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Since Stallard unfortunately decided to rely on inaccurate and unrelated secondhand writings when attempting to honor Darby, I'm forced to present this response to his review which can be found online if one Googles "Dr. Mike Stallard's Review of The Rapture Plot":
My first reaction was one of shock when I discovered four instances of his inexcusable misspelling of the last name of Darby's editor, William Kelly!
He also increased my temperature by nit-picking and broadbrushing "Margaret MacDonald" as "deluded" (used twice) and by calling my research "vitriolic," "blinded," and "hateful"! Here's what he must have viewed as "hate" in "Plot's" first chapter:
On p. 9 I quoted a monumental first - the first ever public teaching of futurist pretribism which occurred in Rev. Edward Irving's journal in Sep. 1830 in which a writer stated that the "Philadelphian church" will be "caught up to meet him [Christ]" before "the great tribulation."
In the Dec. 1830 "Christian Herald" Darby was still a historicist posttrib expecting only "to be caught up to meet him in the air in order to His judging of the nations" (Rev. 19)! In 1832, as a historicist, Darby disagreed with futurist William Burgh and wrote that "Burgh's views divert the attention of Christians from the present antichristian principles...to some supposed or future actings of a personal Antichrist...." In 1837 Darby saw the church "going in with Him to the marriage, to wit, with Jerusalem and the Jews"! Not until 1839 did Darby begin to teach pretrib - and his basis then was Rev. 12:5's "man child" that is caught up before what Darby then viewed as only a 3.5-years-long tribulation (but he was only plagiarizing Irving who, eight year earlier, had been publicly using the same symbol for the same pretrib purpose!).
Stallard, a stalwart in twisting history, had the audacity to claim that all of the earliest Irvingites (followers of Irving) were historicists (he ignored those who had already changed to futurist pretrib!) and also asserted that Darby was futurist while he was still a historicist posttrib!
The vast amount of earthshaking facts about pretribism's infancy that pretrib "hired gun" Stallard purposely covered up could fill a book - a book that he knows is titled "The Rapture Plot."
Stallard refers to "competent scholars" who have disagreed with my pretrib origin thesis. After ignorantly mis-characterizing world class scholar F. F. Bruce (who later on did accept my findings and even wrote a Foreword for one of my writings), he included Darby-idolizer R. A. Huebner and John Bray on his list of "competent" writers. (See "Humbug Huebner"on Joe Ortiz's other blog, also "Is John Bray a PINO?" on Joe Ortiz' blog of 1/23/2014.
To improve their education, Stallard's students should Google "Pretrib Rapture Pride" (a rare look at "Dr." Thomas Ice, another Darby defender), "Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart," "The Unoriginal John Darby," "Morgan Edwards' Rapture View," my article titled "Deceiving and Being Deceived," "Walvoord Melts Ice," "Pretrib Rapture: A Staged Event," "Pretrib Rapture Stealth," "Evangelicals Use Occult Deception" and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" (superb "vetting" of those claiming to find pretrib before 1830)! "The Rapture Plot," BTW, is available by calling 800.643.4645.
Stallard's students will be shocked when they learn why he covered up the hottest part of "The Rapture Plot" - the now-revealed-for-the-first-
Finally, I'm happier being a B.A. (better author) than being a PHD (pretrib history distorter)!
Dave MacPherson. What People are saying
What They Are Saying About ... THE RAPTURE
PLOT!
Gary DeMar (President American Vision): "A
majority of prophecy writers and speakers teach that the church will be
raptured before a future tribulational period. But did you know that prior to
about 1830 no such doctrine existed. No one in all of church history ever
taught pretribulational rapture. Dave MacPherson does the work of a
journalistic private investigator to uncover the truth....The Rapture Plot is
the never-before-told true story of the plot - how plagiarism and subtle
document changes created the 'mother of all revisionisms.' A fascinating piece
of detective work." Robert H. Gundry (Professor Westmont College):
"As usual MacPherson out hustles his opponents in research on primary
sources. C. S. Lovett (President Personal Christianity): You don't read very
much of Dave MacPherson's work before you realize he is a dedicated researcher.
Because his work has been so honest and open his latest work The Rapture Plot
has produced many red faces among some of the most recognized rapture writers
of our time. When their work is compared to his it is embarrassing for them to
see how shallow their research is." R. J. Rushdoony (President Chalcedon):
"Dave MacPherson has been responsible for major change in the eschatology
of evangelical churches by his devastating studies of some of the central
aspects thereof. In The Rapture Plot MacPherson tells us of the strange tale of
'rapture' writings, revisions, cover-ups, alterations and confusions. No one
has equaled MacPherson in his research on the 'pretrib rapture.' Attempts to
discredit his work have failed...."
About the Author: Born 1932 of Scotch/English
descent Dave MacPherson is a natural for British historical research. His
calling was journalism. Receiving a BA in English in 1955 he spent 26 years as
a newsman reporting and filming many notable events persons presidents and
dignitaries.
Shocking stuff! Keep up the great work!
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