My answer to “The Pretrib Jackpot!” by Bruce Rockwell

A new poster kindly submitted the following article by Bruce Rockwell this morning [September 15, 2014] to the comment section for the William Craig article I posted on July 31, 2014. Just now, the comment section for that article returns an “error,” and I cannot access it myself. I figure if the Devil wants to mess with me, I’ll post the information in this more public space where all can see and read it. You should find it interesting and instructive. Here is the article as I received it. I inserted comments in brackets within the article:

THE ARTICLE

The Pretrib Rapture Jackpot!

by Bruce Rockwell

Attention, writers. You can make a fortune by promoting the pretrib rapture!

First, some background. As you know, pretrib began in Scotland in 1830. The earliest developers, including Edward Irving and John Darby, admitted that it was then a totally new view that had never been part of any church’s theology.

They also admitted that it had suddenly sprung from only OT and NT “types” and “symbols” and not from any clear Bible statement!

As late as 1957, pretrib expert John Walvoord admitted in “The Rapture Question” (p. 148)that “pretribulationism” is NOT “an explicit teaching of Scripture”!

[On this point Bruce Rockwell has entirely misrepresented what John Walvoord says on page 148 of The Rapture Question. Here is the paragraph in question from page 148:

“Ladd, in contrast to Jones, concedes that post-tribulational rapture is an inference rather than an explicit revelation of Scripture in the following statement: “Nor does the Word explicitly place the Rapture at the end of the Tribulation.” The fact is that posttribulationism is an interpretation of Scripture which pretribulationists believe is contradicted by many passages which imply otherwise. Pretribulationism is based on the fact that it allows a harmony of the Scriptures relating to the second advent. The separation of the translation from the return of Christ to earth permits each of the two events, so different in character, to have its own place. It solves the problem of the confusing and contradictory details in the posttribulational interpretation illustrated in the difficulty of the posttribulationists themselves to work out a harmony of the prophecies related to the second advent.”

Notice additionally that the citation from Walvoord, upon reading it, concerns the posttribulation rapture position, not the pretribulation rapture position. Clearly, Mr. Bruce Rockwell totally misread page 148 of Walvoord’s work!]

Since the early 1900s pretrib has been sold by novelists like Sydney Watson (in 1913) and by Salem Kirban whose “Left Behind”-type novel “666” came out in 1970–the same year Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” started breaking sales records.

The very first rapture novel titled “Left Behind” came from the joint pens of Peter and Patti Lalonde in mid-1995, resulting in some competitors being left behind.

The pretrib rapture view, which admittedly is only an “inference” and not “explicit,” rests basically on verses in John 14, 1 Thess. 4, and 1 Cor. 15, none of which have either a “taken/left” separation or exciting nail-biting scenarios that can “sell” pretrib.

[Notice Mr. Bruce Rockwell makes reference to the proper Scripture passages, but makes an assertion unbacked by any analysis of the verses themselves, and mistakenly repeats his misreading of Walvoord’s statement from page 148 of The Rapture Question which I supplied in full above, that “The pretrib rapture view, which admittedly is only an ‘inference’ and not ‘explicit.'” Would Mr. Bruce Rockwell deny the doctrine of the Trinity or the doctrine of the Deity of Christ because the evidence is only inferential? Is there not such a thing as a valid inference?]

You have to go to Revelation’s action-packed chapters instead. When you do, you discover they can be tied to end time details found basically in the Olivet Discourse.

As you know, pretribs believe in two stages; Stage 1 is the pretrib rapture which supposedly occurs several years before Stage 2 which is the posttrib second coming to earth.

Since the three “rapture” chapters listed above don’t have any clear rapture-type separation between the “righteous” and the “wicked,” your best launching pad if you want to be a bestselling author is “the one shall be taken, and the other left” phrase in Matthew 24:40, 41 and Luke 17:34-36.

[Surely “the dead in Christ shall be raised first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) is a clear rapture-type separation between the “righteous” and the “wicked,” so Mr. Bruce Rockwell’s statement is not correct.]

Trouble is, Dr. Walvoord and many other pretrib leaders declare that the “one taken” are the “wicked” taken in judgment while the “righteous” are left! But since the average pew-sitters don’t seem to know this, you can easily convince them that the “one taken” is a sort of code for an any-moment pretrib rapture!

And the pew-sitters don’t know that Walvoord etc. also teach that the same phrase is part of “non-imminent” Stage 2 which is posttrib (and not pretrib) and is on “Jewish” (and not “Church”) ground!

