Calvinism's Roman Catholic Origin: Part 4

Somebody, somewhere, is always claiming the pre-tribulation rapture is a late invention cooked up by Rome, a Jesuit plot designed to distract believers from “real” prophecy. We put that claim under a bright light and ask a basic question: if the origin story is true, why do the critics keep contradicting each other, and why do the primary-source details not line up?

We walk through the most common accusations tied to the Council of Trent, Francisco Ribera, and later attempts to credit Manuel de Lacunza or other figures as the “inventor” of a pre-trib rapture. Along the way, we address how anti-rapture writers disagree on their own timelines, what scholars have said about the lack of supporting evidence, and why sensational theories can spread even when they are historically implausible. If you care about church history, Bible doctrine, and honest research, this is a reality check worth hearing.

Then we move to the central issue: what does the Bible actually teach? We argue that the pre-tribulation rapture is discoverable from Scripture itself when you take a literal approach to Bible prophecy and keep the biblical distinctions in view, especially Israel and the Church. We connect key passages on the future Great Tribulation, the focus on Jerusalem and Judah, and the seven-year prophetic framework in Daniel, showing why that period is repeatedly presented as Jacob’s trouble rather than the Church’s appointed wrath.

If you’ve ever searched “pre-trib rapture Bible verses,” “Great Tribulation Israel,” or “Jesuit rapture theory,” you’ll find this conversation direct and text-driven. Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share this with a friend who loves prophecy studies, and leave a review telling us what question you still have about the rapture and end times.

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Transcript

Welcome And Program Purpose

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Welcome to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Deland, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox.

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Okay, you ready? I'm Brother James. Here we go again with the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We're glad and happy that you've tuned into the program today. I greet you in the name that is above every name, the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And we're happy that God has directed you to come this way. Tune in the dial at this time to this station to hear this message. We don't believe that's any accident, don't believe that's any coincidence. We believe the great God that works all things according to his will, the great God that uh brings about uh those things in our lives that are just exactly what we need, uh we certainly believe that God guided and directed you at this particular time to tune into this particular radio station, and we certainly are happy that he's

God’s Sovereignty And Human Choice

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done so. On the other hand, we also believe that having directed you this way, that God's not going to force you to listen if you don't want to, that God's not going to make you uh keep the radio dialed where it is or keep the radio on uh if you don't desire to hear the truth. We believe that God rules and reigns supreme in his universe, and we believe that the God who rules and reigns supreme has chosen to endow man with the ability to choose, with the ability to make decisions on his own. We don't believe that God made a bunch of robots and pre-programmed them and then set them about to move in ways not of their own choosing, but in ways of God's eternal decrees. We believe in a supreme God who rules and reigns over all, and we believe that that supreme God who rules and reigns over all has made man with choices and choices to make, and we're glad that uh God directed you to tune into the program today, and we hope and pray that you will choose to stay with us for the next 30 minutes on the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

Series Context And Prior Findings

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We are in the midst of a series of studies which are built upon the excellent research and the remarkable work uh done by Pauly Bailey, uh a Britisher, a fellow over in England, uh, entitled The Supreme Irony. And we are studying on the first two programs in this series, we studied the Roman Catholic roots of Calvinism, and we showed you how that the teachings of John Calvin were not taken from the Bible, but were taken from the writings of Augustine. And we showed you how that those who claim to be Calvinists, or those who are Calvinists and don't like to claim to be Calvinists, have built their doctrinal belief and their systematic theology not upon the teachings of the Holy Bible, but upon the very same foundation upon which the papacy built the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, that is, upon the writings of Augustine. And then on the last broadcast, we began to look at the reasons why the pre-tribulation rapture teaching did not come from the Jesuits. I didn't know if you were aware of this or not, but there are an increasing number of uh of teachers and preachers who are trying to turn God's people away from the blessed hope that they have in the glorious appearance of the great God and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who are trying to get men to quit lifting up their eyes and looking for the return of their Savior from heaven, and are rather trying to get them to look downward on the earth for coming world events and world crises that would herald the rise of Antichrist. And these men that are turning God's people's attention away from the Lord Jesus Christ and on to the affairs of this life have set forth the idea that the pre-tribulation rapture was unknown prior to the Council of Trent in 1545. And at the Council of Trent, a Jesuit priest by the name of Francisco Rivera invented the futurist position of prophecy. Since uh some of God's people took the time to research and uh and do the homework, they found out that Rivera never mentioned a pre-tribulation rapture anywhere one time in his life, and so these men had to retreat and find uh someone else to claim was a Jesuit inventor of the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture, and they found a fellow by the name of Lacunza, and this man, Manuel de Lacunza E. Diaz, was an 18th-century uh writer who wrote under the pseudonym of Rabbi Juan Yosefat Ben Ezra, and he is the one that supposedly invented the pre-tribulation rapture idea. The only problem with this is that Lacunza, far from being a Roman Catholic uh writer and far from being a tool of the Roman Catholic Church, had his writings banned by Pope Leo XII, confiscated and burned by the Roman Catholic Church in Spain, because he said the Roman Catholic Church was the harlot of Revelation 17 and the false prophet was the Roman Catholic priesthood. Not only that, but as we showed you on the last broadcast, the early church fathers wrote about a pre-tribulation rapture, and the founder of Brown University, a Baptist preacher in Colonial America by the name of Morgan Edwards, uh, wrote about a pre-tribulation rapture before Lacunza ever put anything about the subject in print. And so the idea that the pre-tribulation rapture idea came from J.N. Darby and C. I. Schofield, who borrowed it from Roman Catholics, is just a fairy tale. It has no basis in fact at all. Now we get two more reasons to give you on the program today why the pre-tribulation rapture teaching did not come from the Jesuits.

