Expert: Cooper P. Abrams III - 1/2/2012

Question
Dear Cooper,
Am I to assume that you are saying St. Paul was teaching in 1Thess.4:13-18 a different message than Christ in Matt 25:26-31,that would be heresy? Christ clearly stated at the last supper that he would drink no wine until he drank it anew in the kingdom of God Mark 14:22-25 . He accomplished this the very next day on the cross John 19:28-30. Here we have a clear benchmark given by the Word Himself about the start of the Kingdom. Saint Peter teaches the Church that tribulation had already started even then (1 Peter 4:12-19). My question is still,what does a doctrine (rapture) invented by Darby in the 1820's have to do with Sacred Scripture and if the people who preach and believe it think they shouldn't have to suffer like the Christians in the first century, then why would they need to be raptured in the first place? Christ stayed on earth and suffered His tribulation and like any leader He does not ask us to do something he hasn't done himself. Also you state in BibleTruth.org the Christ didn't proclaim a universal (catholic in Greek) Church. Christ said he was building his Church on Peter in Matt 16:18-19 and gave St. Peter the keys to the Kingdom(Church). In John 17:1-26 Christ talks about the world hating his disciples but they should be one in faith as Christ and the Father are one. There can only be one Head for one body. How many  multiple bodies have you seen that share the same head. The one body of Christ doesn't teach the rapture.
         God Bless
         Glen

Answer
Glen,
     Many have believed the myth that John Nelson Darby (November 18, 1800- April 29, 1882), a Anglo-Irish Plymouth Brethren, invented the PreTribulational rapture view in 1831 being influenced by a young girl, Margaret McDonald, who apparently received this ”revelation” from the Lord of a “rapture” of the Church before a time of Great Tribulation at the end of the age.   However, Roy A. Huebner, documented that Darby first began to believe in the PreTribulational rapture and develop his dispensational thinking while convalescing from a riding accident during December 1826 and January 1827.   This was three years before Miss McDonald supposedly received her “revelation.”   Darby studying Isaiah 32 saw that the prophet was revealing that God had some specific plans for Israel that went beyond into the future for the nation of Israel.   He saw God’s plans for Israel and the “church” were different.  As he studied the scriptures Darby began to see that the Lord’s return was immanent and could be expected at any moment.   Seeing the seven year Tribulation would be God once again dealing with the nation of Israel.    Let me explain:

  Daniel prophesied that there would be 490 years before the Messiah would come and set up God's promised kingdom to Israel and they would live in peace. (Dan. 9:24-27; Ezek. 36:24-26# Clearly from history it can be seen that 483 years of the 490 have occurred. There then remains one more week or a period of seven years before the Old Testament dispensation is fulfilled. The seven year Tribulation or Daniel's 70th Week is the end of the Old Testament period of God working with the nation of Israel. During the Tribulation God will begin once again to work with Israel as a nation. He begins with calling 144,000 Jews as Revelation 7 predicts. God has made specific and unconditional promises to Israel that will be fulfilled in the Millennium which follows the Tribulation. He begins at the beginning of the seven years to purify Israel and save the remnant who will constitution the nation of Israel in the Millennium. Thus Christians in this the Church Age are not in view in the Tribulation and are not a part of this period. This is why the Lord comes first for Christians and removed them from the earth before the seven years of judgment. Christians are the bride of Christ and one must understand that in seeking sound doctrine and a proper interpretation of God's word the nation of Israel and the Christians of this age must be kept separate as they do not have the same position or place in the future events and plans of God.

  Darby understood this as he studied the scriptures and saw that Christians in this age would not be a part of the Tribulation and therefore be raptured out before the seven years began.

  The myth further states that no one before Darby believed in dispensationalism or a PreTribulationals rapture.  History again shows this view to be false.

  With the writing of  Barnabas #ca. 100-105#, Papias #ca. 60-130#, Justin Martyr #110-165#, Irenaeus #120-202#, Tertullian #145-220#, Hippolytus #ca. 185-236#, Cyprian #200-250#, and Lactantius #260-330 are clear example of belief in a PreTribulational rapture.

  Ephraem of Nisibis (306-373# wrote:  "Woe to those who desire to see the Day of the Lord!" Because all saints and the Elect of the Lord are gathered together before the tribulation which is to about 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."   Two things are clear: Ephraem taught the Lord’s return was immanent,  and the rapture would occur before the tribulation fifteen hundred years before Darby which are dispensational views.

  Early church leaders such as Clement of Rome #90-100#, Ignatius of Antioch #98-117#, The Didache 100-160#, The Epistle of Barnabas #117-138#, and The Shepherd of Hernias #96-150# all wrote of the immanent return of the Lord.

  The truth is that Pre-Wrath View is the invented view which was first taught by Robert Van Kampen in the 1970's.  After Van Kampen his new view point of the rapture he looked for several year to find some well know advocate to make his view popular.   He was one of the most wealthy men in America and had the funds to postulate his views.   He found that advocate in  Marvin J. Rosenthal, who at that time was with the “Friends of Israel” and in  early 1990s
he published a book titled "The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church" which popularized the Pre-Wrath Rapture view.   So historically, the PreWrath view is only a decade and a half old.

