Article 1: Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib rapture is Refuted by John Piper, David Pawson, Michael Brown, RC Sproul, Zac Poonen & Ben Witherington III – By Rev George Ong (Dated 28 Oct 2022)
Article 2: Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib rapture ill-prepares the Church, is self-centred, illogical & has no explicit text – By Rev George Ong (Dated 28 Oct 2022)
In Article 2, I’ve made a generous offer to Joseph Prince & New Creation Church. You may wish to find out what that is by reading Article 2.
For article 1,
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 11-MINUTE VIDEO;
Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib theology that was refuted by reputable Bible scholars and teachers: John Piper, David Pawson, Michael Brown, RC Sproul, Zac Poonen & Ben Witherington III.
The transcripts of what these Bible scholars and teachers said in the above video are given in the Appendix at the end of Article 2.
As Joseph Prince has frequently done, he would cry wolf and accuse me and Post-tribulationists of using the “bad and terrible news” of the great tribulation to scare believers because we want to use fear to control them. He has always been using this ploy to accuse anyone who teaches against his feel-good grace theology and the tough truths of the scriptures. By such an allegation, Joseph Prince is effectively levelling the same accusation against the Lord Jesus. This is because the Lord Jesus is known for teaching the tough truths of the gospel and He Himself has warned the Church to be ready for the great tribulation in Matthew 24.
While the position that one holds about the rapture would not affect the status of our salvation and neither should it sour the warmth of our fellowship
(but not for Joseph Prince as he is a heretic who remains unrepentant),
it would undeniably impact our spiritual preparedness to face the coming crisis in the great tribulation!
Note: Pre-trib and Pre-trib rapture are used interchangeably.
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib rapture ill-prepares the Church, is self-centred, illogical & has no explicit text – By Rev George Ong
In this Article, I will cover 4 provocative but serious issues for your reflection:
1. Joseph Prince’s Pre-tribulation rapture ill-prepares the Church for Tribulation.
2. Joseph Prince has no explicit text that proves the Pre-tribulation rapture.
3. Joseph Prince’s Pre-tribulation rapture isn’t just unscriptural but also illogical.
4. Joseph Prince’s Pre-tribulation rapture is a self-centred theology.
1. Joseph Prince’s Pre-tribulation rapture ill-prepares the Church for Tribulation.
Let’s say there is a strong possibility of a tsunami approaching, but the authorities keep assuring the people;
“Don’t worry, no tsunami is coming to hurt you. So, relax and take things easy.”
But the tsunami really came. And as a result, millions of lives were lost.
Would you hold the authorities responsible for the millions of deaths that resulted from such false assurances?
What if the same scenario were to happen in the great tribulation?
What if Pre-trib believers wake up one day and find themselves right in the midst of the great tribulation?
And because of their unpreparedness to face persecution, they deny Christ – the blood of these believers will be on the hands of Joseph Prince.
What I’m sounding out to you is no false alarm because the great tribulation will be the worst crisis ever faced by man.
The Lord Jesus Himself had warned in Matthew 24:21 NASB,
“For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.”
Below are just a few encounters that we may have to face if we ever find ourselves caught in the tribulation:
We will live through a period where martyrdom will be as common as, and many times more extensive, than it was in the days of the Book of Acts (Rev 6:9-11 & 7:9-17).
Our child may be held at gunpoint. The moment we decide to say Jesus is Lord instead of the Antichrist, they would blast our child’s head off. Christians may have the strength not to deny Christ when a gun is pointed at their head. But it is a totally different story when the same gun is pointed at their child’s head.
Our closest friends, blood relatives, siblings, children and even our own parents may betray us to the Antichrist (Mk 13:12 & Lk 21:16).
We will live through a time in which a quarter of the world will be killed by famines and plagues (Rev 6:8).
We will live through a period in which one third of the world’s population of about two billion people will die in a major war (Rev 9:14-18).
Think about man’s worst inhumanity and crime in modern times:
Genocide in Rwanda. Millions were killed during the Polpot regime in Cambodia. And of course, the infamous Nazi holocaust in Germany in which six million Jews were mercilessly wiped out.
Take a deep breath and realise that the coming tribulation will be many times worse than all of these events combined.
If the Church ever finds herself having to go through the great tribulation in which she is unprepared for, and if Christians find themselves living under the power of the Antichrist, how many will fall away from the faith (Matt 24:9-13 & 2 Thess 2:3)?
