David Reagan: Texas-Sized Repeater ! by Dave MacPherson

     Truthful prophecy writers are needed as much as truthful politicians - and I'm thinking of prophecy "six-shooter" David Reagan, a Texan who profits more by repeating than by researching!

     I'm honored that my decades-long research on pretrib rapture history is part of Joe Schimmel's fantastic DVD titled "Left Behind or Led Astray?" However, my documentation soon became a lightning rod attracting angry rebuttals from British pretrib defender Paul Wilkinson and also from American pretrib repeater David Reagan whose response is titled "In Defense of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture: Left Behind or Led Astray?"

     But something's missing. Reagan's response isn't Texas-sized. It isn't even Rhode Island-sized. And much of his "research" is merely his repeating of totally groundless - and malicious - gossip from other hired guns including some from Texas. Here's an example:

     My article "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" - appearing on the net since 2009 - states:

     "Thomas Ice's article 'Inventor of False Pre-Trib Rapture History' states that my book 'The Rapture Plot' is 'only one of the latest in a series of revisions of his original discourse....' And David Reagan in his article 'The Origin of the Concept of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture' repeats Ice's falsehood by claiming that I have republished my first book ["The Unbelievable Pre-Trib Origin"] 'over the years under several different titles.' " (Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" to see how I expose their deliberate prevarications.)

     Since my research used a "microscope" for close-ups on the pretrib origin (unlike many others who used a "telescope"covering so many centuries before and after the origin they somehow missed the exact origin itself!), allow me to comment on some points Reagan brought up.

     Because he saw older writers like Ribera, Edwards, and Lacunza as possibly being part of the pretrib origin search, I invite interested readers to Google "Catholics Did NOT Invent the Rapture," "Morgan Edwards' Rapture View," and "The Real Manuel Lacunza," and, no, neither Ribera nor Lacunza "believed the Rapture would occur 45 days before the end of the Tribulation," as Reagan, foolishly copying others, asserted.

     Re Margaret Macdonald (the real pretrib rapture originator), Reagan described her as a "hyper-Charismatic"who had "emotional trances in 1830 which are portrayed as demon-induced."

     For the record: I have never said (or even thought) that "demon" or "demonic" should ever be applied to her, or have ever believed she experienced anything like a "trance"!

     Her 1830 pretrib "revelation" (or "vision") was merely her INTERPRETATION of scripture, no matter what any pretrib "straw" men want to project!

     Reagan quotes "Rapture Ready" founder Todd Strandberg who says he can't recall ever hearing any speaker say "I believe in the Rapture because Margaret MacDonald told me so." What Todd doesn't want to recall are my Google pieces titled "Open Letter to Todd Strandberg" (dated 2001) and "The Rapture Index (Mad Theology)" (dated 2006).

     When Hal Lindsey's books write about "the one taken and the other left" before the Antichrist is "revealed," everyone knows he's expressing pretrib rapture doctrine. But when Reagan looked at Margaret's words saying the very same thing in the same order (in lines 58-63 in her 117-line pretrib discovery account), he had the audacity to declare that "not one trace of that [pretrib] doctrine could be found in the vision MacPherson presents as proof!"

     Naturally Reagan would never want anyone to Google "X-Raying Margaret," "Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart," "Margaret Macdonald's Main Point" (which shows Wilkinson and Ice deviously omitting all or part of her main point in order to dishonestly declare that she wasn't teaching pretrib!), "Pretrib Rapture's Missing Lines," and "Scholars Weigh My Research" (in which even "The Witness," the oldest and largest Darbyist Brethren publication in England, has endorsed my historical evidence about Margaret!!). 

     Reagan then discussed early Church Fathers. Since he evidently loves repeating more than researching, you may be wondering about the much-repeated "Pseudo-Ephraem" claim. But instead of wondering, feel free to Google "Pseudo-Ephraem Taught Pretrib - Not!" Other related Google items would include "Grant Jeffrey's Apocalypse Debacle" and "Wily Jeffrey."

     Reagan also talks about John Darby. Since many - including Darby idolizer Paul Wilkinson - still (wrongfully) view Darby as the "father" of pretrib dispensationalism, I invite all to Google "The Unoriginal John Darby," "John Darby Did NOT Invent the Rapture," and "Edward Irving Vs. John Darby."

