The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church

by Marvin Rosenthal

Some believe Jesus could rapture the church at any moment; others say He won't until the middle of the Tribulation; still others place the Rapture at the end of the Tribulation. Are any of them right-or does the Bible teach something else?

Genres: Theology, Christian

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the pre-wrath (as opposed to pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib) position persuasive when I first read this book decades ago, and coming back to it years later still do. But putting that aside, I'm startled by how much the evangelical church has changed since this was written back in 1990. This book felt less sophisticated and worldly, but more analytically rigorous than modern publishing and teaching for laypeople.

[Rachel Grepke · Rating 4 out of 5]

You always have to go into books of this nature with caution and prayer. The Word of God is always what takes first place. That being said, this book is one of the first that I have read that not only explains his position, but also other positions and why they differ. He citied Biblical and historical usage for his evidence and made understanding claims. I came into this book with a post tribulation theory (which I came to on my own). But this book gave me much to ponder about. Grateful to have read it. Now back to the Scriptures and prayer:-)

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough book to rate. Not a particularly easy read not that it should be but the concepts are somewhat esoteric and without prior deep familiarity with various subjects can be highly confusing. His primary 'target' is the concept of a 'Rapture' of the church (a term that was extrapolated from the Greek word for 'caught up', 1 Thessalonians 4:17) that occurs during the so-called Pre-Tribulation period. This has of course become a wildly popular position of various fundamentalist Christian preachers reaching it's apex in the 'Left Behind' series. He does explain the rather recent roots of 'Pre-Trib' (and 'Mid-Trib' and 'Post-Trib' theories) dating only back to the 1800s, primarily due to a guy named John Darby who founded the doctrine of 'Dispensationalism'. You can read about him and the 'genesis' of his ideas elsewhere. If you come into this book with a fairly open mind there is a lot to learn about these theories and he provides many nice charts that provide the various 'timelines' and components of the competing ideas. Concepts and ideas such as Daniel's 70th Week, the Antichrist, the Seven Seals, The Six Trumpets, The Two Witnesses, Tribulation, Great Tribulation, The Day of the Lord, Day of God's Wrath, Abomination of Desolation, Cosmic Disturbances, Coming of Elijah and more. Most these terms are from the Book of Revelation and would highly recommend a full reading of that rather amazing work before undertaking anything like this book. I would say the he pretty much achieves his goal of demolishing the Pre-Trib Rapture theory with all his supporting charts and long, often convoluted arguments, a conclusion with which I have no problem. In fact, that whole theory seems to demand that Christ has to return twice, an idea to which I do not subscribe. However I am not sold either on his own position of a 'Pre-Wrath' Rapture which he demands must occur just before the 'Day of the Lord' and well after the 'Beginning of Sorrows' and halfway into the 'Great Tribulation'. But it does seems to have far more 'logical' Biblical support than the other positions. If you have to ask, then you might want to read this book, or not!

A real problem with the book as whole for me is that he wants to 'literally' interpret the Bible to provide unassailable answers except where that is inconvenient or actually impossible then it is on to grammatical interpretations (you get to learn all about the Ancient Greek 'aorist' tense), allegory or symbolism where necessary to carry the day. And all of the many recent purveyors Rapture eschatology are in the same boat, as he points out repeatedly. There are often wildly varying interpretations of scripture passages among the many Bible 'scholars' he cites. In the end it may leave an average reader (i.e. myself) confused at best or perhaps even dismissive. He also ignores for the most part entire swaths of Christianity (with the usual swipe at the Catholic Church) that reject any of the attempts to use the Bible as some sort of predictor of current events. Obviously many have tried that in the past 2,000 years with minimal success to my knowledge. The Second Coming of Christ is either going to come as a 'thief in the night' (2 Peter 3:10) or with all the clamor and devastation claimed in these theological interpretations. Or something in-between. After all this I still tend to lean on Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only". The argument is that there will be signs and we should not ignore those but ultimately I get the impression that no one 'down here' does in fact have a good idea. 2.5 stars rounded up for at least forcing me to read or re-read many passages in the Bible.

[Daniel Prohaska · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not as good as Robert Van Kampen's book "The Sign," which is a systematic theological study on the same topic. Rosenthal's book is good, but its quality is overshadowed by the defensive nature with which it is written because of the circumstances of Rosenthal's departure from the Friends of Israel ministry. That defensiveness sets a more casual tone to this book which may make it more accessible to a broader audience, but which I believe decreases its overall quality as a theological work. I would recommend Van Kampen's book first as a more comprehensive and polished treatment of the same subject.

[Mike Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Stops one step short. A missing 21 months. Where is the Church from the time of the beginning of the 6th seal for 21 months? https://whitestone2014908134937.wordp...

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "orthodox" church has turned much of the Bible into a collection of allegories and metaphors. It's amazing the things you discover when you just accept the words as they are written, except when simple logic demands otherwise.

[Sharon Zink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in the '90's and thought it was great. I do not think that any more. Rosenthal's theory is full of holes, in my opinion.

[Michael Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biblical study of eschatology explaining the pre-wrath view of the rapture. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in studying end times events.