Question: I am currently attending a fundamental, Bible-believing college and I still have yet to learn to answer this question.

Do people get saved after the Tribulation begins? Does this mean that all who have heard the Gospel and rejected it before the Tribulation and live through the rapture do not get saved after the Tribulation begins?

Thanks!

Patricia

Answer: Dear Patricia,

Your question seems to convey that you believe/have been taught to approach biblical prophecy from a dispensational pre-millennial perspective. Such a view is not the only view that Christians take – and there should be some time in your education (formally or otherwise) when you have a chance to consider different views.

Pre-millennialism posits that Jesus Christ will return before a 1,000 year millennium. A period of evil will precede the Second Coming – and the question you offer includes two views about the "Great Tribulation" – the post-trib view and the pre-trib view – holding that those who come to Christ at this time will do so before the tribulation and the "rapture" (a view held by a minority of Christians based upon one passage in Thessalonians) – or holding that there will be some who will come to Christ during this time, even after a rapture of believers.

There are two other views that are possible about events surrounding the Second Coming and biblical prophecies of this time: 1) The Post-Millennial view. This view holds that a spiritual reign of Christ will prepare the way for Christ’s Second Coming – and that "Great Tribulations" are now, and historically have been, present in our world (Uganda, Bosnia, Rwanda, etc.). 2) Amillennialism – a view that holds that the 1,000 years of the book of Revelation is symbolic, and not an exact time period of years as we now know them. Amillennialists point to the Church Age between the resurrection and his Second Coming as being a millennium (obviously not an exact 1,000 years as it is now close to 2,000 years).

Plain Truth Ministries has an excellent teaching video on this topic titled Millennial Madness – available on our website or by calling 1-800-309-4466, with interviews and quotes from biblical scholars representing a variety of denominational views.

Hope this helps,

In Christ

Greg Albrecht