How many will feel betrayed by Joseph Prince and other Pastors who kept assuring them that they will disappear before tribulation hits?
How many will be so disillusioned and disheartened with the false assurances of Joseph Prince that they may abandon the faith?
On top of that, the Church and Christians will be hounded and mocked by unbelievers:
“Hey, didn’t you tell me that Jesus Christ will come again before the rapture? The Antichrist is already here and where is He?” (2 Pet 3:3-4).
With such cynicism that is being reinforced on unbelievers, evangelistic efforts at winning them over will be twice as daunting and formidable.
Perhaps, many believers have been told that it doesn’t really matter whether one holds to the Pre-trib or Post-trib position.
Many say it really doesn’t matter if Jesus is coming before or after the tribulation, as long as we are “ready”.
But, “ready for what?”
There is a huge difference between being ready to be gently whisked away to heaven on a pillow in the Pre-trib position, or being ready to become a martyr at the hands of the Antichrist in Post-trib!
While the position that one holds about the rapture would not affect the status of our salvation and neither should it sour the warmth of our fellowship
(but not for Joseph Prince as he is a heretic who remains unrepentant),
it would undeniably impact our spiritual preparedness to face the coming crisis in the great tribulation!
Jesus was well aware that if people knew what to expect, they would be more spiritually and emotionally prepared for it.
That is why Jesus Himself had warned of the great tribulation when He said in Matthew 24:25 (NLT),
“See, I have warned you about this ahead of time,”
Why? – So we could prepare ourselves spiritually to endure this most difficult time on earth.
But if you believe in the Pre-trib rapture of Joseph Prince – that the Church will be raptured before tribulation begins, there is little motivation that you will prepare yourself for it.
Let’s be honest about it.
Marvin Rosenthal aptly said,
“It is impossible to effectively train an army for a major battle if the soldiers are told they will never have to participate”.
Imagine an army commander telling his soldiers,
“Folks, the bad news is there is a most difficult battle coming our way. But the good news is you don’t have to fight this battle.
Immediately before the battle comes, you will be relieved of your military duties and sent to the safest zone, miles away from the dangers of combat.
But nevertheless, I want you chaps to take your training very seriously and get ready and be prepared for battle!”
Sounds hollow and even hypocritical, doesn’t it?
First, the commander tells them about the most difficult battle.
Next, he tells them they will escape this battle.
Then, he tells them to get ready for battle.
Does it all make sense?
In the same way, Joseph Prince and the Pre-trib Pastors tell their congregation about the bad news of the great tribulation.
But they go on to tell them the good news that they will be raptured out of this earth before tribulation hits.
Then they tell them,
“But nevertheless, you must be ready.”
Ready for what?
Ready to be shipped out of this earth to escape tribulation as in the Pre-trib rapture or ready to face the greatest trial of their lives as in the Post-trib rapture.
What does it mean to be ready?
It means we are ready to suffer for Jesus and not deny Him by taking the mark of the beast when we are persecuted under the hands of the Antichrist in the great tribulation battle.
Once Pre-trib soldiers know that they never have to fight the major battle, it will be hard to get them to take the training seriously.
However, a Post-trib soldier, who knows he is about to be shipped to the front lines in a brutal war, will have a totally different attitude about his military training.
The Post-trib soldier who is about to engage the enemy in an impending war knows his training may mean the difference between life and death.
He is mentally focused on preparing for war and coming home in one piece!
On the other hand, a Pre-trib soldier who has been assured that he will not be sent to fight in a war, could have a laid-back attitude about his training.
And if he is unexpectedly thrust into a fierce battle, he will find himself woefully unprepared.
And when his life is in danger, the easiest way out is to surrender to the enemy and betray his country.
In the same way, a complacent and unprepared mind-set for the tribulation may weaken a Christian to confront the crisis, and under pressure from the enemy to deny Christ or face death,
he may even betray his master, Jesus, and take the mark of the beast and be lost eternally ─ a sober and dreadful thought indeed!
Many who believe in the Pre-trib doctrine dismissively say,
“Well, let’s not lose sleep and fight over this minor issue. If the rapture doesn’t happen before tribulation starts, no worries, I’ll just deal with the unexpected situation then.”
Friends, the issue is not that simple.
A Christian leader with a Masters in Counseling Psychology, said,
“It is my opinion that it will be difficult at best for many (if not most) Christians to make such an adjustment in a positive way.
In fact, I am concerned that the “falling away” of Christians predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 could be primarily caused by this very disappointment (that the church will be raptured before tribulation)!
