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Welcome to
the June, 2006, edition of Strong Tower Publishing's
e-newsletter.
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Prewrath News
* Prewrath Testimonials
* Prewrath Ministry - in India!
* Strong Tower Publishing Title Promotion Continues
PREWRATH NEWS
We have two interesting tidbits to share with you this month.
First, some sad news from Strong Tower Publishing's home
location of State College, PA.
The one and only Christian bookstore in State College has
closed. This is deeply saddening, but not surprising. For the
last several years, the Christian book publishing and retailing
industries have changed dramatically. Christian retailers are
struggling, and many are finding more profitability in music and
gifts than in books. If you've wondered why the shelf space
devoted to books has been shrinking in your local Christian
bookstore, that's why -- and you're favorite bookstore is not
alone. It's endemic to Christian retailing all over the country.
Christian publishers are responding by cutting back their title
lists and focusing on books with the most potential to have top
sales, such as those from top-name authors and those driven by
headline news events.
What does this have to do with prewrath? As Christian book
publishers shrink their title lists, this also means that their
commitment to niche titles is going away. Fortunately, the
self-publishing, subsidy publishing, and co-op publishing
marketplaces are exploding. Many books that would have been
picked up by traditional publishers even a few years ago are now
being published and marketed directly by authors.
This means that, for those of you looking to build your prewrath
libraries, you'll need to keep your ear to the ground. You
aren't likely to see them being marketed through traditional
channels. Look for book reviews, Internet marketing, and
mentions in Internet discussion groups. It's very difficult and
expensive for authors to market their own work, and often, the
Internet and word of mouth are the best tools they have.
So just because a book is self-published or is being marketed
through traditional channels doesn't mean it's not an excellent
book. There is a lot of junk out there, too, so be discerning.
And if you read a terrific book marketed through nontraditional
channels, do the author a favor -- pass the word along and write
a favorable review on Amazon.com or other online bookseller. The
world of book publishing and marketing is changing, and through
your efforts, you can help to keep niche publishing, like
prewrath, alive and well.
Next month, Strong Tower Publishing's “official” list of titles
teaching the prewrath view.
The second bit of news is good news. Strong Tower Publishing's
sales of prewrath titles has doubled on a monthly basis from one
year ago. This month -- September - was the single biggest sales
month ever. Strong Tower Publishing is a small, niche publisher,
and other than the content on its Web site, which is designed to
attract visitors doing Internet searches, we do no marketing. We
rely entirely on word of mouth, so the continued growth of
prewrath titles indicates the commitment of individual readers
to spreading the word about this position. Thank you!
PREWRATH TESTIMONIALS
Recently, we asked for testimonials of how many of you came to
the prewrath position. You responded in droves! In fact, we got
so many wonderful testimonials that we're going to split them
into two newsletters, with another list to come next month. May
they be an inspiration and encouragement to you.
I first heard about the prewrath view in the early 90's when a
friend told me about a new book by Robert Van Kampen called “The
Sign.” I read it and found that what I had accepted previously
from other teachers could potentially be inaccurate. The book
challenged me in a number of ways, primarily highlighting my
lack of thorough study in eschatology. I didn't initially accept
the prewrath view. Rather, I used it to spur me into boxing up
all my study books, tapes, and commentaries, and stowing them
away so that I could focus solely on getting to know the Word of
God and what it said about the topic.
I spent years finding every passage related to the end times,
comparing them, and ordering them by relevance to the topic,
clarity, and whether they offered order and sequence. All this
time, I never read another book on the topic other than the
Bible. Out of all those years, only six or seven passages stood
out above the rest, and I figured if God had something specific
and coherent to say on the subject, then these six or seven
passages must agree. This led me to verify and adopt the
prewrath view.
Some have charged the prewrath view is new, but I've found
similar teachings lately in the commentaries by A. B. Simpson
(1880s), founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance
denomination. Simpson believed in two important distinctions of
the prewrath view -- the sixth seal rapture and the closing of
the 70th “seven” at the seventh trumpet. I've also noticed that
prewrath is perfectly compatible with what the earliest of the
Church fathers taught before the onslaught of idealism and
spiritualistic interpretations.
I hope in the next year or two to have a unique and original
commentary on the book of Revelation, which I'll call
“Revelation's Architecture.”
Cameron Fultz,
Author of “Prophecy's Architecture”
Washington
I was raised in an amil [amillennial] denomination (the
Christian Reformed Church), but attended a Baptist Christian
school for three years, where I heard the pretrib view. Then, in
college, I read "The Late Great Planet Earth" and decided
pretrib was it.
