December 27, 2006

A Response to Ron Graff

By Rev. Charles Cooper

Pretribulation or Prewrath?

For those who are truly interested in the Scriptures and are willing to search them, I offer the following response to Ron Graff's article that appears on his website. After several individuals approached our ministry about responding to Graff's article, I took a closer look at his arguments only to be disappointed again. His attempt to refute the prewrath position is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction so typical of pretribulationists who speak loudly, but say very little that has explicit scriptural support.

Graff begins his assessment of the Prewrath position by offering his view of Problems With The Pre-Wrath View. Based on Mr. Graff's writings in this article, I am not convinced that he read the works of Robert Van Kampen before offering a word of advice to others. He repeatedly misrepresents Mr. Van Kampen's position. Anyone who reads Mr. Graff's work and does not check the original sources, certainly would not be included in the camp of the Bereans who checked Paul's teachings against the Scriptures.

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December 17, 2006

The Seven Churches of Revelation...

Michael Newnham at his Phoenix Preacher Study Hall has posted several brief articles on the Seven Churches of Revelation. I find them exegetically instructive and devotional.

December 7, 2006

Pre-Wrath Books as Christmas Ideas!

A book on the Pre-Wrath perspective may be just the right gift for your friend or relative this Christmas season.

I'd like to suggest three books from our Prewrath Resources:

The first is The Rapture Question Answered Plain and Simple by Robert Van Kampen. This book is an especially good gift for those who have grown up in a pretribulational background because the author answers many of their objections.

The second book I would suggest buying is The Prewrath Rapture Position Explained. This book is a condensed version of the one above. It leaves out most of the pretribulational objections and gives you just the bare bones of the Prewrath Rapture. It would be an appropriate gift for your non-pretrib friends or family. I have often carried 10-20 copies of these in my car so I can hand them out to folks who are interested in the subject.

The third book, The Sign, would be an excellent Christmas gift for someone you think is ambitious enough to cut their teeth on this comprehensive work by Van Kampen. It covers many more end-time subjects than just the core subject of the Prewrath Rapture.

December 2, 2006

Critique of the Rapture Position of Chuck Smith

One of the pivotal reasons why many ex-pretribulationists have come to embrace the prewrath position is because they have discovered for themselves that the nature and purpose of the Great Tribulation will be a persecution against believers.

It has been assumed by pretribulationism that the "Great Tribulation" is God's wrath. Given that Jesus in Matthew 24 clearly states that the object of persecution during the Great Tribulation are believers, and that this persecution is orchestrated not by God, but by an Antichrist figure, it has made many people rethink their pretrib tradition.

The prewrath position teaches that before Christ comes back to resurrect the dead in Christ and rapture those alive, the Antichrist will unleash his persecution against the church. This, Jesus calls a "great tribulation."

Then we learn that the Great Tribulation against believers is "cut short" (for the sake of believers) by the Coming of Christ to deliver the righteous (resurrection and rapture).

This will then be followed with the Day of the Lord's wrath against the ungodly.

So, it is imperative for us to recognize two distinct periods of time:

The Great Tribulation: Antichrist's wrath against believers. The Day of the Lord: God's wrath against unbelievers.

The following article by Charles Cooper is a critique of Pastor Chuck Smith's rapture position.

Cooper starts by saying,

Pastor Smith’s whole argument stands or falls on one point: Is the Great Tribulation the wrath of God or the wrath of Satan/Antichrist? Pastor Smith assumes that the great tribulation is the wrath of God. He does not show one passage of Scripture to support this assumption.

Click here to continue reading Cooper's comprehensive refutation of Chuck Smith's rapture position.