Customer Reviews

Before God's Wrath: The Bible's Answer to the Timing of the Rapture, Revised and Expanded Edition

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In recent decades you are almost to be considered a heretic within the evangelical community if you do not accept the pre-tribulational account of the end-times and the Return of Christ.

The imminent return of the Christ. The pre-tribulation rapture of the church. The rise of a second-class set of tribulation saints. These doctrines are familiar and comfortable because they make us feel safe and unthreatened about the return of our Lord. Unfortunately, these doctrines fly in the face of the entire story of Christianity. Suffering is a normal part of the Christian life. How often we forget that here in comfortable America.

Coming from an evangelical, bible-centered perspective, H.L. Nigro's presents a comphrensive and detailed discussion of the relevant passages that discuss the end times. What do the passages say in plain language? What is the normal interpretation of a verse compare to other relevant passages?

I've found her book to be the most consistent and common sense interpretation of the end-times that I have yet read. It is well researched and comphrehensive, reviewing both the old and new testament passages concerning the return of the Lord. The book is also contains many discussions and rebuttals of the common assumptions that evangelicals make regarding end times studies.

If you are content to feel warm and fuzzy about the return of Christ, then read the Left Behind series or other pre-trib books. If you are a serious student of the end times, then you owe it to yourself to at least consider other points of view. This book is well worth your time and money and may possibly change the way your regard the Christian life. I highly recommend that you read and consider what this book has to offer.

H.L. Nigro is one of a handful of scholars who have independently discovered that the Bible teaches a PreWrath, PreMillennial Rapture. My favorite section of this book is the Q&A at the very front. There the author addresses the questions that someone coming from a PreTrib viewpoint is likely to have when first encountering the PreWrath view.

Throughout the course of the text, H.L. examines the Word of God faithfully and thoroughly to determine the true intent of the Author. For any who want to go deeper into the differences between PreTrib and PreWrath, the author provides an appendix that examines "Maranatha! Our Lord Come!" by Renald Showers and also an appendix that takes issue with "The Rapture Question Answered" by John Walvoord. The PreTrib stance is given a fair hearing by this charitable author, who is clearly walking close to the Lord.

Whether you have studied End Times prophecy a little or a lot, you will be blessed by considering H.L. Nigro's well-reasoned arguments in favor of the PreWrath view. You will, at the least, see an example of how to debate a controversial issue without becoming obnoxious. At the most, you will discover the truth.

It's very hard to find a book about Christ's return that doesn't have major assumptions stated as fact on every page. There is no arrogance found here, and every disagreement the author has with other views is delivered with grace. H.L Nigro's book is one of the few I have found on this subject that speaks of the heart issues concerning Christ's return/rapture. The rapture is shown to be more than a timing issue. Not only is there passage after passage quoted from the bible in this book for the reader to study on their own, I counted over 20 charts that helps one visualize the points H.L. Nigro is making! Unlike many end times books, the foundation of "Before God's Wrath" is not based upon two or three verses. "Before God's Wrath" is well worth your valuable time, and in my opinion, a must read for the majority of the Church.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about the endtimes, prophecy, and the rapture.

There are several things that help make this an outstanding book:

1. There book includes several charts and tables that make it much easier to compare Scripture passages from different parts of the Bible.
2. The book discusses many issues that I had questions on but that other books on the endtimes just didn't cover (easy to read but indepth treatment of the issues, theology, and Biblical texts!)
3.The author is fair and accurate when discussing other views of the endtimes with which she disagrees in her book. Some books written by Christians seem "unchristian" in how they treat others or develop "strawman" arguments. This book is fair in its treament of others!
4.It is easy to tell that the author spent ALOT of time researching and writing this book.

There are several other good books that deal with the endtimes (such as Marvin Rosenthal's book "The prewrath rapture of the church"), but this is the most up to date, thorough, and comprehensive on the rapture available.

I am new to the idea that the church will not be raptured out prior to the tribulation. I had my suspicions that we would, indeed, have to endure the Great Tribulation but not come under God's wrath (Read Matt 24). I began to do some online research and came across and purchased several books on the topic. Before God's Wrath is one of them. H.L Nigro contributes greatly to the topic, clearing up many areas of confusion. I can recommend this book highly to anyone who has questions about when the *Bible* says the Chruch will be raptured.

I hate to take labels, but I have been a dispensationalist for most of my life.
As a new pastor, I have received many questions about the topic of the rapture and I have seriously
evaluated other views. While I wish to be gracious with those who disagree, I did not find this book helpful,
nor did it sway me from my pre-trib position. While I think the mid trib position is reasonable, I am still unconvinced
by the main thesis of this book in that the church must be purified by going through the tribulation. Matthew 24 and Revelation 6-7 also seem to be key passages that one must wrestle with.

However,the Rapture Question by Walvoord still makes the most sense to me.