     Since Reagan doesn't overlook Thomas Ice - the No. 1 pretrib "bulldog" or maybe "pit bull" - I hereby draw attention to these Google articles: "Pretrib Rapture Pride," "Walvoord Melts Ice," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)," and "Be Careful in Polemics - Peripatetic Learning."

     Finally, one can wonder why David Reagan, with his background as an educator, is so taken up with the 187-year-old pretrib rapture. Perhaps it's because there's more profit in eschatology than there is in education!

EIGHT LOCAL LEICESTER CHURCHES NOW PARTICIPATING IN THE NEW WINE PROGRAMME!

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. (Matthew 16:3).

One man, with little or no Biblical discernment, was almost single handedly responsible for the spread of one of the most dangerous movements in the church today... The Latter Rain. This small movement that began in Canada, eventually became the cornerstone for various offshoots, the most prominent of which are (or were) Joel’s Army, First-Fruits, Identity, Manifest Sons of God, Restoration, Reconstruction, Kingdom Message, Elijah Company, Overcomers, etc.

- See more at: http://www.inplainsite.org/html/vineyard_churches.html#sthash.YphEjwrF.dpuf

New Wine was established in 1989 as a Christian festival run by Anglican clergy David Pytches and Barry Kissell. Pytches had close associations with a number of false prophets/teachers such as John Wimber, the Kansas City (false) Prophets, including Paul Cain and Mike Bickle, Mark Stibbe and "Mr Bam" himself aka Todd Bentley.

New Wine is currently advertising R.T. Kendall as a speaker at their 2017 July event.{1} R.T. Kendall is yet another hireling who has close connections with all of the above, as well as fraudster Morris Cerullo, Trinity denier Tommy Tenney and false prophet Gerald Coates.

GERALD COATES FALSE PROPHECY 1995

On April 20 1995 before 4,000 Christians at Spring Harvest, Gerald Coates, leader of the Pioneer network of charismatic churches, delivered the following prediction to Dr. R.T. Kendall, pastor of Westminster Chapel. Dr. Kendall believed it and circulated a letter containing the text of the prophecy to every member of his home congregation (dated December 16 1995). The full text of the prophecy is as follows:

"I wonder Dr. Kendall if you could come here please.
God has put such a deep concern - the seed in your heart for that place of Westminster. Not just the Chapel but for all of those that live in it - within its shadow. I see that God has narrowed you down and narrowed you down and narrowed you down and the cry has gone up so long as you walk the streets on a Saturday morning, as you've been at home in your apartment - 'How long, how long, how long, how long, how long, how long?' God has continued to narrow you down and narrow you down and narrow you down. He's beginning to take away everything that you thought you could trust in, all the things that were safe, but the Spirit of the Lord is upon you. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in increasing power, but you need to understand that over these next eighteen months although many attacks will come, that if you are faithful to God, faithful to all that He's taught you, faithful to your brothers and not seek to achieve in human strength what only God can achieve by His Holy Spirit, in eighteen months from this month, in eighteen months from April 1995 your church, Westminster Chapel, will be unrecognisable, completely utterly and totally unrecognisable. And as you walk with your God and allow Him to narrow you down and narrow you down, you will indeed become a man of great laughter and many tears, and as a result of that humility that God will bring about your attempts to bring about the things that you long to see will diminish and the Holy Spirit will increase in power. In eighteen months, in eighteen months, in eighteen months, in eighteen months the Spirit of God - not just upon Westminster Chapel, but upon Westminster itself, upon the high of the land, upon many who live in that area, is going to come on that place and many of your prayers - taxi drivers would get out of their taxis because the Spirit of God is so strong in that place - you're going to see them fulfilled. And it will come from the most unlikely sources, it will not come through the people you would like it to be through, it'll come through the most unlikely sources. And if you keep your heart and your eyes open the Spirit of God is going to surprise us all. The Spirit of God is going to surprise us all. I ask, Lord, for my friend Dr. Kendall, that You will fill him with Your Holy Spirit from the top of his head to the toes of his feet, fill with the presence of God, saturated and learning to carry that presence in his heart and his mind, in Jesus' Name... " {2}

In fact Westminster Chapel actually declined and numbers dwindled in the months and years that followed Coates' prophecy. This particular prophecy was one of a number of false prophecies made by Gerald Coates.