After I got married to an Episcopal girl, we got active in a
rather conservative Episcopal church and I started studying the
Bible and reading commentaries, along with C.S. Lewis. I began
to feel that pretrib didn't quite like up with scripture, but
wasn't sure just how and when to "spiritualize" the texts.
So, I got the NIV on tape and started listening to it during my
long van-pool commute. I became more uncomfortable with pretrib
and started thinking post-trib sounded more correct.
Then I read Marv Rosenthal's book, “The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the
Church,” which made everything fall into place. Since then, I've
read some other pretrib books, including La Haye's commentary
on Revelation, and remain convinced that prewrath is correct.
Dennis K
Lancaster, California
I came to the pre-wrath position independently of studying books
on the subject. I decided to study the end times, and over a
period of time, I came up with an order of events. I then
decided to look into other views on the end times (i.e. pretrib,
posttrib, etc.) and realized that I had come up with the same
order of events as the prewrath view. So I was a prewrather
before I had even heard of the term “prewrath.”
Stephen
I grew up in an independent church that taught that Christ's
return would be imminent. After reading the Olivet Discourse on
one occasion, I remember asking my pastor why he was a
pretribber and his reply was that he saw no logical reason for
the Church to have to endure the "trib." He did not think that
God would allow it. I was uncomfortable with his answer, but I
had -- and still do have -- much respect for him.
I attended a Bible College whose "official" position was also
pretrib, but the theology professor was posttrib. This caused
more confusion on my part, so I shelved this issue for the time
being.
After my wife and I accepted a pastorate in 1994, a parishioner
lent me the book "The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church" by Marvin
Rosenthal. Talk about an eye opener! The clear, logical
presentation and strong commitment to the authority of scripture
clarified the issue for me. I began to study other writings,
both prewrath and other views, but no other view held up.
Therefore, I began to teach the prewrath view in my church,
which has caused some flack with those of the pretrib position.
A few people left the church, but no one has ever convinced me
otherwise.
Dana
I read H. L. Nigro's “Before God's Wrath” and Dave Bussard's
“Who Will Be Left Behind and When?”
Unsigned
In the 1980's my son, then a teenager, and some others of us
were being taught about the end times and the rapture. My son,
who is very logical, kept reading all the pertinent passages and
something didn't sit well with him. He argued with the teacher,
but to no avail. His mother (me), however, knew something was
up.
We then "stumbled" upon Marv Rosenthal's book, “The Pre-Wrath
Rapture of the Church,” which made a lot of sense. Shortly after
that, I became a Precept Upon Precept Bible teacher and decided
that the studies of Daniel and Revelation might be a good thing
to get into inductively, and with the help of God and His Word,
figure this whole thing out. (I was hoping pretrib was correct!)
Even though the lessons had a pretrib bent, God is faithful and
His Word true. It became very clear that prewrath is what the
Lord's apostles, Daniel, and the Lord Himself was teaching. I am
so convinced of this that I have taught Daniel and Revelation
several times, with the majority of students coming to the
prewrath realization by simply looking at the texts together.
I am at this time teaching I Peter. I am convinced that Peter
thought that the people of his time were in the last days and
undergoing "The Great Tribulation." That is why he exhorted
those Christians to stand firm, to persevere in the true grace
of God -- just as John exhorted the churches in Revelation. It
all fits, Old Testament passages included. If only pastors and
teachers would study Revelation and other rapture passages
without a pre-conceived bias, with a heart that wants to know
the truth and is not afraid of what it will find out! The church
is falling asleep and will not be prepared with the Antichrist
is revealed.
Marcia McDougall
California
I came to the prewrath view of the rapture before I had even
heard the term or read a book on the subject. I had grown up in
a traditional fundamentalist Baptist church and had been exposed
primarily to pretrib. I had held this view, but was having a
hard time reconciling a lot of the scriptures that seemed to say
things that did not support it. After a lot of wrestling with
scriptures and thoughts, I just prayed that the Lord would help
me to understand what the truth of the matter was.
Very shortly after this, the passage in Matthew 24 and the
passage in Revelation on the seals seemed to open up to me and I
could see that they were in the same order and were talking
about the same events. I also saw that the fifth seal was the
rapture of the Church and that the wrath of God did not start
until after the rapture. Similarly, the “tribulation” was before
the rapture and that Jesus had said “after the tribulation of
those days” shall they see the sign of the coming of the Son of
Man.
I thought I was the only one in the world that held this view.
