To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From:          Lori Eldridge
Subject:       Re: John Darby and the Pre-Tribulation rapture

>
>To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
>From:          James Trimm
>Subject:      John Darby and the Pre-Tribulation Rapture
>
>  It was John Darby founder of the Plymouth Brethren and creator of
>Dispensationalism that greatly popularized the Pre-Trib rapture of the
>Church.

Re Dispensationalism you said:

> It is a late19th century invention of Christendom
>with NO roots in first century Judaism at all.
>
>James Trimm
>

John Darby was not the originator of the PreTrib rapture.  I would like to
post the following information that proves the above statements false.


The approaching Deliverence of the church by Pierre Jerou of France 1687

Peter Jurieu was a French Calvinist preacher and was considered 'the
Goliath of the French Protestants". He wrote in A.D. 1687 about the Rapture
and the Premillennial return of Christ. Jurieu discussed the coming of
Jesus to translate the saints priour to the time He returns in Judgment. He
preached in Rotterdam as one of the greatest of the Reformers in his day.
Jurieu refuted the amillennial teaching of his day and clearly argued for
the premillennial position regarding Christ's return. He also believed that
Christ would come in the air to rapture the saints and return to heaven
before the Battle of Armageddon. His book disproves the theory that the
pretrib rapture was first invented by Darby. Over 130 years before Darby,
Jurieu spoke of a secret Rapture, "a kind of clandestine coming of Christ'
prior to His coming in glory and judgment at Armageddon. In chapter 24:8:1
he wrote of John's prophecy about the Millennium, "the saints shall reign
with christ a thousand years". He commented, "But to me it seems very
evident that this reign shall begin with some miraculous appearance of our
Lord in His glory. After which He shall go back to Heaven." Expanding on
his interpretation, he wrote, 'There is a first coming of Christ, and it
may be a first Resurrection. Lastly, who can be certain, that this coming
of Christ, to establish His kingdom upon Earth, shall not be in that
manner, with the voice of an Arch-angel, and in great magnificence and
Glory? Who can prove, that at that first coming of Christ He shall not
raise some of the deat, as St. John seems expressly to have fore-told?"

Writing directly about the coming Rapture he compared it to the
resurrection of the Old Testament saints when Christ rose from the grave.
He asked, Why may not Christ raise some of the New Testament Saints, at the
coming of His Kingdom, as well as raise some of the ancient partriarchs,
when He arose from the grave?" Jurieu rejected the view that Christ will
stay in heaven until the final judgment of the world. He suggested that
Christ will first "come down from heaven" in the air in "a glorious
apparition, returning to heaven". While these comments are not conclusive,
they do suggest that the idea of Christ coming in the air for His saints
prior to Armageddon was under discussion over 300 years ago.

Other authors on the PreTrib postion before Darby ever wrote his book:
Commentary on NT -Phillip Dodgers 1738'
Commentary on NT Dr John Gills 1748, 1763
Sir Issac Newton

                             -----author unknown----


       Examining an Ancient Pre-Trib Rapture Statement

                                      by Thomas Ice

All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the
tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in
order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the
world because of our sins.

-Pseudo-Ephraem (c. 374-627)

Critics of pretribulationism sometimes state that belief in the rapture is
a doctrinal development of recent origin. They argue
that the doctrine of the rapture or any semblance of it was completely
unknown before the early 1800s and the writings of
John Nelson Darby. One of the most vocal and sensational critics of the
rapture is Dave MacPherson, who argues that,
"during the first 18 centuries of the Christian era, believers were never
'Rapture separaters' [sic]; they never separated the
minor Rapture aspect of the Second Coming of Christ from the Second Coming
itself."1

A second critic, John Bray, also vehemently opposes a pretribulational
rapture, writing, "this teaching is not a RECOVERY of
truth once taught and then neglected. No, it never was taught-for 1800
years nearly no one knew anything about such a
scheme."2 More recently, pre-trib opponent Robert Van Kampen proclaimed,
"The pretribulational rapture position with its
dual parousias was unheard of in church history prior to 1830."3 In our
previous issue of Pre-Trib Perspectives, I noted that
pre-wrath advocate Marvin Rosenthal has also joined the chorus.4

Christian reconstructionists have also consistently and almost universally
condemned premillennialism and pretribulationism,
favoring instead, postmillen-nialism. One sample of their prolific and
often vitri-olic opposition can be seen in Gary North's
derisive description of the rapture as "the Church's hoped-for Escape Hatch
on the world's sinking ship," which he, like
MacPherson, believes was invented in 1830.5


                               How to Find the Rapture in History

Is pretribulationism as theologically bankrupt as its critics profess, or
are there answers to these charges? If there are
reasonable answers, then the burden of proof and historical argumentation
shifts back to the critics. Rapture critics must
acknowledge and interact with the historical and theological evidence.

