A LETTER TO JOHN HAGEE

****BELOW you will find posted a letter that I sent to John Hagee, and to Jack VanImpe, also. To John Hagee Ministries', credit they did at least respond.
I have not to this day heard from Jack VanImpe.
Please feel free to give me your opinion of my letter. Peace

August 14, 2007
John Hagee Ministries

P.O. Box 1400

San Antonio, TX 78295-1400

Dear John,

You have been teaching the “Rapture”, and that the Lord will come and remove His church before the Great Tribulation. Why do the scriptures say otherwise?

In Revelation 6:1-8, when John saw the four horsemen bringing oppression, famine, war, and death, however, the church is still here, and has not been “raptured”.

If you have any understanding, you know that the opening of the seven seals is the beginning of the great tribulation. Let’s take a look at the other three seals. We see the saints that are asleep asking, how long before they are avenged, in Revelation 6: 9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Where is the church when the sixth seal is opened? It is the sign of the beginning of the end of great tribulation, Revelation 6: 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. --These signs happen just before Jesus' return--15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:--The wrath of the Lamb? Not Sweet little Jesus boy? No, the Lion of the tribe of Judah!--17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. You‘re not gone yet.

We see the Heaven rolled back as a scroll, Isaiah spoke of this same time, Isaiah 13: 6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, Joel also spoke of this same time, Joel 2: 10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:, 3:1 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.; 3: 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Also you must have noticed by now there is no mention of any trumpet sounding so where is the church—the one waiting on the “rapture” when the last trumpet is blown.

Let’s take a look at Matthew 24: 1-22, Jesus’ disciples asked Him what would be the sign of His coming, He answered them many things. “Let no man deceive you, was the first thing that He said. But, take a look at verses “15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” If the Lord has raptured all the righteous (alive and dead), why would He worry about no flesh being saved--they are all sinful unrepentent individuals anyway?

Jesus tells us when great tribulation begins and when the Lord’s servants are to flee into the secret place—when the man of sin stands in the Holy place—2 Thessalonians 2: 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.—Daniel 11: 31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate., when the man of sin is revealed. As you see no one has left the earth.

Let’s look at the seventh seal, Revelation 8:1-2, 6, we can see there, seven angels are given seven trumpets and they prepare to sound, at this same time there are seven angels given seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever, Revelation 15:1, 5-7.

As we keep reading, have you noticed that no one has been raptured; that Jesus has not come yet? Now, let us reason together and continue reading the scriptures. For Isaiah 28 : 9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little—tells us how we are taught knowledge—here a little, there a little, so let’s do what the Lord says.

Back to the Angel’s sounding of the first trumpet, Revelation 8: 7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up; now turn to Revelation 16: 1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. 2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.”, we see that the Angels with the seven vials pour them out as the trumpets are sounded. The second trumpet is sounded Revelation8: 8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

Revelation 16 3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
The third Angel sounds his trumpet in Revelation 8: 10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter;

In Revelation 16: 4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments;

The fourth Angel sounds his trumpet and the fourth Angel pours out his vial in Revelation 8: 12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Revelation

16: 8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Revelation 8: 13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! As you can see still no “rapture” has occurred, and “you ain’t gone yet”.

Revelation 9:1-12, tells us of war on the Earth when the fifth Angel sounds his trumpet, the Angel with the fifth vial pours out his vial on the seat of the beast and his kingdom, Revelation 16: 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Now, turn to Revelation 9:13-21 as we have read, a great army is coming out of the east, Revelation 16: 12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Turn to Revelation 11: 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. The seventh Angel sounded his trumpet and the Angel poured out his vial into the air; the kingdom of man is now going to be ruled by Jesus Christ for a thousand years.

In Revelation 16: 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Still no one has left nor been “raptured” off the Earth.

These trumpets announce the coming of the King; other scriptures tell of other events that are also happening at the seventh and last trumpet—1 Corinthians 15: 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed;

1 Thessalonians

4: 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

I pray that you can see that no one has left the earth or been “raptured”, as you say, before the seventh trumpet.

However, God’s elect have foreknowledge and know where the secret place is and when to flee; they are not waiting for “the rapture”.

John 4: 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Remember: salvation is of the Jew, the true Israelite, to whom Jesus is our Lord, our Savior, our King, our Kinsman Redeemer, our Salvation, the Firstfruit of many brethren. If you would like to know how God’s people will be able to make it through that great and terrible day of the Lord, write me back. I love sharing knowledge.

Sincerely
Tyrone Keelen