#Jesus Who? Absolute Confirmation of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture
Jesus…who…???
Absolute Confirmation of the
Pre-Tribulation Rapture
By Pastor F. M. Riley
July
1, 2014
“Would to God ye would bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed
bear with me.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you
to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he that cometh preach another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye
have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye
might well bear with him.”
2 Corinthians 11:1-4
Introduction
Does it ever occur to those claiming to be “Christians” today that every
Scripture corrupter, every false teacher, and every religious deceiver in the
ranks of Christianity today all claim loud and long that they “love
the Lord Jesus” and the great truths of His Word? But the claim of these religious apostates
is a lie and a Scriptural impossibility!
One cannot truly love the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible and outright
deny or corrupt the plain statements which came forth from His own Holy
Mouth.
While many today “profess” Jesus Christ with their mouth, yet many
of these “professors” also corrupt or outright deny His Word. In doing this, they are following the example
of the unbelieving religious leaders of Israel at the first coming of Christ,
of whom the Lord Jesus Himself explicitly
said, “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto Me with
their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their
heart is far from Me. But in
vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” Matthew 15:7-9.
What the Lord Jesus said was that the unbelieving
religious leaders of Israel who were guilty of such practices were giving mere lip
service to the Lord Jesus Christ “in vain” [empty; useless]. The Lord
Jesus obviously did not regard such religionists as His covenanted
people, and therefore such people had nothing to look forward to except their
own damnation. Read it for yourself in Matthew
23:13-33. These hypocritical
people were not following the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, even though they
“professed” Him with their mouths. Even
so, these religious, Scripture corrupting, false teachers, and deceivers in the
ranks of Christianity today, who refuse to believe and receive the actual
literal statements of God’s inspired Word, are not following the Lord
Jesus Christ of the Bible. They are
following “another Jesus;” a “Jesus” of their own making. By God’s grace I will prove this statement by
the “rightly
divided” Word of God. Read on…..
The
Plain Statement of the Lord Jesus of the Bible
In Revelation
3:10 the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible plainly stated to His church,
“Because
thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth.”
Our readers should notice that the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible
explicitly promised His church that He would keep them FROM “the
hour of temptation.” The Lord
Jesus did not say that He would deliver them out of that hour, or
protect and preserve them during that hour, but rather that He would keep
them FROM that hour. Is this
explicit statement of the Lord Jesus just too hard for some to understand? In plain language, the Lord’s church
will never enter “the hour of temptation”
1
[peirasmos],
because the Lord Jesus of the Bible will keep them FROM entering
it. This is a highly important statement
made by the Lord Jesus of the Bible, so let’s examine it carefully.
The
Hour of Peirasmos
The Greek word translated as “temptation” in Revelation 3:10 is the
word, “peirasmos.” This Greek word literally means, “testing; trial; to test or try; experiment;
prove; by adversity, affliction, trial, trouble, tribulation.” See Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, pages
498-499, Strong’s No. 3986. This Greek
word occurs exactly 21 times in the New Testament. Significantly, “21” is the Bible number
signifying “the exceeding sinfulness of
sin; repeatedly connected with the 21 judgments of the Tribulation
period.” Then is it just
“coincidence” that in the statement made by the Lord Jesus of the Bible and the
context in which this word is used in that statement, the word clearly refers
to the coming Tribulation period?
Well…??
The Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible explicitly prophesied and promised
that He would keep His church and people “FROM the hour of temptation” [peirasmos]. Now any reader is free to believe or refuse
to believe this statement of the Lord Jesus Himself. But no reader is free to outright deny that
the Lord Jesus made this statement, or to ignore the statement, or to attempt
to explain it away, while trying to promote the dumb theory of a pre-wrath rapture, a partial rapture, or a
post-trib rapture. To do so is the very
epitome of wicked pride and arrogance!
No reader needs to bother trying to convince me of how much they “love
the Lord Jesus and His Word” if they refuse to believe this literal statement
which came forth from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself. Those who attempt to
explain away His explicit statement by some opinion or theory or dumb “interpretation,” or those who choose to
simply ignore the Lord’s statement when it is right there in the Bible staring
every honest reader in the face, are nothing more than religious
hypocrites and liars. But even that
is not the worst of it!
