Dr Ice is one of the foremost and most zealous exponents of the Pretribulational Rapture teaching on the prophecy circuit today, he is also Director of the Pretrib Research Centre, an organisation devoted to defending and promoting the Pretribulational Rapture Teaching, so considering that his debate challenge was issued with such an air of confidence we were somewhat saddened and disappointed to receive a communication from Dr Ice shortly afterward stating the following:

"After prayer and consulting with my board of directors, we have decided to withdraw any debate offer and will not participate in any debates at all. We will deal with these issues in a different way."

Dr Ice's withdrawal from the very debate he himself proposed, and indeed his subsequent refusal to enter into any future such thing raises questions, but as pastors, bible expositors and concerned believers we see this refusal as part of an ongoing and ever-growing trend of concerns about the teachings and activities of the Pretribulational Rapture Movement and which are generating ever increasing alarm, and we present some of these below for prayerful consideration of the wider body of Christ.

As concerned believers in the Lord Jesus, in concert with the earliest historical witnesses in direct line from the Apostles, we recognise that these warnings were given as part of the Apostolic deposit of faith to the Church and intended for our instruction and as a most necessary warning from the Lord Himself to prepare His saints for what is to come. Now, especially in light of the ever darkening prophetic scenario, we must state above all our other concerns, that we believe the Pretribulational Rapture Teaching embodies a clear and present danger to the saints, for it sets aside these warnings as irrelevant for the Church and ultimately it will leave believers completely unprepared to face unprecedented spiritual deception, and a level of persecution not previously encountered in the history of the Church.

"I just want to bring out. Because the Post-Tribulation belief that Joe Schimmel espouses, Joel Richardson, the Pre-Wrath view that Jacob Prasch espouses, these are heretical views. To teach that the Church is going to go through any part of the Tribulation period is an abominable thing to teach. because it robs believers of the blessedness of the Blessed Hope. It doesn't fill believers with joy and expectancy and longing, it fills them with fear, it fills them with a kind of militancy that they have to stand against the Antichrist, they have to face the Mark of the Beast. I have spoken at Churches in England where people have been in fear how they are going to get through the Tribulation, how their children are going to get through the Tribulation. Will they be strong enough to resist the Mark of the Beast when it comes. Praise God the Lord uses many of us to bring freedom and release from that kind of teaching.."

Our great concern about this statement, is that this kind of "release" this false hope, is only that of the drunk who uses alcohol to "make it all go away", but the problems are still there the morning after. The Tribulation is still coming, ready or not. We believe that the only solution for the fear about the days that are coming upon us, is not the hallucinogenic of an escapist teaching, but to preach trust in our wonderful Almighty God whose grace is entirely sufficient and whose strength is made perfect in our weakness, and to preach a discipleship that counts everything loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and that exhorts us to seek God for grace not to love our own lives unto the death, but to forsake all for Him.

" . . . . . for the believer, the doctrine of the Rapture is the most important, most urgent doctrine. And the enemy knows this; Satan knows this, and so his task is to rob the church, rob believers of the blessedness of the blessed hope by getting them distracted, by telling them that "No, you've got to go through the period of the great tribulation that is to come. "

Even clearly stated biblical truths can be over emphasised at the expense of the whole counsel of Scripture and this can produce serious error:, for example, Christ's humanity over-emphasised to the extent that His divine nature is occluded or vice versa. However what happens when something that can not be found in Scripture is made a cardinal and most important doctrine? Surely, in the end, this can only lead to error of greater magnitude.