Why Anti-Rapture Theories Conflict

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This uh, these two will be the fourth and fifth in the list. We just reviewed the first three. The anti-rapture writers cannot agree among themselves as to a unified theory concerning the so-called Dodgy origin, that's D-O-D-G-Y, origin of the pre-tribulation rapture teaching. The two main American writers who have promoted the Dodgy Origin claim, and that's that's just what they call this whole uh business we're dealing with, are John L. Bray, who, as we pointed out on the last broadcast, has been discredited and proven a liar and a false prophet. And the other one is David McPherson, and you may remember we dealt with uh with his heretical teachings extensively in our series of studies on the rapture, which we presented over many of these same radio stations. But Bray and McPherson fundamentally disagree in their conclusions. Bray, of course, has now admitted his Jesuit theory was wrong, though unfortunately close to 120,000 copies of his books are still floating around out there to mislead and deceive the simple-minded. But uh McPherson's uh theory, known as the Macdonald Irving theory, which we're not discussing on this series because we've already covered it, uh, was proved wrong years ago.

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Dr.

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John F. Wolverd, having studied David McPherson's Diatribe Against the Rapture, states, and let's quote uh from Walvard's uh book, and he's one of the best students I suppose there is of uh prophetic teaching, but in his book on the Blessed Hope and the Tribulation, page 47, Wolver says, quote, The whole controversy as aroused by David McPherson's claims has so little supporting evidence, despite his careful research, that one wonders how he can write his book with a straight face. Pre-tribulationists should be indebted to Dave McPherson for exposing facts, namely, that there is no proof that MacDonald or Irving originated the pre-tribulational rapture teaching. Now MacPherson went to great lengths in a couple of books to teach that Margaret MacDonald, a charismatic girl who had some visions, uh, broke into a Darby meeting and began to teach in the Darby meetings the pre-tribulation rapture, and having heard her teachings, that uh Darby uh bought into the idea and began to propagate it through his writings. Now, only a man who knows nothing about Darby and the Darbyites who follow him, uh they call themselves uh uh Plymouth Brethren, but they're followers of Darby unless they split with Darby and followed Taylor, unless they split with Taylor and followed Pearson, and anyway, it's it's all gets rather confusing. But the if if there's one thing that characterizes the Darby Brethren, which marks them as separate and distinct from all other denominations on the face of this earth, they don't let women teach. Beyond that, they don't let women speak in their meetings. And yet MacPherson wrote two books talking about a charismatic woman who spoke at Derby meetings and misled Darby. Which is all amazingly far-fetched if anyone knows the history of the movement. In fact, Robert Pierce, another conspiracy theorist who followed the lead of McPherson, admitted in his own book on the Rapture cult, these people always end up calling you a cult if you don't agree with them. It was put out by Signal Point Press, no date, but on page 49, Pierce said, quote, There may not be enough evidence to prove conspiracy involvement. In other words, I'm writing this book and selling it because I know uh the simple-minded will buy it, but the things I'm setting forth in this book I can't prove any of them. But as long as you folks keep buying my book, I'll keep printing it. That's that's the mentality. Now, Dave McPherson has written several books against the pre-tribulation rapture. He makes an incredible statement on page two hundred thirty four of his book, The Rapture Plot of 1995. I've got it, I've read it. Um I'm not a bigot, I'll consider both sides of the issue. If somebody's got something to say, I want to hear it. We'll we'll put it all in the balance, we'll weigh it out, what's found wanting, we'll throw it in the garbage, and uh what uh stands the test of scripture, we'll hang on to it, we'll uh prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. But on page two hundred thirty-four, McPherson says, quote, If pre trib promoters ignore or twist this book's documentation, and if their only bottom line is a continuing flow of funds, then I won't be surprised if God views them collectively as ACAN, Joshua 7, and allows a national or even international money collapse. Now you know what McPherson said? It's really kind of remarkable. Once you go off the deep end, uh it's mighty hard to get back to shore. MacPherson said that God's going to allow the national and international monetary systems to collapse because a handful of true Bible believers hold to a pre-tribulation rapture. Now, what must be the mentality of this writer, who is styled by some as the world's leading authority on pre-trib rapture origins, when he predicts an

