Prewrath Resource Institute

A Biblical Response to Eric Douma – Part 4

Alan Kurschner - January 27th, 2012

I am responding to Eric Douma’s sermon on April 3rd 2011, “The Day of The LORD: A Look at the Imminent Day of Salvation and Judgment.” We continue.

Douma claims that the term “birth pangs” in the Bible is a technical term for the day of the Lord. That is, every time it is found in the Bible it must refer to the day of the Lord. This is categorically false and unproven. It is an assumption he makes to maintain the unbiblical doctrine of imminence. What do I mean by this?

Since Douma claims the rapture must occur before the great tribulation (so the church can avoid encountering the Antichrist), he interprets Jesus’ expression in Matthew 24:8, “the beginning of birth pangs,” to refer to the day of the Lord. He argues that since Paul uses the birthing metaphor in 1 Thessalonians 5 drawing from Isaiah 13 to refer to the day of the Lord, then Jesus must be using it in the same way. Therefore, he concludes that Matthew 24:4–35 describes the day of the Lord.

However, his premise is deeply flawed, for Jesus’ purpose of using the metaphor of birth pangs is just the opposite of Paul’s purpose.

Let’s begin.

Paul says, “Now when they are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape” (1 Thess 5:3). Paul’s analogy of “labor pains” is drawn from a day of the Lord passage in Isaiah 13:

(6) Wail, for the LORD’s day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. (7) For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage. (8) They panic—cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red. (9) Look, the LORD’s day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners. (10) Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine. (Isa 13:6–10; see also Isa 26:17–21)

We should not confuse Paul’s use of the birth pangs analogy with Jesus’ use of it in the Olivet Discourse, for it serves a completely different purpose than Matthew 24:8 (“All these things are the beginning of birth pains”). There are six differences that demonstrate that Jesus does not use the birth pangs metaphor to refer to the day of the Lord:

1. Jesus’ usage in Matthew 24 occurs before the great tribulation; Paul’s usage is found at the inception of the day of the Lord. In other words, Jesus uses the birthing metaphor to warn that the end has not arrived (“Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. . . All these things are the beginning of birth pains”). Paul uses it to announce that the end has arrived (“then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains,” cf. Isa 13:7–8).

2. Accordingly, Jesus emphasizes the tolerable stage of “the beginning of birth pains” (Matt 24:8); hence, the reason he reassures, “Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come” (Matt 24:6). In contrast, Paul is drawing from Isaiah’s labor imagery focused on the intolerable stage of actual giving birth, “cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth” (Isa 13:8).

3. Jesus teaches that the “beginning of birth pangs” is what Christians are destined to experience (Matt 24:4–8); Paul teaches just the opposite that Christians are promised exemption from the hard labor pains, the time of God’s wrath (1 Thess 5:9).

4. The labor pains in Matthew 24 refer to natural events such as false christs, wars, famines, and earthquakes (Matt 24:5–8). Paul’s reference is to the supernatural event of the day of the Lord (2 Thess 1:5–8).

5. Jesus’ usage of the beginning of birth pangs occurs before the celestial disturbance happens (Matt 24:8–29). But in the Isaiah passage that Paul is drawing from associates the birth pangs of the onset of the day of the Lord with the celestial disturbance (Isaiah 13: 8–10).

6. Jesus uses the birthing metaphor to apply to both unbelievers and believers (Matt 24:5–8). While Paul uses it exclusively applied to unbelievers (1 Thess 5:3–4).

So we have seen that Douma is mistaken to think that Jesus is speaking of the day of the Lord. A red flag should go up whenever someone claims that this or that is a “technical term,” for the danger is not taking contexts into consideration and thus flattening out an author’s intention. In this case, Douma has abused Jesus’ intention of the birthing metaphor to serve his own theology of imminence.

The PreWrath Prophetic Study Bible – An Update!

Charles Cooper - December 22nd, 2011

Prophets, Prophesy, and Prophecy

Wow – this is great! New support has come today. I am truly excited to begin work on the PreWrath Prophetic Study Bible. Having spent the last 5 years re-examining every tenet of dispensational premillennialism, I feel that I have a much better understanding concerning why pretribulationists err in their interpretation of prophetic Scripture.

The many conclusions that may seem to support the pretrib rapture simply have no exegetical basis in Scripture. In fact, there is not one explicit passage of Scripture to support their view. Every passage once claimed to be a proof text for the pretrib position has been abandoned as a result of careful exegesis in the last 10 to 20 years. This is really astonishing.

