Jan Markell and Eric Barger want you to feel sorry for them and thereby believe the pretrib view (she claims that we are “persecuting” her and that it is “not a stretch of that word”). That sums up their recent program in defensively responding to the prewrath position along with their guest pretribber Billy Crone.
Billy Crone blusters throughout this program, completely misrepresenting prewrath and ignoring prewrath responses to it. Crone (as well as Markell) have been challenged to a public moderated debate and both have declined to defend their pretribulation rapture view with a prewrath exponent.
Billy Crone is also a hypocrite because he says he wants “dialogue,” but that is disingenuous since in practice he persists in his refusal to dialogue and have meaningful interaction with those who disagree with him. Mr. Crone, if you want to be true to your word, contact me and we can set up a debate at your church next year. Thomas Ice has proven that he is interested in dialogue when we had a Christ-honoring debate a few years ago on this issue. Are you willing to do the same? Or will you continue to be more concerned with words than deeds?
Just to give you one pathetic reason that Crone says in the program for not to believe in the prewrath position is that Robert Van Kampen was a “multi-millionaire.” Wow, have not heard that one before! (Incidentally, whenever I hear this trope by pretribbers they conveniently fail to mention that Tim LaHaye was a very wealthy man and used his wealth extensively to promulgate the pretrib position.)
Billy Crone goes on to slander Van Kampen by saying that “money cannot buy you truth,” as if this was Van Kampen’s agenda. Evidently, Crone did not read Van Kampen’s book where he talks about pouring over God’s Word and studying it for thousands of hours trying to be a Berean and seek the truth on this issue—I guess in Crone’s world, wealthy Christian businessmen are not suppose to do that. Nope, *scary voice* Van Kampen’s evil wealth was his sinister plot!
And Crone, evidently, thinks God is incapable of using wealthy Christian businessmen to promote biblical truth. According to Crone’s logic then the countless—and I mean countless—of missionaries and Gospel-centered ministries that Van Kampen supported over the decades to spread the Gospel of Christ to the lost is invalidated. I would hate to be in Crone’s shoes on judgment day when he must give an account for his flippant slander. And anyone who buys into Billy Crone’s ad hominem slander as a “defense of pretrib” has no earthly discernment.
Let me explain what is going on with Markell and her pretrib ilk. They are desperate. In recent years, they have been circling the wagon and crying “woe is us!” In an attempt to stop the blood loss (pretribs going over to prewrath, which they admit) they are making themselves out to be “victims,” ignoring meaningful interaction with prewrath, misrepresenting prewrath, and even going so far as to warn their adherents that we are teaching “Satanic” doctrine.
Jan, Eric, and Billy, your approach is not working, nor will it work. In fact, it will make more of your pretrib adherents rethink pretrib theology. If you want to have meaningful, Christ-honoring dialogue that will glorify God and benefit his people, then you know what to do.