They state that this view “best accords with the principle of literal interpretation.”31 Based upon Revelation 1:19, which states, “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;” “They trifurcate the prophecy as the past vision of the glorified Christ (Chap. 1, esp. verses 11-18)…the present condition of the churches (Chap. 2-3)…and as the third part, the future happenings (Chap. 4-22).”32 This is the Premillennial view of futurism.
With regard to the “Rapture,” according to Don Stewart of Calvary Chapel, in his You Tube presentation, “The Rapture of the Church,”33 he states that there are seven views of the Rapture:
1. There is no such thing as the Rapture in the Bible; it is only
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There is the Pre-Tribulation View which takes place prior to the Tribulation (usually noted in Revelation 4:1).
27. Ibid., 98.
28. Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7 (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1992), 20.
29. Ibid., 32.
30. Ibid., 34.
31. Ibid, 34.
32. Ibid., 115.
33. Don Stewart, The Rapture of the Church, November 6, 2011, accessed August 22, 2016, http://www.youtube.com.
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5. There is the Mid-Tribulation View which takes place at the mid-point of the Tribulation (3 ½ year point).
6. There is the Pre-Wrath View which states that the Rapture will occur prior to the “wrath of God” in Revelation 16 (5 ½ year point).
7. There is the Post-Tribulation View which states that the Rapture will occur at the end the 70th week of Daniel.
8. There is a Rapture, but we don’t know enough about it as to the timing.
Stewart ends his presentation with this: “the Church Age started suddenly and dramatically on Pentecost and it will end suddenly and dramatically in the very near future.”34 Most futurists, like Don Stewart, hold to the Pre-Tribulation view of the
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Steve Gregg states that “everyone takes the Beast of Revelation symbolically, but futurists take more things literally, then congratulate themselves that they have taken the higher moral ground than anyone else.”35 In other words, futurists take the Book of Revelation literally, even though they ultimately take it symbolically.
The question then becomes, “Is it literal?” To which, the Bible does not say “literally.” Gregg states that “the downside to this is that pastors build their whole ministry on this view, but what if they are wrong? How many people become disillusioned and leave Christianity? Even though they keep getting it wrong; it doesn’t matter – they state that whatever happens will