  What has made the myth popular are writers as stated earlier who passed on the myth out of ignorance or did so deliberately.   It should be considered that may writers have taken up the Pre-Wrath view and have made great sums of money through their books.  Also it should be understood that the myth is pustulated by those who oppose dispensationalism which teaches that God has a separate plan for Israel and for the Christians in this the Church Age.  Among these are the Covenant Theologians who teach God has abandoned Israel and now “the Church” has inherited the promised God made to His chosen nation.   

      As to Peter being the first pope. I was in Rome at the Vatician in 1962 and was taken on a special tour.   Our guide, a Catholic and historian, said there was no evidence that Peter was ever in Rome.   Today, I have found her statement true.  
      The disciples in Matthew 16 were responded to the question as to who the people said the Lord was.  This took place at city of Caesarea Philippi at the springs that are at the head of the Jordan River.  Is is at the base of a high mountainous wall at the head of the Jordan River. t is a very picturesque place even today with springs and vegetation. In Christ's day there were dozens of pagan temples there. I visted visited the area in 2002. Some said He was John the Baptist, arisen from the dead, who had earlier been beheaded by Herod.  Others, said he was Isaiah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.  Jesus then asked them who did they say He was?
  Peter, boldly replied  “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”   Jesus replied in a formal way referring to Peter’s humanity calling Him Simon Bar-jona, which means Simon the son of Jonah.  Jesus said that he was blessed or fortunate because Peter did not understand this truth in the flesh, but it was spiritual revealed to him by God the Father.  In other words, Jesus commended Peter for his spiritual understanding.
  Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God was the truth Jesus would build his church upon Himself. The whole foundation of God's plan of redemption is Christ Jesus and His redemptive work on the Cross.  From Genesis 3:15, the first prophecy of the coming Messiah, to Revelation 22:21, the message is Christ. That is the central point of all God has said to man.
  Jesus literally said to Peter,  "I say also to you, that you are ROCK #petros# which is a masculine noun, and means a large fragment of a larger rock.  Upon this rock #petra#, a feminine demonstrative pronoun, I will build my assembly #ekklesia#, meaning an assembly called to meet for some special purpose.  
  It is grammatical incorrect to say that upon Peter,  Jesus was going to build his church #assembly#. That is not what Jesus said.  In normal English it "could" mean this, but not in Greek.  Petros is a masculine noun and Petra is a feminine pronoun. A feminine pronoun does not modify or refer back to a masculine noun because their gender is different.  That is a grammatical law of Greek.  So grammatically the words used by Christ in Greek, did not mean He was going to build His church on Peter.

       What he was saying and His hearers understood that petra #feminine pronoun# was that He referred to Peter’s confession in verse 16 that Jesus "was the Christ, the son of the living God."    This truth was the foundation of the “ekklesia.”  
  Then Jesus made two statements in reference to what Peter said.  First, verse 17, #literal translation# "You are [spiritually] blessed Simon Barjonia, because flesh and blood [man] no man revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven."  So the "petra" that Christ's church #assembly# will be built upon is what God revealed to Peter "or" was it the process of imparting this truth?
  Peter said that "Jesus is the Christ,  the Son of God" which is an emphatic statement of Christ's deity.  He was the Son of God, and only He could be the foundation of the church. It is simply untrue and foolish to say that Jesus would build something as important as His church on a fallible man!   From that time on did Jesus only speak through Peter?   There is no record Peter ever established any church.  Jesus Christ did not build His church on any man, but upon Himself as the Head and Founder of the "Ekklesia."  Further God does not need a man to speak and guide His churches.  That is the ministry of Jesus Christ who is the Word and our only Intercessor. #John 1:1, 2 Timothy 3:16-17#
  The Lord stated that the gates of hell would not prevail against His ekklesia.   The need for preservation shows that the churches would be under attack, but they would not be overcome.  The implication is clear that Satan would do all he could to destroy or hinder the Gospel and people coming to Christ.  Yet, Jesus emphatically stated Satan would not be successful and history shows that for two thousand years there have been believers who loved the Lord, His word, and continued meeting and propagating the Gospel.
  Jesus said He would give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, meaning the Gospel.   The Gospel, that the disciples would preach would go forth in the full power of God.  Jesus was explaining to them that God would use them to administer and form the institution of the local church on earth with all the authority and power of God the Father.  The Book of Acts records how that ALL Apostles received the power and direction of God and spread the Gospel over the known world.  There is not one word of scripture or from history that shows that Peter ever had the distinction of being the leader of the early Christians or any church.   If the keys to the kingdom of heaven would have been given to anyone it wwould have been the Apostle Paul, not Peter.  It was Paul who propagated the Gospel through the world.
    Yes, there can be only one head of a body and that Head is Jesus Christ the Lord....certianly not some man.  
    The New Testament teaches the PreTribulation rapture of truly born again believers.  I have read most of the PreWrath books and they all have glaring errors and are based on faulty hermenetics and a lack biblical knowledge.  
Cooper Abrams
"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."  #Revelation 22:20#