The Rapture Is Under Attack… Here’s Why | Dr. Paul Wilkinson
In the above video, Paul Wilkinson explains that the inspiration for his latest book emerged in 2022, after a young minister in an evangelical Gypsy church asked him to provide evidence that the church does not go through the tribulation.
Brandon Holthaus: "The rapture comes under a lot of attack, and in the last five years.. it has been just viciously attacked, unlike I have ever seen. I mean, to the point that they call it 'cultic', they call it 'hasty theology', 'this is John Darby making up stuff', even saying 'this is a Zionist movement'... Why do you think, in your opinion, the rapture is being attacked like this?"
Paul Wilkinson: "I think because this is what the apostle called 'our blessed hope'. Titus 2:13. That is the hope of every true born-again, spirit sealed, believing Christian that makes up the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, that at any moment our Lord Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom is coming to catch us away and our salvation is going to be completed through the redemption of our bodies. And so it makes absolute sense that Satan, our adversary, the accuser of the brethren, who hates God, hates the Lord Jesus, that he would do everything in his power, his limited power, to rob the church of her blessed hope, to distract the church, to confuse the church, to get the church fighting against one another.
The “blessed hope” expresses the believer’s expectation of final redemption at Christ’s second coming. The “glorious appearing” is understood as a reference to the rapture. (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7). The two descriptions belong together, pointing to a single, simultaneous event that marks the Parousia. Unlike Wilkinson and other pretrib proponents who regard the Parousia as a two-stage event, prewrath proponents view the rapture and the resurrection as the initial event that will happen when Christ's Parousia begins. This can be demonstrated in various passages of scripture, e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Thessalonians 4:15–18, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Matthew 24:27–3.1 Titus 2 connects the expectation of Christ’s return with a call to godly living, as does Hebrews 10:24–25. Titus 2—and scripture as a whole—does not present Christ’s appearing (the rapture) as an imminent event.
Wilkinson: "The Daniel 9 prophecy is the clearest statement as to why we will not pass through the tribulation, because you get the tribulation defined as a seven-year period, the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. And the angel Gabriel on behalf of Almighty God says, 'This period of 70 weeks or seventy sevens, including the final seven, the final seven years, is for your people, Daniel, and your holy city, which is Jerusalem, the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem.' And then Gabriel makes it very clear what the purpose is to put an end to their sin and transgression.
No interpreter with intellectual honesty can exegete Daniel 9 and extract a seven‑year tribulation from the text.
Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.
Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed. And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him. (Daniel 9:24-27).
The midpoint of the seventieth week is the decisive turning point: the covenant is broken, sacrifice and offering are halted, and the abomination of desolation is set in place. Pretrib teachers such as Wilkinson have been repeatedly reminded that the period of the great tribulation is 3.5 years — “cut short” (Matthew 24:22).
Wilkinson goes on to point out that theology was distorted by certain influential early church fathers and later reinforced during the Reformation. He observes that we have inherited a legacy of presuppositional theology and long‑standing distortions rooted in tradition rather than scripture. Consequently, Israel is dismissed, and the unbiblical claim that the church is the continued Israel has become the dominant position within many denominations. I agree that the Reformation ultimately distorted Christian soteriology and replaced the early church’s premillennial expectation with allegorised eschatological systems such as amillennialism and postmillennialism—positions that diverge sharply from the outlook of first‑century believers.
While I share Wilkinson’s concerns about what I regard as "stunted theology" within certain Protestant denominations, I would point out that pretribulationalism is equally constrained by its own presuppositional framework—particularly the innovations introduced by John Nelson Darby, whose nineteenth‑century systematisation did much to entrench the pretrib rapture as a normative expectation. In practice, pretribulationalists have hindered sound premillennial eschatology by attaching it to a non‑biblical “left behind” narrative that many critical thinkers have dismissed and ridiculed as a theological train wreck. The early church consistently affirmed premillennialism but did not teach pretribulationism. Nevertheless, persuading committed pretribulationists of this distinction remains challenging, even in the face of compelling scriptural evidence. Prewrath teachers often struggle to have their material assessed fairly, because they are frequently viewed as adjacent to pretribulationism—a perceived synthesis of pre, mid, and posttrib positions—and are dismissed under the same assumptions.
The Imminency Problem
Wilkinson quotes John 14 in support of imminency. Imminency functions as the central pillar of the pretrib rapture framework, and its advocates tend to filter nearly every doctrine through that lens. Wilkinson describes the rapture as a “signless event"; in other words, no prophesied events must occur beforehand. According to Wilkinson, nothing needs to happen first; the rapture could take place at any moment: "The rapture could be right now, before we even finish this interview".