Rapture critic William Bell has formulated three criteria for establishing
the validity of a historical citation regarding the
rapture. If any of his three criteria are met, then he acknowledges it is
"of crucial importance, if found, whether by direct
statement or clear inference." As will be seen, the Pseudo-Ephraem sermon
meets not one, but two of his canons, namely,
"Any mention that Christ's second coming was to consist of more than one
phase, separated by an interval of years," and "any
mention that Christ was to remove the church from the earth before the
tribulation period."6


                             Pseudo-Ephraem's Rapture Statement

I vividly remember the phone call at my office late one afternoon from
Canadian prophecy teacher and writer Grant Jeffrey.7
He told me that he had found an ancient pre-trib rapture statement. I said,
"Let's hear it." He read the following to me over
the phone:

       All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before
      the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in
      order that they may not see at any time the confusion which
      overwhelms the world because of our sins.

I said that it sure sounds like a pre-trib statement and began to fire at
him all the questions I have since received many times
when telling others about the statement from Pseudo-Ephraem's sermon On the
Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the
World.8 Grant's phone call started me on journey through many of the
substantial libraries throughout the Washington, D.C.
area in an effort to learn all I could about this historically significant
statement. The more information I acquired led me to
conclude that Grant is right to conclude that this is a pre-trib rapture
statement of antiquity.


                                  Who is Pseudo-Ephraem?

The word "Pseudo" (Greek for false) is a prefix attached by scholars to the
name of a famous historical person or book of the
Bible when one writes using that name. Pseudo-Ephraem claims that his
sermon was written by Ephraem of Nisibis
(306-73), considered to be the greatest figure in the history of the Syrian
church. He was well-known for his poetics,
rejection of rationalism, and confrontations with the heresies of Marcion,
Mani, and the Arians. As a poet, exegete, and
theologian, his style was similar to that of the Jewish midrashic and
targumic traditions and he favored a contemplative
approach to spirituality. So popular were his works that in the fifth and
sixth centuries he was adopted by several Christian
communities as a spiritual father and role model. His many works, some of
doubtful authenticity, were soon translated from
Syriac into Greek, Armenian, and Latin.

It is not at all unreasonable to expect that a prolific and prominent
figure such as Ephraem would have writings ascribed to
him. While there is little support for Ephraem as the author of the Sermon
on the End of the World, Caspari and Alexander
have demonstrated that Pseudo-Ephraem was "heavily influenced by the
genuine works of Ephraem."9 What is more difficult,
though secondary to the main purpose of this article, is determining the
exact date, purpose, location of, and extent of
subsequent editorial changes to the sermon.10

Suggestions on the date of the writing of the original sermon range from as
early as Wilhelm Bousset's 373 date,11 to
Caspari's estimation of sometime between 565 and 627.12 Paul Alexander,
after reviewing all the argumentation, favors a date
for the final form similar to that suggested by Caspari,13 but Alexander
also states simply, "It will indeed not be easy to
decide on the matter."14 All are clear that it had to have been written
before the advent of Islam.

                                 Pseudo-Ephraem's Sermon

The sermon consists of just under 1500 words, divided into ten sections and
has been preserved in four Latin manuscripts.
Three of these date from the eighth century and ascribe the sermon to
Ephraem. A fourth manuscript from the ninth century,
claims not Ephraem, but Isidore of Seville (d. 636) as author.15
Additionally, there are subsequent Greek and Syriac versions
of the sermon which have raised questions regarding the language of the
original manuscript. On the basis of lexical analysis
and study of the biblical citations within the sermon with Latin, Greek,
and Syriac versions of the Bible, Alexander believed it
most probable that the homily was composed in Syriac, translated first into
Greek, and then into Latin from the Greek.16
Regardless of the original language, the vocabulary and style of the extant
copies are consistent with the writings of Ephraem
and his era. It appears likely that the sermon was written near the time of
Ephraem and underwent slight change during
subsequent coping.

What is most significant for present-day readers is the fact that the
sermon was popular enough to be translated into several
languages fairly soon after its composition. The significance of the sermon
for us today is that it represents a prophetic view
of a pre-trib rapture within the orthodox circles of its day.

