The Lie, from the Nazi era
If you tell a lie
big enough and often enough people will start believing it’s true.
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David MacPherson
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David MacPherson began the whole controversy with
his claims which have so little supporting evidence that one wonders how he could
write his book with a straight face. Pretribulationalists should be indebted
to MacPherson for exposing the facts, namely, that there is no proof that MacDonald
or Irving originated the pretribulation Rapture teaching.
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Max S. Weremchuk wrote a major biography on
Darby entitled, “John Nelson Darby: A
Biography. “ In it he says, "Having read MacPherson's book I find it impossible to make a just
comparison between what Miss MacDonald 'prophesied' and what Darby taught. It
appears that the wish was the father of the idea.”
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John Nelson Darby, wrote of the Pre-trib Rapture in January of 1827
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His denomination was the Plymouth Brethren
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Darby had already written out his
pretribulation Rapture views in January 1827, 3 years prior to the 1830
MacDonald prophecy.
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Darby’s belief came from Scripture, not from a
girl’s prophecy.
He did not get his eschatological views from men, but rather from the doctrine of the church as the body of Christ. His views were gradually formed and theologically and Biblically based rather than derived from any Pentecostal group or MacDonald prophecy.
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Darby went to the meetings being held where
MacDonald gave her word, and he concluded that what was going on there was
“demonic.” He would not have borrowed an idea from a source that he clearly
thought was demonic.“
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Darby's understanding of the pre-trib Rapture
was the product of the development of his personal interactive thought with
the text of Scripture as he, his friends, and dispensationalists have long
contended.
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Darby's earliest published essay on Biblical
prophecy was in 1829. In his earliest of essays, he expounds upon the Rapture
as the Church's hope, not the Church’s purification during the Tribulation.
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Darby’s conclusion concerning the pre-trib Rapture
came when he saw clearly the distinction between Israel and the Church, two
separate dispensations.
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Margaret MacDonald was post-trib
link
to the text of her message
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MacDonald’s vision was in 1830, 3 years after
Darby’s conclusions about the Rapture
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MacDonald was a member of the charismatic
movement of 1830. John Darby went to investigate and dismissed her “vision”
as "demonic." If Darby
thought MacDonald to be under an "evil spell," why on earth would
he use her writings to form some new doctrine?
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MacDonald’s statements show her to hold a POST-trib position. She said
of the Tribulation:
"…being the fiery trial which is to try us …for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus." She looked for the Church being purged by the Antichrist. This is not pre-trib belief. Pre-trib doctrine shows the Church being removed BEFORE THE COMING of the Antichrist. |
John Bray
Bray was an anti-Rapture
believer, but he said that Margaret MacDonald was teaching a single coming of
our Lord Jesus. This contradicts the Rapture doctrine which teaches a
two-staged event: first, Christ comres
for His Church and second, seven years later his return to earth. So Margaret
MacDonald was post-trib, NOT pre-trib.
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Roy A. Huebner, Brethren writer
Huebner wrote that Darby first began to believe in the
pre-trib Rapture and develop his dispensational thinking while convalescing
from a riding accident during December 1826 and January 1827. Huebner wrote
of Darby's pre-trib and dispensational thoughts:
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He saw from Isaiah 32 that there was a
different dispensation coming …that
Israel and the Church were distinct.
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During his convalescence, Darby learned that
he ”ought daily to expect his Lord's return."
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He also saw a gap of time between the Rapture
and the second coming
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Darby himself said in 1857 that he first
started understanding things relating to the pre-trib Rapture "thirty
years ago," so that would be January
1827.
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Darby had already understood those truths upon
which the pre-tribulation Rapture hinges. He claimed that the doctrine
virtually jumped out of the pages of Scripture once he accepted and
consistently maintained the distinction between Israel and the church.
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Huebner considers MacPherson's charges as
"using slander that J. N. Darby took the pretribulation Rapture from
those very opposing, demon-inspired utterances.”
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