MORGAN EDWARDS' RAPTURE VIEW BY DAVE MACPHERSON

     In 1995, in a 24-page booklet on 18th century pastor Morgan Edwards, evangelist John Bray claimed that Edwards taught a pretrib rapture in his 1788 book titled "Two Academical Exercises on Subjects Bearing the Following Titles; Millennium, Last-Novelties" which he had composed much earlier when he was a student at Bristol Baptist College in England.
     Those echoing Bray include Thomas Ice who wrote "Morgan Edwards: Another Pre-Darby Rapturist." Edwards' 1788 work can be found on the internet.
     In order to claim that Edwards held to pretrib, candidates for the I-can-find-pretrib-earlier-in-church-history-than-you-can medal - including Bray, Ice, LaHaye, Frank Marotta etc. - have intentionally covered up Edwards' "historicism," his belief that the tribulation had already been going on for hundreds of years.

     (How can anyone in the tribulation go back in time and look for a pretrib rapture?)
     Here's proof of Edwards' historicism and its companion "day-year" theory which can view the 1260 tribulation "days" as "years."
     On p. 14 Edwards described the Ottoman Empire (which was then already 400 years old) as the Rev. 13:11 "beast." On p. 20 he defined "Antichrist" as the already 1000-year-old "popery" and the "succession of persons" known as "Popes" - his other Rev. 13 "beast." He necessarily viewed Rev. 13's 1260-day period as 1260 literal years in order to provide enough time for his two "beasts."
     On p. 19, while discussing "the ministry of the witnesses" of Rev. 11, he allotted "about 204 years" for their "years to perform" - years impossible to fit into a 3.5-year period!
     What about Edwards' rapture? On pp. 21-23 he wrote about "the appearing of the son of man in the clouds, coming to raise the dead saints and change the living, and to catch them up to himself....The signs of Christ's appearing in the clouds will be extraordinary 'wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines,' &. (Matth. xxiv. 6-8.)....The signs of his coming, in the heavens will be 'the trump of God [I Thess. 4:16], vapor and smoke, which will darken the sun and moon [Matt. 24:29],'...and also cause those meteors called 'falling stars'....
     Right after his combined rapture/advent (!), Edwards said: "And therefore, now, Antichrist...will...counterfeit the preceding wonders in heaven...causing 'fire to come down from heaven'....And that godhead he will now assume, after killing the two witnesses....Now the great persecution of the Jews will begin...for time, times, and half a time...."
     Thomas Ice's article on Edwards (listed at start) quoted only the first 27 words in the above quotation which end with "to himself" - and you can see why pretrib defender Ice stopped quoting there! (For an Ice-covered piece, Google "Pretrib Rapture Pride.")
     Not only had most of Edwards' historicist tribulation occurred before his combined rapture/advent, but incredibly his Antichrist kept raging for 3.5 years even after the Matt. 24 signs! No wonder his school tutor advised him to correct his thesis!

     Here is Edwards' "kernel" proving pretrib, according to Thomas Ice and those who mindlessly copy Ice:

     On p. 7 Edwards' stated that "the dead saints will be raised, and the living changed at Christ's 'appearing in the air' (1 Thes.iv,17); and this will be about three years and a half before the millennium...."

      My book "The Rapture Plot" (pp. 267-8) shares some light on all this:

          Edwards' basis for holding to a rapture three and a half years before the second advent (and a future millennium) may well have been the Revelation 11 witnesses on whom he focused. This chapter has a period of three and a half days (verses 9, 11) that historicism can view as three and a half years. Since the spirits of these dead witnesses conceivably go to be with Christ during the same days - days preceding the final advent - historicist Edwards could see in this symbol a rapture three and a half years before the same advent.

          Since Edwards' book was actually written in the 1740's in England, let's see if the historicism of that period could derive years from the same three and a half days. The June, 1830 issue of "The Morning Watch" reprinted a November 29, 1755 letter that John Fletcher sent to a famous preacher, John Wesley. Fletcher said that the "last raging" of the centuries-long Antichrist will last only three and a half literal years, adding: "Those that shall escape, being hidden and saved in a wonderful manner, will be the seed of that harvest, and will remain concealed three years and a half (see Rev.xi. the death and resurrection of the two witnesses)...."

          Whereas Fletcher (while viewing Revelation 11:9, 11) saw church members concealed on earth for three and a half years, Edwards saw church members concealed away from earth via a prior rapture. Edwards' scheme of a rapture three and a half years before the end of a 1260-year tribulation has the same tiny gap a futurist would have if he were to teach a rapture three and a half days before the end of a 1260-day tribulation! Since such a futurist view would be seen as a posttrib view, Edwards (who had the same small percentage) should be classified as a historicist posttrib!

     A footnote explaining the above quote had this to say: "Edwards saw a rapture at the extreme end of the tribulation. The mathematics work out as follows: 3.5 years/1260 years=0.0027, or 0.27% of the tribulation remaining. That means 99.73% of the tribulation was already past before the rapture. Hardly a pretrib rapture!"          
     To read Edwards' complete work, Google "[PDF] Two Academical Exercises...www.breadoflifebiblestudy.com."
     For much more info on Edwards, Google my article "Deceiving and Being Deceived,"  also see my heavily documented book "The Rapture Plot" which is available at online stores like Armageddon Books. ("Plot" happily made Armageddon Books' bestselling list soon after it was published in 1995.)

     Let me conclude by saying that the secret rapture is truly secret - so secret it cannot be found in the Bible. But Texas hired gun and rapture rustler Thomas Ice tries to make up for this by "finding" it in pre-1830 writings where no one during those centuries had ever "found" it!

ON CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM BY BRUCE MACPHERSON

On Christian Mysticism: A Conservative Evangelical Perspective by Bruce MacPherson is a book I highly recommend. I don't think I have read another book on Christian mysticism that provides such clarity and insight into this deceptive practice.

Bruce MacPherson:

"Many Christians are 'climbing over the fence' to reach intimacy with God by emptying one’s mind, but are in severe danger because they are entering the dark realm of mysticism. It is the wrong path and will not lead to God. It looks enticing, but stop! Don't go there! Christian mysticism is a cancer subtly invading Christianity, and it needs to be unmasked. Pastor Tim Keller rightly says, 'Prayer brings you into God's presence.' 500 years ago, Protestant reformers rightly rejected Christian mysticism (Contemplative Spirituality).

