Full Gospel Paradox

August 26, 2014 by

The Full Gospel Paradox

Eston College (formerly Full Gospel Bible Institute) founder/teacher Dr. Glen S. McLean in The Baptism In The Holy Spirit, page 20, wrote, “The Scripture also speaks of the baptism in the Holy Spirit as us being filled with the Spirit…” The word filled or full precipitated the term “Full Gospel” to represent the Apostolic Church of Pentecost (ACOP-Trinitarian) doctrine: “In the Baptism with the Holy Spirit as an experience subsequent to salvation, with the Scriptural evidence: namely, speaking in tongues.” This experience is also called the second blessing with speaking in tongues as “the evidence”.

David K. Bernard (general superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International, Oneness), in Pentecostal Theology, Volume 2, The New Birth, page 188, writes:

The Book of Acts describes the baptism of the Spirit in many ways: “filled with the Holy Ghost” (2:4); “the promise of the Holy Ghost” (2:33); “the gift of the Holy Ghost” (2:38); “the Holy Ghost fell on them” (10:44); “poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost” (10:45); “received the Holy Ghost”(10:47); and “the Holy Ghost came on them” (19:6). …All these phrases simply identify the same New Testament experience in different ways. When empty human vessels are baptized in the Spirit, they are filled with the Spirit…The following chart demonstrates the equivalence of all these phrases…

page 235…The Book of Acts teaches that a person will speak in tongues when he receives the Holy Ghost. Therefore, speaking in tongues is the initial sign (evidence) that one has received the gift (baptism)of the Holy Spirit.

Page 238…If one has been baptized in the name of Jesus, has received the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues, and continues to obey God’s Word, he can know he is saved. Many churches deny this evidentiary role, and as a result their members struggle with uncertainty about salvation.

Page 239…when one repents from sin and believes on Jesus according to the Scriptures, he will receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues.

Oneness Pentecostals deny the Trinity and believe that speaking in a tongue is the proof of salvation! Furthermore, unless you are baptized by immersion “in Jesus’ name” and speak in tongues, you are not saved. Unlike other Pentecostals, they do not believe in the second blessing experience subsequent to salvation, but correctly believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at the moment of salvation. Erroneously however, since they believe Spirit baptism is Spirit filling, “the evidence” of tongues must occur to prove true salvation. In effect, people can accept Christ as their Lord and Savior but still go to hell if they do not speak in tongues!

Definition: “A paradox is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a contradictory outcome.”

Ironically, Trinitarian and Oneness Pentecostals divide over the other’s faults but neither can see their common fault. The unwritten premise is that Pentecostals have experienced the complete or full gospel, therefore intimating that the non-experienced believe a lesser gospel. The written premise is that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is or “as” being filled with the Holy Spirit, however, the paradox is that the distinctiveness of two separate and opposite ministries of the Holy Spirit has been eliminated. Then, the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is mentioned only seven times in all the Bible, without “the evidence” of tongues (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:5, Acts 11:16, and 1Corinthians 12:13), by the merger with filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4, has now allegedly taken on “Scriptural evidence: namely, speaking in tongues”. This is NOT scriptural! This is a grievous error because two separate ministries of the Holy Spirit have been substituted by one non-biblical man-made experience. This “experience subsequent to salvation” or tongues experience salvation, rather than sealed with the Holy Spirit having believed (Ephesians 1:13) at the moment of salvation, is a different baptism of a different gospel. If we accept a different gospel, can we be truly saved, or in the very least, not grieve the Holy Spirit? Twisting the scriptures to name an ecstatic mystical experience of unknown tongues, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, appears to be full and more, but is actually empty and lacking.

1Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were ALL baptized into one body…”

2Corinthians 11:4, “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”

Galatians 1:6-8, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

Ephesians 1:13, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

2Peter 3:15-16, “…Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

Teaching that takes away the completeness we received at the moment of salvation is “a different gospel”. Having a mystical experience of unknown tongues, “the evidence”, before establishing what is biblical truth, is a different gospel stronghold of self-deception that is formidable. Many untaught believers value the experience far above a doctrine,but entering into the non-biblical demonstrates to God that we are not discerning or obedient.If we seek after a mystical experience that God does not require, and reject the “as it is written” by one Spirit we were ALL baptized into one body, we entertain evidence that God has not given!

