How the Pre-Trib Rapture Became Popular in the Modern Church

That is plainly nonsensical. "No rapture" in the key passage which reveals the Resurrection/Rapture! Amazing how people will try to twist the Scriptures to fit their man-made theologies.

There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE between the Resurrection/Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. In the first appearance Christ comes FOR His saints. But at the Second Coming Christ comes to earth WITH His saints and angels. In between we have the Marriage of the Lamb, which means that one aspect of the Rapture is the Divine Bridegroom coming for His Bride (the Church). But since the Bride must be spotless, the saints are perfected and glorified at the Rapture (1 John 3:1-3 and other passages).

The truth is that most Christians do not really understand the purpose of the Resurrection/Rapture. Instead we find attacks on Darby, Scofield, Walvoord, Lindsey, etc. as though these men had no understanding of the Scriptures. But whenever a Bible doctrine is under attack, it behooves every person to carefully study the Scriptures for themselves, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Bible shows us that the Resurrection/Rapture is the culmination of salvation, hence "the Blessed Hope" of the saints.

The whole cut and paste of the Treatises of Cyprian, is a construct not found in the writing. It seems someone took a page and a half and tried to condense it into a small paragraph. To note: Cyprian was referencing the current age, and the worsening of the days as they grow more evil. There is no way one could see anything about the pre-trib rapture unless they were already set in their own understanding.

Likewise, in the reference of Irenaeus, he clearly is talking about the church overcoming the wickedness of the world: "And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, "There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be." For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption" for how does a contest of the righteous exist with only one side present. This is the only obscure reference in the whole of the writing (it would fill a book). I assume people are reading what they already want to believe. This is not surprising, many treat the scriptures in the same manner.

I'll assume the same about the other references.

The Baptists had to protect their investment. The pre-trib rapture doctrine was a promising cash cow. So, they sifted through early writings to find obscure references to support their conclusion. This was important to them: since, after denying that God still speaks to the spirits of men, they needed a doctrine they could package within dispensationalism and market to the consumers. Once you deny that the Spirit of God still speaks to men, you're left with English, Greek, and Hebrew etymology. And, with their head down in old books trying to justify themselves, the Lord arose elsewhere, and they perceived Him not.

No one taught a pre-trib rapture until John Darby, and Anglican preacher, in the mid 1800s. So the teaching is relatively new. Now, being new does not necessarily mean a teaching is defunct: while God never changes, He reveals knowledge and understanding in a progressive manner. Things that we have not contemplated before, suddenly come alive to us in the scriptures. So, while the ideas are new to us, they were always established in the mind of God.

But the manner is which things are "revealed" should be examined. So let's look at the manner in which the doctrine of the pre-trib rapture came to be a Baptist staple.

Dwight Young, professor emeritus at Brandeis University of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, personally corresponded with a friend of mine several years ago. My friend was a young lawyer ( as an aside, had George Bush Senior been elected for a second term, there is a good possibility that my friend would have been chosen as a state supreme court judge.) Dwight was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary at the same time Hal Lindsey studied there, so this is more than 50 years ago or so. They were graduate students.

Dwight said the professors were discussing Darbyism, and whether or not it was a valid theology. This graduate student, Hal Lindsey, wrote a master’s thesis on the subject of this form of dispensationalism and the rapture. He later turned that thesis into a book called The Late Great Planet Earth. Now some of you may not know about this book, but it was a runaway bestseller. It made a lot of money. According to Dwight, that is where the Baptists made the switch. They saw that there was a market for this doctrine, and they ran with it. Dwight later moved up to and was a professor of biblical studies, biblical languages at Brandeis University, from which he retired, and he was in a state of retirement when my friend met him. So, 50 years from the writing of a master's thesis, the teaching is so entrenched in the Baptist circles you would think it was the gospel.

Historically, nobody ever thought of this doctrine before Darby. But once he popularized it in the context of dispensationalism, meaning things wrap up within blocks of time, people began to embrace it because they did not have to trust the Holy Spirit. If you are going to have any measure of understanding of prophetic Scripture, the end from the beginning and where we are at this point in time, you are going to have to walk in the Spirit. He is the One who wrote the Book; He is the One who is perfectly capable of interpreting it. And the folly of logic and reason and man-made constructs, such as dispensationalism, will lead you to increasing folly, such as the rapture.

God knows the end from the beginning, and the greatest moment of the Body of Christ is in the midst of the darkness in Revelation. That darkness has no potential to blunt our display of the glory of God, the radiance of God’s glory, or to represent Him exactly. It has no ability to influence that at all. This is the time for the glory of what God has been doing, when He established the heavens and the earth for the purpose of establishing a corporate man in creation so that He might be seen in creation as who He is. He is on a path wherein not only will He show who He is in all of His glory through the corporate body, but He will bring the enemy to judgment as well.

Grace and Peace,

Aaron56

^ In Revelation 4:1 (I assume that is your reference ^ ), the Greek words for the phrase "after these things" is found in the verse twice:

4:1 -

"After these things I looked, and behold, a door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice that I heard like a trumpet was speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show to you what it behooves to [/must] take place after these things."