In the PreWrath Prophetic Study Bible, I hope to demonstrate a clear understanding of every passage in the Bible that relates to unfulfilled prophecy. Not only will the book deal with explicit passages, but it will also attempt to show “pattern fulfillment,” for example, the Abomination of Desolation. A pattern fulfillment occurs when certain aspects of a particular prophecy in the Old Testament find fulfillment more than once in human history. In connection with Antiochus Epiphanes, the destruction of the second temple, and ultimately just prior to the consummation of the age — history will witness a pattern fulfillment connected with the Abomination of Desolation.

We will also look for new patterns which may not have been explicitly revealed in the OT, but which will clearly manifest themselves in the fulfillment of the book of Revelation and the millennial kingdom. For example, God promised to restore man to his garden paradise. Clearly, this event happens in stages. We will trace the progress of this fulfillment through the books of the Bible.

We hope to finish this project in four years. The electronic version will be completed first. As each book is finished, students will have immediate access via our BLOG at www.prewrathrapture.com . Once the complete Bible is finished, students will be able to buy printed copies of the PreWrath Prophetic Study Bible.

To finish this project as soon as possible, we need your help! Please consider supporting this project financially. The more help we receive, the sooner the project will be finished. We have already raised 30% of the funding. Would you consider supporting PRI with a monthly gift? Any amount will be appreciated. We believe this will be a profound contribution to the body of Christ.

Please consider asking your friends to help as well. Knowing which prophecies are yet future is critical for the body of Christ to walk by faith and to avoid deception. Will you consider sacrificing in order to make this project a reality. You may make your monthly donation on this website. Simply click on the “Support PRI” button at the top of this page.

Charles Cooper

PRI

A Biblical Response to Eric Douma – Part 3

Alan Kurschner - December 13th, 2011

I am responding to Eric Douma’s sermon on April 3rd 2011, “The Day of The LORD: A Look at the Imminent Day of Salvation and Judgment.” We continue.

In this part, I will respond to Douma’s repeated error of equating the “thief” imagery with “imminence.” In part one I responded to this misunderstanding as it relates namely to Peter’s usage. Even though most of what I need to say is in part one, I want to briefly respond to Douma’s claim as it relates to Paul’s use of the thief imagery. The text reads:

“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night.” (1 Thess 5:2 NET)

Douma equates this statement with an “imminent rapture” because he says since we do not know when a thief comes, it follows that there are no prophetical events that must occur before the day of the Lord.

Douma is making a category error by not reading Paul accurately.

The thief imagery is intended to teach spiritual watchfulness, not physical watchfulness as some newsflash on CNN. This is shown in the remaining passage where Paul’s thrust is exhorting believers to stay spiritually awake and not be spiritually caught off guard when Christ comes back.

Hence, the reason Paul says that Christ is not coming back as a thief to those spiritually prepared!

“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would” (1 Thess 5:4).

Why Douma wants to teach his people that Christ is coming back as a thief to them is beyond me. As Christians, God wants us to be spiritually prepared so that he will not come back as a thief for us because we are “not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.”

Living Out Prewrath During Lawlessness

Alan Kurschner - November 30th, 2011

This is an impassioned sermon by Charles Cooper given at a prewrath conference in Crestview, Florida in January. Cooper preached on living out your prewrath theology in ominous and lawless times.

Charles Cooper - November 16th, 2011

Is the Rapture Depicted in Revelation 14:14-16?

The Structure of the Book of Revelation – Part I

Charles Cooper

As an advocate for the PreWrath rapture view I find it unfortunate, yet necessary, that a good portion of my time is spent disproving claims. For example, the confusion about the structure of the book of Revelation naturally leads to erroneous views regarding the timing of the rapture. Any similarity, detail, parallel or whisper of a heavenly descent or ascent may present the opportunity for someone to argue for his own rapture position preference based on that particular passage. Perhaps the greatest obstacle is uncertainty about the structure of the book. Until there is a consensus about the structure of the book, little will be accomplished regarding a consensus about the timing of the rapture in the book of Revelation.

A Biblical Response to Eric Douma – Part 2

Alan Kurschner - November 8th, 2011

I am responding to Eric Douma’s sermon on April 3rd 2011, “The Day of The LORD: A Look at the Imminent Day of Salvation and Judgment.” We continue.

