Where did "rapture theology" originate?

[JBaldwin]

In recent weeks, I've been hearing comments from different people about "rapture theology" and it's source. One person claimed its origins are actually in the RCC. Another claimed it originated with Scofield and his study Bible. I even heard one person claim it was cooked up by a bunch of globalists over a 100 years ago to push forward their agenda of world government.

Does anyone have a reliable source that gives some light on the subject?

 

[BradyC]

In recent weeks, I've been hearing comments from different people about "rapture theology" and it's source. One person claimed its origins are actually in the RCC. Another claimed it originated with Scofield and his study Bible. I even heard one person claim it was cooked up by a bunch of globalists over a 100 years ago to push forward their agenda of world government.

Does anyone have a reliable source that gives some light on the subject?

Here is an excerpt from an article by Brian Schwertley (the full article can be found here).

The teaching of a secret pretribulation rapture is a doctrine that never existed before 1830. Did the pretribulation rapture come into existence by a careful exegesis of Scripture? No. The first person to teach the doctrine was a young woman named Margaret Macdonald. Margaret was not a theologian or Bible expositor but was a prophetess in the Irvingite sect (the Catholic Apostolic Church). Christian journalist Dave MacPherson has written a book on the subject of the origin of the pre-tribulation rapture. He writes: “We have seen that a young Scottish lassie named Margaret Macdonald had a private revelation in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in the early part of 1830 that a select group of Christians would be caught up to meet Christ in the air before the days of Antichrist. An eye-and-ear witness, Robert Norton M.D., preserved her handwritten account of her pre-trib rapture revelation in two of his books, and said it was the first time anyone ever split the second coming into two distinct parts or stages. His writings, along with much other Catholic Apostolic Church literature, have been hidden many decades from the mainstream of Evangelical thought and only recently surfaced. Margaret’s views were well-known to those who visited her home, among them John Darby of the Brethren. Within a few months her distinctive prophetic outlook was mirrored in the September, 1830 issue of The Morning Watch and the early Brethren assembly at Plymouth, England. Early disciples of the pre-trib interpretation often called it a new doctrine.”

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), who was the leader of the Brethren movement and the “father of modern Dispensationalism,” took Margaret Macdonald’s new teaching on the rapture, made some changes (she taught a partial rapture of believers while he taught that all believers would be raptured) and incorporated it into his Dispensational understanding of Scripture and prophecy. Darby would spend the rest of his life speaking, writing and traveling, spreading the new rapture theory. The Plymouth Brethren openly admitted and were even proud of the fact that among their teachings were totally new ones which had never been taught by the church fathers, medieval scholastics, Protestant Reformers or the many commentators.

The person most responsible for the rather widespread acceptance of Pretribulationalism and Dispensationalism among Evangelicals is Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921). C. I. Scofield published his Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. This Bible, which espoused the doctrines of Darby in its notes, became very popular in Fundamentalist circles. In the minds of many a Bible teacher, fundamentalist pastor and multitudes of professing Christians, Scofield’s notes were practically equated with the word of God itself. If a person did not adhere to the Dispensational, Pretribulational scheme he or she would almost automatically be labeled a modernist.​

In Christ,
Brady

 

[MMasztal]

It seems like a lot of sects came about in the 1800s. Namely, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Christian Science, Seventh-Day Adventism, and dispensationalism (UK). Oddly, these all arose in the US.

I wonder what was going on that allowed this to occur?

 

[JBaldwin]

In recent weeks, I've been hearing comments from different people about "rapture theology" and it's source. One person claimed its origins are actually in the RCC. Another claimed it originated with Scofield and his study Bible. I even heard one person claim it was cooked up by a bunch of globalists over a 100 years ago to push forward their agenda of world government.

Does anyone have a reliable source that gives some light on the subject?

Here is an excerpt from an article by Brian Schwertley (the full article can be found here).