It took me quite a few years myself to emotionally overcome my previous belief in a Pre-trib rapture.”
Multitudes of Christians are taught that they will be sucked away to heaven by a ‘gigantic vacuum cleaner’ before trouble hits.
But when reality sinks in and they come face to face with the great tribulation, it is not difficult to imagine that many will fall away from the faith.
The position that one holds regarding whether we are raptured before or after tribulation would surely make a difference in our preparedness for the persecutions that are coming our way.
Yet, there are Pastors who flippantly shove the issue aside by just saying,
“Whether rapture or tribulation comes first doesn’t really matter.”
Yes, it does!
If church members who are being schooled and ingrained with Pre-trib theology ever found themselves in the great tribulation, will they be shocked and disillusioned?
Of course, they will.
In their shock, many will deny Christ.
While Pre-trib Pastors may be spiritually strong enough to weather the shock of an unexpected outcome and not deny Christ, can they say the same for all their flock?
They must remember that not every Christian is as strong as them to withstand the grave disappointment of having their hopes of a Pre-trib rapture dashed right in front of their eyes.
If these Pre-trib believers ever deny Christ and end up in hell, these Pre-trib Pastors, including Joseph Prince, would have a lot to answer for!
I believe God will hold us, especially the spiritual leaders of the church, responsible if we do not correctly understand the nature of the coming tribulation in the end times and warn the church about it.
In the last two centuries when Pre-tribulationism has been so popular among Evangelicals, correct eschatology may not have been of utmost importance.
But as we inch closer and closer to the return of Christ, the eschatology and the right understanding of end-time issues of the last generation of Christians becomes even more critical because it affects how people prepare.
Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib theology which has seduced many into a false sense of security is bound to produce a complacent and ill-prepared Church who may be on the verge of a resounding defeat at the hands of Satan and the Antichrist.
It is time to stop pretending, and get back to what Jesus taught.
It is time for the Church to equip the saints for the toughest battle ahead.
Thankfully and gloriously, Jesus ended on a victorious note in John 16:33.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (KJV).”
The precious take-away lesson is if we are thoroughly prepared and equipped, we will be filled with peace instead of fear.
Our hearts will be beaming with cheer instead of despair.
We will taste victory instead of defeat because Jesus has overcome the world.
We, too, will be overcomers as Jesus did even in the most difficult trial in the great tribulation that is going to be visited on the face of the earth.
2. Joseph Prince has no explicit text that proves the Pre-tribulation rapture.
If anyone comes to you and says he has been teaching on the doctrine of the Deity of Christ or any other major doctrine for that matter, but he doesn’t have a single verse or passage that explicitly proves the doctrine, don’t you think that is absurd?
Yet, most Christians aren’t even aware that Joseph Prince has been teaching that the church will be raptured before tribulation, without a single verse or passage of scripture that explicitly supports it.
Isn’t that ridiculous?
In order to show that I’m dead serious about the falsity of the Pre-trib rapture teaching of Joseph Prince, I’m throwing out an offer.
And the offer is made to Joseph Prince that if he can show me a verse or passage that explicitly and unambiguously proves the Pre-trib rapture – that the church will be raptured before tribulation ─ I will give him a free trip and also to every member in New Creation Church to anywhere in the world.
Yes! Anywhere ─ even to Antarctica!
I am dead serious about the falsity of Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib rapture doctrine that I’m putting my money where my mouth is.
More than that, I am placing my whole integrity on the line, should he or anyone in his church succeed in digging up just one verse or passage that explicitly supports the Pre-trib rapture doctrine.
By the way, this is not the first time such an offer is made.
I’ve already made the same offer to several thousands of people on many previous occasions.
So far, none of these several thousands of people, and I say again none, has come forward to claim the free trip reward.
Just in case some of you think I’m being foolish or impulsive, you are clearly mistaken as I’ve thoroughly searched the scriptures inside out and could not find any such verse or passage.
Now, it is Joseph Prince’s turn to sweat it out and search the scriptures for any verse or passage that explicitly proves his Pre-trib rapture doctrine – that the church will be raptured before tribulation.
If no one in New Creation Church, including Joseph Prince, can show me what I’ve reasonably asked for, don’t you think that one’s belief in the Pre-trib rapture doctrine is utterly misplaced?
Unbelievably, despite this, multitudes have been ‘bought over’ by Joseph Prince’s teaching that the Church will be raptured before tribulation.
