When Did J. N. Darby Discover the Rapture? (Thomas Ice)

When Did J. N. Darby Discover the Rapture?

Tom’s Perspectives

by Thomas Ice

 

      Did key elements of the doctrine of the pretribulational rapture originate with either Edward Irving (1792–1834) or the broader Irvingite movement and then stealthily incorporated into the theology of John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) and the Brethren?  Dave MacPherson is convinced “that the popular Pre-Trib Rapture teaching of today was really instigated by a teenager in Scotland who lived in the early 1800’s,”[i] who was connected with the broader Irvingite movement.  This is the general thesis put forth in dozens of books and articles for many years.  However, I do not believe that there is merit to such a position since Irving and his movement never taught pretribulationism and both come from very different eschatological systems.  In fact, I believe it can be established that Darby first came to believe in both dispensational truth and pretribulationism by December 1826 or January 1827, before these other alleged sources even surfaced.

 

Darby’s Convalescence

      Anyone who has seriously studied the life of Darby is aware of the pivotal nature of a riding accident that probably took place in October 1826 in Ireland.  Darby says, “An accident happened which laid me aside for a time; my horse was frightened and had thrown me against a door-post.”[ii]  Darby’s older sister Susan Pennefather, whose husband Edward eventually became Chief Justice of Ireland’s Supreme Court,[iii] took care of her injured brother in their Dublin home.[iv]  It was during this time of “convalescence” for Darby that he came to a great realization as a result of Bible study, prayer, and time alone with the Lord.  Darby tells us what happened in his own words:

 

During my solitude, conflicting thoughts increased; but much exercise of soul had the effect of causing the scriptures to gain complete ascendancy over me.  I had always owned them to be the word of God.

      When I came to understand that I was united to Christ in heaven, and that, consequently, my place before God was represented by His own, I was forced to the conclusion that it was no longer a question with God of this wretched “I” which had wearied me during six or seven years, in presence of the requirements of the law.  It then became clear to me that the church of God, as He considers it, was composed only of those who were so united to Christ, whereas Christendom, as seen externally, was really the world, and could not be considered as “the church,” save as regards the responsibility attaching to the position which it professed to occupy-a very important thing in its place.  At the same time, I saw that the Christian, having his place in Christ in heaven, has nothing to wait for save the coming of the Saviour, in order to be set, in fact, in the glory which is already his portion “in Christ.”

. . . In my retreat, the 32nd chapter of Isaiah taught me clearly, on God’s behalf, that there was still an economy to come, of His ordering; a state of things in no way established as yet.  The consciousness of my union with Christ had given me the present heavenly portion of the glory, whereas this chapter clearly sets forth the corresponding earthly part.  I was not able to put these things in their respective places or arrange them in order, as I can now; but the truths themselves were then revealed of God, through the action of His Spirit by reading His word.

      What was to be done?  I saw in that word the coming of Christ to take the church to Himself in glory.  I saw there the cross, the divine basis of salvation, which should impress its own character on the Christian and on the church in view of the Lord’s coming; and also that meanwhile the Holy Spirit was given to be the source of the unity of the church, as well as the spring of its activity, and indeed of all christian energy.[v]

 

      Darby also refers to his discovery of the rapture and other truths during his convalescence of December 1826 through January 1827 in a letter he wrote in 1879:

 

But these are the two truths brought out in these days, throwing light on the truth of the first coming.  They have been consciously my theme these fifty years and more.  They started me in my path of service; the assurance of salvation came with them, and the christian character as of the new creation, . . . When man entered into the glory of God consequent on accomplished redemption, the Holy Ghost came down, till He comes to take us up.  This connects the hope and the power of life and heavenly calling with accomplished redemption: Christ, Man at the right hand of God, is the central point.  What set me free in 1827 is still the theme on which my soul dwells, with, I trust, much deeper sense of its importance-something much nearer to me, but the same truths.  And blessed truths they are; and the hope, what a hope![vi]

 

What Does This Mean?

