Republished April 29, 2004 (first published May 16, 1997) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following article by E.L. Bynum is from the Plains Baptist Challenger, September 1995 (P.O. Box 3100, Lubbock, TX 79452) --

John L. Bray, a Southern Baptist Evangelist, has been publishing little booklets for years, in which he ridiculed the pre-tribulation rapture of the saints. He believes the saved will go through the tribulation period.

For several years he has offered $500 for anyone who could produce a documented statement that anyone taught the pre- tribulation rapture before 1830. Since no one claimed the $500 many supposed that he might be right. Of course, he is not the only one to make such preposterous claims. Others have done so as well.

In his newsletter of May 25, 1995, he announced that an amazing thing had been discovered. Here are his own words:

"We have uncovered some startling information: For some number of years many thought that a 15-year-old girl by the name of Margaret MacDonald in Scotland was the originator of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaching back in 1830.

"Then my own research indicated that it was Emmanuel Lacunza, a Jesuit Catholic priest, who in the 1812 book The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, first taught this theory. And for 13 years, in 114,273 books which contained the offer, I offered $500.00 to anyone who would give a documented statement earlier than Lacunza's time which taught a two-stage coming of Christ separated by a stated period of time.

"No one ever rightfully claimed that $500.00 offer until recently. Now I have the photostat copies of a book published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1788 but written in 1742-1744 in England, which taught the pre-tribulation rapture before Lacunza (the book was published just two years prior to Lacunza's finished manuscript of 1790); before Margaret MacDonald was every born; before The Morning Watch ever published the teaching; before J.N. Darby ever came to his first view on the subject in 1827; before Darby ever developed his ideas; and before Darby ever came to America with his teachings.

"The author of this book was a pastor of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1761-1771) and his book was published in Philadelphia in 1788" (John L. Bray, newsletter, May 25, 1995).

WHO WROTE THE PRE-TRIB BOOK?

Morgan Edwards (1722-1795) was one of the most influential Baptist preachers of his time. In 1795 the Minutes of the Philadelphia Association carried a notice of his death. He was the founder of Brown University, the most influential Baptist school of that day. The Baptist Encyclopedia says of him: "Morgan Edwards was a man of refined manners, and shone to peculiar advantage in good society." It further states, "His attachment to Baptist principles was intense, and no man since the days of the Apostles ever showed greater love, or made more costly sacrifices for them than he did."

If Morgan Edwards wrote a book in 1742-44, teaching the Pre-Trib Rapture, then many people must have read it. If he was one of the most prominent Baptists in America, then he must not have been considered an heretic by his peers. No doubt there must have been other preachers who read the same Bible that Edwards did, and preached the same truth.

I wonder if John L. Bray will offer $500 to anyone teaching the Pre-Trib Rapture before Morgan Edwards? I hope he does. Of course Paul taught it, but the enemies of the Pre-Trib Rapture will never accept that. They just explain it away. Of course, the Apostle John taught it in the book of Revelation, but those birds spiritualize the book of Revelation away.

Some day all of these people will know the truth. I only hope none of them have to go through the Tribulation. [It is the unsaved who] will experience the Tribulation.] (Plains Baptist Challenger, September 1995, P.O. Box 3100, Lubbock, TX 79452).

See also Examining an Ancient Pre-Trib Rapture Statement [this is a link to material on another server]