Acts 20:28-31, “…take heed to yourselves and to all the flock…after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”

1Timothy 4:13, 16, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine…Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

1Thessalonians 5:21, “Test all things; hold fast what is good.”

It may be of interest to students of Scripture, since defectors from error are downplayed, rejected, and forgotten, to find and read of Apostolic Church of Pentecost (ACOP) teachers and founders who found their way out of experienced-based theology using Scripture alone and intelligent reasoning; and arrived at precisely the same simple conclusion—“the baptism and the filling of the Holy Spirit are two different and separate ministries of the Holy Spirit, and tongues are not “the evidence” of Spirit Baptism but was ‘an’ evidence of Spirit Filling.” Shortly after publishing The Promise of the Father, a reader sent me a book 17 Reasons Why I Left The Tongues Movement, by the late ACOP pastor Alfred Pohl who writes in his personal history:

Page 12 (pdf page 11), “I belonged to the Apostolic Church of Pentecost…raised in it from childhood, was saved and baptized in it, ordained in it, preached in it, taught in our Bible school for five years, and was our denomination’s missionary-secretary for five years—during which time I visited and spoke in most of our churches across Canada…But why then did I leave?…”

Page 26 (pdf page 24),“Another teaching in which most Tongues people err is that the baptism and the filling or fullness of the Holy Spirit are one and the same. But these are two different and separate ministries of the Holy Spirit.

www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/downloads/17_Reasons_p.php

Also of interest is Rev. Joe Erickson, another ACOP pastor who left the tongues movement. From the 100th anniversary history of the Veteran Local Church in Veteran, Alberta:

“Many during the 1940’s distanced themselves from the Pentecostal teaching and experience because of error by some. The assembly was shocked when Joe Erickson, one whom they respected so much, became one of these. This led to a division regarding the foundational experience from the revival that led to the formation of the assembly in the beginning. Howard Knapp relates in the “Prairie Fire” that things came to a head in 1948 when the elders took a stand and invited Glen McLean from Eston to come and teach on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

From another source: “In February and March 1936 he led a six-week ”Fundamental Bible School” in a vacant three story commercial building in Coronation…In 1937 he opened a “Fundamental Bible School” in Grenfell, Saskatchewan until the spring of 1939. That summer he came to the West Coast…Mr. Erickson changed his doctrinal teaching about the Holy Spirit and in 1944-45 taught that the Holy Spirit indwelled every believer who trusted in Jesus Christ and that all believers did not need to speak in tongues. In the process he had lost his Pentecostal support base. In 1945…Northwest Baptist Bible College opened there that fall with Mr. Erickson…and then became a Seminary that today is part of the ACTS seminary consortium at Trinity Western University in Langley.

Dr. Glen S. McLean (1917-2000) in his book The Baptism in the Holy Spirit, page 7:

“As a young Christian I had been greatly helped by the ministry of individual Christians and certain ministers who had received the Baptism and taught this experience. But later on they claimed they saw they were in error, and renouncing their previous experience, they very zealously preached against it…it left me very bewildered and terribly confused…To add further to my confusion, some of the teaching which I had received concerning the Baptism did not agree with the Word of God or intelligent reasoning… (page 9) There was one thing which was a help to me in the perplexing situation I faced. As a boy of eleven years God had wonderfully baptized me with he Holy Spirit and I spoke in tongues…”

Some personal notes I received from Rev. Lorne O. Pritchard during the course of writing The Promise of the Father:

September 25, 1997 “Dear brother Dean: I received your letter and papers the day before yesterday. I did not want to reply until I had read your paper on “The Promise of the Father”. First of all I am amazed at the amount of homework you have done! Few preachers bother to do so and is one reason we have so much confusion today. I have never looked into the history of Azusa, but I have looked into the history of the so-called 1947-48 revival…as you know I am away until November 16th. Perhaps after that date we could work in a visit…We must keep in touch…Sincerely, in Christ, a brother, L.O.P.”

