History of "Secret Rapture" Teaching
Does "old" mean it is Correct?
RAPTURE TEACHING HISTORY I ANSWER THE PROOF OF HISTORY ARGUMENT - Keith Hunt CRITICS OF THE PRETRIBULATIONAL rapture view often refer to its lack of historical support. For several years, opponents of the pretribulational rapture position have argued that it was invented by John Darby in the mid-1800s and was never mentioned before that. These arguments generally reason that because this teaching is less than 200 years old, it cannot be biblical, or Christians would have held to this view many years earlier. Ultimately, biblical truth must be determined by the clear teaching of Scripture, not how that teaching has been perceived throughout history. However, a substantial amount of evidence reveals a belief in a pretribulational rapture long before John Darby. ....... ANSWER: As Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, it is to be excepted SOME down through time held the "rapture" of the church from earth to heaven to escape the tribulation of the man of sin. ...... EARLY CHURCH FATHERS The earliest documents of the ancient church (including the New Testament canon) reflect a clear premillennialism. However, minor controversy surrounds the relation of the rapture to the Tribulation. Pretribulationists point to the early church's clear belief in immanency as evidence that pretribulationism was held by at least a few from the earliest times. ...... ANSWER: Yes of course some in the later end of the first century, would no doubt hold a view that Jesus could come any second, without any signs needing to be fulfilled as He and Paul gave. But some have always had it WRONG on many things throughout all ages. Why some even taught the earth was flat, and if you went far enough you'd fall off the edge. ...... As was typical of every area of the early church's theology, initial views of prophecy were undeveloped and sometimes contradictory, containing a seedbed out of which would develop various and diverse theological viewpoints. Finding clear pretribulationism spelled out in the early church fathers is difficult, but some pretribulational elements are clear. When systematized with their other prophetic views, these elements contradict posttribulationism and support pretribulationism. For example, the apostolic fathers clearly taught the pretribulational feature of imminence. ...... ANSWER: And who were the apostolic fathers? Why they were the ones who founded the Roman Catholic church, they were the founding fathers, that became the Church of Rome, that has some truth but also MUCH error of teachings and customs and practices. ...... A cursory examination of the early church fathers reveals that they were predominantly premillennialists or chiliasts. Clear examples exist in the writings of Barnabas (ca. 100-105), Papias (ca. 60-130), Justin Martyr (110-165), Irenaeus (120-202), Tertullian (145-220), Hippolytus (ca. 185-236), Cyprian (200-250), and Lactantius (260-330). The early church fathers largely expected the church to be suffering and persecuted when the Lord returns. However, they also believed in the imminent return of Christ, which is a central feature of pretribulational thought. This lack of precision has led to debate among scholars as to how to interpret the early church fathers' writings. Expressions of imminence abound in the apostolic fathers. Clement of Rome (90-100), Ignatius of Antioch (98-117), The Didache 100-160), The Epistle of Barnabas (117-138), and The Shepherd of Hernias (96-150) all speak of immanency. Their statements abound with exhortations to "watch," "wait," and "be ready" for the Lord's soon coming. Furthermore, The Shepherd of Hernias (1.4.2) speaks of escaping the Tribulation: You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith, and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly. ...... ANSWER: You will note none of the above men are from the apostles of the New Testament. You will notice the apostle John is not named and he lived to near the end of the first century A.D. What these named people wrote or preached is basically useless IF it does not square with the Bible. God's Word is truth, not the ideas of men (John 17:17). The quote above talks about "escape" but it does not say escaping via some "secret rapture" invisible to the world, and being taken off to heaven. The "imminence" of Christ may have meant a different thing back then. We know what the present fundamentalists say it is, they say it means Jesus can come any second, without any of the signs given by Christ and Paul needing to be fulfilled. This idea is nowhere taught in the NT. If you have not done so, you need to study my study called "The IMMINENT" return of Christ" on this Website. ...... In the end, no one can produce a clear statement of patristic eschatology regarding the rapture. But we can conclude the following: * They expected a literal coming of Christ followed by a literal 1000-year kingdom. ANSWER: They had that correct! ...... * They believed in the imminent coming of Christ with occasional pretribulational inferences. ANSWER: They got that one wrong! ...... * They were being persecuted by the Roman government but did not equate this with the future Tribulational wrath. ANSWER: Wow, they got that one correct also! ...... Larry Crutchfield (p.7) rightly concludes: This