When Polemics Turn Into Predictions

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international money collapse if his theories are not accepted? We call that uh dementia. The fellow's an egomaniac.

The Core Claim: It’s Biblical

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Now, the fifth reason, the fifth reason why the pre-tribulation rapture did not come from the Jesuits is the most important reason of all. The pre-tribulation rapture is in the Bible, and it can be found there without the aid of dispensational commentaries. The truth of the rapture is simple to grasp. Once one is prepared to take a literal approach to prophecy, instead of interpreting the Bible, revising the Bible, correcting the Bible, amending the Bible, allegorizing the Bible, if you just leave the Bible as it stands and believe what it says, you'll see the pre-tribulation rapture jumping off the pages. The scripture carefully distinguishes between Israel and the church, which none of the pre-tribulation rapture critics will do. The scripture clearly distinguishes between tribulation as a fact of life and a time period of tribulation related to Daniel's people, which the those who criticize a pre-tribulation rapture will never do. And if you match up the timing and length of the prophetic events given in the book of Daniel in Revelation and leave them alone, just let them stand as they're written, there isn't any trouble at all in discerning, distinguishing, and believing that the rapture of the church will take place before the time of great tribulation. Let's let's note five facts in particular. Let's look at five points from the scripture.

The Tribulation Is Still Future

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Number one, the world's worst ever period of tribulation is still to come. The world's worst ever period of tribulation is still to come. In Daniel chapter twelve and verse number one, I'll read you four verses of scripture. Daniel chapter twelve and verse number one. If I can find that here it is. At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even at that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Now there are men that tell us that uh we are in the millennium now. We mentioned that a couple of broadcasts ago. There are men who tell us that uh the book of Revelation has been fulfilled, and that uh a futurist view of prophecy is not to be held, and these men say that the events in Revelation were fulfilled in the in the uh oh, some within the first hundred, some within the first two or three hundred years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And yet there were more people killed. There were more people killed in the in the five or six years of World War II than had ever been killed before. There were more people killed by Stalin during his reign of terror in the Soviet Union than had ever been killed anywhere. Why Idi Amin down there in Uganda uh killed more people in in Central Africa than Adolf Hitler ever dreamed of killing? Why, when the communists came into Cambodia, they they nearly exterminated entire races of people. Now, how can you say that that when the Word of God speaks of a time of tribulation like there has never been, a day of terror like there has never been, and never will be again? How can you say that day is past? That day was past history hundreds of years ago, when things have taken place this century that are worse than anything that has ever come before? In Joel chapter two, and verse number one, blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and a thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and strong, there hath not been ever the light, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. Now, if you point back to a time in history and say that was the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the great tribulation, then you have to be able to prove that there has never been a day since that time that was any worse. You can't do that. In Matthew 24, verse 21, the Bible says, For then, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. You say, Brother James, we don't believe that. We believe that the time of great tribulation is coming. We just believe that the church is going to have to go through that terrible time. Well, let me give you one more verse of scripture about the world's worst ever period of tribulation. In Jeremiah chapter 30, Jeremiah chapter 30, and verse number seven. Jeremiah 30, verse number seven. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. That's the day of Daniel 12, 1, that's the day of Joel 2, that's the day of Matthew 24, verse 21. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble. It is not the time of the church's trouble, it is not the time of the Gentiles' trouble, it is even the time of Jacob's trouble.

