In the middle of the last century the pre-tribulation "rapture" deception entered as part of a theological scheme termed Dispensationalism. The stress on a "dispensation of grace," the notion that a Gentile Church will be carried to Paradise whether or not the members keep the commandments of God, appears to us to be an outgrowth of antinomianism and the Reformation misinterpretation of the biblical "the just shall live by faith. The tremendous doctrinal confusion attending Dispensationalism, especially its removal of the Jews from the Body of Christ, is bearing evil fruit to the present hour.

The neoantinomianism (lawlessness) derived from the apparent doctrinal excesses of the Reformation regarding the proper role of works in our salvation has made Christian thinking vulnerable to the philosophy of free will, of man as the center of all things.

The pre-tribulation "rapture" doctrine has found fertile ground because of the antinomianism of those who overemphasize grace, and because of the Western philosophy that man is God, that man ought never to suffer.

The pre-tribulation rapturist observes the persecution of Christians that has occurred throughout Church history, the present-day torture of Christians in the Communist nations, and then declares that God loves the believer so much He will not allow him to suffer. This is blindness and confusion.

Now we see the False Prophet rising from the earth, the soul of religious man. Man has rejected the cross of suffering and God has sent a strong delusion on him.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (II Thessalonians 2:11)

There is a continuity from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The same God is calling for the same righteous behavior.

The demand for righteous, holy, obedient behavior is the same from covenant to covenant, although differing in details of observance. The new covenant differs in that much more Divine enablement (grace) is given to help us behave in a much more righteous, holy, obedient manner.

The Apostles of Christ would not recognize or understand the concept that the Christian salvation is a magic that enables man to please God apart from righteous behavior. The idea of a "dispensation of grace" that brings man to Paradise apart from the conversion of his personality is the delusion of Christianism.

May God give us eyes to see how far removed the current lawless-grace-rapture-Gentile teaching is from God's plan of salvation.

The Christian-Charismatic people have opened themselves to error, to doctrines they would have rejected had they been prayerful, cross-carrying, sternly obedient disciples.

God is God. Righteousness is righteousness. A saint is a saint. From Abel to the last person to be called of God the righteous have lived by faith in God rather than faith in their own abilities. God never changes. Righteousness never changes. God has sent the Lord Jesus to forgive us and turn us away from our sin, not to serve as a perpetual covering for our sin, an alternative to righteous behavior.

To be continued.