I saw a Facebook post from one of the Christian artists that said, “If God’s plan is for Jesus to come and rescue us and take us out BEFORE the tribulation, why is there so much instruction given to us on how to live DURING the tribulation?”
I have always been one for the church to be caught up before the major judgment of Revelation.
I differentiate between tribulation and judgment; but that’s my view of it.
The Bible says, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22
Tribulations are a part of everyday Christian life; we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Rom 5:3-4
Tribulation is beneficial to a Christian when it leads to perseverance, character, and hope.
We are in a tribulation even now. It can get worse!
However there is a line drawn in Revelation that separates tribulation from judgment.
There is no reason for someone to be judged on this planet or in this present life if that person knows Jesus as Savior. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 1 Cor 11:31
I judged myself several years ago and found myself in need of the Savior.
I was judged, found guilty, and pardoned by my Savior.
As for being caught up; I believe Revelation reveals that to us.
Rev 4:1-2 – Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.
This has all the classic symptoms of Jesus return; a voice, a trumpet, and being caught up.
No time after this will you see the church mentioned in Revelation. Chapters 1 through 3 are saturated with it.
As for so much instruction on how to live, survive, what to avoid, what to look for; somebody is going to be around during this tragic time and many will turn to Jesus as Savior and Messiah. These will need the “Last Days Survival Manual” found in Revelation.
Morning Thought with Pastor Tim 
In the last week, which in the Bible a week is 7 years, there will be many tribulations. The first 3 1/2 years is considered the tribulation that is when the anti-christ was to be introduced. The Great Tribulation are the last 3 1/2 years of his short reign. It is then that the church must be ready for a rapture. Give me your take on this pastor.
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Another question? Could it be true that Pope Benedict could be the anti-christ?
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I don’t know when or where. I have my personal hope to be taken out of here
before the great tribulation. My stay is that my Jesus is in control of what happens to me. In Him all my needs are met. I wont be afraid. I’ll just leave it up to Him.
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The more I study the Bible, the more I come to the realization that I know nothing of the hour and day, but I do know the season. I think we may have to go through the 1st 3.5 yrs of the Tribulation but then be taken up to be with the Lord forever.
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IF YOU ARE READY FOR THE TRIBULATION, YOU WILL BE READY FOR THE RAPTURE ! IF YOU ARE READY FOR THE RAPTURE YOU WILL BE READY FOR THE TRIBULATION !! GET READY NOW !! GET READY TO BE WITH JESUS,, COME WHAT MAY !
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/ Hi, Pastor Tim. I found an intriguing rapture piece on the informative web & want to share it here. /
(This article reveals some research that is No. 1 on the “hate list” of many “fundy” Christians because it shows that their idolized “rapture” belief – the inspiration behind Lindsey’s and LaHaye’s all-time bestsellers – is only a 19th century invention and that credit long given to John Darby for it should go to a long unknown 15-year-old girl in Scotland!)
Margaret Macdonald’s Rapture Chart !
“church” RAPTURE “church”
(present age) (tribulation)
In early 1830 Margaret was the very first one to see a pre-Antichrist (pretribulation) rapture in the Bible – and John Walvoord and Hal Lindsey lend support for this claim!
Walvoord’s “Rapture Question” (1979) says her view resembles the “partial-rapture view” and Lindsey’s “The Rapture” (1983) admits that “she definitely teaches a partial rapture.”
But there’s more. Lindsey (p. 26) says that partial rapturists see only “spiritual” Christians in the rapture and “unspiritual” ones left behind to endure Antichrist’s trial. And Walvoord (p. 97) calls partial rapturists “pretribulationists”!
Margaret’s pretrib view was a partial rapture form of it since only those “filled with the Spirit” would be raptured before the revealing of the Antichrist. A few critics, who’ve been repeating more than researching, have noted “Church” in the tribulation section of her account. Since they haven’t known that all partial rapturists see “Church” on earth after their pretrib rapture (see the “church-splitting” chart above), they’ve wrongly assumed that Margaret was a posttrib!
In Sep. 1830 Edward Irving’s journal “The Morning Watch” (hereafter: TMW) was the first to publicly reflect her novel view when it saw spiritual “Philadelphia” raptured before “the great tribulation” and unspiritual “Laodicea” left on earth.
In Dec. 1830 John Darby (the so-called “father of dispensationalism” even though he wasn’t first on any crucial aspect of it!) was still defending the historic posttrib rapture view in the “Christian Herald.”
Pretrib didn’t spring from a “church/Israel” dichotomy, as many have assumed, but sprang from a “church/church” one, as we’ve seen, and was based only on symbols!
But innate anti-Jewishness soon appeared. (As noted, TMW in Sep. 1830 saw only less worthy church members left behind.) In Sep. 1832 TMW said that less worthy church members and “Jews” would be left behind. But by Mar. 1833 TMW was sure that only “Jews” would face the Antichrist!
As late as 1837 the non-dichotomous Darby saw the church “going in with Him to the marriage, to wit, with Jerusalem and the Jews.” And he didn’t clearly teach pretrib until 1839. His basis then was the Rev. 12:5 “man child…caught up” symbol he’d “borrowed” (without giving credit) from Irving who had been the first to use it for the same purpose in 1831!
For related articles Google “X-Raying Margaret,” “Edward Irving is Unnerving,” “Pretrib Rapture’s Missing Lines,” “The Unoriginal John Darby,” “Open Letter to Todd Strandberg,” “Deceiving and Being Deceived” by D.M., “Pretrib Rapture Pride,” “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty” and “Scholars Weigh My Research.” The most documented and accurate book on pretrib rapture history is “The Rapture Plot” (see Armageddon Books online) – a 300-pager that has hundreds of disarming facts (like the ones above) not found in any other source.
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