      Thus, in these two extended citations by Darby concerning what he discovered from his study of Scripture during his convalescence, we learn that he saw himself positionally seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand, that a Christian has nothing to wait for except the coming of Christ, and as a result of his study of Isaiah 32 he saw that after Christ’s second coming there would be a change in economy, in other words, a premillennial return of the Lord.

      It means that Darby’s view of Christ’s return without intervening events-the pre-trib rapture-came to him as a result of arriving at an understanding of the uniqueness of the church, as opposed to Israel.  As is true of pretribulationists today, their pretribulationism is built upon a view of the church (ecclesiology), which when applied to eschatology produces this view.  It means that from day one (December 1826 and January 1827) that Darby had the theological rationale, whose basics never changed, that further support the notion that pretribulationism, along with dispensationalism, were a product of his own thought based upon Bible study.

 

Darby Pre-dates Others

      The dates of December 1826 and January 1827 as the point in which Darby discovers these doctrines means that even if others developed a pre-trib rapture viewpoint, which they did not, but for the sake of argument we will consider their dates compared with Darby’s.  The earliest suggestion is that Darby was influenced by Manuel de Lacunza’s (1731–1801) book that was translated from Spanish into English by Edward Irving (1792–1834) and was published in the Spring of 1827.  First of all, no pre-trib rapture was taught in that book.[vii]  Thus, Darby would have already developed his views months before it would have been possible for him to have been influenced by de Lacunza’s writings.

      Along the same line, some have suggested that Darby was influenced by the 194-page introduction penned by Edward Irving that appeared in de Lacunza’s book.  The same point made above would be that it came out months after Darby’s discovery and could not be the source.  Further Irving never held to pretribulationism, instead, he believed a form of historicism that was similar to de Lacunza.  After all, Irving was so impressed with de Lacunza that he learned Spanish and translated his book.

      Dave MacPherson has made the claim “that the popular Pre-Trib Rapture teaching of today was really instigated by a teenager in Scotland who lived in the early 1800’s,”[viii]  April 1830 is when fifteen-year old Margaret Macdonald (1815–1840) is alleged to have come up with the idea in a prophecy she gave that was written down and circulated.[ix]  Once again the problem arises, how can a source that anti-dates by almost three and a half years Darby’s pretribulationism be his source?  Like the other suggestions, Macdonald’s prophecy does not come close to even teaching a pre-trib rapture.

      In 1864 Samuel P. Tregelles (1813–1875) said that Darby’s view of the rapture was “given forth as an “utterance” in Mr. Irving’s church.”  He also claimed that this occurred “about the year 1832.”[x]  This would be different than the Margaret Macdonald claim since Miss Macdonald was in Scotland and Irving’s church was in London.  Tregelles’ claim also falls short since it would have been a full five years after Darby became pretribulational from his own Bible study and meditation.

 

Conclusion

      Many people down through the years have believed these false claims from those who dislike Darby or the pre-trib rapture doctrine and have spread these myths far and wide.  These pseudo-sources of pretribulationism are intended to cast a cloud upon its origin as coming from occultic or demonic sources.  Instead, I have been able to show that in reality pretribulationism was a product of Darby’s own Holy Spirit guided Bible study.  Maranatha!

 

ENDNOTES

 

 

[i] Dave MacPherson, The Great Rapture Hoax (Fletcher, NC: New Puritan Library, 1983), p. 7.  MacPherson’s most recent offering is The Rapture Plot (Muskogee, OK: Artisan Publishers, 2007).

[ii] J. N. Darby, Letters of J. N. Darby, Volume Three 1879-1882 (Oak Park, IL: Bible Truth Publishers, 1971), p. 298.

[iii] Timothy C. F. Stunt, From Awakening to Secession: Radical Evangelicals in Switzerland and Britain 1815–35 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000), p. 391.

[iv] Max S. Weremchuk, John Nelson Darby (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1992), pp. 47–48.

