Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: May 3, 2026
Update	: May 3, 2026
Parts	: 01

Synopsis:



To all of my dear Christian friends who currently embrace Futurist-leaning theology -- meaning that you remain firmly convinced that Jesus Christ will return to the the Earth at some point in the near future -- and who are also convinced according to Futurist theology that Christian Believers are to be raptured out of this world before the period known as the Great Tribulation and God's Wrath begins, I have a very important -- and no doubt challenging -- question for your personal, careful and prayerful consideration, and that is the following:

How do you reconcile the fact that not only did Jesus advise His followers to FLEE to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem BEFORE the tribulation begins, but He ALSO admonished them to FAITHFULLY ENDURE that period of time UNTIL THE END, with the promise that He would send His mighty Angels to collect them AT THE CONCLUSION of the tribulation period? Following are some of the Bible verses which relate to these events:

"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elects sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days."


"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."


"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"


"Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"


"And ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake: but HE THAT ENDURETH TO THE END shall be saved."


"But HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTO THE END, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."


"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTO THE END, the same shall be saved."


Please ask yourselves this question as well: Why would the Lord even say these things, and issue this dire warning and promise to Believers, if His plan is to rapture Believers out of this world BEFORE this terrible period of wrath and tribulation is to begin? It makes absolutely no sense . . . unless the Futurist-leaning interpretation of all of these verses is dead wrong, and merely an invention of misguided men who do not properly understand the Scriptures. Oh my! To reiterate, Jesus in fact told them to endure until the end, and then AFTER the Great Tribulation has concluded, He would immediately send His great Angels to rescue them, as we see by the following group of Bible verses:

"IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THOSE DAYS shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."


It is very important to understand and realize that while the Apostle Paul clearly stated "For God hath not appointed us to wrath", that does NOT necessarily mean that Believers are raptured to Heaven before the tribulation period begins in order to escape said Wrath of God, and Great Tribulation. It seems to me that such an interpretation is intentionally foisted upon this particular verse from Paul's Epistle by such Futurist-leaning Christians, for the explicit purpose of trying to generate Scriptural support for the misguided Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine. But what if they are in error, and their interpretation is wrong? Following is what the Apostle Paul actually wrote:

"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him."


In fact, a more simpler, straightforward and certainly more Biblically-aligned and Biblically-supported explanation, is that Believers escape the tribulation and the wrath to come because they are wise enough to OBEY Jesus' warning in the Gospels by FLEEING to the mountains. As a reminder, Noah and his family most certainly did NOT escape the Genesis Flood by being taken out of this world. Rather, they simply rose ABOVE the Flood in the Ark, the construction of which was itself an act of FAITH and OBEDIENCE on their part. Again, consider the following set of Bible verses:

"And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood . . . In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noahs wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark."


So THAT is exactly how God kept Noah's family safe, and it is the very same thing that Jesus prayed for the Apostles as well. He petitioned His Father that He would NOT take them out of the world, but rather that He would simply protect them from the evil, just as occurred with the Patriarch Noah and his family. Consider the following Bible verse as proof of this particular point:

"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest KEEP THEM FROM THE EVIL."


Lastly, in the Book of Revelation, we discover that the woman in Revelation chapter twelve does NOT escape the wrath of the dragon by being miraculously raptured up to Heaven. Quite to the contrary, similar to Noah and his family, and similar to the Believers who obediently FLEE to the mountains, the woman escapes the wrath of the dragon by actually FLEEING into the wilderness, where God ALREADY has a special place prepared for her, as we can easily determine by the following group of Bible verses:

"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born . . . And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days."


And so, my friends, we have three clear Biblical examples where Believers are commanded to do THEIR PART, and NOT to expect some kind of miraculous trip to Heaven, in order to be spared from what is coming upon the Earth. God is saying to them all, "You do your part by demonstrating to me your faith and obedience, and then I will most certainly do my part by keeping you safely under my wings, exactly as is written in Psalm 91." That is the gist of it, my friends. Furthermore, all three examples I have provided here are in fact in line with the wisdom which is expressed in this Bible verse:

"A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished."


So, my friends, the lesson is very clear, and that is this: It pays to be prepared for any unanticipated calamities. In the case of the examples I've provided, in His mercy, God in fact did give them ample warning of what was to come, but it was still up to each party to take heed to that warning, and to take the necessary, appropriate steps in order to protect themselves. In short, God expects us to do what we can to help ourselves, and then He will do what we can't do. This is a topic which I in fact discuss in the article entitled "Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?".

