In Search Of The Origins Of The Pretrib Doctrine:
Part 2: Psuedo-Ephraem Depicts A Posttrib, Not Pretrib, Rapture

"For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins" (Pseudo-Ephraem).

I do not believe in reinventing the wheel (though I sometimes do [said with a smile], but I can find no better documentation that refutes the idea of pretrib rapture in the above quote from Pseudo-Ephraem than that which is written at Pseudo-Pseudo-Ephraem: Grant Jeffrey II, the Sequel! By Tim Warner. At first appearance the above quote appears to emphatically point to support a Pretribulation rapture by Pseudo-Ephraem, which was written sometime around 373 AD. However, the date itself is speculative and scholars are unsure of when this document was written, dating it anywhere from 374 and 627 AD. There is a lot of unsureness of the document and its author, making it a poor measure of truth concerning the second coming of Christ. Warner states,

The quotation Jeffrey referred to is from a document called "Pseudo-Ephraem." The prefix "pseudo—" means "false" or "falsely ascribed to—." Scholars doubt this document is genuinely from the hand of Ephraem of Syria, or that it was written in the fourth century. It was most likely written much later by an anonymous author, who falsely ascribed it to Ephraem the Syrian. So, when Jeffrey wrote "I believe Ephraem the Syrian's A.D. 373 manuscript, On the Last Times, the Antichrist and the End of the World...", he has already mis-represented his evidence, and demonstrated the same kind of "spin" that is evident in his other claims. This sermon was neither written by Ephraem the Syrian nor was it written in A.D. 373! And Jeffrey knows this! Ephraem's genuine writings, contained in the Post-Nicene Fathers collection, display no hint of pre-tribulationism. Here is the allegedly pre-trib statement that Jeffrey provides from Pseudo-Ephraem (see above quote)."

If you are a serious seeker of the truth and have believed the above quote from Pseudo-Ephraem as a proof of the Pretib rapture, be sure to read article on Warner's web site.

Bob Gundry also wrote 27 pages refuting this quote as supporting a Pretib doctrine in his book, "First The Antichrist." On page 188, he summarizes his 27-page refutation by stating,

The True Teaching of Pseudo-Ephraem

"In summary, then, Pseudo-Ephraem urges Christians to forsake worldliness in preparation for meeting Christ when he returns after the great tribulation. Meanwhile, Christian evangelism is taking people to the Lord and gathering them into the Church. As a result of their present conversion and its confirmation by their preparation to meet Christ, he will save them from being sucked into the vortex of confusion that will overcome others likewise on earth throughout that period. This interpretation takes account of Pseudo-Ephraem's leaving the corpses of Christians unburied during the tribulation, putting the resurrection of Christians and their meeting Christ at his coming after the tribulation to destroy the Antichrist, making imminent the advent of Antichrist rather than that of Christ, and utilizing the plainly and heavily posttrib tradition of true Ephraem, who repeatedly portrayed present-day evangelism as a gathering.

Gundry's book can be purchased at Amazon.com. If this link fails, do a search at Amazon and the title will come up.