The History of a Heresy, Part 4: The 'Secret' Rapture

Up to this point in our history of the pre-tribulation Rapture, we have looked at the development of imminency, and of the 'split' coming of Christ.

Enter Margaret McDonald (1800- ?). At the age of 15, Margaret was a member of the Catholic Apostolic Church which was pastored by Edward Irving.

At this time, she had a vision of a ‘secret rapture.’ This was in 1830. In her handwritten account, she wrote: “…I saw it was just the Lord himself descending from Heaven with a shout, just the glorified man, even Jesus;…I saw the error to be, that men think that it will be something seen by the natural eye, but ‘tis spiritual discernment that is needed,…”

This doctrine of devils was the first time in prophetic history that it was said that Christ would NOT return gloriously and in his visible humanity.

Margaret’s pastor, Edward Irving (1792-1834) was a Presbyterian until he pulled out of this state church and formed a new movement (the Catholic Apostolic Church) emphasizing a return to New Testament spiritual gifts. He is known as the Father of Pentecostalism because he had in his church at this time a ‘restoration’ of prophecy, tongues, and other manifestations.

Irving had translated De Lacunza’s work from Spanish into English in 1827. (De Lacunza was the Jesuit priest who wrote under a Jewish alias.) While translating De Lacunza’s book, Irving would have read of splitting the Second Coming into two returns. It was shortly after this that he began to put forth this same idea which many objected to.

Irving’s pre-tribulation position was also greatly influenced by the vision of the 15-year old Margaret.

He wrote: “The substance of Mary Campbell’s and Margaret Macdonald’s visions or revelations, given in their papers, carry me to a spiritual conviction and a spiritual reproof that I cannot express.”

We now have THREE elements necessary for a pre-tribulation Rapture:

1. The Doctrine of Imminency – Rooted in Catholic allegory

2. A split Second Coming of Christ – Conceived by a Jesuit priest

3. A secret coming of Christ for His saints – Seen in a vision by a 15-year old Charismatic Catholic

But something is still lacking.

The History of a Heresy, Part 3: The Jesuit Connection

The Catholic Church had some of her Jesuits write on the subject of eschatology as part of the Counter Reformation.

These Jesuits wrote that the Antichrist’s rule would last a literal 1,260 days, not an allegorized 1,260 years. Since this 3 1/2 year reign had not yet happened, the reign of the Antichrist must still be in the future. (This turned out to be true, but that’s not why they wrote it; they only wrote it to take the ‘heat’ off the Catholic Church.)

Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) was a Spanish Jesuit, a doctor of theology who wrote a 500 page commentary on the Book of Revelation. His commentary placed the Tribulation at an unknown future date. And, he also agreed with the early Christian writers that the Church would be persecuted for a literal 3 1/2 years.

However, to these truths, he also added something -- time.

The Lord Jesus, Paul, and the early Church had all stated that the Rapture would occur AT the Revelation, as a single event. The Lord would descend from heaven to the earth’s atmosphere, call up his Church to the clouds, and then continue to the earth to fight against his enemies. Ribera stated that the Rapture would occur 45 days before the end of the Tribulation. The Church would ascend 45 days before she came back down with Christ.

This is the first known instance where the Second Coming was split into two separate comings! And it was conceived of by a Jesuit priest.

Manuel De Lacunza (1731-1801) was born in Chili. At the age of 15, he was sent to Spain to become a Jesuit Priest. Twenty-two years later (1767), the Jesuits were expelled from Spain because of their brutality. De Lacunza settled down in Imola, Italy, where he claimed to be a converted Jew and wrote under the alias ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra.’

The manuscript that he wrote was titled, The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty. In 1812, he published a book in which he theorized that the church would be raptured some 45 days before the real return of Jesus to the earth. (He was probably influenced by Ribera.) He also theorized that during this same 45 day period, while the Church was in heaven with the Lord, God would judge the wicked still on earth.

Because of his Jewish alias, his book was more easily accepted by Protestant scholars. When it was placed on Rome’s Index of prohibited books, it was even more sought out by Protestants.

Let's see where we are so far.

We now have two elements necessary for a pre-tribulation Rapture:

1. The Doctrine of Imminency - which is rooted in the allegorical method of interpreting the Scriptures as first proposed by Origen and then later made by popular by the Catholic theologian Augustine.

2. A Split Second Coming of Christ - which is rooted in the teachings of two Catholic Jesuit priests.

And it will only get better!