In this part, I will respond to Douma as he posits a distinction between, what he calls, the “Broad Day of the Lord” and the “Narrow Day of the Lord.” Consequently, it results in two future days of the Lord.

But does Scripture actually divide the day of the Lord into a “broad and narrow” schema?

He asserts that the Broad day of the Lord starts at the beginning of the 7 year period, and the Narrow day of the Lord at the end of the seven year period. He also claims that there are precursors before the narrow day, but not before the broad day, thereby, maintaining that the broad day is imminent. Sound familiar? It should because the same phenomenon is when pretribulationists assert a coming/parousia of Christ at the beginning of the 7-year period and a coming/parousia of Christ at the end of the 7-year period. Or, as is sometimes stated, first phase and second phase. Any passages which describe events occurring before the coming of Christ they relegate to the second phase, thereby maintaining their presupposition of an “any-moment” rapture.

Douma claims that the pre-exilic prophets understood the day of the Lord to refer to an epoch (broad day), and the post-exilic prophets understood the day of the Lord as a “twenty-four” hour day (narrow day). There is absolutely no basis for this. And he provides no argumentation for his claim. Not to mention, he does not explain what pre- and post-exilic era have anything to do with it. In contrast, I have provided exegetical reasons why the day of the Lord is not conceived as a mere 24-hour day, here.

Incidentally, in the audio, Douma admits that he received strange looks from the audience after his claim. I don’t blame them because this interpretation is not derived from Scripture, but contrived to fit a preconceived idea. He then tried to explain his odd division by—not using Scriptural evidence—but using an example from his “grandpa’s day.”

I would have liked to interact with his argumentation for his claim, but he provides none. One would think that such bold assertions would have explicit biblical support. At least one argument from a passage should be given to support this conclusion. Where are the arguments that support these conclusions? No where to be found!

What Douma fails to understand is that frequently the prophets, Jesus, and other NT writers when they spoke of Christ’s coming/day of the Lord they often emphasized the glorious inception to the epochal event; that is, the first day when he comes in the clouds and delivers his people and begins to pour out his wrath. But Douma takes that emphasis on the first day and assumes it must only be a single day. Instead, the coming/day of the Lord is an epochal event, not limited by a mere 24 hour day in some “narrow” schema.

In conclusion, Douma has failed to:

(1) Demonstrate that there is a second “[narrow] day of the Lord” at the end of the 7 year period. The biblical evidence, instead, shows that there is a single future day of the Lord’s judgment that begins with the trumpet judgments and increasingly intensifies in the bowls and culminates in Armageddon. It will be a coherent-whole event.

(2) Demonstrate that the post-exilic prophets Joel and Malachi thought of the day of the Lord as a 24-hour day.

The motivation for Douma to create a bifurcation of the day of the Lord is to preserve his preconceived theological system of imminence. Joel and Malachi are two prophets in the Old Testament who explicitly place an event before the day of the Lord: Cosmic Disturbances (Joel 2:29-31); Elijah must return (Malachi 4:5). So Douma’s erroneous presupposition of imminence has forced him to posit a whole new day of the Lord so as to avoid the necessary implication that key events will occur before the rapture.

Similarly, someone told me that pretribulationism is like those who followed Ptolemy’s earth-centered cosmos. When the theory did not portray the observed motions of the planets, epicycles were introduced, and when the epicycles failed to correspond to reality, epicycles within epicycles were the “answer.”

As an aside, as I have listened to Douma speak on this subject, I have noticed that he speaks fast and makes many huge assumptions on the way, without slowing down and giving any basis for his assertions. In my opinion, this manner is not beneficial for God’s people, for the goal is to help people understand a biblical line of reasoning, instead of asserting a string of assumptions.

In the next part, I will respond to his assumption about the birth pangs that is used by Paul and Jesus.

A Fallen Champion: Major William Arthur Wolfenberger

Charles Cooper - November 3rd, 2011

On October 11^th, the Lord Jesus sent his angel to escort to His bosom Major William Arthur “Bud” Wolfenberger, age 80, who is now marveling at the wonders of Heaven and gazing lovingly into the eyes of his Savior.

Bud served his country for 24 years in Germany, Korea, Vietnam twice and Alaska, as well as numerous stateside assignments, always giving his all to each. He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Anita; six children: Rick, GayAnn, Bob, Paulette, Stephanie, and Lianne, 16 grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and two sisters. He is preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, and one new born daughter.