Let's remember to be gracious in a discussions...we are the salt and light!

With several books out there on the Pre-Wrath position you find many redundant and at times confusing and hard to follow. The flow of this author's approach and covering of the topic reads very well from start to finish. She does an excellent job of approaching the topic with full knowledge that there are many detractors of this position. Once I started looking at the pre-wrath position and reading the books on the pre-wrath position I changed my opinions and beliefs concerning the rapture timing and specifically the Christian's relationship to the Tribulation period. It is regrettable that so many pre-tribulation position people have put this teaching in the dogma category from doctrine and refuse to debate it or reconsider their own positions. Like the author says, to accept the pre-trib position one must make many assumptions that are not backed up by scripture or specifically literal scripture interpretation.

If there is a weak point to this book on the Pre-Wrath position it might be in the Charts as they are quite basic but I believe this author handles the topic, for the average reader, better than most others have covered it and with far less rabbit trails and that more than makes up for basic charts which are still very understandable and works well with the text.

If a person was to purchase one of the Pre-Wrath position books this would be my recommendation for the first that a person should buy but I would recommend that regardless of which position you adhere to or believe in you research with multiple sources and author's opinions. For those who are dogmatic about the Pre-Tribulation position I would but suggest that you consider this, and other Pre-Wrath author's positions and read their material if but to try and debunk it and consider their references of the scriptures they use to back up their positions. This is one area that contemporary Christians need to be up to speed on and be confident about in their own minds. I've been shocked at the number of Pastors and ministers that are absolutely uncomfortable with their understanding of Revelation and many that shy away from teaching it due to their own questions and concerns about the pre-tribulation teachings they learned in seminary. I predict, with books like this one, and with serious study that the Pre-Wrath will be the prevalent accepted position of the Church in the 21st Century and acceptance will grow exponentially as it's the only position that clearly backed up squarely by the Bible and through Christ teachings, Prophecy, and the writings of Revelation.

Anybody who is interested in knowing more about the rapture, get this book. There is important knowledge in this book for everyone, but more so for those of you who do not read your bible in search for the truth.

As the son of a pastor who always taught me the pretrib view of the Rapture, I for a long time rejected almost automatically any view that did not agree with that. However, starting years ago, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the thought that maybe I was missing the point, and an important one. The first book on the prewrath view I ever bought was this one, and I must admit it had a powerful impact in my understanding the events of the end times.

I then followed a sort of an reversed path, reading in sequence the "Prewrath Rapture of the Church" by Marvin J. Rosenthal and then "The Sign" by Robert Van Kampen. These three books are an absolute must read for anyone seriously interested in reconciling what *the Bible* has to say about the Rapture (and many other end times events) and what we *think* (or were taught, as in my case) to be the truth.

The most impressive aspect of the author's stance in presenting the case for prewrath, in my opinion, is the candid and open honesty with which the subject is approached. There is never a derogatory or patronizing remark on defenders of other views; just solid Bible fact. The book deserves every one of the five possible stars, for being a veritable summary of the doctrine presented in the other two landmark works mentioned before, plus the added dimension of the author's careful analysis and efficient demonstration of the Bible verifying and proving the Bible. If you can't read all three books, don't miss this one.

I became an ardent defender of the prewrath view because I really believe that this is what the Bible is telling us about the end times sequence of events. In a personal contact with the author, I even requested permission to translate the book into other languages, as I really feel this book should be made widely available for the good of Christians everywhere. As long as other versions are not available, don't miss the original one.

May the Holy Spirit guide you according to the principles, "Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good."

The entire book seems to be based on a wrong assumption of when God's wrath begins. At the sixth seal the sun turns black, the moon turns red, stars fall from the sky and the mountains are removed. The kings of the earth then hide in caves and declare that God's wrath has come (when it actually hasn't - they just think it has). God's wrath happens after the seventh trump (which is when Paul says the rapture will take place - at the last trump) when the elders fall down and worship God and say that God's wrath has come. The elders in heaven surely know when God's wrath comes better than do the kings of the earth. Joel says Jesus would return after the signs in the sun, moon and stars (the sixth seal). But that is NOT before the trumpets. Jesus said he would return AFTER the tribulation of those days. The seventh trumpet rapture ends the tribulation, then the bowls of God's wrath are poured out. The two witnesses are resurrected at the seventh trump. They escort the church into heaven, just as the two angels escorted Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah and UP into the mountains just before God's wrath, and just as Joshua sent two spies into the land before Jericho was destroyed. Israel circled the city seven days (seven seals). The seventh day they circled the city seven times and blew the trumpets and shouted (seven trumpets), the walls fell and they ASCENDED UP.
I may be wrong, but there are TWO places in Revelation where it says God's wrath has come. One is declared by the kings of the earth at the sixth seal. The other is declared by the Elders before God's throne at the seventh trumpet, and is supported by prophetic types and foreshadows. You decide.