THE RAPTURE INDEX (MAD THEOLOGY)

by Dave MacPherson

First, let's explain "rapture" and then "index."

Many evangelicals in America believe in an imminent "rapture" (a coming of Christ that reportedly happens seven years before the famous Second Coming to earth).

The "great tribulation" in the Bible is said to occur during those seven years. Therefore the rapture is seen by them as a "pretribulation" event and reportedly gives believers the hope of being taken to heaven, without dying, before that seven-year period on earth.

The "Index" (as in Todd Strandberg's "Rapture Index" on his Rapture Ready site) lists 45 "precursors" (events on earth reportedly acting as signposts pointing to the rapture, and showing how close the rapture is).

And here's where the mad theology comes in. The Rapture Index "precursors" (including "Antichrist") are on earth even AFTER the point in time for a "pretrib" rapture, are fulfilled DURING the seven-year tribulation period, and actually point to ONLY the after-the-tribulation Second Coming to earth and not to any sort of "pretribulation" coming - a concept totally missing from all official Christian theology and organized churches before 1830!

Promoters and merchandisers of pretrib rapture theology have claimed in recent years to have found a few individuals before 1830 who supposedly taught a "pretrib" rapture or coming. If you will go to Google and type in "Deceiving and Being Deceived" (one of my earliest internet articles), you will see how groundless the claims are for certain pre-1830 individuals that have been dredged up. Even if a few pre-1830 persons did seem to teach a pretrib rapture (which they didn't), why should any thinking person side with them instead of siding with the 99 percent who obviously did not embrace a pretrib rapture view?

Something else. Strandberg and other "any-moment" rapturists say they believe in a "sign-less" rapture, that no event has to occur before it. Well, you can believe it is "sign-less" if "precursors" can never be signs!!

If you're interested in reading all of the long covered up facts about the history of the pretribulation rapture theory, which was dreamed up in 1830, you can obtain my book "The Rapture Plot" by call 800.643.4645. I also invite you to check out two outstanding books by journalist and media veteran Joe Ortiz, "The End Times Passover" (a deep look at what the original Greek actually says in the New Testament) and its sequel "Why Christians Will Suffer 'Great Tribulation'."] These two books took over 25 years of study, research and writing before being published. They provide answers to any questions ever asked about the Rapture, and also debunk all the "Left Behind" notions that have been put forth by theorists and premillennial dispensationalists such as Tim LaHaye, Hal Lindsey, Mike Evans, Pat Robertson, John Hagee and so many others.

                                                                                    ~

For more information about his books, web sites and blogs, please click on Joe Ortiz.

Dave MacPherson Discusses Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart!

by Dave MacPherson

      "church"    RAPTURE    "church"

(present age)                     (tribulation)

     In early 1830 Margaret was the very first one to see a pre-Antichrist (pretrib) rapture in the Bible - and John Walvoord and Hal Lindsey lend support for this claim!
     Walvoord's "Rapture Question" (1979) says her view resembles the "partial-rapture view" and Lindsey's "The Rapture" (1983) admits that "she definitely teaches a partial rapture."
     But there's more. Lindsey (p. 26) says that partial rapturists see only "spiritual" Christians in the rapture and "unspiritual" ones left behind to endure Antichrist's trial. And Walvoord (p. 97) calls partial rapturists "pretribulationists"!
     Margaret's pretrib view was a partial rapture form of it since only those "filled with the Spirit" would be raptured before the revealing of the Antichrist. A few critics, who've been repeating more than researching, have noted "Church" in the tribulation section of her account. Since they haven't known that all partial rapturists see "Church" on earth after their pretrib rapture (see above chart), they've wrongly assumed that Margaret was a posttrib!
     In Sep. 1830 Edward Irving's journal "The Morning Watch" (hereafter: TMW) was the first to publicly reflect her novel view when it saw spiritual "Philadelphia" raptured before "the great tribulation" and unspiritual "Laodicea" left on earth.
     In Dec. 1830 John Darby (the so-called "father of dispensationalism" even though he wasn't first on any crucial aspect of it!) was still defending the historic posttrib rapture view in the "Christian Herald."
     Pretrib didn't spring from a "church/Israel" dichotomy, as many have assumed, but sprang from a "church/church" one, as we've seen, and was based only on symbols!
     But innate anti-Jewishness soon appeared. (As noted, TMW in Sep. 1830 saw only less worthy church members left behind.) In Sep. 1832 TMW said that less worthy church members and "Jews" would be left behind. But by Mar. 1833 TMW was sure that only "Jews" would face the Antichrist!
     As late as 1837 the non-dichotomous Darby saw the church "going in with Him to the marriage, to wit, with Jerusalem and the Jews." And he didn't clearly teach pretrib until 1839. His basis then was the Rev. 12:5 "man child...caught up" symbol he'd "borrowed" (without giving credit) from Irving who had been the first to use it for the same purpose in 1831!
     For related articles Google "X-Raying Margaret," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "Pretrib Rapture's Missing Lines," "The Unoriginal John Darby," "Deceiving and Being Deceived" by D.M., "Pretrib Rapture Pride," "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" and "Scholars Weigh My Research." (A number of my articles have been aired on Joe Ortiz's excellent and widely read blogs.) The most documented and accurate book on pretrib rapture history is "The Rapture Plot" [Obtainable by calling (800) 643-4645] -  a 300-pager that has hundreds of disarming facts (like the ones above) not found in any other source.

For information about the author of this blog and his two books, click on The End Times Passover and Why Christians Will Suffer "Great Tribulation" To access the author’s web sites and blogs, click on Joe Ortiz.