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. (John 14:1-4)).
Holthaus: "What does imminency do for the believer as far as sanctification is concerned?" Wilkinson's response was twofold. Firstly, he claims that imminency is an incentive to preach the gospel since "we may not get another chance".
The mandate to preach the gospel is not grounded in any doctrine of imminency. Scripture presents the motivation differently: Christ desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Wilkinson has attempted to attach imminency to the Great Commission, but that connection is not supported by the biblical text. The genuine urgency arises from human mortality—each person has only the span of their own life in which to respond.
Wilkinson: "Number two, you are the bride. So watch how you live. Don't get yourself corrupted by the world. Don't be slumbering and sleeping, but be alert. Be vigilant. Gird up the loins of your mind because the bridegroom is coming."
The motivation to live a godly life is the desire of genuine spirit-filled believers to pursue a lifestyle that aligns with the teachings and character of God. It is a relational response to God’s love as defined in the gospel; it is not a reaction to an invented doctrine of imminency. Wilkinson alludes to 1 Timothy 4, which concludes with the command to "keep a close watch on how we live". This chapter is based on the danger of being corrupted by false teachers; it is not about imminency.
Bible Hub: "Living a godly life refers to the pursuit of a lifestyle that aligns with the teachings and character of God as revealed in the Bible. It involves embodying virtues such as love, humility, integrity, and obedience to God's commandments. This pursuit is central to the Christian faith, as believers are called to reflect God's holiness and righteousness in their daily lives."2
Wilkinson: "So to put the church absolutely right to put the church in the tribulation destroys imminency because the essence of imminency is you just don't know but it's at hand. It is at hand. It is so close. So I think you know with John chapter 14 when the Lord Jesus he doesn't teach the rapture but he introduces it. " (21:00 mark)
The Greek verb ἐγγίζω (eggizō) means “to approach” or “to draw near.” It comes from the root ἐγγύς (engys) meaning “near.” According to Strong’s 1448, the verb consistently expresses proximity—coming close, being near, or approaching.3 It does not carry a technical sense of imminence, nor does it inherently communicate that an event could occur at any moment.
A responsible interpreter who prioritises accuracy over theological prejudice will not import the concept of imminence into a verb that does not contain it.
Furthermore, Luke 21:25–33 shows that specific, identifiable signs must occur before the event in question.
And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the eavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Luke 21:25-33).day
Pretrib interpreters identify "the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:6,10; 2:16) as the pretrib rapture, while reserving "the day of the Lord" for Christ’s return with His saints, when divine wrath is poured out. Alan Kurschner notes, however, that although the KJV reads "the day of Christ" in 2 Thessalonians 2:2, the earliest and strongest manuscript evidence overwhelmingly supports the reading "the day of the Lord".4
Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 present the rapture and the onset of God’s wrath as posttribulational events occurring on the same day, both introduced by cosmic disturbances. Revelation 6 further locates the beginning of "the day of the Lord" after the opening of the sixth seal, at the close of the tribulation. The text itself establishes this sequence:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31).
And I watched as the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind. The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” (Revelation 6:12-17). Joel 2:31 supports the prewrath position by showing that the cosmic disturbances occur immediately before the day of the Lord. The sequence is explicit: the signs in the heavens precede the onset of God’s wrath.
The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (Joel 2:31 cf. Isaiah 13:6; Zephaniah 1:7,14).
The pre‑trib rapture view is emotionally appealing, but it does not align with the scriptural evidence. When someone persists in an interpretation that can be shown to be incorrect, the matter ceases to be merely academic; unless they reconsider, they will ultimately give account to the One whose word they are handling. (Romans 14:12). I recognise that the pre‑trib position is deeply ingrained for Paul Wilkinson and others, yet sincerely held beliefs must still be tested when they fail to match the testimony of scripture. For that reason, I appeal to Paul Wilkinson to re‑examine his position, turn from error, and rightly divide the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).
1.The Second Coming (Parousia) Begins with the Rapture | Bible Prophecy Answers with Alan Kurschner
Wilkinson urges pre‑trib believers to "stay away" from those who disagree with him and accuses them of "mishandling God’s word". That is a serious allegation—one he should first apply to his own view, given the identifiable weaknesses within the pretribulational framework. Charges of mishandling scripture carry real weight, and in this instance, the caution of 1 John 4:1 is more fittingly directed back toward him.
1.The Second Coming (Parousia) Begins with the Rapture | Bible Prophecy Answers with Alan Kurschner
