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.