#Rapture truth

An excellent study of the Pretribulation Rapture  by Tom Gaston :

 

 

 

 I hate to tell you brother, but "your distorted opinion" and denial of the pretribulation Rapture is unscriptural.  And if one is going to deny the Scriptural teaching on the pretribulation Raptureevent which is clearly taught in Scripture, and of which must happen BEFORE God can restart His prophetic program for unredeemed national Israel,  then I suggest that you take some scissors and go to your bible and cut out two very important passages of Scripture which are absolutely clear concerning the subject and teaching of the Raptureof the Church. Those passages are 1 Corinthians chapter 15:50-58 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4:13-18. There is NOT one word in these passages which teaches nor suggests that the Church is going into the tribulation period and experience God's wrathand suffer at the hands of the antichrist.  And if this was the case ( which it is not), then both the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit ( who inspired Paul ) missed the greatest oppportunity to insert such a doctrinal teaching right here in these passages of 1Cor 15:50-58  and 1Thess 4:13-18.  But He didn't, did He!  And many times what many fail to understand is the fact that what is "not written" in Scripture many times ( Where God is silent ) is just as important as"what has been written" and stated in Scripture.  

 

 

Let me give you an example here below by asking you some questions.

 

 

Question: Does God love His Church whom He has purchased by the shed blood of His own Son?

 

Answer: Emphatically YES!

 

Question...."Then if God was going to send His Church into the tribulation period in order to experience His wrath, then don't you think God would want His Church whom He loves to know without any doubt that this would be the case so they would know what to expect and thus prepare for such an hour?

 

Answer:  Emphatically YES!

 

 

Question:..."If God had intentions of sending Hisblood bought Church into the "day of His wrath", then don't you think that God would have had the Apostle Paul or one of the other Apostles write a chapter or a book on such a serious and important subject matter in order to inform and instruct the Church so that they would know what expect?

 

Answer:  Emphatically YES!

 

Last Question:...Then why has God NOT done so?  Why didn't He inspire one of His apostles to write extensively on such an important subject matter in one of their epistles?  Or why didn't God have one of the Apostles write a whole epistle on such an important subject?

 

 

 You see, it is very clear and obvious why God iscompletely silent on such an important subject in His word, and why He has NOT inspired any of the Apostles to write extensively and "specifically" on such a teaching.  And the reason why God did NOTinspire any of the authors of the New Testament epistles to write and teach on such a subject is because such a teaching DOES NOT EXIST IN THE MIND OF GOD, or else He would have inspired the authors of the New Testment Epistles to do soout of love for His church.

 

 

  Obviously There are a number of very important things doctrinally which you don't understand brother.  When someone tells me that they don't believe in the pretribulation Rapture, then I know immediately that they are "uneducated scripturally" on this subject.  Most people who make these kinds of distorted and flawed remarks have never really studied any good scholars on this subject, nor have they done any serious and "truthful bible study" of their own.  They usually are just "parroting" and "repeating" what they have heard from someone elses teaching which they have decided to adopt and follow since they have no accurate discernment and understanding of the "real truth" on this subject of the Rapture and its "timing."

 

 

 One the biggest problems with christians who deny the pretribulation Rapture is that they don't understand that "Israel " and the "Church" and their prophetic programs are to be kept separatefrom one another. They are not one and the same, nor do they "overlap" one another.  

 

 

  The Church which is already righteous and redeemed is presently living and operating under the "dispensation of grace."  Once the Church is completed and the Church age closes ( the fullness of the Gentiles completed / Rom.11:25-27 ), then Christ will come for those whom He has purchased during the "age of grace" and He will remove them from the earthly scene in order to get them out of the way of His wrath."  This will allow God then to turn His full and undivided attention back toward Israel and enable Him to initiate and start Israel's prophetic program which begins and concludes with the 70th week of Daniel / tribulation period.  Unless one keeps God's prophetic program for unredeemednational Israel separate from God's program for HisChurch which is "already redeemed" and not under any condemnation or wrath of God whatsoever ( Rom. 5:9,   8:1;  1Thess. 1:10,  5:9 ), then they will always be totally lost in the Scriptures as they will not be able to rightly divide the word of God correctly.  This why many are so confused in so many areas of doctrine.