The sermon is built around the three themes of the title On the Last Times,
the Antichrist, and the End of the World and
proceeds chronologically. The fact that the pre-trib statement occurs in
section 2, while the antichrist and tribulation are
developed throughout the middle sections, followed by Christ's second
coming to the earth in the final section supports a
pre-trib sequence. This characteristic of the sermon fits the first
criteria outlined by William Bell, namely "that Christ's second
coming was to consist of more than one phase, separated by an interval of
years." Thus, phase one is the rapture statement
from section 2; the interval of 3 1/2 years, 42 months, and 1,260 days,
said to be the tribulation in sections 7 and 8; the
second phase of Christ's return is noted in section 10 and said to take
place "when the three and a half years have been
completed."17


               Why Pseudo-Ephraem's Statement is Pretribulational

After learning of Pseudo-Ephraem's rapture statement, I shared it with a
number of colleagues. My favorite approach was to
simply read the statement, free of any introductory remarks, and ask what
they thought. Every person, whether pre-trib or
not, concluded that it was some kind of pre-trib statement. A few thought
it was a statement from such pre-trib proponents
like John Walvoord or Charles Ryrie. Most noted the clear statement
concerning the removal of believers before the
tribulation as a reason for thinking the statement pre-trib. This is Bell's
second criteria for identifying a pre-trib statement
from the past, namely, "any mention that Christ was to remove the church
from the earth before the tribulation period." Note
the following reasons why this should be taken as a pre-trib statement:

1) Section 2 of the sermon begins with a statement about imminency: "We
ought to understand thoroughly therefore, my
brothers, what is imminent [Latin "immineat"] or overhanging."18 This is
similar to the modern pre-trib view of imminency
and considering the subsequent rapture statements supports a pre-trib scenario.

2) As I break down the rapture statement, notice the following observations:

"All the saints and elect of God are gathered . . ." Gathered where? A
later clause says they "are taken to the Lord." Where is
the Lord? Earlier in the paragraph the sermon speaks of "the meeting of the
Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the
confusion. . ." Thus the movement is from the earth toward the Lord who is
apparently in heaven. Once again, in conformity
to a translation scenario found in the pre-trib teaching.

The next phrase says that the gathering takes place "prior to the
tribulation that is to come. . ." so we see that the event is
pretribulational and the tribulation is future to the time in which
Pseudo-Ephraem wrote.

The purpose for the gathering was so that they would not "see the confusion
that is to overwhelm the world because of their
sins." Here we have the purpose of the tribulation judgments stated and
that was to be a time of judgment upon the world
because of their sin, thus, the church was to be taken out.

3) Finally, the Byzantine scholar Paul Alexander clearly believed that
Pseudo-Ephraem was teaching what we call today a
pre-trib rapture. According to Alexander, most Byzantine apocalypses were
concerned with how Christians would survive the
time of severe persecution by Antichrist. The normal approach given by
other apocalyptic texts was a shortening of the time
to three and a half years, enabling the survival of some Christians.19
Unlike those texts, this sermon has Christians being
removed from the time of tribulation. Alexander observed:

It is probably no accident that Pseudo-Ephraem does not mention the
shortening of the time intervals for the Antichrist's
persecution, for if prior to it the Elect are 'taken to the Lord,' i.e.,
participate at least in some measure in beatitude, there is
no need for further mitigating action on their behalf. The Gathering of the
Elect according to Pseudo-Ephraem is an
alternative to the shortening of the time intervals.20


                                       Conclusion

Regardless of what else the writer of this sermon believed, he did believe
that all believers would be removed before the
tribulation-a pre-trib rapture view. Thus, we have seen that those who have
said that there was no one before 1830 who
taught the pre-trib rapture position will have to revise their statements
by well over 1,000 years. This statement does not
prove the pre-trib position, only the Bible can do that, but it should
change many people's historical views on the matter.

                                       ENDNOTES

1 Dave MacPherson, The Great Rapture Hoax (Fletcher, NC: New Puritan
Library, 1983), 15. For a refutation of MacPherson's
charges see Thomas D. Ice, "Why the Doctrine of the Pretribulational
Rapture Did Not Begin with Margaret Macdonald,"
Bibliotheca Sacra 147 (1990): 155-68.

2 John L. Bray, The Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Teaching
(Lakeland, FL.: John L. Bray Ministry, 1982), 31-32.

3 Robert Van Kampen, The Sign (Wheaton, IL.: Crossway Books, 1992), 445.

4 Thomas Ice, "Is The Pre-Trib Rapture A Satanic Deception?" Pre-Trib
Perspectives (II:1; March 1995):1-3.

5 Gary North, Rapture Fever: Why Dispensationalism is Paralyzed (Tyler,
TX.: Institute for Christian Economics, 1993), 105.