Seeker-Driven Pastor John Mark Comer will be the speaker for the second week of the New Wine event. Comer apparently promotes polytheism into the mainstream. {3}

John Wimber (1934-1997) was a major influence upon Pytches and New Wine. Wimber built what is known as "power evangelism" on the teachings of theologian George Eldon Ladd which led him to the opinion that miracles such as healings, words of knowledge and speaking in tongues play an essential role in bringing people to faith in Christ. Wimber: "I felt that God wanted me to concentrate on the relationship of supernatural signs and wonders to church growth during the decade." I personally do believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and I am not writing this post from a cessationist point of view. I believe the problem with Wimber's theology is that it over emphasises the miraculous at the expense of the Gospel. In other words, Wimber subverted the biblical teaching that faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17) and replaced it with the diametric opposite, pragmatism - if it works I will accept it and believe it. The great commission is very simple: Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15). Paul tells us that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Wimber ventured into excessive experientialism and a dangerous mixture of truth and error which he later distanced himself from. The Bible tells us that an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; Luke 11:29). Wimber's mantra: "God is bigger than his written Word."  This arrogant statement is an outright denial of the sufficiency of the scriptures which are divinely inspired and give us EVERYTHING needed to live the Christian life. Christians are specifically warned not to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6).  I have gone into more detail in a previous post. {4}

Paul Harcourt Regional Director for London and East:

Now and Not Yet of the Kingdom.
".....We want to press in to signs and wonders and miracles...  restoring the whole of creation...  Gods kingdom is pressing into this world and restoring the whole of creation. God is becoming once again Lord and King over His world.... As well as pressing in for the miraculous we also want to stand with those who haven't yet experienced their miracle. We want to pray that they would experience God's comfort, His love, His joy, His peace, even in the midst of their suffering....." {5}

This man teaches the diametric opposite of God's Word. There will be no restoration of creation until Jesus Christ returns and begins his millennial reign. (Isaiah 11:6-9). In the meantime we are called to preach the gospel and to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. (John 4:23). New Wine offers false hope, lies and ultimate disappointment to its followers.

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matthew 24:3-9).

Jesus goes on to speak about tribulation, apostasy, persecution, betrayal, false christs and false prophets, lawlessness, false signs and wonders, great tribulation culminating in the appearance of the man of sin and the abomination of desolation.

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.....For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:9-28).

Jesus warns his followers explicitly about false teachers, false Christs and false signs and wonders three times in Matthew 24! 

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. (Matthew 16:4).

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

John McGinley, Regional Director for the Midlands and East:
Continuity and Change.
John McGinley quotes Isaiah 43:18-19: Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it? "He (God) is teaching them about continuity and change. 'You need to forget what I did in the past because I am going to do it in a new way.' We need to be willing to let go of how we have done it in the past and to seek the new things that God is calling us to. ..hold together these values of continuity and change." {6} 

Notice that change, miracles, experience and new things are at the epicentre of the New Wine Movement. They talk about unity and diversity, continuity and change.... their hopes are centred upon a new thing, but this hope is not what God's Word tells us to rely upon. New Wine offers something apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Proverbs 30:6).

The Meadows Community Church in Wigston Leicester has also jumped onto the New Wine apostate bandwagon which operates under the authority of John McGinley of Holy Trinity Church in Leicester. I cannot say I am surprised. Apparently New Wine now has eight local churches in Leicester participating in its programme.

"The Learning Community is a group of eight local churches who meet every six months for prayer and planning for vision and growth." {7} 

{1} https://www.new-wine.org/
{2} http://op.50megs.com/ditc/coates.htm
{3} http://www.donotbesurprised.com/2013/01/seeker-driven-pastor-brings-polytheism.html
{4} https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/new-wine-deception-holy-trinity-church.html
{5} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pzuKcRWMrs&list=PLKUxSrvacjrU4vfQ6FGM5L45nd5rCnUqR&index=7
{6} https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnCiZ5GZc88&index=1&list=PLKUxSrvacjrU4vfQ6FGM5L45nd5rCnUqR
{7} http://meadowscc.org.uk/#

REVELATION TV: HOWARD CONDER'S BUS CAMPAIGN

A DIFFERENT GOSPEL

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9).

