Welcome to the January 2008 edition of Strong Tower Publishing's
e-newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE:
* New Title! First Scholarly Defense of Prewrath, by Dr. Charles
Cooper
* New Title! New Look at the Great Winepress
* Strong Tower Publishing Continues 30% Zero Inventory Discount
* Prewrath Supplants Mid-Trib in Zondervan Book
* Prewrath Church Additions
* Responses to Reader Questions
NEW TITLE: GOD'S ELECT AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION
God's Elect and the Great Tribulation: An Interpretation
of Matthew 24:1-31 and Daniel 9, by Dr. Charles Cooper. 310
pages. $19.95. 6x9 format.
This is the first scholarly defense of the pillars of the
prewrath position put forth by Dr. Charles Cooper, founder of
the Prewrath Institute and one of the position's most
well-respected lecturers. This is a must-read for any professor,
lay teacher, or serious student of the end times.
The first section of the book deals in-depth with the issue,
"Does Matthew 24:1-31 apply to the Church?" Cooper examines what
can be learned both from the text and from the writings of the
church fathers. On the issue of text, he looks at language,
culture, book composition, authorship of the gospel of Matthew,
and much more. On the issue of Daniel 9, he looks at issues
related to times, event dating, and language, ultimately putting
forth an unexpected interpretation of the fulfillment of the
69th Week.
This book has four goals: (1) to support the prewrath position
in its conclusion that insisting on a sharp distinction between
God's work in Israel and His work in the church is a false
presupposition that directly contradicts scripture; (2) to
support the prewrath position in its conclusion that Matthew
24:1-31 does apply to the church; (3) to set forth a clear
biblical exposition of Matthew 24:1-31 and (4) to correct the
false and misleading conclusions about both the timing and
fulfillment of Daniel 9:24-27.
For more information: www.strongtowerpublishing.com/gods_elect_and_great_tribulation.htm
NEW TITLE! NEW LOOK A THE GREAT WINEPRESS
The Great Winepress Is Not Armageddon, by Mo
Dardinger. 112 pages. $12.95. Sold in conjunction with Sixth
Seal Ministries.
For centuries, men and women have struggled to weave together
the different strands of prophecy that Dardinger, founder of
Sixth Seal Ministries, believes belong to the Great Winepress
tapestry. Biblical passages interpreted by Dardinger as
belonging to the Great Winepress conflict have been variously
identified as describing the battle of Armageddon, an overview
of the seven bowl judgments, the Sheep and Goats Judgment, and a
failed attack by an Assyrian king.
In the pages of this booklet, however, Dardinger argues that
they are none of the above but are a distinct attack against
God's holy city Jerusalem during the time of Jacob's trouble,
since the Lord will rescue Jacob (Israel) out of this time of
trouble in the end (Jer. 30:7-9). Yet it is this very time of
intense trouble that finally drives Israel to cry out to for
rescue by the Messiah she has so long rejected, the Lord Yeshua
(Jesus). God's plan works, and the Jewish people say, as
predicted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Hos.
5:15, Matt. 23:39).
The Great Winepress, Dardinger concludes, signals the reception
of the Lord's anointed as the King of the Jews, and it proves
God's faithfulness to His besieged and downtrodden people. What
their enemies meant for evil, their divine Protector means for
their eternal good.
For more information: www.strongtowerpublishing.com/winepress_is_not_armageddon.htm
PREWRATH SUPPLANTS MID-TRIB IN ZONDERVAN BOOK
Could “prewrath” soon be a household name in Christian
homes? It will if Zondervan has its way. At the Prewrath
Conference, hosted by Dr. Charles Cooper of the Prewrath
Institute (held January 10-12), Marvin Rosenthal, founder of
Zion's Hope and author of The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church,
announced in his keynote address that Zondervan has contacted
him about doing a book on three views of the rapture. As many
rapture aficionados know, Zondervan's Three Views on the
Rapture is already enormously popular, but the publishing
house now believes that the prewrath view has surpassed the mid-trib
and plans to publish a new book on the three views of the
rapture: pretrib, prewrath, and post-trib. This is a significant
development that all prewrathers should watch.
