Comments on: Eschatology and the American Lawn: A Parallel History, Part III

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:44:18 +0000

For those interested in prophecy, there is an article titled “Edward Irving is Unnerving” on Google which John Darby lovers will want to see. It offers some quotes from Irving and his followers which show that they taught an imminent pretribulation rapture before Darby did. Peter

By: Dispatches from the Eschatological Battlefield (The Blogosphere, not the Valley of Megido, Silly) « theophiliacs

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:47:45 +0000

[...] http://theophiliacs.com/2009/11/03/eschatology-and-the-american-lawn-a-parallel-history-part-iii/ [...]

By: jstambaugh

jstambaugh — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:42:46 +0000

Thanks Sandra! I really do need to check out MacPherson. I was recently accused of being one of his “ilk” on another blog, and had to plead ignorance concerning what it meant to be in his ilk. Anyway, thanks for commenting.

Peace of Christ,

James

By: Sandra

Sandra — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:27:46 +0000

Good start, but I think your thesis would be improved considerably if you would lean more on MacPherson’s 40 years of research into pretrib dispensationalism’s bizarre history than on Sandeen. MacPherson has tons of proof that Edward Irving and his followers taught all of the crucial aspects of dispensationalism before Darby did, aspects including the church/Israel dichotomy, the literal method, the Jewishness of Matthew’s Gospel, the ruin of the church, the Gentile parenthesis and even the pretribulation rapture! The Irvingites publicly taught pretrib as early as Sep. 1830 in their journal “The Morning Watch,” while Darby didn’t teach it publicly before 1839 in his “Notes on the Revelation.” The late J. Barton Payne, eminent evangelical theologian, stated in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (Winter, 1974): “MacPherson has once and for all overthrown Ernest Sandeen’s assertions that the Irvingites never ‘advocated any doctrine resembling the secret rapture’ and that to connect J. N. Darby and early dispensationalism with Irving’s church is ‘a groundless and pernicious charge’….For serious students of the history of dispensationalism the study of MacPherson’s discoveries has become a must.” This was part of Payne’s review of one of MacPherson’s earlier books which had established that the Irvingites had indeed preceded Darby in regard to pretrib rapture teaching. Although Sandeen and MacPherson were friends on the Wheaton College campus when both studied there, later on Sandeen became very liberal and eventually denied the historicity of Christ’s resurrection! If you haven’t seen MacPherson’s bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” you can obtain it at Armageddon Books online. Or it can be borrowed at any library thru inter-library loan. Mac’s Google articles include “Pretrib Rapture Diehards,” “X-Raying Margaret,” and (his recent bombshell) “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty.” Sandra

By: adhunt

adhunt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:32:10 +0000

That’s cause you don’t have any fights going

By: Roger Griffith

Roger Griffith — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:20:26 +0000

But, I guess I don’t visit as often as I once did…

By: adhunt

adhunt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:33:19 +0000

You keep coming round!