[v] Darby, Letters of Darby, vol. 3, pp. 298–99.

[vi] J. N. Darby, Letters of J. N. Darby, Volume Two 1868-1879 (Oak Park, IL: Bible Truth Publishers, 1971), p. 499.

[vii] Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty, 2 vols, translated by Edward Irving (London: L. B. Seeley and son, 1827). Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra was a pseudonym that Manuel de Lacunza published under.

[viii] MacPherson, Rapture Hoax, p. 7.

[ix] Robert Norton, who later married Miss Macdonald, provides her prophecy in two different books.  There are differences between the accounts.  Memoirs of James & George Macdonald, of Port Glasgow (London: John F. Shaw, 1840), pp. 171–76; The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church (London: Bosworth & Harrison, 1861), pp. 15–18.

[x] S. P. Tregelles, The Hope of Christ’s Second Coming: How is it Taught in Scripture? And Why? (Chelmsford, England: The Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony, 1886), p. 35.

Walking in Wealth: God Loves You Having Money

On a forum I used to post on, a very good friend of mine posted this:

Ps 35V27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

This scripture tells us God has pleasure in the prosperity (well being) of the servant that favours his righteous cause.

Notice though what it doesn’t say, it doesn’t say that God takes pleasure in the poverty of his servant because he doesn’t… God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant…

Reading this has blessed me no end.  It is such a powerful thought: God is happy when you prosper financially. 

So many Christians still don’t or can’t believe this.  They have imbibed the nonsense of religion that God wants you poor, that poverty is next to godliness, that poverty is a blessing.

They don’t realize that God placed Adam in a garden paradise full of fruitfulness, abundance and even gold and precious stones (read Genesis 1 and 2 if you don’t believe that), that Jesus lived on this earth as a wealthy man until he became poor on the cross, and that Jesus became poor so we could be rich.

This Scripture tells us clearly: God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.  Put this in modern language: God loves it when you succeed financially.  Every pay rise, every deal that favours you, every gift you receive, every stock you invest in that goes up, every debt you pay off, every time money comes to you – God is happy.  God loves it when you prosper.

James 1.5 says that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways and cannot receive from God.  That does not mean an indecisive person because an indecisive person can receive from God.  I can walk into the pulpit thinking should I preach sermon A or sermon B and be in two minds about what to do, and when I preach even if I make my mind up at the last minute, people will still be blessed – I will still have received from God!

A double minded person is someone who is trying to stand in faith in the Word but another part of their mind holds a thought that works against what they are believing for.  I had this myself years ago while trying to stand for my healing: part of my mind was believing that by His stripes I was healed whereas another part of my mind was going “you don’t deserve to be healed because of all you have done wrong.” 

No matter how many healing Scriptures I quoted or meditated on, no matter how many healing messages I heard, I could not be healed because of my double mindedness.  Praise the Lord, He showed me from His Word that He loved me and that we don’t receive from God based on merit.  I didn’t need a healing revelation to be healed, I needed a grace revelation.  Recently I went to pray for a person suffering from the symptoms of cancer and as I was teaching him the Word I realize that he needed not a healing revelation, but a grace revelation.

When it comes to prosperity, we preach a lot on the functionality of prosperity: sow a seed, reap a harvest; give and it shall be given to you; cast your bread on the waters and it will return to you.  Now that is all true, very very true.  But if you give let’s say £100 to a ministry following the leading of the Lord and your mind is stuffed full of how prosperity works that is not enough to prosper.  You are claiming a return on your gift, standing in faith but if another part of your mind is yelling at you: “God doesn’t want you rich, God loves the poor, you don’t deserve to be out of debt, you are not good enough, you are not on of the lucky few” then your double mindedness will stunt your prosperity.  So because it doesn’t work you listen to some more teaching tapes on the functionality of prosperity, but it doesn’t work because you haven’t dealt with the other part of your mind.

You need to realize and meditate on the relational aspect of prosperity.  You need to say out loud and think about this:  It makes God happy when you succeed financially, God loves it when I have money, the Lord is delighted with my prosperity.

