Winds of change on the rapture

Alan E. Kurschner

By Alan E. Kurschner

In recent decades, there have been theological rumblings from the distance. But now in recent years, the storm clouds have reached the "city" of the most popular rapture viewpoint in America, pretribulationism. This traditional rapture view teaches that the church will be "raptured out of here before the Antichrist arrives." Many of us know it as portrayed in the "Left Behind" movies and novels.

But is it true?

What is causing believers and pastors to abandon in droves their long-held pretribulational rapture view for this other understanding on Christ's return?

This eschatological whirlwind is called the "pre-wrath" rapture position. And it is here to stay, for good reasons. It is a theological force to be reckoned with.

The belief was first articulated 25 years ago by Robert Van Kampen and the Messianic Jewish teacher Marvin Rosenthal. Since then it has been gaining intensity, finding adherents from a wide range of denominations. Today, you can find this Bible prophecy perspective explained in my book, "Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord: What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Return of Christ."

The pre-wrath position teaches that there is a very important distinction between the Antichrist's great tribulation, which will be directed against the church and Israel, and the event of the day of the Lord's wrath, which will be directed against the ungodly. The great tribulation will happen first, and at some unknown day and hour those days of great tribulation will be cut short with the return of Christ to rapture his people. Immediately after the rapture, the Lord will begin to execute his wrath against the ungodly, displayed in the systematic judgments of the trumpets, bowls and the battle of Armageddon (Matthew 24:29–31; Revevelation 8–9; 15–16).

Adding to the strength of these winds of change will be a public, moderated debate Sept. 25 in Plano, Texas, between myself as a pre-wrath exponent and Thomas Ice, a noted pretribulational exponent. The debate is on whether or not the church will face the Antichrist before the rapture.

Why is the pre-wrath position gaining traction with many believers?

There are at least three reasons why many are leaving the pretribulational rapture and moving over to pre-wrath.

First, in church history, pretribulationism is a recent British-American theology that has conveyed the notion that Christians will escape from persecution. Yet, many American Christians are sensing the prospects of impending persecution and martyrdom for their faith. This is challenging their traditional "escapist" theology of pretribulationism. Difficult times are coming for believers in America, and the pre-wrath view is being seen as more consistent with what the Bible teaches about persecution and what will happen before Christ returns.

Second, Christians are re-evaluating certain key biblical passages such as Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13. They are learning that these passages are not teaching that the church will be "raptured out of here" before the eschatological persecution of the Antichrist's great tribulation. Traditionally, these passages have been relegated to an unbiblical, artificial category called "tribulation saints." But many today are learning that they do, indeed, apply to the last generation of the church – not a group of saints that have been "left behind."

Third, Christians are discovering that the early church never taught a pretribulational rapture. Instead, it consistently taught that the church would face the Antichrist: "The Didache" 16; Epistle of Barnabas 4; The Shepherd of Hermas' "Vision" 4; Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho" CX; Irenaeus' "Against Heresies" V, 26, 29–30, 35; Tertullian's "The Prescription Against Heresies" IV and "On the Resurrection of the Flesh" 25, 41; Hippolytus' "On Daniel" II, "Treatise on Christ and Antichrist" 50, 60–61, and Cyprian's Epistle 55.

These reasons for pre-wrath have been persuasive for many former pretribulationists. The time is short to get the urgent message out that the church will face the Antichrist just before Jesus returns. When – not if – persecution comes to America, religious freedom will be shut down.

I am encouraged to see more open dialogue on Bible prophecy and see this issue afresh with the aim of preparing the church to encounter the coming Antichrist and forewarning the world of the coming Divine Judge.

May these new winds of change blow the dust off our Bibles, that we may search these truths more soberly.

Read the full explanation of the "pre-wrath" rapture position in Kurschner's book, "Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord: What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Return of Christ."

Alan E. Kurschner of Eschatos Ministries is dedicated to teaching biblical prophecy from a futurist, premillennial, pre-wrath perspective. Kurschner is the author of "Antichrist Before the Day of the Lord: What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Return of Christ" and host of the weekly popular "The Biblical Prophecy Program." He holds an M.A. in biblical languages (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), graduate studies in New Testament (Harvard Divinity), Jewish studies (Chabad Jewish Center–New Jersey) and a B.A. in philosophy (University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire). Kurschner is currently working on his Ph.D. in Greek linguistics. His website can be found at AlanKurschner.com