No Pre-Tribulation Rapture

The whole theory and scheme for a pre-tribulation rapture was invented around 1830AD. Since that time this theory has been taught and preached around the world. It was begun in Scotland by a 14 year old girl who while sick claimed she had a dream-vision that the church would be raptured before the great tribulation.

This was picked up by a preacher named Edward Irving. He began to spread it throughout Europe. His Church was called the Catholic Apostolic Church. Many people accepted this new private interpretation of prophecy.

You see, prior to this, there was already a doctrine of an any minute rapture. This was based upon the doctrine of many Protestants that the tribulation was in progress with the Catholic church being the great whore and mystery Babylon. They had identified the pope as the antichrist.  So the majority of Protestant Christianity believed the rapture would take place any second when Jesus would return, destroy the Catholic church, and immediately cast the antichrist pope into the lake of fire. There was a growing dissatisfaction with this theory.

This whole doctrine of an imminent rapture was believed all the way back in the time of Martin Luther in 1525AD. Now here it is 305 years later in 1830 and the end of the tribulation has not come.  What happened to the seven year tribulation? It should have been over by 1532AD.  But no, there have been at least 35 pope antichrist and none of them were cast alive into the lake of fire as prophesied in the book of Revelation about the antichrist (see Revelation 19:20):

Clement VII (1523-34); Paul III (1534-49); Julius III (1550-55); Marcellus II (1555); Paul IV (1555-59); Pius IV (1559-65); St. Pius V (1566-72); Gregory XIII (1572-85); Sixtus V (1585-90); Urban VII (1590); Gregory XIV (1590-91); Innocent IX (1591); Clement VIII (1592-1605); Leo XI (1605); Paul V (1605-21); Gregory XV (1621-23); Urban VIII (1623-44); Innocent X (1644-55); Aexander VII (1655-67); Clement IX (1667-69); Clement X (1670-76); Blessed Innocent XI (1676-89); Alexander VIII (1689-91); Innocent XII (1691-1700); Clement XI (1700-21); Innocent XIII (1721-24); Benedict XIII (1724-30); Clement XII (1730-40); Benedict XIV (1740-58); Clement XIII (1758-69); Clement XIV (1769-74); Pius VI (1775-99); Pius VII (1800-23); Leo XII (1823-29); Pius VIII (1829-30).

What is going on here? None of these were the antichrist although hundreds of preachers kept telling people for 305 years to expect the rapture at any second. They believed the rapture would take place at the end of the tribulation and with the pope identified as the antichrist causing all the persecutions and deaths: the end was soon to come.

At some point, people got tired of all the lies. They wanted something fresh about prophecy. They hungered for an interpretation they believed would be the truth. And one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. If the Catholic church was the great whore and mystery Babylon, and the pope was the antichrist, how come the rapture had been delayed over 300 years?

Into this questionable religious atmosphere, little 14 year old Margaret McDonald was caught up. Around her swirled conversations about prophecy, the antichrist, and the great whore of mystery Babylon. It is not known how and by whom the ideas came that if the Catholic church was not the great whore and mystery Babylon; and if over 35 past popes were not the antichrist; then the tribulation had not begun yet. It was decided by some unknown preachers that the great tribulation WAS STILL FUTURE and had not begun.

The theory of an any second rapture was then determined to be before the great tribulation started. Before a future great whore was manifested, and before the future antichrist was made known.

This led to the dream-vision of Margaret McDonald wherein she believed she saw the church raptured BEFORE the time of great trouble. Edward Irving and others reinterpreted prophecy and then invented the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. What is strange with this whole new schemed theory was that they still taught the Catholic church was the great whore of mystery Babylon and that the future antichrist would still be the pope. As all of you can see, all they really did was change the time of the rapture from being a post-tribulation rapture to a pre-tribulation rapture.

All of this was then tied to a new theory to back it all up. It was the trinity doctrine that would come to its rescue. And infusing the trinity doctrine into the new pre-tribulation rapture doctrine, it would attract all trinitarians to accept it. It did not deny the trinity as was being done by many different groups. It would be explained in dispensational time sequences. So they divided up man's time on earth into these dispensations and used Biblical markers to create the different time slots. They created seven of them. In five of them (Innocence, Conscience, Human Government, Promise, and the Law) God the Father was at work in the world all alone. The other two Gods in the trinity just sat on their heavenly thrones and watched. As the story goes, in each of the five, one after another, God the Father failed to get a single dispensation of people to live right. Five times he failed. Five times he created a different plan of salvation and they all failed. And each time God the Father failed he ended the dispensation, called it to a halt, and then judged all who lived in that time slot. After this was all done, he then started all over again with a new dispensation and a new plan of salvation.

This new theory scheme of dispensations sounded so real. And the stories to back them up were taken right out of the Bible, or so it was believed. But did God the Father really fail five times in the past? Did he stop each dispensation, have a judgment, and then send all those to hell who did not pass and gave eternal salvation to all those who passed? Did God the Father start five and all FAILED? And what is a shame in the last failure is that it was with Israel as a nation.

This dispensation called "The Law" would end in God the Father divorcing his wife Israel and sending the people naked to Babylon. Then there would be a return which seemed to end in failure. Finally, the last prophet Malachi arrived with God the Father trying one last time to convert the Jews. But he failed again to achieve his goal. So there followed a dark age of 400 years where there will be no prophet, no light, no hope, no revival, no return to God, national apostasy, spiritual witchcraft would reign, mysticism would be set up in Jerusalem, and both the priesthood and the nation would lapse back into an ungodly and unholy people. For the fifth time God the Father had failed. He would end this dispensation also. He would bring judgment against Israel as he had done all prior dispensations of people. What now? Five times a failure?