Undated note, 1997: For a young generation who know not the history of Latter Rain let me tell you: It divided preachers within denominations from each other. It divided denominations. It divided individual churches. It divided husbands from their wives and brothers from their brothers. Homes were broken. Many claimed gifts they did not possess and as a result became so discouraged they stopped going to any church…These are dangerous days…The Bible is enough, I need no additions to it…I have concluded that anyone who thinks 1948 was a year of revival after all the evidence against it, is deceived. Or if that one is not deceived, then I am deceived…Sincerely, a brother, L.O. Pritchard

November 20, 1997 hand written note: “When time permits we must sit down and talk over your paper. There are few today who take time to study the Scriptures for themselves. Every blessing…L.O.P.”

July 6, 1999 “Dear Dean: …Thank you for being a student. Thanks for being able to see through things that are not Scriptural. I am in agreement with each answer to the stated problems. Our churches need men like you who dare to speak out. I fear, in coming days, it will be more difficult for us…May God give you the strength to keep on keeping on. A brother L.O.P.”

April 10, 2007 “Dear Dean: I just received your letter and book…I do not know if you know, I may have told you, 1n 1995 when the Toronto thing was in force, I wrote A.C.O.P. office and asked them to take a stand against or for Toronto. They would not, so I did not renew my papers. I am not registered with any denomination now…Let me know if you receive this message.

Sincerely, L.O.P.”

Lorne Pritchard held in his hands the substantial teaching of my book The Promise of the Father in 1997 and I speculate that between 1997 and 2000, Lorne discussed with his long time co-founder and close friend Glen McLean, some of the doctrinal contradictions I listed from Glen McLean’s book, The Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The reason I say that is because in 2010, I was informed, “GS McLean realized his error and in the last months of his life (2000), tried to correct those errors you mentioned.” To verify that statement, at a the Learn To Discern conference on Saturday, June 14, 2014 at Olivet Church in Abbotsford, I met teacher Roger Oakland of understandthetimes.org , another of Glen’s close friends and long time ministry associate. I asked Roger to be specific on, “What doctrine did GS McLean realize he taught in error and tried to correct in his final months of life?” Without any reflection of his own theological position, Roger simply answered the fact that, “GS McLean realized that speaking in tongues was not ‘the evidence’ of Spirit Baptism.” I mean no harm to GS, who in speaking to him personally, found him to be a fine humble well meaning man; a small man with a large voice. The fact is that his writings are the basis of the full gospel doctrine, the Bible school, and the denomination. Only his writings are what are under scrutiny. If he tried to correct the decades of error since 1944, then this writing is in his support.

The challenge

My challenge then is, to every student of Scripture, to find out why ACOP teachers Alfred Pohl and Joe Erickson gave up ministry positions for the truth—“…the baptism and the filling or fullness of the Holy Spirit…these are two different and separate ministries of the Holy Spirit.” Ask yourself why founder, Lorne O Pritchard, taught against Latter Rain, and just after the Toronto Blessing pulled his papers to separate himself from the ACOP. Why did a second FGBI founder, Glen McLean recant the flagship doctrine of the Apostolic Church of Pentecost statement of faith:

“In the Baptism with the Holy Spirit as an experience subsequent to salvation, with the Scriptural evidence: namely, speaking in tongues.”

In the ACOP Membership Policy, Section III—Licensed Membership, A:

“That a candidate for license…be baptized with the Holy Spirit with the Scriptural evidence, namely speaking in tongues.”

Section IV—Ordination Policy, A. Qualifications, 1:

“That a candidate for ordination…be baptized with the Holy Spirit with the Scriptural evidence, namely speaking in tongues.”

