Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
The Real Rapture Truth
The Rapture is not so difficult as one might think. The problem is everyone is taught what to believe and when they study the Bible, they tend to study with a biased mindset. If you are Pre-Trib, you will interpret scriptures to support that belief. If you are Post-Trib, you will interpret scripture to fit that belief. So very few actually look for the truth!
When I started studying, I had no particular belief. Nobody taught me. I recognized that a lot of what I was taught when young was wrong. I studied very doctrine looking for Gods truth and not mans interpretation. When it came to the rapture, this is the truth I found.
The truth is, it is literally impossible for anyone to prove any rapture stance correct just by giving scriptures that support it!
No matter what stance you believe, or what scripture you give to support it, I can interpret it to fit another stance. So that scripture will not be proof of any one stance! That is because every scripture that anyone gives is only being interpreted to mean something it never quite says. Yes post-Tribbers, this includes Matthew 24:29-31. I can make that fit the Pre-Trib rapture just as well as you can make it fit a post-trib.
So if the rapture stance cannot be proven through scripture, what can we do? Prove some wrong.
I have proven one and a half stances false by focusing on what scripture says and not how they say it should be interpreted. I say one and a half because Preterism is not necessarily a rapture stance. So I gave it half a point. Yes Preterism can be proven false by simply proving that the destruction of 70 AD is impossible to be the great tribulation that Jesus speaks of in Mathew 24.
Proving the Preterist belief wrong!
The other stance I can prove false is the Post-Trib stance. They really have no real evidence to support their beliefs, so all they can do is make arguments based on their flawed interpretation of scriptures. The biggest issue with this is that Post-Tribbers have a God complex. When they interpret a scripture, they seem to think it should all be settled. Their interpretation must be the truth and nobody else can interpret scripture differently. Either that, or they are really stupid and cant tell when they are only interpreting a scripture to mean something it never actually says. I wont be judgmental so I will leave it to them to judge which one it is for themselves.
The truth is however, when you stop looking to interpret scripture, and focus on what the words actually say, there are two places in Revelation that make it impossible for the rapture to happen at the second coming. Unfortunately they cant see that because in their minds, if they interpret it, it must be right. Here are the two arguments to prove the Post-Tib rapture false.
The Marriage of the Lamb
The Dead Who come to Life
The 5th Trumpet
There is a third argument to prove the Post-Trib rapture false, but this one depends on them at least understanding something correctly first.
The Wrath of God
Now here is the thing. I just listed three arguments to prove the Post-Trib rapture false. Not only one. To prove the Post-Trib is even possible, you have to answer all 3 of the arguments. Not just one or two. As long as there is even one argument that is not answered, the Post-Trib rapture will remain proven false.
With the silly idea of Preterism proven false, and the Post-Tribulation rapture also found to be impossible, we are left with Pre-Tribulation, Pre-Wrath and a smattering of smaller ideas. Now at least so far, I cannot prove any of them wrong any more than I can prove them true. So that left me with one last option. To go through the logical arguments. When it came to the logical arguments, only one really stood out high above the others as being the logical one to believe. That is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
The Logical Arguments for a Pre-Trib rapture
When I started studying, I had no particular belief. Nobody taught me. I recognized that a lot of what I was taught when young was wrong. I studied very doctrine looking for Gods truth and not mans interpretation. When it came to the rapture, this is the truth I found.
The truth is, it is literally impossible for anyone to prove any rapture stance correct just by giving scriptures that support it!
No matter what stance you believe, or what scripture you give to support it, I can interpret it to fit another stance. So that scripture will not be proof of any one stance! That is because every scripture that anyone gives is only being interpreted to mean something it never quite says. Yes post-Tribbers, this includes Matthew 24:29-31. I can make that fit the Pre-Trib rapture just as well as you can make it fit a post-trib.
So if the rapture stance cannot be proven through scripture, what can we do? Prove some wrong.
I have proven one and a half stances false by focusing on what scripture says and not how they say it should be interpreted. I say one and a half because Preterism is not necessarily a rapture stance. So I gave it half a point. Yes Preterism can be proven false by simply proving that the destruction of 70 AD is impossible to be the great tribulation that Jesus speaks of in Mathew 24.
Proving the Preterist belief wrong!
The other stance I can prove false is the Post-Trib stance. They really have no real evidence to support their beliefs, so all they can do is make arguments based on their flawed interpretation of scriptures. The biggest issue with this is that Post-Tribbers have a God complex. When they interpret a scripture, they seem to think it should all be settled. Their interpretation must be the truth and nobody else can interpret scripture differently. Either that, or they are really stupid and cant tell when they are only interpreting a scripture to mean something it never actually says. I wont be judgmental so I will leave it to them to judge which one it is for themselves.
The truth is however, when you stop looking to interpret scripture, and focus on what the words actually say, there are two places in Revelation that make it impossible for the rapture to happen at the second coming. Unfortunately they cant see that because in their minds, if they interpret it, it must be right. Here are the two arguments to prove the Post-Tib rapture false.
The Marriage of the Lamb
The Dead Who come to Life
The 5th Trumpet
There is a third argument to prove the Post-Trib rapture false, but this one depends on them at least understanding something correctly first.
The Wrath of God
Now here is the thing. I just listed three arguments to prove the Post-Trib rapture false. Not only one. To prove the Post-Trib is even possible, you have to answer all 3 of the arguments. Not just one or two. As long as there is even one argument that is not answered, the Post-Trib rapture will remain proven false.
With the silly idea of Preterism proven false, and the Post-Tribulation rapture also found to be impossible, we are left with Pre-Tribulation, Pre-Wrath and a smattering of smaller ideas. Now at least so far, I cannot prove any of them wrong any more than I can prove them true. So that left me with one last option. To go through the logical arguments. When it came to the logical arguments, only one really stood out high above the others as being the logical one to believe. That is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
The Logical Arguments for a Pre-Trib rapture