My first published book, On Christian Mysticism, is about how to walk intimately with God. It is also an assessment of historic Christian Mysticism’s practice of 'prayer beyond words,' a complete silencing of the mind. This is done by a mantra-like repetition of a sacred word which they claim enables us to enter God’s presence when we are devoid of all thoughts.

This book is an urgent call to return to biblical Christianity and reject Eastern mysticism in Western dress. It is a call to a return to Christian Formation that is truly rooted in the Bible, involving verbal prayer and meditation of the Scriptures. The mystics are wrong and heretical in practicing mantra-like techniques to silence the mind and all our senses. Or to think that, as many of them do, that all humans share God’s basic essence. And that everyone, even the devil and evil spirits, will eventually be in God’s presence. They are wrong in rejecting the need for personal conversion, evangelism, missions, and wrong in rejecting salvation by faith alone or that Christ died as our substitute. M. Scott peck said, 'Christianity’s greatest sin is to think that other religions are not saved.' Even Tony Campolo questions that Christ is the only way to God.

We need to avoid and reject Christian mysticism’s cross-fertilization of Christianity and Eastern religious meditation. Like Meister Eckhart saying, 'theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.' Or Catholic mystic Thomas Merton saying, 'I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can.' Just before his death Merton told John Moffitt: 'Zen and Christianity are the same.' The Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, founded by Tilden Edwards, is called 'The Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.' Like Edwards, many Christian mystics, like Richard Foster and Henri Nouwen, are intent upon producing a hybrid religion and learn from Buddhists, Muslim Sufi, Hindus, Jewish Kabbalah, and other non-Christian religions. Nouwen learned meditation techniques from his Hindu friend, Eknath Easwaran.

Canadian pastor, Jim Challies, notes: 'As I survey the contemporary church, one of my gravest concerns is the power and prevalence of mysticism … Mysticism has wormed its way inside evangelicalism so that the two have become integrated and almost inseparable. In an age of syncretism, we fail to spot the contradiction and opposition.' Christian Mysticism has 'stolen our tent' (see page 96 in this book)!

There is something here for us all, from Bible scholar to new follower of Jesus. The book is self-published, found on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions."

PRE-TRIB ABSURDITY AND THE RESTRAINER OF LAWLESSNESS

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7) KJV 

William J Rowlands (author and missionary), wrote some extraordinary papers regarding the unscriptural position of the "any moment" rapture. These papers were published by the editors of the magazine Watching and Waiting in 1929. The following year, Rowlands issued them in the book "The Lord Cometh". Rowlands became an advocate of the "one-only second coming of the Lord" and was influenced by Darby's adversary BW Newton. {1} 

Writing about the absurdity of the pre-trib rapture, William J Rowlands wrote:

"Truly, the Restrainer of lawlessness is God. But the words under discussion are, 'until he be taken out of the way..' In vain does anyone read into this verse the removal of the church, for the church is not even mentioned. Neither can we plead for the words, 'taken' and 'way,' for there is nothing equivalent to them in the Greek of the text." {1}

We find "until he be taken out of the way" in most bible translations. The offending word "taken" tacked on to genetai is from ginomai = I come into being, am born, become, come about, happen. {2} 

WJ Rowlands: "..the word 'taken' upon which their own theory leans for support, really represents no Greek word in the text at all, but is simply an addition to the words of Holy Scripture. {1}

The Greek text reads:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let,
until           he be          out of      the midst
heos           genetai       ek            mesou

The previous verse indicates that the man of lawlessness will be "revealed in his time". (2 Thessalonians 2:6). I think this gives an important clue what is actually meant by the Greek text in verse 7. The two verses in question are more accurately translated:

And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he comes out of the midst. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7).

Further clues to the meaning of 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 are found in the book of Daniel, where the Archangel Michael is identified as the protector of Israel:

At that time shall arise (amad) Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1).

The Hebrew word is amad = stand. At the right time (in God's timing), Michael, the protector of Israel, will stop restraining the mystery of lawlessness i.e. he will stand aside in order to allow the embodiment of sin, the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) to be revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:3). This event will facilitate the great tribulation, when unrestrained evil will be unleashed upon the earth. (Matthew 24:21; Revelation 7:14).

Michael's defeat of Satan in Revelation 12 sheds further light on the events that will cause the onset of the great tribulation. Michael and his angels defeat the dragon (Satan) in Revelation 12:7–17, resulting in him and his fallen angels being thrown down to earth. Satan comes down to the earth in great wrath knowing his time is short. (Revelation 12:12). For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. (Matthew 24:21 cf. Daniel 12:1). Initially Satan directs his wrath against the woman (Israel), but being thwarted, he turns his attention towards believers. (Revelation 12:13-17). Clearly, the rapid escalation of unrestrained evil will come as a terrible shock to Christians duped into the false hope of a pre-trib rapture. One can only imagine the fear, shock and unbelief that will kick in at that point, when the falsely predicted and highly anticipated "imminent" rapture comes to nothing, and severe persecution and martyrdom becomes an imminent reality. The result will be apostasy, backpedalling and betrayal. At that time, false teachers will literally crawl out of the woodwork with a "different gospel", that will be specifically tailored to avoid the Antichrist's persecution. (Matthew 24:10-11 cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:11). 

Those who argue the case for the Holy Spirit as the Restrainer are, by and large, false pre-trib rapture teachers such as Thomas Ice (PTRC), the Assemblies of God, the PWMI and the Berean Call. There are a number of valid reasons that preclude the Holy Spirit from the role of Restrainer however. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter who will be with believers forever. (John 14:16, 26; 15:26). The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, being simultaneously present in the throne room of God and on the earth. (Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6). {4} True believers will be given words to speak from the Holy Spirit in order to bear witness during the great tribulation: ..for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.. (Luke 12:11; 21:13). Since it is impossible for anyone to be saved without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, how will anyone be saved during the 70th week of Daniel in His supposed absence? (Revelation 7:4; 11:3; 14:6-7). The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgement. (John 16:8-9). Evidence that the Holy Spirit will be on the earth throughout the 70th week is therefore compelling. 

In addition to the biblical evidence for Michael, according to the rabbinic Jewish tradition, Michael acts as the advocate and protector of Israel. {3}

I do not think it is critical to identify the Restrainer definitively. Having said that however, the pre-trib rapture view sets believers up for a terrible fall, since it has them being "taken" along with the Holy Spirit seven years prior to the Parousia. (Matthew 24:10).

