Most have no idea that "The Rapture" was only invented in the 1500's and has only been taught since the 1800's. The church fathers never even dreamed of such a concept.
The Historical Development (from the same book as I mentioned earlier)
The Reformation of the 1500s changed a lot of things, but unwittingly it eventually affected the end-time beliefs of much of the Church. In the early 1500s, Martin Luther railed against the Roman Catholic Church, and in his passion, he called her the Whore of Babylon and the Beast. To counter this, in 1585 a Jesuit priest by the name of Francisco Ribera published a 500-page work that placed Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24, and Revelation 4-19 in the distant future. This was the first thought of its kind, and it is the foundation of many modern end-time views. The significance of this new interpretation is that, rather than seeing these passages as fulfilled, now Ribera was saying they were still future.
Historically speaking, Ribera's new view did not gain momentum. In fact, his writing was lost until 1826, 241 years later, when Samuel Maitland, librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury, rediscovered Ribera's forgotten manuscript and published it for the sake of public interest and curiosity.
When the book resurfaced, a small group of ultra-conservatives, led by John Darby, began to take Ribera's book seriously and came under the influence of this thinking. John Darby and his contemporary, Edward Irving, became extremely vocal about their new theology of the end-times and began to attract many followers. Their most important follower was C. I. Scofield, who later published these concepts in his famed Scofield Reference Bible.
The Scofield Bible was the most popular of its time because it was one of the earliest Bibles to contain a full commentary. It quickly became a standard for seminary students of the time. This continued unchallenged until the 1948 Latter Rain movement, which disagreed with the Scofield Reference Bible's claims that the spiritual gifts had ceased. The Pentecostals pushed back against these portions of the commentary, but still swallowed Ribera's end-time teachings without realizing it.
Then in 1961, Finis Dake published the Dake's Annotated Reference Bible, which continued to promote the same Darbyism as the Scofield Bible, and the Ryrie and MacArthur Study Bibles have continued this tradition of Darbyism.
Thus we see that Martin Luther railed against the Roman Catholic Church, causing one priest, Francisco Ribera, to react by writing a new doctrine. This began the belief that certain prophecies have not yet been fulfilled!
The Timing of the New Doctrine
It is important to consider the timing of John Darby's teaching ministry. During the 1830s, the Holy Spirit, through the Second Great Awakening, was stirring American churches to life with great fervor. At the same time, Satan was hard at work releasing distortions and false teachings into the earth. From the late 1700s to the late 1800s, a multitude of major false teachings were released into the Church. For example:
• Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in 1830 (in Palmyra, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, where Charles Finney was having his revival meetings at the same time).
• Alexander Campbell established the churches of Christ in 1830.
• Ellen G. White began the Seventh Day Adventists in 1863.
• The Methodist church began in 1735.
• The Episcopal church started in 1789.
• Charles Taze Russell founded the Jehovah's Witnesses in the late 1870s.
• The Fox Sisters founded Spiritualism in 1848 (which later became the foundation of the New Age Movement).
• The first Unitarian church began in Boston in 1785.
• Mary Baker Eddy founded the cult named Christian Science in 1879 (which was a blending of Swedenborgism, Mesmerism, and Metaphysics).
During this time period, John Nelson Darby also brought forth his new end-time teachings. Since C. I. Scofield published Darby's beliefs in his Bible commentary notes, Darbyism has become the mainstream end-time teaching of many modern teachers. Yet many have never even considered where these beliefs have come from.
The Historical Development (from the same book as I mentioned earlier)
The Reformation of the 1500s changed a lot of things, but unwittingly it eventually affected the end-time beliefs of much of the Church. In the early 1500s, Martin Luther railed against the Roman Catholic Church, and in his passion, he called her the Whore of Babylon and the Beast. To counter this, in 1585 a Jesuit priest by the name of Francisco Ribera published a 500-page work that placed Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24, and Revelation 4-19 in the distant future. This was the first thought of its kind, and it is the foundation of many modern end-time views. The significance of this new interpretation is that, rather than seeing these passages as fulfilled, now Ribera was saying they were still future.
Historically speaking, Ribera's new view did not gain momentum. In fact, his writing was lost until 1826, 241 years later, when Samuel Maitland, librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury, rediscovered Ribera's forgotten manuscript and published it for the sake of public interest and curiosity.
When the book resurfaced, a small group of ultra-conservatives, led by John Darby, began to take Ribera's book seriously and came under the influence of this thinking. John Darby and his contemporary, Edward Irving, became extremely vocal about their new theology of the end-times and began to attract many followers. Their most important follower was C. I. Scofield, who later published these concepts in his famed Scofield Reference Bible.
The Scofield Bible was the most popular of its time because it was one of the earliest Bibles to contain a full commentary. It quickly became a standard for seminary students of the time. This continued unchallenged until the 1948 Latter Rain movement, which disagreed with the Scofield Reference Bible's claims that the spiritual gifts had ceased. The Pentecostals pushed back against these portions of the commentary, but still swallowed Ribera's end-time teachings without realizing it.
Then in 1961, Finis Dake published the Dake's Annotated Reference Bible, which continued to promote the same Darbyism as the Scofield Bible, and the Ryrie and MacArthur Study Bibles have continued this tradition of Darbyism.
Thus we see that Martin Luther railed against the Roman Catholic Church, causing one priest, Francisco Ribera, to react by writing a new doctrine. This began the belief that certain prophecies have not yet been fulfilled!
The Timing of the New Doctrine
It is important to consider the timing of John Darby's teaching ministry. During the 1830s, the Holy Spirit, through the Second Great Awakening, was stirring American churches to life with great fervor. At the same time, Satan was hard at work releasing distortions and false teachings into the earth. From the late 1700s to the late 1800s, a multitude of major false teachings were released into the Church. For example:
• Joseph Smith founded Mormonism in 1830 (in Palmyra, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, where Charles Finney was having his revival meetings at the same time).
• Alexander Campbell established the churches of Christ in 1830.
• Ellen G. White began the Seventh Day Adventists in 1863.
• The Methodist church began in 1735.
• The Episcopal church started in 1789.
• Charles Taze Russell founded the Jehovah's Witnesses in the late 1870s.
• The Fox Sisters founded Spiritualism in 1848 (which later became the foundation of the New Age Movement).
• The first Unitarian church began in Boston in 1785.
• Mary Baker Eddy founded the cult named Christian Science in 1879 (which was a blending of Swedenborgism, Mesmerism, and Metaphysics).
During this time period, John Nelson Darby also brought forth his new end-time teachings. Since C. I. Scofield published Darby's beliefs in his Bible commentary notes, Darbyism has become the mainstream end-time teaching of many modern teachers. Yet many have never even considered where these beliefs have come from.
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