Contact: Steven L. Sherman, 727-647-6467, justprayno@aol.com
OPINION, Feb. 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- Can many sincere, godly teachers of prophecy such as Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, Tim LaHaye and Perry Stone be wrong about the timing of the rapture?
Before wheat can be gathered into the barn, it must be threshed. Pounding the wheat, the heavy weight of an ox's hooves or dragging a threshing sledge over the stalks causes great pressure to burst the grain free from the husks. The word for intense pressure in Greek is thlipsis. It literally means being crushed under a rock. Thlipsis is translated as hardship, trouble, persecution or tribulation.
Matthew 13:20-21
The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble (thlipsis) or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
2 Thessalonians 2:3
Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
There will be many who will fall away in the last days when they face persecution. They will be unprepared to stand firm because they were taught that the rapture would occur before the time of great tribulation.
Matthew 24:29-31
Immediately after the tribulation (thlipsis) 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: 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. 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.
The Great Tribulation is an extended period of persecution of the saints, not the hour of God's wrath. After the thlipsis of those days - the time of great persecution, there will be signs in the sky and the Son of Man will appear in great glory. He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather the elect from the four winds (the Rapture).
To read the full article and view other biblical teachings on the Pre-wrath Rapture, go to: http://lastdayscalendar.net