Whilst on one level it may seem a good thing that the Words of Jesus are being displayed on London buses, on another level we should have some serious concerns about the false gospel being peddled by Revelation TV.

The general public seeing these biblical quotations on London buses should be informed that a number of genuine Christians have deserted Revelation TV for multiple reasons!

By their own admission Revelation TV have aired "iffy" ministries for financial gain:

Conder: What I initially wanted to do was to give RevTV to the Revelation Foundation charity thinking this was the right and fair thing to do as the viewers are now supporting the channel to such a greater level than ever so we could take off the air many of the paid ministries which we would rather not have had on our channel but for financial reasons we had little other choice at the time.

Conder: "We are not in this for the money believe it or not, we are in this to declare the Word of God and that is without compromise.... " !!!!! {1}

How ironic that on the very same program, RTV aired plagiarist and adulterer John Hagee of blood moon fiasco fame.

Revelation TV airs false Word of Faith (WOF) teachers such as Jesse Duplantis and Joyce Meyer.

WOF is nothing less than witchcraft... It is based on speaking out the thing you want God to do, and then expect it to happen by "faith". In other words, God is obligated to obey the words and wishes of believers. This is a complete distortion of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. As someone once pointed out, it is the theology of morons. WOF is variously known as "the prosperity gospel", "the health and wealth gospel" and "name it and claim it". These WOF teachers are always pleading for money.. they are driven by financial gain. The funny thing is that no one seems to get rich apart from themselves. (1 Timothy 6:10).

Charity investigation opened into Revelation Foundation:

"The inquiry was opened on 8 September 2014.
The charity has objects to advance Christianity in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and its activities include making and broadcasting Christian television programmes from Spain.
In March 2014 complaints were received from members of the public alleging the charity was being used for private advantage. A subsequent scrutiny of the charity’s accounts by the commission identified regulatory concerns which include potential significant loss of charitable funds, trustee benefits, conflicts of interest and connected party transactions. These concerns are primarily in relation to the production and broadcasting of television programmes from Spain as well as the trustees’ decisions to transfer significant charitable assets and funds from the UK to Spain." {2}

Oddly, there has never been an outcome from this investigation. Nevertheless the reasons for the complaints against the Revelation Foundation stand as a testimony to the dubious ethics of Conder and his associates.

The Conders and the Petties claimed several years ago that they do not receive a salary from Revelation TV.. this is not correct! Howard and Lesley Conder own a private TV company called 21st Century Television Ltd which sells Revelation TV’s airtime. The monies that 21st Century TV receive from the false teachers that Revelation TV airs does NOT appear on the INCOME/EXPENDITURE pie charts presented by Gordon Pettie on their money raising programmes. This is very misleading to viewers who are under the impression that Revelation TV are desperately in need of donations. In 2015, I made a conservative estimate on the assumption that outside ministries purchase air time at the lowest rate (£250 for 28mins = £500 per hour) 60 x £500 = £30,000 per week = £1,560,000 per year.  This money is deceptively hidden from viewers during RTV's money raising appeals!!! Whether this practice is legal or not is not quite the point, it is certainly not open or ethical.

Conder: "The Lord spoke to me very clearly about starting to put the words of Jesus on the buses in London." {3} Conder often gets direct words from God, but problematically, he does seem to be delusional and compares himself with the biblical prophet Elijah. {4} Conder got the ridiculous idea that he was going to be a modern day “Elijah” from a dubious prophecy in 1994 from proven false prophet Jonathan David at an ecumenical meeting!

THE TRUE GOSPEL MESSAGE is repentance for the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ:

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47).

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1).

God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ: https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/gods-plan-of-salvation-through-jesus.html

1 http://www.revelationtv.com/programmes/episode/the-late-show377635 
2 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-charity-investigation-revelation-foundation
3 http://www.revelationtv.com/rnews/entry/howard-conders-bus-campaign-is-giving-political-correctness-in-the-uk-a-run
4 https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/revelation-tv-howard-conders-delusional.html

READY FOR RAPTURE ASTROLOGY? By Dave MacPherson

     The date-setting pretrib rapture merchandisers are back - and this time the desperate diehards are armed with occultic astrology symbols as well as Bible symbols!

