Apostasy and Signs of the Rapture

Dr. Couch, you have convinced me that we are now in the period of the apostasy of the church, but if so, does this not take away the idea that there are no signs for the rapture of the church? ANSWER:  Not in my opinion because of what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-7. He speaks of the apostasy coming before the revelation of the "man of lawlessness" (v. 3). This is of course referring to the antichrist, and remember, he comes at the very beginning of the tribulation, the start of the Day of the Lord, the Wrath of God. But Paul goes on and writes that "the mystery of lawlessness is already here" (v. 7). He does not say that the tribulation is here or that the man of lawlessness has arrived. He gives no thought that the seven year tribulation has begun. In other words, apostasy has been around for some time but even Paul did not know if that apostasy is the final stage of the "rebellion." He did not know if THE prophesied apostasy of the last days had started! I believe we can say it is now here!    If you want the most thorough study of the rapture of the church, you need to read my "Biblical Study of the Rapture" of the church in my award winning volume "Dictionary of Premillennial Theology." That chapter has been so appreciated it has been included, and re-published in national publications, in three other volumes of Bible study. The book, by the way, was given the Silver Medallion Award from the Christian Booksellers Association in 1996.    A key to Paul's argument for the coming of the rapture for the church saints is the fact that in almost every rapture passage he uses the pronouns "You, We, Us." In other words, Paul is telling us that the rapture will come to remove the church saints to glory. It could have happened in Paul's day, and it could have taken place at any time while he was alive! That is why he is including himself (We, Us) in his argument.    We are nearing the time of the End, the time for the rapture. And, we are now entering the period of the apostasy, that takes place before the rapture. All indicators would let us know that. Yet, we cannot be dogmatic about the time frame.    I always wonder why people want to argue over this issue of the rapture, and my conclusion is that they are frightened rabbits. They do not want to be at the end of all things! So they come up with arguments to try to get rid of the rapture for our generation. The Bible is plain on the subject. And the Greek text makes the subject even more understandable, but most objectors are not good scholars!    By the way, Paul is so dogmatic about the fact that the rapture has to do with this dispensation of the church, he uses the technical expression: of those "in Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:14) and "in Christ" (v. 16). In introducing the idea of the rapture he writes "For this we say to YOU by the word of the Lord, that WE who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, ..." (v. 15). That is as plain as vanilla pudding!    Putting world events together, and looking at the fact that we are moving into the predicted apostasy, I believe I could come up with about 100 arguments that would show how close we are to (1) the advent of the rapture, (2) the seven year tribulation, and (3) the return of Christ to reign over the throne of David from Jerusalem. That would really help folks get it all together as to what is happening even in our day!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Feb., 10)