Start to imagine you succeeding financially, and start to imagine God’s pleasure as you succeed.

How Did the Turtle Get Its Shell? (from http://www.crev.info/)

How Did the Turtle Get Its Shell?   07/10/2009    


July 10, 2009 — The cover story of Science this week is about turtle evolution.  The caption on the cover illustration, which compares the skeleton of a turtle, chicken and mouse, reads, “The turtle body plan is unusual in that the ribs are transformed into a carapace, and the scapula, situated outside the ribs in other animals, is found inside the carapace.  A report on page 193 explains the evolutionary origin of this inside-out skeletal morphology.”  So let’s walk outside-in to this issue and see if the promised explanation can be found.
    The title of our entry is the same as Olivier Rieppel (Field Museum, Chicago): “How Did the Turtle Get Its Shell?”  The first thing we learn from Rieppel is that there are two opposing camps among evolutionary biologists: the transformationists and the emergentists.  The first group sounds like old-style Darwinians: “The classic transformationist approach sees morphological evolution as a result of natural selection working on variation manifest in reproducing organisms.”  The emergentists, by contrast, look for variations in embryonic development.  This difference determines what members of either paradigm are looking for to explain the unique skeletons and shells of turtles.  Transformationists look for adaptations in the adult form that might have been passed on to the progeny.  They might look for incipient plates in the skin, for instance, that could have ossified over the generations, then fused into a shell.  Emergentists, instead, would observe the developmental stages of turtles to look for clues about their evolutionary history.  That’s the approach members of the Laboratory for Evolutionary Morphology at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan took in their scientific paper in same issue of Science.2
   

A key player in the story was the fossil turtle Odontochelys announced last year (see 11/29/2008), which had a plastron (front shell) but no carapace (back shell).  Scientists back then were debating whether the fossil was a missing link or a specialized turtle derived from pre-existing fully-formed turtles.  This team acknowledged the debate: “It cannot be ruled out that the carapace of this animal merely underwent a secondary degeneration,” they said; “however, if it really possessed the precarapacial dorsal ribs as reconstructed (Fig. 4), the evolution of the turtle body plan would be consistent with the embryonic development of the modern turtle.”  This means that their hypothesis about turtle evolution depends on accepting one side of the debate.
   

As for how the skeleton of a pre-turtle vertebrate could have undergone the spectacular modifications required, in which the scapula bones dived inside the rib cage (instead of remaining outside as in all other vertebrates), and the ribs fused to the carapace, forming a complete circle and ridge connected to the plastron, the authors looked to turtle embryos for evidence.  Rieppel summarized their research:

Nagashima et al. observed that during early development of the Chinese soft-shelled turtle Pelodiscus sinensis (see the figure), translocation of the ribs to a position outside the shoulder blade involves folding of the lateral body wall along a line that defines the later formation of the carapacial ridge.  This folding restricts rib growth to the horizontal plane of the carapacial disk and also maintains the shoulder blade in its superficial position relative to the folded body wall.  This organization is thought to characterize ancestral turtles.  Some muscles that develop from the muscle plate that is associated with the folding body wall even retain their “ancestral connectivities” in the adult.

Since there are no ancestral turtle embryos to observe, how can they think about what characterized them?  Here’s where they tied in their story with Odontochelys.  Rieppel continues:

Nagashima et al. hypothesize that in this ancestral turtle, the carapacial ridge was differentiated only along the side of the trunk, remaining incomplete anteriorly and posteriorly.  Only later during the evolution of turtles would the carapacial ridge be completed, causing the anteriormost trunk rib to grow across the shoulder blade and localizing the latter inside the ribcage.