Jacob Prasch's Intra-Seal notion is even more bizarre than the pre-trib view, if that is possible! Prasch has become a master eisegete with his "Reversal of Pentecost" theory. {5} Intra-Seal is an unoriginal pick and mix offering, with material plagiarised from both the pre-trib and pre-wrath views. I cannot account for Prasch's motives in promoting such falsehoods, apart from my suspicion that he wishes to create further confusion to an already highly charged debate!

{1} https://theologue.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/ourlordcometh-wjrowlands.pdf

{2} http://biblehub.com/greek/1096.htm

{3} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_(archangel)

{4} https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/jacob-prasch-moriel-miniistries-intra.html

{5} https://www.amazon.co.uk/INTRA-SEAL-RAPTURE-DECEPTION-EXPOSED-devised-ebook/dp/B06X6N2JJT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502471721&sr=8-2&keywords=intra-seal

PRETRIB RAPTURE & ED HINDSON BY DAVE MACPHERSON

     [Dr. Ed Hindson's article "What To Do If You're Left Behind" inspired the following. --- D.M.]

     What a wishy-washy ingrate Ed Hindson is!
     He received most of his doctorates from (non-pretrib) schools like Westminster Theological Seminary.
     But Jerry Falwell's deep pockets at close-minded (pretrib) Liberty University bribed Hindson into becoming an alma mater backstabber as well as a slavish pretrib plagiarist.
     I discovered years ago that "The Fundamentalist Phenomenon" (a book dated 1981 and compiled by Jerry Falwell, Ed Dobson, and Ed Hindson) had quietly and monstrously pirated huge portions of Dr. George Dollar's 1973 book "A History of Fundamentalism in America"!

     Let's compare a bit of Dollar's book with the later book by Falwell, Dobson, and Hindson:

          DOLLAR, pp. 93f:

      "Harry Emerson Fosdick...was born near Buffalo, New York, on May 24,  1878...he attended Colgate, where he...revolted against orthodox views....at Colgate...came under the...influence of...William Newton Clarke....transferring to Union Seminary and Columbia University....One major influence on Fosdick at Union was the stress on the social application....He found the social gospel of Rauschenbusch challenging. From 1904 to 1915 he was pastor of the Baptist church at Montclair, New Jersey....His sermons...on problem-solving...drew from...within the Bible and outside....the very beautiful Riverside Church...provided a pulpit for Harry Emerson Fosdick....The National Broadcasting Company...gave him free time on Sunday afternoon for 'National Vespers.' "
          
           FALWELL et al, p. 104:
        "Harry Emerson Fosdick...was born in Buffalo, New York, on May 24, 1878. He attended Colgate...where he revolted against...orthodox teachings....At Colgate he was influenced by William Newton Clarke....transferred to Union Seminary and Colgate University. At Union he was influenced by the importance of a social consciousness....He was challenged by the influence of Rauschenbusch, who was the pioneer champion of the social gospel. From 1904 to 1915 Fosdick was pastor at the Baptist Church at Montclair, New Jersey. His preaching...utilized the Bible and extra-biblical sources in dealing with problems....the Riverside Church...provided the public forum for Harry Emerson Fosdick. His public ministry was so impressive that the National Broadcasting Company allowed him free time on Sunday afternoon for...'National Vespers.' "

     Google "Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal" (which is part of my book "The Rapture Plot") to see all of the pages portraying, with side-by-side quotes, the shocking extent of today's pretrib pilfering which has allowed the best known rapture robbers to live in secret rapture splendor in the mansions they've already been "raptured" to that Jesus most assuredly did not prepare!

     One member of Falwell's writing team - Ed Dobson - told me in a letter that he had apologized, but Hindson and Falwell never apologized for their part in the literary piracy!
     Some Google articles that Hindson wouldn't want anyone to read include "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," "Margaret Macdonald's Rapture Chart," "Edward Irving is Unnerving," "Scholars Weigh My Research," "Pretrib Rapture Politics," "Pretrib Rapture Stealth" and (most shocking of all) "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty."
     Maybe Hindson should change his name to Ed Left Behindson!

