In the year, 1830, John Darby (the establisher of the Premillenarians), put forth the view that the rapture would take place before the seventieth week of Daniel began (or before the great tribulation began). This view sprang from the statements made two years earlier by a 13-year-old girl named Margaret McDonald who had a dream that the Church would be raptured just prior to the great tribulation. Many ministers who were present at the time, and ministers who heard of the dream later, adopted it into their church belief.
In their search for something to back up the belief, these ministers chose Matthew 24:40 and 41 (the "one taken, the other left" scripture). They neglected, however, to take the other scriptures in the harmony of the Gospels to find out the exact meaning of those two verses. In other words, they failed to "rightly divide" the Word of God.
In the days of Jesus' teachings he taught that it would all take place on the last day. It wasn't until 1830 that belief in this teaching changed. So our choice is either to listen to the teachings of Jesus, or the dream of a 13-year-old girl. The choice is ours. Which will it be?
(It is interesting to note that the church the girl attended when she had this dream, will not go through the great tribulation. It was, indeed, taken out, by death...all its members are long since gone.)
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