So the researchers would not only have to take the emergentist view from the start, they would also have to assume that Odontochelys was a missing link instead of a specialized form.  This stacks two assumptions on top of each other.  It even sounds a bit like Haeckel’s discredited “Biogenetic Law” (also called the Recapitulation Theory) that asserted, “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.”  The authors almost said that, in fact.  Watch for that word recapitulate and see how they used it:

Odontochelys reconstructed by Li et al. resembles the embryonic modern turtles in some respects (Fig. 2, A and E, and Fig. 4), and this animal may represent an ancestral state.  The Odontochelys-like, ancestral pattern is still retained in the first rib in modern turtles (Fig. 4, right).  Although it remains to be seen whether latissimus dorsi of Odontochelys was shifted rostrally (Fig. 4, middle), its pectoralis would have established a new attachment to the dorsal aspect of the plastron (Fig. 4, middle).  Thus, the developmental sequence of P. sinensis may not wholly recapitulate the suggested evolutionary sequence of turtles.  Nevertheless, the above suggests that the dorsal arrest of ribs can now be assumed to have taken place by the common ancestor of Odontochelys and modern turtles, and in the latter, the completed CR would have allowed for emergence of the carapace (Fig. 4, bottom).  The modern turtles have acquired their unique body plan by passing through an Odontochelys-like ancestral state during embryonic development.  Our embryological study may help to explain the developmental changes involved in both the pre- and post-Odontochelys steps of turtle evolution, from an evolutionary developmental perspective.

So although they couched their Biogenetic-Law explanation with the disclaimer that the developmental sequence (ontogeny) of modern turtle embryos “may not wholly recapitulate” the ancestral evolutionary sequence (phylogeny), they turned right around and depended on Recapitulation Theory to explain turtle evolution.  They said, “The modern turtles have acquired their unique body plan by passing through an Odontochelys-like ancestral state during embryonic development.”  This would only make sense, of course, “from an evolutionary developmental perspective” – i.e., the emergentist view of evolution, which may itself be a recapitulation of Haeckel’s view.

1.  Olivier Rieppel, “Evolution: How Did the Turtle Get Its Shell?”, Science, 10 July 2009: Vol. 325. no. 5937, pp. 154-155, DOI: 10.1126/science.1177446.
2.  Nagashima, Sugahara, Takechi, Ericcson, Kawashima-Ohya, Narita and Kuratani, “Evolution of the Turtle Body Plan by the Folding and Creation of New Muscle Connections,” Science, 10 July 2009: Vol. 325. no. 5937, pp. 193-196, DOI: 10.1126/science.1173826.

This entry should not be entitled, “How did the turtle get its shell?” but rather, “How did the evolutionist get its tall tale about how the turtle got its shell?”  The BBC News called this a “spectacular insight into turtle evolution.”  National Geographic contorted this story with the line, “Turtles Have Shells Due to Embryo Origami,” and said “The findings shed light on turtle evolution.”  *Sigh.*
    It is really quite shocking to see slipshod Haeckelian logic employed by today’s evolutionists, and for Science to publish it, knowing that the popular media will gobble it whole and barf it out for the public (see next entry).  Stephen Jay Gould would have been appalled.  Recapitulation was tossed into the dustbin of Darwinism decades ago.  There is no reason even from an “evolutionary perspective” to expect modern embryos to retain any memory of their assumed evolutionary past, or to think that adult forms are somehow more evolved than the embryo is.  Stephen Jay Gould argued that the adult is actually a degenerate form of the embryo (neoteny), not a more advanced stage.  That’s the reverse of what the Recapitulation Theory paradigm teaches.  Besides, one can’t explain that modern turtle embryos are recapitulating their evolutionary past without assuming the very thing one needs to prove.  Yet here it is: Haeckel Recapitulation Theory Biogenetic Law Nonsense popping up again in Science.
    Worse yet, the emergentist view of evolution is little more than a restatement of the Stuff Happens Law (09/15/2008 commentary).  Something weird happened in a pre-turtle vertebrate embryo, things got shuffled around, and presto! the turtle was born.  Why?  Stuff happens.  If you need more convincing that the evolutionary just-so story “How the Turtle Got Its Shell” is summarized by “Stuff Happens,” look at prior attempts: 11/22/2008 piece, “Turtle Vaults Over 65 Million Year Evolutionary Hurdle,” where the explanation amounted to, “We have no idea.”  In the 10/09/2008 entry, the scientists said, “Exactly why turtles evolved their shell remains a mystery.”  Check out the 07/03/2002 entry, where some evolutionists tried to convince readers that the chickens and turtles are sisters despite their radically different skeletons.  Coming up with that idea required contorted attempts at card stacking.  Conclusion: evolutionists are clueless about why these amazingly-adapted, completely-formed animals are the way they are.
    The observational facts do not allow for stories about turtle evolution.  There are no fossil pre-turtles.  If scientists want to stick to empiricism, they cannot appeal to unobservable entities like some mythical common ancestor of turtles.  The evidence only permits them to state scientifically that “turtles have always been turtles.”  Why not leave it at that?  Answer: evolutionary religion requires them to insert turtles into the great chain of being known as Turtle Cosmology.
Next headline on:  Terrestrial Zoology • Evolution