"DECEIVING, AND BEING DECEIVED" (II TIM. 3:13) BY DAVE MACPHERSON

     You've probably heard that the pretribulation rapture view was published by a Rev. Morgan Edwards in 1788 and also by a Medieval writer called Pseudo-Ephraem 1000 years earlier.
     The Edwards claim (promoted by John Bray and copied by Frank Marotta, Thomas Ice, Tim LaHaye etc.) is based on a 1980 book by Thomas McKibbens and Kenneth Smith, while the claim for Pseudo-Ephraem (promoted by Grant Jeffrey and copied by Thomas Ice, J. R. Church, Jerry Falwell, Tim LaHaye, Chuck Missler, Dave Hunt, Hal Lindsey etc.) rests on a 1985 book by Paul Alexander.
     Not only have these promoters covered up and twisted what McKibbens/Smith and Alexander have written, but they've also concealed and perverted Morgan Edwards' and Pseudo-Ephraem's own words!
     Let's focus first on Morgan Edwards (hereafter: M.E.).
     Promoters see a pretrib rapture in the following words by M.E.: "...the dead saints will be raised, and the living changed at Christ's 'appearing in the air' (I Thes. iv, 17); and this will be about three years and a half before the millennium...."
     If promoters had been sure of their pretrib claim, they never would have had to collusively cover up the following M.E. statements that contradict their claim:
     On p. 14 M.E. described the "Turkish or Ottoman empire" (which began around 1300 A.D.) as the "beast that started out of the earth" (Rev. 13's second beast). (Since Bray etc. repeatedly claim that M.E. had only a "futurist" outlook, without which M.E. couldn't have logically expected a pretrib rapture, Bray deliberately skips over the historicism in M.E.'s "Ottoman" remark - historicism being the belief that the tribulation, covering many centuries, began at some point in the distant past.)
     On p. 20 M.E. wrote that the "wicked one" (II Thess. 2:8) has "hitherto assumed no higher title than 'the vicar general of Christ on earth'" and described "Antichrist" as "popery" and a "succession of persons." (Promoters emphasize M.E.'s comments about the "last" Pope and ignore M.E.'s view that "popery" had "hitherto" (for many centuries) been playing the role of II Thess. 2:8's "wicked one" while wearing a "mask" (as he put it) - a first beast that historicism could easily see during the second beast's reign!)
     Since historicism - and not preterism or futurism - is the only one of these three schools which often thinks "years" when reading "days" in the Bible, it isn't surprising to find such year/day historicism in M.E.
     On p. 19, for example, while discussing Rev. 11's two witnesses, M.E. says "there are no more than about 204 years between now and their death: I should therefore expect that their appearance is not far off." (Bray quotes M.E.'s very next sentence, on another matter, but ignores this one! Could a futurist ever apply a couple of centuries - instead of only 1260 days - to those witnesses?)
     Something else. The authoritative 1980 book about M.E. that inspired the claim promoted by Bray, Ice, LaHaye etc. never classified M.E.'s view as "pretrib," or even remotely resembling it, and the book's authorship had the same conclusion when later interviewed by both phone and correspondence!
     And when Thomas Ice's "Pre-Trib Perspectives" newsletter (Sep./Oct., 1995) ran his own article promoting Edwards as a teacher of "pretribulationism." he couldn't find any of the heavyweight authorities on Edwards, that he listed and quoted, evaluating that 18th century pastor as a pretrib!
     In light of the fact that Edwards embraced historicism (which can see some future things yet to be fulfilled) and not pure futurism (which sees no past tribulational fulfillment), it's easy to believe that Edwards, like some other historicists of that period, saw a three-and-a-half-year period at the end of a 1260-year tribulation - the same percentage a futurist would have if he were to see a period of three and a half days at the end of a 1260-day tribulation; such a percentage would of course be a posttrib view!
     At least I don't have to juggle or cover up historical data to come to such a conclusion!
     But now it's time to analyze Pseudo-Ephraem (hereafter: P-E), the name attached by scholars to manuscripts that were possibly, but not provably, written by the well-known Ephraim the Syrian who lived from 306-373 A.D.
     And what's the discovery in P-E's early Medieval sermon on the end of the world that's led pretrib promoters to see pretrib in it? It's basically these words:
     "For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins." A pretrib rapture is seen by promoters in the phrase "taken to the Lord."
     It needs to be emphasized that pretrib in P-E has been palmed off on unsuspecting Christians by promoters seeing rapture aspects in P-E's sermon where none exist and by covering up such aspects where they do exist in his 10-section sermon!
     In Section 2, P-E says that the only event that's "imminent" is "the advent of the wicked one" (that is, Antichrist). Nevertheless, Grant Jeffrey in his 1995 book, FINAL WARNING, had the audacity to claim that P-E "began with the Rapture using the word 'imminent'" and added in the next sentence that "Ephraem used the word 'imminent' to describe the Rapture." (If he and other P-E promoters can look at a coming of Antichrist and see a coming of "Christ," is it any wonder that in his endtime view folks will look at Antichrist and see "Christ"?
     Ephraim the Syrian, reportedly P-E's inspiration, said the same thing (SERMO ASCETICUS, I): "Nothing remains then, except that the coming of our enemy, Antichrist, appear...." (Nobody's ever found even a trace of pretrib in this earlier work!)
     In the before-the-tribulation sections, P-E mentions neither a descent of Christ, nor a shout, nor an angelic voice, nor a trumpet of God, nor a resurrection, nor the dead in Christ, nor a rapture, nor meeting Christ.
     So where does P-E place the rapture? The answer is found in his last section (10) where he writes that after "the sign of the Son of Man" when "the Lord shall appear with great power," the "angelic trumpet precedes him, which shall sound and declare: Arise, O sleeping ones, arise, meet Christ, because the hour of judgment has come!" (Like Morgan Edwards and Manuel Lacunza, Pseudo-Ephraem has the nasty, non-pretrib habit of blending the rapture with the final advent!)
     In the July/Sep., 1995 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA, Dallas Seminary's journal, Thomas Ice and his co-author Timothy Demy pulled off one of the worst revisionisms of P-E ever: when summarizing Section 10 they carefully deleted what P-E included between "trumpet" and "judgment" (deleted the distinctive I Thess. 4 aspects in that posttrib setting), giving unsuspecting readers this utterly misleading condensation: "A trumpet will sound, calling forth the dead to judgment."
     But P-E says much more, as can be seen; he places the resurrection of those who sleep in Jesus and the rapture of those who meet Jesus (details found only in I Thess. 4) at the Matt. 24 coming!
     A moment ago I said that Edwards and Lacunza had the same rapture/advent blending. Here's evidence. Edwards in his 1788 work (pp. 21-22) speaks of "the son of man in the clouds, coming to raise the dead saints and change the living....The signs of his coming, in the heavens, will be 'the trump of God [I Thess. 4:16], vapour and smoke, which will darken the sun and moon [Acts 2:19,20]....'"
     Lacunza's 1812 work THE COMING OF MESSIAH IN GLORY AND MAJESTY (Vol. I, p. 113) declares: "...you will find St. Paul and the Gospel speaking one and the same thing: He shall send his angels and they shall gather his elect from the four winds; who can be no other than those very ones who are in Christ, who sleep in Jesus." (A few have assumed that there's pretrib in an earlier Catholic, Franciscus Ribera, but in his 16th century Revelation commentary he viewed Rev. 12's "woman" in the tribulation as the Christian Church!)
     But let's go back to Pseudo-Ephraem.
     Dr. Paul Alexander, the leading authority whose book inspired the P-E claim, is portrayed in Jeffrey's book, FINAL WARNING, as "perhaps the most authoritative scholar on the writings of the early Byzantine Church." But this misleading statement, designed to make readers think that Professor Alexander supports the P-E claim, covers up the fact that this world famous scholar sees not even a smidgen of pretrib in the same Medieval writer!
     In fact, Alexander writes that the phrase "taken to the Lord" (which has become a bonanza for pretrib history revisionists) means "participate at least in some measure in beatitude." While Jeffrey and Ice do include this "beatitude" phrase, all P-E promoters carefully avoid revealing that the doctrine of "beatitude," according to the NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA etc, has to do with "the highest acts of virtue that can be performed in this life" - works on earth and not being raptured off earth! (Elsewhere in his sermon P-E repeats the importance of doing "penance," because of "our sins," so that church members will be "sustained" during the tribulation!)
     In fact (again), Alexander has two summaries (textual and outline), in chronological order, of P-E's endtime events. And guess what. Alexander demonstrates both times that P-E saw only one future coming ("Second Coming of Christ" for the "punishment of the Antichrist") which follows (!) the great tribulation ("tribulatio magna lasting three and a half years") - claim-smashing summaries that self-serving promoters, with malice aforethought, have jointly swept under their "secret rapture" rug!
     Since "Dr." Thomas Ice is the most rabid pretrib defender who's long promoted the (false) claims for John Darby and, more recently, Edwards and Pseudo-Ephraem, and at the same time covered up or twisted the (true) claims for Margaret Macdonald and the Irvingites, it's fitting to quote the first sentence of a recent news item:
     "WorldNetDaily reported on March 7 that a Texas district court has ordered the Tyndale Theological Seminary to pay fines totalling $170,000 for issuing 34 theological degrees without receiving approval from the state education agency."
     This is the Fort Worth seminary that gave the title of "Dr." to Ice - which is at least an improvement over "Dr." C. I. Scofield who, in the 1890's, began deceitfully adding "Dr." to his name instead of waiting for some institution to confer it upon him!
     Well, I didn't mean to write a book here; I merely wanted to share some long covered up facts about pretrib dispensationalism. My 300-page book THE RAPTURE PLOT (with footnotes, index, bibliography, appendices, plus great commendations from leaders) is obtainable at online sources including Armageddon Books.
     If you decide to get a copy of my PLOT book, I won't have to tell you about the rest of the bizarre history of the 187-year-old, British-born pretrib rapture view.
