Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Tribulation is for Christians...

Christians in parts of Africa and the Arab world are going through great tribulation. In fact Christians are the most persecuted group of people on the planet. It's breathtaking. From Nigeria to Iraq to North Korea and China, Christians are being murdered, arrested, beaten, systematically impoverished, and driven from their homes. And yet many Christians in the west persist with the happy illusion that Christians will escape "The Tribulation."

Not only is a pre-tribulation rapture of the church a recent theological innovation which relies on tortured hermeneutics, it denies the clearly biblical teaching that tribulation is for Christians.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

"Therefore they are before the throne of God,
  and serve him day and night in his temple;
  and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

 "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
  the sun shall not strike them,
  nor any scorching heat.

 "For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
  and he will guide them to springs of living water,
 and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
(Revelation 7:9-17)

UPDATE:
Just found this helpful post over at TGC - 9 Reasons We Can Be Confident Christians Won't be Raptured Before the Tribulation

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