1st Thessalonians 4:13-18, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
This past Sunday morning on July 5th, 2026, Pastor Steven Anderson preached a sermon titled: “The Rapture Is The Second Coming.” This is totally unscriptural. The Rapture happens seven years BEFORE Christ's Second Coming, which I will explain.
There are two great passages of Scripture which teach the Rapture:
- 1st Corinthians 15:51-58
- 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18
The old adage is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's a helpful chart that I made contrasting the Rapture of the Church, and Christ's Second Coming.
For Pastor Anderson to claim that the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ are the SAME event disregards and ignores all of these obvious contrast between the two prophetic events.
But dear friend, if I haven't convinced you yet that Pastor Anderson is very wrong doctrinally in his claim that the Rapture is the Second Coming, then please consider that he SETS A DATE for Jesus' return, which blatantly violates the plain teaching of the Holy Bible that no man (not even the angels) know the time of Jesus return. Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
“When does the Rapture take place? 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week.” —Pastor Steven Anderson, 'Revelation - Part 10' (Time: 31:00 minutes into video)
Pastor Anderson admits that many believers have accused him of setting a date, which he ridiculously denies. You can hear him say this at 31:19 minutes into Part 10 of his Revelation series. Dear reader, like it or not, Pastor Anderson has already SET A DATE! Anderson says that the Rapture of the saints and Jesus' Second Coming are the SAME event, which events he errantly says will occur 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. This fact alone exposes him as a FALSE TEACHER!
Pastor Anderson alleges that he is not setting a date since no one knows when Daniel's 70th week (aka, the Tribulation period) starts. I hope you clearly see that he is in fact, DATE SETTING! Jesus emphatically declared that NO MAN, not even the angels in Heaven, know the time of His return (Mark 13:32-37).
At 34:06 in Part 10 of his Revelation series, Pastor Anderson says Jesus only meant that no one would know the time when He said it. Huh? Pastor Anderson says the people alive during the Tribulation will know the time of Jesus' return. That is blatant false teaching!!! Yet, if you listen to the sermon that he preached on July 5th, “The Rapture Is The Second Coming,” you'll hear him accusing saints (like me) who believe in a Pretribulation Rapture of ignoring Scripture, lying and making stuff up. Kindly said, Pastor Anderson is woefully guilty of everything that he accuses Pretribbers of doing.
Pastor Anderson is adamant that the Rapture will occur 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. The very title of his July 5th sermon, “The Rapture Is The Second Coming,” reveals his ignorance of Scripture. Anderson is literally teaching that Christ's SECOND COMING will happen 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. So, if this be true, then people WILL KNOW, and the angels WILL KNOW, the time of Jesus' return.
Pastor Anderson alleges that he is not setting a date since no one knows when Daniel's 70th week (aka, the Tribulation period) starts. I hope you clearly see that he is in fact, DATE SETTING! Jesus emphatically declared that NO MAN, not even the angels in Heaven, know the time of His return (Mark 13:32-37).
At 34:06 in Part 10 of his Revelation series, Pastor Anderson says Jesus only meant that no one would know the time when He said it. Huh? Pastor Anderson says the people alive during the Tribulation will know the time of Jesus' return. That is blatant false teaching!!! Yet, if you listen to the sermon that he preached on July 5th, “The Rapture Is The Second Coming,” you'll hear him accusing saints (like me) who believe in a Pretribulation Rapture of ignoring Scripture, lying and making stuff up. Kindly said, Pastor Anderson is woefully guilty of everything that he accuses Pretribbers of doing.
Pastor Anderson is adamant that the Rapture will occur 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. The very title of his July 5th sermon, “The Rapture Is The Second Coming,” reveals his ignorance of Scripture. Anderson is literally teaching that Christ's SECOND COMING will happen 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. So, if this be true, then people WILL KNOW, and the angels WILL KNOW, the time of Jesus' return.
