Tribulation vs. Tribulation

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17  (ESV)

    "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of GOD. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.


The Lord gave me this today and I told Him I really didn't want to share this because of the controversy with pre-tribs, mid-tribs, and post-tribs. And some people are getting absolutely militant and confrontational about it. Personally, I believe that we are to be about our Father's business until He takes us home, whenever that is. Believers and especially Jews, throughout time have been severely persecuted and martyred with no fleshly protection. They counted it all joy to go home to spend eternity with their Lord and GOD.

We live in a generation of self-pleasers. You got a little cut on your hand? Let's get to the doctor right now.  Terminal cancer? Then where is your GOD? Why would He let you suffer like that? There is a time to be born, (which is not painless by the way) and a time to die.  No matter how hard you fight it, we all have a 100% chance of getting out of here dead. Yet the appeal of pre-tribulation theories is the escape from suffering. So also with the mid-tribs. I've heard pastors actually say that it is unbiblical to believe in a post tribulation. And then they go on with a great many scriptures to back up their position.

I don't know.  I'm not a bible scholar.  I do study the Bible. I love to read and really dig into it especially if I have a question. I was raised catholic and left that denomination because of that. I don't follow blindly.

Here are my questions:
   1.  Are we better than the first Christians who were brutally martyred for their faith?
   2.  Are we better than the valiant warriors of old who fought and died for the early establishment of the Hebrew people?
   3.  Why would the Lord go to the trouble to tell us that we would have tribulations but not to worry?
   4. Are we any better than the millions of Jews that died at Hitlers hands?
   5.  Are we all such great evangelists that we have somehow earned a 'free ride' pass?  Jesus even said that all the prophets were killed because the people didn't like the messages and so rejected them.

I don't know, but I think the answer is 'No'.

You see, people get life all mixed up with life here.  This world, this flesh, is temporary. The spiritual world is eternal, and therefore the reality. We are spiritual beings living in temporary tents that one day we will take off and live with our Lord forever.

I believe our jobs here on this earth are to minister to the sick, to help the poor, to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, to care for the orphans and widows, visit the prisoners, to preach the gospel to every creature, to live at peace as best we can but to always be ready to give a reason for the hope we are called to and die with Jesus on our lips.

I believe that these end times will see the body of Christ rise up and do just that during the hard times ahead.  There is going to be a great time of saving people who otherwise would die in their sins if they had not seen the love of Christ in action.  I see believers living in the secret place of comfort and protection of GOD on earth while they live and work for His kingdom as stated in Psalm 91. I see them ministering to the ill with no worries because Psalm 91:7 says, “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you”.

I see miracles performed, people healed, the dead raised, the Word being lived out, and multitudes coming to Christ!  It is not GOD's will for ANYONE to perish.

But for that to happen, there has to be the Holy Spirit here working through His people. We need to be here until the end.  Read this scripture from Jesus's own words in Mathew and compare it to 1 Thessalonians and see that the trumpet of GOD sends the angels at the time of the physical return of Christ after the tribulation.


Matthew 24:29-31  (NKJV)
The Coming of the Son of Man

    “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See, this is what worries me. That pastors are not preparing the Body of Christ for hard times of any kind. And that individual members have not counted the cost and have no idea what it means to ‘carry your cross’.  When hard times come:  “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.” Mark 4:16-17  I see many who have been promised a pre-tribulation rapture who are going to say, "Just where is this GOD you told me about? I guess I'm not saved, I didn't get raptured. If GOD is good, why are we here?"

They lose their faith.

I know I have been knocked down a couple of times and if it was not for my faith and trust in Jesus I very well could have lost it too.  Life is tough, and this is a spiritual war, we need to prepare the Body of Christ for what the battle is and how to fight it and what the Christian walk is every day right now.  They don't need a 'feel good' sermon. Don't worry about pre-trib or not.

Even Jesus didn't know the day or hour.  He said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. . . .Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24:36, 44

PS:  A miracle happened involving the posting of this article.  I use my phone to do 99% of my blogging, well, everything.  I have had my phone with all my neat programs for wordprocessing stolen. Last week my new phone decided I needed a new password so it wouldn't recognize my current password. I still haven't found anything like my old notepad. So I tried using Word that came with my phone. I got most of it typed and saved it and went back later and typed the rest and tried to save it and it said 'saving' for about an hour and then I knew I had a problem. So I blew out of that and tried to reopen the document and it had only half of what I typed in. I found out that you can't edit and save on an unpurchased program. Rrrrrr! I simply prayed "Lord, you dictated a lot of stuff today.  Would you please have me find the document on my phone?"  And lo and behold, I looked in MyFiles under documents, and there it was!  GOD is good all the time! And all the time GOD is good!