Andy Woods has recently written a booklet (54 pages): The Falling Away: Spiritual Departure or Physical Rapture?: A Second Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3. He interprets the Greek word apostasia (the apostasy/falling away) as referring to the rapture. “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thess 2:3).
Unfortunately, the book is riddled with errors, repeating the same errors that have been refuted many times over by myself and others. It is as if he lives in an echo chamber. He does not interact with any primary literature that disagrees with his position. He says he wrote it though for a layperson audience, but he does not explain why that excuses him from defending his views. Rather, it is insulting to laypeople because he is basically saying to them, “I do not have to respond to arguments against my position, so just take my word for it.”
He repeats the same old Greek lexical fallacies that I have articulated here. You can also see here where in my cross-examination portion of my debate with Thomas Ice, he could not answer a fundamental question concerning the documentation of apostasia in Greek literature. One would think that as a teacher of God’s Word that Andy Woods would be interested in meaningful objections to his view. That is basic scholarship. This is a shame because the people of God deserve better.
Rather than claiming that prewrath is a Satanic tool to get Christians to deny the ‘imminent’ pretrib rapture (see the video below) perhaps he should spend more time with meaningful biblical arguments.
So I am putting out a public debate invitation for Andy Woods. Here is a proposed thesis: Second Thessalonians 2:3 refers to the Physical Rapture. Andy Woods, you can take the affirmative, and I will take the denial. We can have a 2-3 hour debate, let’s say at the 2nd Annual Blessed Hope Prophecy forum sponsored by Prophecy Watchers this October 14th. I’ll pay my own expenses. Since the conference is going to have sessions “refuting” prewrath, what better venue than to have a debate between a prewrath proponent and a pretrib proponent. I am sure the attendees would appreciate this.
So, let the record stand: Andy Woods, I am willing to publicly subject my prewrath theology under your critique and cross-examination. Are you willing to subject your pretrib theology publicly from a prewrather?
See also:
A Reply to Andy Woods on ‘APOSTASIA Is the Rapture’ – Ep. 104