view of the fathers on immanency, and, in some, references to escaping the time of the Tribulation, constitute what may be termed, to quote Erickson, "seeds from which the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture could be developed...." Had it not been for the drought in sound exegesis, brought on by Alexandrian allegorism and later by Augustine, one wonders what kind of crop those seeds might have yielded long before J.N.Darby and the nineteenth century. ANSWER: Well if the rain from the reformation is meant by ending the drought of sound exegesis, we would have had false doctrines being taught much earlier than they finally arrived. ...... THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH The period between Augustine and the Renaissance was largely dominated by "Augustine's understanding of the church, and his spiritualization of the Millennium as the reign of Christ in the saints." There were only "sporadic discussions here and there of a literal, future Millennium" (Hannah, pp.315-16), making examples of pretribulationalism very rare. However, careful historical research has brought many long-neglected pretribulational statements to light. ANSWER: WOOPEE - they've found some who were already going off the track. I guess so when you consider some of the verses in the NT about there already being many anti-christs in the world, and Jude having to exhort his readers to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. ...... Ephraem of Nisibis (306-373) Ephraem was an extremely important and prolific writer. Also known as Pseudo-Ephraem, he was a major theologian of the early Eastern (Byzantine) church. His important sermon "On the Last Times, the Antichrist and the End of the World" (ca. 373) declares, "All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins." ANSWER: Words are cheap, anyone can say anything, and get thousands to believe them. But truth is established by the word of the Lord, not the ideas of men. ...... In this sermon, Pseudo-Ephraem develops an elaborate biblical eschatology, including a distinction between the rapture and the second coming of Christ. It describes the imminent rapture, followed by a three-and-one-half-year-long Great Tribulation under the rule of Antichrist, followed by the coming of Christ, the defeat of Antichrist, and the eternal state. His view includes a parenthesis between the fulfilment of Daniel's sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks (Daniel 9:24-27). Pseudo-Ephraem describes the rapture as preceding the Tribulation and "imminent or overhanging." ANSWER: Well truly Satan was putting the strange idea of a two-phased coming of Christ in some minds of some. Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun. ...... Codex Amiatinus (ca. 690-716) This significant Latin manuscript from England was commissioned by Abbot Ceolfrid of the monasteries of Jarrow and Wearmouth in Northumberland. In the title to Psalm 22 (Psalm 23 in the Vulgate), the following appears: "Psalm of David, the voice of the Church after being raptured." The Latin phrase "post raptismum" contains a verb from the root "rapio," meaning "to snatch, or hurry away." This title is not carried over from Jerome's Vulgate and thus is likely the product of the Jarrow monastery. Though not conclusive and still in need of further study, it appears that Codex Amiatinus presents another example of pretribulational thought in the Middle Ages. ANSWER: Even if it does, it is the writings of men, and proves nothing as to the truth of the matter from God's word. ...... Brother Dolcino (d. 1307) A recent study of the fourteenth-century text "The History of Brother Dolcino," composed in 1316 by an anonymous source, reveals another important pretribulational passage. As leader of the Apostolic Brethren in northern Italy, Brother Dolcino led his people through times of tremendous papal persecution. One of the group wrote the following astonishing words: The Antichrist was coming into this world within the bounds of the said three and a half years; and after he had come, then he [Dolcino) and his followers would be transferred into Paradise, in which are Enoch and Elijah. And in this way they will be preserved unharmed from the persecution of Antichrist. Thus, the writer of this History believed that Dolcino and his followers would be transferred to paradise, expressing this belief with the Latin word "transferrentur," or "translation," a synonym for rapture. Dolcino and his followers retreated into the mountains of northern Italy to await their removal at the appearance of Antichrist. ANSWER: They like many other groups down through the centuries, have either set dates for the Tribulation, or for the "rapture" or for the day of the coming of Christ in the clouds. All of them, did not understand the prophetic events of the Bible. All were very badly mistaken, just as many were in 1844 under the fundamental prophet William Miller, and just as the 1980 fundamental prophets, who were busy predicting Jesus would come by 1988. ...... It is believed that sects like the Albigenses, Lombards, and the Waldenses were attracted to premillennialism, but little is known of the details of their beliefs since the Catholics destroyed their works when they were found. ANSWER: So leave it alone, do not go where there is no road-map of recorded