     I won't tell you that the same promoters have used the same unscrupulous, "twistorical" methods to try to discredit Margaret Macdonald, the real pretrib originator in early 1830, and cover up the fact that other partial rapturists who followed her and taught the same thing have all been classified as pretribs!
     I won't tell you that promoters who claim that John Darby was pretrib as early as 1827 won't admit that he then had only his "heavenly church" theme, that he was still clearly posttrib as late as a Dec., 1830 article (he was waiting "to meet Him in the air in order to His judging of the nations"), that he wasn't clearly pretrib before 1839, that in 1839 Darby's only pretrib basis was Rev. 12's "man child" symbol (which symbol had been Edward Irving's pretrib basis since 1831!), that in his 1991 book (p. 100) R. A. Huebner admitted that his source for his 1827 claim for Darby could just as easily refer to something completely un-rapturesque, and that Ice since 1991 has covered this up and continues to declare, while searing his conscience, that Huebner "documents" his belief that Darby was pretrib in 1827!
     I won't tell you that all of Darby's so-called "thoughts" which promoters for generations have claimed led him to pretrib (thoughts like the "Gentile parenthesis," "Church/Israel dichotomy," and the "literal method") were taught by others much earlier and that he subtly plagiarized them! (Dispensationalist scholars must have known that airing even a tiny fraction of this would have been a deathblow to their system!)
     I won't tell you that throughout most of the 1800's the leading church historians - whether Irvingite or (Plymouth) Brethren - overwhelmingly credited the Macdonald/Irvingite orbit with pretrib; none credited Darby!
     I won't tell you that in 1880, a year after his Christian conversion, C. I. Scofield was in jail in St. Louis for forgery (he'd stolen his mother-in-law's life savings by means of a real estate scam; would most non-Christian crooks do this?), that after he deserted his wife and children she divorced him in 1883 and he remarried three months later and covered everything up, and that as late as 1899 he still owed thousands of dollars he'd stolen 20 years earlier and had been writing phony IOU's to keep from paying back the money!
     I won't tell you that after Darby's death in 1882, the editor of his many books, William Kelly, plotted to steal credit for pretrib away from the Macdonald/Irvingite connection and give it posthumously to Darby, that he achieved this between 1889 and 1903 by changing and covering up portions of early Irvingite and Brethren documents, and that 20th century British and American publishers have conspired to continue this historical revisionism in order to enjoy phenomenal sales of pretrib rapture material!
     And I won't tell you that during the past century and a half, some of the most influential pretrib rapture books, by British as well as American authors, have been filled with sloppy scholarship and, what's worse, breathtaking amounts of plagiarism and even occultic teachings mixed in with evangelical theology!
     Or that my PLOT book and my later book THE THREE R'S reveal, with comparison quotes and in more or less chronological order, embarrassing plagiarism in writings by John Darby, Joseph Seiss, E. W. Bullinger, Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, Merrill Unger, Jerry Falwell, Ed Dobson, Ed Hindson, Charles Ryrie, David Jeremiah, C. C. Carlson, Paul Tan, Chuck Missler, and Jack Van Impe, for starters!
     Finally, let me say that although I've been researching rapture roots more than 45 years now, I've been into computers only a relatively short time. The discovery of the extent to which misinformation about the pretrib origin has been circling the earth at computer speed still boggles my mind!
     But authors are only part of the problem. After all, if an author gets royalties of, say, 10 percent, the other 90 percent goes to the publisher - which means that publishers can have much more incentive to keep churning out bestselling books that are filled with historical error and even deliberate deception simply because they receive far more money than the authors!
     Which leads me to give you some of my reactions to publishers that are less than pleasant. After I gave proof to a well-known publisher in the Chicago area that one of its authors had plagiarized one of my books, I received a sympathetic letter from the publisher expressing concern; but no changes to my knowledge were made in the dishonest book which was kept in print, and neither my publisher nor I was ever financially reimbursed.
     I know a pretrib book publisher in California that was caught publishing a pretrib book that was a huge plagiarism of a book that had come out several years earlier. After being confronted by the other publisher, the offending publisher promised to withdraw the book, which it did for a while. But sometime later the offending book was quietly reissued - with the same old plagiarism but with a new book title to avoid detection!
     In recent years Hal Lindsey has learned what publishers have always known, that there's far more money if you can be your own publisher or at least control the publishing of your own books. If a person looks closely at his 1999 book, VANISHED INTO THIN AIR (published by the same Western Front Ltd. which was, oddly enough, his "neighbor" when his home was in Palos Verdes, California), he discovers that more than 200 pages (out of 396 pages) are virtually carbon copies of corresponding pages in his 1983 book THE RAPTURE - with no "updated" or "revised" notice included!
     This is robbery on a grand scale for unsuspecting buyers who've been assured that VANISHED is a "new" book! Hal has done the same nervy thing with several of his books, something that's allowed him to live in million-dollar-plus homes and drive cars like Ferraris!
     And what about Lindsey's THERE'S A NEW WORLD COMING which Harvest House Publishers has owned and been republishing for years? During the same time Lindsey has been peddling his reportedly "new" APOCALYPSE CODE, much of which is word-for-word the same as the Harvest House book! And there's no notice of "simultaneous publishing" in either book! Think of the feelings of customers who buy Lindsey's version only to find out that it's largely a mirror image of the other publisher's version which they had bought previously! Talk about greed!
     And then there's Tim LaHaye. His 1992 book NO FEAR OF THE STORM, published by Multnomah Press Books, has an entire chapter entitled "MacPherson's Vendetta." Relying on miscopied secondhand sources that in turn miscopied still earlier sources, he gives the impression that my decades of rapture roots research is my revenge for the troubles pretrib caused my family in the 1950's including my expulsion from Biola in downtown Los Angeles. (My mother went to be with the Lord not long after I was "raptured away" from L.A.) But LaHaye's "crystal ball" is cracked because I didn't even wonder about the pretrib origin, or start any research on it, until two decades later - long after the chief troublemakers had been off the scene and forgotten!
     Since my origin research has never had any reason to hide or twist any historical facts, my practice in my eight book titles has always been to give proper credit and list sources when quoting or discussing others including pretrib critics. In light of LaHaye's chapter about me, maybe he (or Multnomah) can explain why he doesn't list any of my books in his footnotes or even his bibliography!
     But his bibliography does list John Bray's 1982 pretrib origin booklet, containing only 34 pages of "origin" text, even though LaHaye has denounced Bray's claim that Lacunza taught pretrib (the same Lacunza that Bray has long since de-emphasized!) and even though Bray's little booklet is packed with miscopying errors, misspelled names, and even two instances of his plagiarism! How fair is it for LaHaye to discuss me at length without listing my books and publishers so that readers can learn what I've actually written?
     The same LaHaye book (reprinted in 1998 as RAPTURE UNDER ATTACK) is filled with mountains of copying errors and missing footnotes, and his inclusion of Margaret Macdonald's short 1830 revelation account has 49 missing words - the same 49 words that Thomas Ice somehow left out (which changed the meaning) when he reproduced it three years earlier!
     Why is it that Multnomah and other pretrib publishers almost never make any changes whenever errors and dishonesty in their books are pointed out to them? Don't they have time or money for necessary proofreading? Don't they have any self-respect? Don't they fear God?
     One happy exception to publishing dishonesty is Thomas Nelson Publishers. After I convinced that company, with a stack of photocopies of marked pages, that David Jeremiah's and C. C. Carlson's ESCAPE THE COMING NIGHT (1990) is a massive plagiarism of Lindsey's THERE'S A NEW WORLD COMING, a top TNP official sent me a letter, part of which revealed that "we at Thomas Nelson are very concerned about this matter. Accordingly, we are destroying all our current inventory of this title and will not reprint the book. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention."
     But as I've shown, many pretrib publishers are a far cry from Thomas Nelson. Their bottom line consists of three things: money, money, and money! They don't care that pretrib is less than 200 years old and that it didn't take over American evangelicalism much before "Doctor" Scofield's Bible in 1909! They don't care that the late Corrie ten Boom stated in a published article that pretrib leaders are "the false teachers Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days" and that pretrib caused the deaths of "millions" of Chinese Christians when the Communists took over China! And they don't care that the dishonest pretrib theory they peddle for money in fact makes them accessories to the past, present, and future mass-murder of fellow believers!
     Since the same evanjellyfish publishers don't care, I intend from now on to focus as much on their business practices and personal lives as I have on past and present pretrib authors. If anyone can send me documented evidence in this regard, I'll be happy to share it on the internet and in other ways.
     But I really must stop. If this article has whetted your curiosity, you can obtain my book THE RAPTURE PLOT (the most detailed and documented book on the pretrib rapture's astonishing and long hidden history) through online bookstores such as armageddonbooks.com.
     As a historian I confess that I am no expert on where the different kinds of "wrath" (e.g. Satan's wrath and God's wrath) should be placed on prophecy charts. To me, a really important "wrath" question is whether or not the rapture will happen before the coming of pretrib wrath against those who expose pretrib dishonesty!