It was about 1980 and I was about 20 years old. I considered
myself an “after the trib but before the wrath” person, even
though there was no such terminology. It was a few years after
this that I found the book “The Sign” [by Robert Van Kampen] and
was very excited to see someone else who believed what I did and
who actually made a book out of it. He also covered a lot more
scriptures and tied some other stuff together. I later found
Marv Rosenthal's tapes and book. Now I am finding Internet sites
like this one [Strong Tower Publishing,
www.strongtowerpublishing.com], that are bringing more light on
the subject.
To be honest, there are still times that other views that I have
not heard before will sometimes shake me for a while. But after
I process it again, I come back to this view. There are some
lesser important details of this view that some prewrath people
promote that I do not necessarily agree with. But these minor
points do not affect the basic timetable of the prewrath view.
I also think we need to start looking a lot more seriously at
the Islamic extremists that are spreading their roots throughout
the world. While a lot of people keep looking at Europe for the
future beast system, the real beast system could be forming
right in front of their noses today.
Kirk Larsen
Washington
I began studying Bible prophecy after my health was severely
impaired by a chronic illness. I read the Bible and every
available book on prophecy during the night when I couldn't
sleep and during the day when I couldn't function. I had
completely bought into the pretrib theory. Then I read Marvin
Rosenthal's book on the prewrath rapture. That was about 12
years ago.
During the past few years, when people ask me what I believe, I
direct them to four Scriptures -- Matthew 24:3-31, Daniel 9:27,
Revelation 6:12-17 and 7:9-17. I call it Jesus' timeline to the
rapture, and I encourage believers not to place their hope in
escaping from tribulation. All this is explained more fully in
my "Prophecy Connections" archive at InJesus.com.
May God bless your ministry!
Paula Yingst
San Diego, California
Ten years ago, I didn't have a view concerning the rapture. I
wasn't even aware of the various positions. When I began my
study of eschatology, the materials and resources I had access
to at that time happened to be pretribulational. The more I read
those materials, the more frustrated I had become in my studies,
because I couldn't reconcile some of the things in those
materials with what is clearly revealed in scripture.
Out of desperation, I made a trip to Christian bookstore and was
somehow drawn to a copy of “The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the
Church,” by Marvin Rosenthal. From my initial scanning of the
book, I read things that resonated with my understanding of
scripture. A couple of days later, I learned of Robert Van
Kampen and bought “The Sign.” I read this book from cover to
cover, using my Bible to confirm most of what he said was true.
I have held the prewrath position ever since.
Otto Carroll
Duncanville TX
This wraps up the testimonies for this issue. But if you have a
prewrath testimony and haven't submitted yours yet, there is
still time. Keep those wonderful testimonies coming! We'd
especially love to hear from our fellow prewrathers outside the
United States.
PREWRATH MINISTRY ADDED TO LIST - IN INDIA
We have been blessed to add a prewrath ministry in India to our
prewrath church list:
Bethesda Ministries
1048, 4th, Main, 4th Cross, 4th Block
Brindhavan Nagar, Bangalore 560043
PH. 0091-80-25434456 MOB 09880533626
atmamolly@yahoo.com
STRONG TOWER PUBLISHING 25% OFF PROMOTION CONTINUES
Strong Tower Publishing is continuing its promotion offering a
25% discount on the purchase of two titles or more, offered to
subscribers of this newsletter. To receive the discount, you may
either send payment via PayPal to strongtowerpubs@aol.com or use
Strong Tower Publishing's snail mail address of P. O. Box 973,
Milesburg, PA 16853. The “Buy Now” buttons on the Web site will
not reflect the discount.
Choose from:
* "The Hope of Christ's Second Coming: How Is It Taught in
Scripture? And Why?" by Samuel P. Tregelles, Ltd.
http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/Hope_Christ_Coming.htm
* "Know Therefore and Understand: A Biblical Explication of the
First 69 Weeks of Daniel 9," by T. T. Schlegel. http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/knowtherefore.htm
* "Prophecy's Architecture: How to Determine an End-Times
Doctrine," by Cameron Fultz. http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/architecture.htm
* "Who Will Be Left Behind and When?" by Dave Bussard. http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/leftbehind.htm
* "Before God's Wrath: The Bible's Answer to the Timing of the
Rapture," by H. L. Nigro. http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/before.htm
* "Antes de la Ira de Dios," the Spanish translation to "Before
God's Wrath," by. H. L. Nigro. http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/before-spanish.htm
* "Touching the Soul," a collection of poetry by R. g. Wallace.
http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/touchingsoul.htm
* "Do You Really Want to Self-Publish Your Book?" by H. L. Nigro.
http://www.strongtowerpublishing.com/self-publish.htm
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