( Hint: that's not Darby on the cover. /-) This puts and end to the Darby conspiracy theory. Early church fathers DID teach about the pretrib rapture.
Posted on 10/26/2025 4:22:45 AM PDT by cuz1961
When it comes to Bible prophecy, one of the dismissive criticisms of scoffers is that generations of Christians have come and gone without the promise of Jesus’ coming being fulfilled. Skeptical of the “practical” value of anticipating Jesus’ soon return, they will ask, “What’s the point?”...
(Excerpt) Read more at harbingersdaily.com ...
Tim LaHaye
Tim LaHaye was born in 1926 in Detroit, Michigan. When he was ten years old, his father died of a heart attack. Tim was devastated until the funeral preacher declared, “This is not the end of Frank LaHaye; because he accepted Jesus Christ, the day will come when the Lord will shout from Heaven and descend, and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we’ll be caught up together to meet Him in the air.” Those encouraging words of comfort and anticipation became a motivating vision that propelled Tim LaHaye throughout his life.
Following service during WWII as a machine gunner on a US bomber over Europe, Tim graduated from Bob Jones University and then Western Seminary. His theological interests were wide-ranging—and impactful. While still serving as a pastor in San Diego, he founded a Christian college, helped launch the Institute for Creation research and the Pre-Trib Study Group. Clearly engaged in spreading salt and light in contemporary society, Tim LaHaye never stopped looking forward to the Rapture.
In 1995, LaHaye joined with Jerry Jenkins to launch Left Behind, a series of books providing a fictional narrative to convey his expectation of End Times events. Several books in the 16-part series became bestsellers and spawned five feature-length films. Long before his death in 2016, Tim LaHaye was recognized as “one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America” (Time magazine), if not the “most influential Christian leader of the preceding quarter century” (the Evangelical Studies Bulletin).
Hal Lindsey
Hal Lindsey’s life closely mirrored that of Tim LaHaye. Born in Houston in 1929, Lindsey served in the US Coast Guard during the Korean War. He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary while it was a hotbed of dispensationalism.
He wrote The Late Great Planet Earth to present a broad overview of eschatology from a pre-Tribulation, pre-Millennial Rapture perspective. Released in 1970, Lindsey’s book touched a nerve in America. The New York Times referred to it as “the number 1 non-fiction bestseller of the decade.” Orson Welles narrated the movie version of the book released in 1978.
Lindsey was able to explain Bible prophecy in a way that connected with people concerned that the world was spiraling out of control. Lindsey himself was unequivocal about the main point of his book and his teaching. In an interview with People magazine, he stressed, “The only thing you need to understand is that God offers you in Jesus Christ a full pardon.”
Hal Lindsey wrote other books that exploded on the literary scene at just the right time, like Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth (1972). He also continued to emphasize a literal interpretation of Bible prophecy through his weekly news commentary, “The Hal Lindsey Report,” until his death in November 2024.
What’s the Point?
Like many others who longed to see the Rapture in their mortal bodies, Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey have gone on to be with the Lord. But their passionate advocacy for the relevance and urgency of God’s prophetic Word has lasting value.
Not only did they awaken millions to the Signs of the Times multiplying all around us, but they also provided a clarion call to interpret Bible prophecy literally. For many in the Church who had never been exposed to what God has clearly revealed regarding the End Times, their ability to communicate on a popular level was eye-opening.
Scores of Christians now thrill over the blessed assurance that Jesus is coming again. We owe a debt of gratitude to the work of the Holy Spirit through men like Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. Yet an even greater blessing awaits those of us who are “looking for the Blessed Hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13).
Paul told his protégé Timothy, “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
The Rapture carries a Christ-exalting, Gospel-rooted promise—the forward-looking message of hope for those who faithfully follow Jesus, our Blessed Hope. Soon, He will pierce the darkness of this world to gather us to Himself. The fact that He still tarries does not take away from the promise that those who long for His appearing, like Paul, will receive a crown of righteousness—not based on their own merit, but credited to them from Jesus’ infinite abundance of righteousness due to their anticipation of His coming again.
That same message carries a solemn warning for those still under God’s wrath. Yet no matter your past or who you are, you can come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord, yearn to dwell with Him forever in the place prepared for those who trust Him, and eagerly await His promised return.
Do not wait. Confess your need for a Savior today and call on Jesus to save you. Then join me in loving Him and longing for Him to appear in the sky for His Church. If you do, you too can look forward to receiving a crown of righteousness.
Revelation 4:9-11 describes the scene in heaven when the 24 elders cast their crowns before the throne and worship the LORD God. I believe there will be a time when all who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb will be able to cast our crowns at His feet.
When the cry rings out, “Get ready to cast your crowns before the Lamb!”, I don’t want to be empty-headed. Do you?
Tim Moore is a retired Air Force Colonel, the CEO and Senior Evangelist of Lion & Lamb Ministries, and a Contributor to Harbinger’s Daily.
MARANATHA
.😁.
We are ever one day closer to His return.
Yes, we are one day closer to the time God has set forth for the world. No man knows the day & the hour of course & you must remember that God looks at time differently than we do, but that time will come surely as it has been predicted. Now, certain events in the world might suggest that time is soon, but remember that God alone knows exactly when it shall be.