history. ...... Francis Gumerlock is the individual who advocates the Brother Dolcino rapture find. Gumerlock (p.80) wrote, "The Dolicinites held to a pre-tribulation rapture theory similar to that in modern dispensationalism." The significance of these early statements is The Antichrist was coming into this world within the bounds of the said three and a half years; and after he had come, then he [Dolcino) and his followers would be transferred into Paradise, in which are Enoch and Elijah. And in this way they will be preserved unharmed from the persecution of Antichrist. ANSWER: Well well, some guy and his followers held some "secret rapture" teaching, which is just as wrong as believing Enoch and Elijah are up in heaven, and oh, with Moses. Better see my study called "Enoch, Moses and Elijah - in Heaven?" Nope they ain't there and neither will those who look to the secret rapture to take them there. ...... That they clearly contradict those who have attempted to say that rapture statements did not exist before 1830. Gumerlock (p.361) believes that this is a pretribulational rapture statement, and he concludes: This paragraph from "The History of Brother Dolcino" indicates that in northern Italy in the early fourteenth century a teaching very similar to modern pretribulationalism was being preached. Responding to distressing political and ecclesiastical conditions, Dolcino engaged in detailed speculations about eschatology and believed that the coming of the Antichrist was imminent. He also believed that the means by which God would protect His people from the persecution of the Antichrist would be through a translation of the saints to paradise. ANSWER: He got it drastically wrong about the coming of THE anti-christ as Paul said would come before Christ returned, to be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ - (2 Thes.2). The guy did not understand the signs of his times. He obviously could not see or understand the prophecies leading up to THE final anti- christ or many other parts of the prophetic books of the Bible. But he has not been alone, many other would come who were also just as blind to correctly seeing the signs Jesus gave before the last 42 months of this age would come. THE REFORMATION ERA After over 1000 years of suppression, premillennialism began to be revived as a result of at least four factors. First, the Reformers went back to the Bible and apostolic fathers. This exposed them to an orthodox premillennialism. Especially significant was the reappearance of the full text of Irenaeus' "Against Heresies," including the last five chapters, which espouse a consistent futurism and cast the seventieth week of Daniel into the future. ANSWER: THEY WENT BACK TO WHO? THE WORD OF GOD? NO, TO SOME FOUNDER OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND HIS SILLY MIND-SET OVER THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL 9 YET BEING AT THE END OF THIS AGE. Truly there is nothing new under the sun. ...... Second, they repudiated much of the allegorization that dominated medieval hermeneutics by adopting a more literal approach, especially in the area of the grammatical and historical exegesis. ANSWER: Okay to be literal in understanding that much, most of prophecy is literal, just the prophecies on Christ's first coming were literally fulfilled. But putting verse with verse is the major key to correct understanding of Bible prophecy, and the fundamental guys just have one serious heck of a time doing that. ...... Third, many of the Protestants came into contact with Jews and learned Hebrew. This led them to ask whether passages that speak of national Israel were to be taken historically or allegorized in the tradition of the Middle Ages. ANSWER: And what did the Jews say? Really makes no difference what they said. Truth is not interpreted by the Jews. I have a study on that question somewhere on this Website. I believe it is called "Do we Look to the Jews for Interpretation?" ...... Fourth, beginning in the late fifteenth century, the translation of the Bible into the native tongues of the people for the first time since the days of the early church produced an explosion of Bible reading by the general public. This resulted in a general knowledge of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, for the first time in church history. Since the Old Testament speaks primarily of Israel, it took just a few decades for people to start thinking about Israel and its future. This also contributed to a revival of premillennialism. Joseph Mede (1586-1638) is considered the father of English premillennialism, having written "Clavis Apocalyptica" (Key of the Revelation) in 1627 in which "He attempted to construct an outline of the Apocalypse based solely upon internal considerations. In this interpretation he advocated premillennialism in such a scholarly way that this work continued to influence eschatological interpretation for centuries" (Clouse, p.646). Increase Mather (1639-1723), president of Harvard College (1685), was a significant American Puritan. Concerning the future coming of Christ, he wrote that the saints would "be caught up into the air" beforehand, thereby escaping the final conflagration. ANSWER: Christ coming and then the Kingdom of God on earth was known and taught by all the true saints of God from the first