It ought to be obvious to any honest reader
that outright denying or ignoring this statement of the Lord Jesus places the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible in
the position of being a liar, and it doesn’t take a great deal of
intelligence to come to that conclusion. Is the “Jesus” you are following “the
way, the truth. and the life” [John 14:6], or is the “Jesus” you are following “another
Jesus?” Who is the “Jesus” that these false teachers, and religious
deceivers are following today? Have some
readers even bothered to think about this? Well…??
What is meant by “the hour of peirasmos?” I want our readers to carefully
notice that there is a difference between the “peirasmos” and “the
hour of peirasmos.” The “peirasmos,”
as used in the New Testament, most of the time is used in reference to
the entire future seven year Tribulation period. But “the hour of peirasmos” is
limited to the first half of the Tribulation period. Any serious Bible student can see this
for themselves as they study this particular Greek word through the New
Testament.
Those readers who want to seriously study this Greek word, “peirasmos,” repeatedly used by the Lord
Jesus Himself, and determine how it is used in the Scriptures for themselves,
may feel free to order my complete detailed Word study entitled “PEIRASMOS.” It will be sent to any reader upon request.
The
Witness of the Heavens
Any of our
readers who seriously want to “rightly divide the Word of truth,” [2 Timothy 2:15] should be aware that the
inspired Word itself explicitly and repeatedly declares that “in
the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established,”
Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1. Our readers need to remember that the
Lord God of the Bible always practices what He preaches. In Revelation 3:10 the Lord Jesus
explicitly spoke of “the hour of temptation,”[peirasmos] which
refers to the first half of the Tribulation period. Then in Revelation 14:7 the same Lord Jesus
inspired John to write about “the hour of judgment,” which
from the context quite evidently refers to the last half of the
Tribulation. Therefore the entire seven
years of the Tribulation, from the Lord’s viewpoint, is regarded as being only two
hours in length. The first half
of
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the Tribulation is “the hour of temptation,” and
the last half of the Tribulation is “the hour of judgment.” Does the inspired Word contain a
second witness that confirms this truth?
Ho boy!
From the time I was a small child I heard the expression repeated over
and over again, “The darkest hours
of the night come just before the dawning of the day.” This was usually in
the context of a death, hardship, or other tragedy that had just occurred. I understood what was meant, even though at
the time, the expression seemed to be just “folk lore” passed down from
generation to generation. But glory to
God! It wasn’t just “folk lore!” Guess
what?
As I later began to seriously study God’s Word, I found Psalm
19:1 which explicitly states that “The heavens declare [are declaring; present tense] the glory
of God; and the firmament [expanse
of space; outer space] showeth [displays; is displaying; present tense] His handiwork.” How literal are we to take this statement of
the Psalmist?
As it turns out, after the Space Age began in 1957, it was discovered
that there is a band of extreme darkness two hours in duration that
precedes the dawning of each new day. Every day! And this has been going on for thousands of
years, as a type of a Biblical
truth later to be revealed. This band of
darkness has been photographed and measured many times over these past 57
years by satellites orbiting in space above the earth. Any reader who wants
to research NASA’s photo library can see it for themselves. Glory
to God! Praise the Lord Jesus!
So when the Lord Jesus divided the terrible Tribulation period into “the
hour of temptation” and “the hour of judgment” in God’s
Word, He was perfectly confirming that “the
two darkest hours of the night do come just before the dawning of the
day.” The Tribulation period will be the two darkest
hours spiritually [and morally]
in all of human history, just before the dawning of the great Millennial Day of
the Lord. Glory to God! Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord!
Now since “the hour of temptation” [peirasmos]
refers to the first half of the Tribulation, and the Lord Jesus of the
Bible explicitly promised His church that He would “keep thee FROM the hour
of temptation,” then it is glaringly obvious that the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself promised a Pre-tribulation Rapture for His church and all true
New Covenant believers. Glory to God! Praise the Lord!
Now did the Lord Jesus of the Bible lie when He promised this? Or, is “another Jesus,” whom some clearly
appear to be following today, the “Jesus” who is lying? Well…???
If any reader would like a more detailed study on “The Two Hours,” I will be glad to send them my study upon their
request.
The
Parousia
Another Greek word that is related to this subject is the word “parousia.” This Greek word occurs 24 times in
the New Testament and literally means “bodily
presence.” See Thayer’s Greek
Lexicon, page 490, Strong’s No. 3952.
