Is the Pre-tribulation view of the Rapture the correct view?

Ted’s Response:

For quite a long time, I embraced the "Pre-tribulation" Rapture view as well—the view that the Rapture event will take place prior to the final seven years (the 70th Week), commonly referred to as the "tribulation" period. However, I always had questions about that view that no one could answer adequately. I found many "missing links" that were inconsistent with other passages in Scripture.

I also found it very perplexing when people (most commonly, "Pre-tribbers") would call certain passages "parenthetical," particularly in the Book of Revelation. Such "parenthetical" sections commonly are "cut and pasted" into other places, out of chronological order, when they actually are chronologically correct as written.

Placing the so-called "Pre-Tribulation" Rapture event at Revelation 4:1,2, simply because it symbolically "seems" to fit there (since that is where John is seen to be taken up into heaven to write about the future events he saw there), is a gigantic error. It was done by C. I. Scofield in his scriptural annotations, thus causing improper and invalid changes in his sequencing and explanations of the remainder of Revelation.

As such, I had no choice but to explore other Rapture views thoroughly. I believe, without question, that the Pre-Wrath Rapture view (that is, a catching-up of believers following soon after the opening of the Sixth Seal) absolutely makes the most sense of all of the Rapture viewpoints.

In my opinion, the "Pre-Trib" view of the Rapture is little more than a "feel good" notion, embraced by many people who wish to believe that they will not have to endure the trials and tribulations of the 70th Week, the final 7 years of this age (which, incidentally, already may have begun, with the implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy—see Is it possible that the 70th Week already has begun?).

I suggest that you read the “Pre-Tribulation” Rapture (Pre-TR) and disputes with Pre-TR sections in my online book, Creation ... Counterfeits ... and the 70th Week. Then read my lengthy commentary, The Rapture, or else a summary of The Rapture. Also, I recommend another email response that I have written: How can the Rapture be anything but Pre-trib, if it comes as a "thief in the night"?