Let's talk about where I'm coming from.

A little background...

Hi friends,

I’ll be straight with you. I grew up believing in the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church, and also taking it for granted that everybody shared that belief. It wasn’t until five or six years ago that I heard someone -- and not just any someone, but no less an authority on scripture than apologist William Lane Craig -- say that he didn’t believe in the rapture, and not only that, but that the rapture isn’t even in the Bible.

This shocked me and my husband. We looked at each other, got out our Bibles and opened them up to the familiar rapture passages, read over them carefully, looked at each other again and asked each other what in the world was he talking about? How on earth could he say what he said?

Since then, I’ve heard a lot more people say what he said, and I’ve come to discover that rapture doctrine, especially the pre-trib rapture, has fallen out of favor. And that’s really an understatement. This really seemed to pick up steam in 2020, and I began to witness again and again people not just denying or arguing against a pre-trib rapture, but meeting it with absolute hostility and sheer hatred. Like, “I hope you go to hell” kind of hatred, coming from people who call themselves Christians.

This was usually accompanied by accusations such as that we were going to be responsible for the great falling away and that we were escapists who thought we were going to get out of persecution. I heard the names John Darby and Margaret MacDonald for the first time in my life. I also heard for the first time labels like “secret rapture” and “pre-persecution rapture,” none of which reflected anything I’d ever been taught or understood scripture to say. I heard a lot of strawman arguments against the pre-trib rapture, a lot of ad hominem attacks, and very little argumentation from scripture, and what little of that I did hear tended to take scripture out of context and mishandle it, all while accusing those who held my view of doing the same.

Needless to say, I was shook. So I decided to test my beliefs to see if they’re true. I set out to learn about all the different eschatological views and see which lined up best with God’s word. I dove deep into studying end-times prophecy. I also learned a lot about Church history and where these varying views originated, and it was extremely eye-opening.

Lately -- as recently as last week -- I’ve seen a lot of claims that studying prophecy is a waste of time and a distraction that keeps Christians from growing and from working for Christ. I can only tell you that it’s impossible to thoroughly study Bible prophecy without studying ALL of scripture, and that studying eschatology means studying theology in general as well as Church history, and that I have grown exponentially in my knowledge and understanding of the Bible since I first undertook this journey.

Not only that, but my faith has grown deeper and stronger and I’ve been transformed in ways I never expected. Studying these things has made me BOLDER in speaking the gospel, and in speaking truth, and in standing up for righteousness. It has also impressed on me an URGENCY to tell people these things. It has drastically increased my love of Jesus and my EXCITEMENT at getting to spend eternity with him, and drastically DECREASED my attachment to this earthly life. It’s made me a much stronger, bolder and more consistent Christian than I was when I started this journey a little over two years ago.

Lord willing, I’m going to be sharing some of my findings in detail in future letters as I address specific objections to the pre-trib rapture. But spoiler alert: I’m more convinced than ever that the Lord is going to return to gather up his bride and take her home BEFORE the seven-year tribulation begins. I’m also more confident than ever that the dispensational view of scripture is correct, or at least closest to the target.

I’ll send out my write-up on what exactly dispensationalism is in the next couple of days so you’ll have that foundation laid as we go forward. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at some of what I’ve discovered:

• Far from being a “recent” doctrine that was invented in the 1800s, the rapture was actually held and taught by some of the earliest Church Fathers (never mind that it was plainly taught by Paul and by Jesus himself).

• Belief in the rapture began to fade out around the third and fourth centuries when church leaders began to turn away from literal interpretation of scripture in favor of allegorical interpretations.

• In the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo, a former Gnostic and disciple of Plato, took an allegorical hermeneutic, mixed it with heretical gnostic and platonic beliefs that he still held, and invented new doctrines that formed the basis for both amillennialism (the belief that there will be no literal return and reign of Christ on the earth -- it’s all a metaphor for the Church) and post-millennialism (the belief that we’re already in the millennial reign and it’s our job to establish Christ’s kingdom on the earth so that he can return and take it over).

