Which Pre-Trib Rapture View? By Dave MacPherson

Which pretrib rapture view is correct? C. I. Scofield's? John Walvoord's? Hal Lindsey's? Someone else's?

Walvoord (and Dwight Pentecost) say that the ones "taken" in Matt. 24:40-41 are the wicked taken in judgment at the end of the tribulation while those "left" are left alive.

Lindsey disagrees with Walvoord and Pentecost and states that the ones "taken" are church members raptured before the tribulation while those "left" are the wicked who are left on earth to go through the tribulation.

Producers of the "Left Behind" movies also agree with Lindsey (and disagree with Walvoord and Pentecost) that a pretrib rapture takes away the church and that the ones left behind are the wicked.

Lindsey declares that John actually left the earth and went to heaven in Rev. 4:1. Walvoord and Scofield disagree with Lindsey and maintain that John's body stayed on Patmos and was never raptured away.

Lindsey sees the tribulation in chapters 4-19 in Revelation while Scofield sees it in chapters 11-18 and Henry Thiessen sees it in chapters 6-19.

Lindsey holds that Revelation's 24 elders represent the church while Harry Ironside says they represent Old Testament as well as New Testament saints.
Lindsey believes that Rev. 13's second beast will be a Jew. But Walvoord declares there's no evidence that either one of those beasts is Jewish.

Lindsey writes that Rev. 3:10 is proof of a pretrib rapture. Walvoord, however, writes that using Rev. 3:10 for this purpose is up for debate.

While pretribs have long seen prophetic significance in the Jewish feasts in Leviticus 23, there has been disagreement on which feast is symbolic of a pretrib rapture.

Scofield based his pretrib rapture on the feast of the firstfruits, No. 3.

Although Walvoord can't find anything in the Old Testament suggestive of a pretrib rapture, his 1966 book based a pretrib aspect of the first resurrection on feast No. 3.

Although Lindsey doesn't reveal which feast is the significant one, his pretrib rapture lies between feast No. 3 and feast No. 7.

Another pretrib date-setter, Edgar Whisenant, said in 1988 that the rapture would happen in 1988. His rapture was based on feast No. 5

A number of years ago David Webber proclaimed on his "Southwest Radio Church of the Air" broadcast that the Antichrist will be revealed to believers before they go up in the rapture. On the same day, however, broadcaster Oliver B. Greene stated on "The Gospel Hour" that the Antichrist will never be revealed to the church before the rapture!

My book "The Incredible Cover-up" has an entire chapter titled "A House Divided" which shows that pretribs have long disagreed with each other on practically every point and subpoint in their 19th century end time theory!
My many books and web articles focus on pretrib history.

Since what the Bible teaches is far more important than history, I am happy to recommend my good friend Joe Ortiz's monumental book "The End Times Passover" which gives readers "the exact meaning of certain words, to better understand exactly what God intended for us to know through His written Word.

In his well-researched book which took 20 years to write, Joe provides Bible evidence that proves that believers are "caught up" to have a meeting with Jesus Christ in the air, and then they escort Him back to earth (instead of going back up to Heaven), as Jesus begins His eternal reign on earth. If you are a Bible teacher, scholar and or pastor, this is a "must read" book."

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Dave MacPherson. What People are saying

What They Are Saying About ... THE RAPTURE PLOT!

Gary DeMar (President American Vision): "A majority of prophecy writers and speakers teach that the church will be raptured before a future tribulational period. But did you know that prior to about 1830 no such doctrine existed. No one in all of church history ever taught pretribulational rapture. Dave MacPherson does the work of a journalistic private investigator to uncover the truth....The Rapture Plot is the never-before-told true story of the plot - how plagiarism and subtle document changes created the 'mother of all revisionisms.' A fascinating piece of detective work." Robert H. Gundry (Professor Westmont College): "As usual MacPherson out hustles his opponents in research on primary sources. C. S. Lovett (President Personal Christianity): You don't read very much of Dave MacPherson's work before you realize he is a dedicated researcher. Because his work has been so honest and open his latest work The Rapture Plot has produced many red faces among some of the most recognized rapture writers of our time. When their work is compared to his it is embarrassing for them to see how shallow their research is." R. J. Rushdoony (President Chalcedon): "Dave MacPherson has been responsible for major change in the eschatology of evangelical churches by his devastating studies of some of the central aspects thereof. In The Rapture Plot MacPherson tells us of the strange tale of 'rapture' writings, revisions, cover-ups, alterations and confusions. No one has equaled MacPherson in his research on the 'pretrib rapture.' Attempts to discredit his work have failed...."

About the Author: Born 1932 of Scotch/English descent Dave MacPherson is a natural for British historical research. His calling was journalism. Receiving a BA in English in 1955 he spent 26 years as a newsman reporting and filming many notable events persons presidents and dignitaries.