November 26, 2006

Contradiction (Part 3):
Imminency and Matthew 24:27?

The following brief clip is a "pretribulational rapture" drama put on by a church gathering. First, view this short clip, then I will comment on it.

Where does one even start with such misguided theology?

The video begins with the pastor preaching from--you guessed it--Matthew 24, a Biblical passage that pretrib teachers insist do not apply to the church, yet they cite parts of it as if they do.

What do we find the pastor teaching to his audience?

He reads, "Jesus Christ is coming back for his church." Then he cites Matthew 24:42 which says, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."

Let me just stop for a moment and note that the text that he is reading comes just after Jesus' teaching that believers will be persecuted by an Antichrist figure. Jesus says that this must come before his Coming.

Does the pastor note this? No. Does he explain and trace Jesus' discourse up to verse 42, the passage he is teaching on? No. Does the pastor take Jesus' warning and warn his own flock of a coming persecution? No.

It is as if pretrib teachers want the convenience of preaching the "exhortation" passages of Jesus, but these passages cannot have any meaning outside of Jesus' teaching of believers being persecuted during the great tribulation.

The pastor continues to say that "Jesus Christ could come this month, or he might come next week, or he could even come [*RAPTURE*]."

Here is my question to the pastor: Given the Matthew 24 text that you are citing, and given that Jesus says that his return will be preceded by signs and events including the great tribulation of persecution of believers, how is it that Christ can come back at any moment?

To top this all off, at the very end of the video the Bible text Matthew 24:27 flashes on the screen, "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

What is wrong with citing that text in light of the theology of the video?

The glory of the Son which will come like lightning is the sign of his Coming for those believers who are being persecuted. Did you see any believers being persecuted at the hands of Antichrist in the video? Nope.

What we saw were believers gathered freely in a public building under no persecution. Does the church scene in the video convey a "great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again." Nope.

Why do these teachers continue to leap over the great tribulation passage and teach that it does not apply to the church, then inconsistently, cite Jesus' exhortation words, seemingly not understanding that the exhortations by Jesus are in the context of the great tribulation and his Coming.

Was there at least one person in that room who looked at their Bible and thought to themself, "But pastor, Jesus says that his return is not any moment because there are signs and events that will precede his glorious return, including the great tribulation against believers." We can only wonder.

This is simply an encrusted-pretrib tradition (ex-pretribbers will even tell you that). But we are called to not grow weary but to persevere in pointing these contradictions and inconsistencies out to them.

In short, pretribulationists teach that the Coming and the gathering of the elect in Matthew 24 is not referring to the rapture but rather Armageddon. They do not believe that Matthew 24 has anything to do with the church--they claim the church is raptured before all the events in Matthew 24 (this is just assumed, never proven). They must have it this way because if they taught that the Coming in Matthew 24 included the rapture, then the rapture would not be "any moment."

You have to realize something about pretribulationism: "Imminency" is the Holy Grail of their tradition--the kingpin of the life of their pretrib system. An "any moment" rapture is their reference point in their interpretation of these passages. That is why they will force, twist, and butcher end-time passages such as Matthew 24; 2Thess. 2; Revelation; et al. to somehow find this phantom doctrine in a Bible passage.

It is like the proverbial "Starving Monkey." A monkey will reach into a vase and grasp a banana. When the money attempts to extract his arm he discovers that he cannot because his fist that is holding the banana is thicker than the neck of the vase; and so rather than letting go of the banana and search for some other food, the monkey will stubbornly hold onto that one banana regardless of the consequences of starvation or capture.

Only when pretribbers will let go of the banana, will they be freed from the vase.

The Prewrather is consistent: We believe that Jesus' teaching on the Coming (Parousia) in Matthew 24 and Paul's teaching on the Coming (Parousia) in his Thessalonian epistles are the same event which includes the rapture and the Day of the Lord's wrath.

See my recent article on the consistency between Jesus and Paul's teaching on the Coming of Christ.

November 18, 2006

Contradiction (Part 2):
Imminency and Matthew 24:36?

But as for that day and hour no one knows it—not even the angels in heaven–except the Father alone. Matthew 24:36

This verse is one of the most frequently cited Biblical texts that pretribulationists use to proof-text an "any moment" rapture. A proof-text is generally a verse that is lifted out of its context to support a doctrine or belief. So it is imperative to see verse 36 in its context.