Imagine there isn’t one verse or passage that unambiguously supports the teaching that Jesus will take believers out of the world before the coming Tribulation.
I REPEAT, NOT ONE!
If no major doctrine has ever been given this privilege of having no verse or passage that explicitly supports it, why should the Pre-trib doctrine be given this bizarre privilege?
It is not difficult to see why the Pre-trib rapture position is so popular.
Its popularity lies in the fact that it is such a palatable message to swallow.
It goes with the flow of easy Christianity and the feel-good theology of Joseph Prince that panders to our comfort zone.
Tell me – who wouldn’t want to be raptured to heaven to escape all the tribulation on earth?
But a popular and comfortable message doesn’t necessarily represent the tough truth.
When someone postures a Christianity of a crown without a cross, and a victory without a battle, your spiritual antennas must immediately be raised.
I’ve discovered from my detailed study that while the Post-trib rapture is a true representation of the scriptures, the Pre-trib rapture is a false view.
While the Pre-trib rapture has not even a single verse that explicitly supports its case, there are three scriptural passages that support the Post-trib rapture – that believers will face the Antichrist and go through the tribulation.
Joseph Prince would say,
“I believe in Pre-trib rapture – that Christians will be raptured before tribulation because God will not allow his children to suffer.”
Well, go and tell that to the Christians in the Middle East.
Go and tell that to the believers in China.
Go and tell that to the saints in North Korea.
Persecutions of Christians have been going on in many parts of the world, even today.
Many believers have been persecuted and killed in North Africa, North Korea, etc.
Go and tell that to the early Christians, especially in the first 300 years of Christianity.
The suffering and tribulation that these early Christians had to go through is well documented.
People believe in the Pre-trib rapture not because it is scriptural but that it panders to their fleshly desire and the feel-good grace teachings of Joseph Prince to escape suffering and tribulation.
It gives them security but it is a security that is built on a false foundation.
Finally, what if, on the day of reckoning, for some strange reason, it is proven that my Post-trib rapture view is wrong.
Well, all I need to do is just apologise to you; to Pastor so and so.
And you would have no choice but to forgive me because we are all fellow believers living in the presence of God.
But what if you are wrong?
It means that you, Joseph Prince and all the Pre-trib Pastors, have ill-prepared a whole generation of believers for the tribulation.
And for the many of your flock who may deny Christ and go to hell because of their unpreparedness to face the tribulation, their blood will be on your hands.
3. Joseph Prince’s Pre-tribulation rapture isn’t just unscriptural but also illogical.
The main argument of Joseph Prince is that since the great tribulation is entirely different in severity and scope than all of the other tribulations believers have faced, God will not allow His people to go through it.
God will certainly not beat up the bride before the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
And since the Church is a heavenly people in union with Christ, how horrible and unfitting, therefore, that she should be exposed to the dreadful hour of trial or tribulation under the devil.
But why should God spare the final generation before Christ’s coming from going through tribulation when He didn’t for all other generations of believers?
Isn’t it self-centred theology for Joseph Prince to believe that the last generation is the only exceptional generation that has the privilege of escaping the great tribulation because they are the “bride of Christ”, while others aren’t?
In a real sense, the tribulations that many believers went through are not any less than the great tribulation at the end of time.
Christians of all generations have been subjected to the kinds of merciless suffering associated with the great tribulation.
There have been Christians tortured to death for their faith.
Godly people have been burned at stakes and crucified to their slow and agonising death.
Believers who refused to deny Christ have seen their children mercilessly slaughtered before their eyes.
What suffering and tribulation could be more intense than to be burned alive, sawn into pieces and torn apart by wild animals like many of them were?
What tribulation could be more painful than to see how their own children have their heads chopped off just because they refused to deny Christ.
If the first century Christians had to participate in tribulations, and Christians had to suffer for their faith down through the centuries, why should the last end-time generation be exempted from the tribulation to come?
Have Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers really thought through their view?
Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers’ use of the argument that God will not beat up the bride is emotionally appealing but biblically and logically flawed.
Did they spare a thought for the so-called Tribulation saints which, according to their Pre-trib theology, would have to go through the same trial that they abhorred?
How horrible should the martyred saints of Revelation 7:9-17 have to go through the same trial?
Revelation 7:14 NASB
14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
After all, aren’t they the Jewish and Gentile believers saved out of all tribes and nations, redeemed by the same and costly blood of Christ, and aren’t they, too, precious to the Saviour?
