| | Someone who subscribes to my site, did a post a couple days ago, where he had an open letter he wrote, to the leaders of his denomination. I am going to take the same approach, but my letter is written to those who believe the pre trib futurist viewpoint. I went to a church in Vermont, and the pastor, was post-trib and the sunday school teacher for the class that I went to, was pre-trib futurist. He said that he was shocked when the pastor made a post-trib comment in a sermon. He (the sunday school teacher) could not believe that anyone would believe that a loving God, would make his children go through the tribulation. That comment, was filed away in my brain, and I would pull it out every now and then, and look at it. So the following, is a letter to the people who agree with the sunday school teacher, that a loving God, would not make his children, (christians) live through the tribulation. If this is not your particular viewpoint, then the letter is not addressed to you. the same thing applies, if you are a pre trib futurist, but disagree with the sunday school teacher, that the pre trib futurist position is correct, because a loving God, would never let his children live through the tribulation. :) Dear Pre Trib Futurist, So, you believe that a loving God would simply not let his children, live through something as horrible as the tribulation. I am not a futurist myself, but if I were, I would have to be a post trib futurist, it seems to me to be against the Bible, for God to simply come down from Heaven, and take his children home, while everyone else suffers. Here is why. During the ten plagues on Egypt, God allowed the Children Of Israel, to suffer through some of the plagues that he sent. All of the water was turned to blood, and all of the land of Egypt was covered in frogs to name two. If God is in the habit of rescuing his people from tribulation, why did he not protect them from these plagues? Elijah, David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Elisha, Esther, Abraham, Joshua, Moses, and a few other people, went through various times of trial in the Old Testament. Some of it directly caused by God himself, like when he asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the child of promise. If God is going to protect Christians from the tribulation, why did he not protect these people from trials and tribulation? Jesus in the book of Matthew, 5th chapter, verses 10-12 talks about how we are blessed when persecuted. The apostle John, in the 15th chapter, verse 18 of the gospel named after him, records Jesus as saying that the world will hate us. Two verses later, Jesus declares that Christians will be persecuted. Acts 5:40 records what I believe is the first recorded instance of Christians being persecuted. It says that the early apostles were beaten and told not to speak in the name of Jesus. In, Matthew 10:23 Jesus tells his disciples that when they are persecuted in one town, they were to flee to another. Let's face it, out of 15 apostles 13 of them died for the gospel. John, died of old age, after he wrote the book of Revelation. the other apostle, not to die for the gospel was of course Judas. 13 out of 15 is not a very good track record. John who as I just said, did not die for his faith, was still boiled alive in oil. James (brother of John) was put to death by the sword. Matthew according to legend, died in Ethopia of a sword wound. Bartholomew aka Nathanael, was flayed to death by the whip Andrew was whipped by seven soldiers, then tied to an X shaped cross, where he proceeded to witness to his guards for two days before he died. Thomas was stabbed to death by a spear in India Matthias (Judas' replacement) was stoned and then beheaded to make sure he was dead. Paul was tortured and then beheaded by Nero. Peter was crucified upside down James the brother of Jesus, while not an apostle, still died for his faith, when he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, according to legend, he survived the fall, so they beat him to death with clubs. Millions of Christians, have died throughout the ages since the death of those who knew Jesus. If persecution and trial, and death were good enough for them, why should we escape what was promised to us in the New Testament? If these are the end times, why should Christians, now escape the "tribulation"? why are we so special, that Jesus would return and rescue us? The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If God promised us persecution, and let those who gone before us be persecuted. Why would he stop us from being persecuted? There are verses in the NT, that talk about persecution being useful in bringing forth good virtues. Why would God, skip a tool to teach us? Persecution may not be a pleasent thing to go through at the time. But persecution does tend to lead to a deeper faith, a good demonstration of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not to mention a good harvest of souls. I think that if God were to take us out before the tribulation, we would miss a lot of opportunity for growth. |