Please note that I have been very careful regarding exactly how I have worded this article. In other words, I've worded it from the perspective of those Christians who view these things as still being near-future events. That is to say, the Futurists. The specific reason why I've done this, is because as I amply explain in articles such as the seven-part series "Jesus Christs Return: Have We Been Deceived?", after being a solid, Futurist-leaning Christian who fervently believed in, taught and preached Futurist doctrine for forty years of my adult Christian life, about fifteen years ago as of the time of this writing -- or about 2011-2012 -- the Lord opened my eyes to Scriptural truth, and the false veil of Futurism was lifted from me.

If you are sincerely interested in learning what caused me, compelled me, and in fact forced me to make such a dramatic change in my doctrinal position, then I really encourage you to seriously consider reading the aforementioned seven-part series, as well as other Bills Bible Basics articles such as "The Great Tribulation and the Rapture", and "He That Shall Endure Unto the End", and many of my other prophecy-related articles which you will find listed at the end of this same article. It is quite a treasure trove of Scriptural truth.

Please understand that what I have stated in this article is barely touching the surface. The aforementioned articles will provide you with a lot more details concerning these prophetic events, coupled with literally hundreds of Bible verses which support and confirm my understanding of the same. Furthermore, I dig very deeply into the historical record as well, in order to reveal the relationship between Bible prophecy and secular history. It is truly amazing.

Upon reading said articles, one thing which I truly hope you will come to understand is that Futurist theology is in large part the product and result of taking many Bible verses out of their proper context. In other words, some key indicators -- meaning the who, what, where, when and why -- are totally changed, twisted and perverted, so that they result in a new interpretation of a verse which conforms to the theological doctrine, perspective and understanding of the Futurists. In other words, the meaning of certain verses is forced into a new meaning which agrees with what the Futurists have chosen to believe. As I have mentioned on many previous occasions, the Apostle Peter referred to this as wresting the Scriptures, as we see by the following two Bible verses:

"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, WHICH THEY THAT ARE UNLEARNED AND UNSTABLE WREST, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."


So if you do decide to read my other Bible prophecy-related work, be forewarned that if you currently embrace a strong Futurist point of view, you will more than likely be very strongly challenged by Scriptural truth which you may have never heard before. Why? Because that is just how strongly and how deeply the Futurist theological perspective is now entrenched in so many modern Christians. They know nothing else, and they have never heard of anything else, because Futurism has prevailed within our faith for many decades now.

My friends, as I explain in articles such as "Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word", the fact of the matter, and the bottom line is that it requires complete honesty and humility on our parts to arrive at Scriptural truth. We must really be willing to lay everything on the altar -- meaning lay aside every thought, belief and preconceived idea -- before God can really reveal the Scriptural truth to us. As long as our pet doctrines remain in the way, as long as we think that we know it all, it just won't happen.

So, are you willing? Can you begin with an empty slate and let God fill in the prophetic details? If not, then it is very possible that you will remain doctrinally deceived for many years to come, and not even realize it. It happened to me for those forty years, and it can happen to you as well, because you are just as susceptible to deception as I was. Or you can say, "Lord, if I am wrong about this; if I am off the mark a bit; please reveal it to me. Show me the truth of Your Word as it is really meant to be understood."

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

A Piece of Land: That Is All You Want?

Abomination of Desolation: Explained!

Are You Deceived and Don't Even Know It?

Are You Flexible?

As a Thief in the Night

Comet Elenin, Hercolubus, Nibiru, and Planet X

Daniel 8 and the Problem With Futurism

Do You Seek the Truth or Short-Change Yourself?

Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?

Doctrinal Correction: The Proper Way to Do It

Facebook False Prophets and Misguided Teachers

Fight Against Futurism!

He That Shall Endure Unto the End

Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word

In the Ages to Come

Is Elon Musk the Antichrist?

It Is Time to Wake Up!

Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?

Modern Deception: Shall a Nation Be Born at Once?

Modern Deceptions: Return to Israel, the Fig Tree and This Generation

My Evolving Theology

Please Stop Misinterpreting the Scriptures

Pre-Trib, Post Trib or No Trib?

Preterist or Futurist? It's All by Faith

Prophetic Comparisons: Mashiach, Mahdi and Messiah

Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means

Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?

So, You Have Got It All Figured Out, Do You?

The 70th Week of Daniel Error: Are You Guilty?

The Day I Am Waiting For

The Day of the Lord: What It Really Means

The Great Tribulation and the Rapture

The Last Seven Years Chart

The Only Credentials You Need!

The Theologian War and Man Worship

The Triumphant Touchdown of Jesus Christ

The Truth Regarding Luke 21:36

The Two Sackcloth Witnesses of Revelation 11

The Wisdom of God Versus the Philosophy of Men

The Woman in the Wilderness and the 144,000

Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?

Understanding the Bible in Context

Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem

When Was Satan Cast Out of Heaven?

Who Hindered the Antichrist?

Who is Babylon the Great?

Who is Mashiach ben David?

Who is Who?: Defining Important Prophecy Terms

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