apostles. It is clear to see that in the Bible. The Bible was not lost except under the nations of the Holy Roman Empire. What Mather considered "the final conflagration" is not given to us here. So hence what he taught I cannot comment on. But if he did teach the popular "secret rapture" doctrine, he was in error. ...... Others began to speak of the rapture. Paul Benware (pp.197-98) notes: French Reformer Peter Jurieu in his book "Approaching Deliverance of the Church" (1687) taught that Christ would come in the air to rapture the saints and return to heaven before the battle of Armageddon. He spoke of a secret rapture prior to His coming in glory and judgment at Armageddon. Philip Doddridge's commentary on the New Testament (1738) and John Gill's commentary on the New Testament (1748) both use the term rapture and speak of it as imminent. It is clear that these men believed that this coming will precede Christ's descent to the earth and the time of judgment. The purpose was to preserve believers from the time of judgment. James Macknight (1763) and Thomas Scott (1792) taught that the righteous will be carried to heaven, where they will be secure until the time of judgment is over. ANSWER: It does not matter how many fellows you can find from history who taught this "secret rapture" stuff, it still does not make it correct. The word of God is truth not the ideas of men. And besides, I could probably come up with more guys from history who did not teach such an idea. ...... The clearest pre-Darby reference to a pretribulational rapture, if not the most developed, comes from Morgan Edwards (1722-1795), who saw a distinct rapture three and a half years before the start of the millennium. Edwards was a Baptist preacher, evangelist, historian, and educator who founded Rhode Island College (Brown University). During his student days at Bristol Baptist Seminary in England (1742-1744), he wrote an essay on Bible prophecy. The essay was published in Philadelphia in 1788 as "Two Academical Exercises on Subjects Bearing the Following Titles; Millennium, Last-Novelties." Edwards wrote, "The distance between the first and second resurrection will be somewhat more than a thousand years... because the dead saints will be raised, and the living changed at Christ's 'appearing in the air' (1 Thessalonians 4:17)." ANSWER: We are not given the full writing of this man Edwards. We are only given what this author states as to what he wrote and believed. I will refrain from passing judgment on Edwards. ...... * He believes that more than 1000 years will transpire between resurrections. * He associates the first resurrection with the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. * He associates the meeting of believers with Christ in the air with John 14:2. * He sees believers disappearing into heaven during the time of the Tribulation. ANSWER: I see no problem with the first three points we are told that Edwards taught. All the first three points are quite correct, that is what the Bible teaches. there is a 1000 years between the first and second resurrections. The first resurrection is 1 Thes.4:13-18. We do meet Christ in the and we are with Him as John 14:2 and 1 Thes.4:13-18 tells us. What those verses do not tell us is where Christ goes with us from the clouds. It is Zechariah 14 that tells us that in the same day His feet touch the Mount of Olives. The last point we are told that Edwards believed (I have no proof he did for we are not given his writing) that believers disappear into heaven during the time of the Tribulation. If Edwards did in fact believe this, then he was totally wrong. ...... There is no doubt Morgan Edwards was a pretribulationalist nearly 100 years before Darby. ANSWER: So what! What Edwards and others before Darby taught makes no difference as to actual truth of the Bible. Many have been wrong on many subjects about the Bible. Many have been wrong yesterday, many are wrong today, and many will be wrong tomorrow. ...... THE MODERN CHURCH As futurism began to replace historicism within premillennial circles in the 1820S, the modern proponents of dispensational pretribulationism arrived on the scene. As early as 1818, William Witherby produced a work that had virtually all of the features of modern futurism. John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) claims to have first understood his view of the rapture as the result of personal Bible study during a convalescence stay at his sister's house from December 1826 until January 1827. He is the popularizer of the modern version of the doctrine of a pretribulational rapture. ANSWER: And Tara Chapman (whom I mention on the first page of this Website) tells me that she came to see the FALSEHOOD of the "secret rapture" all by herself from just reading the Bible. ...... The doctrine of the rapture spread around the world through the Brethren movement, with which Darby was associated. It appears that either through their writings or personal visits to North America, this version of pretribulationism spread throughout American evangelicals. Two early proponents of the view include Presbyterian James H. Brookes (1830-1897) and Baptist J.R. Graves (1820-1889). ANSWER: So what! Many false doctrines have been spread around the world from all ages of the past 2,000 years. We have a veritable Babylon of confusion of