NEW PREWRATH CHURCHES ADDED TO THE LIST
Hope Bible Church of Tampa
5706 N. Hesperides Street
Tampa, FL 33614-5418
(813) 968-6699
Pastor Steve Hogan
Harvest Church of West Orlando
Lake Whitney Elementary School
1351 Windermere Road
Winter Garden, FL 34787
www.harvestfl.org
info@harvestfl.org
STRONG TOWER PUBLISHING CONTINUES 30% ZERO INVENTORY DISCOUNT
Strong Tower Publishing is still looking to finish “zeroing out”
its inventory in order to move fully to a zero-inventory model
(all books are printed as they are ordered and shipped directly
from the printer). Before God's Wrath, God's Elect and
the Great Tribulation, and Know Therefore and Understand
are already at zero inventory. To clean off the rest of the
shelves, we are continuing to offer a 30% discount on remaining
titles, including:
Who Will Be Left Behind and When? http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/leftbehind.htm
Prophecy's Architecture: How to Build an End-Times Doctrine http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/architecture.htm
Touching the Soul, a book of poetry by prewrath pastor R.
g. Wallace
http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/touchingsoul.htm
Antes de la Ira de Dios, the Spanish translation of
“Before God's Wrath”
http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/before-spanish.htm
The Hope of Christ's Second Coming: How Is It Taught in
Scripture and Why? (19th century classic by Samuel P.
Tregelles)
http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/Hope_Christ_Coming.htm
This discount will not be reflected on the Strong Tower
Publishing website and the number of copies is limited. Already,
two titles are completely out of stock. If you would like to
take advantage of this offer, please contact Strong Tower
Publishing directly at strongtowerpubs@aol.com to reserve your
copies and make shipping and payment arrangements.
RESPONSES TO READER QUESTIONS
Q: A friend of mine has shown me the following scripture
which she uses to support the pre-trib position: "Let the saints
be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the
high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in
their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments
on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their
nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the
written judgment--This honor have all His saints” (Ps 149:5-9).
Specifically, she uses this to say that the armies mentioned in
Revelation 19:11 are the saints (raptured Church) coming with
the Lord at Armageddon. Can you comment?
A: This is an argument commonly used by the pretrib
position, but it is really based on a very superficial
interpretation of the scripture. This is addressed in Before
God's Wrath (p. 208), so rather than reinvent the wheel,
I'll excerpt it below:
Coming With All His Saints
There is another seeming paradox that pretrib proponents
raise when it is suggested that Jesus' one and only bodily
return occurs after the opening of the sixth seal. In 1 Thess.
3:16-17, one of the clearest and most detailed passages on the
rapture in the New Testament, Paul writes that Jesus will come
“with all His saints.” If He is coming to take us in the
rapture, they ask, how can He be coming with believers?
In Zion's Fire, Rosenthal gives a concise answer to this
question:
Much of the criticism came over my comment concerning the
Pauline expression “with all his saints.” I stated that the word
“saints” in 1 Thess. 3:13 was not referring to believers, but
rather to angelic beings; that at Christ's second coming, He
would not be accompanied by the raptured and glorified Church,
as many teach, but by a great angelic army. I expressed my view
of the text this way: “Paul wrote these words to the
Thessalonians: 'To the end he may establish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the
coming [parousia] of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints'”
(1 Th. 3:13). Then I went on to say: “Saints in this verse is an
unfortunate and inappropriate translation. 'Saints' in this
verse does not refer to believers. The Greek word hagios should
be translated 'holy ones' and is a reference to angelic beings.
These angelic beings will accompany Christ at His coming [parousia]”
(cf. Matt. 25:31, 2 Th. 1:7-8; Rev. 19:14).
Further evidence is found when you consider that Rev. 19:14
elaborates on this return by saying that Jesus will come with
His armies on white horses with “fine linen, white and clean.”
Among the pretrib camp, the assumption is made that these armies
are the Church because Rev. 19:8 describes the saints as being
given linen that is “clean and white.” However, the saints are
not the only ones wearing clean, white linen. God's holy angels
wear clean, white linen, too:
…and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the
temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around
their breasts with golden girdles.” (Rev. 15:6)
Considering this evidence, along with the fact that the Church
is never identified as the army of God -- indeed, this is a term
reserved exclusively for angels (the word “hosts,” the term that
is often used, implies military ranks) -- the “armies” seen in
Rev. 19:14 must be angels, not the Church.
This is, in fact, exactly what Paul tells us in 2 Thess. 1:7-8.
In this passage, he explains that this host at Armageddon is
comprised of angels, coming with Christ to deal out retribution:
Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation
those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest
with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His
mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do
not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 1:6-8)
Q: I live in British Columbia, and we are planning to
move to Ontario. Do you know approximately how many believe this
view? Do you know of any groups that are joining together to
study this in Ontario? Also, I noticed you have a discussion
group on the Internet and would love to have the address so I
can join.