Bible Increasingly “Irrelevant” in UK Study (Ingrid Schleuter)

by Ingrid Schlueter

It should come as no surprise to those who read the British papers that a new study claims that only one in twenty Brits can name the Ten Commandments. The same study shows that 16% can’t name one. The moral anarchy in the West as a whole can be directly traced to the abandonment of the truths of God’s Word and its substitution with the lies of evolution and humanism. Moral rot and societal carnage are the natural result of man’s rebellion.

Recently, UK citizens were in an uproar over the abuse of the expenses system in Parliament. Both dominant political parties were shamed as MP’s were exposed for having lied or covered up their dishonest cashing in on a system designed to reimburse politicians for legitimate expenses. The Telegraph was filled for weeks with outrageous examples of greed and lies and profit taking at the public expense. But when a society as a whole can’t even name God’s command that stealing is sin, what do you expect? So exactly what moral code produces the public outrage? It’s the Law of God, written on the hearts of men, but deeply suppressed in unrighteousness, the Scripture tells us. God has given us all we need for life and godliness in His Word. Individuals and governments reject that at their own peril.

(Here’s an example of what’s going on: Britain’s National Health Service is handing out pamphlets letting students know about their right to a good sex life. This is in a country with the highest number of teen pregnancies in Europe.)

BBC host says Britain Needs Marriage

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/20090716/bbc-host-britain-needs-marriage/

The presenter of a new BBC documentary on ‘broken Britain’ says the decline of marriage is to blame – but that social liberals will find that hard to accept.

John Ware, whose programme The Death of Respect goes out on BBC2 tonight, says the “post-war experiment in individualism” has left us with a fragmented society.

He said: “This started in the 1970s with the increase in unmarried parents, lone parents, cohabiting parents and step-parents.

“In its wake came generations of children who have been shifted from pillar to post.”

Mr Ware says that in the “rush to sweep away from the 1960s much that was bad”, Britain “also abandoned much that was good, including the institution of marriage.”

But despite “the evidence of marriage being generally best for children”, Mr Ware said the Government had “avoided debating” the issue.

He said: “Despite such authoritative warnings, ministers and their advisors seem reconciled to the relentless rise in family breakdown and single parenthood, seeing this as an irreversible social trend whose expensive consequences we will just have to crisis manage”.

Mr Ware said the only way to reverse the problem is to “accept that the fragmentation of society is closely linked to the decline of marriage.”

Mr Justice Coleridge, a leading family judge who features in Mr Ware’s programme, said the BBC had given it an 11.20pm TV slot because the content on family breakdown was deemed “too dark” for prime time.

He wrote last month of inviting a BBC researcher to spend the day watching a run-of-the-mill High Court case.

 

 

He said she was “stunned into silence and remained speechless” when he told her that “within the Royal Courts of Justice, there were 20 or so other judges engaged in similar cases”.

