Matt 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.Does this have to happen before the rapture?
I believe it happens before Revelation 7, yes.
Keep in mind, I’ve shifted my position on this a LOT since I first started studying it in 1981.
Probably the biggest shift is that I’ve gone from KNOWING my position is right, to seeing it as something no man can know. Fortunately, I see it not as my primary belief, but as a backdrop to it - A sort of background noise.
I was talking to a music director at a large church in Louisville a while back. It was a church where many members were also teachers and professors at a local Christian university. The subject was about all the pastors in the small churches where I now live being so absolutely sure of doctrine that I don’t believe they can support, nor do they try to.
His comment was that you don’t see a lot of that at his church. He said he’s found that, regarding “controversial” Christian issues, the more a person knows about the word of God, the less sure they are of their position. Not in every case, of course, but generally speaking.
I had to finally end it with a member here that was spouting his opinion as though his was the word of God and mine wasn’t, even though both of us were getting our opinions from His word, and I can only assume, prayerfully so.
I no longer suffer such arguments for long.