The teaching of a secret pretribulation rapture is a doctrine that never existed before 1830. Did the pretribulation rapture come into existence by a careful exegesis of Scripture? No. The first person to teach the doctrine was a young woman named Margaret Macdonald. Margaret was not a theologian or Bible expositor but was a prophetess in the Irvingite sect (the Catholic Apostolic Church). Christian journalist Dave MacPherson has written a book on the subject of the origin of the pre-tribulation rapture. He writes: “We have seen that a young Scottish lassie named Margaret Macdonald had a private revelation in Port Glasgow, Scotland, in the early part of 1830 that a select group of Christians would be caught up to meet Christ in the air before the days of Antichrist. An eye-and-ear witness, Robert Norton M.D., preserved her handwritten account of her pre-trib rapture revelation in two of his books, and said it was the first time anyone ever split the second coming into two distinct parts or stages. His writings, along with much other Catholic Apostolic Church literature, have been hidden many decades from the mainstream of Evangelical thought and only recently surfaced. Margaret’s views were well-known to those who visited her home, among them John Darby of the Brethren. Within a few months her distinctive prophetic outlook was mirrored in the September, 1830 issue of The Morning Watch and the early Brethren assembly at Plymouth, England. Early disciples of the pre-trib interpretation often called it a new doctrine.”

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), who was the leader of the Brethren movement and the “father of modern Dispensationalism,” took Margaret Macdonald’s new teaching on the rapture, made some changes (she taught a partial rapture of believers while he taught that all believers would be raptured) and incorporated it into his Dispensational understanding of Scripture and prophecy. Darby would spend the rest of his life speaking, writing and traveling, spreading the new rapture theory. The Plymouth Brethren openly admitted and were even proud of the fact that among their teachings were totally new ones which had never been taught by the church fathers, medieval scholastics, Protestant Reformers or the many commentators.

The person most responsible for the rather widespread acceptance of Pretribulationalism and Dispensationalism among Evangelicals is Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921). C. I. Scofield published his Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. This Bible, which espoused the doctrines of Darby in its notes, became very popular in Fundamentalist circles. In the minds of many a Bible teacher, fundamentalist pastor and multitudes of professing Christians, Scofield’s notes were practically equated with the word of God itself. If a person did not adhere to the Dispensational, Pretribulational scheme he or she would almost automatically be labeled a modernist.​

In Christ,
Brady

Thanks, this is very helpful.

 

[CharlieJ]

It seems like a lot of sects came about in the 1800s. Namely, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Christian Science, Seventh-Day Adventism, and dispensationalism. Oddly, these all arose in the US.

I wonder what was going on that allowed this to occur?

Nathan Hatch has a phenomenal book on this topic, The Democratization of American Christianity, and the title gives a pretty big hint as to what happened.

 

[Skyler]

It seems like a lot of sects came about in the 1800s. Namely, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Christian Science, Seventh-Day Adventism, and dispensationalism. Oddly, these all arose in the US.

I wonder what was going on that allowed this to occur?

Personally, I think it was the "religious freedom" allowed by the U.S. Constitution. Prior to that, most governments had been enforcing/giving their blessing to one particular religion, and small sects would have been hard to get going. With the onset of religious freedom, anyone and their grandmother could create their own cult and attract followers.

 

[JBaldwin]

It seems like a lot of sects came about in the 1800s. Namely, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Christian Science, Seventh-Day Adventism, and dispensationalism (UK). Oddly, these all arose in the US.

I wonder what was going on that allowed this to occur?

It was a sign of the times. There was a lot of skepticism and questioning going on in the western world. Darwinism sprung up in the 19th century, the musical world was pushing the limits (romanticism), and I think the church suffered as a result.

 

[Notthemama1984]

The whole RCC thing is a reference to some Catholic guy in the 1500s writing how the church would be raptured away. All he said was the church would be raptured, nothing about modern rapture theory.

Dispensationalists still use this quote though to try to show how their views have been around longer.

Sorry I can't remember the exact Catholic or reference. I read the account a few years ago.


I think a better excuse for the lack of rapture theory throughout history comes from my father-in-law. He points to the end of Daniel where the angel tells Daniel to seal up the prophecy. He feels that the explaination of the rapture and everything has been hidden from all the church fathers until the early 1900s as a fulfillment of this angelic command.

That at least sounds better than, "oh some little girl had a vision a hundred years ago that went against everything that was taught up to that time. Obviously the girl wasn't making this up, so we ran with it."

 

[tcalbrecht]

The whole RCC thing is a reference to some Catholic guy in the 1500s writing how the church would be raptured away. All he said was the church would be raptured, nothing about modern rapture theory.

Dispensationalists still use this quote though to try to show how their views have been around longer.

Sorry I can't remember the exact Catholic or reference. I read the account a few years ago.