Mark 13:34-37, “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”
But there is no need to watch if we already know that Jesus is coming back 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. Pastor Anderson is making a fool of himself to say that he is not setting a date, when he just plainly stated that the Rapture will happen 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week, and 75 days after the Abomination of Desolation...
“So, I'm not setting any kind of date, I never have and I never will—until I see the Abomination of Desolation and then I'm going to start setting to set a date. And hopefully I'm still alive at that time.” —Pastor Steven Anderson, 'Revelation - Part 10' (Time: 35:25 minutes into video)How is that not DATE SETTING? Of course he is setting a date for Jesus return.
Kindly said, Steven Anderson is a college drop out! He quit Hyles-Anderson College in 2006 and never graduated. I enrolled in 1985 and eight years later by God's grace I graduated with honors in 1993. Here is my diploma singed by Pastor Jack Hyles. Kindly said, Anderson never finished his training to be a pastor, which is clearly evident in his many theological blunders.
We Can Only Conclude A Pretribulation Rapture
The primary reason why I believe in a Pretribulation Rapture is simply because nothing else fits the puzzle of Bible prophecy. If Pastor Anderson is correct that the Rapture and the Second Coming are the same event, and that they both happen 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week, then we would KNOW exactly to the very day when Christ will return.
Furthermore, the Bible does specify in Daniel 12:11 that from the prophetic event known as the Abomination of Desolation unto Christ's return when Daniel's 70th week ends will be 1,290 days. So, again, if the Rapture occurs after the Antichrist appears (which is what Steven Anderson teaches) then we WOULD KNOW exactly to the date when Christ is coming back.
I admit that Bible prophecy is a challenging and difficult subject for many believers, especially new babes in Christ. But if we simply take the Bible at face value, we can only conclude a Pretribulation Rapture of the saints.
The Bible teaches in 1st Thessalonians 4:17b that the saints will be “caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” “Them” refers to those saints who had previously died, who will be raised up first. This is a very different event from Christ's Second Coming, when “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 1:14b). As you can see for yourself, when Jesus returns at the end of the 7-year Tribulation period, we (the saints) will already be with Him in Heaven. We are going UP at the Rapture; Jesus is coming DOWN at His Second Coming.
And again, to reiterate, any doctrinal position concerning the timing of the Rapture other than BEFORE the Tribulation makes no sense and doesn't fit the puzzle of prophecy, because we WOULD KNOW the time of Christ's return. Only a Pretribulation Rapture position maintains the imminency, secrecy and suddenness of Jesus' return for the saints.
Respectfully said, Pastor Steven Anderson is WRONG...
“𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.” —𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗟. 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 (01:27:05 video)
The inspired King James Bible teaches Jesus could come back TODAY!!! Jesus could return this very moment. ...
𝗧𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝟮:𝟭𝟯-𝟭𝟰, “𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁; 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝘇𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀.”
Why would the Bible tell us to LOOK FOR JESUS if the Man of Sin (Antichrist) must appear first? According to his chart, Pastor Anderson errantly teaches that the Rapture will happen 75 DAYS after the biblical event called the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION in Matthew 24:15 (cf. Daniel 9:27, 11:21, 12:11), when the Antichrist shall stand in the future temple in Jerusalem and profess to be God, committing blasphemy. At this time the False Prophet will demand that the world worship the image of the Beast, or be killed (Revelation 13:15-18).
Kindly said, it couldn't be more obvious that Steven Anderson is utterly confused, inconsistent and unlearned concerning the Scripture. In one place he teaches that the Rapture will happen 75 days after the Abomination of Desolation. Yet, in another place he says the Rapture will happen 1,335 days into Daniel's 70th week. Well, which is it? The guy is all over the place!
Here are some more articles I've written in defense of a biblical Pretribulation Rapture:
Here are some more articles I've written in defense of a biblical Pretribulation Rapture:
God knows that I didn't write this article to be unkind, nor in a malicious spirit toward Brother Anderson, God forbid. I wrote this article because right doctrine matters!
