Problems The Pre-Tribulation Rapture Creates
James Underwood and Mike Rouse
http://home.nww.net/jamesu/problems.html

It has been stated in some of the pre-tribulation writings that the pre-tribulation rapture has less contradictions than any other system. Listed here are a few of the problems created by the pre-trib rapture.

1. The interpretation of scripture by the pre-tribulation rapturist is literal but not literal enough. The last trump is not really the last trump to them. The words spoken to the disciples in Mat: 24 are because they are Jewish. They jump from scripture to scripture but do not let scriptures flow together. They allegorize the statement "Come up hither" to mean this is the rapture.
2. To support the pre-trib rapture many teach that there will be two future comings of our Lord, up to seven resurrections, four to seven judgements, and two chosen peoples. As a result of such teachings many Christians think they can’t know for certain about these doctrines.
3. The elect are Christians throughout the New Testament. Why would the elect be Jewish in Mat. 24? To support their doctrine the pre-tribbers make the elect strictly Jewish believers. Paul calls the Christians the elect throughout his writings. The pre-tribbers are using the word to mean only what they want it to mean.
4. The brethren are Christian throughout the New Testament. If you’ve done it unto the least of these my brethren refers to Christians not Jews. Why would the brethren be Jewish in Matthew 25? Again the pre-tribbers want the word brethren to mean only Jewish believers. This is in contradiction to many places in the New Testament that shows Christians are the brethren of Christ.
5. The pretribulation rapture view must create a new class of being called the tribulation saint. They are not Christian and they are not Jewish.
6. The 144,000 Jewish would have to be evangelists, which is not found in scripture anywhere. Jesus commissioned the church to preach the gospel to the end of the age (Mat:28:19,20).
7. The dispensation requirement that the church be removed prior to God dealing exclusively with Israel again is self-contradictory. They say God will deal exclusively with Israel and then say Israel will have 144,000 evangelists to evangelize the world. How does evangelizing all these gentiles lead to the conclusion that God is dealing exclusively with Israel?
8. The preaching of the gospel is commissioned to the church. Christ said :Lo I am with you even to the end of the age. Some would say that the theology of the kingdom is preached in the last 7 years. This would create a whole new gospel. There is no other gospel which we should believe, even if an angel was to preach it to us.
9. To explain the clear teaching of 2 Thes. 2:1-12 that the Day of the Lord will not come until the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed they make the entire 7 year period the Day of the Lord. The descriptions of the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament do not concur with this reasoning.
10. To explain the clear teaching of 2 Thes. 2:1-12 that the apostasy will come before the man of sin is revealed some equate the apostasy to the rapture and make them the same thing.
11. In the pre-tribulation rapture view the wrath of God would last for seven years. This is far too long for the wrath of almighty God to take.
12. The man of sin operates with impunity during the seven-year period. This would mean that God was using this man to fulfill his wrath. This is fine until you see that this man's wrath is directed at the saint of God. This would mean the wrath of God is responsible for the martyrs and the Antichrist himself.
13. The book of Revelation is addressed to the churches and the closing says that these messages are written to the churches. If the entire book is for the church why do some interpret that we are snatched out of the way in Rev. 4 with the allegory statement "Come up hither"?
14. Jews beginning to operate under the law once more would nullify the finished work of Christ on the Cross.
15. To teach that millions of people will be saved after the rapture is not scriptural. People will not have a second chance. The people of Noah’s day and Sodom and Gomorrah’s day did not have a second chance.
16. The pre-tribulation view says the Holy Spirit as the restrainer is removed with the church. However there are many people saved during this seven year period. Does the Holy Spirit leave and then come back quickly? Does He lose His Power as the restrainer? Does He not indwell new believers?
17. The pre-tribulation rapture view says there is no sign that must happen before the rapture. However they are constantly looking at all news reports and telling you that earthquakes, wars, religious unification, and government unification are all signs that the rapture is getting closer.

In Conclusion:

Pre-trib scholars seem to be able to "miraculously" differentiate any and all Scriptures that are not to be interpreted literally. They can also tell us which verses pertain to Israel exclusively, which apply to the Church exclusively, and why the Church CANNOT be present for God's dealing with Israel during the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy. They can tell you why the context Matthew 24 was addressed "to the Jews" and how the question asked by the disciples in verse 3 was actually a "Jewish question". They know when a verse is meant to be divided in order to convey two thoughts or questions as illustrated in their claim of Matt. 24:3: Matthew 24:3 "And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

The pre-trib belief is that the disciples were actually asking two separate questions when they asked "...and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?", and that this separation indicates the disciples' understanding that the Lord's coming and the end of the world are two separately distinctive events and time frames. And this perception is in spite of the literal expression of the verse! They know why the sequence of events in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and Revelation 6 through 14 are not for the church, in spite of the weight from Revelation 1:3 & 4 which states that this Revelation of Jesus Christ is addressed to the Churches and blessed is he that reads and keeps the words of this prophecy. These devoted interpreters of the literal Word have also determined that John's being called up to Heaven in Revelation 4:1-2 is actually an allegorizing of the rapture of the Church. Their point seems to be never mind what the Scriptures say literally, we can tell you what it means (or should be).

They even know things that apply to the Trinity that aren't recorded or suggested in the scriptures, i.e., the role of the Holy Spirit as the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:6. Again, they perform some fancy word study to interpret the word used to identify the restrainer as being a word of neutral gender, which could specify the Holy Spirit. With only that belief, the restrainer could be anyone with the power, authority, ability, or opportunity to restrain the antichrist prior to his being revealed! And since the antichrist isn't exposed until 31/2 years after the Church is supposedly raptured, why then is it necessary for the rapture to occur 31/2 years earlier? This is a mockery coming from the group that so often claims to literally interpret so many scriptures in their quest for doctrinal truth.

These are just some of the problems created by the pre-tribulation rapture view. So when you hear it said that the pre-trib view has less contradictions in scripture remember what they do to the interpretation of scripture to make this statement.