About four years ago, I wrote up a blog post (with an image) showing that the translators of the original 1611 King James Bible placed a marginal reference note next to Matthew 24:31 linking to Paul’s rapture and resurrection passages in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthian 15:52. Why is this significant? Because most KJV […]
Thessalonians
Is an ‘Imminent Rapture’ a Sanctifying Agent?
Answer: First, the Bible never teaches an imminent return of Jesus, let alone that God uses it to sanctify believers. Imminent death, yes, but not an imminent rapture. Second, Jesus in his Olivet Discourse teaches quite the opposite. He teaches that because his return is delayed with intervening events, he warned of the temptation for […]
Will Jesus Come FOR HIS CHURCH at the Rapture, But WITH HIS CHURCH at the Second Coming? – Ep 145
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http://traffic.libsyn.com/thebiblicalprophecyprogram/Ep_145_Will_Jesus_Come_FOR_HIS_CHURCH_at_the_Rapture.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedA fundamental presupposition of pretribulationism views the rapture event as disconnected from the second coming. Pretribulationism claims that the rapture occurs before Daniel’s 70th week begins, i.e. the seven-year period, while the second coming occurs after the seven years is complete. Thus, it necessarily disconnects the rapture […]
What Event Will Happen BETWEEN the Resurrection and the Rapture? – Ep. 143
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http://traffic.libsyn.com/thebiblicalprophecyprogram/What_Event_Will_Happen_BETWEEN_the_Resurrection_and_the_Rapture__-_Ep._143.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedWhen Jesus returns in the clouds at his second coming (parousia), the resurrection of the dead in Christ will take place first. They will be walking on the earth among mortals as a witness to God’s power and glory. After this those alive in Christ will receive […]
A Brief Reply to Arnold Fruchtenbaum on the Meaning of the Greek Noun Apostasia
Sometimes I am surprised to learn that pretrib teachers continue to perpetuate the lexical error that the Greek noun apostasia can refer to the sense of a “physical departure.” For example, just recently, Arnold Fruchtenbaum of Ariel Ministries stated: “However, the Greek word simply means ‘departure’. This could refer to a moral departure but it […]
A Response to John Hart’s Flawed Comparison between Jesus and Paul’s Use of the ‘Birth Pangs’ Metaphor
[*There will be no episode of The Biblical Prophecy Program today since I have a respiratory virus and talking causes coughing fits. But in lieu of the program I wanted to write up a reply to the following claim by John Hart.] Source “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” […]
Irenaeus Taught that the Church Would Face the Antichrist
Source I want to respond to pretribber John Hart’s misrepresentation of Irenaeus, taking a snippet of Irenaeus out of context and making it sound like he is teaching a pretrib rapture. Nothing could be further from the truth for three contextual reasons. First In Hart’s proof text, I noticed that he conveniently omits the very […]
A Response to Ken Johnson’s Abuse of Reading His Pretribulation Rapture Back into the Early Church Writers (Video)
Gary Stearman of Prophecy Watchers interviewed Ken Johnson on his show this week. The program is an exercise of wishful thinking claiming that the early church writers were “pretribulationists” (see the video below). Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of what the early church writers taught on this issue understands that they taught that the […]
A Response to the Criteria for Pretribulation Imminence (Pt. 2 of 4)
(Here is Part 1) The second criterion that pretribulationists operate from is: The passage speaks of Christ’s return as ‘near,’ without stating any signs that must precede His coming.[1] This is another form of circular reasoning that we saw in the first criterion. Brindle assumes that when an author mentions that Christ’s return is near, […]
A Response to the Criteria for Pretribulation Imminence (Pt. 1 of 4)
I will address the interpretive criteria that pretrib interpreters have used in order to determine whether a biblical passage teaches imminence. Wayne A. Brindle gives four general criteria that have been used to establish imminence theology in pretribulation literature.[1] Incidentally, Brindle does not give any explanations for his four criteria for imminence. This is a […]
Is the Meaning of Harpagēsometha in 1 Thess 4:17 ‘Rapture’ or ‘Plunder’? Part 6 – Ep. 131
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http://traffic.libsyn.com/thebiblicalprophecyprogram/Is_the_Meaning_of_Harpagesometha_in_1_Thess_417_Rapture_or_Plunder__Part_6_-_Ep._131.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedIn this episode I critiqued more of Chris Steinle’s denial of the rapture event. He reads other contextual notions back into Paul’s teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4, attempting to make Paul say that God’s people will be “plundered” not raptured. I explain what he means by this […]