“Across inner London, well over 100 family courts were dealing with family breakdown that day, in one guise or another. Multiply that across the rest of the country, and you get some feel for the scale of the epidemic”, he commented.

20000 people born again in Indonesia! Praise the Lord!

Dear Benjamin,

We are on the front lines of evangelism in the city of Kupang, Indonesia. This city is located on the Western edge of the island of Timor. This is the first time in the history of Kupang to experience an evangelism event of this kind . You may follow our day to day report at osbornministries.blogspot.com. This mission began with a letter of invitation from the pastors of Kupang inviting me to come and help them in evangelism. I responded and began making many months of preparations.


The first event in Kupang was a three-day Osborn Gospel Seminar for pastors, church leaders and believers. More than 1,100 people gathered each day to learn the fundamentals of Biblical ministry today. They responded with amazement at the simplicity of our profound teachings. The Seminar climaxed with the distribution of books written in Indonesian. Three titles were given FREE as a Gospel library: “God’s Big Picture”(an overview of the Bible story of redemption, from Genesis to Revelation); “New Miracle Life Now” (the Gospel of Christ presented in terminology that relates to the Eastern mind); and “The Good Life”(a Bible School between two covers, including more than 1,400 Scriptures). This great financial investment will produce enormous spiritual dividends. Before we distributed the books, I informed the believers about you and your financial sacrifice that made the book gifts possible. Together we prayed for YOU, that God would bless you because of your love for others. You would have been so moved to hear these precious Indonesian Christians praying for you. It was truly in the work of Christ. WE ARE ALL LABORERS TOGETHER with Him.

Following the Seminar, the Christians were dispatched throughout the city to invite the people to attend our Festival of Prayer & Miracles. On two occasions I ministered on radio to the entire island (and beyond), encouraging the people to come and learn how to receive miracles from Christ. I told them, “We have been sent by God to bring blessing and healing to you. Come to the Festival. Bring those who are sick. God loves you and He does not want you to suffer. Come and learn how to receive His miracle life.”

As this report is coming to you, the first day of the Festival has concluded. A great multitude of people gathered, it was estimated that 35,000 to 40,000 attended. They came bringing the sick, leading the blind, pressing to get as close to the platform as possible. The scene was the same as Bible days: “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick” (Mt 8:16)

After I preached Christ to the people, it seemed as though 75% of the multitude raised their hands to accept this living Jesus. They were eager to believe on Jesus Christ and to receive His miracle life.

During the prayer for the sick, the people laid their hands on their own bodies. SCORES OF MIRACLES OF HEALING WERE REPORTED. Cripples who had been healed filled the platform. Some had not walked for 17 years. Stroke victims were healed and began walking. Blind and deaf were healed. Testimony after testimony was reported as the people gave public witness to the miracle power and love of Jesus Christ.

There are so many things to report. God is visiting Kupang with His healing and saving life. He is faithful to confirm His word when it is proclaimed with faith.

Remember to visit osborministries.blogspot.com to see the daily reports of the Kupang Festival of Prayer and Miracles. We want you to experience this visitation of God with us. Remember that You are here with us through your prayers and your financial partnership. We need you. God needs you.


Your Partner in MISSIONS,

Dr. LaDonna Osborn

Dare to Believe by Charlie and Jill Leblanc

Great song that will inspire your faith to the highest degree… listen and listen again! This is for you. You are not on this blog by accident, God wants you to listen to this song and be inspired.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Andrew Wommack – The Secret of Communication

Enjoy life!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The Word of God is Alive!

 
Heb 4:12: For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.

