The Wrath of God
The wrath of God begins with the pouring of the "bowls of wrath" on the earth AFTER the 7th trump has been sounded.
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
The last trump will be the 7th sounding by the angels of the trumpets as recorded in Revelation chapters 8,9 and 11.
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
How clear can it be that it is not possible for God's "wrath" to be on "us", "us" being the church called to be the firstfruit. His firstfruit will be "resurrected" prior to the wrath being poured out. Mr. Armstrong indicated that God's wrath could be on the church if one believed that mankind was made subject to vanity.
Mr. Armstrong: HUMAN NATURE - Did God Create It?
Page 6: And THAT EVIL IN THEM CAME FROM SATAN, NOT FROM GOD! They were NOT created with this evil nature.
In Page 11 he uses the Phillips translation as evidence that human nature came from Satan.
The Phillips translation continues, (Eph 2 verse 3): "We all lived like that in the past, and followed the impulses and imaginations of our evil nature ... like everyone else". This nature has been acquired from Satan. It was not inherited from our parents. It was not created in us by God. That which has become habitual and therefore natural becomes a NATURE within us. Such nature IS NOT hereditary, but an acquired charac-teristic. This very passage shows the AUTHOR of this "nature" to be Satan, NOT GOD. The next words in the Phillips translation are: "being under the wrath of God by nature". It would make no sense at all for God's wrath to be on us BECAUSE OF WHAT GOD PUT WITHIN US. Adam was NOT created with this "EVIL nature. Adam acquired it from Satan. Lucifer (Satan) was created PERFECT. He acquired it by false reasoning.
How is it that Mr. Armstrong could not see that the whole work of God is to change our vile nature to God's nature by mankind being made subject to vanity and then be given salvation through God's indwelling Spirit? This is God's desire for those that receive Jesus for their savior.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.