TRINITY LIFE CHURCH LEICESTER: DAVID HIND'S UNHOLY VISION 2017/18

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.." (Amos 8:11).

TLC'S FALSE VISION:  http://trinitylifechurch.org.uk/who-we-are/

David Hind's "vision" included several references to Jesus:
" We will keep Jesus at the centre of everything that is TLC. ..we are going to continue to do everything He says.  ..only what Jesus says, but all that He says. .. keep Jesus at the centre of everything." On the surface these statements sound impressive, and yet they are blatantly false in light of TLC's clear departure from the scriptures. (2 Timothy 3:13). We find many such statements from false denominations. For example the Catechism of the Catholic Church Article 2 states:

"Since God alone can forgive sins, it is God who, in Jesus his eternal Son made man, "will save his people from their sins".¹⁹ in Jesus, God recapitulates all of his history of salvation on behalf of men." {1}

Wolves boast about themselves, their plans, their successes, their dreams, their visions, their ideas and their ambitions. They give lip service to Jesus, but their aim is to draw followers after themselves. (Acts 20:28-31). Words are cheap! The acid test is whether their deeds match the scriptures. (James 1:22; 1 John 4:1).

Hind gives his congregation plenty of the above! He weighed in with his "vision" boasting a total congregation of "..750 people, 7 campuses, 16 campus pastors all with assistants, and an army of leaders alongside them." He boasts about TLC's 6 Degrees Coffee House which "God has blessed.." (! more about that later), and he is still "humbled" by the Queen's Award to Open Hands last year (!). He boasts about TLC's "heart for the poor". He boasts about the numbers of people attending their various venues. He boasts about their new furniture warehouse, their new community centre, their plans to run a "School of the Spirit", a Father Heart Conference, a Marriage Course and various outreach projects. "School of the Spirit" is founded and run by ecumenical Dominionist New Apostolic Reformation "Prophet" Simon Braker, a leader at Holy Trinity Church in Leicester (CofE).

TLC have put their whole congregation at risk by disregarding both the scriptures and the official Assemblies of God warning about Dominion Theology and the NAR! The following statement was adopted by the General Presbytery of the Assemblies of God on August 11, 2000:

"Kingdom Now or Dominion theology. The thought that God’s kingdom can come on earth with a little help from humankind is intriguing to those who advocate this approach to impacting society. Rather than scoffing at the promise of Christ’s imminent return (2 Peter 3:3,4), this errant theology says that Jesus will not return until the Church takes dominion of the earth back from Satan and his followers. By taking control, through whatever means possible, of political, ecclesiastical, educational, economic, and other structures, Christians supposedly can make the world a worthy place for Christ to return and rule over.6 This unscriptural triumphalism generates other related variant teachings." {2}

Hind boasts about their new venue, the Leicester Arena, which seats 3000 and which they hope to "grow into" and on and on.... All for "Jesus" of course. Impressive is it not? On closer examination however, the way that TLC "do church" in the flesh is extremely problematic. 

