WOW was I shocked...,Ok, not the way you think. Unless I find more "obvious" discredit of a position of Rapture, I can quote some very staunch Pre-trib people who would also warn people they will go thru tribulation while at the same time tell them they CAN AVOID the Great Tribulation....
BUT , since it was 1975....LOL...and I was around then and some want this letter as a Proof text I will let the reader decide if this polite or pointed proofs....
1975
(I received this letter in March of 1975. In light of the recent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, one wonders if American Christians are as unprepared for big-time trouble as the Chinese Christians were when Communism conquered China a half-century ago.)
Dear Dave:
Thank you for your letter of January 22nd. We were out of the country at the time and I am still finding letters on my desk that have not been answered.
And thank you for the copy of your book, "Late Great Pre-Trib Rapture".
The news from around the world of Christians suffering unbelievably is bound to make a "pre-tribber" do some serious thinking. Of course, I am sure they would say that the tribulation they have undergone is nothing to be compared with the "great tribulation" and they may be right. However, I would rather prepare myself to go through the tribulation and be happily surprised by an unexpected rapture, than expect to be raptured only to find myself going through tribulation. Perhaps not a very scholarly way of approaching the problem, but true none the less.
I was talking recently with an elderly missionary from China who told me that her greatest regrets now are not having prepared the Chinese Christians for the tribulation they would undergo. She said in her years in China she went everywhere teaching the pre-tribulation rapture and getting Christians to believe that they would not have to suffer for the Lord in that sense. The "great tribulation" may absolutely stagger the imagination, but still there is only so much one person can suffer.
Anyway, thank you for your thought provoking book. I shall see that it gets into Bill's hands. I'm sure it's going to do a lot of good. Thanks for writing it.
Cordially,
Ruth B. Graham
------------
2009
This year, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will focus on the return of Jesus Christ and help prepare believers for life in the last days, according to a recent announcement.
"People ask me, 'Do you really believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth again?'" writes the Rev. Billy Graham in one of the several resources that the ministry is providing on the End Times.
"Yes, I do," he continues. "The Bible teaches that Jesus is coming again. And I don't see any other hope, because we're heading toward a catastrophe in our world."
As part of its effort, the ministry has compiled a number of End Times resources including a message delivered by Graham in 1998, a 2008 message from BGEA president and CEO Franklin Graham, an article adapted from a message delivered by Anne Graham Lotz in 1996, an End Times article on the basics of the Second Coming, and a couple of Q&As with Billy Graham that includes a question on whether the world will end in 2009.
"The most important question, however, is this: Are you ready for Christ's return?" Graham writes after offering his response.
-------------------
Making A Case based on anything outside of Bible is foolish:
Inside Bible two things you are told to do:
If God as assured you You will not be here for the Great Tribulation, Whether in death, Life, Rapture, Natsal, or walking away into heaven with Jesus as Enoch, You go with God.
NO ONE determines What God himself is saying to you, except the Spirit of God, and to that self same Spirit I committ your safe keeping and knowledge of the facts in Scripture, as well as your personal relationship to Jesus.
In these two posts above, I can't say about Mrs Graham in 1975 but I can about Billy Graham in 2009
Thank you for your letter of January 22nd. We were out of the country at the time and I am still finding letters on my desk that have not been answered.
And thank you for the copy of your book, "Late Great Pre-Trib Rapture".
The news from around the world of Christians suffering unbelievably is bound to make a "pre-tribber" do some serious thinking. Of course, I am sure they would say that the tribulation they have undergone is nothing to be compared with the "great tribulation" and they may be right. However, I would rather prepare myself to go through the tribulation and be happily surprised by an unexpected rapture, than expect to be raptured only to find myself going through tribulation. Perhaps not a very scholarly way of approaching the problem, but true none the less.
I was talking recently with an elderly missionary from China who told me that her greatest regrets now are not having prepared the Chinese Christians for the tribulation they would undergo. She said in her years in China she went everywhere teaching the pre-tribulation rapture and getting Christians to believe that they would not have to suffer for the Lord in that sense. The "great tribulation" may absolutely stagger the imagination, but still there is only so much one person can suffer.
Anyway, thank you for your thought provoking book. I shall see that it gets into Bill's hands. I'm sure it's going to do a lot of good. Thanks for writing it.
Cordially,
Ruth B. Graham
------------
Billy Graham Association Makes ‘End Times’ a Focus in 2009 - Feb. 6
February 06, 2009 06:54 PM EST
views: 38 | rating: 10/10 (4 votes) | comments: 10 This year, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will focus on the return of Jesus Christ and help prepare believers for life in the last days, according to a recent announcement.
"People ask me, 'Do you really believe that Jesus Christ is going to come back to this earth again?'" writes the Rev. Billy Graham in one of the several resources that the ministry is providing on the End Times.
"Yes, I do," he continues. "The Bible teaches that Jesus is coming again. And I don't see any other hope, because we're heading toward a catastrophe in our world."
As part of its effort, the ministry has compiled a number of End Times resources including a message delivered by Graham in 1998, a 2008 message from BGEA president and CEO Franklin Graham, an article adapted from a message delivered by Anne Graham Lotz in 1996, an End Times article on the basics of the Second Coming, and a couple of Q&As with Billy Graham that includes a question on whether the world will end in 2009.
"The most important question, however, is this: Are you ready for Christ's return?" Graham writes after offering his response.
-------------------
Making A Case based on anything outside of Bible is foolish:
Inside Bible two things you are told to do:
- Watch and Be ready
- What God tell you to do that you should do.
If God as assured you You will not be here for the Great Tribulation, Whether in death, Life, Rapture, Natsal, or walking away into heaven with Jesus as Enoch, You go with God.
NO ONE determines What God himself is saying to you, except the Spirit of God, and to that self same Spirit I committ your safe keeping and knowledge of the facts in Scripture, as well as your personal relationship to Jesus.
In these two posts above, I can't say about Mrs Graham in 1975 but I can about Billy Graham in 2009
