ANDY WOODS: PRE-TRIB RAPTURE UNDER ATTACK

Rapture Under Attack! Pastors’ Point of View Episode 44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFfg24z6-

Pseudo Ephraim (c. 374-627)

In the above video, staunch pre-trib rapture teacher Andy Woods cites Pseudo Ephraim as a pre-Darby source for the pre-trib rapture. Author and researcher Dave MacPherson was a reliable critic of the pre-trib rapture view. Below is an excerpt from an article he wrote demonstrating how Pseudo Ephraim was dishonestly misinterpreted by pre-trib rapture teachers Grant Jeffrey and Thomas Ice. 

Pseudo Ephraim: "For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." The phrase "taken to the Lord" was taken out of context by Jeffrey and Ice to mean the pre-trib rapture.

Dave MacPherson: "In Section 2, P-E (Pseudo Ephraim) says that the only event that's 'imminent' is 'the advent of the wicked one' (that is, Antichrist). Nevertheless, Grant Jeffrey in his 1995 book, FINAL WARNING, had the audacity to claim that P-E 'began with the Rapture using the word 'imminent' and added in the next sentence that 'Ephraem used the word 'imminent' to describe the Rapture.' (If he and other P-E promoters can look at a coming of Antichrist and see a coming of 'Christ,' is it any wonder that in his endtime view folks will look at Antichrist and see 'Christ'?

Dr. Paul Alexander, the leading authority whose book inspired the P-E claim, is portrayed in Jeffrey's book, FINAL WARNING, as 'perhaps the most authoritative scholar on the writings of the early Byzantine Church.' But this misleading statement, designed to make readers think that Professor Alexander supports the P-E claim, covers up the fact that this world famous scholar sees not even a smidgen of pretrib in the same Medieval writer!

In fact, Alexander writes that the phrase 'taken to the Lord' (which has become a bonanza for pretrib history revisionists) means "participate at least in some measure in beatitude.' While Jeffrey and Ice do include this 'beatitude' phrase, all P-E promoters carefully avoid revealing that the Catholic doctrine of 'beatitude,' according to the NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, has to do with 'the highest acts of virtue that can be performed in this life' - works on earth and not being raptured off earth! (Elsewhere in his sermon P-E repeats the importance of doing 'penance,' because of 'our sins,' so that church members will be 'sustained' during the tribulation!)

In fact (again), Alexander has two summaries (textual and outline), in chronological order, of P-E's endtime events. And guess what. Alexander demonstrates both times that P-E saw only one future coming ('Second Coming of Christ"'for the 'punishment of the Antichrist') which follows (!) the great tribulation ('tribulatio magna lasting three and a half years') - claim-smashing summaries that self-serving promoters, with malice aforethought, have jointly swept under their 'secret rapture' rug! {1}

    

The Day of the Lord 

The phrase that Andy Woods repeats during this video is that the church is not appointed to wrath i.e. the church will escape wrath of God via the pre-trib rapture. (1 Thessalonians 5:9). He takes the position that the entire 70th week of Daniel is the tribulation period and defines this period as "wrath". The first time the term "great tribulation" is mentioned is Matthew 24: 21,29. This refers to the Abomination of Desolation, the event that takes place at the mid point of the 70th week. When the Antichrist takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God, he unleashes terrible persecution, upon both Jews and Christians. (2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the persecution of the Antichrist, not the wrath of God. As explained many times, thlipsis (tribulation) and orge (wrath) are distinct terms used in the scriptures describing separate events. The scriptures refer to the events preceding the great tribulation during the first half of the 70th week as the beginning of birth pains i.e. ~ wars and rumours of wars  ~famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:8). To make up our own definitions when the scriptures make a clear distinction is eisegesis. The only time that wrath (orge) is specifically mentioned in relation to the 70th week is the period known in the scriptures as "the day of the Lord" when the sixth seal is broken.

For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” (Revelation 6:17).

