PRETRIB RAPTURE SECRECY

by Dave MacPherson

The word “secrecy” when applied to Christ’s return can refer to two different things: time and visibility. Before 1830 the only coming Christians looked for was the “every eye shall see him” second advent to earth – secret only in point of time.
Enter Margaret Macdonald in 1830. She saw “the one taken and the other left” before “THE WICKED” [Antichrist] will “be revealed” – and added that her pretrib rapture would not be “seen by the natural eye” but only by “those who have the light of God within.” Her rapture was doubly secret: at an unknown day and hour and also invisible to “outsiders.”
Desperate to eliminate Margaret as the pretrib originator and the Irvingites as the first public teachers of pretrib, Darby defender Thomas Ice foolishly claims that they taught a secret POSTTRIB coming even though he knows that when Hal Lindsey teaches “one taken” etc. before the Antichrist “is revealed” Lindsey is expressing the kernel of the pretrib view – what MM and the Irvingites clearly taught before Darby did! Google “X-Raying Margaret” and “Edward Irving is Unnerving” to see why they are properly labeled “pretrib.”)
As early as June 1832, Irving’s journal taught that only “to those who are watching and praying…will Christ be manifested…as the morning star. To the rest of the church, and to the world, this first appearance will be…unintelligible.” (“Present State of Prophetic Knowledge” etc., p. 374)
Always trailing and “borrowing” quietly from the Irvingites who in turn had “borrowed” from Margaret, Darby in 1845 finally sounded like them when he wrote that “the bright and morning Star…is the sweet and blessed sign to them that watch…And such is Christ before He appears [at the final advent to earth]. The Sun will arise on the world….The star is before the [Sun], the joy of those who watch. The unwakeful world, who sleep in the night, see it not.” (“Thoughts on the Apocalypse,” p. 167)
And Lindsey’s “Late Great Planet Earth,” p. 143, says that “the second coming is said to be visible to the whole earth (Revelation 1:7). However, in the Rapture. only the Christians see Him – it’s a mystery, a secret.”
My bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” (available at online stores including Armageddon Books) has 300 pages of such documentation and proves that Margaret was the first to “see” a secret, pretrib rapture, that the Irvingites soon echoed her in their journal (which Darby admitted he avidly read), and that Darby was last on all of the crucial aspects of dispensationalism.
Shockingly, all of the earliest pretrib development rested solely on unclear OT and NT types and symbols and NOT on clear Biblical statements. Margaret’s rapture was inspired by Rev. 11′s “two witnesses.” And her “secret visibility” rested on the “types” of Stephen, Paul, and John – all of whom saw or heard what others couldn’t see or hear.
For 30 years Darby’s pretrib basis was the rapture of Rev. 12′s “man child” – actually his plagiarism of Irving’s usage of this “pretrib” symbol eight years earlier!
As I said at the start, the “second advent to earth” is secret in point of time with its unknown “day and hour,” as Christ stated. Pretribs assert that if Christ returns for the church after the tribulation, we could count down the days and figure out the actual date of His return – which would contradict Christ’s words.
But pretribs deliberately ignore the fact that Christ said that the tribulation days will be shortened – and He didn’t reveal the length of the shortening!
Our opponents also assume that the “watch” verses prove the “any-moment imminence” of Christ’s return. But do they? II Peter 3:12 says we are to be “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God” which all premills claim is at least 1000 years ahead of us and therefore hardly “imminent”! What’s the difference between “watching for” and “looking for”?
You have just learned a few of the many secrets that the Secret Rapture Gang has hidden for a long time. Evidently they have forgotten Luke 12:2′s warning that “there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed”!
PS – For the ultimate in uncovered secrets, see engines like Google and type in “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty.”

It is certain that we are living in the last days, and that the creation of Israel as a political entity, on the human level, has been fraught with much that is less than perfection.

Israel’s existence is, however, a clear fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and it is also the case that G-d frequently uses imperfect or impious vessels to accomplish His Divine purpose, prophetically, in the world. He often uses leaders who do not believe in Him.

I am a supporter, generally, of Israel’s right to exist, and specifically, of Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to protect and preserve his people.

However, I would like to offer a few thoughts regarding Mr. Netanyahu’s recent speech in Poland.

Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement regarding what he seemingly considers to be an exclusively Jewish fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy, which prophecy describes the reunification of the northern kingdom of Israel (10-tribes), and the southern kingdom of Judah (Judah & elements of Benjamin and Levi), is, in the study of the discipline of logic, what is known as the “Lawyer’s Fallacy,” wherein the criminal prosecutor, as well as the defense attorney, take turns addressing the judge and jury, with only that part of the “truth” which tends to confirm the welfare of their perspective client.