so-called "Christian teachings" - some by this group, some by that group, some by another group. Who taught what and when makes no difference in finding the truth of the matter from the Word of God. The true teachings of the Lord are in His WORD and not from the pen of mortals. You need to search the Scriptures to see who teaches the truth of God. ...... The pretribulational position spread through influence of the Niagara Bible Conference era (New York, 1878-1909) and received wide exposure in the popular prophetic publications The Truth, Our Hope, The Watchword, and Maranatha. It was also carried forward in William Backstone's book "Jesus is Coming" (1909), C.I. Scofield's popular Scofield Reference Bible (1909), and other works. ANSWER: So what! It makes no difference how many people write about this or that, in whatever publications, endorsed by how-many-men, with how-many-followers. Truth is ONLY in the Word of God. Everything that men say or write you still need to search the Scriptures. Isaiah 8:20 still applies today as it did always. ...... Prominent pretribulational Bible teachers articulated the position on the Bible conference circuit in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Arno C. Gaebelein (1861-1945), A.J. Gordon (1836-1895), James M. Gray (1851-1935), R.A. Torrey (1856-1928), Harry Ironside (1876-1951), John E Strombeck (1881-1959), Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952), Alva J. McClain (1888-1968), Charles Lee Feinberg (1909-1995), J. Dwight Pentecost, John E Walvoord (1910-2002), Charles Ryrie, and Tim LaHaye. ANSWER: So what! You can name 1,000 guys or gals claiming to come in the name of Christ, and claiming this or that is truth, BUT you have to search the Scriptures as the Bereans did (Acts 17) when Paul and Silas came teaching and preaching. Do it with me, do it with everyone. Only the Word of God is truth (John 17:17). ...... During the past 120 years, numerous schools, colleges, and seminaries were established expounding dispensational pretribulationalism. These include Moody Bible Institute, Biola University, Philadelphia Biblical University, Dallas Theological Seminary, Grace Theological Seminary, Liberty University, Bob Jones University, the Master's College and Seminary, and others. Pretribulationalism is also a major doctrinal position in many Baptist, Brethren, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and independent Bible churches. ANSWER: Do you see what the authors are doing here? It is "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" hype. It is "We have all kinds of popular theology teachers and theology Schools" that have all kinds of followers, so this "secret rapture" teaching must be correct. They do not mention all the other teachers and "theology schools" in other parts of everything that goes under the name of "Christian" who do not agree with the "secret rapture" idea. They are doing the "Look to popular men" ideology. What you need to look to is the WORD of the Lord. What you need to do is SEARCH the Scriptures, to prove all things, then you can hold fast to that which is good and correct. ...... On the popular front, nothing has done more to promote the pretribulational rapture position than Hal Lindsay's Late Great Planet Earth (1970) and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' 12-volume Left Behind series (1995-2004). THOMAS ICE AND JAMES STITZINGER ANSWER: Many of the popular "fundamental" teachers in the early 1980s were proclaiming and teaching Jesus was going to return before the end of that decade. you've had fundamental teachers writing books on "oil" and "finances" of the world and telling you it was the lead up to Armageddon. Which is simply just not so. they write their books, tens of thousands buy them; they make their money; ten years or so later the books are forgotten. Then a new generation of fundamental prophets come along, preaching to a new generation of listeners, and around it goes again. The guys writing the books are the ones laughing all the way to the bank. It matters not HOW many books are written on this idea of a "secret rapture" or "two-phased" coming of Christ. It matters not if it is one book or a 100-volume set, I tell you VERY BLUNTLY, VERY IN YOUR FACE, IN THEIR FACE, THE WHOLE TEACHING IS A HERESY AND FALSE DOCTRINE. TIME WILL TELL THAT I AM CORRECT, AND THEY ARE WRONG!! IT WILL EVENTUALLY BE RECORDED IN HISTORY THAT THEIR HISTORY, AND ALL WHO TAUGHT THIS SECRET COMING OF CHRIST, WILL HAVE BEEN VERY WRONG INDEED! BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT TILL CHRIST COMES TO LEARN THIS TRUTH, YOU CAN SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES AND FIND THE TRUTH NOW. DESIRE THE TRUTH, LIKE YOU WOULD DESIRE WATER AFTER BEING IN THE DRY DESERT FOR THREE DAYS WITHOUT WATER. JESUS HAS PROMISED IF YOU HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUTH, YOU WILL BE FILLED, YOU WILL FIND IT. Keith Hunt May 2009
POST SCRIPT OF 2024 IT IS NOW A STATISTICAL FACT THAT RELATIVELY FEW PASTORS TEACH THE DOCTRINE OF"THE SECRET RAPTURE." SO TRUE IS THAT FACT THAT IT LED ONE GUY TO WRITE A WHOLE BOOK. HE WAS ON SOME RELIGIOUS PROGRAM I HAPPENED TO CATCH, STATING IT WAS SO SAD THAT THE "SECRET RAPTURE" TEACHING WAS NOW SO BADLY NOT BEING TAUGHT. Keith Hunt |
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