I think a better excuse for the lack of rapture theory throughout history comes from my father-in-law. He points to the end of Daniel where the angel tells Daniel to seal up the prophecy. He feels that the explaination of the rapture and everything has been hidden from all the church fathers until the early 1900s as a fulfillment of this angelic command.

That at least sounds better than, "oh some little girl had a vision a hundred years ago that went against everything that was taught up to that time. Obviously the girl wasn't making this up, so we ran with it."

The theory of a future antichrist has sometimes been identified with a 16th-century Jesuit named Francisco Ribera. I’m not aware that Ribera or any other Romanist put forth the theory of the pre-trib rapture ala dispensationalism. That seems to be a pure invention of JN Darby and Co. In fact, there is little if any historical support for a dispensational rapture prior to Darby.

 

[VictorBravo]

It seems like a lot of sects came about in the 1800s. Namely, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, Christian Science, Seventh-Day Adventism, and dispensationalism (UK). Oddly, these all arose in the US.

I wonder what was going on that allowed this to occur?

I don't think you can pin it onto one thing. As said by others, it was a time of revolution in worldview that rejected objective external truth and synthesized many streams of human thought arising from the "Enlightenment." The main thrust of it all was a desire of man to toss off the shackles of old and make man himself the standard. Spurgeon saw it too and fought it to his dying day. "New" was the suddenly most desireable thing.

Dabney was living through the tumult and called it "The Sensualistic Philosophy of the 19th Century." I think this book, more than any other, clarified for me the dynamics of this revolutionary period.

 

[sastark]

As I have been tempted to say (but haven't yet) many times at Biola: "The Rapture Theory of eschatology was the view first espoused by the crazed Irishman, John Nelson Darby, after he encountered the equally-psychotic Margaret Macdonald in the early 19th century."

I wonder if I would get graded down for that?

 

[Herald]

I was steeped in dispensationalism as a young man. I attended an uber-dispensational bible college. I witnessed the savagery of how dispensationalists treated one of their own who left the fold. When Marvin Rosenthal developed a mid-trib position you would have thought he was the Antichrist himself according to pretrib dispensationalists. Thankfully not every dispensationalist is in this camp, but the history of the movement cannot be denied.

 

[Mushroom]

From what I read, the whole mess sprung from an 'ecumenical prayer movement' begun in the early 1800's by a few individuals, most notably an Anglican priest by the name of James Stewart. From that arose various manifestations of tongues and prophetic utterances that were taken by some to be valid, especially some in dear old England. Out of that sprang the Catholic Apostolic Church, a truly nutbag group of people, and eventually movements all around the west that in various levels emulated that 'awakening'. Darbyites, Millerites, etc.

So, could this be attributed to an ecumenical movement that laid aside the import of sound doctrine to pursue a 'higher' spirituality/mysticism, and vaunted the individual 'experience' of faith to equal status with scripture? Yep. And still going on full steam ahead today. Out of all that came the SDA, the Mormans, the JW's, Pentecostalism etc, but more insiduously, the flood of dispensationalism into most of modern 'christendom'.

 

[DTK]

In recent weeks, I've been hearing comments from different people about "rapture theology" and it's source. One person claimed its origins are actually in the RCC. Another claimed it originated with Scofield and his study Bible. I even heard one person claim it was cooked up by a bunch of globalists over a 100 years ago to push forward their agenda of world government.

Does anyone have a reliable source that gives some light on the subject?

I think the word "rapture" was/is actually suggested by the Roman Latin Vulgate's translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17...deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur (meaning "to snatch, carry off") cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus (1Thessalonians 4:17 VUL).

Anyway, that is, I think, the source for the word "rapture" itself. Our English translation of the verse reads, Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (NKJ)

DTK

 

[JBaldwin]

This is all very helpful. I know where to start searching for more information now. Can any recommend a good book on the subject? While I personally rejected the whole rapture idea several years ago, I am struggling through eschatology. We are currently going through Revelation in Sunday School, and I am trying to do some personal outside study to accompany it.

 

[TeachingTulip]

This is all very helpful. I know where to start searching for more information now. Can any recommend a good book on the subject? While I personally rejected the whole rapture idea several years ago, I am struggling through eschatology. We are currently going through Revelation in Sunday School, and I am trying to do some personal outside study to accompany it.

"More Than Conquerors" by W. Hendricksen, Th.D.