“...is that generations of Christians have come and gone without the promise of Jesus’ coming being fulfilled.”
From what I understand Christians from the time he died expected him back in their generation.
John Nelson Darby invented the Rapture in the 1830s.
Both of which have not come true. Why? Because the Good News is Fake News.
John Nelson Darby invented the Rapture in the 1830s.
/
Tom
You might want to recheck your bearings
The rapture was not invented by Darby, it was taught my many early church fathers
Recent Pre-Trib Findings in the Early Church Fathers
Book overview
This volume presents recent discoveries of pretribulation rapture passages in the early fathers: ten from Ephraim the Syrian, nine from Eusebius, four from Irenaeus, and a three-fold argument in the Didache. The passages from Ephraim and Eusebius are entirely new discoveries. The work in Irenaeus and the Didache builds on well-known pretribulation rapture passages in each and presents a broader and stronger argument for a pretribulation rapture.
/
About the author
I am an author and a Bible teacher. The Bible is — by far — my favorite book. I read it regularly in Greek and Hebrew and several English translations, and occasionally in the German or the Latin. The areas of study that fascinate me the most include Bible languages, eschatology (prophecy), apologetics, ancient history (particularly comets and catastrophes), and electric-universe cosmology.
My wife and I live in Harvey, North Dakota, where I teach at Harvey Gospel Chapel. We have four children, all of whom are married, and thirteen grandchildren.
My work experience is extremely varied — my brother-in-law once teased me that I should write a book called “101 Occupations.” I have been, among other things, an Airborne Ranger, a cook, a meat cutter, a carpenter, a janitor, a truck driver, a farm hand, a factory worker, a sawmill hand, a security guard, a car salesman, an insurance salesman, a daytrader, and a Jiffy Lube tech.
I do have one question for Christians in regards to this topic.
How many hundreds or thousands of years more are Christians willing to wait for a false prophecy to come true?
500 years?
1,000?
2,000?
5,000?
10,000?
“The rapture was not invented by Darby, it was taught my many early church fathers”
It was taught by the Church fathers long after he died and didn’t come back.
Darby is the one who codified this new theology for Christians to hang their hopes on.
( Hint: that's not Darby on the cover. /-) This puts and end to the Darby conspiracy theory. Early church fathers DID teach about the pretrib rapture.
John Nelson Darby invented the Rapture in the 1830s..
4 posted on 10/26/2025, 5:19:45 AM by Tom Tetroxide
/
Darby is the one who codified this new theology for Christians to hang their hopes on.
7 posted on 10/26/2025, 5:32:50 AM by Tom Tetroxide
/
Your story changed from “ invented”
to
“ codified” btw.
And if the early church fathers taught and expanded on the pretrib rapture, then it was they that “ codified” it long before Darby.
/
Tom, you eat
“The rapture was not invented by Darby, it was taught my many early church fathers”
It was taught by the Church fathers long after he died and didn’t come back.”
Dude,
The early church fathers taught it after Darby died ?
Quit digging, you are embarrassing yourself.
.
My pastor taught about salvation by Grace last week, are you going to say he invented and codified that too ?
Just cuz Darby taught what the EARLIEST church fathers doesn’t mean he invented it.
The whole “Darby” Dodge doesn’t even make sense on the plain face of it.
It’s a ridiculous argumental slander.
Just cuz Darby taught what the EARLIEST church fathers taught..... doesn’t mean he invented it.
So please stop using this absurd lie.
I’d rather live my life with faith and hope in the Rapture than without it. It’s called faith in the Word of God and the hope that someday I will meet Jesus face to face.
The early church fathers taught and expanded on the pretrib rapture,
Are you going to now accuse them of inventing it ?
If not, then quit repeating this baseless accusation against Darby
It will just make it look like you have an ax to grind.
My hope and confidence is not in the rapture or being raptured. My hope and confidence is in Christ!
I prophesy that every person living on earth today will meet Jesus withing 150 years. Some will then enter heaven and others enter hell.
Bkmk
Correction;
/
Tom, you wrote in
7 posted on 10/26/2025, 5:32:50 AM by Tom Tetroxide
“The rapture was not invented by Darby, it was taught my many early church fathers”
It was taught by the Church fathers long after he died and didn’t come back.”
/
So
.....
The early church fathers taught it after Darby died ?
That timeline doesn’t work .
Also you wrote in the same post
“Darby is the one who codified this
...new theology ...
for Christians to hang their hopes on.
7 posted on 10/26/2025, 5:32:50
So... how is this
” new theology”
...of Darby
...when the earliest church fathers taught this same theology over a 1000 years before ?
Your timeline is broke and embarrassingly wrong.
Please recheck your bearings, repent of slandering Darby, and start looking forward to our blessed hope !
Heaven
The original Plausible Deniability. You have to die to find out if it’s real and you still can’t tell anyone anything about it!
That makes his promise to return no less certain, but guaranteed it won't be like any
of those "rapture" movies popular in Evangelical circles.
If you're living right, being taken by surprise is no problem.
AMEN!!!
Thanks for posting.
Nobody has forgotten that.
It doesn’t matter.
It’s God’s timeline, not ours.
Our responsibility is to believe and leave the fulfillment to Him.
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