Joseph Prince’s Pre-Trib Rapture Makes a Mockery of Christ’s Great Commission – By Rev George Ong (Dated 22 Aug 2021)

The last 7 years before Christ’s return, particularly the last three and half years of the great tribulation is the last window of opportunity for the Church to reap the greatest harvest.

Does it make any sense for God to remove all the mature, trained and the most productive labourers in the Church by Pre-trib rapture from the harvest field at such a time as this?

Will God leave the crucial work of the harvest at such a critical time to spiritual babes, whom Joseph Prince and Pre-tribbers called Tribulation saints who will become Christians only during the great tribulation?

These baby Christians are left without the benefit of being spiritually nurtured by the more mature believers because all of them, according to Pre-trib doctrine, would have been raptured to heaven, enjoying their 7-year ‘holiday’ in glory.

These new Christians would be in for a rough and tough time trying to cope with the bare issues of survival under the onslaught of fierce persecution and impending martyrdom.

If mature believers could not handle the persecution in the great tribulation as it is taught by Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers that they have to be raptured, how could they expect spiritual babes to cope?

On top of this, will God ‘cruelly’ load them with the added and enormous task of winning souls and looking after newer spiritual babes without the help of mature believers?

Can those mature Pre-trib Christians honestly enjoy their safety and security in heaven for 7 years while these pitiful and poor baby Christians are slogging it out on earth?

This is preposterous!

If Pre-tribbers argue that God is able to enable spiritual babes to do the impossible, by the same token God too could also help mature believers carry out the same difficult task. Then why do mature believers need to be raptured in the first place?

The Church will not disappear to heaven 7 years before the end of the age. This is because Christ knew that the great tribulation is a crucial time for propagating the gospel. It will be foolish of Him to remove the Church at such an urgent hour.

That is why Christ, in His Great Commission to the Church in Matthew 28:20 (NIV), said, “….And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So, the Church will not be raptured 7 years before the end of this age as Joseph Prince and Pre-tribbers falsely teach. Christ expects the Church to be around passionately preaching the gospel and discipling new believers to the very end of the age.

The Church is exhorted to endure to the end of the age as Christ will only come if the gospel is preached to all nations to the end of the age (Matt 24:13-14).

Matthew 24:13-14 NIV

¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus did not say it would be easy, but He did say He would be with the Church to the end. And because the empowering presence of Jesus is with the Church to the end, the child of God can endure any kind of tribulation, including the great tribulation.

When Christ had already said it so clearly and plainly in the word of God, that He is with the Church to the very end of the age, no Christian has the right to believe and no pastor has the right to teach that she will all disappear 7 years before the end.

Is this truth simple and plain enough for us to understand and agree on?

Would Christ equip and commission His Church in Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-20, and then contradict and sabotage Himself by removing the Great Commission army – the entire church 7 years before the end of the age?

Would God leave some 8 billion people without witness at the most critical and urgent hour of opportunity in the great tribulation?

Are we more concerned about escaping from tribulation, or perhaps, do we wish that by our presence, we could win some souls for Christ, even if that means being persecuted or martyred?

Will we spare a thought for our unbelieving parents, spouses, children, siblings, relatives and friends who will all be there on earth?

Are we going to leave them alone to suffer in their spiritual blindness without giving them the last chance to receive the gospel? 

Are Pre-tribbers more anxious about escaping tribulation, than being concerned about the critical role they can play to reap the harvest of souls during the great tribulation?

If Christ intended to come 7 years before the end to take the Church out of the world, the promise in Matthew 28:20 that He will be with them “to the very end of the age,” would have no meaning.

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In fact, one can even accuse Christ of not keeping His word to keep the church preaching the gospel to the very end of the age, if He were to rapture the Church 7 years before the end.

Since Jesus promised that He will be with the Church “till the very end of the age” to preach the gospel (Matt 28:20), the Church must be around to endure the great tribulation and not be removed from earth by Pre-trib rapture 7 years before the end of the age, if she is to seriously obey the Great Commission challenge.

In case you are still dreaming about the 7-year furlough in heaven, just remember, that the Church’s Great Commission does not last 7 years before the end but until the very end of the age.

The reason is, the fullest potential of the Great Commission is going to be realised during the great tribulation.

Paradoxically, while the extreme persecution experienced during the great tribulation is going to lead to mass apostasy, yet at the same time, it will produce not only a massive revival of consecrated Christians but also a massive evangelisation of the lost.

Teaching the false doctrine that the Church will disappear 7 years before the very end of the age is a blatant and serious contradiction to the very words and command of Jesus Christ who is God Himself in Matthew 28:20.

Does Joseph Prince and the Pre-tribbers realise the seriousness of contradicting the very word of God? If they really do, then why are they still holding on to and teaching the Pre-tribulation rapture doctrine?