 

[DMcFadden]

I was steeped in dispensationalism as a young man. I attended an uber-dispensational bible college. I witnessed the savagery of how dispensationalists treated one of their own who left the fold. When Marvin Rosenthal developed a mid-trib position you would have thought he was the Antichrist himself according to pretrib dispensationalists. Thankfully not every dispensationalist is in this camp, but the history of the movement cannot be denied.

Bill, I agree with you about the "savagery." However, it is NOT unique to the dispi folks. Look at how many of us view the Scott Hahn's, the FV folks, even those who change their eschatology to/from amil or postmil. We tend to treat traitors as . . . well . . . traitors.

Where did you go to college?

 

[DMcFadden]

This is all very helpful. I know where to start searching for more information now. Can any recommend a good book on the subject? While I personally rejected the whole rapture idea several years ago, I am struggling through eschatology. We are currently going through Revelation in Sunday School, and I am trying to do some personal outside study to accompany it.

"More Than Conquerors" by W. Hendricksen, Th.D.

Also Dennis Johnson's book is VERY good and suitable for use in following Sunday School. It will be one of the best $16.50 investments you can make!

Amazon.com: Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (9780875522005): Dennis E. Johnson: Books

 

[akaRevK]

Found this:
http://www.auss.info/auss_publication_file.php?pub_id=1101&journal=1&type=pdf

 

[Herald]

I was steeped in dispensationalism as a young man. I attended an uber-dispensational bible college. I witnessed the savagery of how dispensationalists treated one of their own who left the fold. When Marvin Rosenthal developed a mid-trib position you would have thought he was the Antichrist himself according to pretrib dispensationalists. Thankfully not every dispensationalist is in this camp, but the history of the movement cannot be denied.

Bill, I agree with you about the "savagery." However, it is NOT unique to the dispi folks. Look at how many of us view the Scott Hahn's, the FV folks, even those who change their eschatology to/from amil or postmil. We tend to treat traitors as . . . well . . . traitors.

Where did you go to college?

Dennis, besides secular college I went to the Word of Life Bible Institute.

I was focusing on dispensationalism because it was the topic at hand. To some ex-classmates at Word of Life, you would think that I've left the faith.

 

[bug]

"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."

Psuedo-Ephraim (pre 650AD)

I am not saying this was accepted by the church, it is not a credible document. Nor am I saying this a the pre trib, pre mil rapture of the dispensationalists. I am certain that Darby did not know of its existence, but it does perhaps suggest that some on the fringes of the church flirted with these types of ideas long before Darby came on the seen, and Schofield popularised dispensationalism.

 

[MMasztal]

This is all very helpful. I know where to start searching for more information now. Can any recommend a good book on the subject? While I personally rejected the whole rapture idea several years ago, I am struggling through eschatology. We are currently going through Revelation in Sunday School, and I am trying to do some personal outside study to accompany it.

Reformed pastor, Dr Kim Riddlebarger (URC, I believe, visiting prof to WS-Cal, White Horse Inn panel) has a book on Amillenialism as well as a lengthy audio talk you can access (free) from this site:

Riddleblog - A Case for Amillennialism - Understanding the End

Scroll down a bit and look on the right side for the audio links. I haven't listened to the whole series, but Riddebarger does critique the Dispensational view.

Here's a link to other writings of his: http://www.modernreformation.org/default.php?page=authorbio&var1=AutRes&var2=14

Hope this helps

 

[tcalbrecht]

This is all very helpful. I know where to start searching for more information now. Can any recommend a good book on the subject? While I personally rejected the whole rapture idea several years ago, I am struggling through eschatology. We are currently going through Revelation in Sunday School, and I am trying to do some personal outside study to accompany it.

Some of my favorites:

House Divided: The Break-Up of Dispensational Theology by Greg Bahnsen and Ken Gentry.

An Eschatology of Victory by J. Marcellus Kik.

Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope by Keith Mathison.

He Shall Have Dominion by Ken Gentry.

One more:

Christ's Victorious Kingdom: Postmillennialism Reconsidered by John Jefferson Davis.

 

[Notthemama1984]

The whole RCC thing is a reference to some Catholic guy in the 1500s writing how the church would be raptured away. All he said was the church would be raptured, nothing about modern rapture theory.

Dispensationalists still use this quote though to try to show how their views have been around longer.

Sorry I can't remember the exact Catholic or reference. I read the account a few years ago.


