Part Two

THE ORINGINATION OF THE PRE-TRIBULATION “ANY MOMENT RAPTURE” DOCTRINE
 

John N. Darby 1800-1882 born in London, a contemporary of Charles H Spurgeon and Charles Finney, is sometimes credited with originating the "secret rapture" theory wherein Christ will suddenly remove His bride, the Church, from this world before the judgments of the tribulation. He believed he had come up with a better understanding and interpretation of the scriptures than those who had come before, including Jesus, the apostles, and the early church fathers Irenaeus and Hippolytus.
Darby, like Calvin and other protestant reformers before him, believed some long lost truth needed to be restored to the church before true believers could become what God intended them to be. Like other early reformers, Darby believed he understood what truth the church had lost. What Darby lacked, in comparison to other reformers, was the desire to use the clues as to what the church had lost, by searching the writings of the early church fathers and comparing them to the scriptures. Most reformers went back to before the time of Augustine to understand what the church had lost. They wanted to restore those lost truths in accordance to/or witness with the scriptures--not find something “new”. They felt the church had deviated sometime after the Apostolic period, and sought to restore the basic truths in the Bible.

Darby took a different approach. He not only discarded the early father’s writings, but interpreted the scriptures as he thought they should read. He thought his understanding was vastly superior and did not need confirmation with the early fathers and scripture lining up together. Darby, in fact, said this: “None are more untrustworthy on every fundamental subject than the mass of primitive fathers.” The Collected Writings of J.N. Darby, 1971

Clarence B. Bass, a Scottish Theologian, wrote in 1960 that; “Darby’s writings stand in sharp contrast with traditional views on eschatology. His spirit of independence from the scholarship of the past is best reflected by one of the opening statements in his prophetic writings….”
Here is what Darby says: “For my own part, if I were bound to receive all that has been said by millenarians (includes early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus), I would reject the whole system: but their views and statements weigh with me not one feather. But this does not hinder me from inquiring by the same teaching of the same spirit…what God has with infinite graciousness revealed to me concerning His dealing with the Church….”

Personal revelation is good and necessary, but it must confirm and witness to what is already written! It must witness to scripture or it is not of the Lord.
It is not something new! The only new thing God is doing, and has done is, give us a new heart--a heart of flesh and not of stone. Otherwise, there is nothing new under the sun! The word says in the mouth of two or three witnesses a thing is decided. It is the same with the word. Revelation must witness and confirm what is already written. We will see that a pre-tribulation rapture is not scriptural.

DARBY’S HISTORY Darby graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1819 and practiced law for awhile before being ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church in 1825. The following year he became a Anglican priest. In 1828 he left the Anglican Church seeking something more satisfying than the dead orthodoxy he found there.

He found what he sought by meeting with a group of disaffected members of the Church of England who some years earlier had started the Brethren movement. This group would later become the Plymouth Brethren. Darby’s main interest was developing his own views concerning the future of the church as that was the issue of his day. What he would come up with was not--and still is not--concerned with the structure of church government, the nature of God, man, sin, or salvation. It’s main concern is eschatology. This has allowed for his eschatology to be assimilated into the Christian church at large over recent decades. It is Satan’s ultimate deception--easily accepted by the majority--because ultimately-- it is exactly what most people want to hear. As we will see, however, it is not supported by Jesus, scripture, Paul, or the early fathers.

This poison has thoroughly infiltrated the church and has literally “disarmed” believers into a comfortable stage of lukewarmness. They are neither “hot or cold”, but observe life with no worry about future events. Why should they worry or think about these things? They won’t be here! Besides, talking about it just causes division among us and destroys our unity. Once we die, they say, it won’t matter anyway. We’ll all be in heaven laughing about the issue. Yeah, I’ve heard Christians say this. NEWSFLASH! Jesus never told us we would be “raptured out” of the coming time of trouble. He said, “The servant is not above his master, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”

By 1840 when Darby published, “The Hopes of the Church of God”, he was recognized as a leader among the Plymouth Brethren. Everywhere he went he promoted his views of the future of Israel and the church. The pre-tribulation rapture “at any moment” was becoming mainstream. It should be noted here that many in the mainstream church disagreed, including Charles H. Spurgeon, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and renowned preacher:

"With the deadly heresies entertained and taught by the Plymouth Brethren, in relation to some of the most momentous of all the doctrines of the gospel, and to which I have adverted at some length, I feel assured that my readers will not be surprised at any other views, however unscriptural and pernicious they may be, which the Darbyites have embraced and zealously seek to propagate."

JAMES BROOKS AND THE NIAGRA BIBLE CONFERENCE During the period between 1864 and 1897, James H. Brooks, who served as a pastor at two large Presbyterian churches in St. Louis, Missouri, became a strong advocate of the pre-tribulation theory. He helped organize the Niagara Bible Conference (NBC) which regularly brought together those who believed, preached, and taught this doctrine. Slowly this idea began to infiltrate the mainstream churches and become their doctrine.

Brooks served as president of the NBC from it’s inception in 1878 until his death in 1897. Three years later in 1900 the organization closed it’s doors forever. The NBC had a great influence in promoting this doctrine as it gained acceptance in the evangelical church.

ARNO C GAEBELEIN AND CYRUS SCOFIELD After the NBC disbanded, Arno C. Gaebelein, a Methodist minister in America, started the Seacliff Bible Conference. This conference would not allow anyone to speak at the conference unless they adhered to the “any moment” pre-tribulation rapture theory. This conference continued for a few years.

During this time a well known speaker on the Bible Conference circuit was a pastor and theologian named Cyrus Scofield. He would become the man who would publish the well known Scofield Reference Bible! This book would be responsible for the “any moment” pre-tribulation rapture becoming the bedrock doctrine it now is.

Arno Gaebelein and other businessmen of the time financed the printing of Scofield’s bible in 1909. Over the next thirty years it sold over two million copies. This Bible allowed Darby’s idea to gain widespread recognition among laypeople to the extent that it has become the doctrine of the vast majority of Christians today. Satan’s deception has been brilliantly integrated into the minds of countless believers throughout the world. Unfortunately this particular belief has become a deadly poison to the church. These believers are being set up for the greatest deception Satan has ever perpetuated on the earth.

The next two postings will investigate what two early church fathers have to say about this subject and the end of the age.