A critical analysis of premillennial dispensationalism's interpretation ...

his dispensational ideas and his group soon became ardent advocates
of the “any moment” doctrine (Kyle: 74).
Some religious historians contend that the Brethren were teaching a
two-stage Second Coming as early as 1831. Others believed that
Darby introduced ‘the secret rapture of the Church theory’ at the
Powerscourt meetings in 1833. In any event, it is worth noting that such
prominent brethren as George Muller were in open opposition against
the teaching of a secret rapture because of its lack, they claimed, of
Scriptural soundness (Varner: 144).
John Darby first crossed the North Atlantic Ocean to the United States
in 1864. He enjoyed his greatest influence among the Presbyterians
and the Baptists. During the decade of the sixties Darby also travelled
to New Zealand and the West Indies. To these destinations he carried
the concept of a two-stage Second Advent (Kyle: 104).
Darby, the father of Dispensationalism, as he was dubbed by the editor
of his works William Kelly (1820 – 1906) (Varner: 143), died in
Bournemouth, England on 29 th March 1882. Eight to ten thousand
people attended his funeral. A prodigious writer, he left behind some
forty volumes of writings. It was through his books that the Futurist
system travelled around the English-speaking world.
As Darby’s influence was so far-reaching, Dispensationalism prevails
as a belief system within mainstream evangelical Christianity. After all,
he had been instrumental in setting up around one thousand five
hundred assemblies around the world.
John Darby’s impact upon the thinking of C.I. Scofield, who was a
student of James Brookes, the father of American dispensationalism
(Gerstner: 37&39), is probably among the most important
developments in the growth of Dispensationalism in evangelical
thinking (Varner: 145).
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