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I originally posted this on the Post Modernism theology. However, I think its needs to have its own posting.

I believe that the dispensationalists teaching a pretribulation rapture are wrong. I first came across this teaching back in the late nineties, shortly just after I gave my life to Christ, and as it was taught by someone I respected very much, I took it on face value. However, after doing some serious bible study and a theology course, I soon realised how unsound the teaching was. Personally I do not have a problem with dispensationalism in general, just the pretrib teaching.

Sadly I believe that the likes of Darby and Scofield have marred dispensationalists by their error of teaching the pretrib hypothesis. The foundation of this teaching may have origins in demonic influences, through a young woman called Margaret McDonald. Some suggest that she was a female psychic and others say that she was a prophetess from the Scottish Irvingite sect in the 1800′s. Whether this is true or untrue is not the issue for me, but the fact that scripturally the teaching is totally unsound.

The major crux of this teaching relies upon Rev 3:10 “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth”. When relying on this text the dispensationalists totally ignore all normal biblical standards of interpretation. It was written to the Philadelphain church not to the whole of the Asia Minor churches and therefore in context cannot be directly applied 2000 years later to the universal church. Even if we are to literally interpret this text and apply to the rapture, the end times and the whole church. It says “He will keep us in the trials. Keep is to protect and preserve, not to remove. Matt 22 clearly shows that the body of Christ will pass through the tribulation, as those days will be cut short because of the elect. Equally we are warned, there will be many deceivers and the enemy will even try to deceive the elect if that were possible.

My biggest worry because of this teaching is that Christendom in general is unprepared for any tribulation. There is an atmosphere of ‘don’t concern yourself with what may happen, as we will be ‘raptured’ away before any of it begins’ I feel that we have seen elements of this already with the beginnings of the financial and economic meltdown facing the world. Many Christians were caught out (not up!) by trusting and believing in these systems. The politicians, Wall Street, and the City of London have been telling us that “all’s well, we are all entitled to have whatever we want, and it is our right to have financial peace and security. We should all own our homes, and buy whatever else we fancy on credit, without worry, as you can use the collateral in your house, which is rising daily because of the wonderful boom in real estate. The good times are here and here to stay”. Theses are lies from the pit of hell itself, as the rest of the world struggle to feed themselves, the West lives in luxury, but yet never sated. Unfortunately though, these lies were believed by many.

Anyway that’s my rant for the day, but let me return to the pretrib rapture. IF and that is a big IF, we are all raptured before the great tribulation and I am proved wrong, I will at the front of the procession praising and thanking my Lord and my God. However, until then, let us at least be prepared and have oil in our lamps, along with discernment and wisdom, so that when tribulation does come along, is not a shock. The scriptures tells us not to worry, as He will protect us and preserve our souls, not necessarily our lives, but the scriptures also tell us to be watchful, be prepared and expect it!

Blessings

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under Webmaster's Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.