This is the same conclusion of William Seymour, the initiator of the so-called 1906 Azusa Street revival, the birthplace of the whole Pentecostal movement:

“In the early days, Seymour preached that the gift of tongues was “the” evidence for baptism with the Holy Spirit. After Azusa was all over, Seymour himself changed his theology to believe that tongues was not “the evidence” of Spirit baptism. Seeing that the whites could speak in tongues and still detest their black brothers, he now believed that overcoming racial prejudice and the fruits of the Spirit were the evidence of the Holy Spirit, and that tongues speaking was one gift of the Spirit and sometimes it was not a gift at all…Seymour still did not understand the distinction of Spirit baptism and Spirit filling but he believed closer to what all the mainline churches believed all along, with which he caused so much division.” (The Promise of the Father, page 120)

This monumental fracture in the experience based theology, collapses the whole premise of the Pentecostal faith like a house of cards. If tongues is not “the evidence”, how can a second blessing experience subsequent to, and apart from salvation exist?Some contradictions to ask yourself:

  • The book The Baptism In The Holy Spirit explains on page 16 that “receive ye the Holy Ghost” means the “indwelling relationship”, but on page 47 “Received ye the Spirit”, means “baptism in the Holy Spirit”. However, Pentecostal doctrine dogmatically states that Spirit baptism is not the event of indwelling of the Spirit, but a subsequent event.
  • On page 20, we are told “The Scripture also speaks of the baptism in the Holy Spirit as us being filled with the Holy Spirit…” while confusingly on page 84, we are told that “many who have initially received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit are not in-filled with the Holy Spirit in their daily walk with the Lord.” Spirit baptism is taught to be one and the same as Spirit filling at the beginning of the book, however, by the end of the book the two can be separated from each other.
  • If Spirit baptism is Spirit filling, but later a Spirit baptized person is no longer filled, either (a) the events must be separate events, or (b) a person must also loose the baptism in the Holy Spirit when he looses Spirit filling. Against all logic, Pentecostals believe that the baptism in the Holy Spirit happens once, but Spirit filling can come and go at the same time, as being the same event.

To one Pentecostal pastor, of more than twenty years in the pulpit, I asked this question, “Is Spirit baptism the same thing as Spirit filling?” He agreed with his church’s statement of faith, that they are the same event. Then I asked him “since baptism with the Holy Spirit did not happen until the day of Pentecost, was anyone Spirit filled before that day?” He replied “No.” Thirdly, I asked him to read Exodus 31:2-3,6, concerning Bezalel, “And I have filled him with the Spirit of God…” Then I asked him to remember how John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit in his mother’s womb, and to remember some 120 others like Elizabeth and Zacharias, who were Spirit filled without tongues evidence and before the day of Pentecost. Clearly, the blank look of concern on this pastor’s face demonstrated that the Pentecostal doctrine was lacking.

Baptism: Water and Spirit parallel

The belief that Spirit baptism equals Spirit filling is the very cornerstone of the Pentecostal statement of faith, but to the contrary, Bezalel in Exodus 31:2-3 and a host of Old Testament saints were “filled with the Holy Spirit” including John the Baptist. He taught that Spirit baptism was yet to come, but he never spoke in tongues. A separation of 1800 years between the first occurrences of filling and baptism proves that Spirit baptism is not Spirit filling.

Spirit filled John the Baptist said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…Jesus came up immediately from the water…He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” (Matthew 3:11,16) “…’Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” (John 1:33)

Out of the context of water baptism is the first mention in the Bible of Spirit baptism! Jesus promised to every believer, one event incorporating two different parts, an action and a position, each without any required outward evidence: (1) The action: The baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is the promise of the Father, Matthew 3:11, Acts 1:4-5, 2:38-39, and (2) The position: The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, John 14:16-31.

Jesus promised, “He will be in you” (John 14:16-31),which is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to every single believer, without tongues evidence. He also promised the baptism with the Holy Spirit to every single believer without tongues evidence. Acts 11:15-17, “as upon us at the beginning…baptized with the Holy Spirit…when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ”. Romans 8:9, “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” The 120 believers, in Acts 2:4, received the promise of the Father,Spirit baptism and indwelling, and were ALSO subsequently Spirit filled and spoke in tongues, as a sign to the unbelievers. It could be said that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the “descending” action of the Holy Spirit that brings the residency, “remaining”, or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; the baptism action and the indwelling position cannot be separated.

