PreTribulation Rapture Narrative
As far back as I can remember I grew up in the church. As a child I was taught the usual Sunday School material every child learns. As I grew I was taught many other things I never knew how to question because the idea of doing so never crossed my mind. I simply believed merely on the ground that this was the stuff my family believed. I never thought that the material I was taught in church was not actually biblical. Not saying the church leaders and pastors were intentionally wanting to misguide me or lie to me. They strongly believed in the material they taught as well.
I was bottle-fed the eschatological teaching of Dispensational Premillennialism, also known as “The Left Behind” teaching. Here I simply call the teaching "The Pretribulation Rapture Narrative." You know the teaching that in the end the Lord is going to call up the church or the Saints, those who are truly followers of His, and once that happens there will be seven years of tribulation, or extreme suffering, across the world. This will then usher in of the New World Order, the anti-Christ will rule the world, and those who reject Christ will receive “The Mark of the Beast” and those who refuse will be gathered up to be imprisoned and eventually martyred, or killed for their faith. You can also get a good taste of this teaching from the movies with the same title, “Left Behind” staring Kirk Cameron. I have nothing personally against Mr. Camron, I have a great deal of respect for him. I simply do not agree with this teaching.
As far back as I can remember the teachings in church were focused on the end of the world and the return of Christ; when He is going to return and how He is going to do it. So much of the teaching is focused around signs and wonders of the end. Such signs can be seen, for example, in natural evens of the four blood moons, which has been heavily taught by pastors such as John Hagee. In addition to natural events there will be signs and event found in political arena, mainly what is happening in Israel and the rest of the Middle East. The primary focus is who will rise in power to control the world. Much of the biblical teachings of the end by the Pretrib believers is taken literally, assuming that the biblical author was specifically writing of far off future events with no regards to any near future events of their time.
As I stated I grew up on this teaching and I continue to see it pushed by popular Evangelical Fundamentalist leaders. Many of them possess advance degrees, which I have come to believe that they use their degrees to take advantage of others to push this teaching. I finally came to the point that I was going to take a step back from all that I was taught in the church and look for myself what the Bible had to say about the things I was taught in church. By my late teens and early adult years I began attending different churches, mainly the Assembly of God and I found the Pretrib Rapture teaching was there as well as other things. At this point of my life I began to explore the scripture and the deeper I got the more I started to see that much of what I was taught is not found in the Scriptures. Not once did I question the validity of the Bible but I questioned those who were teaching from it. When I attended Bible College I learned that I was not the only one who thought as I did. Many others in the church through the history of the church thought as I do.
As I look at the teaching of Premillennial Dispensationalism I find that the teaching is based on four fear factors: The Rapture, The Tribulation, The Anti-Christ, and The Mark of the Beast. There are other points as well but these fear factors stand out the most to me. To use fear to influence and motivate others to come to know the Lord is unbiblical. Matter of fact this type of evangelism is manipulation. The fear of not missing the rapture and if you do you will have to face the tribulation which will lead you to make a crucial choice of taking the mark and if you do chose to take the mark you will spend eternity in hell when Christ comes to end all suffering and sin. Wow! What a way to win people over to the Lord, strike fear into them.
What does the Bible say about fear for the Christian? Scripture says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18) We need to remember that it was the love of God that sent His Son. It is the love of God that drives out our fears, all of them, the fear of death, and the fear of eternal punishment. Jesus says that we are not to fear the one who can destroy the body but to fear the one who can destroy the body and the soul. (Luke 12:5) The Spirit of the Lord removes the chains of fear, we are no longer slaves to fear. (Romans 8:15).
Now this is not the fear out of honor and respect that draws us closer to the Lord, which the scriptures speak about. It is the fear that causes division, heart ache, and depression. The fear without the Lord brings an end to all hope and life. A life in the Lord removes that type of fear.
This section of “Topics” will look at the different areas of these “Fear Factors” in relationship with the scriptures. To learn more go to Apologetics Press and click on “Doctrinal Matters” and look for “End Times” on the left (or click on "Apologetics Press" and the link will pop up). There are two articles, “Left Behind—or Left Bedazzled?” Parts I and II. Now the author of these articles, Dr. Dave Miller, does a wonderful job on the subject but can come across very much as a Preterist but I do believe Dr. Miller believes in a future return of Christ that all in the church are looking forward to. I have a link on my resource page that you can quickly connect to.
