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I came to the Lord through reading Hal Lindseys book "The 1980's, Countdown to Armageddon" in 1980. I became a member of an assemblies of God Church in which I stayed for 18 years. I was also a pre-tribulationist.

A year or so after reading Hal's book, I read a book called something like "Soon Coming World Changing Events as Foretold by God Almighty." This book converted me to mid-tribulationism, which I have been ever since. I was at an assemblies of God church for over 15 years as a "mid-tribulationist." Well, a teacher whom I still have a close relationship with, gave me a white paper he had written on the rapture. I was very excited because I really wanted to believe in Pre- as opposed to Mid- or Post-. Who wouldn't. I was shocked by the preposterous "proofs" he used for support for pre-tribulationism. His document actually convinced me of the falicy of that position even without reading any rebuttals by the other side.

The one that blew me away the most was his using Revelation 4 as the "rapture" when Revelation 7 is far more obvious as an example of people being taken up. But I digress into specifics.

Not ONE of the proofs I've ever seen for pre-tribulationism has been convincing for me. Oh, and about ten years after I read Hal Lindseys book, I read another of his books called "A Walk Through the Holy Land." In it there is a picture of the Upper room. As soon as I saw the picture and noticed the odd "ghostly" shapes in the picture, I recognised it as the result of a common photographic effect where you use a flash coupled with a slow shutter speed and reasonable ambient light to get "partial smearing" of subjects.

Interesting that the shapes looked, if you wanted to stretch, sort of like angels wings and a cross held up. Well, in his caption he said that photo experts had analyzed the photo and could not explain the apparitions. That was a bald faced lie - which is what is going on a lot in religious circles these days, especially regarding eschetology.

We Christians tend to be very gullible when it comes to religious stuff that supports our existing world view of Christianity. I remember hearing in the early seventies that the stones for the new jeruselem where being hewn from rock in Oklahoma and they would begin building the temple "very soon."

Yeah, whatever.

I must stick to the Bible as my source. I am currently teaching a high school Bible study on the book of Revelation. The discussions and questions are amazing. This is the most animated the class has ever been and the different perspectives on the seventy weeks of Daniel, Jesus wrestling with Jacob and Jesus' walking with Adam and all the other stuff is intriguing.

Just some scripture verses to ponder - maybe they are supportive of Pre-trib, maybe not....

I Thessalonians 1:10

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Romans 1:18-3:20 has many mentions of the wrath to come as well as who it is meant for. It strikes me as difficult to believe that the coming wrath (which points clearly to the tribulation period) is meant for believers to experience - particularly the wrath mentioned in the I Thessolonians verse above as well as Romans 5:9, Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 3:36, et al.

The only other definition I can see for Wrath in the New Testament is the coming wrath related to the eternal burning in the lake of fire.

For every arguement against the pre-tribbers, I also have seen just as convincing arguements against mid-trib or post-trib.

To each there own. Will a pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib theology in and of itself prevent one from coming to Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?