C. 1. Scofield understood this clearly. Dispensationally speaking, there can be no biblically prophesied event in between the founding of the Church and the Rapture. Citing Matthew 4: 17b, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Scofield wrote: "'At hand' is never a positive affirmation that the person or thing said to be 'at hand' will immediately appear, but only that no known or predicted event must intervene."
In Walvoord's book, The Rapture Question (1979), "No Intervening Events," in a chapter called "The Imminency of the·Rapture," Walvoord wrote: "The hope of the return of Christ to take the saints to heaven is presented in John 14 as an imminent hope. There is no teaching of any intervening event. The prospect of being taken to heaven at the coming of Christ is not qualified by description of any signs or prerequisite events.,,13 This is the heart of the formal theology of pre-tribulational, premillennial dispensationalism: Scofield you know as the name behind your Scofield Reference Bible. (SRB) Walvoord , was from 1952-1986 President of Dallas Theological Seminary . (DTS) The largest dispensational seminary in the world, lest anyone accuse me of picking on the midgets of dispensationalism.
The REASON you believe in the imminency of rapture is based, whether you know it or not on the teaching quoted. I'll repeat the similar lines from each: Scofield: will immediately appear, but only that no known or predicted event must intervene. Walvoord: . There is no teaching of any intervening event. The prospect of being taken to heaven at the coming of Christ is not qualified by description of any signs or prerequisite events. Nearly identical statements from the two biggest voices of DF from the 20th century. This is the short version of the 'Parenthetical Church Age' doctrine . This teaches that the church was unforeseen in the Prophets . Yeah so what , the rapture is really close , every body who really care knows this.. We getting to it. Tyler asked : How so? Do you think Israel being reformed as a nation is a coincidence? He refers to the modern state of Israel founded in the Spring of 1948. Lots of folks would agree , this is fulfillment of prophecy and it is often used as a proof text in support of DF Dispensational Futurist eschatology. Noticed a problem ?
To a man every published DF author prior to WWII spoke with great assurance the church would - be gone before Israel would return . !948 came and went and no rapture. We didnt get to float up in the sky, but we did get something . Specifically an intervening event of some magnitude. If this event is prophetic fulfillment, a couple of ugly heads pop up.
1. EVERY teacher who claimed he learned from the Holy Spirit that the rapture could come any moment, was not mistaken but fundamentally in error. The Holy Spirit was not taken by surprise and had known this fact of history thousands of years BEFORE it took place.
2. If immanency is true it obviously was NOT true in 1947 ,or anytime prior. Whats fun here is that many of you are already pointing to this or that current event as fulfilling Bible prophecy. Usually something to do with moral decline and or 'One World Government' All the while the basis for your expectation is pushed ever closer to the Memory Hole. So ,as in the OP , most of you have quietly and unwittingly traded any foundation of immanency , for the quick hallelujahs of CNN headlines. ' Were so excited things are getting bad fast...' None of you can say , with certainty there are no more 'bible prophecies ' to come before rapture. But you have ,with certainty, rejected the 'no intervening events ' doctrine.
written by a friend
