The closer we get to this great event the louder the doubters and scoffers scream. “There is no such thing as a rapture. The word rapture is not in our Bible. The church will not be raptured until the middle of the 7 years…” on and on they go adnauseam. The worst offence of all is how doubters and scoffers used the story of Margaret McDonald. Margaret was supposedly a 17 year old girl with mental disabilities who lived back in the 1800’s. According to the story, in 1860 she supposedly convinced the great theologian John Darby that there would be a rapture of the church. From her so called persuasion Darby was the first to promote this “new” revelation. There are many reasons to seriously question and doubt such a story. For one, why would Darby associate with Margaret (keep in mind the time period, an educated man would not be discussing Theology with a mentally handicapped 17 year old girl). So, for the last 40 years or so I have been looking for a few statements from the early church fathers confirming this great departure before the Anti-Christ appears. I could find evidence of a belief in a post tribulation millennium, but not a pre-tribulation rapture until now! One of my Florida listeners found these statements between AD 170 and AD 373. Read them carefully. Keep in mind Augustine in 410 AD put an end to most true prophecy with the confirmation of Origen’s idea of Replacement Theology (which teaches that when Israel lost the temple, Jerusalem and the nation of Israel, along with all of Israel’s promises of Prophetic events were transferred to the “church”. In other words the “church” replaced Israel. Now remember all prophecy revolves around the nation of Israel. No Israel, No Prophecy.) So from Augustine to Darby that was the norm, but God promised in Daniel 12:9 that their truths would once again be made known. So beginning with Darby in the 1860’s until present, prophecy has been more and more revealed. Plus Israel is now back in the land becoming the center of all the end time events. So Look up, our trumpet call is getting nearer every day!
Denial Of The Pre-Tribulation Resurrection/Rapture
A denial of the Church’s removal from the earth prior to the Great 7 Year Tribulation event, is subscribing unto the R.C.C. doctrine that the Church requires a PENANCE for its sanctification. In their opinion, Christ Jesus’ finished the work upon the Cross replete with His shed blood is not adequate for the Church’s justification and sanctification.
Many critics of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture/ Resurrection have based their foundation belief on the teachings of John Nelson Darby (1800- 1882) and the C.I. Scofield’s Reference System Bible. These critics make the false declaration that the Pre-Tribulation catching away doctrine originated in the time of these men. They choose to blindly ignore that the early Church Fathers taught the doctrine of a Pre- Tribulation Rapture/ Resurrection.
1. AD 170 – IRENACUS “Against Heresies” 5:29:
“When in the end that the Church will suddenly be caught-up from this, it is said, there will be tribulation such as not been since the beginning, nor will be.”
2. AD 207 – TERTULLIAN “ Against Marcion” 5:16:
“He (Paul) says those who remain unto the coming of Christ, along with the dead in Christ, will rise first, being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
3. AD 150 – SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 2.2-6:
“Go therefore and declare to the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds and say to them that this beast is a type of the Great Tribulation which is to come. If ye therefore prepare yourselves and with your whole heart turn to the Lord in repentance, then shall ye be able to escape it, if your heart is pure and blameless… the golden color stands for you who have escaped from this world… Now ye know the symbol of the Great Tribulation to come. But if ye are willing, it shall be nothing.
4. AD 240 – VICTORINUS “Commentary on the Apocalypse”
(Revelation 15:1) “And I saw another great and wonderful sign, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is the completed the Wrath of God, and these shall be in the last time, when the Church shall have gone out of the midst.”(2 Thessalonian 2:7) (Revelation 6:14) “The sky being split apart like a scroll is the Church being taken away.”
5. AD – 250 CYPRIAN “ Treatises of Cyprian” 21-26
“We who see the terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by any early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent? Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us hence, and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.”
6. AD 373 – EPHRAIM THE SYRIAN “ One the Last Times” 2
“…because all saints and the elect of the Lord are gathered together before the Tribulation which is about to come and be taken to the Lord…
”
We can readily see that the early Church Fathers believed and taught a gathering of the saints (Church) snatched away from the earth prior to the Great Tribulation event. The Church is not appointed unto God’s wrath which will be released upon the earth during this 7 year tribulation event. (1 Thessalonian 5:9)
This event involves the breaking of the 7 seals of the scroll, which is the mortgage papers of the kingdom of the world that Satan temporarily holds and tempted Jesus with in Matthew 4:8-9. As the seals are broken one by one, and plagues poured out upon Satan and his minions upon the earth, the mortgage is finally being alleviated for the kingdoms of the world by the Lord God.
2 Peter 3:3) Knowing the first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts 4) And saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the begning of the Creation.
In our time, there is great increase of the scoffers, as it has been approximately two thousand years of patient waiting by the Church. Many are declaring there is no First Resurrection/Rapture prior to the Great Tribulation.
PLAN
FOR HEAVEN (KJV)
Les
Feldick