Water baptism by immersion symbolizes the believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, to walk in newness of life.

1Peter 3:18, “…baptism…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” If Spirit baptism and water baptism are parallel, why would we reverse the order and go from new birth, newness of life, back into death, burial, and sin? Pentecostal doctrine does precisely that—disconnects Spirit baptism from Spirit indwelling, puts the action subsequent to the position, and then attaches “the evidence” of tongues as a condition of baptism. Since the Spirit comes to dwell in us at the moment of salvation, the coming in or the baptism must immediately precede. To send a person, who has just repented to salvation, to yet seek “their baptism” or “the evidence” is to deny them the promise of the Father, a grievous error. 1Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were ALL baptized into one body…” when we believed.

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First Resurrection then Rapture

June 29, 2013 by

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This is the First Resurrection

April 19, 2013 by
John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which ALL who are in the graves will hear His voiceand come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”
Acts 24:15, “…there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.”
Revelation 20:4-5, “…And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

In John 5:28-29, the resurrection of life for the doers of good and the resurrection of condemnation for the doers of evil is not one resurrection with two classes, but rather two resurrections separated by title, type, time, and order. Acts 24:15 agrees with “a” resurrection singular but the word “both” refers to “two” people types, and so there is one resurrection for the good and one resurrection for the evil. Revelation 20:4-5 reinforces with a separation of time and with the separation of order. Those who are first resurrected live and reign with Christ for a thousand years but those who are evil are resurrected second and do not live again “until the thousand years were finished.”

In the First Resurrection, the word first or protos means “preceding all others” and in the context of 568 times in the Bible, the word first is never found to mean anything different. Pre-tribs recognize a major problem that there must be a resurrection before a rapture and invented phases of the first resurrection to create another resurrection before the tribulation. This is a major pre-trib rapture flaw because our “gathering together” or “caught up together” resurrection and rapture of all believers is in the same time frame; the last day, the hour, the moment, in the twinkling of an eye. There cannot be a rapture until there has been a resurrection.

One best selling author wrote, quote, “…a token number of saints who had recently died were resurrected at the time of Jesus’ resurrection…He took a wave sheaf of believers resurrected with Him and waved them before the Lord in the heavenly tabernacle.” End quote. Those who came out of the graves at the resurrection of Jesus in Matthew 27:52-53 “went into the holy city.” Theydid not go with Jesus into the heavenly tabernacle because Revelation 15:5-8 states that “no one was able to enter the temple [of the tabernacle] until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed” This is theseventh trumpetat the end of the tribulation. Because the resurrection of Jesus was the first fruit from the dead in an incorruptible glorified body, then Lazarus who was raised from the dead previous (John 11:43-44) was still in the camp of the Old Testament saints, and so Lazarus was not resurrected into an incorruptible glorified body suitable for heaven but a restoration to life. Those also raised in Matthew 9:18-25, Matthew 10:5-8, Acts 9:36-41, Acts 20:9-12, Hebrews 11:35 were all restored lives that went to the grave again to be apart of the first resurrection. The body of Lazarus and all the others are still in the grave today waiting for the first resurrection of life. Further confirmation is as Paul warned in 62 AD in 2Timothy 2:17-18, of “Hymenaeus and Philetus…who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.” When Paul and John wrote in 62 and 95 AD, there had not been a resurrection or even an alleged first phase. The first resurrection was still future.

John 6:39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”
John 6:40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:54“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 11:24 “Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus repeats four times in John 6 verses 39, 40, 44, and 54 that the first resurrection of life of the believers will happen at the last day! In John 11:24, Martha repeated Jesus saying, “I know that he [speaking of Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” The words of Jesus couldn’t be much clearer that the first and only resurrection of life is at the last day and fits with the “hour,” the “moment,” and the “twinkling of an eye, the time of the last trumpet! (1Corinthians 15:51-52)We can pin point the time of the rapture event by reading where Jesus says exactly in the Bible where the First Resurrection is—Revelation 20:5! It just may not be where we want it to be—after the tribulation.

