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NASB | Matthew 24:22 "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 24:22 "And if those days [of tribulation] had not been cut short, no human life would be saved; but for the sake of the elect (God's chosen ones) those days will be shortened. |
Subject: Questions for a Pretribulationist |
Bible Note: (Quoted fromt the Solagroup article) "WHAT IS PRETRIB'S ORIGIN? First of all, pretribulationism didn't exist before 1830 and there is considerable documentary proof that it was initially introduced in England by Edward Irving, the father of the charismatic Apostolic Church and not John Darby. Edward Irving probably picked up the idea of an "any moment rapture" from his work on the translation of Emanuel Lucunza's book, The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty, a Catholic priest who initially wrote the book in Spanish under the pen name of Rabbi Ben Ezra. In reality, with whom the pretribulationism position originated really does not make that much difference other than the fact that it contradicts the first 1800 years of prophetic thought and contradicts the plain teaching of the New Testament. On the other had, the basic tenant of prewrath (that the Church will undergo the persecution of Antichrist before the return of Christ) was taught clearly and consistently by early Church fathers. Among the evangelicals, what other basic doctrine of Scripture, other than pretribulationism, has been "discovered" in the past 160 years and directly contradicts the basic, accepted teachings (as a whole) of the early church fathers? There is none. Some will tell you that pretribulationism is a result of "progressive revelation," but look out. There is a lot of baggage when you take that position. Where do you stop and who decides where? The revelation of God ceased with the completion of Scriptures." My Response: The early church writings are not actually a deciding factor whether pretrib or prewrath (mid-trib) is correct. Most of the Jews, including Jesus’ disciples, did not understand that Jesus would come once as a Suffering Servent, and again as Reigning King. A few did understand, but many of their teachers, ant the time Jesus was born, taught many different things, and the truth was a minority position. Is it any wonder that we find the same thing happening today? But just because a certain person taught or did not teach [aside from what is in the Bible] a particular thing does not have a specific bearing on the teaching of scripture itself. To claim that some will say that “pretribulationism is a result of "progressive revelation" mis-represents the truth. It is not “progressive revelation”, it is a matter of greater understanding though years of study. We have seen this with other doctrines as the church has spent centuries developing doctrines of Christ, the Trinity, the church, and more. Check the early church father’s teachings of the Trinity. They are all over the map. This notwithstanding, the early church, to the best of my knowledge, did not teach any type of mid-trib (prewrath) or pre-trib rapture. The early church teachings regarding the end of the age, and the gathering of the saint to Jesus, were what we would call “post-trib”. Therefore, to declare “pre-wrath” to be more comparable to the the early church “post-trib” than “pre-trib” is misleading. Both differ from the early-church “post-trib” in the same way, just to different degrees. Both pre-trib and pre-wrath (mid-trib) teach that the church is removed not at the actual end of the 70th Week, as the early church taught, but at some time before that. Various people have realized from scripture that the clear teaching of the Bible is incompatible with the idea that the church would be on the earth past a certain time (the time of wrath). The time of the church’s removal has been adjusted accordingly. According the the timing indicators given in Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, the wrath of God comes at the beginning of the 70th week. Pre-wrath rearranges the Revelation prophecies so that the “wrath of God” only comes at the end of the 70th week. Pre-wrath teaching did not in fact exist until late in the 20th century, and so pre-trib is actually an older teaching. This is easy to verify, just search for pre-wrath teaching, and check the authors, teachers, and the dates. Do a similar search of pre-trib teaching, and compare. For more information, you can contact me at markdseyler@yahoo.com |