-- https://biblehub.com/interlinear/revelation/4-1.htm




[ the question becomes... after "what things" ?? ]

This subject is going to be debated until it actually happens. And you're not going to change many people's minds with all this vain argumentation. Here's my take:

Pray for pre
Prepare for post

The truth is Christ returns only once, in the air at first and later that day on the ground. The coming and rapture happen the same day, within moments of each other.

No one taught a pre-trib rapture until John Darby, and Anglican preacher, in the mid 1800s. So the teaching is relatively new. Now, being new does not necessarily mean a teaching is defunct: while God never changes, He reveals knowledge and understanding in a progressive manner. Things that we have not contemplated before, suddenly come alive to us in the scriptures. So, while the ideas are new to us, they were always established in the mind of God.

But the manner is which things are "revealed" should be examined. So let's look at the manner in which the doctrine of the pre-trib rapture came to be a Baptist staple.

Dwight Young, professor emeritus at Brandeis University of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, personally corresponded with a friend of mine several years ago. My friend was a young lawyer ( as an aside, had George Bush Senior been elected for a second term, there is a good possibility that my friend would have been chosen as a state supreme court judge.) Dwight was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary at the same time Hal Lindsey studied there, so this is more than 50 years ago or so. They were graduate students.

Dwight said the professors were discussing Darbyism, and whether or not it was a valid theology. This graduate student, Hal Lindsey, wrote a master’s thesis on the subject of this form of dispensationalism and the rapture. He later turned that thesis into a book called The Late Great Planet Earth. Now some of you may not know about this book, but it was a runaway bestseller. It made a lot of money. According to Dwight, that is where the Baptists made the switch. They saw that there was a market for this doctrine, and they ran with it. Dwight later moved up to and was a professor of biblical studies, biblical languages at Brandeis University, from which he retired, and he was in a state of retirement when my friend met him. So, 50 years from the writing of a master's thesis, the teaching is so entrenched in the Baptist circles you would think it was the gospel.

Historically, nobody ever thought of this doctrine before Darby. But once he popularized it in the context of dispensationalism, meaning things wrap up within blocks of time, people began to embrace it because they did not have to trust the Holy Spirit. If you are going to have any measure of understanding of prophetic Scripture, the end from the beginning and where we are at this point in time, you are going to have to walk in the Spirit. He is the One who wrote the Book; He is the One who is perfectly capable of interpreting it. And the folly of logic and reason and man-made constructs, such as dispensationalism, will lead you to increasing folly, such as the rapture.

God knows the end from the beginning, and the greatest moment of the Body of Christ is in the midst of the darkness in Revelation. That darkness has no potential to blunt our display of the glory of God, the radiance of God’s glory, or to represent Him exactly. It has no ability to influence that at all. This is the time for the glory of what God has been doing, when He established the heavens and the earth for the purpose of establishing a corporate man in creation so that He might be seen in creation as who He is. He is on a path wherein not only will He show who He is in all of His glory through the corporate body, but He will bring the enemy to judgment as well.

Grace and Peace,

Aaron56

My mom used to say. that i did not use my brain any way...so of with my head not such a big deal.

I love the way some dismiss what is seen in the word of God by using a man while completely overlooking the very words of Jesus, who I might add was well before Mr. Darby.


If one takes Darby out of the context of the doctrine of the rapture and answer the question of what did Jesus mean in

John chapter 14: 1-3

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”



Jesus was speaking of HIS death and resurrection a literal death and resurrection and going to HIS Father and preparing a place was of great importance and tradition concerning Jewish marriage. This is not the first time Jesus used the marriage ceremony to describe a coming event the Bride Groom coming to get HIS Bride and take HER to HIS Fathers house.

the foolish virgins and the wise ones are even more about marriage. in Every Gospel where Jesus is speaking about marriage and the Bridegoom is in context to HE and the Church as marriage and coming for the bride without notices and the Bride is to be ready.

Mr. Darby is only repeating what Jesus said. Jesus is coming for HIS Bride not because Mr. Darby said so, but because the LORD Jesus Promised to do so.


Paul spoke of this in 1thess 4:13-18 and in 1Corthains 15. It is a straw man to attack Mr. Darby when one will not just address what Jesus said in John 14:1-4 and other gospel scriptures. Jesus is the authority and measuring rod of truth concerning all scripture when HE is Speaking. a Cemetary of education did not teach that foundational truth it was a waste of time.

The word 'this' refers to what John had witnessed that is described in Chapters 1-3.

The word 'hereafter' simply means "after now" or "after the time of this revelation" or "in the future"...

There is a video on you tube of the rapture comparing it to the Galileen Jewish Wedding called "before the wrath" Have you seen it?

Jewish wedding was one of the most prophetic symbolism

John chapter 14: 1-3

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
.

Exactly.

It is a pattern. It is symbolic. It is not a literal itinerary narration of the event sequence of the return of Christ.

You have to look at the actual events from a "bigger picture" viewpoint.

The 'rapture' IS the wedding.

What you see described in Revelation 19:17-18,21 IS the marriage supper.

The place was prepared and He was resurrected and then He returned. He died a man and He was raised as The Life Giving Spirit named Christ. Now, those who are baptized into Christ are included in Him.

“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

Here, He was talking about His death.

The “place” in the house of God is in the Son not some metaphysical dwelling.

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

This verse is foolishly used at funerals too often.