There is no example of a multisite church in the New Testament. The clear scriptural model is that of Paul and Barnabus, whose practice was to plant new churches, to appoint leaders with prayer and fasting, and to release them into the care of the Lord: And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14:23 cf. 2 Timothy 2:2; Titus 1:5). The campus or franchised multisite model is not only unbiblical, it is dangerous on a number of levels. The multisite model creates a false hierarchical structure, such as that found within Roman Catholicism. As we can see from Hind's various boasts above, multisite churches are event/numbers orientated and have their focus upon strategies and programmes. They have the potential for misuse of power and lack of accountability on the part of the leader and they encourage the cult of personality. The multisite model elevates one pastor above others, often stunting the development of "lower level" campus pastors/teachers. Multisite churches inhibit diversity and do not allow for the various needs and situations of individual congregations. The growth of satellite churches is artificially sustained and insulated from the tests and challenges that God would otherwise allow them to go through. There is potential for disharmony and a struggle for unity between the mother church and satellite churches. They are developed according to the precepts of man and not God. (Acts 2:47). When we fail to heed biblical doctrine and substitute our own ideas for those of the scriptures, we bring dysfunction and pain to the body of Christ and ultimate judgement upon ourselves. Hind and his family have taken over the control TLC piecemeal. {3} Several TLC leaders are dependant upon the Hind family for their jobs - this is dangerous! The scriptural model of independent autonomous churches has a reduced risk of "man pleasing". In other words, no one has keep the leader and his family happy in order to keep their position.

No matter how it is "packaged" the multisite model produces monstrosities, not churches. There is the distinct possibility that TLC will eventually go the way of the Jesus Army cult who have recently fallen into disrepute due to alleged abusive practices.

After the implosion of Mars Hill Church in 2014, the board concluded: "Mark Driscoll had been guilty of arrogance, responding to conflict with a quick temper and harsh speech, and leading the staff and elders in a domineering manner." {4}

The false teaching of multisite pastors such as Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley etc. is legendary. We can also see this trait in David Hind who, in so many cases, blatantly disobeys the scriptures.

We should keep in mind that Open Hands success as the "compassion charity" of Trinity Life Church is entirely due to their lottery award of £446626 in 2013 during former PCC Adam Simmonds position as Director and Trustee. Open Hands continue to receive large amounts of money from the Big Lottery Fund (an instalment? of £96942 was received during 2016). Open Hands "success" is certainly nothing to do with God, unless God approves of gambling! (Proverbs 1:19). TLC's close association with ecumenist Adam Simmonds, was I believe, the catalyst and the reason that TLC were ensnared into applying for their big lottery award i.e. money gained from unrighteousness! I have repeatedly questioned the ethics of a Christian organisation benefiting from lottery money, but it is a question that TLC have repeatedly chosen to ignore!

Are worldly accolades like the Queen's Award something that Christians should covet? Hind apparently still believes that the Queen is a Christian, and he persists in his sycophantic attitude despite being made aware of evidence on the Palace website that she is a Druid. {5} God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34). Let me state the obvious: A person can renounce Druidism and become a Christian, but he/she cannot be a Druid and a Christian at the same time! (Joshua 24:14). Hind seems to have a denial mentality when in possession of indisputable facts, unless there is something more sinister going on? Very sadly, TLC's ongoing 666 saga at their 6 Degrees Coffee House is very odd indeed and is suggestive of something more sinister than gross ignorance on their part. Christians are instructed to abstain all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22). A genuine Christian would never knowingly associate themselves with the infamous number 666, but not TLC! Hind has attempted to defend TLC's self imposed 666 conundrum by explaining the number six away to the more gullible members of his congregation as "the number of man". He is right. In whatever way six is mathematically represented, it signifies man's corruption and imperfection without God. When it is tripled, it is the number of the beast. (Revelation 13:18).

The last time a "Father Heart Conference" was inflicted upon Leicester by TLC was in 2011. It was led by proven false prophet/teacher Mark Stibbe, former leader of The Fathers House Trust and associate of Todd Bentley (counterfeit Toronto "blessing"). Stibbe spoke at the invitation of TLC, and the event was supported by Holy Trinity Church in Leicester and Knighton Free Church. {6}

Hind supported Benny Hinn's visit to Leicester in 2014. Hinn by his own admission is a necromancer and another obvious false prophet. {7} Hind also continues to promote the music of Jesus Culture (of Bethel Church Redding "grave sucking" infamy) and Hillsong. Hind's anti-doctrinal position led him to “network” with various ecumenical leaders through Churches Together in 2014. (2 Timothy 2:17). {8}

What Hind professes and what he actually does is at odds with the scriptures, and this makes him a spiritual liability. (Luke 6:46; James 1:22). To reject sound doctrine is to reject the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Distortion of the scriptures leads to rebellion. (1 Samuel 15:20-23). We are living in the time that Paul warned about when: people will not put up with sound doctrine..  (2 Timothy 4:3).  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.. (1 Timothy 4:1). Hind/TLC are building their house upon the sand. Inevitably sooner or later it will fall. (Matthew 7:26-27).

I did take the time recently to listen to David Hind's sermon:
A Life Fully Given. (23rd of July) {9} 

Hind's patter has improved since I attended TLC some years ago. This makes it more difficult for the less discerning to see through his real agenda. The genuine discerning Christian should take account of facts and not just holy sounding rhetoric. Hind reads from the corrupted New Living Translation which has been described by some as "demonic" due to its blatant inaccuracies. He even manipulates his congregation into reading the corrupted NLT text aloud with him. Hind disdains and discourages serious bible study and makes teaching a matter of subjective personal experience. For Hind: "The art of teaching and inspiration is to let them go away, loving Jesus more, and ready to make a difference in the world that they live." Serving God, according to Hind, is equivalent to serving TLC and Open Hands. I am not a prophet, but the scriptures say unequivocally that God will utterly reject false teachers who reject knowledge.  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6).

Biblically:

..everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14).

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge.. (2 Peter 1:5).

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. (1 Timothy 4:16 ).

He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (Titus 1:9).

