes 4:17. You can call it the pre-trib rapture, the pre-trib rapturo, or the pre-trib caught up–it’s all the same thing.  Our guiding scripture.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 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. 1 Thessalonians 4:6-18

 

Joshua Toupos

A Pre Tribulation Apologetic Learning Center, Amos37 Ministries

Articles and Positions on The Rapture of The Church

In this section, we have an assortment of articles that address Pre Tribulation related doctrines that point to a pre-trib position.  Each article has a brief snippet and images and buttons will take to each supporting article.  You may leave comments on each article page whether for or against.  It must be said that regardless of your position of the Rapture it is not a reason to disfellowship.  We do not consider this an essential doctrine, but it is very important to how you view the end times.  Articles are first and videos on various arguments are at bottom of the page.

1 & 2 Thessalonians Verse by Verse Study

This page and all its content are designed to help the serious student to understand the relation of the Bible text here in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 the Apostle Paul is bringing into there remembrance in vs. 5.  It is the relation of a proper Hermeneutic here to go back and do both Thessalonian epistles together.  Then do the Olivet Discourse outlined in Luke 21 which happens later in the day from the discourse at the Temple in Matthew 24.  There is an order of events that only a Pre-Tribulation Rapture makes sense.  I know it’s a lot but worth your time and study.

Prophecy Quick Reference Guide

Prophecy: History written in advance. Bible prophecy is God’s description of future events. (25% of the Bible is prophetic) Prophet: A man, chosen by God, inspired to speak God’s message to reveal the future to man. Eschatology: Derived from 2 Greek words meaning last and study. It is the study of end-time events. Amillennialism: Teaching that states that there is no millennium reign (1000 years) of Christ on earth. Premillennialism: Teaching that Christ will literally and physically be on earth for a thousand year reign. Postmillennialism: Teaches Reconstructionism, a belief that God’s kingdom began at the first coming of Jesus, and will advance throughout history until it fills the whole earth through conversion to the Christian faith and world view.

What Is Imminency?

In doing some research on the doctrine of imminency, I noticed few people take the time to actually define what prophetic imminency means. First, let us look at the general definition of the keyword “imminent:” “The quality or condition of being about to occur.”

Imminency, as it relates to Bible prophecy, simply means that the return of Jesus Christ for the Church can happen at any moment. No warning signs will indicate a short-term countdown. We as Christians remain on alert 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Rapture vs. Return Passages

Let’s look at passages of both side by side in this article.

However, the New Testament teaches that Christ will come for His church to escort her to His Father’s House (John 14:3). And also teaches that He will come with His saints when He descends from heaven to judge His enemies and establish His glorious 1,000 year kingdom on earth (Zech 14:5; Rev 19:14). I view this as one coming that will occur in two distinct phases or stages separated by at least seven years.

The distinct differences between these two phases of Christ’s coming are harmonized successfully by the pre-trib view, while other views of the timing of the rapture are unable to accommodate the differences. Here are some of the main verses that describe these two stages of Christ’s future coming.

50 Reasons for a Pre Tribulation Rapture

A word from us. In no way is the doctrine of the Rapture ever meant to say that the Church will escape persecution! The Church has historically from the beginning suffered. Today persecution of Christs’ Church is greater than ever. Escape the Tribulation Period of Daniel’s 70th week, yes! We believe God will send persecution to America to prepare His bride and soon. Many have no idea how severe the Tribulation & Great Tribulation will be.  Tap or click on any of the images to go to articles.

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12

Prophetic Stages to The Jewish Wedding System

Session 04 in our study on The Rapture of the Church. Today we examine the Jewish Wedding System and the six stages that parallel the Church (Bride of Christ) & Jesus (The Bridegroom). 1. The Arrangement, 2. The Preparation, 3. The Fetching of the Bride (Rapture), 4. Wedding Ceremony, 5. The Marriage Supper, 6. Home of the Bride. A great study on the richness of God’s word in light of the Jewish Wedding customs and culture of the original understanding. You will be blessed in this study. A true understanding of the fetching of the Bride of Christ John 14:1-6 is a purifying doctrine that keeps the Church watchful.

Problems with the Prewrath Position

The prewrath position does acknowledge the separate existence of Israel and special treatment by God during the Tribulation when she is driven into the wilderness (Rev. 12), but it assumes that they are not saved until the very end when they think the 144,000 are sealed. This will be discussed more fully later. The big problem with prewrath theology is the assumption that the “elect” which are also “saints” of the Tribulation period is basically the same as the Church. There are two main difficulties with this view. First, the Church is missing. This is also discussed later. Of equal importance, this seven-year Tribulation period is definitely the last “week” of Daniel 9:27, and, as such, is a final segment of Israel’s history before the Millennial Kingdom.

Debate on the Date of the Book of Revelation

Dr. Mark Hitchcock and Mr. Hank Hanegraaff debate the date of the Book of Revelation. The debate took place on December 10, 2007 at the annual Pre-Trib Study Group meeting in Dallas, TX. Dr. Hichcock argued for the A.D. 95 date. Mr. Hanegraaff argued for the A.D. 65 date. While the A.D. 95 date does not impact the futurist interpretive approach of Dr. Hitchcock’s view, Mr. Hanegraaff’s preterist view requires an A.D. 65 date or his view of Revelation is rendered impossible.

The Origin of The Secret Rapture

of the so-called “secret” rapture with pretribulationism. Sorry, but this is another mistake, another myth. In all my reading of pretribulationism and discussion with pretribulationists, I have never, that I can recall, heard a pre-trib rapturist use the nomenclature of “secret” rapture to describe our view. I have only heard the phrase “secret” rapture as a pejorative term used exclusively by anti-pretribulationists. Why? Apparently, they enjoy fighting with a straw man.

Anti-pretribulationist, Ken Gentry declares, “On the very surface it is remarkable that one of the noisiest verses in Scripture is said to picture the secret rapture.”[11] The truth of the matter is that Gentry wrongly assumes that pretribulationists characterize their view of the rapture as “secret.” We do not! 

My belief that there will be a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church stands on the bedrock of the following foundational tenets

Postribulationism teaches that the Rapture and the Second Coming are facets of a single event that will occur at the end of the Tribulation when Christ returns. The church will be on the earth during the Tribulation to experience the events of that period” Ryrie, Basic Theology, p. 500.

The mid-tribulation rapture timing view believes that the rapture will happen at the middle of the tribulation period. The mid-tribulation rapture proponent believes that the rapture will occur prior to the “great tribulation” which is the last three and a half years of the seven-year tribulation period. This places three and a half years between the rapture of the church and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

A “prewrath rapture” would hardly be a “blessed hope.” In fact, it would be a non-event, for there would be few if any Christians left alive to rapture at that time. Could any Christian take Antichrist’s mark and thus survive to be raptured? Indeed not! Revelation:14:9-10
makes it clear that those who “worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark” will be consigned to hell.

Now let us look at some of the different viewpoints about the rapture and end times prophecy.

1. Amillennialists believe that God’s promises regarding the end times are figurative and will not be literally fulfilled, particularly the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Pre-millennialists believe that Jesus Christ will return to the earth prior to His literal reign on the earth for 1000 years. Three groups of pre-millennialists include the following:

2. Post-tribulationists believe that the rapture will not occur until the end of the seven year tribulation, just prior to the beginning of the millennial kingdom.

3. Mid-tribulationists believe that the rapture will occur three and one half years into the tribulation, at beginning of the three and one half year great tribulation.

4. Pre-tribulationists believe that the rapture will occur prior to the seven year tribulation, but not necessarily immediately before the tribulation.

Place of the Church in Revelation

Notes by Dr. Mark Hitchcock and video below

An Overview of Pretribulational Arguments

If the church will experience any or all of the coming tribulation, then one would naturally expect that the most in-depth, lengthy, detailed presentation of the tribulation would include an account of the church’s role during that time period. But remarkably, in the key section on the tribulation in the Bible, Revelation 4—18, there is absolute silence about the church. And the silence is deafening.

The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia. This word occurs twenty times in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 1–3 the church is specifically mentioned nineteen times. The glorified Lord addresses seven letters to seven specific churches in Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. In these letters, the Lord gives detailed instructions and admonitions to the churches. But then, suddenly, beginning in Revelation 4 John shifts from in-depth messages to the church to total silence about the church for fifteen chapters. Incredibly, the church is never mentioned once in Revelation 4–18. This absolute silence is striking and unexplainable if the church continues on earth during the tribulation.

In Revelation 4:1 the apostle John, who is a member of the church, is called up to heaven and projected into the future in a kind of spiritual time machine. In the subsequent fifteen chapters, from Revelation 4–18, John looks down on earth as the events of the tribulation unfold. But the church does not appear again until chapter 19 where she is pictured as a bride, beautifully adorned for her husband, who returns to earth with her glorious Bridegroom at the Second Advent. This clearly indicates that the Bride has already been in heaven for some time since she has “made herself ready” (Rev 19:7).

The church is then referred to again specifically by the word ekklesia in Revelation 22:16 for the final time. The place of the church in the Book of Revelation is compelling evidence that the church will not be present on earth during the tribulation.

