Dear Robert,

          Regarding your request for input on either a pre-trib or post-trib Rapture, I think that a lot may depend upon when you think the Tribulation is actually going to start.  I was initially taught that the Rapture of the Church was represented by the Apostle John entering heaven in Revelation 4:1.  I was also taught that the Tribulation began on earth with the opening of the 1st Seal in Revelation 6:1.

          My position has evolved somewhat since I have tried to view the book of Revelation in chronological order.  For example, I believe that the Tribulation begins in Revelation 11, and that all of the events in the preceding chapters are not part of the Tribulation at all.  I have come to this conclusion because it is not until Revelation 11 that we see any mention of the increments of duration that we usually connect to the Tribulation or to Daniel’s Seventieth Week – i.e. 1260 days, a time, times and half a time, and forty-two months.

          It seems to me that there is a reason why these increments of time are not referenced earlier – simply, because they do not start earlier.

          So, while I consider myself to be pre-tribulational when it comes to the Rapture, many might argue otherwise because I believe in a 6th Seal Rapture.  I have previously posted on this possibility on February 27, 2012: http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/feb2012/lisat227.htm.

          Also after having read David Lowe’s book Earthquake Resurrection, I am convinced that the Rapture may be followed by a global earthquake – such as the ones described in Revelation 6:12-14 at the opening of the 6th Seal and Ezekiel 38:19-23 during the Gog Magog War.  So while the timing of the Rapture is not expressly stated in the Bible, its earthly aftermath may have been.

          Well, just my two cents on the subject.  God bless you in your studies.

                                                                                                                  – Lisa Taylor