If it is too horrible to think of believers in the Church suffering in the last crisis in the great tribulation, then why is it not too horrible to conceive of the Tribulation saints – our fellow believers, suffering in the same trial?
Why can’t Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers spare some pity for the martyrs of the end-time, the Tribulation saints, and free them also from such terrible affliction?
Pre-trib teachers promote the idea that believers will be raptured because they aren’t able to endure the tribulation.
This brazenly contradicts with what Jesus said about the 7 churches in the Book of Revelation.
For 7 times, the Lord Jesus said,
“To him who overcomes,”
or “He who overcomes”.
Jesus unmistakably expects the Church to be overcomers in the tribulation in Revelation chapters 6-18.
Jesus didn’t sanction the idea that the Church would escape tribulation at all.
The best that Joseph Prince and Pre-tribbers would come up with is a weak defence that these overcomers mentioned by Jesus are the “Tribulation saints” who will only come to faith during the tribulation as the Church would have already been raptured.
This is preposterous!
If these baby Christians (who only come to faith during the Tribulation) can overcome the greatest tribulation without the Holy Spirit, (according to Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib theology that the Holy Spirit would also go away from earth with the Pre-trib Church), why can’t mature Christians who have the Holy Spirit do the same?
If baby Christians could triumph during the tribulation as martyrs in Revelation 7:9-17 as taught by Joseph Prince, why are mature believers afraid to go through it and need to be raptured?
Furthermore, for Baby Christians to go through the same tribulation that mature Pre-trib believers abhor, is illogical.
Why does the Church have to be raptured before the tribulation?
If these uninitiated and Baby Christians can overcome the Antichrist and reject the mark of the beast, why do the more mature believers think that they can’t and are afraid to go through the tribulation?
If God loves the mature Christian Bride too much to see them beaten up and crushed, according to Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib teaching, why would He allow the poor and fragile Baby Christians, who are only saved in the great tribulation to be slaughtered?
If the tribulation is too difficult for mature Christians to live through, then why would God allow new Christians converted only during the tribulation to remain?
They would be the least equipped to handle this trying time.
Can you now see the logical inconsistency in Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib theology?
Why would God rapture His Church, filled with anointed men and women who have walked with Him for years and have dedicated their lives to the ministry, because they supposedly couldn’t handle the pressure of the tribulation, and then allow these poor Baby Christians to go through the same trial?
That doesn’t sound reasonable and logical to me; does it to you?
It would seem rather silly for God to prepare a Church for 2,000 years and remove her just when she is needed the most during the last climatic 7 years before the end of this age.
Well, if Joseph Prince and Pre-trib advocates can freely accept the divine protection of the Jews in Revelation 12:14 while they live on earth during the more-violent latter half of the 7 years, why do Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers suggest that it’s absolutely necessary to remove the Church from the earth for that same period?
Revelation 12:14 TLB
14 But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle, to fly into the wilderness to the place prepared for her, where she was cared for and protected from the Serpent, the Dragon, for three and a half years.
If Pre-tribbers can see the protection of the Jews, why can’t God protect the Church from these horrible persecutions that they have to be raptured?
If the Jewish spiritual babes can be protected on earth within the earshot of the anti-Christ’s tanks, why can’t God protect mature believers who live in nations and continents more distant from the hot-spot of Israel?
If some can be protected, then all can be protected.
And which of us would dare diminish the ability of God’s power to protect all of us?
Didn’t God protect the Israelites from the plagues in Goshen that were besetting the Egyptians?
But regardless of whether we are protected or martyred, we will never lose.
If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord.
So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord:
Romans 14:8 NIV
8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
Hence, regardless of whether we are protected or martyred, we will be winners because we all belong to the Lord.
One test case is when the 5th seal martyrs were crying out to God to mete out His judgment against their persecutors:
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
They cried out in a loud voice,
“How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”
Did God say to these martyred saints,
“Oh, poor thing, I forgot to rapture you and I’m so sorry that you were killed. That reminds me that I had better rapture all those saints who are still on earth so that they won’t suffer the same fate as you did.”
No, that’s not what God said to them.
Rather God told them to rest a little longer, until their fellow servants and brothers and sisters – who were about to be killed as they were – were finished. (Rev 6:11)
God would probably say to these saints,
“I’m aware that you have suffered much for me and I’m proud that you gave your life for my sake. But, I want you to be patient and wait a little longer, as more and more of those who are totally sold out for me will be killed.”
Does anyone, such as Joseph Prince still insist that God will never allow you to go through the great tribulation?
