I am writing this series about the Rapture in response to an email letter I received from Mr. John Little on April 28, 2014 which he wrote against the pre-tribulation Rapture view. I believe his “Shock Letter” is very well done, and deserves close reading, and a careful hearing. If he should be correct in his argument, if he is correct on a point where I have been wrong, I am obligated to change my view on that point. The pre-tribulation Rapture view has been much attacked of late, and I have read the testimonies of many Christians who state they were taught the pre-tribulation viewpoint, but no longer hold that view. So far in my studies, I believe they have unwittingly left the correct view and adopted a false one.
Mr. Little writes:
Judgment Begins At The House Of God
Please understand that God IS going to pour out His wrath upon the church because of their sins and their disbelief. For proof, look no further than this:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? – 1 Peter 4:17-18
God is furious at the sin in the church. We have become just like the world, and by our actions, we have blasphemed the name of God. We deserve the wrath of a holy God, and we’re going to get it. But, you don’t have to suffer that wrath.
You can obey God and avoid what is coming. The obedient are never appointed unto wrath, but the disobedient ALWAYS are.
Will you obey?
That is a good challenge. The church has indeed become so much like the world of the unsaved that various polls have shown that the church is indistinguishable from the world in its divorce rate and on many points its belief system.
But that has no bearing upon the truth or falsehood of the pre-tribulation Rapture doctrine!
Mr. Little next states:
Rebellion
God has harsh words for those who rebel against Him:
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. – 1 Samuel 15:23
If you have gotten to this point in this article, you know that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory is wrong. You might still be fighting it, but deep down, you know that we are going through the Tribulation. And, if you keep fighting this, you are in rebellion against God.
And, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft in the eyes of God. (And, you know who they worship in witchcraft.)
Furthermore, this is not the first time that I’ve talked about this.
I have gotten “to this point in this article,” and I am not at all convinced that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory is wrong. Actually, I am more convinced than ever that my position in support of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory is correct, and in Parts 1-6 of this series, The Rapture Question Answered, I have provided Biblical support for my position, and pointed out several different kinds of flaws present in Mr. Little’s argument so far.
But Mr. Little gets better as he proceeds:
Jesuit Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory Fraud
In February of last year, I proved to you that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory was a fraud. It was started by a book published in 1811 – written by a Jesuit priest, Manuel Lacunza. That book was published ten years after his death, and it has infected Christianity with its Jesuit lie. I traced the history of this infection, here:
Jesuit Pretrib Rapture
It went from the Jesuits to Edward Irving. From Irving, it went to John Nelson Darby. From Darby, it went to Cyrus Ingerson Scofield. When it got to Scofield, it was all over.
Are you going to fall for a Jesuit lie?
Please remember that the Jesuits are the same people that brought you the Illuminati.
If you need a video, there’s this one:
“After the Tribulation: The Pre-Tribulation Rapture Fraud Exposed” Official Movie
YouTube shortlink: http://youtu.be/jTmZHDb_sP8
Mr. Little has fallen victim to the ad hominem fallacy in logic: attack the character of the supposed source of a doctrine and/or its history, rather than carefully examining the Biblical evidence and proving from the Bible the falsity or truthfulness of a doctrine.
Mr. Little continues:
You Must Love The Truth
By now, you have seen the truth. I am now calling you to love the truth. Loving something doesn’t mean that you like it, but it does mean that you hold to it, anyway. But, if you choose not to love the truth, beware.
Please take heed to what Paul says:
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. – 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12
I strongly dislike the idea that we are going to go through the Tribulation. I hate pain and suffering, and I hate the thought that the people I love will be suffering also. But, I am commanded to love the truth, and that means accepting it – even though I do not want to.
I accept what the Bible says about going through the Tribulation, even though I do not like it.
Will you join me in this acceptance of The Truth?
Those who are well taught, well-informed about what the Bible teaches will not join Mr. Little in this matter. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul appealed to the Thessalonian Christian believers who were confused over this very issue that they had fallen into a trap or snare and had become, as it were, greatly deceived.
Contrary to Paul’s teaching, the Thessalonians had been nearly convinced that they had missed the Rapture and that the Resurrection of the righteous had already taken place, and consequently they were actually in the time of the Day of the Lord.
Paul pointed out in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 that he had already taught them about the Rapture, our gathering unto Christ, and that this event takes place before the Day of the Lord begins. It even takes place before the great falling away or apostasy. It takes place before the coming and revelation of the Antichrist.
The error that the Thessalonians had fallen into, prompted by false spirits teaching deception, and even a counterfeit letter written as if it were from Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:2), parallels what Mr. Little is teaching in his letter in this way:
Paul gives this order of events:
(1) first, our gathering together unto Him (2 Thessalonians 2:1), a reference to the Pre-tribulation Rapture taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. We know the Rapture is before the Great Tribulation because the Great Tribulation takes place during the Day of the Lord. Paul writes of these events in 1 Thessalonians in the order they are to take place: he mentions the Rapture in chapter 4; he mentions the Day of the Lord in chapter 5 (1 Thessalonians 5:2). As certain as it is that chapter 4 comes before chapter 5, just that certain it is that the Rapture comes before the Day of the Lord and the Great Tribulation.
(2) next, “a falling away first.” This is the time of a great apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3) that follows the Rapture of the true believers mentioned already in 2 Thessalonians 2:1.
(3) next, Paul mentions the revelation of the “man of sin,” a title of the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4).
(4) finally, Paul makes mention of the fact that the Antichrist has not yet come on the scene, being hindered from doing so (2 Thessalonians 2:6), until the time that hindrance is removed (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
(5) Paul ends the discussion with no mention of either a Rapture or a resurrection to follow these enumerated events which he had already taught them about (2 Thessalonians 2:5), therefore from this passage in 2 Thessalonians it is not possible to properly place the Rapture and its accompanying resurrection of the righteous dead in Christ at some point subsequent to the appearance of Antichrist and the Day of the Lord.
The false teachers Paul is writing to refute held to this order:
(1) The Day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:2, better substantiated reading of the original Greek texts) is now present (taught to the Thessalonians during a time they were suffering great persecution);
(2) Leaving the options that either the Thessalonians missed the Rapture and the resurrection of the dead in Christ since it allegedly took place already, or those events were sometime in the future after the Day of the Lord they had now entered.
The teaching of those who follow the Post-tribulation Rapture Theory more closely follows the false teaching Paul writes to correct, and not the order of events taught by Paul. Mr. Little follows the Post-tribulation Rapture position.
Mr. Little continues:
True Biblical Proof
So, let me bring you back to where we started, the Bible. I showed you that there are three things that MUST happen before the Rapture, and there is no way that you can get around these proofs. Here are those three things that must come BEFORE THE RAPTURE:
The Antichrist
The Resurrection
The Tribulation
There will be no Rapture until after those three things. Period.
Again, here is what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. – 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
This means that the Antichrist MUST come before the Rapture.
I am sorry, Mr. Little. I do not read in the passage you have cited from 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 ANYTHING about either the Rapture or the Resurrection. Those things are not mentioned here. And where they are mentioned, they are not at all mentioned in the order you specify, as I fully proved in my Part 1 and Part 2 of this series about your letter, The Rapture Question Answered. All of the Parts I have written in this series may be conveniently accessed together under the Category given at the right side of this page, “Bible Prophecy.”
I’ve covered the first six pages as they stand in my saved copy of Mr. Little’s excellent letter about the Rapture. My file contains 28 pages, so there is more to come for next time, The Rapture Question Answered, Part 8.