The prosecutor conviently forgets to present exculpatory evidence, and the defense attorney likewise forgets to mention any facts tending to support a guilty verdict.

Whether we agree with Mr. Netanyahu’s biblical/theological conclusions from the Tanach or not, we might consider the following pertinent thoughts:

1. Interpreting any bible text without accurately interpreting the meaning of its context almost always reveals a hidden pretext that is to some degree an a priori, predetermined personal view, prejudice or motive, or simply reflects a condition or state of ignorance.

2. Mr. Netanyahu is neither ignorant nor stupid.

3. Question: If these facts are true, why, then, does he choose to mis-interpret the plain meaning of the text in Ezekiel 37, i.e., a prophetical statement about the evential reunification of all 12 (or 13) tribes of Israel under the rule of Messiah?

4. In our analogy of comparing Mr. Netanyahu to a defense lawyer, who would be Mr. Netanyahu’s client? Who is he trying to protect? Is it not the Israeli government and the people of Israel? I believe that self defense is a good and just motive, and if his motive is self defence, I am supportive of him.

5. What, then, to continue our analogy, whould be the contextual facts on the ground in the middle east to which Mr. Netanyahu’s case logic responds? Is it not true, that Mr. Netanyahu is making a case to the world community, including America, to justify a preemptive and probably military action against Iran to destroy its nuclear production capacity that would foreclose Iran’s ability to initiate a nuclear first strike capacity against Israel?

6. Mr. Netanyahu was educated in the United States. He speaks perfect english. He is no doubt very familiar with the Judeo-Christian people who live here. He is not ignorant of what American Jews and Christians think. Is it not possible that, like any good defense attorney, Mr. Netanyahu is carefully laying the legal and theological ground work which will justify to those audiences a preemptive military strike against Iran? And like any good defense attorney, is he not expert at analyzing and speaking to their beliefs, prejudices, and opinions? Is it not true that he understands that truth doesn’t necessarily win a legal case, and does he not certainly know that the legal opinions of the judge and jury certainly will.

7. Is it possible that, like a good defense attorney, Mr. Netanyahu was speaking not only to those who heard his speech in Poland, but also to the Jews in America who support him?

8. And what about the American Christians? The overwhelming majority of dispensational or traditionalist Christians have rarely or haphazardly studied two-house prophecy. They are almost completely insentient regarding the theological distinction between the word “Judah” and the word “Israel.” They believe that the term “Jews” today represents all 12 remaining tribal descendents of ancient Israel. And what are they expecting to happen next in the prophetical calendar? Are they not expecting, not the fulfillment of the two sticks prophecy of Ezekiel and the reunification of all twelve tribes of Israel, but an imminent secret rapture from the earth, wherein they are conveniently whisked up and out of the danger zone away to heavenly safety while the recalcitrant Jews are left to suffer through the trials of a seven year tribulation and the horrors of the Antichrist?

9. My friends, Mr. Netanyahu doesn’t believe in a non-existent secret rapture or any other kind of rapture, and he doesn’t apparently believe that the exiled of Israel are still exiled, but he does believe in protecting Israel, and he does understand that swaying the masses of Judeo-Christians in support of Israel is crucial to the upcoming war with the Muslim world is essential if Israel is to continue to exist in a hostile middle eastern environment.

What is my conclusion, then? Shouldn’t we support Israel? Of course we should. Of course we do. But at the same time we should excercise biblical spiritual discernment as well. We should pray to G-d that the spiritual blindness of the traditional Christians, and their continued exile in the dispersion of a Babylonion capitivity is ended by awakening to Yeshua’s biblical plan as revealed in Ezekiel 37. We should as well pray that Muslims and Jews awaken to the love and forgiveness of Messiah Yeshua, and we should ourselves repent and do the works that Messiah commands us to do, until the day of the Greater Exodus arrives, and we are reunited with all who accept and honor the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His holy Son our Adonai and Savior.

Best Wishes,

David

Not only is he convincing many that the “dry bones” episode has taken place but he is also sharing with the world that the Jews in Israel today are ALL of Israel. This is so critical because it is a slippery lie that most already believe and defend. The vast multitude of Israel, that being the Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom are scattered and only beginning to discover their identity, despite the lie that most scholars, much of the church and Jew-dah defend today.

One can only wonder what other subjective messages Netanyahu is instilling in this speech.