According to the pre-tribulation dispensation doctrine, God the Father devised yet another plan. Another dispensation: the sixth one. As Clarence Larkin drew the picture: God the Father would slip in a dispensation between two mountain tops of prophecy. It would be called the "Gentile Church Age" or the dispensation of "Grace," by the new pre-tribulational rapture preachers. This new dispensation would not be under the control of the first person in the trinity, but under the control of the second person in the trinity. The second person would come to earth with plan "A" and try to reach out to the wife of God the Father and restore them, offering to them the Kingdom of God if they would just quit being evil and repent. But God the Son could not get enough Jews to accept the Kingdom of God so this was also a failure. Failing to attract enough Jews to come into the Kingdom of God, the sixth plan had to be revised. The Kingdom would be delayed and later become the seventh and last dispensation. With the "A" plan now delayed, God the Son could turn to plan "B" and would establish the Gentile Church as the new dispensation. It would be the Church and not the plan "A" Kingdom. So the Church and the Kingdom had to be separated. The Gentile Church would be separate from Israel because everyone was taught God does not deal with Jews and Gentiles equally or at the same time. This falsehood helps the unlearned to accept all the lies. And this Gentile Church would become the future bride of God the Son, the bride of Christ, the wife of the second God of the trinity. So now dispensationalism has two Gods and two wives. The Holy Spirit is a monk. He will never get a wife from the earth, they are all gone (1 Jewish and 1 Gentile). He will instead act as a eunuch on behalf of God the Father and God the Son. Right now, in the dispensation of Grace, the Holy Spirit as a God-Monk is helping the Son of God gather souls into the Church.

Ok, there you have it in a nutshell. Of course most trinitarian dispensationalist will not tell it like I have, because they do not want anyone to figure out that the pre-tribulation doctine is now a trinitarian based doctrine. The majority of Trinitarians love this new theory. It gives them a reason to reject the Oneness doctrine. If they accepted the Oneness doctrine they would have to deny there are two persons in the trinity one trying to get his wife to the new earth while the other God tries to get his wife to the new Jerusalem.  Yes, you read that right. They teach God the Father will separate the Jews in eternity from the Gentile Church because this is the non-Jewish bride of God the Son.

These pre-tribers claim the Church will not have to suffer for the name of Jesus. In fact, in America the pre-trib rapture seekers claim they deserve a quick snatch rapture if any danger of persecution arises. I have not met a single pre-tribulational believer who confessed they believe the Church will suffer persecution and some members put to death. In America, our Christians are mostly blind to what other Christians are suffering around the world. They do not see the persecution, the sufferings, or the deaths, as being something equal to what will happen in the coming great tribulation. They want an escape. No, they demand an escape. Tell them, they will not escape and there is no pre-tribulation rapture and they will hate you. They will call you bad names. They will say you are a cult. They will slander your name. They will jump up and down on the pulpit and scream they will not be here when the antichrist comes. And they will call all who believe in the post-tribulation rapture false and following false prophets.

What is missing in all this hate now over the time of the rapture, is the simple fact Jesus already told us he was not coming until after the tribulation of those days. Pre-tribers claim there are two times Jesus will return: the first is the coming "for" his saints, and the second is his coming "with" his saints. This is all made up lies. Jesus is NEVER coming and bring with him raptured saints who have been in heaven seven years. The one verse that mentions saints coming with Jesus is falsely interpreted (Jude 1:14).  Saints here is the Greek "holy ones" and refers to the angels. These "holy ones" are not raptured people who have been in heaven seven years. When you read all the "coming" verses about Jesus, he comes with angels, and these are the holy ones.  The whole theory of a two-phase coming of Jesus and multiple resurrections is all a joke.

We need to toss out the whole pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. The whole theory of seven dispensations is false. Consider this: these scheme makers have dispensation #6 as the dispensation of "Grace". And after it there is the dispensation of the Millennial. What do we have in dispensation #6? We have two things, the Church and then the tribulation time, all in the same dispensation. How can this be? When they say the Church is solely for God the Son and his bride wife, whereas according to the dispensational scheme, the tribulation is for God the Father to get back his wife Israel. Here we have the Church saved during the time of Grace and also Israel saved by God the Father in the same dispensation of Grace. But then, they claim the dispensation of Grace is for God the Son to get his wife and has nothing to do with the great tribulation time period. They say the dispensation of grace ends with the pre-tribulation rapture. Ok, so what is the alleged 7 years of tribulation. They have invented a solution. This seven years is Daniel's 70th week. This means there was one week of the law that was not nailed to the Cross. This means God the Father can re-activate this one week of the law not nailed to the Cross, turn back again to animal blood and sacrifices, turn back again to a rebuilt temple, and turn back again to a Pharisee priesthood. Can all of this be true? It is a giant fairy tale.

Let me say to everyone: the schemes to have a pre-tribulation rapture is filled with lie after lie after lie. It is filled with perversion of the Scriptures. It contains so much falsehood, that to teach it demands a person accept preaching lies. There is no way this scheme could have been Holy Spirit revealed to Apostolic people. We Oneness people have no right and no obligation to teach the trinitarian doctrine of a pre-tribulational rapture. Any Oneness preacher who preaches the lies of the pre-tribulation rapture and refuses to correct himself and preach the Truth will not be saved. If we know to do good and do it not, it is sin. And the sin for teaching false doctrine will not go unpunished.

There is no pre-tribulation rapture.

The rapture takes place just as Jesus gave it in Matthew 24:29, "After the tribulation of those days."

Believe it. Do not believe anything else.

Bishop Reckart
A Man God Loves