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Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory
The pre-tribulation rapture theory is not something that God has revealed to us in these last days. Nor can this belief be found any where in the Bible. Indeed it is a false doctrine that has been perpetuated through well-meaning men for the past few generations.
There is no known writing, or any kind of reference by any writer about the pre-tribulation rapture prior to 1830. None of the early Church fathers or anyone else throughout Church history wrote about the saints being raptured before Jesus Christ comes back. This does not conclusively mean that the theory is false, only that it is a historical fact that this teaching did not exist among the early Christians or the Church fathers or any Christians throughout history until 1830.
The origin of the pre-tribulation rapture theory began with a fifteen-year-old girl named Margaret MacDonald in the town of Port Glasgow, Scotland. Supposedly in 1830 she had a dream or vision that Christians were raptured just prior to the Great Tribulation. In 1831 or 1832 a Presbyterian pastor in London, England named Edward Irving heard about this dream or vision that Miss MacDonald had and started teaching it to his congregation. These are well-known reports among scholars of eschatology. Something else that is well-documented is the fact that John Nelson Darby, the founder of a group known as the Plymouth Brethren, who after visiting Miss MacDonald also began teaching this new theory.
Later, by 1917, C. I. Scofield had published his improved edition of the Scofield Reference Bible which contained the dispensational pre-tribulation teachings of Darby and others. Soon many Bible Colleges such as Moody Bible Institute and seminaries such as Dallas Theological Seminary became staunch promoters of theology that included the doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture.
In 1970 Hal Lindsey, who attended Dallas Theological Seminary, popularized this teaching with his book entitled The Late Great Planet Earth. Millions of copies have been sold and a movie by the same title was made.
The widespread acceptance of a doctrine does not make it true. What really matters is not whether some Bible colleges and seminaries teach the pre-tribulation rapture theory, or whether many pastors teach it, or whether many Christians accept it as true; what really matters is what does the Word of God say? Some will argue this theory didn’t originate with Miss MacDonald, but there seems to be no source out there that can predate this theory before 1750’s. It seems unlikely the first 1,700 to 1,800 years of the church walked in darkness and it wasn’t until recently we have found this truth. Remember;
2 Peter 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.
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