WHAT PRETRIBS DON'T SAY! by Dave MacPherson

     Noisy pretribs can sure be quiet when they want to sell another book or video.
     Take the famous "rapture" passages in I Thess. 4-5 and I Cor. 15.
     Pretribs endlessly see an "any-moment rapture" in I Thess. 4 and paint it in glowing pretrib colors. But the same Paul in the same book ties together the "times and seasons" (5:1) of the rapture (4:17) with the "sudden destruction" (5:3) part of the (posttrib) "day of the Lord" (5:2) - which doesn't have even a hint of pretrib coloring!
     (The "day of the Lord" is posttrib because the posttrib sun/moon darkening happens BEFORE that "day" - see Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:20.)
     And can you guess what's in the rapturous I Cor. 15 that pretrib teachers love to cover up? They screech to a stop at "twinkling of an eye" and "last trump" and then omit telling that what is "changed" (vss. 51-2) is tied to the end of death (vs. 54). (Trib death ends when the posttrib arrival of the Victor over death ends trib death!)
     Ready for more? Look at Acts 2:34-35, Acts 3:21, and II Thess.1:6-10. Christ stays in heaven UNTIL it's time to come to earth to destroy His wicked foes and restore "all things" and give "rest" to His followers!
     If pretribism can easily skip over Scripture, wait till you see how they cover up their own history which was never a part of Christian theology or any organized church before 1830!
     Throughout most of the 1900s, leading Christian scholars assumed - while influenced by those who were repeating and not researching - that John Darby of the Brethren had fathered the pretrib rapture view in the 1830s. No scholar had ever found any clear public teaching of pretrib in the centuries preceding Darby. Even the late Dr. John Walvoord, the longtime No. 1 pretrib authority and head of Dallas Theological Seminary, had stated in his book "The Rapture Question" that Darby (who admitted in print that pretrib was then a totally "new" doctrine!) had been one of the "early pretribulationists"!
     My books, from the 1970s to the present time, have provided long forgotten and newly uncovered evidence (endorsed by many eminent scholars) that Darby furtively plagiarized British pastor Edward Irving and his followers, all of whom had credited a young Scottish woman with the initial pretrib "spark"!
     Trying to distance themselves from the scandals associated with the earliest pretrib developers and promoters of the 1830s, today's pretrib defenders have been desperately trying to find anyone before 1830 who seemed to have at least a hint of pretrib in their writings. Today's desperados can even "find" pretrib in Old Testament passages that tell about folks merely "escaping" trouble, or "find" pretrib in folks being raptured before an endtime "conflagration" in an obvious posttrib setting!
     Two historical figures of the past that present-day pretrib promoters have tried to put revisionist pretrib make-up on are Pseudo-Ephraem (8th cent. ?) and Rev. Morgan Edwards (whose quoted sermon is dated 1788).

     To see the hatchet job on Pseudo-Ephraem, Google "Pseudo-Ephraem Taught Pretrib - Not" and "Chuck Missler (left)- Copyist" (and catch deceitful censors at work).
     For the complete skinny on Morgan Edwards, Google "Morgan Edwards' Rapture View" (and find out what Thomas Ice etc. knew they couldn't hide forever).
     For more information about how you can get my 300-page book "The Rapture Plot" (the most accurate and detailed book on pretribism's sordid history) dial 800.643.4645, or you can check it out via inter-library loan at any library.
     For in-depth theology and what the Greek New Testament is really saying about any Rapture to Heaven mythology, when it comes to Bible-based facts, check out Joe Ortiz' two superb books  at "The End Times Passover" web site.

    

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.