Judgment On Israel Not The Church

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Number two. This tribulation time is always spoken of as a judgment on the ungodly world in general, and on the Jews in particular, but never, never, never on the church. In Zechariah chapter twelve. Zechariah chapter twelve, beginning at verse number one, the burden of the word of the Lord for Israel saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people, all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness. I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah, like an hearth of fire among the wood, like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and they shall devour all the people round about on the right hand and on the left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. And the Lord shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, and the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Now, was that about the church? Was that about the United States of America? Was that about the Anglo Saxon people becoming the ten mysterious lost tribes? No, that had to do with the Jews in Jerusalem and the people of Judah and the house of David. Luke chapter twenty-one. Luke chapter twenty one, the entire chapter about the time of great tribulation, the second coming of Jesus Christ. Luke twenty one, beginning at verse twenty, and when ye shall see Jerusalem, matching Zechariah twelve, compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, let them which are in the midst of it, that's Jerusalem, depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too, into Jerusalem. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child of them that give suck in those days, for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, wrath upon this people, not the church, the people of Jerusalem, the people to whom that land belongs, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times the Gentiles be fulfilled. You couldn't possibly take any of these passages pertaining that had to do with the Great Tribulation and make them applicable to the New Testament Church unless you were willfully perverting the scriptures or you just didn't know what you were talking about. Revelation chapter twelve. Revelation twelve and verse number thirteen. Revelation twelve and verse number thirteen. Let me turn one more page and we'll be there. Dragon saw that he was cast out into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of great eagles, she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for a time, times and half a time from the face of the serpent, and the serpent cast out his mouth out of his mouth waters of flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away in the flood. That woman there is not Mary, couldn't possibly be Mary, it's the tribulation remnant of the Hebrew people fleeing from the dragon who is seeking destroy them to destroy them during the time of great tribulation.

Daniel’s Seven Years And Antichrist

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Number three. The tribulation involves a seven-year period, divided into two halves, with the Antichrist in power during the second half, and that seven-year period all has to do with the Hebrew people. Daniel chapter seven. And verse number twenty-five. Daniel seven twenty-five. He shall speak great words against the most high, and shall wear out the saints of the most high, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until the time and times and the dividing of time. Daniel chapter nine, verse twenty-four. Seven weeks are determined upon thy people. You know who Daniel's people were? The Jews, not the church. And upon thy holy city. The church has no holy city, it never has. The Jews have a holy city, Jerusalem. To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem on the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. That forty-nine weeks of years was fulfilled to the very day. And we've got that material in our verse by verse study on the book of Daniel, if you'd like to obtain it. The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troubless times, and after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined, and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice of the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. That entire week of years, that seven year period, has to do with Daniel's people and their holy city, according to the context of Daniel 9, verses 24 to 27. Now you couldn't miss that unless you wanted to miss it. We've got two more uh points to look at in proving conclusively from the scripture that the pre-tribulation rapture is not only Bible doctrine, but that all the passages which have to do with the tribulation time, the great tribulation time, the whole seven-year period point to the nation of Israel, not to the New Testament Church. But we don't have time for those two points on today's broadcast.

Five Reasons Recapped

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So let's review, and then God willing, next time we'll continue. There are five reasons why the pre-tribulation rapture did not come from the Jesuits. Number one, the Jesuit writer who set forth the idea wrote his books after the dispensational teaching of a pre-tribulation rapture had already been in print and was already being circulated amongst the churches of Europe. Number two, the early church or the anti-Nicene fathers, I'm sorry, the post-Nicene Fathers contain citations in their writings pointing to a pre-tribulation rapture of the church, and we gave you those on the last broadcast. Number three, those believers who hold to a pre-tribulation rapture are the ones who stand against Roman Catholicism, while those who do not are the ones who are embracing Roman Catholicism. This certainly proves that the Roman Catholic Church did not invent the doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture to get the Protestants and the Dispensationalists to come back to Rome. Number four, the writers who set forth the idea that the pre-tribulation rapture is a Jesuit invention don't agree among themselves as to the facts of the matter. And then number five, and that's what we're looking at now, and by the grace of God we'll look at again on the next broadcast, the Word of God teaches a pre-tribulation rapture of the New Testament church.

How To Be Ready For The Rapture

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I hope you're ready for it. There's only one way to be ready for the rapture, and that's to be saved and born again. And there's only one way to be saved and born again, and that's to humble yourself. Recognize, realize you're a sinner who cannot save yourself, cannot do anything to get yourself to heaven, other than confess your need for a savior and trust God's only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as that Savior. He is the only way to heaven. He is the only Savior, He's the only one that loved you enough to die for your sins. But if you'll trust this Lord Jesus Christ, he will forgive your sins and give you eternal and everlasting life. The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

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Well, that's just about all the time we have on the program today.

Free Study Offer And Closing

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If you would like a copy of this six-part series on the Roman Catholic origins of Calvinism, we will send it to you absolutely free of charge. Just visit our website, jameswnox.org, JamesWNOx.org, and request the six-part series on the Roman Catholic origin of Calvinism. We'll get that to you free of charge. All right, we hope next time you'll join us for the Preaching of the Cross Radio broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you.

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Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistland, or our website, Bible BaptistTeland.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.