Pretrib Rapture Vs. FACTS by Dave MacPherson

     All of us at The End Times Passover Blog are always excited when renowned author Dave MacPherson calls upon us to help him share insights concerning the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. As many of you know, Dave has spent over forty years researching this matter. He has provided much data that explains how the Pre-Tribulation Rapture to Heaven doctrine exploded on the scene in the mid-1800's, and who was really responsible for creating the biggest myth that has divided the church more than any other polemic in its history. Following is the beginning of a series of material that Dave has chosen to reveal to the public through this blog. We feel privileged and honored to be his official pulpit.


      [This is the first installment of a continuing x-ray of the 181-year -old pretribulation rapture view that is somehow embraced by millions of unsuspecting evangelicals. Readers can decide whether statements made by influential pretrib promoters reflect an inherent lack of scholarship or (much worse) an inexcusable lack of integrity.]

     (1) "John Darby is the father of dispensationalism." 

     FACTS: During the 1900s this was constantly assumed and thoughtlessly repeated by pretrib rapture teachers. My research since 1968 has discovered that Darby wasn't first on any crucial aspect of dispensationalism including the pretrib rapture - without which "fly away" event the same British-born theological system would have no reason to even exist! (Google "The Unoriginal John Darby.")

     (2) "John Darby derived a pretrib rapture from the Bible as early as 1827."

     FACTS: This thought is traced back to a 1991 book by Darby-idolizer R. A. Huebner. It was echoed publicly by John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie, Thomas Ice and other pretrib traffickers who had time to quickly repeat this 1827 claim but unfortunately not enough time for them to notice that in a footnote on p. 100 Huebner had second thoughts and meekly admitted that the Darby quote he had dredged up could mean something completely different! (Google "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" and see my 300-page, highly endorsed book "The Rapture Plot," pp. 213-221.)

     (3) Pretrib pushers claim that Darby, after he adopted pretrib in 1827, kept teaching only the pretrib view.

     FACTS: Pretrib defenders collusively cover up the following: that in 1827 Darby awaited only the (posttribulation) "restitution of all things," that from 1828-1830 he expected only the (posttrib) final advent discussed in Matt. 24 and Rev. 19, that in 1832 he was absorbed with only "present antichristian principles" and not with a future "personal Antichrist," and that as late as 1837 Darby saw the church "going in with Him to the marriage [of the Lamb], to wit, with Jerusalem and the Jews." (This 1837 paper doesn't have even a hint of a "church/Israel dichotomy" [separation] that he was supposed to have discovered 10 years earlier from which he supposedly derived a pretrib rapture!)

     Not until 1839 did John Darby clearly teach a pretrib rapture in his "Notes on the Revelation." His pretrib basis then (and until the 1860s), was the symbolic "man child" that is "caught up" in Rev. 12:5. But British preacher Edward Irving (whose followers were the Irvingites) had begun using the same symbol for the same rapture view eight years earlier in 1831 in his own journal which Darby avidly read, as he publicly admitted. It was shocking to learn that Darby plagiarized Irving in this regard - and Darby plagiarized others as well!

     Pretrib rapture diehards have also twisted Darby's later "memories" of his earliest prophetic development, reading into Darby's often unclear language a pretrib rapture where none existed." (See my "Plot" book, pp. 121-138.)

     In the next installment you will learn about others who taught the pretrib view years before Darby did - uncovered history that has been causing many in recent years to change over from the pretrib view to midtrib, prewrath, or posttrib views. And be sure to Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" for a sneak preview of some background to the current rapture debate. 

     Meanwhile I invite everyone to obtain the worthy and worthwhile prophecy books written by my good friend Joe Ortiz who has succeeded in the theology world what I have tried to do for 40-plus years in church history. 

     Thank you Dave. We look forward to your next installment.

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Anyone who would like to comment on the information Dave has provided, feel free to express your honest opinions and we will be more than happy to send it directly to Dave. Please include a contact email address and he will respond to you directly. 

For more information about Joe Ortiz, click on his book Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation.