The TV teacher was finished with his first hour of “teaching” from the Bible. I know this, not because I watched the first half hour of the one-hour daily Monday through Friday program, but because I know the schedule. The program has aired for many years and I have on occasion flipped through the channels and stopped just to hear what this man happens to be saying.

Some degree of what he “teaches” is in accordance with Bible truth as best I can tell. However, much is almost anti-Semetic in its presentation in that he is of the view that the nation of Israel has been replaced in God’s economy by the church. His view of Bible prophecy could hardly be more wrong. His almost total disregard for modern Israel having any place in God’s prophetic plans brings his whole ministry into question, in my opinion.

The TV “teacher” says this generation is presently in the era of the sixth seal as given in the book of Revelation. He says that the prophetic trump of Revelation is as follows:

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15), is the same spoken of by Paul the apostle in the following passage:

“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

In other words, he teaches that believers will be changed into spiritual bodies at the end of the Tribulation period. When I heard this familiar television pontificator make this equally familiar proclamation, this past Tuesday morning, rather than click to the next station as I would normally do, an inner tug at my spirit caused me to “stay tuned,” as they say.

What happened next was quite revelatory to me. I determined that it was worthy of passing along to you who read these commentaries. It was such a strong impression, that I consider it yet another of the epiphanies I’ve received from the Good Friday April 22, 2011 widow maker heart attack, when my heart stopped beating on three separate occasions during a forty-five minute rush to the hospital and in the heart cath lab.

For those who aren’t familiar with what I term my HeavenVision, I invite you to look into the archives of the “Newest Articles” at raptureready.com and read my article of the same title. For an even deeper review of what happened on that day, my bookHeavenVision:Glimpses into Glory is available.

Briefly, each time I heard an electronic-sounding blip, I stood instantaneously before a huge throng of magnificent young people, men and women who looked in the prime of life. They were beckoning me to come and join them.

Their hands were raised above their heads in a gesture of corporate victory, and the jubilation and warmth I viscerally felt at my very core made me never want to leave them. But I did leave them, only to return two more times to the same throng, each time my heart stopped again. The third time I was in their midst─we were running, hands raised-high in the air, and it felt like a great victory lap.

Then I was hit with the defibrillation paddles for the third time, and I was again in the cath lab, the blockage to the major artery having been removed. Tuesday morning as I watched the TV preacher as he again proclaimed that the Rapture was a fraud─as he does every chance he gets─I saw in my mind’s eye that group of cheering, jubilant young people─heavenly beings with their hands in the air in an unmistakable gesture of victory.

My irritation with the anti-Israel, anti-Rapture TV “teacher” instantly dissipated. Warmth not unlike the sensation that gave me peace beyond any I’ve felt before, or since that Good Friday made me know, gave reassurance that the Pre-Trib Rapture is truth from God’s Word.

Okay, I know that some will accuse my “epiphany” as being just an ecstatic rant from an emotional moment─thus not a valid proof of anything. I understand those who might accuse in that manner. If they truly knew me, they would know that I am among the least likely of individuals to embrace “experiential” Christianity─in the ecstatic sense. But few personally know me, so I will add some other considerations to this account of my again being influenced, I’m convinced: By that cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Today, there are a considerable number of Bible prophecy, anti-Rapturists like the gentleman I’ve just mentioned. Most include within their teaching, in addition to vitriol condemning all who teach and believe in a Pre-Trib Rapture—that:

1) Israel, in the modern sense, has no relevance to Bible prophecy yet future. The church has now been given all of Israel’s promises.

2) Many of these sorts, teach that Britain and America are where the “lost tribes of Israel” settled. Thus Britain and America are now the Jews of God’s promises.

3) They spiritualize and allegorize much of prophetic Scripture whenever it is most convenient, to fit within their false prophecy teaching/preaching schemes.

4) Many include─like the TV preacher I mention above─that we are already in the Tribulation era, usually proclaiming this generation is likely somewhere within the first six seal judgment.

Israel, alone, is enough to show the foolishness of their teaching. The Jewish people are again a nation after nearly 2000 years of dispersion throughout the whole world, precisely as Bible prophecy foretells. They are at the center of hatred among all the nations of the world.

The U.N. body is almost totally against everything about Israel. Israel is seen as the occupier and aggressor against their neighbors, despite the absolutely undeniable fact that the tiny Jewish state has been attacked en masse by its neighbors in 1948, 1956, 1967 (Israel preempted Arab forces) and 1973. There have been many other less major-attacks against this state.

Most spectacular of all as proof that the anti-Israel teachers are wrong is the fact that Israel has never been defeated in a major way. God has promised to Israel that they will be His nation forever. He still has His Mighty Hand on His chosen people!

For sake of brevity, I’ll skip to the final category I mention that the anti-Rapturists most often claim. They believe we are in the Tribulation already─usually claiming this generation is somewhere within the six seal judgments. Some proclaimed that Barack Obama was to be the Antichrist, and even gave dates for when he would desecrate a future temple. Some, in fact, have claimed dates Antichrist would take power, dates, which, of course, have already passed.

In total context, the Pre-Trib Rapture view of unfolding Bible prophecy is proving daily to be the true biblical course of fulfillment. Every geopolitical, socio-economic, religious and technological indicator fortifies the sense that there is coming a catastrophic event that will bring all crashing down upon this world so ripe for judgment. I welcome, nonetheless, the reassurance that my throng of young, heavenly, friends continue to give─in validating God’s promises to call His people home before His wrath must fall.