My Dear Friend,

Not long ago, I lunched with a minister friend from a nearby city. He knew I teach a pre-Tribulation rapture. But it soon became apparent he did not know the heavy emphasis I place on urging spiritual readiness by walking closely with God and going through our formative tests now, before the final 7-year test.

So, after we chatted a while very amicably, he acknowledged he did not hold my view, and essentially said he was a Preterist. Preterism comes from a Latin word meaning "passed by," so its adherents believe the New Testament's End-Times prophecies, especially those in Jesus' Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25) and the Book of Revelation, have "passed by," or already been fulfilled. They believe Jesus returned not bodily but spiritually in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and therefore will not appear bodily to catch away His church as Paul so unmistakably prophesied (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18). (I explain further why Preterism is incorrect in my book, The Second Coming of Christ: His Appearing, His Return, Our Preparation.)

To his credit, my friend acknowledged how he became a Preterist: he was deeply disappointed when Jesus did not appear in the 1970s or 1980s, as Hal Lindsay implied in The Late Great Planet Earth. Consequently, he abandoned his faith in an imminent, pre-Tribulation rapture. This admission was significant.

My friend's disappointment is shared by millions of Christian baby boomers. We are, in short, a disappointed generation. But these believers are disillusioned because they have believed a lie: that because Jesus did not appear at the time they expected, He will never do so. This disappointment is not strange, or new.

In one form or another, it happens every day. When we ask the Lord for something in His will we need or desire, and He delays His response, we sometimes fall into disappointment. Then discouragement. And finally, offense at God. Why? We have believed Satan's slanderous suggestion that God will never do what He promised, namely, answer our prayers asked according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). Why have we believed this? He has delayed the manifestation of our answer. In this condition, we are an incarnate contradiction to our Christian profession: offended, confused, unbelieving believers!

But if our request was in God's will and, though disappointed, we continue abiding and believing in Him, He always comes through. But His answer arrives in not ours but His time and way - which is always best, for us and everyone (Romans 8:28).

This is precisely what has happened on a grand scale to my generation. Millions who were young, excited, and expectant about the rapture in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, are now suffering from the "rapture blues." But we've forgotten three key facts.

First, Christ anticipated our disappointment! In His key, prophetic Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13), Jesus openly predicted that in the last generation, just before His (the Bridegroom's) appearing to remove His Bride, the following will happen. His people - who know He is Messiah and is returning - will initially be very excited about His appearing, light their inner lamps bright, and actively wait for Him to appear at any moment. For reasons not given in the parable, however, He will "tarry," or wait. A long time! During this delay, all His people, even the wise, will lose the sharp edge of their expectancy and fall into spiritual "sleep" - indifference to His coming, and their spiritual condition, caused by Him not arriving when they predicted.

His delay, and their sleep, continue until the "midnight" hour, or the spiritually and morally darkest, most hopeless period. Then, in that least likely time, an alarming two-part message disturbs His apathetic people. First, "Behold the bridegroom comes . . ." Second, ". . . Go ye out to meet Him" (Matthew 25:6). Or, paraphrasing, first, "Though the Bridegroom didn't show up when expected, He is still coming, and now. There will be no further delay." Second, "Quickly prepare yourself spiritually for His appearing." This sparks a lamp-trimming, or soul-reviving, life-correcting, church-changing period of spiritual restoration and revival. It's duration, however, will be much shorter than the previous period of delay. Then, as all believers are earnestly preparing, it will happen.

The Bridegroom appears, takes away "they that were ready" (Matthew 25:10), the heavenly door shuts, and the rest (those not ready) are left behind. And despite repeated desperate prayers, they will remain behind - to endure, as we now know, at least the first half of the 7-year Tribulation.

Incredibly, my disappointed friend, and millions of other baby boomer, born-again Christians like him, are fulfilling this very prophecy they no longer believe! Jesus' own words foretell their disappointment and disbelief.

Their "sleep" also includes the invention of new, false, End-Times prophetic plans that contradict Christ's prophetic plan. Let's briefly describe a few.

• DOMINIONISTS believe they will take control of the nations before Jesus returns - an extra-biblical doctrine taught by neither Jesus, nor His apostles, the church Fathers, the Reformers, the great Revivalists, and Evangelicals.

• PRE-WRATH adherents claim the church must endure three-fourths of the Tribulation period - though Jesus promised explicitly to keep tested believers "from" it (Revelation 3:10) and enable spiritually worthy ones to "escape all" of it (Luke 21:34-36).

• THE MID-TRIBULATION rapture position teaches the church must endure part or all of the Tribulation - despite Jesus' aforementioned promises and Paul's declaration that God has "not" appointed Christians to experience the time of His "wrath" (1 Thessalonians 5:9). They circumvent this by claiming the first half of the Tribulation is not a time of God's wrath, though the Lamb (Jesus) Himself releases God's "four severe judgments" (Ezekiel 14:21, NAS; Matthew 24:4-8), killing a staggering one-fourth of the world population (Revelation 6:1-8), today 2 billion!

• THE POST-TRIBULATION rapture view claims that the Tribulation is designed to test the church (not Israel), the church will be kept in or through it (God's wrath; or, as some believe, Satan's), and Jesus will catch away believers at the end of the Tribulation only to immediately return with us to earth.

• THESE VIEWS, all recently devised (last 30 - 40 years), are confusing, false, unbiblical, hope-killing heresies that have only increased our generation's disappointment.

Second, human unbelief cannot cancel God's sovereign plans. If God's infallible Word prophesies He will do something in His irresistible divine will, He will! If we lose patience, or faith, we will not personally participate in it, but His fulfillment will occur anyway in His time and way.

Also, God's delays are not denials. Paul's ministry in Asia was delayed, but not cancelled. His trip to Rome was delayed, but not cancelled. Lazarus' healing was delayed, but not cancelled. Israel's possession of the Promised Land was delayed but not denied - God just used Israel's younger generation to fulfill what their fathers' disbelieving generation rejected. This parallels where we are at this moment.

God is actively reviving the younger generation, as He recently demonstrated in His Spirit's visitations of conviction and repentance at Asbury and Leigh Universities, and many others. Why? The Bridegroom will teach, train, and test them, and the believing remnant of baby boomers, between now and the rapture, and then translate us before it begins.

The biblical signs of the times confirm this: the State of Israel restored; Jerusalem in Jewish control; human knowledge exploding; unprecedentedly rapid transportation worldwide; more wars than ever in the 20th century; America rapidly declining (and omitted in End-Times prophecy); China rapidly ascending; Europe ascending and united after centuries of divisive wars; homosexuality considered normal; the church filled with lukewarmness; and soon, the final sign - the Midnight Cry awakening (Matthew 25:6-7)! None of these signs existed 70 years ago; now all are in place.

Third, the condition of the church plays into this. Peter declared the church's holiness hastens Christ's coming (2 Peter 3:10-11), which implies our sinfulness hinders it. During our recent decades of disappointment, many American Christians, their blessed and purifying hope dashed (Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2-3), have given themselves to new unworthy hopes: pleasure, prosperity, and political power. Consequently, worldliness and immorality have increased, and delayed Christ's coming. But not canceled it!

So, here is a vision for this hour. Our generation will witness Jesus' appearing! The Asbury visitation was a minuscule foretaste of the monumental awakening Jesus prophesied for these last days. God will soon disturb the church's spiritual sleep. All born-again believers will awake and begin earnestly seeking God and preparing for Christ's appearing - all convinced now it will occur before the Tribulation. Bible teaching will increase greatly. Spiritual maturity will be sought. Prayer meetings will proliferate. Divine guidance will become the norm. Worship will be preferred over entertainment. The Holy Spirit will refill Christ's true body, but not all ecclesiastical bodies. The Spirit's gifts will reappear in their proper place. Testing will increase, but grace will more so. Every sad "Valley of Baca" will bring gladness - new spiritual insights and strength. Many undercomers will become overcomers by accepting crosses they formerly rejected. We will finish running our races - our ministries and commissions - evangelizing, discipling, and witnessing . . . to the very last moment. Then Jesus will appear and take us home.

This is a prophecy, not a calculated guess. It springs from biblical revelation, not human reason. It is sure, not speculative. It is near, not far off. So, cheer up: our very disappointed generation is about to become a very hope-filled generation.

Maranatha - He comes!

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES