                     WHY I AVOID PROPHECY CONFERENCES
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     There is an unfortunate practice occurring among Christians
these days -- the practice of attacking other Christians or the
views of other Christians. This practice takes many forms. In the
counter-cult business I am involved in, it takes the form of
attacking (as opposed to respectfully disagreeing with) the views
of other counter-cult ministries/authors. In BBS circles it is most
often made manifest in such areas as Prophecy Conferences,
discussions on Bible versions, etc. 

     The field of prophecy has always been of great interest, even
to non-believers, and can be used to bring many into the Kingdom.
However, it is also an area that can be a source of much
dissension. The question then arises, should a Christian take part
in such dissension? 


     1 Cor 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our
     Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another
     so that there may be no divisions among you and that you
     may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (NIV) 

     1 Cor 3:3 You are still worldly. For since there is
     jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly?
     Are you not acting like mere men? (NIV) 

     1 Cor 11:18 In the first place, I hear that when you come
     together as a church, there are divisions among you, and
     to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be
     differences among you to show which of you have God's
     approval. (NIV) 

     1 Cor 12:24 while our presentable parts need no special
     treatment. But God has combined the members of the body
     and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it,
     25 so that there should be no division in the body, but
     that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
     (NIV) 


     The answer, of course, is no. Avoiding arguments, however, can
be extremely difficult, as was made clear in a recently released
file on the Pre-tribulation Rapture. I will not mention the name of
this tract or author, to avoid the charge of making a public,
personal attack on this individual. However, if you would like to
see the file itself to ensure the quotes are accurate, leave me a
note at the Internet address below.

    In this tract, the author has outlined why he believes the
Rapture of the church will occur before the Great Tribulation
begins. In it he also outlines his views of those who hold to any
other view on the rapture:

     "the 'blessed hope' is only for those who believe in the
     pre-tribulation rapture.  The other views unfortunately,
     are all waiting for the anti-christ and not the Lord
     Jesus Christ.  They have lost their blessed hope!  The
     other views are robbers to the Christian as they seek to
     steal from the believer the imminent, soon, unknown, time
     & hope of the rapture."

     What is the blessed hope the author is speaking about? Titus
2:13 tells us:

     "...while we wait for the blessed hope-- the glorious
     appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ
     (NIV)." 

     So what is the author saying? Simply that those who do not
hold to the pretrib position are not waiting for the appearance
of Jesus Christ, but the anti-christ. A potentially very serious
charge, indeed, *when phrased that way.* It is the view of the
pretribulationist that no other event need occur before Christ
returns. Does this mean that no other event *can* occur before
Christ returns, however? Would the pretribulationist have held to
that same view in, say, 40 A.D., before the predicted fall of
Jerusalem and the temple? Would he have said that before the
Israeli war of 1967?

     "Another thing the other views have in common.  They
     all viciously attack the pretribulation rapture.  The
     goal is to disprove the pre-tribulation rapture at all
     costs.  Each of the views contradict and disprove each
     other but they are all strangely united in their attack
     of the pre-tribulation rapture."

     "The attacks have confused many Christians and caused
     some to forsake all prophecy.  What a sad thing to
     happen!"

     "All the other false views on the timing of the rapture
     have one thing in common.  They don't understand that
     God has a plan for the Church and God has a plan for
     Israel."

     "The post tribbers ignore this and expect the Church,
     the Bride of Christ to endure the full inpact of the
     Wrath of God"


     The last statement, incidently, is blatantly false. Non-
pretribulationists do not expect the Church to endure the Wrath
of God.

     "So not only does the incorrect rapture views rob the
     Christian of the Blessed Hope of Christ coming to take
     him from the world before God judges it....he has no
     purifying incentive in lifestyle.  Jesus cannot come
     today so why live in Holy expectation of His coming?"

     So, is the author saying that fear of Christ's coming at any
moment should be the primary reason we live a pure lifestyle?
If that were the case, then an even more motivational reason to
life a godly life would be our death, which could occur at any
moment. Personally, I would rather be motivated to live a godly
life out of gratitude for the gift of eternal life I have
received, rather than out of fear.

     The author and I are friends (and will hopefully remain so)
and I know that he loves the Lord, Jesus Christ. However, I
believe he makes a fatal error in this tract. Rather than being
content with respectfully outlining his views and reasons he
believes other views are wrong, he proceeds to do exactly what he
accuses others of doing, ie. he attacks the other views and those
who hold to them. Granted, he phrases the attacks to say "the
views" attack the pre-trib position, but views can't attack --
only people can attack, _with_ their views as the weapon. Even if
his view of the rapture was the same as mine, I would have to
disagree with his approach.

     He has made some rather serious charges in stating that
those who hold to differing views from his own (*intended* to
mean, the Bible's) have lost the "blessed hope." He also says the
views "viciously attack" the pre-trib rapture. To make the
charges he does in this tract, however, is to "viciously attack"
views other than his own. See below:

     "This is a really stupid question ... a standard one
     given by the followers of the incorrect rapture view." 

     Precisely what is gained by making the statement above? How
does hurling insults at other Christians glorify God and
encourage people to turn to Jesus Christ? 

     I will not attempt to refute this tract. Suffice it to say
that I used to be a supporter of the pre-tribulation rapture
theory, simply because I had never heard any other view. In my
studies, however, I had found several problems with that position
for which I couldn't find answers. After hearing and reading
other positions, my views on the rapture changed. Despite the
charges made by the author of this file, there *are* answers for
those questions he states non-pretribulationists have no answer.
Why would someone like Marvin Rosenthal, a person who held to the
pretribulation rapture theory most of his life, change his views?
Does the author of the file in question believe Mr. Rosenthal has
taken leave of his senses, or is it just _barely_ possible that
he has good reasons for changing his beliefs?

     It is my prayer that the reader of this file will understand
that one's salvation does not hinge on a correct view of the
timing of the rapture. As the author of the file in question
stated at the beginning, all views hold to the soon return of
Jesus Christ. To get into heated debates regarding the timing of
the rapture achieves absolutely nothing, delights the skeptic and
the devil, and only serves to cause dissension within the body of
Christ. Personally, I would prefer to avoid this type of
confrontation between Christians and concentrate on winning souls
for Christ. 


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     Bob Hunter. Internet address: hunter44@io.org
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