Gray-Haired Preface

First published in 1980 under the title The Pre-Tribulation Rapture, 288 pages, by Accent Books (since purchased by David C. Cook Co.), this book survived eight reprintings before going out of print. The copyright has reverted back to me so that I can make it available to you freely.

My brother, who first got me into the project, asked if I had any plans to revise the book. I thought, "If I revise the book, I might tone it down a bit, and I don't want to do that. I want my original youthful exuberance to show through." So I decided to leave the original book intact, changing only a word or two here and there. But I'm adding extra articles so that the reader can compare the views of a youth with the views of someone who has a few gray hairs. The gray-haired perspective, it turns out, is just farther down the same road that the youth embarked upon.

The Bible, after all, points in one direction. It doesn't give conflicting signals. Forty human authors? Yes, but only one divine author. So we would expect all the clues to point the same way.

Why do people arrive at different conclusions? Is it because the Bible can mean different things? Is it because the Bible is beyond our grasp? Is it because only theologians can hope to figure it out? No, no, no.

Then how do you explain the different beliefs? Here's my over-simplified analysis of the situation. Christians and their beliefs about the end times fall into three general categories: 1) Many Christians believe that Christ will return before the tribulation because they believe what good Bible teachers have told them, not through personal knowledge of the Bible, 2) Other Christians who have studied the Bible more see some problems and have come to believe that we will go through the tribulation before Christ returns, and 3) Christians who study the Bible deeper yet discover a wonderful harmony in the Bible and thank God that believers will not go through the tribulation after all.

If your Bible study has made you question pre-trib beliefs, then I'm glad. Glad because you're in the Bible. It's more important to me that you study the Bible than that you agree with me. If someone agreed with me too quickly, I'd be suspicious.

My goal is to put the Bible into your hands. Don't think it's just for theologians. It's for you. I want you to taste it, chew it, digest it. Taste its sweetness, sweeter than the honey which fills every little hole in the entire waffle on your plate.