Category Archives: Eschatology

Prewrath Rapturism and the Day of Lord in the Old Testament

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Two previous Faith Pulpit articles have discussed the Prewrath Rapture View.1 According to this position, the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan 9:24) is divided into three sections: man’s wrath, which transpires from the beginning of the week until the middle of the week; Satan’s wrath (the Great Tribulation), which transpires from the midpoint of the week until some unknown time in the second half; and the Day of the Lord, which transpires from the close of the Great Tribulation until the thirty days after the seventieth week.

The Rapture in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–10

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The Context In verses one and two, Paul states: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” (All Bible quotations are from the King James Version.) Several things may be said about these verses. (1) Paul is writing to the Thessalonian believers about the rapture.

The Inhabitants of the Millennium and the Timing of the Rapture, Part 1

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Introduction Pretribulational theologians contend that the rapture of the church is the next event on the eschatological calendar and that it will occur before the tribulation (also known as Daniel’s seventieth week). Pretribulational theologians also assert that the rapture is imminent, since no prophetic event need take place before the rapture can occur. Additionally, they affirm that Christ’s return for the church at the rapture will be separated from His second coming to the earth by the tribulation period. The doctrinal statement of Faith Baptist Theological Seminary is pretribulational.1 Posttribulational theologians contend that the rapture will take place at the end of the tribulation in conjunction with Christ’s return to the earth.

The Inhabitants of the Millennium and the Timing of the Rapture, Part 2

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Summation of the previous article The previous issue of the Faith Pulpit established six points regarding the inhabitants of the millennium and the timing of the rapture. First, at the rapture every dead believer “in Christ” will be resurrected and every living believer will be “caught up” to the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Second, every participant in the rapture will receive a glorified, resurrection body. Third, those with glorified bodies cannot die, nor can they procreate. Fourth, people with unglorified bodies, bodies capable of death and procreation, will inhabit the millennium.

The Coming Kingdom of Christ Our Lord

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When the Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:19), they understood basically what kind of a Kingdom he was referring to. It was not the Church, for that body of believers, composed of Jews and Gentiles together without distinction, was explained for the first time through Paul and the other apostles after the Day of Pentecost (e.g., Ephesians 3:1–10). Instead, it was the Kingdom prophesied throughout the centuries of Old Testament history.

Pre-wrath Rapture: A Pretrib Evaluation

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(An evaluation of Dr. Robert D. Van Kampen’s book, The Rapture Question Answered. Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Book House, 1997) I. An Explanation of the Pre-wrath Rapture View “Plainly stated, the core truth is this: the persecution by Antichrist during the great tribulation will be the wrath of Satan (Rev. 12:12), not the wrath of God. When the sign of the sun, moon, and stars is given in the heavens, the wrath of Satan against the elect of God will be terminated, the faithful to God will be raptured, and then the wrath of God will begin against the wicked who remain, ending with the battle of Armageddon.

Millennial Madness and the Year 2000 Parts 1 & 2

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The new millennium is bearing down at us at the rate of 3,600 seconds per hour – that magic moment when the cosmic odometer comes up with three zeroes. The year 2,000 has been called “Father Time’s big day, Christianity’s horological cul-de-sac, a chronological, coinstantaneous, quadruple mind-blower: new year, new decade, new century, new millennium!” (William Ecenbarger, “Comes the Millennium,” Chicago Tribune Magazine, Feb. 18, 1996, p. 15). Ecenbarger points out that “this epochal event will occur in the middle of the year 5760 according to Judaic reckoning, and in the year 1420 for the world’s Muslims.

Personal Separation

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1. The Pattern of Separation One of the recurrent themes of the Bible is that of separation. In the opening verses of the Word of God, the Creator separates light from darkness, water from land, and sky from sea. In the closing paragraphs of the Bible God separates the old earth from the new creation, the sinners from the saints, and the unholy angels from the holy angels. Throughout His Word, God calls on His people to separate from evil. False worship, false doctrine, and false conduct are to be avoided (Ex.

There is No Hell on Earth

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“I was awakened by the thunderous sound of aircraft engines. As I crept out from under my tank I saw the first bomber waves approaching . . . It was like hell and I am still astonished that I ever survived it. I was unconscious for a while after a bomb had exploded lust in front of my tank almost burying me alive. “When I tell you that the tanks weighed 58 tons and were tossed aside like playing cards you will see just what a hell we found ourselves in.

Evangelicals and the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment

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Historically, the major Christian denominations have taught that those who die outside of Christ will suffer eternal punishment in hell. Many religious leaders today either deny this or aren’t sure. While a denial of hell has been a characteristic of theological liberalism and of the cults, its de-emphasis and denial are now the positions of noted evangelical leaders as well. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a new Statement of Faith adopted and published by Fuller Theological Seminary in which the old Statement’s language of Christ “assigning unbelievers to eternal punishment” was changed to state that “the wicked shall be separated from God’s presence.”