The Problem

A. The Three Views
For the sake of time, I am going to lump Pre-trib and Mid-trib together since both believe the church will not see the wrath of anti-christ. So as we study this issue, when I say pre-trib, I include the mid-trib point of view. I basically saw problems with pre-trib and post-trib.
For Pre-trib it was simple: Pre-tribbers believe that the wrath of God (The Day of the Lord) begins at the beginning of the 7 year period. But I saw convincing evidence that the wrath of God begins inside the tribulation, not before it.

My problem with Post-trib was that as a whole, post-tribbers believe the church will go through the wrath of God. But I saw clear evidence that the church was not destined to go through the wrath of God.

I saw these two problems and I began to question my pre-trib convictions. So I began a 5 month study to determine the truth. What I found was, to me, so clear it was almost frightening. I never had firm convictions on Pre-trib, but I always thought that it had the most evidence. I began to see that it had no solid biblical evidence whatsoever, and what scripture was used to support the view was very weak and inferred things that the Bible did not say.

John Walvoord (Dallas President), a pre-tribber, stated that Pre-Tribulation Rapturism cannot be proven explicitly from the scriptures. And I found him to be absolutely correct.


B. Can I agree?
Is there anything I can agree with my brothers concerning end-time events. Yes, and here they are:

Jesus is coming again, and soon!
There will be a literal, future 7 year period called Daniel's 70th week.
During this period there will be great trouble and persecution for both the elect and Israel initiated by Satan through the anti-christ.
God's judgment will be poured out upon mankind for sin.
There will be a literal, future 1000 year reign of Christ.
The main thing I disagree with is when the Lord Jesus will return for His Bride (the rapture). Again, I point out that the timing of the rapture is a non-divisive issue and we must have tolerance in respect for differing viewpoints. We can have strong personal convictions on biblical issues (I certainly do), but we can still have fellowship with one another on non-critical issues.

So with the problems that I saw, the next question was, can we know the exact timing of the rapture in relation to end time events? And I believe the answer is YES!!

I will think about this, Sonshine.. I want to read your other posts over more carefully.. haven't had a chance to think about this.. but will get back to you!

I just wanted to add for Free Bird, I understand that you have a different veiw on The Day of the Lord. But later on in the study it covers that.

Sonshine:

I too have strong convictions . I am also very tolerant of people with differing views. We seem to be in agreement on alot concerning the Rapture with the exception of the timing. I will be very interested in seeing the proof that there is no biblical evidence backing the pre-trib stance. I will also eagerly await the evidence that the Scripture we use to back our claim is weak and inferring things not said in the Bible. Not to worry , I'll never have any intentions of being divisive on this or any other issue. We have different opinions and discussion is healthy. We may never change anybodys mind but we will know where we stand. Looking forward to this study.