Alford observes that this of itself should be sufficient to keep commentators right in confining their interpretation of this seal to the last judgment. (cf. Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1, 2; Acts 2:20; Jude 1:6). {2} 

In 1 Thessalonians 5 the phrase the Day of the Lord refers to an unknown period of time and not a literal 24 hour day for obvious reasons. (Revelation 9:5). This period refers to God's wrath as it is poured out during the seventh seal trumpet and bowl judgements described in the book of Revelation and referred to a number of times in the scriptures. (e.g. Acts 2:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Isaiah 2:12, 13:6-9, 34:8, Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 13:5, 30:3; Joel 1:15, 2:1-31, 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:1-18 etc.)

Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; (Isaiah 13:9-11 cf. Revelation 6:12-17).

After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. (Revelation 15:5-7).

Matthew 24 and 25

The speculation that the Olivet Discourse applies exclusively to Israel originated with cult leader John Nelson Darby in the 1830s in a ploy to facilitate his flawed pre-trib rapture framework. Unfortunately much of the Western Church has been subjected to this false teaching by those who have much to gain from it. Darby's domineering personality, his pseudo intellectualism and his abstruse style of writing obscured his eschatological perversions for a number of spiritually naïve believers. However Darby did not fool the most discerning of his contemporaries such as BW Newton, SP Tregelles, George Mueller and Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon: "If the author would write in plain English his readers would probably discover that there is nothing very valuable in his remarks." {3} 

The disciples asked Jesus a twofold question:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

Darby: "..what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age. They class together the destruction of the temple, the coming of Christ, and the end of the age. We must observe, that here the end of the age is the end of the period during which Israel was subject to the law under the old covenant: a period which was to cease, giving place to the Messiah and to the new covenant. Observe also that God's government of the earth is the subject, and the judgments that should take place at Christ's coming, which would put an end to the existing age..

Besides this, other circumstances prove, if further proof were needed, that it is the Jewish remnant who are in question, and not the assembly. We know that all believers are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. They will afterwards return with Him. But here there will be false Christs on the earth, and people will say, 'He is here in the wilderness,' 'He is there in the secret chambers.' But the saints who shall be caught up and return with the Lord have nothing at all to do with false Christs on earth, since they will go up to heaven to be with Him there, before He returns to the earth; while it is easy to understand that the Jews, who are expecting earthly deliverance, should be liable to such temptations, and that they should be deceived by them unless kept by God Himself."  {4}

In the minds of the disciples, the destruction of the temple in 70AD and the end of the age (aeon) were concurrent events. Darby misrepresents the term the end of the age in Matthew 24:3 and applies it to the end of the old covenant under the law, thereby limiting it to the Jewish remnant. However the term is never used in this context in the scriptures. In context "the end of the age" in Matthew 24 has a widespread application for future generations of believers and "all nations". (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15). To limit the relevance of Matthew 24 and 25 to the Jews is unconscionable.

 

The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13:30-40,49 cf. Matthew 24:3; 28:20; 1 Peter 1:5).  

“See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all 3nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:6-14)

BW Newton made a critical distinction regarding who is specifically addressed in Matthew 24 and 25. Below are some excerpts from a document written by Newton published by the Brethren Archive. {5} 

"This prophecy is not addressed to Jerusalem or its people. They had been left, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, to reap the consequences of their rejection of their King; and this, their season of tribulation is only referred to here because it is a sign to the church: otherwise it would have been passed in silence by.."      

..Jerusalem and the Jews are not the theme of this prophecy. They have been left in the preceding chapter, and they are only referred to here for the sake of others, that is, ourselves-Christians, to whom their history is a sign. Their history is only given in this chapter so far as it is a sign to the church.. 

..They (Israel) are spoken OF, but they are not spoken TO. The body thus addressed in the twenty-third chapter is as diverse from that addressed in the twenty-fourth, as blessing is different from woe. The first were rejectors of Jesus - refusing to call Him blessed. They were the representatives of hardened, blinded, unbelieving Israel. But the others, that is to say, those addressed in the twenty-fourth chapter, were the disciples of Jesus. They had already called Him blessed. They were going without the gate bearing His reproach. Whilst blindness was resting upon Israel, they were to be His ministers, and His witnesses. They were to walk in light whilst the others were groping in darkness. They were addressed, therefore, not as the representatives of hardened, unbelieving Israel, or of Israel partially enlightened. They were addressed as the representatives of the Church of the living God. To them it had been said, 'Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.' Having Christ they had all things. How important, therefore, to distinguish between the 'ye' of the twenty-third chapter, and the 'ye' of the twenty-fourth. In each case it is a corporate 'ye', and has already extended over nearly two thousand years..