 

 

 Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy ( Dan. 9:24 ) hasNOTHING to do with the Church.  Gabriel makes clear that ......."70 weeks have been decreed for "thy people" ( Daniel's people Israel and NOT the Church), and "thy holy city" ( Jerusalem ). The Church is nowhere in view in this passage of Scripture.  The Church did not come into existence until Pentecost.  Israel presently is an "unredeemed chosen people" of God who have not been brought to faith in their Messiah Yeshua as of yet.  This is what Daniel's 70th week / tribulation period is all about.  It is about God bringing unredeemed national Israel under judgment in order to bring her to her knees and therefore to repentance unto salvation in her messiah Yeshua whom they have been rejecting all of this time nationally as a people so He can fulfill all the earthly kingdom promises, blessings, and restoration which He has promised to Israel.  

 

 

 The "body of Christ" is already a redeemed peoplewho possess the righteousness of God through faith in Christ ( 1Cor. 1:30.31;  2 Cor. 5:21). The Church isNOT under any condemnation, nor has she been appointed unto any of God's wrath whatsoever as you will see in the Scriptures below, which for some reason has "escaped your notice", or of which you just blatantly flat out "reject" intentionally ( Only you can determine the reason? ),

 

 

Rom. 8:1-2 ......"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death."

 

 

Rom. 5:1, 9......."Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus christ...."

 ( Vs. 9 )....Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him."

 

1Thess. 1:10......"And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the Wrath to come" ( the tribulation period ). 

 

 The Church is never instructed nor taught in the New Testament epistles to be "looking for or expect the antichrist." And therefore neither is the Church instructed to look forward to the tribulation period which is the time of God's wrath which will be poured out upon a Christ rejecting world who were left behind at the time of Christ's appearing for His church.

 

 

1Thess. 5:9......."For God has NOT destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake ( alive ) or asleep ( already dead ),  we may live together with Him."

 

 

 Here you can see in the passages above that the apostle Paul in His epistles makes NO mentioning of the Church having to undergo or experience any of God's wrath whatsoever!  Now either the Apostle Paul is a "liar", which would also make God a "liar" since he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Or, that the Apostle Paul is telling us the divine truth, and nothing but the divine truth while writing under the inspiration of the HolySpirit. I myself prefer to believe what God has inspired the Apostle Paul to write in these passages rather than to be "rebellious" and in a state ofunbelief and "denial" of what the Holy Spirit has written.

 

 

 

Very Important!

 

 What kind of statement would God be making about His own character and His own righteousness which every member of the body of Christ already possesses ( 1Cor. 1:30,31;   2Cor. 5:21 ) if He was to take His own Church ( the Bride of Christ )  through the tribulation period and expose her to His own wrath?  God would be exposing His own righteousness to His own wrath!  And by doing so God would be judging His own righteousnesswhich He has imputed and given to every member of the body of Christ by faith in His Son and His redemptive work.  God would be basicallycondemning His own righteousness and rendering it as obsolete and worthless!

 

 

 God cannot take such drastic and unfair measures against "His own body" whom He has purchased, created, and established through the eternal bloodsacrifice of His own Son ( Heb. 9:23-28,  13:30), and who therefore possess His own righteousness, as such action would be impossible for God to initiate, since by doing so He would be declaring and rendering the redemptive work of His own Son for "sin and its penalty" as insufficient, powerless,incomplete, and void.  God would therefore cease from being a holy, righteous, and just God if He was to ever expose His own righteousness to any member of "His own body" who possesses it.  And if God was going to do such a horrible and unjust thing which is in direct contradiction to His own word, to His very nature, and to His divine character,  then we all might as well take our bibles and "throw them in the trash can and burn them" because those words which are written on its pages were not written nor inspired by a holy and just God.  And if God is not holy, just, nor completely righteous in His character and divine nature, then He doesn't exist!  And if God doesn't exist, then nothing should exist presently, should it!  For such an "unholy God" would be inacapable of creating anything!  But the very fact that we do exist is testimony to the truth that God is truly holy and righteous.Therefore He can be trusted!  And so every member of the body of Christ is righteous just as He is righteous ( 1Cor. 1:30,31;   2Cor. 5:21 ). And when God looks at each individual member of the body of Christ He simply sees "His own righteousness." 

 

 

 Therefore it would be very wise for such foolish Christians who have been taught thefalse doctrine that God is going to send Hisrighteous Church into the tribulation period ( which is for unbelieving Israel ) and expose her to His divine wrath, to forsake such false teaching and once and for all embrace the real truth which God has clearly revealed in His word.