In order to preserve and emphasize Stage 1 (the pretrib rapture), pretrib merchandizers in recent decades have been stretching forward various aspects found in Stage 2 and quietly applying them to Stage 1. Aspects include “the day of the Lord,” “God’s wrath,” “the taken/left phrase,” “the unknown day and hour,” and Christ’s coming “as a thief” (which is always tied to Armageddon and other posttrib events).

(For more on the above Google “The Correct Answer to Who’s Taken” etc. on Joe Otriz’s blog of April 12, 2010. Also Google “Pretrib Rapture Stealth.”)

Yes, I’ve told you how you can turn yourself into a bestselling, wealthy author.

But unfortunately you have some competition because Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have already become opportunists and made millions of dollars that are destined to be left behind!

For more on them and their partners, Google “The ‘Left Behind’ Rapture,” “LaHaye’s Temperament,” “Jerry Jenkins Apologizes for Being Seen Gambling in Casinos,” “Pretrib Rapture Diehards,” “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Walvoord Melts Ice,” “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “Margaret Macdonald’s Rapture Chart,” “Pretrib Rapture’s Missing Lines,” “Roots of Warlike Christian Zionism,” “Evangelicals Use Occult Deception,” “Pretrib Rapture Secrecy,” “Letter from Mrs. Billy Graham,” “Pretrib Rapture Politics” and “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty.”

In closing let me say that Jeremiah 17:11 warns that “he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.”

And you can bet on this!

MY RESPONSE

I will try again to gain access to the comment section where I wrote a response to the above article this morning. If access is still denied, I’ll write a new response.

Well, I found a way to access what I wrote this morning, so here it comes, by hand-typed transcription to avoid copy and pasting any possible malicious code along with it [I have since learned that the problem was caused by the server; this site is now on a different server]:

Dear Lou,

Thank you for submitting the interesting article by Bruce Rockwell, “The Pretrib Rapture Jackpot!” This article is a very good example of the logical fallacy called “ad hominem” or “against the man.”

The truth or falsity of a Bible doctrine does not depend upon the character or wealth of the men or women who promote it. That fiction writers have popularized the view for wider public consumption hardly counts as evidence either for or against the doctrine. One should not assume that fiction writers necessarily have an accurate grasp of the Bible doctrine underlying the plot outline of their fiction.

What one must do to refute a doctrine is present a more valid exegesis of the texts of Scripture that bear upon the doctrine. The article’s author correctly identifies the major passages in the Bible that establish the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. But beyond the bald assertion that these passages do not explicitly teach the pre-tribulation rapture Bruce Rockwell does not go. Perhaps had Mr. Rockwell written a longer article he could have spelled out his proof to the contrary. But far as I know, no author yet has done so.

To suggest the alleged “newness” of the doctrine as an argument against it is logical nonsense. Do you and Mr. Rockwell mean to say that there is nothing new to be learned from the Bible through further, careful study? Such an idea is absurd on its face. The issue is not how new or old a doctrine is (or whether any church has adopted it as part of their church creed), but is the doctrine supported by careful and accurate appeal to the Bible. The “age” of a doctrine is surely no evidence of its truthfulness. Many ancient heresies are with us today, and those very old errors are as dangerous now as when first propounded (Arianism, for example). We are warned against such doctrines throughout Scripture (Isaiah 8:20; Acts 20:29, 30; Galatians 1:6, 7, 8, 9; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1; 2 John 1:9, 10; Jude 1:3).

The pretribulation rapture doctrine did not originate with John Nelson Darby or anyone else in the 1830s. It comes from a careful comparison of Scripture with Scripture. A careful study of Mr. George N. H. Peters’ work, The Theocratic Kingdom in three large volumes, will demonstrate that in Peters we have a careful prophetic scholar who establishes the doctrine in detail on a firm basis without ever using the terms “rapture” or “pretribulation.” His work was completed in the 1880s as I recall. He spent a lifetime of study to produce it. While he mentions Darby and others, he is very much against Darby and the Plymouth Brethren and their writers. So Mr. Peters certainly did not learn about the pretribulation rapture from them! Furthermore, Peters thoroughly proves that the doctrine of the premillennial Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ has always been the doctrine of the true Church from apostolic times, and was the undisputed doctrine of the Church for the first two and a half to three centuries after Christ.

So it may be that individuals like you, and Mr. Bruce Rockwell, and many if not most others who are against the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture have been drinking from the poisoned wells of false doctrine themselves.

Thank you for submitting such an interesting article. I have already answered the issues it brings up against the pre-tribulation rapture on this site in many articles under the category accessible to the right on “Bible Prophecy.” Please feel free to further the discussion by bringing up any Biblical evidence you may have that seems contrary to the position I currently support. I am always ready to change my mind about these matters should further evidence from the Bible, carefully exegeted, prove my position wrong. Are you?