Stair's Anti-PreTrib Stance

The following is a critique of a radio program of Stair's that was aired on KTRW, January 20, 2000, when Stair taught on Christ coming for the Church.

I have broken up the following into paragraphs so it's easier to read, and comment on them. However, there are no gaps in Stair's original comments.

(False teacher/prophet quotes are in purple and indented, my
comments are in plain text and scripture is in teal. False teachers rarely use scripture. I have only included those portions I intend to comment on.)

"Some say he's coming at anytime. That's not true. Many say he's coming before the Tribulation. Other's say he's coming in the middle of the Tribulation. That's not true. Some say he's already come. That's not true. This beautiful experience, this blessed hope, has been so polluted with corruption of men's theology and doctrines and opinions until it's lost it's shine to most of us."

"As Paul deals with the 2nd coming of Christ and the end of the world and the fulfillment of prophecy he uses identically the same words that Jesus used when he dealt with it there in Matthew 24. 'Tell us,' they said, 'Lord, when shall these things be. What shall be the sign of thy coming?' He said, first of all, 'let no man deceive you.' Perhaps the most deceptive time in the history of the church is the time leading up to and right before the coming of Christ. "

It is hard to tell when Stair is quoting and when he's just paraphrasing so the quote marks I have included above and below might not be accurate. Please notice he gives very few references to the scriptures he is quoting.

I just wanted to comment on what he said above re the end of the worldand that is that the world does not end when Christ comes back because there is a 1,000 year millennium after his return. However, this will lead off onto a rabbit trail and I want to stay focused on what Stair is leading up to re the PreTrib Rapture so I'll save that for another time.

"The apostle Peter said the deception is going to become cunning. That's what he said. He said in the past there were false prophets and they were obvious. They just stood out. And their wording was so blunt that people could, if you wanted to, make a quick judgment on them.

" But he said the ministry that's going to be used in the end, Satan is going to change the approach, and he's going to change it from false prophets to false teachers. They will be more sophisticaed, their approach and their mannerism and their method will be smooth and with vain words. They will bring in damnable doctrines and they will seduce and deceive and delude, if it were possible even the very elect. "

It appears Stair is referring to 2 Peter 2:1-3. Please read that passage for yourself and see how much of what Peter has said has been embellished by Stair's own interpretation especially as you read the next few paragraphs.

"'No marvel though,' Paul said, 'for even Satan himself is going to appear as an angel of light and he's going to mesmerize masses. His religion is going to look so nice. His theology is gonna sound so good. Their eulogies are gonna look so beautiful, so emotional.' So Paul says, 'let me tell you something about the day of the Lord. It's gonna be a time of Great Deception, and men will make merchandise of ya. They'll use prophecy. "

Now it appears that Stair is referring to 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11. However, please keep in mind that Stair said earlier, that we are not in the end yet, so how can this (the damnable heresy of the PreTrib doctrine as will be revealed below) be going on now if it is the religion of the Antichrist?

"They're doing it. They have been doing it, and they will use it to manipulate, to coherse, to frighten, to scare, to deceive, to delude and to make gain. So Paul says, 'let me tell you now, the Day of the Lord is not going to come until there is a massive deception, a deceptive spirit that sweeps across the world."

But that day, the day of Christ's coming, shall not come.' You hear what Paul's saying? He's telling us that that day is not gonna come unless there are certain things that transpire before."

As you will realize below, Stair is actually saying all those who believe the PreTrib doctrine are the ones who are deluding others and this is the massive deception that Paul is speaking about in 2 Thess 2:9-11. However, Paul says this will be the work of Satan that deceives those who are perishing and they will be condemned for believing this lie. However what does scripture say about all believers?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:19)

Therefore a PreTribber would have to not believe in Christ as God's son who died for our sins, in order for them to be condemned, i.e., a non-Christain. How many PreTribbers do you know who are not Christians? So, right here we see that Stair is misinterpreting scripture to make it fit his own theory, which is, as you will see later, PostTrib.

"That's the way Jesus said it. He said, 'You're gonna hear of wars and rumors of wars and pestilence and earthquakes.' All of these are before. The end is not yet."

"There's gonna be the abomination that maketh desolate. There's gonna be Great Tribulation, and then and only then, after that tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give it's light, the stars shall fall from heaven, the powers of the heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the coming of the son of man in heaven, with power and great glory.' O, Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be no Rapture of the Church before the great Tribulation."

Apparently Stair has fallen into the trap that so many PostTribbers have boughten into, that the Rapture occurs at the 2nd coming.

However, they all fail to grasp one important pointwithout a significant gap between the Rapture and the 2nd coming there will be no one to inhabit the millennium because all believers will have been raptured (given immortal bodies) and all unbelievers will have been condemned.

So who goes into the millennium and procreates and dies as we are instructed in Isaiah 65 when he is telling the Israelites about the time after God's Wrath comes on the earth when peace shall reign, i.e., the Millennium?

"Never again will there be in it [Jerusalem] an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who des at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed." (Isaiah 65:20)

If all believers in the millennium have immortal bodies and all unbelievers have been condemned then why is there birth and death still going on in the millennium?

Suddenly there was a change in the tone of Stair's voice on the tapeobviously a voice-over. Then Stair continued on the same theme:

"Seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, damnable heresies. . . . Even as there there shall be false teachers among you who shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them swift destruction. Such a doctrine is this secret Rapture, PreTribulation doctrine that teaches the masses that you're not going to have to endure tribulation. "

I wanted to stop right here and point out that Stair is again claiming that anyone who believes the PreTrib doctrine will lose their salvation. As I have shown above, this is not true.

He is also confusing every-day tribulation, which every believer has been promised, and the Great Tribulation that occurs only during the 70th week of Daniel, the Time of Jacob's Trouble, or what we Christians call the Tribulation.

There is a definite difference in the Greek between these two words because the word Great Tribulation is preceded by the article, the where the word tribulation is not.

"In spite of all that God has said in the Word so plain, they still hold to this damnable lie. And God tells you what's going to happen. 'For this cause I will send them a strong delusion, so they will believe a lie.' Why would you do that God? 'So they all might be damned.' Why? 'Because they love not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness.'"

So there you have it folks, only PreTribbers are going to Hell and apparently all PostTribbers are the redeemed. My only question iswhere do unbelievers fit into this scenario?

I see this kind of hateful rhetoric very damaging to the Church and it is coming from most Anti-PreTrib camps. You rarely, if ever, hear someone from the PreTrib side saying that PostTribbers, PreWrathers, etc. are doomed to hell. Kind of makes you wonder who is the real author of this opposition to PreTrib anyway?

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