Prophecy Pitfall #1 -- Pretrib Rapture While I have fallen for most of the traps listed so far, I have never believed in a pretrib rapture. Why not? Because early on I had the blessing of being shown the real end time escape plan of God in the Bible that Jesus advised us to seek to avoid the disasters coming first upon all of us (Lk 21:34-36). It is literally all over the place in the Bible--if you look. Yet, as with so many true doctrines in the Bible, it is easy to miss it until someone shows you by bringing all the verses together on the subject. And there are many verses telling us we will be here for the 1260-day/42 month/3.5 year tribulation and must flee to a certain place on earth to survive it (Rev 12:14; Mt 24:15-20). Unfortunately, if you already believe in a counterfeit pretrib rapture escape plan, you are much less likely to look for and see the real one. When you examine the evidence offered for both plans, there really is no comparison. Knowing the real McCoy intimately allows you to spot a counterfeit easily. As a matter of fact, training to spot counterfeit money is primarily done not through studying examples of counterfeits, but through learning to identify the properties of real money first. So what stunning heretofore unheard of proofs do I offer to debunk all the pretrib rapture arguments out there? None are necessary. I maintain that the pretrib arguments are weak because they depend upon allegorization, types and shadows, typology, and private retranslation (read: torturing) of the Greek. If you stick to the same literal interpretation approach that Jesus used and taught (John 10:35) you will dismantle them all. Just read the many verses in good modern translations (e.g., ESV, HCSB) for what they plainly say and don't feel pressured to accept what even pretrib scholars say they should say. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have confidence in your ability to think rather than doubt yourself when you come to a different conclusion than the experts. Also, remember that the Bible was not written so that we must depend on scholars, pastors, or teachers to tell us what it means. It was written for the common man who with patience and clear thinking can piece together the puzzle that Bible prophecy is. Trust your own ability to come to the truth and do not doubt yourself in the face of peer pressure and you will see the rapture "after the Tribulation of those days" where Jesus placed it (Mt 24:29-31; Mk 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28) or "at the last trump" of the "seven trumpets" just where you would expect it to be. And here's another helpful hint. Do not focus on side arguments such as "Jesus would never put his bride through the tribulation" or "the church is not mentioned from Revelation 4 through 19". Although there are good answers to all of them if you look (e.g., "we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God" - Acts 13:22), the only way to get to the truth on the rapture is to focus on the rapture prophecies themselves in Daniel, Revelation, the Olivet Discourse, Paul's letters, etc. and piece them together. You may not have noticed, but those who teach a pretrib rapture have very little to say on what follows the rapture that so many prophecies deal with. Obviously, when you think you will not be here for what prophecy describes, you have little motivation to do the work needed to figure a puzzle like that out. Also having a wrong key assumption throws off all further conclusions making success impossible. For these reasons, I cannot overemphasize how critical it is to get your rapture timing correct if you want to understand Bible prophecy! It is easy to come up with a prophecy theory that seems right if you ignore most of the prophecies it must fit alongside. On the other hand, volumes of arguments to prove the rapture timing are unneeded when you address all the prophecies in a comprehensive timeline. In fact, although my book does not contain even one paragraph dedicated to debunking the pretrib rapture, readers come away changing their mind abut the pretrib rapture they were taught. (I just had a reader call me to say my book changed his life who pointed out it also changed his mind on the pretrib rapture.) This happens because the entire book shows how the prophecies fit together only one way, like an interlocking puzzle, leaving only one place for the rapture to fit: post-trib/pre-wrath. (BTW, either term works since the rapture comes immediately after the tribulation on Tishrei 1 which is also the day the wrath of God begins according to Jesus -www.escapeallthesethings.com/days-noah-one-taken-left.htm). In conclusion, as you can tell, understanding Bible prophecy is not easy and requires we believe in our thinking ability and learn to think critically for ourselves. Of course, nothing worthwhile is easy or effortless, and few things are more worthy of our time than understanding all of God's word with its promises to let us know the future and to bless us right now. The good news is now it is possible to understand end time prophecy (Dan 12:10) and there are a few people who have attained this that are teaching others. Speaking as someone who has done so and who through my book and website has also helped thousands of people to do the same, I offer you my help in learning and following the entire Bible as Jesus stated (Lk 8:21). I hope this article has encouraged you to see this and go after it yourself. That concludes the seven major pitfalls of prophecy to watch out for. If you study these problems and take the lessons to heart, you can avoid a lot of deception out there and make great inroads towards understanding Revelation and Daniel properly. If you have enjoyed what you have learned and want to short-cut your path towards understanding what Jesus said his servants were to understand in Rev 1:1, then I strongly urge you to consider reading my book, Know the Future. I have put all the lessons I have learned in my lifelong pursuit of God's word. You will still need to look up the verses and prove what I say is correct for yourself like a good Berean (Act 17:11), but you can do that in a short time compared to the years it took me to consider every theory out there and piece the puzzle together. To learn more about what is in my book and to get your own copy instantly delivered by email while your softcover is sent in the regular mail, click here.Tim McHyde Author of Know the Future www.EscapeAllTheseThings.comPO Box 120-2070, Sabanilla, San Jose 2070, COSTA RICA701-205-4168