PRETRIB RAPTURE IS BIBLICAL but the current model is wrong and needs correcting.

Pretrib Rapture is what the Bible teaches. You miss the point when you suggest that today's Christians are not worthy of escaping the tribulation and therefore need to go to the tribulation as a result. The theology behind this type of thinking is problematic. First it is by grace we are saved through faith, it is the GIFT of God and not of Works, lest any man should boast. Eph. 2:8-9. Also 1 Thes. 5:9 "God has not appointed us to wrath but to salvation in Jesus Christ."

The MISTAKE that everyone makes when laying out the chronology of the events in Revelation: i.e. the 7 seals, 7 trumpets and the 7 vial judgments is that they do not understand that THE SEALS ARE PART OF THE CHURCH AGE. The four chariot riders of the seals 1-4 are those angelic beings that sit on the four corners of the earth throughout all ages to carry out the will of God Who sits on the throne. A study of the book of Zechariah 1-6 will reveal that they are the eyes of the seven spirits of God which go “to and fro” the earth to carry out His will. In the age of the church, this age of grace Christ first dispatched His Spirit into the world so that believers would OVERCOME even conquer the world for Christ. "Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit", (Zech. 4:6). Thus the first rider of Revelation 6, is sent forth on a white horse with a bow but no arrows. To suggest that this first rider is the spirit of antichrist is most regrettable. Note how in Revelation 7:1-2 that before the sealing of the 144,000 JEWS these four angels sitting on the four corners of the earth are summoned to stay their judgments with the blowing of the trumpets which is contained in the seventh seal. Therefore, the sixth seal the number of man is both the rapture of the church and the judgment that will fall on the armies of Gog & Magog as they come against Israel JUST BEFORE the seven year tribulation. This event will bring antichrist to power. I Would suggest that all would read Acts 2:16-21 16; “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Note first of that there are TWO sets of Signs. The first sign indicated the beginning of the church on Pentecost. The second set of signs --Signs in the heavens ABOVE and signs in the earth BELOW are BEFORE the great and NOTABLE Day of LORD. This second set of signs marks out the END of the church age and a time when God will once again make the redemption of Israel His primary focus. The first place in Revelation this could be fulfilled is with the opening of the sixth seal. Revelation 4-5 IS NOT THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH! John was taken up to heaven and saw the past event of Jesus' resurrection and ascension to the Throne when He sat down at the right hand of the Father, took the scroll, began to open the seals of the scroll. The first thing Jesus did was dispatch the Spirit to indwell believers along with the four chariot riders of Revelation 6, into the world. He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Just as in Zechariah they would insure the building of the temple by Zerubbable they would also oversee the Church. That is why the letter was written to the seven churches and at the end of each letter is this admonition, "To him that overcometh I will give...." Note also what Jesus said in Luke 17:29-30 "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Again the sixth seal is the first place in the Book of Revelation this can happen. So the multitude in Revelation 7, standing before the throne of God, are the PRETRIB raptured believers. So the chronology is as follows: Seals 1-5 have been opened since the beginning of the church age. The faithful church of this age is the Philadelphia church that does not deny the name of the Lord and keeps his word. That church will be kept from the hour of tribulation and God holds an open door for the Philadelphia church. (See Rev. 3:7-11) But the Laodicean church WILL GO THROUGH THE FIRES of the great tribulation, because it is blind and naked and cannot see. This church is not saved, it is the liturgical, works oriented church. When the sixth seal is opened the Earth will be moved out of its place, the skies will roll back and the church will be raptured. At the same time God will destroy the armies gathered against Israel and the world will see this judgment as the clear wrath of the God. It will move the antichrist to make a peace treaty and commission the building of the Temple in Israel. The world will Think it has survived Armageddon but in fact it stands at the beginning of seven years of Tribulation. Before the seventh seal is opened God will seal a vast number of Jews to first protect them from that which is coming. DID THEY EARN GOD'S PROTECTION? NO! But through His grace and mercy, He is now focused on Israel as the 70th Week of Daniel unfolds. and the second half of Daniel 9:24 is fulfilled: “...and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” There is one trumpet for each year of the seven years of tribulation and the final trumpet contains the seven vial judgments. Bottom line: The PRETRIB RAPTURE IS BIBLICAL, the current model as propagated by Thomas Ice and others however is wrong. Thus sayeth the Lord to His servant John.

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