Dr. Thomas R. Steele says,
In seminary we used the book “Things to Come” by Dwight J. Pentecost which, of course, is a very negative approach for attempting to prove the pre-trib rapture by supposedly disproving all other positions. The only problem with the book was that the author never attempted to prove that the Bible taught the pre-trib rapture. That started my journey of ignorance and frustration. Yet, I never had peace about being pre-trib because I simply kept studying the Scripture. The more I studied, the more unanswerable questions arose out of my studies.
When I approached those who were supposed to be the authorities on the subject, they couldn’t give me answers. One question I asked was this: “If 1 Corinthians 15:52 is the last trump, then how can it be at the beginning of the week?” The answer I received was that this is the last trump of a series of trumps that we know nothing about. My response was, “Who gives you the authority to add to the scripture like that?”
After nearly 15 years of frustration, I was challenged by a pre-wrath person to prove the pre-trib position with scripture. With tears of frustration, I told him that I couldn’t and that I know that God wrote the entire Bible so that we can understand it and why couldn’t I understand the book of Revelation for myself? He told me that as long as I was trying to prove the improvable, that I would never understand Revelation. He then told me to study the end times without any presumptions and the rapture will become obvious. Upon taking his challenge, the truth became evident and I fully understood end time events. I had tasted the book that was bitter to the stomach and sweet to the lips. (Rev. 10:9) I soon began to understand the promises of protection and preservation.
Several years later, someone told me about Van Kampen’s books and it was with joy that I was reading exactly what the Holy Spirit had shown me in the scriptures. So far, I have challenged at least 6 pre-trib friends to prove the pre-trib position and all of them have become pre-wrath because they are fellow students of the Word.
