“You are applying pre-trib and mid-trib concepts in a mishmash.”
No, I don’t believe in either. I am challenging you to reconcile your doctrine with what the Bible actually says.
“i.e. in mid-trib. They were not raptured 3.5 years before. They are raptured “in the middle”. Hence the name “mid-trib”. But it’s not really the middle. It is after 3.5 years of tribulation (I see it as “the wrath of satan”) but before the 3.5 years of “wrath of God”.”
Yes, that may be your opinion, but the Bible says that the living and dead believers are all transformed at the same time, when Christ returns, and Revelation tells us Christ returns at the end of the tribulation. So, if the “rapture” happens midway through the tribulation, who are these living believers that the Bible tells us are transformed at the first resurrection when Christ returns?
The rapture is the part of the first resurrection. The "first resurrection" simply means the believers.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Yet you claim that faithful believers will suffer the wrath of God?
Yep. This is why it’s all opinion. But some opinions have more “literal” support in the bible than others. E.g. pre-trib sees the ascending of John in Revelation 4 as a “symbol” of the rapture before the Great Tribulation. Mid-tribbers see it as Revelation 7, where it actually describes vast numbers of people who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
Regarding the “two” returns of Jesus, there are two, sort of. The first is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. But it is not really the “first”. The important thing to note is that Jesus has not really returned to earth yet. When, after we are caught up with him, do we set food with him again on earth? That is debatable.
I used to really get into this subject with people back in the 80’s and 90’s. I really do take the “pan-trib” position now. If I was a betting man I’d bet on Mid-trib, but I wouldn’t bet the house.
The important thing is that it is clear that there WILL be a “rapture” and He WILL return. And the REALLY important thing is that He died and was resurrected as the perfect sacrifice that made my salvation possible.
But the thing is, there is so much