I have heard the following objection to prewrath over the years, and once again just recently. It goes something like this:
I have never met an honest prewrather because if they really believed they were going to endure the great tribulation then they would be storing up food.
I’ll be frank, this is an odd objection. Nevertheless, it is easily answered:
i. That is a rhetorical objection and not a biblical objection. In other words, he is basing his reason for objecting to prewrath, not on the Bible, but on a practical notion of what Christians should be doing during the great tribulation.
ii. The question assumes that no prewrathers are storing up food. Is the pretribber omniscient?
iii. There is nothing right or wrong with storing up food. There is no biblical mandate to do so, or not to do so.
iv. Who is to say that God will not provide manna to the faithful during this time? Why does the pretribber presume on God’s purposes?
v. The pretribber has a problem. Are the so-called “tribulation saints” not “honest” because we know that the Bible does not depict them as storing up food.
vi. The pretribber misses the whole point of God’s purpose for Christians during the great tribulation: It’s not about survival, but faithfulness, regardless if we live or die. Becoming an overcomer is about not giving your allegiance to the Beast.
In short, survival for Christians will be the exception, not the rule. To the pretribber: our God-given mandate during the Antichrist’s great tribulation is not to “survive” through self-sufficiency but rather to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ no matter what the cost.