I think a better excuse for the lack of rapture theory throughout history comes from my father-in-law. He points to the end of Daniel where the angel tells Daniel to seal up the prophecy. He feels that the explaination of the rapture and everything has been hidden from all the church fathers until the early 1900s as a fulfillment of this angelic command.

That at least sounds better than, "oh some little girl had a vision a hundred years ago that went against everything that was taught up to that time. Obviously the girl wasn't making this up, so we ran with it."

The theory of a future antichrist has sometimes been identified with a 16th-century Jesuit named Francisco Ribera. I’m not aware that Ribera or any other Romanist put forth the theory of the pre-trib rapture ala dispensationalism. That seems to be a pure invention of JN Darby and Co. In fact, there is little if any historical support for a dispensational rapture prior to Darby.

I completely agree that Ribera was not referring to pre-trib rapture ala Darby and followers. I just read where a Dispensational camp took a quote of his out of context and warped it into some rapture statement.

Thanks for naming the Jesuit. I could not remember for anything.

 

[Manuel]

"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."

Psuedo-Ephraim (pre 650AD)

I am not saying this was accepted by the church, it is not a credible document. Nor am I saying this a the pre trib, pre mil rapture of the dispensationalists. I am certain that Darby did not know of its existence, but it does perhaps suggest that some on the fringes of the church flirted with these types of ideas long before Darby came on the seen, and Schofield popularised dispensationalism.

This is used by dispensationalist along with other quotes taken out of context from different authors (including John Gill) as a desperate attempt to prove that the rapture theory is not a new teaching.

When Pseudo-Efraim wrote that the saints of God are gathered prior to the tribulation he was talking about death, not a rapture. The "RCC thing" is this:
some say that the Jesuits ordered Manuel Lacunza (a Jesuit priest) to write a book describing a premillennial coming of Christ and, allegedly, a pre-tribulational rapture (actually he taught a 3 1/2 year tribulation and the rapture occurs 45 days before the return of Christ) to stop Christians from saying that the Pope is the antichrist. This book's title is "The coming of Messiah in glory and majesty". He wrote under a pseudonym (Juan Josafa Ben Ezra) as a jewish converted to Christianism and the book was translated to english by Edward Irving. Darby attended some Irvingite meetings and became influenced by Lacunza but he devised a more complex system with a 7-year tribulation and a rapture ocurring prior to that.

I have never read of any proof that the Jesuits actually commissioned Lacunza to write this book and I have asked in other forums for this proof, from people who say that it was a Roman Catholic concoction, but never got any answers. It seems to me that Lacunza wrote the book on his own, not because he was ordered to do it. It's a very interesting book I must say, I'm going to finish it one of these days.

 

[JBaldwin]

"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."

Psuedo-Ephraim (pre 650AD)

I am not saying this was accepted by the church, it is not a credible document. Nor am I saying this a the pre trib, pre mil rapture of the dispensationalists. I am certain that Darby did not know of its existence, but it does perhaps suggest that some on the fringes of the church flirted with these types of ideas long before Darby came on the seen, and Schofield popularised dispensationalism.

This is used by dispensationalist along with other quotes taken out of context from different authors (including John Gill) as a desperate attempt to prove that the rapture theory is not a new teaching.

When Pseudo-Efraim wrote that the saints of God are gathered prior to the tribulation he was talking about death, not a rapture. The "RCC thing" is this:
some say that the Jesuits ordered Manuel Lacunza (a Jesuit priest) to write a book describing a premillennial coming of Christ and, allegedly, a pre-tribulational rapture (actually he taught a 3 1/2 year tribulation and the rapture occurs 45 days before the return of Christ) to stop Christians from saying that the Pope is the antichrist. This book's title is "The coming of Messiah in glory and majesty". He wrote under a pseudonym (Juan Josafa Ben Ezra) as a jewish converted to Christianism and the book was translated to english by Edward Irving. Darby attended some Irvingite meetings and became influenced by Lacunza but he devised a more complex system with a 7-year tribulation and a rapture ocurring prior to that.

I have never read of any proof that the Jesuits actually commissioned Lacunza to write this book and I have asked in other forums for this proof, from people who say that it was a Roman Catholic concoction, but never got any answers. It seems to me that Lacunza wrote the book on his own, not because he was ordered to do it. It's a very interesting book I must say, I'm going to finish it one of these days.

That would explain where the idea that it came from RCs. Thanks