Wake up! Get Real!
God will even allow you to be killed.
Because He hates you!
No!
Because He loves you enough to give you the privilege of being martyred for His glory just as Peter was:
John 21:18-19 NIV
18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death, what kind of death – the death by martyrdom by which Peter would what? – would glorify God!
God loves us so much that He would even give us the privilege to be martyred for His glory in the great tribulation!
Hallelujah! Glory be to God!
(Martyrdom must never be approached with triumphalism but humility and in full dependence of the Holy Spirit as He is the only power that would enable us to go through it.)
4. Joseph Prince’s Pre-tribulation rapture is a self-centred theology.
Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib rapture is a self-centred theology.
This is because while the Pre-trib Church is enjoying herself in heaven for 7 years, the poor 144,000 Jews are left with the massive task of evangelising the world on earth.
These 144,000 so-called Jewish evangelists are being dumped with the task of world evangelisation by the escapist Pre-trib church.
In effect, Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers are saying,
“The Jews can do all the hard and dangerous work of evangelising during the tribulation when the Antichrist reigns supreme.
The 144,000 can share the gospel during the perilous period of the tribulation at the risk of being slaughtered!
But we’re sorry that we can’t help them as we would have already been raptured to heaven in total safety and security. We can only look down on you (as Joseph Prince sarcastically and arrogantly said to his critics in a sermon on 16 Oct 2022).”
Isn’t it troubling that what Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers are teaching is that the Body of Christ is divided?
1 Corinthians 12:25-26 NIV
25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
While one part of the body – the 144,000 is suffering on earth, the rest of the Pre-trib church are enjoying themselves in heaven.
Instead of suffering with them on earth, they are just watching from a safe distance in heaven.
The Pre-trib Church will be leaving this world when tribulation and suffering begin.
They will be leaving believers who suffer, and those who don’t know Christ as their Saviour.
But aren’t they concerned about our weaker brethren who may take the mark of the beast and suffer irreversible eternal damnation?
Are they more concerned about escaping from tribulation, or perhaps, do they wish that by their presence, they could win some souls for Christ, even if that means being persecuted or martyred?
Will they spare a thought for their unbelieving parents, spouses, children, siblings, relatives and friends who will all be there on earth?
Are they going to leave them alone to suffer in their spiritual blindness without giving them the last chance to receive the gospel?
Instead of giving in to their fear of facing the tribulation through an easy rapture, aren’t they thinking that perhaps, their presence and help, may avert them from going in that horrible direction?
Meanwhile, Joseph Prince and the Pre-trib church are having a great time with Jesus for 7 years in heaven after being raptured there.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is just for them! No Jewish remnant will be there to join them.
And the huge company of Tribulation saints we see in Revelation chapter 7 will not be there either.
This is really strange.
Why are they cut off from Marriage Supper of the Lamb?
They will be witnessing faithfully and courageously on earth during the last 3 and a half years of the great tribulation.
Why should they miss out?
The Apostle John saw that these Tribulation saints had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
Many will be faithful martyrs.
But, according to Pre-tribbers, they aren’t good enough it seems.
They are locked out of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
What is worst is that those, who have had to bear with the worst of trials in the great tribulation, are barred from their own wedding, while those, the Pre-trib church, who have been happily raptured out of harm’s way, are enjoying the privilege.
Isn’t it preposterous to believe that Jesus would be celebrating His Marriage in heaven with some of His believers (the Pre-trib church), while other believers are suffering under the rule of the Antichrist, and many are being beheaded for their faith in Him?
Do you think that our gracious Lord Jesus would have arranged to celebrate the hour of His highest joy in heaven at the very time when “a great multitude that no man can count (Rev 7:9)” are enduring the period of greatest tribulation on earth?
Every believer saved by the blood of Jesus, either before or after the great tribulation, is indisputably part of the Church.
Do you think Jesus will honour those who die gloriously as martyrs during the tribulation less than those who are hoping to hop on an early departure train and be evacuated out of earth at the quickest opportunity to escape from having to go through the tribulation?
There is no way that Jesus being the bridegroom is going to have the marriage supper without a part of His bride present.
According to Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib theology, the ‘First Class Elect’ is the Pre-trib church departing aboard a special early train to glory.
Then, in Joseph Prince’s scheme of things, there is the Jewish people, the “Second Class Elect,” which is to be ‘left behind’.
But here is the curious thing.
This Jewish “Second Class Elect” in the 144,000, is supposed to finish the difficult job of world evangelisation for the “First Class Elect”, the absentee Church!