"Post-Tribulationism, any form of tribulationism that places the Church in that period of God's wrath being outpoured on the earth is a terrible heresy in the Church. "ix

"It is evil . . . to tell anyone that Jesus could not come back today."x

" . . . . any true pastor will feel that divine jealousy for the flock of Christ, the congregation under their care, because they know Jesus could come back at any time. A true pastor will know that . . "xi

" . . . you will not hear these [non Pretrib] men talk about their love for Jesus. You'll not see the tears fall down their cheeks. They will speak of the Coming of the Lord, very academically and very intellectually, but where's the heart? Where's the love? Where's the longing? It's not there: and one of the reasons it's not there is because they're not pastors; they've not been called to take care of the flock; they've not been called to help prepare the Bride for the Bridegroom.xii

"This promise, however is to the church of Philadelphia: she will be raptured before the Tribulation begins. It seems difficult to understand why some false teachers suggest that the Church must go through the Tribulation in view of this clear-cut xiii statement of our Lord."xiv

We feel concerned and saddened, that from high up in the Pretrib teaching Movement this kind of personal rancour and ad hominem attack is being utilised and endorsed in order to stifle biblically-based questioning of the Pretribulational Rapture Teaching.

A serious concern, one which was raised in Left Behind or Led Astray,xv is that the Pretrib teaching provides a platform for a most serious error which undermines the very Gospel itself.

The everlasting Gospel (Rev. xiv. 6). This is to be preached to the earthdwellers at the very end of the great tribulation and immediately preceding the judgement of the nations (Mt. xxv. 31 refs.). It is neither the gospel of the kingdom, nor of grace. Though its burden is judgment, not salvation, it is good news to Israel and to those who, during the tribululation have been saved (Rev. vii. 9-14; Lk xxi. 28; Psa. xvi. 11-13; Isa. xxxv. 4-10).

It [the everlasting Gospel] calls on men to worship God as "CREATOR, " and not as "Saviour" and so it is called in the Revised version-"THE ETERNAL GOSPEL, " the Gospel that has been proclaimed from Eden down by Patriarchs and Prophets, and not an "Everlasting Gospel" in the sense that it saves men for all eternity. Its burden is not "Repent, " or "do this" or "do that, " but--"FEAR GOD, and give GLORY TO HIM; for the HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT IS COME; and WORSHIP HIM THAT MADE HEAVEN, AND EARTH, AND THE SEA, AND THE FOUNTAINS OF WATERS." From this we see how important it is to distinguish between the various Gospels, not only as to their message, but the period to which they apply, otherwise there will be confusion and false teaching.xvii

With the sentiment "the Lord always vindicates His word and those who faithfully preach the truth have nothing to fear", we could not agree more. Those who are indeed faithfully preaching the truth, should not be reluctant but relish the opportunity to publicly air the scriptural basis of their belief, for examination by all in a moderated debate, particularly if the teaching is so important as to warrant the very public charge of "terrible heresy" to its opponents; surely this is something that the accuser should be prepared to present his case for and justify before all, from the Scriptures, or otherwise he must retract it. In like manner we have the same expectations from Pretrib proponents Drs Ice and Wilkinson, that they would also be zealous to present us with the biblical and linguistic basis for equating the apostasia of 2 Thess 2:3 with the Rapture and the hermeneutical basis of the Pretrib Rapture with that of the doctrine of the Trinity.

"he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." (Jn 3:21)

If the Apostle Paul was willing to submit what he called "my gospel" to the critical examination of the Bereans, how much more we who do not claim the same level of inspiration or authority?

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Ti. 2:15)

We believe that the refusal of Drs Ice and Wilkinson to enter into debate is indicative that the leading champions of the Pretribulational Movement, have conceded even among themselves that their teaching is biblically indefensible, but they are unwilling to have this brought into the open for all to see.xix Workmen that are not ashamed of their work in the Gospel and of its biblical foundation, should not be ashamed to publicly defend it in a formal debate.

Listen to 

When it comes to books devoted to eschatology in general and the Rapture specifically, they often either read like a formal academic argument written solely for the benefit of scholars or employ the use of fiction to avoid directly handling the underlying biblical text. As with Jacob's previous books and exhaustive list of sermons covering nearly every area of theology, Harpazo presents the doctrine of the Rapture and Resurrection in the strictest biblical sense possible, leveraging the handling of Scripture in the same manner as passed along to us by Christ through the Apostles and Early Church of the 1st century. ...