Right Ahead part 4

To review, we've been looking at the question, "Should you believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture?" We saw that in His Olivet Discourse, Jesus told the apostles "immediately after the tribulation" He would send His angels to gather the elect (the church). Further we saw Paul prophesied that "we who are alive and remain" will be caught up to be with the Lord when He returns, and learned there shall be a great falling away (apostasy) prior to that. Not everyone will remain in the church! Just like Gideon's army was thinned out, the Body of Christ shall be also; many will cave to the world's pressure to conform.
   Now I turn your attention to the Parable of the Tares, found in Matthew 13: 24-30, with Christ's explanation in verses 37-43. For those not familiar with agriculture, a "tare" is a useless weed that looks just like wheat when it's young. What does the farmer tell his workers? "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." (v. 30)
   Jesus explains: "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity..." Matthew 13: 38-41
Then, using an illustration of how fishermen separate the fish they catch, adds, "So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just." (v. 49)
   See how Jesus plainly tells us the wicked shall be taken away first from among the just! Pre-Trib Rapture says God will evacuate the believers and leave behind the sinners-exactly the opposite! Notice there are phony Christians mixed in with the real ones....the Lord is going to take the counterfeit "Christians" Satan created out from among us. He's not taking US from among THEM! He will take away all things that offend (see Revelation 2-3 for what kinds of things).
   Or haven't you read Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper: "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." (John 17:15) Would the Father do exactly what the Son asked Him NOT TO DO??? Next time: I Corinthians 15!