Words of BIBLEWRITER appear below in colored text:
You need to do a little research on your historical facts. First, Darby did indeed have a formal "religious" education, having been an ordained Episcopal priest before he was involved in the movement that later came to be called "the Plymouth brethren."
My words appear in black text:
Darby was never ordained as a priest in the Episcopal church. He was a sort of lay person of high order in the Anglican church, but that didn't amount to a position of legitimate leadership. In addition there is NO evidence that he ever studied theology, which is required for Holy Orders. Assertions to the contrary have no foundation in actual fact or record. Darby was NOT a scholar, although he did represent himself as one. We have a name for such men; con artists.
Darby was originally Anglo-Irish and vacillated between British Protestantism and Irish Roman Catholicism. He learned his itinerant snake oil salesmanship skills by attempting to conjure his ideology between the English and the Irish. The Anglican Church is the Protestant pseudo-catholic religion of Britain, not the Episcopal church. The Episcopal church is an American version and not officially connected to English Anglicanism in any way. References to one or the other are confused undocumented and unfounded by those who wish to use confusion to justify heretical assertions.
By the way, neither the Anglican nor Episcopal Church has ever endorsed Darby's ideas concerning Dispensationalism, Millennialism, Rapturism, etc.
But more to the point, Dispensationalism, including a rapture BEFORE the great tribulation, was NOT "invented" by Darby. Both of these concepts have been documented throughout history, including some of the very oldest Christian commentaries that have survived to the present time.
Dispensationalism is documented by every legitimate source known as Darby's invention. His BOOK on Dispensationalism can garner nearly one hundred fifty dollars on the antique book market. If the reader gets the opportunity to buy one for less than $150 it should not be ignored. Even old comic books can command a price higher than the value of the gibberish they contain.
Darby organized a group called the Exclusive Brethren and used them as well as The Plymouth Brethren as a springboard for his book sales. Eventually he brought his heresy to America where it did well among those religious persons who are attracted to expressions of their religion that are more theatrical than scholarly. The ideology persists to this day for the same reason.
And third, and MOST to the point, Dispensationalism has never taught, and does not now teach, that there have EVER been ANY "changes in the divine plan of redemption."
The above is a false statement. The stated purpose of Dispensationalism is to "rightly divide" (<--Darby's words) the Word of God into historic epochs such as for example the dispensation of the Law and the dispensation of Grace. Darby's own book, which I've had the opportunity to peruse, has a spread of several pages containing a graphic that illustrates this major point. If the reader chooses to educate himself without relying upon innuendo and hearsay and ACTUALLY READS THE BOOK, this point will become immediately obvious. In point of fact, there is no canonical or legitimate ideology of Christianity that supports any such division of the intent of Holy Writ. To suggest such a division between Law & Grace exists is to subvert the Word of God. Finally, there are no differences in any record of history from any civilization on the planet that suggests, even remotely, that the cross divided the events of mankind into pre and post .... anything. In effect, Darby's attempt was to rewrite scripture and change the basic teaching of the fall and redemption of man.
So you need to do a LOT more studying before you attempt to discuss a subject about which you have demonstrated that you are almost totally ignorant.
Ignorance is bliss, so they say, and there is no more blissful person than the one who chooses to bury their head in the sands of willful foolishness so as to support their own fantasy of the past present and future. There are NO ancient references to the Rapture or Dispensationalism prior to the life and times of John Nelson Darby. I challenge the reader to do his or her own study on the matter. The results will qualify to establish Darby as one of the foremost con artists of modern times.
Finally, the reader needs to know that during his time in Britain and Ireland, John Nelson Darby became the consort of a coven of witches. How little or how much of their occult doctrines and influences Darby adopted into his dogma is not known. I can discover nothing more than who he hung out with. A man is known by the company he keeps, and Darby did indeed keep company with disciples of the devil. Spiritualism had become quite popular in his day, so his associations were not questioned.
Apparently nobody today cares either.
and that's me, hollering from the choir loft...