     They claim that their pretrib rapture will occur on Sep. 23, 2017! I wonder if they've forgotten that date-setting necessarily cancels out their foundational principle of any-moment imminence.

     To see how the symbolism-crazy pretribs explain their latest date-setting, Google "Sep. 23, 2017 Rapture" and, if you live long enough, check out all of the "4,270,000 results"!

     Briefly, their claim rests on Rev. 12 and they focus on the woman "clothed with the sun" and tie her to the zodiac woman known as "Virgo" and also see their pretrib rapture in the symbol of the "man child" that is "caught up unto God" (vs. 5) - an event occurring before the great tribulation which they see in verses 13-16.

     My 1998 book "The Three R's" has a chapter revealing early pretrib rapturists who realized that their new fly-away view needed a boost in order to counter opposition coming from many others.
     The answer that dropped out of the sky was the creation of a "Christian" zodiac which arbitrarily began with Virgo (The Virgin) and ended with Leo (The Lion) - a zodiac covering Christ's life from His birth to His return as the lion-like Judge (Rev. 5:5).
     You can't believe which zodiac constellation (appearing shortly before Leo) was the "pretrib rapture" symbol. Keep reading.
     The "Christian"zodiac can be traced back to a Miss Frances Rolleston of Keswick in northern England. Key pretrib promoters in this zodiac chain, stretching from Rolleston down to today's soothsayers like Hal Lindsey, include Joseph Seiss (American) who was plagiarized by E. W. Bullinger (British) who was plagiarized by Lindsey (American). The side-by-side quotes in the same book of mine clearly prove all of the plagiarism.
     By the way, when Bullinger looked at Ursa Minor (under Cancer), Bullinger could see "pretrib rapture" written all over it! (Now you know.)
     The same zodiac arbitrarily tied together Virgo and Leo because, as Bullinger and others asserted, the Great Sphinx in Egypt was the only thing that could bind together "the two ends of this circle of the heavens" - everyone then assuming that the Sphinx has the head of a woman and the body of a lion and also noting the "astrological significance" in the nearby Great Pyramid!
     Lindsey plagiarized Bullinger on pp. 123-24 in "The Late Great Planet Earth," evidently unaware that Bullinger's Sphinx research was occultic nonsense, and also unaware that today's encyclopedias state that the famous Sphinx has the head of a man - a pharaoh!
     Today's rapture astrologers are not the only ones who've seen a pretrib rapture in Rev. 12:5. Many still don't know that John Darby, the so-called "father" of pretrib dispensationalism, rested his first clear teaching of pretrib on this verse for at least 30 years beginning in 1839. What's shocking is that we have solid evidence that Darby merely plagiarized Edward Irving who'd been using the same Rev. 12 symbol for the same purpose in his journal in 1831 - eight years before Darby quietly copied him - and Darby admitted in print that he had long been a reader of Irving's journal and that he had been in Irving's church to hear him preach. We also know that Darby wasn't first on any crucial aspect of dispensationalism and that Irving and his followers preceded Darby on every detail of that system!
     For more on these two preachers Google "Edward Irving vs. John Darby" and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty."

     Remember:  the entire occultic 2017 "Rapture in Rev. 12" craze is built on the 187-year-old pretrib rapture fantasy which was never part of any Christian theology or organized church before 1830! (Google "Famous Rapture Watchers" to find out which rapture view was the original one.)

     True, today's occultic rapturists do love the Bible. They love it so much they want to fulfill the prediction that in the end times many will come in Christ's name and will deceive many!

Prof. Wm L. Craig Leaves Tim LaHaye Behind! by Dave MacPherson

Question: What happens when an elephant meets a mouse?

Answer: The same thing when an eminent Christian scholar meets "Left Behind" confidence man Tim LaHaye.

The elephant, Dr. William Lane Craig (leading Christian apologist and Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology), caused a tribulational tsunami last fall when he declared that LaHaye's "Left Behind" theology (which rests on a pretrib rapture) is "not biblical"!