This Greek word is translated as “coming” 22 times in the New
Testament and as “presence” 2 times.
This word is almost always used in reference to the literal, visible,
bodily, return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In studying this word Scripture by Scripture throughout the New
Testament it can be determined that a minimum of 15 times it directly or
indirectly refers to the literal, visible, bodily, coming of the Lord Jesus at
the Pre-tribulation Rapture, the very rapture the Lord Jesus of the
Bible promised to His church in Revelation 3:10.
Again, those readers who would like to seriously
study this truth for themselves may want to order my complete word study
entitled “The Parousia.” It will be
sent to any reader upon request.
More
statements of the Biblical Jesus
We who are true
New Covenant believers need to take every statement made in God’s Word
seriously and at face value for what it literally and actually says, for the
Bible is the supernaturally inspired Word of God, 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter
1:19-21. When giving to mankind
His inspired Word, God said what He meant and meant what He said. The God of Heaven is not some bumbling
“nerd,” who just rattled on in the Bible to fill up space. The Lord Jesus of the Bible explicitly
stated, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matthew 4:4. This makes the
importance of the inspired Word glaringly obvious, every word
3
in it. However, it appears that some “professing
Christians” today have decided that they can live a “good moral life” without
seriously studying the Scriptures. Such an attitude is similar to the
ignorant superstitious people today who
carry a “rabbit’s foot,” or some other equally useless ornament as a good
luck charm. Many “professing”
Christians today carry their Bible to church services on Sunday and then never
open it again until the next Sunday. Yet
they “think” they are the best of Christians who really love the Lord! Sic!
Religious men [and women] often corrupt God’s Word,
change it to make it say what they want it to say, and even ignore those
Scriptures which obviously do not support the position they want
to hold. Yet when confronted about their
indifference to the Word, or their lack of any really serious study of the
Word, they will loudly let everyone within hearing distance know that “they
love the Lord” just as much as any other believer and they don’t appreciate
being judged. Is their claim true? Well,
let’s see what the Lord Jesus of the Bible had to say about it…..
It was the Lord Jesus of the Bible who explicitly stated, “If
ye love Me, keep My commandments,” John 14:15.
And again, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth Me….,” John 14:21.
And yet again, “If a man love Me, he will keep My
words….,” John 14:23.
This is emphatic language on the part of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. He didn’t leave it
up to men to believe it or not believe it.
Listen once again at this emphatic statement with which the Lord Jesus
capped each of these preceding statements, “He that loveth Me not keepth not My
sayings: and the Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which
sent Me,” John 14:24.
Now do any of our readers want to argue these
statements with the Lord Jesus of the Bible? If so, just have at it. I don’t have to guess WHO is going to win the
argument.
Beware! Take heed!
I recently received an email from a fellow believer who explicitly
stated that he no longer believes in a Pre-tribulation Rapture. What was his reason for turning his back on
this Biblical truth?
This fellow said that for many years “dates” had been set time and again
for the coming of the Lord to rapture His church, and not one of them had been
correct. Therefore, he concluded that
the Pre-Tribulation Rapture simply cannot be Scriptural truth. Sic!
In other words, this brother was saying that the fulfillment of the
prophecies of God’s Word now depends solely on the works of men, rather
than on the promises of the Lord God. No
wonder he is so “mixed up” [confused] about what he claims to believe, 1
Corinthians 14:33. My Bible
clearly and explicitly says, “ the just shall live by faith,” Romans
1:17. This clearly means “faith”
in the life and Word of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, none of
which depends on what men do or do not do!
Folks, it is possible, given the right circumstances, for a false
teacher or a religious deceiver, to fool even true believers. We know this to be so, because the Lord and
His inspired writers warned us over and over again of the possibility of it
happening, Matthew 7:15-20; 24:4-5; 24:11; 24:23-26; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 4:14; 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2
Timothy 3:12-13; 1 John 3:7; 2 John 1:7. One needs to be very careful who they
are listening to and in whom they are placing their confidence. It is because
that it is possible for such wicked “religionists” to deceive even true
believers, that the churches and the ranks of Christianity today have in their
midst such false teachers “ and deceivers. This is why Jude was inspired of God
to exhort true believers
living in this end-time [Jude 1:17-19]
to “earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Jude 1:3-4. By the grace of God, I will do this, whether
some like it or not.
