The Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Doctrine

By Mark Williams.

How did the pretribulation doctrine come about? A brief rundown would go something like this:

In 1591 a Jesuit priest named Francisco Ribera wrote a 500-page commentary on the grand points of Babylon and the antichrist, the object being to set aside the Protestant teaching that the Papacy is the antichrist. In his commentary, he assigned the first chapters of Revelation to the first century. The rest he restricted to a literal three and a half years at the end of time, BEFORE the resurrection. He taught that the Jewish temple would be rebuilt by a single individual antichrist that would abolish the Christian religion, deny Christ, pretend to be God, and conquer the world. Thus was laid the foundation for Dispensationalism.

In 1812 another Jesuit priest, named Emmanuel Lacunza, started teaching that there would be a 45-day tribulation period, AFTER Christ’s coming.

In 1826 Edward Irving translated Lacunza’s book and published it in 1827. Sometime after that, Irving started to teach a three-and-a-half-year tribulation after Christ’s coming.

In 1830, a man named John Darby of the Plymouth Brethren started teaching a seven-year tribulation period. He came to America seven times to promote his teaching. When George Muller of Bristol came up against the Dispensationalist doctrines of the Brethren movement, he severed all connection with it. “The time came,” he said, “when I had to either part from my Bible or part from John Darby. I chose to keep my precious Bible.”

So in 1812, we see the teaching of a 45-day tribulation after the rapture.

Around 1827 Edward Irving taught a three and a-half-year tribulation after the rapture. Then in 1830, the final turn to a seven-year tribulation after the rapture. Others picked up on this new doctrine and added to it.

In 1909, C. I. Scofield published the Scofield Reference Bible. His dispensational notes were mixed in with the verses of the Bible so well that if you didn’t know better, you would think they were part of the Holy Scriptures. Over two million copies of his Bible were sold with this new dispensational teaching. Scofield, although not a Plymouth Brethren, was a devoted disciple of John Darby.

After that, W. E. Blackstone wrote a book titled Jesus Is Coming Again. A millionaire financed sending several hundred thousand copies of this book to missionaries throughout the world.

After Israel became a nation in 1948, prophecy teachers sprung up like wildfire, teaching that the Second Coming would happen approximately forty years after Israel became a nation. They got this belief from misinterpreting the word “generation” in Matthew 24. Hundreds of books were written on this subject. People learned about this new doctrine, not from the Bible, but from these so-called prophecy books.

Today Dispensationalism has become the generally accepted belief of the Fundamentalist wing of popular Protestantism.

In his tract, “Who is the Antichrist?” a former Catholic priest, Joseph Zacchello, says: “The Jesuits were the first ones to introduce a new theory in order to divert men’s minds from perceiving the fulfillment of the prophecies of the antichrist in the papal church. The Jesuit Ribera brought out the futuristic system, which asserts that the antichrist is yet to appear.” And to this statement, he adds: “Protestants who advocate the futuristic system are pleasing the pope and are playing into the hands of Rome.”

The teaching that the Church is to be raptured to heaven just prior to a time called the great tribulation was not known prior to the 1800s. It’s amazing with all the writings left to us from early Christians on the rapture, all agreed that if there is going to be a tribulation at the end of time, the Church would go through it. Since no voice spoke out in favor of a pre-tribulation rapture, the only conclusion possible is that the Church did not teach this in the beginning and that it should not be teaching it now.

Conclusion

This material was condensed down from hundreds of pages of notes just to give you a quick insight into the problem we are facing today. If we continue to curl up into a ball and keep our mouths shut because somebody might get their feelings hurt, the original truth that was taught by Jesus and his apostles, will one day vanish.

I’m not saying that we should go out and create war with those who disagree, but we should, in a loving manner, spread the whole truth of the Gospel. And if it were only on the last days, it would be easier for me to keep my mouth shut. But Satan has caused Christians to pervert his truth in dozens of chapters throughout the Bible.

It’s sad to think that a large part of God’s Church teaches that the Abrahamic covenant is yet to be fulfilled and yet the Bible teaches it has been fulfilled to the very letter. It’s sad to see Christians teaching that Jesus Christ isn’t reigning now when a simple study of the Bible shows he is and that Jesus is reigning from David’s throne now just as the Scriptures foretold. It’s sad to see Christians misleading the world into believing that after Christ comes back, there will still be a chance for salvation, and again, the Bible says no such thing. Friends, the Bible warns against believing in false doctrine, and yet to many, it’s not a problem. I believe that Christians can come together with a more unified understanding of the Scriptures, but only if we take the time to study amongst ourselves and not be afraid to ask questions or get our feelings hurt. Our goal should be stamping out false doctrine and becoming unified in Christ Jesus. Remember, we are commanded to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Now if you still disagree with my notes, I would love to hear what you have to say and I promise to keep an open and honest heart. I for one do not want to stand face to face with Jesus only to find out that I’ve been deceived my whole life and neither should you.

Download a PDF file of this article.

