There is a chilling postscript to the writing of the Revelation, or the Apocalypse. This book contains the vision of John, and the details of his visit from Jesus.
We are warned in Revelation 22 as follows:
22:18 For I testify to every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
To those who believe in “Left Behind" as scriptural, I issue this challenge:
Show me where a “seven year tribulation period" is found in “the prophecy of this book". Take your pick of books. Look in the book of Revelation, or in the whole book. You will not find it. It has been added to prophecy, extrapolated from some wording in Daniel 9 that refers to actions of one who will “confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
The action of confirming, or strengthening means that a covenant already exists, and this person is confirming it. It does not, and cannot refer to the execution of a new treaty, and it cannot be stretched to imply the existence of a seven year tribulation period in scripture. The Hebrew phrase for "to cut a covenant" was not used.
Biblical support for this "seven year tribulation" rests upon this one scripture alone. A custom of a "seven day marriage feast" is also used to buttress the argument, in that the groom rejoices with his bride for seven days. Since this custom is not biblical, even if it is true, it's weight in the determination of any prophesied length of time should be light to nothing at all. It may signify what it actually portends: seven days rather than seven years.
Arguments for extending the 70 weeks of years past 70 AD, as spoken of by the prophet Daniel, are very weak. No other biblically prophesied period is treated in a manner that would split up times of fulfillment and leave large gaps in the time of fulfillment.
The so called "seventieth week", as spoken of in Daniel 9:27, is said by some to refer to "the prince who will come", and by others to refer to "the Messiah Jesus". Jesus caused sacrifice and oblation to come to an end in terms of it's approval by God as a sacrificial system. The sacrifice of the animals continued until Titus came to Jerusalem and destroyed it in 70 AD. Whichever stoppage of sacrifice and offering is regarded as the fulfillment of this passage, it does not continue beyond 74 AD.
Advocates of the pre-tribulational theory conveniently ignore these events, and the cessation of sacrifice that already occurred in history, and look forward to a mythical future temple with a mythical restarted animal sacrifice system.
We do find references to a period of 1260 days in the Revelation, or 42 months, or 3 1/2 years. Should we believe, as the Jesuits taught, that it refers to some future 1260 day great tribulation period? Or do we agree with the Protestant reformers, who taught that it spoke of 1260 years of temporal and political rule by the Roman Catholic Church? I choose to believe the greater evidence that supports the latter conclusion.
So, reason number one why I do not believe in “Left Behind" is that pre-tribulational rapture doctrine adds a seven year tribulation to the bible that is not in the bible. It is an extrapolation, and not a very convincing one at that.
It is likely that my friend, the Pastora in Colombia, would have no pre-tribulation rapture doctrine in her mind were it not for American teachers and pastors who willfully spread the Jesuit inspired doctrine.
Last year, the Lord spoke a frightening word to me. He said that he had added a seven year tribulation period to America, because American believers have added this to his word. There will be no rapture from this period of great tribulation that will come upon America.