The past year has been a wake-up call for many people. A global pandemic… Riots and social unrest in countless nations… Fractures in the global economy… And now Israel and Hamas at war. Everywhere you look, it seems as though the end is near. Is it? What does the Bible say? Are these signs of the Second Coming? Are these events pointing to the soon return of Jesus Christ?
During this troubling movement into ever-increasing evil, those among Bible teachers, writers, broadcasters, et al., who proclaim there is to be no pre-Tribulation Rapture are having a field day.
Over the many years, I have observed that much doctrinal error has arisen because of a failure to heed the instruction Paul gives us in 2 Timothy 2:15. Many fail to handle Scripture accurately because they do not make proper distinctions in their interpretation of it.
I believe we live in a period of relative calm before a great storm sweeps across the planet. God’s judgment on the Christ-rejecting world is ever so close at hand. The rapidly approaching tribulation will bring people face to face with the wrath of the Lord and give them one more opportunity to turn to the Savior before they face an eternity apart from Him.
My purpose in writing this article is not so much to defend my ministry as it is to reaffirm the comfort that comes our way knowing that Jesus is coming for us before the horrendous period of God’s wrath upon the earth. This blessed assurance gives much needed strength to many saints enduring affliction and ongoing pain, both physical and emotional.
From the Book of Romans to Philemon the Tribulation is not mentioned even once. It would seem that something so important as seven years of hell on earth would be part of Paul’s teachings to the church if it was to pass through this time
The tribulation will be a time of God’s wrath and judgment upon “them that dwell upon the earth” (See Rev. 6: 10; 8: 13; 11: 10; 12: 12; 13: 8, 12, 14; 14: 6; 17: 2, 8). He will keep the believer “from” this time of tribulation rather than “through” it.
Last week, I watched much of the Republican National Convention. I felt inspired as I heard several life stories of those who love both Jesus and our nation. The speakers from every walk of life reminded us that President Trump loves the United States as well as all its people regardless of their race or status. Those sharing experiences of their encounters with the President decimated the false narrative of the media that portrays him as a racist and a hateful person.
No scriptural proof-text in God’s Word more clearly points to the first of the two phases of Jesus Christ’s second coming than does the following: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2).