It matters not about any other argument, the resurrection must come before the rapture and “the” resurrection is exactly where Jesus says it is. All other questions of immanency, wrath, etc. must conform to the resurrection first. Jesus inLuke 21:12-18 warning of the days before the tribulation says, “…before all these things…” they will persecute you, deliver you to prison and they will put some of you to death but this is not the “day of the LORD” wrath.If God says the resurrection and rapture is after the tribulation and we are not appointed to His wrath, then it must be that God will Passover His own people again rather than an airlift protection. Can God Passover again? Certainly! Jesus promises in Luke 21:36 in the context of the tribulation, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

“Our gathering together”

1Thessalonians 4:15-17, “…WE who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep…the dead in Christ will rise first then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
2Thessalonians 2:1-4, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and OUR gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, AND the man of sin is revealed…so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

In the Thessalonian letters, 1Thessalonians 4:15-17 “we will be caught up together” is the third mentionof Christ’s coming and 2Thessalonians 2:1-4 “our gathering together” is the fifth mention. (1Thes. 2:19, 3:13, 4:15-17, 5:23, 2Thes. 2:1) Paul included himself in both by stating “we” and “our.” Once “we” the church are “caught up together” in the rapture of 1Thes. 4:17—we are not here—then “we” cannot be gathered together again from the earth a second time in 2Thessalonians 2:1 and so our gathering together in both passages then must speak of the same event.

Recognizing this fact, even pre-tribJohn MacArthur in his NKJV study Bible commentary on page 1854 writes of 2Thessalonians 2:1, “obviously referring to the rapture of the church described in 1Thess. 4:13-18.” End quote. Pre-tribHal Lindsey, in his book The Rapture on page 123 says of 2Thessalonians 2:1, “‘and our gathering together to Him…’ This could only refer to the Rapture when all Christians will be caught up to be with Christ.” End quote. (Emphasis mine) We must note that some versions translate 2Thessalonians 2:2 as the “day of the Lord,” a dreadful wrath, however  other versions  rightly translate the Greek word Χριστός Christos, Strong’s 5547, as the “day of Christ,” the hope of the believer and a time to rejoice.

Even pre-tribs agree that “caught up together” in 1Thes. 4:17 and “our gathering together” in 2Thes. 2:1, are the same rapture of the Church event. Paul continues in 2Thes. 2:2-4, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [Χριστός Christos] will not come unless the [ἀποστασία apostasia] apostasy comes first,” then the revealing of Antichrist, then Antichrist sitting in the temple claiming to be God. (A temple must first be rebuilt) Our gathering together to Christ after these significant tribulation events is absolute proof that this event cannot happen before the tribulation. To believe that “our gathering together” is before the tribulation, Paul says is to be deceived.

The pre-trib position confuses the understanding of eschatology by arbitrarily choosing which “gathering together” verses fit the pre-trib position like 1Thessalonians 4:15-17 and which ones do not fit pre-trib like Matthew 24:29-31. When the Bible does not speak of the rapture in Matthew, Mark, or Luke, it is labelled as a secret, silent rapture. The position should not determine the verses; the verses should determine the position. As we have just proven, all verses that speak of our gathering together are the same “Elect” and the same second coming event. When we read in Matthew 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27 of our gathering together of His elect, in Luke 21:28 of our redemption drawing near, and the five mentions of Christ coming in 1Thes. 2:19, 3:13, 4:15-17, 5:23, 2Thes. 2:1, these are all one and the same event. This makes eschatology very simple to understand. These all teach of the Second Coming:

Matthew 24:29-31, “Immediately after the tribulation…they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds …And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect…”
Luke 21:27-28, “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Mark 13:24-27, “after that tribulation…they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds…and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.”
1Thessalonians 2:19, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?”
1Thessalonians 3:13, “so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.”
1Thessalonians 4:15-17, “…we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
1Thessalonians 5:23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2Thessalonians 2:1, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…”

We may not be apart of the raptured in our lifetime however we will all certainly be apart of the resurrected in our gathering together at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Will you be part of the first resurrection of life? Jesus said in John 3:3, “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Acts 4:12 speaks of Jesus, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

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