6 William E. Bell, "A Critical Evaluation of the Pretribulation Rapture
Doctrine in Christian Eschatology" (Ph.D. diss., New York
University, 1967), 26-27.

7 For more information on the Pseudo-Ephraem statement see Grant R.
Jeffrey, Final Warning (Toronto: Frontier Research
Publications, 1995). Forthcoming, Timothy Demy and Thomas Ice, "The Rapture
and an Early Medieval Citation" Bibliotheca
Sacra 152 (July 1995): 300-11. Grant R. Jeffrey, "A Pretribulational
Rapture Statement in the Early Medieval Church" in
Thomas Ice and Timothy Demy, ed., When the Trumpet Sounds: Today's Foremost
Authorities Speak Out on End-Time
Controversies (Eugene, Or: Harvest House, 1995).

8 Grant Jeffrey found the statement in Paul J. Alexander, The Byzantine
Apocalyptic Tradition, by (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1985), 2.10. The late Alexander found the sermon in C. P.
Caspari, ed. Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten
aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Altertums und dem Anfang
des Mittelaters, (Christiania, 1890), 208-20.
This German work also contains Caspari's commentary on the sermon on pages
429-72.

9 Paul J. Alexander, "The Diffusion of Byzantine Apocalypses in the
Medieval West and the Beginnings of Joachimism," in
Prophecy and Millenarianism: Essays in Honour of Marjorie Reeves, ed. Ann
Williams (Essex, U.K. : Longman, 1980), 59.

10 Paul J. Alexander, "Medieval Apocalypses as Historical Sources,"
American Historical Review 73 (1968): 1017. In this
essay Alexander addresses in-depth the historical difficulties facing the
interpreter of such texts. To these difficulties, issues of
theological interpretation and concern must also be added.

11 W. Bousset, The Antichrist Legend, trans. A. H. Keane (London:
Hutchinson and Co., 1896), 33-41. An early date is also
accepted by Andrew R. Anderson, Alexander's Gate: Gog and Magog and the
Enclosed Nations. Monographs of the Mediaeval
Academy of America, no. 5. (Cambridge, MA.: Mediaeval Academy of America,
1932):16-18.

12 Caspari, 437-42.

13 Alexander, Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, 147. This leaves the
possibility that the work may have been altered or revised
prior to the date of the extant manuscripts.

14 Ibid., 145. Earlier, he writes: "All that is certain, is as Caspari
pointed out, that it must have been written prior to
Heraclius' victories over Sassanid Persia, for the author talks repeatedly
of wars between Rome and Persia and such
discussions do not make sense after Heraclius' victories and the beginning
of the Arab invasions" (144).

15 Ibid., 136-37. The only critical edition is Caspari's which suffers a
lack of objectivity in that he relied upon only two of
the four extant manuscripts.

16 Ibid., 140-44.

17 Caspari, 219. English citations are taken from a translation of the
sermon provided by Cameron Rhoades, instructor of
Latin at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX.

18 Ibid., 210.

19 Alexander, 209.

20 Ibid., 210-11.

= = = = = = =Also regarding your dispensationalism comment:= = = =

> It is a late19th century invention of Christendom
>with NO roots in first century Judaism at all.


Iraneaus, one of the foremost church fathers who lived during the 2nd
century A.D. proves that statement is not accurate:

IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK I, CHAP. X., p 331.

    1. The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to
the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples
this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and
in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the
###DISPENSATIONS###(6) of God, and the advents, and the birth from a
virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the
ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord,
and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father "to
gather all things in one,"(7) and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole
human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour,
and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, "every knee should
bow, of things in heaven,, and things in earth, and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess"(8) to Him, and that He should execute
just judgment towards all; that He may send "spiritual wickednesses,"(9)
and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the
ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into
everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality
on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and
have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian
course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround
them with everlasting glory.

IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK III., CHAP. X. p. 425.

    4. And still further does Luke say in reference to the Lord: "When the
days of purification were accomplished, they brought Him up to Jerusalem,
to present Him before the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord,
That every male opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord; and that
they should offer a sacrifice, as it is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons:"(6) in his own person most clearly
calling Him Lord, who appointed the legal ###DISPENSATION###. But "Simeon,"
he also says, "blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast
prepared before the face of all people; a light for the revelation of the
Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel."(7) And "Anna"(8) also, "the
prophetess," he says, in like manner glorified God when she saw Christ,
"and spake of Him to all them who were looking for the redemption of
Jerusalem."(9) Now by all these one God is shown forth, revealing to men
the new ###DISPENSATION### of liberty, the covenant, through the new advent
of His Son.

IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK IV, CHAP. XI. p 475

    3. As, therefore, He has promised to give very much to those who do now
bring forth fruit, according to the gift of His grace, but not according to
the changeableness of "knowledge;" for the Lord remains the same, and the
same Father is revealed; thus, therefore, has the one and the same Lord
granted, by means of His advent, a greater gift of grace to those of a
later period, than what He had granted to those under the Old Testament
###DISPENSATION###. For they indeed used to hear, by means of [His]
servants, that the King would come, and they rejoiced to a certain extent,
inasmuch as they hoped for His coming; but those who have beheld Him
actually present, and have obtained liberty, and been made partakers of His
gifts, do possess a greater amount of grace, and a higher degree of
exultation, rejoicing because of the King's arrival: as also David says,
"My soul shall rejoice in the LORD; it shall be glad in His salvation."(1)
And for this cause, upon His entrance into Jerusalem, all those who were in
the way(2) recognised David their king in His sorrow of soul, and spread
their garments for Him, and ornamented the way with green boughs, crying
out with great joy and gladness, "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is
He that cometh in the name of the Lord: hosanna in the highest."(3) But to
the envious wicked stewards, who circumvented those under them, and ruled
over those that had no great intelligence,(4) and for this reason were
unwilling that the king should come, and who said to Him, "Hearest thou
what these say?" did the Lord reply, "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths
of babes and sucklings hast Thou perfected praise?"(5)--thus pointing out
that what had been declared by David concerning the Son of God, was
accomplished in His own person; and indicating that they were indeed
ignorant of the meaning of the Scripture and the ###DISPENSATION### of God;
but declaring that it was Himself who was announced by the prophets as
Christ, whose name is praised in all the earth, and who perfects praise to
His Father from the mouth of babes and sucklings; wherefore also His glory
has been raised above the heavens.

RENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK IV., CHAP. XXXVI., p. 517

   5. If, however, what I have stated be insufficient to convince any one
that the prophets were sent from one and the same Father, from whom also
our Lord was sent, let such a one, opening the mouth of his heart, and
calling upon the Master, Christ Jesus the Lord, listen to Him when He says,
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a king who made a marriage for his son,
and he sent forth his servants to call them who were bidden to the
marriage." And when they would not obey, He goes on to say, "Again he sent
other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Come ye, I have prepared
my dinner; my oxen and all the fallings are killed, and everything is
ready; come unto the wedding. But they made light of it, and went their
way, some to their farm, and others to their merchandize; but the remnant
took his servants, and some they treated despitefully, while others they
slew. But when the king heard this, he was wroth, and sent his armies and
destroyed these murderers, and burned up their city, and said to his
servants, The wedding is indeed ready, but they which were bidden were not
worthy. Go out therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find,
gather in to the marriage. So the servants went out, and collected together
as many as they found, bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with
guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man not
having on a wedding garment; and he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou
hither, not having on a wedding garment? But he was speechless. Then said
the king to his servants, Take him away, hand and foot, and cast him into
outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are
called, but few are chosen."(8) Now, by these words of His, does the Lord
clearly show all [these points, viz.,] that there is one King and Lord, the
Father of all, of whom He had previously said, "Neither shalt thou swear by
Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King;"(9) and that He had from
the beginning prepared the marriage for His Son, and used, with the utmost
kindness, to call, by the instrumentality of His servants, the men of the
former ###DISPENSATION### to the wedding feast; and when they would not
obey, He still invited them by sending out other servants, yet that even
then they did not obey Him, but even stoned and slew those who brought them
the message of invitation. He accordingly sent forth His armies and
destroyed them, and burned down their city; but He called together from all
the highways, that is, from all nations, [guests] to the marriage feast of
His Son, as also He says by Jeremiah: "I have sent also unto you my
servants the prophets to say, Return ye now, every man, from his very evil
way, and amend your doings."(1) And again He says by the same prophet: "I
have also sent unto you my servants the prophets throughout the day and
before the light; yet they did not obey me, nor incline their ears unto me.
And thou shall speak this word to them, "This is a people that obeyeth not
the voice of the Lord, nor receiveth correction; faith has perished from
their mouth."

There are many more quotes from Iraneus re dispensations but this should be
enough to prove that Darby did not originate the idea of dispensationalism.

There is also a quote from Iraneus stating that at the END of the AGE OF
GRACE 10 kindgoms shall arise and then the Lord Comes. I don't have time to
look this up right now but maybe someone else can find it.

Lori Eldridge

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