What an irony!
The toughest battle to be fought is left to the 144,000 Jewish believers and the untested and untrained novice Gentile recruits in the Tribulation saints, who will only come to faith in the great tribulation.
And while these novice and uninitiated recruits are helplessly fighting the most dreadful battle, the best and most experienced troops are all raptured to heaven, having a party to enjoy themselves.
This is just beyond plain logic!
Tell me, which sane commander-in-chief will make that kind of ill-conceived decision of keeping the best and most experienced troops in cold storage – enjoying themselves in heaven, while sending the most inexperienced and virgin troops for a suicide mission, to fight the most difficult battle against the Antichrist in the great tribulation?
I’m sure Jesus as our Commander-in-Chief wouldn’t make that kind of foolish decision, would you?
He will never allow His best troops to go AWOL (Absence Without Official Leave) for 7 years in heaven at a most critical time of the battle.
Something is obviously fishy and dubious in Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib rendition of the great tribulation in the end-time story.
How can the most difficult battle be fought by the weakest army?
God forbid!
That’s what Joseph Prince’s Pre-trib theology that promises an illusive 7 years of holiday in heaven will produce – an unprepared and a weak army!
They are unprepared to face the Antichrist and his henchmen because they have been deceived by Joseph Prince that they won’t be around during the great tribulation.
In their unpreparedness, they will be severely trounced by the Antichrist and his forces.
Jesus cannot afford to have a weak army in those critical and climatic last days.
He cannot afford to have an unprepared army to fight the most difficult battle.
He has to have the strongest and the most prepared army to fight the toughest great tribulation battle against the Antichrist and his evil forces.
Friends, the Bible doesn’t present the great tribulation as a time of gloom and defeat for the church.
Saints who are martyred in Revelation chapter 7 are presented in glowing and glorious terms.
They have washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb.
They are dressed in white raiment.
The Apostle John saw them to be a huge and glorious company.
This victorious company ─ God’s Elect ─ is gathered from all nations, races and tribes.
The scripture in Revelation chapter 7 unveils the Tribulation saints magnificently.
These Tribulation saints are not those who are left behind in the Pre-trib scheme of things but the entire Church that will go through the tribulation in the Post-trib rapture.
Yes, they will be severely persecuted. Yes, they will be harshly beaten. And many will be given the privilege to glorify God by being martyred.
But they are triumphant! They are overcomers!
They are, indeed, the glorious and triumphant Body of Christ, the Lord’s invincible Army in the end-time.
The Church indeed will be in the great tribulation, not as a punishment by being “left behind”, or a sign of divine disfavour as the Pre-tribulationists had painted it, but an enormous and a glorious privilege.
It will not be a sigh of disappointment and despair of having missed the delusional Pre-trib rapture, but a shout of triumph of having been an overcomer in the midst of life’s greatest crisis and being given the awesome privilege of ushering in the Kingdom of God.
Rev George Ong
Appendix
You may wish to go through the following YouTube links at a later and convenient time:
John Piper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z13RGzCMddc
David Pawson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yH1wn00YNk&t=1450s
Dr Michael Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYtZxP77fkQ
Dr Michael Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-sDiUZ6q40
RC Sproul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dILQHlaqINg&t=1161s
Zac Poonen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sovV_ryr8c
Ben Witherington III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_cVXdr8mVs
Ben Witherington III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg8lRGqtMHc
John Piper said;
“First, let me explain why some people believe that we will be snatched out of the world at this point. I asked a person one time what’s your most important verse to defend that view, and this is the verse he gave me (Rev 3:10).
Because you have kept my word, Jesus says about the patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial.
So that’s taken to mean I will snatch you out of the world when the hour trial and tribulation comes on the world. It’s coming on the whole world to try, test those who dwell on the earth. So we will be taken out of the world while this hour happens.
Now, my response to that is keep you from does not necessarily mean escape out of but rather protection through so that your faith is preserved, which is the way I would take it.
There’s nothing decisive here it seems to me to say that keep you from the hour of trial means keep you from going through the hour of trial, but rather keep you safe through the hour of trial, from the hour of trial, from the faith-destroying effects of the hour of trial, is how I would understand it.
But there you see one reason why people would say, “No, Christians aren’t going to go through that hour of trial.”
David Pawson said;
“And that’s why the Scofield Bible did so much damage because in the human notes was this new theory that Jesus is coming back twice, first, to take the Church out of the world before the big trouble, and then coming back with the Church later, some years later, publicly, and openly manifest.