However, it is utterly impossible for such religious deceivers to fool
Almighty God! The Lord Jesus of the
Bible still looks on the hearts of men, and knows exactly their real spiritual
condition, Jeremiah 17:9-10.. No
man [or woman] is fooling the
Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, not even for one minute.
The
Pride and Folly of Being Doctrinally Wrong
4
I sometimes receive emails or even letters castigating me for not
seriously studying the Pre-wrath, Partial, or Post-Trib rapture positions. Those doing the castigating assume that I have never really
studied their position on the rapture, or I would surely be convinced of the
truth of their position. What wicked
PRIDE and ARROGANCE! Folks, I carefully studied
every doctrinal position on the rapture over 50 years ago. As a young
preacher who had surrendered to the Lord’s ministry and dedicated my life to
Christ, I fervently wanted to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth of God’s Word. So I seriously
studied the Word! By the process of
elimination, the Holy Spirit of God [John
16:12-15] enabled me to eliminate every position on the rapture except the
Scriptural position; the Pre-Tribulational Rapture position.
For the benefit of our readers, let’s briefly examine each of these
rapture positions in view of the Lord’s explicit promise to His church and His
people in Revelation 3:10.
The Pre-Wrath
Rapture Theory…..It is well known by all serious students
of the Bible that 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9 clearly state and teach that true believers have been “delivered
from the wrath to come.” But the
Pre-wrath Rapturists don’t appear to be capable of harmonizing these statements
with the whole revelation of God’s Word.
They want to confine the “wrath of God” to the last half of
the Tribulation, and have the rapture occurring at or just before the middle of
the Tribulation period so as to escape the “great day of God’s wrath.”
But since the inspired Word clearly teaches that the “the
hour of peirasmos” refers to the first half of the Tribulation
period, and the Lord Jesus of the Bible clearly promised to keep His church and
His people “FROM the hour of peirasmos,” Revelation 3:10, then any rapture
position which has New Covenant believers going into any part of the seven year
Tribulation period is wrong. DEAD
WRONG!
Who is this “Jesus” that is leading these false teachers to teach such unscriptural
rot? Certainly it is not the
Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible.
Therefore it must be “another Jesus!” Take heed!
The Partial or
Split Rapture Theory…..This position on the rapture has some believers
taken in the rapture, and other believers left behind at the rapture, based on
our present “faithful” service to the Lord, or our lack of “faithfully” serving
the Lord. The followers of this false teaching claim that the rapture is “a
reward” for faithfully serving the Lord during this present life. Those left
behind, of course, since they have not been “faithful,” [according to whose standards?] have to go through the Tribulation,
or at least part of it, in order to be “purified” before they enter God’s
Kingdom. Sic!
Once more this is requiring the fulfillment of the Word of God to depend
upon the works of men. Such
ignorance! Folks, the Lord Jesus of the Bible is not bound by our
faithfulness, or our lack of being faithful. Silliness! The believer’s faithfulness or lack of it
will be the determining factor at the “bema” seat of Christ where we believers
will receive our rewards, 2 Corinthians 5:10. Our faithfulness or lack of it has
nothing to do with our being raptured or not raptured. Some need to study more
and run their mouth less!
Plus the fact that this dumb
theory is expressly refuted by God’s inspired Word, not once, but
twice! In 1 Corinthians 15:23 the
inspired Word, in referring to the resurrection and rapture of God’s
people, explicitly states, “But
every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are
Christ’s at His coming.” The
word “coming”
in this Scripture is translated from the Greek word, “parousia,” which refers to the rapture
of New Covenant believers. Further, this
Scripture indicates that every person who belongs to Christ, “they
that are Christ’s,” will be taken in the rapture. Not one saved person will be left behind! None! Glory to God!
Oh, about that “purifying” of the unfaithful during the Tribulation to
make them ready to enter the kingdom of the Lord….. It is expressly stated in Ephesians
5:26-27 that the Lord’s church is “sanctified and cleansed…..with the washing
of water by the Word.” The
Lord’s New Covenant church is not “purified” by the fires and judgments
of the Tribulation, but rather by the serious study and belief of the Word of
God. The process of being “washed
by the Word” is going on RIGHT NOW!
Are you listening? Hello!