 

 

 You need to get away from whomever you are listening to on this subject because it is obvious that these "false teachers" whom you have considered and embraced are influencing and distorting your thinking. The teaching of the "harpazo" ( the Rapture - 1Thess. 4:17  ) is under great attack by the devil at this "late hour in Church history" as he is using false teachers within the Church who are in "great doctrinal error" in their understanding on this subject of the Rapture of the Church and the "timing" of it.  And the devil is doing this for the purpose of paralyzing and making the Church ineffective by creating fear, doubt, and worry within the members of the body of Christ who are "weak, undisciplined, and uneducated" in knowing how to rightly divide the word of God ( 2Tim. 2:15 ).  And so the devil wants to take away the hope of the Church which is called the "blessed hope" ( Titus 2:12-14 ). 

 

 

1Thess. 4:17...."caught up" to meet the Lord in the air / Strong's Greek Concordance / # 726 harpázō (caught up )– properly, seize by force; snatch up,suddenly and decisively – like someone seizing bounty (spoil, a prize); to take by an open display of force (i.e. not covertly or secretly).

 

Revelation 3:10......"Because you have kept the word of My perservance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing ( Tribulation period ), that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."

 

 

  I hope and pray that what I have written here has stirred your mind and has caused you to begin to question and rethink the false teaching which you presently believe. I hope God will give you His spiritual insight, His understanding, His courage, and an "honest heart" to want to really know "the truth and nothing but the truth" concerning the sound biblical teaching on the pretriblation rapture of the Church which God's word so clearly teaches. 

 

 

Yes God is pretribulational in His view of theRapture! 

 

 

God's blessings to you!

 

In Christ, Tom Gaston

Rapturetj@comcast.net

 

 

                                      "To know the truth and nothing but the truth!"

 

Introduction:

 

Court cases are designed for the purpose of "revealing the truth."  And many times those who are "guilty" will try and hide the truth and their guilt while encountering and going through the justice system and its process.  But when their version of events are finally thoroughly "examined" by the court, THEN the "real truth" is revealed and brought to light. 

 

 

God's word is much like the "court system" as it reveals His truth, His purposes, and His plans andwhere He is taking the world. God has been from the very beginning ( and is presently ) in the process of carrying out and fulfilling His word and His divine agenda. And most importantly God's word reveals and exposes the "true nature of man."  Scriptures say......"Let God be found true, and every man a liar" ( Rom. 3:4 ).

 

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17....." All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, forcorrection, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

 

 

 This Scripture passage above is very important and foundational for every Christian.  And everytime a believer in Christ peers into the word of God they must do so with the understanding that God is NOTthe author of "confusion ( 1Cor. 14:33 ),  that Hecannot lie ( Titus 1:2 ), and therefore He does NOTcontradict Himself ( Titus 1:9 ). I always say over and over again to Christians the following.."How many times does God have to say something before it is true?"  The answer to this simple but yet profound question is this, "Just once," And yet God repeats Himself many times concerning "His truth" when it comes to a certain teaching or doctrine which is laid out very clearly in His word.  Yes God repeats Himself, but many DO NOT listen very carefully, nor do they pay any attention to the "context" nor to "the order" of what is being taught.

 

 

                 The pretribulation Rapture revealed in God's word!

 

 

 Lets now examine a passage of Holy Spirit inspired Scripture in which God reveals to us the "pretribulation Rapture" view that many will not accept today, but of which they reject and will teach otherwise due to their stubborness, ignorance, and unbelief. The pretribulation Rapture view is not hard to understand, but rather it comes down to the simple fact to whether nor not one wants to believe what God has clearly stated in His word.  Lets look at the following passage of Scripture.

 

 

1Corinthians 15:21-26......"for since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.......For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.....But each in his own "order":  Christ the first fruits,  AFTER THAT those who areChrist's at His coming,.......THEN comes THE END, when He hands over the kingdom to God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.....For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet......The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

 

 

 Right here in this important passage of Scripture we see that the Apostle Paul by the inspiration of the Holy spirit gives us the "order" of prophetic events.  Here is the order below.

 

 

( 1.)  Christ the first fruits.........( The resurrection of Jesus took place on the Jewish feast of  first fruits / end of the sabbath - first day of the week Sunday - the tomb of Jesus found empty ). 

 

 

( 2.)  After that those who are Christ's at His coming......( This is a reference to the resurrection / Rapture when Jesus come for His completed Church, the body of Christ ).

 

 

( 3.) THEN comes THE END when He hands over the kingdom to God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power...........( This is a reference to the tribulation period / Daniel's 70th week.  During this period of time Christ will be in the process of unleashing His 21 divine judgments ( 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls ) upon a Christ rejecting world which will eradicate and abolish all Gentile rule, authority, and power, at which time at its conclusion Christ will return to the earth and establish His kingdom for 1000 years ).

