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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
theology stands without unnecessary cover-up material, May 21, 2000
In the foreward, Dr. James McKeever, referring to the author, states that "some of his anger shows through this book." I am a reader who is normally very sensitive to the attitude of the author as he expresses himself through his writing. But as I read through the book, I did not find it as irreverent as I had expected. In fact, I did not even find it as disrespectful as some other fervently argued theological works. Of course there are several things the author could have done to make the book sound more like objective reporting. For instance, he might have simply titled the book "The Origin Of The Pretribulation Rapture" to sound less aggressive, etc. We should keep in mind however that the author is not known primarily as a theologian, and he does not write or sound like one, so we should not judge the book as though it were written by one. He sounds more like a regular guy writing his thoughts down. This may be either refeshing or unbearable depending on your mind set.One of the things that we should also keep in mind is that the book, which is comprised of two of his earlier works which were published in 1973 and 1974, is somewhat outdated so far as the "cover-up" theme goes. Today in the year 2000, I don't think that there are many who have seriously studied the pretribulation rapture who have not heard of Margaret Macdonald. It is not something that is kept as a secret. My initial thought was, what real difference does this information make to the theory, since we have the facts of the theory and we need to check them out against the authority of the scriptures anyway. I do not hold to the pretrib theory, and yet, I wonder why it is so important to know about an alledged cover-up that took place 170 years ago. Whatever the origin, we have the theory, and we can judge it against scripture. Paul says that some people preach for money, but he thanks God that the Gospel is preached in every way. In other words, even if a not-so-honest person preaches the Word, it does not negate the veracity of the Word. Whether he is a sinner or a saint, his moral or spiritual condition has no bearing on the actual information that he is disseminating. The same thing can be said of the pretribulation rapture theory. We need only judge the theoretical information that is presented, not the presenter. The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the origin of the pretrib rapture theory (or the cover-up), while the second part has most of the biblical argumentation. For me, it is the second part that is the most relevant and the most informative. The author actually covers a great deal of important and critical theology dealing with the pretrib and posttrib positions from a posttrib perspective. Some of the points are really excellent, but I wish he would have expounded a bit more because he virtually covers some very important points with single sentences. Because of this I am sure that some readers will miss the great significance of some of those arguments. In summary, I think the theological arguments presented in the second part of the book stand on their own and make the first cover-up part unnecessary. The only reason I can see to include the first part is to try to discredit the pretrib theory by virtue of its origin, or to discredit its proponents by virtue of association. I have no doubt that the vast majority of the proponents of the theory are godly men and women. We should strive to keep our arguments to the theological issues and not aimed at the personalities involved.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible Cover Up, September 12, 2000
This is an excellent book on the fascinating origin of the pre-tribulational rapture view of eschatology, also called dispensationalism. The author has done some fine historical research and his skill as an investigative reporter shows. If Baptists knew that their pet eschatological doctrine originated with a 15-year-old charismatic, tongues-speaking, woman "prophet" in 1830, they would probably drop their dispensational views like a hotcake! The book is not very flattering of John Nelson Darby, who is often attributed with originating dispensationalism. One explanation for Darby's glaring omission of mentioning Margaret MacDonald's rapture "prophecy" is that he probably did not want to be associated with the charismaticism of the day. Although the author holds to a premillennial post-trib rapture (chiliast) view, the book is still a valuable resource for reformed Christians holding either an amillennial or postmillennial view. Both in America in the early 1900s and in Scotland in 1830, the primary and possibly sole justification for the revival of the charismatic gifts of tongues and prophecy was the eminent return of Christ. And how did they know His return was eminent? Because they prophesied it! The author shows the MacDonald clan of two older brothers and three sisters to have a reputation of leading godly and humble lives, in spite of their charismatic errors. One explanation for this inconsistency is that several years prior to the 1830 charismatic experience, the twin elder brothers, acting as heads of the household (their parents had died), began leading the family in twice-daily family worship. As members of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), they were probably familiar with the Directory of Family Worship, written and adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1647, which threatens excommunication for failure to keep daily family worship. However, the Directory also discourages unsanctioned private prayer meetings between "divers families." In spite of apparent warnings from their pastor, the MacDonalds continued to hold such meetings, from which sprang up the charismatic errors. Interestingly, family worship is practically nonexistent among charismatics and other dispensationalists today because it doesn't make much sense under an eminent return paradigm; children's church, youth group, and public schools are more pragmatic under modern self-absorbed Christianity. Family worship is far more strongly motivated under covenantal or reformed theology, which understands the principles of Ps 78:1-8. The covenantalist reading this magnificent little book will quickly realize the amazing fact that all the errors, false prophecies, and end times hype of dispensationalism that is so rampant in American Christianity today, can all be traced back to a seemingly small error of an otherwise godly family living 170 years ago on the other side of the Atlantic! Dan Brown, ruling elder, Redeemer Presbyterian
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a must read!, November 19, 1999
By A Customer
The Anti-"Left Behind." Learning the history of where the pre-trib idea really came from was a BIG help to me. If you're at all open to considering that this idea is not at all Scriptural, I highly recommend this book about the truth of the historical birth of the pre-trib rapture theory.
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