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ecorded the words in person), a long-time friend of the family, in the book Memoirs of James &
George Macdonald, of Port-Glasgow, a biography of her older brothers. Norton quoted a May
18, 1830 letter written by Margaret’s older sister Mary that indicated that “the house has been
filled with people every day from all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland,” listening to her
expound on the Rapture and end-time events. He did not attribute the vision to Margaret until his
1861 book The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church.
He said that during her long convalescence she had access to her family’s “extensive library”
which could have included Bibles like the Self Interpreting Bible (1778), and the Columbian
Family Bible (1822) which contained cross references and marginal notes similar to that in study
Bibles; as well as a host of other sources which MacPherson believes could have been used as a
basis to develop her idea.
In the March, 1830 edition of The Morning Watch, a quarterly prophecy magazine that Irving
edited, he wrote an article that stated that the “translation of the saints taketh place … before the
judgments which fall upon the earth at the coming of the Son of Man … just before the great
consummation of wrath.” However, in a letter dated June 2, 1830, Irving wrote that the
“substance of … Mcdonald’s visions … carry to me a spiritual conviction and a spiritual reproof
which I cannot express.”
In Part 1 of an article called “Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in the
Apocalypse,” in the June issue of The Morning Watch, by an author who identified himself only
as “Fidus,” wrote from a Post-Trib view. Yet, when Part 2 appeared three months later in the
September, 1830 edition, he clearly elaborated a Pre-trib view when he wrote that the
Philadelphia church “which receives the answer of its faith in being caught up to meet him;
which is thus kept from the hour of temptation…” while the Laodicea Church is described as
“the last and dying stage of the Gentile church, before the gathering of the Jews…”
Subsequently, Dr. Cyrus I. Scofield discovered the new teaching on a trip to England, and he
took it back with him to his church in Dallas, Texas; where it became part of the Scofield Study
Bible as theological concept, and then became the official position of the Dallas Theological
Seminary, as well as the Moody Bible Institute.
I believe that the Word of God clearly bares me out that there will not be a Pre-Tribulation
Rapture, and I shudder to think what will happen when those expecting one don’t get it. Will this
be the source of the “falling away,” as those whose faith is not strong enough to endure
acquiesce to the strong-arm tactics of a political leadership bent on establishing world
government. Without a doubt, this period of time will be a tremendously trying period, and I can
only say that God’s word is true, and there is a place of protection.
Psalm 91
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will
I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his
truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor
for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for
the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten
thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt