Poking Holes In The Pre-Trib Rapture Doctrine

 The Pre-Trib Doctrine

Note - this post is more or less a reformatting of 10 Common Reasons and Questions about the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, see here.
Ever since I can remember, any Baptist sermon that involved, or even mentioned end times, included one or more of the following:

- Christians will not go through "THE tribulation" as we are not appointed unto wrath, referring to I Thessalonians 5:9

- The rapture was not taught before Paul, since he refers to it as a "mystery" in 1 Corinthians 15:51

- "THE Tribulation" refers to the entire 7 year period

- Since Matthew 24:36 says no man knows the day or the hour, Jesus could return at any moment

The above seems to be "cherry picking"...

Ok, if you've accepted the views above, then stop for a few minutes and consider the following:

- If the entire 7 year period is known as "THE Tribulation" and is also God's wrath why is it that God's wrath doesn't start until AFTER the sun & moon are darkened in Revelation 6 (see here)? In other words, if God's wrath doesn't start until other things have occurred, then are those other things also God's wrath, or something else? Either way, the 7 year period has already begun by the time the wrath begins. Could it be, that tribulation is something being done by the devil, but when the wrath begins, it is those things that God Himself is bringing about?

- If we let the Bible define itself, where else (do a search here) is the word "mystery" used and does it imply something wasn't known before? See Mark 4:11

- Paul tell us that the antichrist has to be revealed before the day of Christ in II Thessalonians 2:1-4. Since the antichrist is revealed DURING the 7 year period, how can the rapture occur before this period even begins?