Hind: "People will always be critical." This is the old "judge not" humbug which is actually suppression of dissent. If there are no doctrinal issues within TLC, then the congregation are putting the word of man above the Word of God. (1 Corinthians 11:19). Hind substitutes analytical thinking with a lie i.e. the mentality of passive acceptance rather than the Berean principle of referring to the scriptures and judging with right judgement. (Acts 17:11; 1 Corinthians 5:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Ephesians 4:14; 1 John 4:1-6). There is an important difference between inappropriate hypocritical judgement and spiritual discernment! (1 Kings 18:17). The test of authenticity is ALWAYS the scriptures. (1 John 4:1; Ephesians 5:11). What is the point of the spiritual gift of discerning of spirits if no one is allowed to speak truth and expose error? (1 Corinthians 12:10). TLC's leadership are obviously part of a huge problem and they too will be held accountable.

A.W. Tozer: "Among the gifts of the Spirit scarcely one is of greater practical usefulness than the gift of discernment. This gift should be highly valued and frankly sought as being almost indispensable in these critical times. This gift will enable us to distinguish the chaff from the wheat and to divide the manifestations of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit."  {10}

The Assemblies of God have spawned many false prophets and questionable TV evangelists including Benny Hinn, Morris Cerullo, Jim Bakker, Paul and Jan Crouch, David Yonggi Cho and Jimmy Swaggart to name but a few. 

George O Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God (AG) Pentecostal denomination supports the delusion that the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, the Assyrian, the Coptic, the Ethiopian and the Armenian denominations are representative of true Christianity. {11}

"Dr. Wood that supports Emergent heretic Rick Warren. This is the Dr. Wood that engineered and ensconced into the AoG an ecumenical agreement with the Roman Catholic Church. Now he joins with an ecumenical/interfaith group to socialize with and give validity to Mormonism. In my opinion, Dr. Wood is in lockstep with the Emergent Church Movement and will continue to carrying out what he believes is God’s agenda to turn the AoG into the largest New Age denomination in the world.." {12}

The AOG also support the false "any moment" pre-tribulation rapture position. {13}

The time to Come out of her is now, before it is too late. (Revelation 18:4). It is not a good idea to wait and to become ensnared in the powerful delusion that is coming upon the whole world through the amalgamation of denominational religion. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). 

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:6).

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49).

{1}   http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c2a2.htm 
{2}   https://ag.org/Beliefs/Topics-Index/Revival-Endtime-Revival--Spirit-Led-and-Spirit-Controlled
{3}   https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/trinity-life-church-leicester-downhill.html
{4}   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Driscoll
{5}   https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/trinity-life-church-leicester-and-open.html 
{6}   https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/A-CRITIQUE-OF-MISSION-SHAPED-COMMUNITIES-HOLY-TRINITY-LEICESTER
{7}   https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-circus-comes-to-town-false-prophet.html
{8}   https://standfirminthelord.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/trinity-life-church-leicester-the-different-masks-of-david-hind/ 
{9}   https://soundcloud.com/trinity-life-church
{10}   https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/691061-among-the-gifts-of-the-spirit-scarcely-is-one-of
{11} https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/george-o-wood-assemblies-of-god.html
{12} http://www.truthkeepers.com/?p=230 
{13} https://bewareofthewolves.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/george-o-wood-assemblies-of-god.html

CATHOLICS DID NOT INVENT THE RAPTURE BY DAVE MACPHERSON

     Many assert that the "rapture" promoted by evangelicals was first taught, at least seminally, by some Jesuit Catholic priest of the past. They usually name either Francisco Ribera of the 16th century or Manuel Lacunza of the 18th century. First, let's look at Ribera.
     To see what is claimed, Google "Francisco Ribera taught a rapture 45 days before the end of Antichrist's future reign." (Oddly, many claimants are anti-Catholic and merely use Ribera in order to "find" much earlier support for their rapture which actually isn't found in any official Christian theology or organized church before 1830!)
     After seeing this claim repeated endlessly without even one sentence from Ribera offered as proof, I decided to go over every page in Ribera's 640-page commentary on the book of Revelation published in Latin in 1593.
     After laboriously searching for the Latin equivalent of "45 days" ("quadraginta quinque dies"), "rapture" ("raptu," "raptio," "rapiemur," etc.) and other related expressions, I couldn't find anything in Ribera's work even remotely resembling a prior rapture!
     While Ribera can be claimed as the pretrib rapture originator, more pretrib defenders seem to pinpoint Manuel Lacunza and point to his lengthy work "The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty," a work that was translated from Spanish to English under the direction of Edward Irving who, by the way, did not obtain his pretrib view from Lacunza, as has been claimed.
     (The late Southern Baptist evangelist John Bray claimed to find pretrib teaching in Lacunza before he changed his mind and later on gave that "honor" to a Baptist named Morgan Edwards! For the real skinny on Edwards, Google "Morgan Edwards' Rapture View.")
      Does Lacunza teach a rapture 45 days before the coming to earth, as Bray claims? Let's look at Vol. I.
     On p. 83 Lacunza refers to the book of Revelation and says that "the nineteenth chapter speaks of the coming of the Lord in glory and majesty, which Christians with one consent do wait for."
     On pp. 99-100 after quoting I Thess. 4:13-18  Lacunza quotes Matt. 24:30 and then writes: "If you compare this text with that of St. Paul, you shall find no other difference than this, that those who are to arise on the coming of the Lord, the apostle nameth those who are dead in Christ, who sleep in Jesus; and the Lord nameth them his elect."
     Lacunza (p. 113) quotes I Thess. 4 and Matt. 24 in this manner: "...He shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive, &c and it appears to me, that you will find St. Paul and the Gospel speaking one and the same thing: He shall send his angels and they shall gather his elect from the four winds; who can be no other than those very ones who are in Christ, who sleep in Jesus."
     Lacunza's monumental work, which helped to revive futurism, was distributed widely in manuscript form as early as 1791 - so widely, in fact, that Pope Leo XII later placed it on the official list of prohibited books. (Lacunza says in his first volume, p. 220, the "our priesthood" will eventually become the two-horned beast of Rev. 13!)
     If Lacunza's book contains a pretrib coming, why was such doctrine unknown before 1830? It wasn't that John Darby and Edward Irving were unaware of Lacunza's work, for both discussed it in their pre-1830 writings. And it wasn't that Darby and Irving were opposed to novel ideas, for both began to embrace pretribulationism after it emerged in early 1830!
     Are you curious about the real beginnings of this evangelical belief (a.k.a. the "pre-tribulation rapture") merchandised by Darby, Scofield, Lindsey, Falwell, LaHaye, Ice, Van Impe, Hagee and many others?
     Google "Famous Rapture Watchers," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty," for starters.
     I will end this by saying it's a distinct honor to have these and other articles of mine on this excellent and much needed blog hosted by my friend and Bible expert Treena Gisborn!