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”?
Another gimmick has pretribs saying “Would you want Jesus to return at any moment and find out you’re sinning?” But Jesus ALREADY knows all about us! And the Holy Spirit, who’s also God, is ALREADY here (Rom. 8:27)!
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.”
PPS – While evangelicals stay largely asleep while waiting for their 180-year-old rapture, the shmutzy-mouth subversives of the world (e.g., movie moguls at awards ceremonies) invent new ways to create and unite even more tailgating, boombox-blasting, four-headlights-blinding members of the FFA (Future Followers of the Antichrist). For some related insights Yahoo “backstabbing tirades by David Letterman (and Sandra Bernhard and Kathy Griffin)” which is found in a Letterman item.

Further, if holding to 6-day creation was sufficient for saving faith, then Jews, muslims, mormons, seventh day adventists, and myriad of other cults would likewise be “Christians.” But since this is obviously not the case, i would reject such a view that claims that hold to 6day creation results in a “born again.”
Evenmoreso, many prominent christian scholars (who love the LORD dearly and dedicate their lives to bring in God’s kingdom) do not hold to 6 days of Creation. If this definition stood, a muslim is a christian but someone like J.P mooreland is not???
So to answer your question, nothing stops people from “doing that” but they have no classical, biblical, or theological backing that such a view is required for salvation.

for love and peace, Matthew J

As for the imminent return, despite ones eschatalogical views, one should remember the final words of revelation, “behold i am coming quickly,” and it is the job of the Church (through the power of the Holy spirit) to prepare the world for such a return. Immanent return is as much about ecclesiology and evangelism as it is about eschatology. And it is fundamental.

-for love and peace, Matthew J

Also, why is it required for one to believe in the IMMINENT return of Christ in order to be a true Christian?

Actually, if the definition of imminent is taken as “could happen any moment”, it seems to me that one who believes in the post-trib or mid-trib rapture can’t believe in the imminent return of Christ unless (s)he believes that the tribulation is already going on.