After retirement from the military, he was an abstractor, taught in several Christian schools, served 16 years with the Roving Volunteers in Christ Service (RVICS), was interim pastor of two churches in FL., and preached and taught in many more throughout the country including several locally. He attended Talbott Baptist Church. His most ardent prayer was for the salvation of family and friends who do not yet know the Lord.

Memorial Service will be held on Saturday Nov 12^th at 3:00 PM at Talbott Baptist Church located on Talbott Kansas Road in Talbott, TN.

Major Wolfenberger was a faithful support of PRI and he will be missed. If any of our supporters live in the area, please stop in at the memorial service and salute this champion of the Gospel.

Charles Cooper

PRI

A Class on Prewrath in New Jersey at JBI

Alan Kurschner - November 1st, 2011

This coming January, I will be teaching a course on the second coming of Christ at Jesus Bible Institute in New Jersey. There will be no audio or video recordings of it, so be sure to sign up if you live near by.

This course is taught from the Prewrath perspective, but believers holding other viewpoints are welcome, since the course will interact at certain points with Pretribulationism, Posttribulationism, and Preterism. An emphasis will be on the Day of the Lord, which is one of the most important but often neglected topics to Christ’s Return. Pertinent Old Testament passages, for example Isaiah and Daniel, will be examined. And New Testament teachings will cover Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, Paul’s Thessalonian Epistles, and the book of Revelation. The millennial issue will not be covered in this course; instead the focus will be on the immediate events surrounding the Lord’s return

A Brief Note on the Fourth Seal of Revelation

Alan Kurschner - October 17th, 2011

“(7) Then when the Lamb opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” (8) So I looked and here came a pale green horse! The name of the one who rode it was Death, and Hades followed right behind. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, famine, and disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.” (Rev 6:7–8 NET)

Prewrath teaches that the first six seals are not the wrath of God, instead, only with the opening of the seventh seal will the day of the Lord’s wrath begin. We have argued this point in the past.

One of the common pretribulational arguments I hear is that the fourth seal must be God’s wrath since it is said that a quarter of the population of the world is killed. This is a surface-level reading for that is not what the text actually says. Let me explain.

The fourth seal shifts from the world at large to a limited scope, and it indicates an intensity of death. The final horse is pale green, which symbolizes death; and the final rider is personifying Death, with Hades following him. Authority was given to these two forces by God’s permission to kill by various means: sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts of the earth. But this authority is limited and concentrated. It is important to observe that it is said that this authority to kill is given “over a fourth of the earth.” The expression “to kill” suggests intention, not necessarily requiring accomplishment.

In contrast, the book of Revelation will actually state when such a massive amount of people are killed: e.g., “A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths” (Rev 9:18; cf. Rev 11:13).

In addition, there is authority over a fourth of the earth. The question emerges about whether it is a fourth of the earth geographically or demographically? The fourth seal does not provide us this answer. However, if the fifth seal was considered a result of the fourth seal, which the text suggests, then it would appear to be more probable that the fourth of the earth is in a population sense, but we cannot be dogmatic on that point. And this is not to assume that a fourth of the earth’s population are believers and will end up being martyrs.

Nevertheless, Antichrist will control the globe politically and religiously, but in God’s sovereignty his purposes to kill all of God’s people will apparently be restricted. So in the immediate contextual relationship we have in the fourth seal the means of killing (apokteinō), with the fifth seal as the resultant killing (apokteinō).

Cyprian (c.200–c.258)

Alan Kurschner - October 2nd, 2011

Cyprian (c.200–c.258)

For you ought to know and to believe, and hold it for certain, that the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the endof the world and the time of Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle; nor consider anything but the glory of life eternal, and the crown of the confession of the Lord; and not regard those things which are coming as being such as were those which have passed away. A severer and a fiercer fight is now threatening, for which the soldiers of Christ ought to prepare themselves with uncorrupted faith and robust courage, considering that they drink the cup of Christ’s blood daily, for the reason that they themselves also may be able to shed their blood for Christ. (Epistle 55, 1)

Nor let any one of you, beloved brethren, be so terrified by the fear of future persecution, or the coming of the threatening Antichrist, as not to be found armed for all things by the evangelical exhortations and precepts, and by the heavenly warnings. Antichrist is coming, but above him comes Christ also. The enemy goeth about and rageth, but immediately the Lord follows to avenge our sufferings and our wounds. The adversary is enraged and threatens, but there is One who can deliver us from his hands. (Epistle 55, 7)