According to pretribulationists, since Jesus says that no one knows the day or hour of his Coming, it is suggested that "no prophesied events or signs must occur before Christ's Coming"; otherwise, it is argued, "how can his return be imminent?"

A few responses are in order:

A Logical Response

It does not logically follow that since we do not know the day or hour, there cannot be any prophesied events or signs that precede his Coming.

That would be like saying since we do not know the day or hour of a baby being born, it can happen at any moment. Rather, certain conditions and stages of pregnancy must develop before a baby is born--not to mention the nurturing of the mother and other factors. Interestingly, Jesus uses the pregnancy metaphor in Matthew 24 to refer to what must precede his Coming, "All these things are the beginning of birth pains."

Most importantly, all the events that Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24 precede verse 36! This brings us to our next point.

A Contexual Response

In Matthew 24 Jesus lists about a half dozen important events that must precede his Coming, and he tells us to make sure we understand its sequence and significance. Then in verse 36, he basically says, "don't misunderstand me, you are not going to know the exact day or hour, but you will know the season of my Coming from the parable of the fig tree.”

So Jesus actually negates that his Coming is at "any moment" because in verse 33 he says, "So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door.

See what things? All of those events that he just described preceding verse 33 that must happen before he gathers the elect at his Coming.

Jesus teaches expectancy not imminency.

A Theological Response

Many times when I ask a pretribulationist what Bible passage reference they are quoting when they invoke, "no one knows the day or hour," they cannot tell me. This is an important point because in pretribulational literature their teachers argue that the Coming in Matthew 24 is speaking of "Armageddon" and not the rapture! (And even these pretrib teachers are frequently inconsistent on this point.)

To protect their "any moment rapture" belief, they cannot have the rapture in Matthew 24 because it follows the Great Tribulation of believers. And in their system, the church is exempted from this persecution.

The causalities of explaining away Jesus' Coming in this text as "Armageddon," and explaining away the persecution of believers as, not the church, but "tribulation saints" is indicative of a theological system that is governed by protecting a tradition.

And so, rather than dealing with what Jesus' teaches in Matthew 24 regarding the persecution of believers during the Great Tribulation, they will just write off the whole chapter by asserting that it all deals with "Israel and not the church, and therefore the rapture occurs before all the events in Matthew 24.”

(Sadly, since this pretrib objection is all-too common, I will be writing an article in the near future responding to their notion that Matthew 24 does not apply to the church.)

A Little Test worth trying on your Pretrib Friends

In conclusion, if you come across a pretribulationist who tells you that Matthew 24 does not apply to the church, or that the Coming and the gathering of the elect does not refer to the rapture but Armageddon, employ Robert Van Kampen’s little test from his book, The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple. He suggests the following line of reasoning,

When the right opportunity presents itself (and I can assure you, it always does), ask your friend if the pretribulation Rapture position permits setting dates as to when the Rapture will occur. He will be adamant that we cannot know "the day or the hour." Perfect! Then ask him how he came to this conclusion. He will invariable quote the verse: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Matt. 24:36). Try it sometime. That's the answer pretribulationist almost always give!

But that answer, although true, presents those holding to the pretribulation view with a serious problem. Why? Because that quotation is taken directly from the Olivet Discourse in Matthew [24:36], a passage that those holding to this position make applicable to the battle of Armageddon, not the rapture of God's saints--which they claim happened at least seven years earlier! You can't have it both ways! p. 107

November 13, 2006

New Feature added to the Prewrath Blog!

Would you like the convenience of being notified when the blog is updated on prewrath news, articles, conferences, or resources? Now you can with our new "Subscribe to Updates" feature over on the right-hand column of the blog.

Just type your email address in the box and a confirmation email will be sent to you. (It is also spam protected, not to mention that you can unsubscribe at anytime.)

This way, you will not miss any important news, articles, and new Prewrath resources.

Further, we would like to hear from you the reader for any suggestions on how to continue to improve the site.

We have a few exciting projects that we are working on for next year---but our lips are sealed until then. I will say though that 2007 and 2008 will be a productive time and we ask for your continued prayers and support as God blesses the expansion of the ministry.

Thanks,
Alan Kurschner

November 7, 2006

Contradiction (Part 1):
Imminency and Date Setting?

It has always amazed me that the group of people, pretribulationists, who have been more enamored by what the Bible teaches about end-time events are the same group of people who are so dogmatic that the church will not be here to experience most of these events.

