Dallas, Texas is called the Big D. And Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), deep in the heart of Big D, is the No. 1 school promoting another Big D.
I refer to "Dispensationalism" which, like a pearl shell, has long built up layers of supposed "proof" in order to protect its inner secret: the little money-making pearl known as the pretribulation rapture, a 19th century, fringe-British-invented theological novelty that was based originally on only OT and NT types and symbols and NOT on a single Bible verse!
For many years Dr. John Walvoord was DTS's president and was viewed as the world's No. 1 pretrib rapture authority. Astonishingly, the first (1957) printing of Walvoord's "The Rapture Question" admitted on p. 148: "The fact is that neither posttribulationism nor pretribulationism is an explicit teaching of Scripture."
(Walvoord, of course, could easily apply "explicit" in this manner to the historic posttrib view. The real shock was seeing him applying it to his own pretrib view!)
Dr. George Ladd of Fuller Seminary was the first one to alert me about this. In the same 1971 letter to me, Ladd added that in later printings of Walvoord's book the above devastating admission no longer appears for obvious reasons!
In two of his books ("The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation," 1976) and "The Rapture Question, Revised," 1979), Walvoord discussed my extensive research on pretrib rapture history. Many are still unaware that Walvoord, when opposing my findings, leaned not for support on any of his own DTS profs including church history experts but instead leaned almost exclusively on a militant member of the Plymouth Brethren named R. A. Huebner who at that time was a retired electrical engineer who had admitted that he had never attended college, seminary, or even a Bible school! (My research, BTW, has uncovered serious copying errors in Huebner's works - 95 of them in his 1973 booklet and 257 in his 1991 book including words changed, added, or subtracted when quoting others!)
< Ed Hinson, Dean, Liberty University
Walvoord's "The Rapture Question" also declares on p. 127: "Posttribulationism has long been a common doctrine held by the majority of the church." (Interestingly, even though pretrib teachers are aware of this true statement, they either pretend it doesn't exist or give the impression that anyone holding to a non-pretrib view is someone akin to a heretic!)
Bible teachers who've either taught, spoken, or studied at Dallas Seminary include the following: Tony Evans, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ed Hindson, Mark Hitchcock, Thomas Ice, H. A. Ironside, Robert Jeffress, David Jeremiah, Hal Lindsey, Erwin Lutzer, J. Vernon McGee, Dwight Pentecost, Randall Price, Ron Rhodes, Charles Ryrie, Charles Stanley, Joseph Stowell, Chuck Swindoll, Merrill Unger, and Andy Woods.
My greatest shocks have been when discovering massive plagiarism among some of the scholars tied to Dallas Seminary. My book "The Rapture Plot" has an appendix covering such thievery even in the writings of men like Charles Ryrie and Paul Lee Tan.
And my later book "The Three R's" shows, with side-by-side lines, that famed DTS prof Dr. Merrill Unger, holder of more than one doctorate, quietly plagiarized some of Hal Lindsey's books! He pilfered lines on 67 pages in Hal's "The Late Great Planet Earth" and also lifted lines on 36 pages in Hal's "There's A New World Coming."
Much more evidence of such dispensational dishonesty is found in my "Plot" book. Readers can also Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" and "Walvoord's Posttrib Varieties - Plus."
Remember: DTS stands for Dallas Theological Seminary." It can also stand for "Distorting the Scripture"!
Lastly, I would be an ingrate if I would ever fail to thank my good friend Joe Ortiz for his kindness in airing articles of mine on his superb web sites.
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.