The Use of the Word “Church” in Revelation
Rev 1—3 Rev 4—18 Rev 20—22

“Church” 19 times “Church” 0 times “Church” 1x (22:16)

What about the Saints?

Posttribulationists counter this argument by noting that while the word church does not appear in Revelation 4—18 that the word “saints” (holy ones) occurs several times in Revelation 4—18 and that this is a description of the church present on earth (Rev 13:7, 10; 16:6; 17:6; 18:24). The problem with this argument is that there were saints in the Old Testament, there are saints today in the New Testament church, and there will be saints in the future tribulation period. The use of the word saints to describe believers on earth during the tribulation period tells us that there will be believers on earth, but it does not prove that they are church age believers. The saints in Revelation are best described as tribulation saints who will be saved during the tribulation period after the rapture.

The 24 Elders

Posttribulationists further points out that if the church is not present on earth during the tribulation, then she must be in heaven. They then ask the question, “what evidence is there in Revelation that the church is in heaven during the tribulation?” Do pre-tribbers have any evidence that the church is in heaven during this time?

I believe the church is referred to twelve times in Revelation 4—19 by the term “twenty-four elders” (Rev 4:4,10; 5:5,6,8,11,14; 7:11,13; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4). There are four main views concerning the identity of the 24 elders: 1) angelic beings, 2) Israel, 3) the church, and 4) all of the redeemed—Israel and the church. I believe the elders represent the church.[1] Assuming this view is correct, where are these elders in Revelation 4—19? Are they on earth getting ready for the tribulation? No! They are in heaven worshiping Him who sits on the throne and the Lamb. From their first mention in Revelation 4:4, the 24 elders are in heaven, judged, rewarded and enthroned. If the elders represent the church, this is another indication that the church must be raptured to heaven before the first judgment of the tribulation is unleashed in Revelation 6:1.

The only place you find the church in Revelation 4–19 is in heaven as the twenty-four elders who are seated on thrones, dressed in white, crowned with crowns worshiping the Lamb (Rev 4:4,10; 5:5, 6, 8, 11, 14). -By Dr. Mark Hitchcock Full Paper Here

An Overview of Pretribulational Arguments

by Mark Hitchcock (Full Notes Here)

The timing of the rapture is one of the most controversial and often debated issues in eschatology. The Bible teaches that at some point in the future Jesus will come, and the bodies of all deceased church age believers will be resurrected and all living believers will be raptured to meet the Lord in the air. The truth of the rapture is agreed upon by most Christians, but the same is not true when it comes to the timing of the rapture. Simply stated, the key issue is this: Will the church go through any or all of the seven-year tribulation before the rapture occurs? Or to put it another way—when will the believing be leaving?

Pre Tribulation Defense Videos

What is Eschatology?

by Dr. Church Missler

• The final test of hermeneutics
• We are apparently being plunged into a period of time about which
the Bible says more than any other period of history

The Return of Christ to Rule
• 1,845 references in the Old Testament.
• 17 books give prominence to the event.
• 318 references in the New Testament.
• 216 chapters.
• 23 of 27 books give prominence to the event.
• For every prophecy of Christ’s 1st Coming, there are eight of His 2nd Coming!

The Jewish Wedding Contract (Betrothal)

by Zola Levitt
This is when a person is saved by accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. ~ 2 Corinthians 11:2  The Wedding Ceremony (Groom receives Bride)
This is the Rapture. John 14:2-3 and Revelation 19:7 literally reads, “The marriage of the Lamb came and His wife prepared herself.” The wedding already occurred in heaven at the Rapture, and now the Lamb and the Church are about to return to earth for the wedding feast. This parallels what Jesus said in Luke 12:36, “And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding…”  The Wedding Feast (Guests are invited to the celebration)
This is the Second Coming. Matthew 25:1-10. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:9 A bride is not invited to her own wedding! The Church was married to Christ at the Rapture and the wedding feast will occur on earth after the Second Coming. Those people saved after the Rapture will be invited to participate in the wedding feast.

Israel Gods Time Piece

by Pastor Jack Hibbs
The truth is not outside of the holy bible, there is no revelation of which God is and what He has chosen to reveal Himself through the Jewish people. Israel is the nation that God uses to demonstrate that He is God. Is it because Israel is a holy people? No, God will despite all of Israel’s shortcomings demonstrate to the world that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. See Israel 101 for God’s plan and purpose for Israel. Not because anything that they have done, but God keeps His word. Israel and the city of Jerusalem will be the focal point or what I like to say is God’s Rolex. We look to the nation of Israel and Jerusalem for clues on what is happening on Gods prophetic calendar.

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