Now, that has captured the imagination of so many Christians, particularly, in this country. You have even whole seminaries based on that teaching, like Dallas Seminary. You have authors writing books purveying this same idea, such as Hal Lindsey, such as the novels, ‘Left Behind’. I’m naming these because I believe all these need to be exposed as unbiblical because it’s affecting, it’s affecting even our attitude to Israel.
For the majority of Christian Zionist in America hold this view. We call it the dispensation view. And I couldn’t possibly have the courage to go to Israel and say, ‘I’m an evangelical Christian, I stand with you, Israel, I will stay with you, even if the world leaves you. But any day now, I’m going to leave you. And I’m going to leave you in the Big Trouble, so you look after yourself.’ I couldn’t say that. It’s hypocrisy!
And to develop this teaching a little bit, because it’s so important the point I’m making. And I tremble before God, if I’m wrong, please, God, forgive me. But I cannot find a single verse in the Bible that says clearly and unambiguously, Jesus is coming back twice. Can’t find it.”
Michael Brown said;
“But I want to give you one text, that is one of the more major texts for me, to make me realise that this separating of the rapture from the second coming by 7-year period or a 3-and-half-year period is not scriptural.
Look at what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Writing to believers in the midst of persecution.
“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us…” Now look at this, “… When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
Paul says to persecuted believers, you will receive deliverance and rest from your persecutors. He goes on to say, this is the day when He’s gonna come to be admired and glorified amongst His people. That’s when He comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who don’t know God.
That Paul is saying the day of our deliverance, the day of our relief, the day when our persecutors would stop, the day when we will meet the Lord, is the day when He comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who don’t know God, is one event.
Our deliverance takes place at the same time. He comes in the clouds of heaven in flaming fire for the whole world to see. We are caught up to meet Him. Think of it, and in triumph, we descend with him as He destroys the wicked. That’s one of the many verses. But it’s one of the strongest to say that the rapture and second coming are the same event.”
RC Sproul said;
“Those who hold a completely future interpretation of New Testament eschatology, particularly in dispensational premillennialism, expect the rapture to take place before the tribulation. And you will hear people talk about the Pre-trib rapture.
The idea here is that there’s gonna be a great tribulation at the end of history. But prior to that tribulation, the Church will be caught up to meet Jesus, and Jesus will, sort of come half way back to the earth. He’ll take up His saints out of the earth to meet Him in the air. And then, He will stay with His saints aloft, either for the whole 7 years of the tribulation, or however the scheme is worked out. And then at the final time, He will come back again, for His final manifestation, returning with the saints that He had taken up out of the world before the tribulation.
So this scheme has 2 returns of Jesus at the end of the times. One, the secret return, first, just for His saints who got taken up out of the world, who meet Him, and then, His final return, after the tribulation and so on.
I think this, fundamentally, misunderstands the imagery that is used here by the Apostle with respect to the rapture and its meaning. Paul does not say that the Christians will be caught up in the air, and then stay up in the air with Jesus.
The imagery here is of meeting Christ as He is returning in glory. So that the Christians are participating in His victorious return to this world. It’s not that He will come so far, catch up the Church, and then stay there and go back to heaven until a later time.”
Zac Poonen said;
“Here is where I must tell you that evangelical Christians have differences of opinion. And that is concerning whether Jesus Christ will come secretly for the church before the 7-year period of great tribulation, and then come publicly to the earth. I think about 90 percent of believers, born again believers, and perhaps, most of you, believe that Jesus Christ will come 7 years before, as soon as the tribulation starts, and secretly rapture the Church. I believed it too as a young Christian because I was taught that.
But as I study the scriptures carefully, honestly, I discovered it’s not true. I searched the scriptures, the New Testament; I could not find one verse; I studied it for 50 years, that taught that. And I discovered that it was the teaching of man that arose in England about 150 years ago.”
Ben Witherington III said;
“And then, of course, the famous Timothy Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins series, the ‘Left Behind’ series, which led to this most recent movie about a rapture, the ‘Left Behind’ phenomena.
What you need to understand about this is that for 1,800 years of church history, nobody believed this theology or thought it was an accurate way of interpreting the Bible.
So what we need to say about this, is that if it’s not well-grounded in the exegesis of the Bible, it should not be embraced. And in fact, it isn’t.
So what I like to say about all this is, the ‘Left Behind’ theology needs to be, wait for it, ‘Left Behind’.”