Questions and Answers about Tribulation Issues:

In order to clarify some basic issues, we will endeavor to answer a few of the most often asked questions.

Question 1: Were the Apostles Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, or Post-Trib believers?

Answer 1: Since the doctrine of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is only 166 years old (in 1996), they definitely were not Pre-Trib. From all indications, both scriptural and historical, the Apostles were looking for Jesus Christ to return for the church at the end of what we not now call the Tribulation Period. Today they would be called Post-Trib.

Question 2: For many years, one of the main teachings on end-time events has focused on the belief that God would one day turn back to Israel as His chosen nation and the Jews as his chosen people. When will this happen?

Answer 2: God has never turned away form the Jews, the Jews rejected and turned away from God. A Jew can still be saved today the same as many were on the day of Pentecost and throughout the book of Acts. According to Romans 11:7 …Israel (the Jews) hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election (the Church) hath obtained it, and the rest (the Jews) were blinded. And, in Romans 11:20, "…because of unbelief they (the Jews) were broken off, and thou (the Church) standest by faith…" So we see, God did not turn from the Jews, the were broken off because of their unbelief and the Church (both Jew and Gentile) were grafted in. The Jew can be saved today by believing and obeying Acts 2:38.

Question 3: Is there any place in the Bible where end-time events are shown in chronological order?

Answer 3: The most complete narrative in chronological order is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24. If you can set aside what has been taught and just read what is written you will get a better understanding of what the end-times have to offer us. You will notice some remarkable things when you study Matthew 24 as shown in the list below:

  1. Jesus never mentions a time span. He doesn’t say 7 years, or 3 ˝ years.
  2. The first item mentioned is false Christianity. Jesus said in Matt 24: 4-5: "…Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. This is why we have so many church denominations today. They all proclaim Jesus to be Christ, as truly he is, but they deny the power of the Holy Ghost and preach a watered down message. Yet many are deceived because they call themselves Christians.
  3. Verse 9: The church is still here in verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. The Jews are not hated for His name sake, the sinners are not hated for His name sake, so it must be the Church, the Christians that are to be hated.
  4. Verse 13: He who endures until the END shall be saved.
  5. Verse 14: The church is still here in verse 14. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Who can preach the gospel of the kingdom except the church?
  6. Verse 22: "...for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. The Church is still on earth during these events. (Remember Romans 11:7 in Answer #2: the Church is the Elect.)
  7. The wars, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes, are the "beginning of sorrows." (These events correspond to the first 4 seals of Revelation 6)
  8. Jesus talks about the church being afflicted, killed, and hated for His name’s sake.
  9. He describes life as we know it today, where the love of many is waxed cold, and iniquity abounds.
  10. Verse 29 is describing the events of the 6th and 7th seals, the 7th trumpet, and the 7th vial of God’s wrath
  11. Verse 30: The church is still here in verse 30: "… then shall all the tribes (the Jews) of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds…" (31) And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect (the Church) from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
  12. The world will be still rejecting God even until the very last day! As it was in Noah’s day it will be so in the last day. The people did not understand until it was too late. Verse 38: "…until the day that Noe entered into the ark, (39) And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. They did not believe until the flood waters were taking them away. By then it was too late. [][][][]

Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering;
(for he [is] faithful that promised;)
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as the manner of some [is];
but exhorting [one another]:
and so much the more,
as ye see the day approaching.
(Hebrews 10:23-26)