• Rapture doctrine was recovered every time someone returned to a literal interpretation of scripture instead of allegorizing it.

• Recently, it began falling out of favor as Calvinism began to experience a resurgence, along with amillennialism, which has become (or is on its way to becoming) the dominant view.

• Calvinism is repackaged Augustinianism, which is repackaged Gnosticism mixed with Greek philosophy and allegorical Christianity.

• John Darby never met Margaret MacDonald. That he got the pre-trib rapture from her is a straight-up urban legend that has been thoroughly debunked.

• In fact, Margaret MacDonald actually “prophesied” that the Bride of Christ would go through the Tribulation and be persecuted by the Antichrist in order to be purified and made worthy to meet the Lord in the air. 

Something that I really struggled with in all of this, especially in the beginning, something that really made me question my own understanding, check myself and test this doctrine against scripture again and again, was the question of how can so many extremely smart, seemingly faithful men of God be so far off in their understanding of scripture. As I struggled with this question, which made me doubt if it was even possible for anyone, let alone me, to arrive at a correct understanding, I came to understand that a lot of people, including some of the most popular and highly revered pastors and Bible teachers of our time, simply aren’t led by the Holy Spirit in their own understanding. That the sins of pride, arrogance and lack of love were quenching the Spirit’s ability to lead them to truth -- arrogance and lack of love that was plainly evident in their responses to those who disagreed with their theology or eschatology.

Not only that, but many of them weren’t actually searching scripture and letting it form their understanding. Rather, they were forcing their theological frameworks on top of scripture and reading it through that filter. And as they proclaimed “sola scriptura!” they would turn to their traditions, confessions, creeds and quotes from their favorite theologians of the past to make their arguments and support their claims. They’re simply so indoctrinated by their camp that they can’t see scripture any way other than what they were taught — very likely because they don’t want to see it.

But the Bible promises to give us wisdom and understanding if we search for it and ask for it (Proverbs 2:1-8; Matthew 7:7-11; James 1:5). God rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Paul promised Timothy that if he would spend time meditating on Paul’s words, the Lord would give him understanding (2 Timothy 2:7). And Jesus promised that the Spirit of Truth would lead us into all the truth (John 16:13).

So yes -- we can study scripture and confidently arrive at the truth. We don’t need a seminary education or a string of letters after our name. We need the Holy Spirit, a contrite heart, a willingness to study and to test everything we hear against scripture and evaluate the kind of fruit it produces, and, perhaps most importantly, a heart posture of humility, teachability, and grace toward our fellow Christians who hold different views.

I take all of this as a warning to myself, and am constantly checking my heart and my attitude as I study these things and as I talk about them with others. I hold it all loosely and strive to maintain a degree of humility -- I have very good reason to believe what I believe, but if I’m wrong, I’m wrong. God’s going to do what he’s going to do and I’m not going to lose my faith if it turns out I misunderstood scripture and I find myself going through the Tribulation. But I’m reasonably certain and heartily confident that that’s not going to happen.

I’m writing all of this to let you know where I’m coming from as we go forward. You should also know that I’m not a professional theologian or Bible scholar, and I don’t have any formal training. I’m just a gal who loves the Lord and loves His word and who is serious about my calling as a Christian to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21), to speak truth in love (Eph. 4:15), to judge rightly (Matthew 7), and to study to show myself approved (2 Timothy 2:15). I’m not a Bible teacher, I’m a life-long student of scripture who is sharing what I’ve learned and am continuing to learn.

Hopefully, as this Substack grows and takes shape, it will be a learning experience for us all.

Yours in Christ,

Jean

PS - don’t forget to like and share if you found this article worthwhile. My reach is tiny but you can help expand it. Let’s all spread the truth!

LINKS:*

The most thorough teaching on the doctrine of the rapture on the Internet

Debunking the Darby/MacDonald claims

Sins of Augustine

*Any links I share are intended as merely a starting point for you to do your own research and investigation, not as definitive proof to support anything I say. Let’s all be Bereans!