If 'you' in this passage does not refer to persons belonging to the church of the living God (this some have said)  then Stephen, Peter and Paul and John could not have been members of that church."  (Matthew 24: 15, 33).

H A Ironside: “That the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are Christian Scripture, in the same sense in which the Gospel of John is Christian Scripture. {p. 33} “III. That the Pentecostal church was not in a semi-Jewish or semi-Christian condition, or in any sense ‘earthly,’ or ‘formed for citizenship in the earth;’ but in a true church position, as ‘partakers of the heavenly calling.." {6}

I have colour coded the relevant verses from 1 Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 in order to demonstrate that that Paul mirrors the Olivet Discourse. Both passages concern the rapture and are relevant to the church. These verses also confirm that rapture is not a "secret" event as many pre-trib teachers claim.

 
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

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 24:30-31).

Matthew 24:30 "..all the tribes of the earth will mourn" also ties in with Revelation 6:

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 6:15-17).

Something To Consider

The pre-trib rapture doctrine dominates the teaching of Andy Woods and others, such as Jan Markell, Amir Tsafarti, JD Farag etc. They consistently produce videos defending the subject in spite of the fact that when tested, both the evidence for pre-trib and its history is questionable. (1 John 4:1). If the pre-trib camp are wrong, and they are, then there is real potential for terrible damage to believers. In particular there is a credible link to the apostasy in Matthew 24:10 cf. Matthew 13:21. We will all have to give an account of ourselves to God (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 13:17, 1 Peter 4:5 ), teachers more so than the rest of us. (James 3:1). Pre-trib teachers should be mindful that the doctrines they so confidently assert are not a stumbling block to the body of Christ. (Psalm 40:4).

In another way, post-trib rapture teachers also have a responsibility to study the scriptures and to respond to questions about the weaknesses in their particular view. As far as I am aware, apart from one conversation I had with someone from Good Fight Ministries, the post-trib camp tend to ignore questions about these weaknesses. {7} Joe Schimmel's recent example of the early Church Father Victorinus, whom he cited in an attempt to prove a post-trib concurrent interpretation of the sixth seal, the seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl, was unreliable. {8} This kind of speculation causes confusion, not clarity. Many arguments used by pre-trib teachers are taken directly from weaknesses in the post-trib view and vice versa. Although I believe that they are sincere, the post trib camp, albeit inadvertently, are remiss in bringing clarity to this debate. In contrast, I believe that the prewrath position consistently solves the inherent weaknesses within both the pre-trib and post trib views. 

1. Even Pseudo-Ephraem Was Perhaps Not Pre-Trib (brotherpete.com)
2. Revelation 6 Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford (biblehub.com)
3. Charles H. Spurgeon and Eschatology (romans45.org)
4. http://bible.christiansunite.com/darby.cgi?b=Mt&c=24
5. The Prophecy of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24 & 25 | Plymouth Brethren Archive
6. Chapter Three Gathering Clouds | Plymouth Brethren Writings
7. WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: GOOD FIGHT MINISTRIES SKEWED POST-TRIB RAPTURE VIEW (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)
8. WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: JOE SCHIMMEL BLESSED HOPE CHAPEL: VICTORINUS IS UNRELIABLE (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)

Further Links:

* What did the early church fathers say about a pre-trib rapture? (Gospel, churches) - Christianity - - City-Data Forum (city-data.com)
* 7 Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture
* Articles for Posttribulationism to Consider | ESCHATOS MINISTRIES (alankurschner.com)* (25) Chuck Missler & Friends, Council for National Policy Exposed Part 1 - Dr Scott Johnson - YouTube
* WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: SAM ADAMS INDEPENDENCE BAPTIST CHURCH: MISREPRESENTATION OF THE PRE-WRATH RAPTURE (bewareofthewolves.blogspot.com)