Craig stated this in an August 5, 2015 Charisma News" article titled "Despite Popular Theology, Apologist Says Rapture Movies Are Not Biblical."  He wrote: "The rapture was made up by someone in the 1800s, and the story caught on among some groups who still believe it today. The simple truth is that it is not biblical, nor was it ever the historic position of the Christian church."

Craig added that "Many people have never known any other view than the rapture...[and have] never thought to examine or question its biblical credentials."  Building his case against pretrib theology, Craig said that pretrib has succeeded not because of evidence in the Bible but because it's been promoted by the Scofield Reference Bible and schools like Dallas Seminary - and of course by "Left Behind" books and films and even by a recently launched HBO program.

Well, after the Talbot research professor shot his cannonball across LaHaye's bow, you can imagine how quickly LaHaye stirred up from his rapture repose at his swanky Rancho Mirage home in the Southern California desert.

Six days later "Charisma News" ran LaHaye's response in a piece titled " 'Left Behind' Author Tim LaHaye Fires Back at Anti-Rapture Apologist."

LaHaye ignored Craig's thrust and regurgitated the usual pretrib arguments. He then maliciously and dangerously (see Matt. 5:22) tried to repeat the pretrib non-argument which asserts that those rejecting pretrib may not even be saved!!

LaHaye stated: "The good news for even a-Millennialists like Craig is if they believe in and have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior from sin, they will go up in the rapture with the rest of us."

At the end of his below-the-belt riposte, LaHaye twisted the knife even more when he audaciously added: "I certainly hope those who chose to disbelieve in the rapture will meet Jesus' qualifications for salvation, that way during the rapture we can discuss it in more detail."

When LaHaye's 1992 book "No Fear of the Storm" (which has a chapter entitled "MacPherson's Vendetta") reproduced Margaret Macdonald's 1830 pretrib revelation account, he carelessly left behind a total of 49 words, the same 49 words that would-be scholar Thomas Ice had left out in the same places in her account when he had reproduced it three years earlier!

(It was apparent that LaHaye had merely copied Ice's errors-filled reproduction instead of researching original sources. If Dr. Craig, an apologist who has debated famous antagonists including the late Christopher Hitchens, had left behind even one word when reproducing Macdonald's short handwritten account of her "discovery," I'm sure he would have been greatly embarrassed!)

What's really fascinating is that Prof. Craig is associated with a school that is part of Biola University and that back in 1953 I was kicked out of Biola (when it was only a Bible institute in downtown Los Angeles) for giving copies of my father's 1944 posttrib book "Triumph Through Tribulation" to some students and profs on that campus.

How times have changed!

Meanwhile LaHaye is still making LaHay while LaSun shines in Rancho Mirage - a name that fits in with a rapture that's truly a mirage in the real world the rest of us live in!

Open Letter to Todd Strandberg by Dave MacPherson

Sergeant Strandberg (of "Rapture Ready" fame):

     It has come to my attention here at this Air Force base that you, as a supply sergeant, have been accepting items of inferior and even dangerous quality!

     Now, it's true that your actions are far from deserving a court-martial. But let me remind you, Sergeant, that your reputation is in jeopardy, and if you don't improve the quality of the items you distribute, the Commander-in-Chief who's over both of us may have some words with you one of these days!

     Sergeant, now where in the world did you get some of those substandard items that are in your "Margaret MacDonald Who?" article that's in the "Pretribulation Rapture" section of your "Rapture Ready" website?

     You maintain that I "have never been able to prove that Darby ever heard of MacDonald or her vision."

     FACTS: In John Darby's book The Irrationalism of Infidelity (1853), pp. 283-5, he described in great detail his visit with her in her home in Scotland in mid-1830 and even talked about her endtime outlook and the Scriptural texts she used for support! (All this is in my book The Incredible Cover-up.)

     Then you claim that Darby's pretrib view was derived from "the distinction between Israel and the church."

     FACTS: Darby's first clear pretrib teaching, in his "Notes on the Revelation" (1839), p. 206, was based on only the symbol (!) of the man child "caught up" in Rev. 12:5----and this was his pretrib basis for 30 years (from the 1830's to the 1860's)! Interestingly, this symbol was Edward Irving's pretrib basis in his "Interpretation of the Old-Testament Prophecies quoted in the New" (The Morning Watch, June, 1831, p. 301)----a full eight years before Darby plagiarized Irving's idea!

