by Dave MacPherson
Southern California pastor John MacArthur, head of the "Grace to You" Ministry, lives to jump into theological controversies and prove to his opponents that his "grace" is more biblical than their "grace"!
For many years he's been involved with the "Lordship Salvation controversy" (see Wikipedia).
In recent years he's sparred over Revelation's mark of the beast. To see how he's raised many temperatures, look up "John MacArthur OUTRAGE - take Mark of Beast, still be saved..." on YouTube!
Since last fall MacArthur has inspired articles like "John MacArthur Sends 500,000,000 Charismatics to Hell" which is still all over the web. An excellent article explaining this incendiary headline is titled "John MacArthurs Strange Fire (Calvinists hating on Arminians, again?)" which can be found on Google and which is a response to the "Strange Fire Conference" MacArthur had held earlier at his church which is still causing aftershocks around the world!
MacArthur's controversies began after he was exposed early in life to 19th century dispensationalism which he constantly (and arrogantly) reflects by sneaking in the "any-moment rapture" into whatever his topic happens to be. At the same time he tries to somehow combine Reformed theology with Deformed Dispensationalism. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation to add the word "Deformed"!)
Who knows, maybe John (Reformedispy) MacArthur is right and the greatest Greek scholars (Google "Famous Rapture Watchers"), who uniformly said that Rev. 3:10 means "preservation through" and not "raptured away from" were wrong. But John has a conflict. On the one hand, since he knows that all Christian theology and organized churches before 1830 believed the church would be on earth during the tribulation, he would like to be seen as one who stands with the great Reformers.
On the other hand, if John has a warehouse of unsold pretrib rapture material, and if he wants to have "security" for his retirement years and hopes that the "big California quake" won't louse up his plans, he has a decided conflict of interest. Maybe the Lord will have to help strip off the layers of his seared conscience which have grown for years in order to please his parents and his supporters - who knows?
One thing is for sure: pretrib is truly a house of cards and is so fragile that if a person removes just one card from the TOP of the pile, the whole thing can collapse. Which is why pretrib teachers don't dare to even suggest they could be wrong on even one little subpoint! Don't you feel sorry for the straitjacket they are in? While you're mulling all this over, Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the same 185-year-old fantasy.
And if you want the real skinny on what the Bible really teaches (that is, the real meaning of words and phrases in the original language) I can happily recommend "The End Times Passover" by distinguished writer and scholar Joe Ortiz. His book "Why Christians Will Suffer Great Tribulation" is also a must read.
What's more, Joe's "grace" in explaining deep Bible truths is much more gracious than the "grace" exhibited by another California prophecy writer we've just heard about!
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.
Boy, shock after shock after shock! And I love the made up name Reformedispy that Dave applied to MacArthur. Keep up the sparkling writing.
ReplyDeleteAll I can do is shake my head. Sir, you obviously didn't watch or attend strange fire. It is quite evident in your lack of knowledge and bad gossip you cling too. You obviously have not done your research concerning both strange fire and the idiotic statement about the church historically not believing in a pre-trib rapture. I won't even go there. Do your research and see for yourself the statements made by the early church to prove this. As to strange fire, why not watch it or at least talk to someone who was there for your research instead of acting as though everything you read on the internet is true! And, it is obvious you are a Dan Clown, (I'm sorry I mean Brown) follower. Dan Clown gives much credibility to his fellow clowns that write like and follow him. Get a clue....lol
ReplyDeleteIt sounds more like you have a vendetta against John MacArthur rather than something constructive to say regarding the time of the rapture. Perhaps you should change the title of your post?
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! It was a bit of a hit piece, like 100%
DeleteAmen
ReplyDeletewhat a shame ,you sound a like a Democrat/lefty,mainstream-media mouth piece, instead of just presenting ideas, you must first try an slander and impute some one's character. just by starting your thoughts in such a way is enough to dissuade me from believing anything you might say.
ReplyDeleteSolid Post!
DeleteSo, one of the "famous Rapture watchers", C.J. Ellicot, believes that Christ's feet will touch the earth following His descent from the clouds, as described in Thess 4:17. C. J. Ellicott (1819-1905: "[I Thessalonians 4:17] 'to meet the Lord,' as He is coming down to earth..." (Commentary on the Thessalonian Epistles, p. 66. I think it is logical to assume that when Mr. Ellicot writes: "coming down to earth", he believes that He will eventually arrive at the Earth's surface.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Mr. Ellicot was using a different Bible than the one I have been reading; the one, the 1611 King James Authorized Version, which reads, starting with v.16 to provide additional context: 16 "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Did I somehow obtain a defective copy of the King James Bible; one that omits the part where Jesus' feet touch the ground? It's a pity that I've had my Bible for so long, it's probably too late to take it back and get a refund.
The argument that Rev 3:10 points to a preservation of the Church through the Rapture sounds plausible ("keep"-Gr. Tereo can mean watch over, preserve,)until one reads a little further and sees "from" (Gr. Ek-out, or out of). Also, Tereo is used in different ways in different places in the New Testament. For instance, Acts 12: 5,6 Peter "kept" in prison; 1 Thess 5:23 (translated "preserved"). God preserving the Church through the Tribulation is a praiseworthy and noble idea, and is keeping (no pun intended!)with His character.
I’ll present one more passage of Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"
Why did Paul's audience have to be alerted to the advent of the son of perdition, the antichrist, if he was writing to persons (the Church in Thessalonica) who were present during the tribulation; i.e., people who had already seen the anti-Christ, heard his blasphemies against God, and experienced his depredations? It's an absurd, illogical proposition.
Here is the deal-breaker for the post-tribulation Rapture argument: Still in Revelation 3:10, we read "... I (God) will keep (there's that word again!) thee from (Ek, again)the hour (Gr. "hora"; a set period of time)of temptation, which shall come upon all (Gr Pas "all")the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." It is undeniable that, at no time in the Church Age, have some Christians somewhere not suffered some degree of tribulation, or trouble. What sets the end-times tribulation apart is that it is a unique, never-before-seen event, often referred to as "the time of Jacob's trouble". That's right-Jacob's, renamed by God Israel, trouble. Jeremiah 30:7 " Alas! for that day-(Strong's H 3117-Yome; literally, a day, the hot hours or, figuratively, a space of time)is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it."
Here we see a remarkable correspondence between the Hebrew Yome, and the Greek Hora; both indicate a fixed period of time marked by tribulation.
So, the post-tribulation Rapture position seems defensible until one starts to pick it apart, and examine it premise-by- premise. It is not logical, it does not tell the truth about God and His character, and it just doesn't make sense!
The way you talk about John MacArthur beliefs carries about as much of Jesus Christ's love as the way he talks about Charismatics beliefs. I have to ask: exactly who do you think Jesus marries during the Tribulation?
ReplyDelete