 

 

 One can see clearly God's divine order of prophetic events in this text of 1Corinthians.  Many preachers, bible teachers, and much of the laity of the Church who believe in the "mid-trib Rapture" and "post-trib Rapture" views have no doubt read this passage of Scripure a great many times, but of which they have failed to pay any attention to the "order" of these prophetic events. 

 

Notice that the Apostle Paul did NOT list God's program here in 1Cor. 15 in the following "order" or manner.

 

 

( 1.)  Christ the first fruits.........( The resurrection of Jesus took place on the Jewish feast of  first fruits / end of the sabbath - first day of the week Sunday - the tomb of Jesus found empty ). 

 

 

( 2.) THEN comes THE END when He hands over the kingdom to God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power...........( This is a reference to the tribulation period / Daniel's 70th week.  And during this period of time Christ will be in the process of unleashing His 21 divine judgments ( 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls ) upon a Christ rejecting world which will eradicate and abolish all Gentile rule, authority, and power, at which time at its conclusion Christ will return to the earth and establish His kingdom for 1000 years ).

 

( 3.)  After that those who are Christ's at His coming......( This is a reference to the resurrection / Rapture when Jesus come for His completed Church, the body of Christ ).

 

  You can see in this example above that if the Apostle Paul would have laid out God's prophetic program in this "order" in this passage of Scripture,  then it would be teaching us a "post tribulation Rapture" view.  But Paul did NOT present the "order" of prophetic events in this way. And also if God was "midtrib Rapture" in His view, then the apostle Paul would have had to totally rewrite this passage of Scripture in a different "context" and in a different "order" so that it would fit contextually into a "midtrib Rapture" view.  But He didn't!  Scripture cannot be "rewritten" at anytime, nor by anyone, though there are many today who are trying to do so by taking God's word "out of context" much of the time.

 

 

 The Apostle Paul in Romans 11:25-27 states the following:........"For I do not want you,brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery - so that you will not be wise in your own estimation - that a partial hardening has happened to Israel UNTIL the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;   And so all Israel will be saved;  just as it is written, The Delivers will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

 

 

 Here we see once again "the order" of prophetic events.  The "fullness of the Gentiles" is a reference to the completed body of Christ ( predomanently Gentiles ) which takes place at the time of theresurrection / Rapture of the Church.  And once the Church has been removed and taken to heaven,THEN all Israel will be saved ( a remnant of Israel ).  God is going to "remove Israel's ungodliness and sin" during the tribulation period.  This is the whole reason for Daniel's 70th week. It is for the purpose of bringing Israel to national repentance......( 70 weeks have been decreed for "thy people" ( Daniel's people Israel, and not the Church ), and "thy holy city"  Jerusalem  / Dan. 9:24.  This prophecy has nothing whatsoever to do with the Church ).

 

 

  God is going to "restart" Israel's prophetic program once the Church has been removed from the earthly scene.  The Church is already redeemed and forgivenand needs NO repentance unto salvation.  But Israel on the otherhand at this time is yet to experiencenational redemption.  The whole purpose and reason for God taking Israel through the tribulation period is so that He can humble His people and bring them to "their knees" which will cause them to come torepentance and belief in their messiah Yeshua whom they have rejected nationally ever since they put Him to death on the cross at the time of His first advent. 

 

 

So there you have it!  God through the Apostle Paul has given us the "order" of His prophetic program.  Christ is the "first fruits from the dead",  After that those who are Christ's at His coming ( resurrection / Rapture of the Church ),THEN comes THE END ( Matt. 24:3 -30 ) which is thetribulation period and the conclusion of Israel's 70th week prophecy.  So it is all laid out perfectly right here in 1Corinthians 15:23,24.

 

 

 Nothing more needs to be said!  God has revealed the "order" of prophetic events in His word.  Now, what are youmidtrib rapturists and posttrib rapturists people going to do with what God has clarified here!  Remember, God only has to say something "once" for it to be true.  Do you really believe God and His word?  Or, do you just "pretend" that you do?  So, here's the troubling question...."What are you now going to do with what God has revealed to you?  Either believe God and His word,.....OR....."continue to reject and walk away from it in unbelief and rebellion." The Choice is up to you! 

 

 

 

Written to the glory of God and to the "defense" of His word which is the final authority and absolute truth which can be trusted!

 

Until He comes!

 

In Christ, Tom Gaston

Rapturetj@comcast.net

 

 

 

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