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"LEFT
BEHIND"
Daniel Botkin
"Then shall two be in the field; the one
shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding
at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (Mt.
24:40f).
I don't know about you, folks, but when this happens, I don't want
to be taken. I want to be left behind. Why do I say this? Because
of the words Yeshua said just prior to the above statement: "But
as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took
them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then
shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken..."
Who got "taken" in the days of Noah, and who got
"left behind"? The wicked were taken away in the Flood ("the
flood came and took them all away"), and the righteous were left
behind to inherit the earth. So it was in the days of Noah, and so
shall it be at the coming of the Son of man, Yeshua said. That's why
I want to be left behind, to inherit the earth. Don't get me wrong.
If some sort of "rapture" does happen and all the believers
go zooming off the planet to be with Jesus, I won't argue or resist.
I'll be glad to go if that's how it happens. But I have my doubts
that it will happen in the Hal-Lindsey, Chick-tract fashion that so
many Christians expect -- in spite of the current popularity of the
"Left Behind" series of pro-rapture Christian novels (which
I have not read and do not wish to read). One reason for my skepticism
about the rapture theory is its origin. Years ago the late Bill Britton
wrote about the origin of this teaching. I present it here, with no
further comment, for readers' consideration:
Perhaps you have heard of the Irvingite movement, known as
the Catholic Apostolic Church. The Encyclopedia Britannica, volume
12, 1966 issue, pages 648-649, describe Edward Irving and the controversy
over his teachings in Scotland and England in the early 1800s. He
was excommunicated by the London presbytery, and in 1833 was condemned
and deposed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland because of
his teachings concerning "the sinfulness of Christ's humanity."
He also began to teach a "rapture of the Church" after a
young Scottish lass by the name of Margaret McDonald went into a trance
and described a vision in which she said she saw the saints leaving
the earth at the return of the Lord, before the tribulation. Her trance
and vision took place in the spring of 1830, while living in Port-glasgow,
Scotland. Her "revelation" was recorded in a book written
by R.N. Norton and printed in London in 1861. I have a copy of this
portion of the book, though it is now out of print and almost impossible
to obtain. Prior to this time, the Church, clear back to the Apostles,
had always preached that the Church would go victoriously through
the tribulation. There is no record of the "escape rapture"
theory being preached before 1830. On April 30, 1831, a Mrs. J.B.
Cardale, who later joined Irving's church, had uttered a personal
revelation in a home prayer meeting, echoing Margaret McDonald's revelation
of a pre-tribulation rapture. It was from this supposed revelation
that the modern doctrine and modern phraseology respecting it arose;
it came not from Scripture, but from that which falsely pretended
to be the Spirit of God. Edward Irving accepted this teaching, and
it was taught at prophetic meetings at Powerscourt House in Ireland,
attended much by Plymouth Brethren organizer John Darby. Irving's
views influenced Darby, C.H. Macintosh, and C.I. Scofield, whose Bible
notes popularized the new theory. So it was a young Scottish girl
who originated this idea, and is so recorded on page 15 of Norton's
book on the Catholic Apostolic Church. Darby, Scofield, along with
Clarence Larkin and his charts, began to teach this new theory, and
in the early 1900s it reached a peak in popularity. (See
pg. 2 for info about a book. -DB) |