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SECTION 2 THE PERSONS WHO COMPOSE THE SOCIETY
6 §1. The Society of Jesus, in which all members, each according to the proper mode of his vocation, participate in the same vocation and mission, understood in their broadest as well as their most precise senses,[17] consists of the following members:
1° Novices, whether destined to become priests or brothers.[18] Some can also be admitted as indifferents, either on their part or on the part of the Society;[19] but before the end of the novitiate, they must move out of the state of indifference.[20]
2° Those who at the end of the novitiate and after profession of first vows prepare themselves for or exercise the priesthood or other activities for the assistance of the Society, and after the time required by the particular law governing each one pronounce final vows in one of the two ways indicated below in 3° or 4°. (In the Formula of the Institute[21] these are called scholastics or coadjutors, but in the Constitutions approved scholastics or temporal coadjutors. [22]
3° Priests and brothers who pronounce final simple vows, of whom some, albeit rarely, can take solemn vows.[23] (In the Formula of the Institute and in the Constitutions, they are called respectively spiritual coadjutors or temporal coadjutors ).[24] 4° Priests professed of four solemn vows.[25]

§2. All candidates are now first admitted as novices, so that after probations and studies and the time required by law have been completed, they may be definitively received into the Society.[26]
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

“Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person.” TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 – 709) CODE OF CANON LAW
https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

“13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A13&version=KJv

“14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]”
page 221
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

“295 In the elaboration and expression of our theogical views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the Society s objective to help souls. At the same time we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teaching of Vatican II.[125]”
The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:”For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/460.htm

You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. 5“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5

“Head:
1. See Illness, mental
2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]”
page 416 The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

“9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]”
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

“255 §1. All members of the Society of Jesus, even though dispersed in various local communities and ascribed to individual provinces and regions, are inserted directly and primarily into the single apostolic body and community of the whole Society. It is at this level that the overall apostolic decisions and guidelines are worked out and established, for which each one should feel responsible. This demands of all of us a high degree of availability and a real apostolic mobility in the service of the universal Church.[39] §2. This solidarity with the body of the Society ought TO TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY OTHER LOYALTIES (those binding a man to any type of institution, within or outside the Society). I t ought to mark any other commitment, transforming it thereby into a mission. For a mission as such is bestowed by the Society through the superior and is always subject to its review. The Society can confirm or modify it as the greater service of God may require.[40]”
CHAPTER 3 MISSIONS FROM THE SUPERIORS OF THE SOCIETY AND OUR CHOICE OF MINISTRIES
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

“[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved.”
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

“Revelation 13:16-18
New International Version
“16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A16-18&version=NIV

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” 1 John 2:18

Reply ↓

Comments

The Origin of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Doctrine — 2 Comments

William Francis Dunn on December 8, 2023 at 1:49 pm said:

SECTION 2 THE PERSONS WHO COMPOSE THE SOCIETY
6 §1. The Society of Jesus, in which all members, each according to the proper mode of his vocation, participate in the same vocation and mission, understood in their broadest as well as their most precise senses,[17] consists of the following members:
1° Novices, whether destined to become priests or brothers.[18] Some can also be admitted as indifferents, either on their part or on the part of the Society;[19] but before the end of the novitiate, they must move out of the state of indifference.[20]
2° Those who at the end of the novitiate and after profession of first vows prepare themselves for or exercise the priesthood or other activities for the assistance of the Society, and after the time required by the particular law governing each one pronounce final vows in one of the two ways indicated below in 3° or 4°. (In the Formula of the Institute[21] these are called scholastics or coadjutors, but in the Constitutions approved scholastics or temporal coadjutors. [22]
3° Priests and brothers who pronounce final simple vows, of whom some, albeit rarely, can take solemn vows.[23] (In the Formula of the Institute and in the Constitutions, they are called respectively spiritual coadjutors or temporal coadjutors ).[24] 4° Priests professed of four solemn vows.[25]

§2. All candidates are now first admitted as novices, so that after probations and studies and the time required by law have been completed, they may be definitively received into the Society.[26]
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

“Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person.” TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 – 709) CODE OF CANON LAW
https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

“13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A13&version=KJv

“14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]”
page 221
The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

“295 In the elaboration and expression of our theogical views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the Society s objective to help souls. At the same time we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teaching of Vatican II.[125]”
The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:”For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/460.htm

You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. 5“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5

“Head:
1. See Illness, mental
2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]”
page 416 The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms
https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

“9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]”
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

“255 §1. All members of the Society of Jesus, even though dispersed in various local communities and ascribed to individual provinces and regions, are inserted directly and primarily into the single apostolic body and community of the whole Society. It is at this level that the overall apostolic decisions and guidelines are worked out and established, for which each one should feel responsible. This demands of all of us a high degree of availability and a real apostolic mobility in the service of the universal Church.[39] §2. This solidarity with the body of the Society ought TO TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY OTHER LOYALTIES (those binding a man to any type of institution, within or outside the Society). I t ought to mark any other commitment, transforming it thereby into a mission. For a mission as such is bestowed by the Society through the superior and is always subject to its review. The Society can confirm or modify it as the greater service of God may require.[40]”
CHAPTER 3 MISSIONS FROM THE SUPERIORS OF THE SOCIETY AND OUR CHOICE OF MINISTRIES
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

“[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved.”
The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

“Revelation 13:16-18
New International Version
“16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A16-18&version=NIV

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” 1 John 2:18

Reply ↓
- James Arendt on December 8, 2023 at 1:58 pm said:
  
  Thank you William for sharing what you know about the Jesuits.
  
  Reply ↓

James Japan

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