     You then assert that Darby discovered the pretrib rapture concept in 1827.

     FACTS: Darby himself wrote in his "Short but serious Examination of...'Daniel the Prophet'" (1850), p. 67, that he came to "understand" pretrib in 1830 and not 1827----an understanding that came to him only after the Irvingite journal The Morning Watch (which he regularly read) began to clearly teach pretrib in its Sep., 1830 issue (which saw "Philadelphia" raptured, in a partial rapture scheme, before "the great tribulation," pp. 510, 514!).

     And you foolishly declare that Margaret Macdonald (it was spelled this way) couldn't have been a pretrib because she taught that the "Church" will be persecuted by the Antichrist. Google "Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart," "Margaret Macdonald's Main Point," and "GFM's DVD Survives Paul Wilkinson's Attack."

     FACTS: For more than 30 years I've emphasized, in my books and articles and while guesting on worldwide talk shows, that the Irvingites, as well as Margaret, taught pretrib before Darby did.

     My critics, wishing to divert attention away from unmistakably clear pretrib teaching by Irvingites, have focused instead on uneducated Margaret and her brief and somewhat unclear revelation account. They also know that she held to partial rapturism which sees PART of the "church" taken in a pretrib rapture and the REST of the "church" enduring the trib. By covering up her pretrib rapture ("one taken and the other left" before "THE WICKED" is "revealed") and emphasizing her posttrib-flavored statements like "The trial of the Church is from Antichrist," they can hopefully discredit her as the originator and give that honor to someone else who seems to have a better reputation! Incidentally, all partial rapturists including Pember and Govett have always described the ones "left behind" as the "Church" (the way Margaret talked) and even John Walvoord's books classify partial rapturists as "pretribulationists"!

     Since some of the emotional and spiritual cripples (with potty mouths) on your Rapture Ready message board have gotten the impression from someone with little conscience (I wonder who!) that I am a heretical (and even Satanic) liar that no one should ever listen to, I am forced to tell you that since the early 1970's my books on pretrib history have been publicly endorsed by a galaxy of leading evangelical theologians as well as church history experts----scholars from George Ladd, Merrill Tenney, and F. F. Bruce to Robert Gundry and Walter Martin along with the late F. Nigel Lee who had nine earned doctorates! Google "Scholars Weigh My Research" for other endorsements.  

     Finally, Sergeant, in order to shore up your collapsing pillar of pretrib sand, you seem to enjoy dropping names like Thomas Ice, Pseudo-Ephraem, Morgan Edwards, and Manuel Lacunza.

     FACTS: Whenever I see a photo of Ice, I'm reminded that your site considers him the "heavy" artillery who constantly shoots off his mouth about the "pretrib" outlook of the last three names. I wonder, Sergeant, what your fans will think when they discover my "Deceiving and Being Deceived" article (on many sites) which exposes the plagiarism, document revisionism, phony "Dr." degrees, cover-up and other pretrib dishonesty, and which also proves that Pseudo-Ephraem, Edwards, and Lacunza all had the historical habit of blending together the rapture and the final advent! (Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty," "Pretrib Rapture Pride," "Walvoord Melts Ice," "Grant Jeffrey's Apocalypse Debacle," "Pseudo-Ephraem Taught Pretrib - Not," "Morgan Edwards' Rapture View," "The Real Manuel Lacunza," and see the DVD "Left Behind or Led Astray?" (You Tube).

     Sergeant, since you are dedicated to the Commander-in-Chief and His love of truth and want His promotion, I expect you to wipe that grin off your face and clean up your site! And don't overlook "The Rapture Index (Mad Theology)" on Google!

     Rapturously,

    

     "Colonel" Dave MacPherson

WHAT PRE-TRIBS 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 - 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 $15.00 and a smile you can get my 300-page book "The Rapture Plot" (the most accurate and detailed book on pretribism's sordid history). If you have just a smile, you can borrow it via inter-library loan at any library. Contrary to what pretribs say, the rapture is NOT so imminent that you don't have time to find and order my "Plot" book on the net!