There are two other inconsistencies in their belief system that I would like to briefly discuss: How the concept of imminency contradicts 1) Date Setting and 2) Their omnipresent citing of Matthew 24:36 to refer to the rapture (this latter point will be picked up in Part 2 of the next article).

Imminency and Date Setting?

In the 1970s, just when Pretribulationism was beginning to fade, a spate of popular "Left Behind" style pretrib books appeared in bookstores galvanizing this position once again.

One of these was called The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. The book was written on a popular level and attempted to read current international events and world conditions into the prophetic Biblical texts. Needless to say this 1970 "Da Vinci Code" became a bestseller.

It is important to note that the author Hal Lindsey is a committed pretribulationist who affirms "imminency." Imminency is defined as "that teaching which affirms that Christ's return to rapture the church can occur at any moment; and that no prophesied events must occur before his return, though these events may happen, but not necessarily will."

Here is Hal Lindsey's (and pretribulationism as a whole) contradiction. The thesis of Lindsey's book is predicated on the fact that particular world events have happened and certain world conditions now exist, therefore Christ can come back to rapture the church soon.

These events he listed were: The Jews now govern the state of Israel; Russia has fulfilled Biblical prophecies of the Old Testament; moral conditions of the world exist; etc. In other words, Lindsey suggests that Christ could not come back if these events have not taken place.

You will hear often from pretribulationists that since the Jews have reclaimed Israel in 1948, Christ can return soon. For example, Lindsey says,

Another important event that had to take place before the stage would be fully set for the "seven-year countdown" was the repossession of the ancient Jerusalem. (emphasis mine) p. 54

I ask, how could Christ have come back at "any moment" before the "repossession of Jerusalem"?

If this contradiction to their fundamental belief in imminency is not enough, Lindsey actually goes a step further and predicts (falsely) the very year that he believes Christ will come back. He writes,

When the Jewish people, after nearly 2,000 years of exile, under relentless persecution, became a nation again on 14 May 1948 the "fig tree" put forth its first leaves.

Jesus said that this would indicate that He was "at the door," ready to return. Then He said, "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (Matthew 24:34 NASB).

What generation? Obviously, in context, the generation that would see the sign--chief among them the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like forty years. If this is a correct deduction then within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place. Many scholars who have studied Bible prophecy all their lives believe that this is so. pp. 53-54

In other words, Lindsey started with the assumption that Jesus' use of the term "fig tree" was applied to the starting date of 1948. Then he assumed that a Biblical generation of 40 years should be added to 1948, which would take us to 1988. And in Lindsey's pretrib system, Christ raptures the church 7 years earlier, which would be 1981.

How can Christ come back at "any moment" before 1981? How could Christ have came back before 1948 if in fact Israel as a nation must exist again first?

This prophetic statement by Hal Lindsey in itself made him a false prophet since it did not come to fruition; its ramifications sadly lead many believers astray in the 70's and 80's.

The sensationalism of his book and other works like it began a deluge of pretrib books in the 70's and 80's; and not surprisingly we would find new titles by Lindsey such as The 1980's, Countdown to Armageddon.

Other pretrib teachers would join the pantheon of false prognosticators such as Harold Camping, Jack Van Impe, et al..

Even in recent days, I ran across a pretrib blog in which this person was stressing the "imminency" of Christ's return, and in the same blog post he was advocating that Christ will return in 2007.

He says,

I believe the Lord has put us on notice. I believe the Lord is saying to my spirit that the rapture will occur sometime during this new year, the Jewish year which is between this past Rosh Hashanah and next one which is Jewish Year 5768 : sunset September 12, 2007 - nightfall September 14, 2007. We all know the Lord's voice and how He speaks to us as individuals. The Lord has put me on alert for the year, not the day or the hour. [Mt 24:36-39]

I can tell you that the one word in my mind right now is IMMINENT. It's so close we can almost touch it (emphasis his).

In reality, most pretribluationists will not go as far as Lindsey and others and set dates for the rapture. However, you will still find the contradiction in most pretrib beliefs that the reclamation of Israel in 1948 was an event that must have happened before Christ can come back. And on this point you can reveal their contradiction.

In part 2, which I will post next week, I will address the second major common contradiction in affirming imminency with citing Matthew 24:36 to refer to the rapture.