I have an in-depth study on the “Partial
Rapture Theory” in print, which I will be glad to send to any reader upon
request.
5
There is no partial or split rapture for true believers found anywhere in God’s Word. So WHO is the “Jesus” who is convincing these
“partial rapturists” to believe such a dumb
theory? It is not the
Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible, so it must be “another Jesus.” Are our readers listening?
The Post-Tribulationist Rapture
Theory…..I don’t mean to be deliberately offensive, but this has to be the dumbest theory of all the rapture
positions.
The inspired Word of God explicitly teaches that all of the raptured
saints [raptured at the Pre-tribulation
Rapture] are going to come back to this earth with the Lord Jesus Christ at
the end of the seven year Tribulation, to rule and reign over the earth a
thousand years with Christ. Read it for
yourself in Revelation 19:14-16; 20:4; 1:4-6; 5:8-10; Zechariah 14:5; 1 Thessalonians
3:13. Now it doesn’t take a lot
of brain power to figure out that the saints cannot return with Christ at the
end of the Tribulation, unless they are already in Heaven with Him at
that time. D-u-h-h!
Since Christ is coming back to this earth “with all His saints” to
rule and reign a thousand years, then why would there even be a
Post-Tribulation Rapture? The inspired
Word explicitly states that at the rapture the Lord’s people shall be “caught
up,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-52.
So since the Lord Jesus of the Bible is
returning to the earth with “all His saints” to rule and reign on
the earth, then why would the saints be “caught up” at that time?
Where would they be “caught up” to, since they are to reign with Christ on the
earth? This sounds like a theory invented by an imbecile,
with no real thought or serious Bible study given to the theory whatsoever.
More “Ignorance gone to seed!”
Sic!
Quite obviously, it was not the Lord Jesus of the Bible who came up and
taught this dumb theory. It is also glaringly obvious that in Revelation
3:10 the Lord Jesus of the Bible promised His church and people that He
would “keep thee FROM the hour of temptation.” Therefore the Lord Jesus of the Bible
has nothing to do with the teaching of this super
dumb Post-Tribulation Rapture theory. So since the Lord Jesus of the Bible had
nothing to do with this dumb theory,
then it must have been “another Jesus” who invented the theory and is promoting it among
all the “false teachers” today who are dumb enough to swallow it. Hello!
Scriptural
and Logical Conclusions
In this study we have examined each of the doctrinal positions on the
rapture by book, chapter, and verse in God’s inspired Word. The ONLY
rapture position which harmonizes perfectly with the statement made by the Lord
Jesus Christ of the Bible in Revelation 3:10 is the
Pre-Tribulation Rapture position. PERIOD! Every honest reader of
this study and God’s Word can see this truth for themselves.
Every doctrinal position on the rapture except the
Pre-Tribulation Rapture position, totally ignores the Lord’s statement in Revelation
3:10, and in doing so, places the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible in the
position of being A LIAR. The
Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible IS NOT A LIAR. He clearly and obviously promised a
Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and such a rapture will occur whether some want to
believe it or not. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is “the blessed hope” of
every true believer, whether
some have received it or not, Titus 2:11-15. I say without hesitation or apology
to every reader, the man [or woman]
hasn’t been born yet who is going to steal my “blessed hope.” When my
precious Lord Jesus of the Bible comes “in the air” to receive His New
Covenant people to Himself [John 14:1-3]
I will be “caught up…..to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we [every true New Covenant believer] ever
be with the Lord,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
If the “Jesus” any reader is following, is not teaching this truth, then
you are following “another Jesus.” I
urgently suggest that you find out WHO the “Jesus” is you are following, before
it is eternally too late! Remember, the
real Lord Jesus of the Bible is not a liar! Revelation 3:10 is still in the
Bible! Only the Lord Jesus of the Bible can save and deliver you to glory, John
14:6; Acts 4:12. Glory to God!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
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Permission is
granted to any true believer
or Bible believing ministry to reproduce this study to share with others.
My heartfelt thanks to all who have supported this ministry with your
prayers and your gifts. Your prayers and
gifts are our sole means of support.
Thank you so very much.
Please address all questions, comments, and correspondence to: Pastor
F. M. Riley, Last Call Gospel Ministry, 184 County Road 108, Harrisburg,
Missouri 65256, or I can be contacted by email at:
fmr7sngn@centurylink.net
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