A: We don't really know how many people hold to the
prewrath view. Prewrathers are a bit of a disorganized group
(although the Prewrath Resource Institute is trying to change
that), but the numbers are growing rapidly. I know that Marvin
Rosenthal sold over 100,000 copies of his Pre-Wrath Rapture
of the Church, and Van Kampen has sold as many, I believe,
as well. That spurred a larger movement that, today, has
mushroomed. Last year, Zondervan even re-released The
Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, which had gone out of
print.
The challenge is that a lot of people previously held to the
prewrath view because it was the common-sense reading of the
scriptures, but there wasn't a name for their view and they
didn't know that there were others with the same views. Only
with the publication of Rosenthal's book in 1990 was a name
first put to this timing that so many people have already held
for so long. Now, it's a matter of educating believers about
prewrath and of letting believers who already hold to this
timing know that they are not alone, and that this timing has a
name.
The other challenge is that traditional Christian publishing has
largely lost interest in the rapture debate, so they are not
releasing as many books on this topic as they were. It's now up
to smaller, niche publishers like Strong Tower Publishing and
self-published authors (such as Dr. R. Gnanaharan, Don Salerno,
Roy Reinholds, and Richard Suchy). Among these, the marketing
budgets are small, so it's much harder to reach people on a mass
scale. The prewrath view is growing, now, largely by word of
mouth, Internet searches, and the like.
There are small study groups springing up, but again, there is
not an organized movement. It's mostly individual believers
starting study groups in their own churches.
There is a new ministry, The Prewrath Resource Institute, which
is run by Charles Cooper (www.prewrathrapture.org). This
ministry is doing seminars, conferences, teaching, and otherwise
spreading the word about this view, so it might be a resource to
check out. In fact, its annual Prewrath Conference, held in
Orlando, FL, just concluded.
The address for the discussion group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/prewrathonly/.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Q: I have learned about the prewrath rapture from the
teachings of Jacob Prasch. He mostly believes the same as you
do. It seems to be the most biblical and logical view for me as
well, but I'm a bit uncertain about Israel's salvation, “where
they look upon Him whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12). Where
does it fit into the picture?
Plus, if the rapture and Second Coming is the same event, how
and when do all Israel who are alive at that time see Him and
realize that He was/is the promised Messiah? When will they see
Him? After the rapture? (and if so, at what stage?) Or at the
same time? When will Jesus put His feet on the Mount of Olives?
Your help will be greatly appreciated.
A: According to the prewrath view, it seems that this is
not a one-time event, but something that occurs over time. It
begins with the 144,000 as the firstfruits, as seen in
Revelation 7, and then continues until its completion at the end
of the 70th Week.
It is clear that there will be great persecution of Israel
during the last 3 1/2 months and, by the end of that time
period, all of the Israelites who survive will know the Lord.
There is a scripture in Zechariah (can't think of the reference
off the top of my head) that talks about Israel going through
the fire, with two-third perishing and one-third enduring.
So it may be that two-thirds of the Jews who are alive at the
beginning of the Great Tribulation will not survive, but that
one-third (the faithful remnant) will make it through, accepting
Christ as Messiah, and entering the Millennium as believers.
This is the standard prewrath interpretation of these events.
As for your question as to whether when will we see Jesus --
after the rapture or at the same time -- when Christ appears in
the sky, He will take with Him only those who are believers
before His appearance. Thus, according to the standard prewrath
position, any of unbelieving Israel who see Him will mourn
because they have not believed -- it will be too late for them
to be taken in the rapture -- but if they believe at the moment
of His appearance, they will enter the Day of the Lord as
believers. Likewise, any who become believers during the Day of
the Lord. Their souls will be saved, but saved as though by
fire. Whether all of the Jews who become believers during the
DOL will physically survive the DOL isn't made clear.
When will Jesus put His feet on the Mount of Olives? The classic
prewrath interpretation sees the seals, trumpets, and bowls of
Revelation as consecutive. While not all events in Revelation
are consecutive (it contains flashbacks and other literary
devices), a literal reading of the book seems to place
Revelation 14:1 ff. in the middle of the Day of the Lord. Thus,
it seems to indicate that Jesus will be physically present
during that time. He not only appears to rapture the Church, but
comes and stays (parousia) to administer His judgment. This is
but one illustration of that physical presence.
I you would like additional input or more details, I invite you
to do one of two things. First, Before God's Wrath
contains very detailed explanations of all of these positions,
including three dozen or so charts to make them crystal clear (I
believe Amazon.com ships internationally). I also recommend
Prewrath Only forum on Yahoo, which is a place of fellowship for
prewrath believers to discuss the prewrath rapture (or for
people to ask questions about the prewrath rapture), so you are
welcome to take any additional questions there. There is a
terrific core group of members who would be more than happy to
dive into the details with you.
