Ever since I read the Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey when I was 18, I have taken the Pre Trib position. I have met many post tribbers, mid tribbers, pre wrathers, preterists and amillenialists over the years but none of their sophistry or arguments add up. I have read their books and watched their videos but I remain unconvinced. The Pre Trib Rapture is simple and elegant, as it should be. No scripture twisting needed. Indeed! Let us bless the Lord and his holy name! Again an honor, to stand with the likes of you all! Regardless the day! TR My early exposure to the timing of the rapture came from charts by Clarence Larkin. I never really considered the teachings of the mid-trib or post-trib positions until later, when I already had a good foundation against being influenced by it. Preterism asks us to believe that all the prophecies in the New Testament about the end were fulfilled in the early years following Christ being on earth. To accept that, you'd have to think that God has left us in the dark concerning the conclusion of history, and dismiss the "inconvenient" verses which have clearly not yet happened. For example: 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31 Really? The Preterists would argue this does not pertain to a future event? Maybe this is something they would simply allegorize out of existence. No wonder Preterists are small in numbers any more. I started with David Wilkerson's book "The Vision" in the 70's. That lead me to Late Great Planet Earth and I've never held a different view. I was a member of Earl Paulk's Chapel Hill Harvester Church in those days and he preached a pre-trib rapture. My folks still have the entire series on cassette tape! Lol ( for you younger ones, cassette tapes were a medium used to record and store audio. :mdrmdr: ) I've looked into the other views just to be educated on what they believed but I think you've got to be a particularly stubborn person or just like pain and suffering to hold to any other view because of the overwhelming evidence of a pre-trip rapture. When? = is up to Him! Where? = in the clouds! Why? = because He loves us! TR
