Are Pre-Tribulationalists deluded?

This article was posted on the Fulfilled Prophecy website 1-15-2008.
Blessed Hope or False Hope?

The author seems to be concerned that Pre-Tribbers, deluded by the likes of LaHaye and Lindsey, will be suddenly found wanting: "Christians who believe they won't have to face persecution may be woefully unprepared for this great test of their faith."

I wonder how this squares off with the Calvinist OSAS/Eternal Security doctrine and the teaching that those who take the Mark are damned to Hell. So, if Christians have to undergo this “test of their faith” and they fail by accepting the Mark, then they weren’t saved in the first place?

I partly agree with the author. In fact, Pastors should be preparing Western Christians for the possibility of the types of trials, persecutions and martyrdoms that Christians are now experiencing in China, India and the Middle East. From a personal perspective, however, the (Pre-Trib) Christians I come in contact with have a strong day-to-day faith in God and I feel she is making assumptions based on her rapture position.

Presumably drawing from an article by Rosenthal, the author introduces the “John Nelson Darby” argument. See also: Is the Pre-Trib Rapture a Satanic Deception?

Quite frankly, the arguments on origin can go back and forth ad nauseam without concluding anything. Paul warned the Thessalonians that wrong teaching was already entering the church back then. As a whole, the early church eventually gave up on the teaching of premillennialism, took up salvation by works and embraced replacement theology. So at some point, those truths were rediscovered. By arguing the “John Nelson Darby” theory, Rosenthal is standing on shaky ground as the Pre-Wrath theory is the most recent of all and Rosenthal, a former Pre-Tribber, was heavily influenced by Robert Van Kampen. But at the end of the day the dating of a theory or teaching is moot. The proof of the pudding is scriptural truth.

Further, there also seems to be a dangerous quasi-teaching or “speculation” that we have been in Daniel’s 70th week since Jan 07 (some say even earlier) based on the European Neighborhood Policy, Recommendation 666 and that Javier Solana is most likely the Antichrist. How many believers in this "theory" might actually become despondent and lose faith if this turns out to be wrong? What if mid 2010 arrives and there is no Temple sacrifice, no Two Witnesses, no 144,000, no visible Antichrist and no False Prophet?

Could it be argued, then, that Satan has led these people into a strong delusion? I don’t honestly think so - but then neither is “The Blessed Hope” a Satanic delusion.

A review of the Pre-Wrath rapture of the Church
By Gerald B. Stanton

Pre-Wrath Eschatology

"Robert Van Kampen was the inventor of the three-quarters rapture theory in the late 1970s. According to one who was there, he first eliminated pretribulationism and then excluded posttribulationism. Thus, he had to come up with another view. That view is what he called the "pre-wrath" rapture theory. That title is a misnomer, since pretribulationism is 100% pre-wrath. If we follow consistency in labeling, Van Kampen's view should be called the three-quarters rapture position, since he teaches that the church will be raptured somewhere in the middle of the last three and a half years of the 70th week of Daniel."...The Three-Quarters Rapture Theory

The Two Witnesses: First or Second Half of the Tribulation?

What validity, if any, should be given to the Pre-wrath Rapture theory?