I was bottle-fed the eschatological teaching of Dispensational Premillennialism, also known as “The Left Behind” teaching. Here I simply call the teaching "The Pretribulation Rapture Narrative." You know the teaching that in the end the Lord is going to call up the church or the Saints, those who are truly followers of His, and once that happens there will be seven years of tribulation, or extreme suffering, across the world. This will then usher in of the New World Order, the anti-Christ will rule the world, and those who reject Christ will receive “The Mark of the Beast” and those who refuse will be gathered up to be imprisoned and eventually martyred, or killed for their faith. You can also get a good taste of this teaching from the movies with the same title, “Left Behind” staring Kirk Cameron. I have nothing personally against Mr. Camron, I have a great deal of respect for him. I simply do not agree with this teaching.
As far back as I can remember the teachings in church were focused on the end of the world and the return of Christ; when He is going to return and how He is going to do it. So much of the teaching is focused around signs and wonders of the end. Such signs can be seen, for example, in natural evens of the four blood moons, which has been heavily taught by pastors such as John Hagee. In addition to natural events there will be signs and event found in political arena, mainly what is happening in Israel and the rest of the Middle East. The primary focus is who will rise in power to control the world. Much of the biblical teachings of the end by the Pretrib believers is taken literally, assuming that the biblical author was specifically writing of far off future events with no regards to any near future events of their time.
As I stated I grew up on this teaching and I continue to see it pushed by popular Evangelical Fundamentalist leaders. Many of them possess advance degrees, which I have come to believe that they use their degrees to take advantage of others to push this teaching. I finally came to the point that I was going to take a step back from all that I was taught in the church and look for myself what the Bible had to say about the things I was taught in church. By my late teens and early adult years I began attending different churches, mainly the Assembly of God and I found the Pretrib Rapture teaching was there as well as other things. At this point of my life I began to explore the scripture and the deeper I got the more I started to see that much of what I was taught is not found in the Scriptures. Not once did I question the validity of the Bible but I questioned those who were teaching from it. When I attended Bible College I learned that I was not the only one who thought as I did. Many others in the church through the history of the church thought as I do.
As I look at the teaching of Premillennial Dispensationalism I find that the teaching is based on four fear factors: The Rapture, The Tribulation, The Anti-Christ, and The Mark of the Beast. There are other points as well but these fear factors stand out the most to me. To use fear to influence and motivate others to come to know the Lord is unbiblical. Matter of fact this type of evangelism is manipulation. The fear of not missing the rapture and if you do you will have to face the tribulation which will lead you to make a crucial choice of taking the mark and if you do chose to take the mark you will spend eternity in hell when Christ comes to end all suffering and sin. Wow! What a way to win people over to the Lord, strike fear into them.
What does the Bible say about fear for the Christian? Scripture says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18) We need to remember that it was the love of God that sent His Son. It is the love of God that drives out our fears, all of them, the fear of death, and the fear of eternal punishment. Jesus says that we are not to fear the one who can destroy the body but to fear the one who can destroy the body and the soul. (Luke 12:5) The Spirit of the Lord removes the chains of fear, we are no longer slaves to fear. (Romans 8:15).
Now this is not the fear out of honor and respect that draws us closer to the Lord, which the scriptures speak about. It is the fear that causes division, heart ache, and depression. The fear without the Lord brings an end to all hope and life. A life in the Lord removes that type of fear.
This section of “Topics” will look at the different areas of these “Fear Factors” in relationship with the scriptures. To learn more go to Apologetics Press and click on “Doctrinal Matters” and look for “End Times” on the left (or click on "Apologetics Press" and the link will pop up). There are two articles, “Left Behind—or Left Bedazzled?” Parts I and II. Now the author of these articles, Dr. Dave Miller, does a wonderful job on the subject but can come across very much as a Preterist but I do believe Dr. Miller believes in a future return of Christ that all in the church are looking forward to. I have a link on my resource page that you can quickly connect to.