God’s Word is alive and full of power, it has within itself the ability to give life, to heal and to enable Christians to live in victory. The problem is too few Christians understand just how powerful the Word of God is, and even fewer understand how powerful God’s Word is in the life of a believer when it is spoken in faith. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the power of life and death is in the tongue, the words the we speak can produce life, healing and blessings or they can bring death, sickness and curses. God said to one man, “My Words in YOUR MOUTH are just as powerful as they are in mine.” Wow think about that! We can and should be creating a better world for ourselves; we create the world that we desire by confessing God’s Word over our lives. You see the truth is that we are today what we are because of the words that we have spoken in the past. Words, both positive and negative set the landmarks in your life. Jesus said in Mark 11:23 that we can have what we say, the problem is that we have been saying what we have, for an example, someone who the devil is trying to make sick instead of confessing, “By His stripes I AM HEALED,” are saying “I’m sick”, “I’ve got the flu” or some other thing, there is no power or virtue in confessing sickness, there is no faith in those words to change sickness to health, to make that change we must boldly confess “By His stripes I AM HEALED.” People often ask me to pray for “Their cancer” or whatever, what they do not realise is that they are making a confession of ownership, that cancer does not belong to a born again child of God and it does not come from God either, but it comes from Satan right out of the pit of hell. Instead of making a confession of ownership of sickness make it a confession of ownership of divine healing. Remember, God’s Word is alive and full of power and according to Proverbs 4 it is medicine to all our flesh, so keep taking the medicine by speaking words of faith and watch your circumstance change.

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

This article may be reproduced for teaching purposes but not for any commercial purpose.

 

How To Open Air Preach (Kevin Williams)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ was never meant to be hid behind the walls of church buildings, and open air preaching is a wonderful way to take the good news “into the highways” (Matt. 22:9).

 

For myself, preaching the Gospel in the open air has been a wonderful privilege, seeing God move in both mighty and mysterious ways, and giving me glimpses of what it must have been like for Jesus preaching in the temple in John 7 (and other places), with questions and objections coming from all directions and different types of people in a rowdy crowd, and what it was like for Paul preaching in the market places.

 

In this article I want to share with you some helpful experiences that I have learned to be useful in open air preaching. I have not put these topics in any particular order, as one thing you will soon find in the open air is that things can be unpredictable. So may God use this article to help you step out in faith and through it draw closer to Him.

 

 

 

Beginners Be Prepared

 

These days when I open air preach, I never have a pre-written message prepared. However, I did when I first began, and I would highly recommend that those who are new to open air preaching take the time to think about and mull over what you are going to say. Getting up for the first time to preach in the open air is, for most people, a nerve-racking experience, and the thought of getting “stuck” in mid-message is the fear of many. On top of that, opposition with people shouting things at you, and trying to put you off will normally come, and so being prepared is certainly helpful.

 

Be Realistic About The Length Of Your Message

 

What I mean by this, is I’ve often observed people preaching 20 or 30 minute sermons in the open air like they would in a church building. Yet most of their audience is hearing between 30 seconds and two minutes, and so getting very little, or nothing at all, out of their message. In the days of George Whitefield and John Wesley, people would crowd around to hear a 30 minute to one hour sermon, like they would for a major sports event, but this is not normally the case in our day. If most of your listeners are only there for two or three minutes, then I suggest repeating the Gospel every two or three minutes and keep circulating your message.

 

Learn To Be Flexible

 

Following on from my last point, a good practice is to think over how to share the Gospel in various lengths of time: one minute, three minutes, five minutes, and ten minutes. This will enable you to be prepared to adjust your preaching to each situation.

 

A group of us used to preach opposite a tram stop in the streets of Manchester City Centre where we had a ready-made crowd of 30-50 people for between three and seven minutes. The tram times were unpredictable and once we saw the tram coming around the corner, no matter what point we were up to in our message, it meant we had about 30 seconds to go to and explain the cross, and let them know of the offer of eternal life.

 

Also, learn to be flexible towards the different types of audiences you are preaching to. For instance if a Jewish person suddenly joins the crowd or passes by, I may quickly bring up a Messianic prophecy like Zechariah 12:10.

 

Don’t Compete With Noisy Machinery

 

Like in the instance above, when the tram finally got too close and was blowing its horn, there was no point in straining my voice in trying to compete with it. In that instance, once it got too loud, I would pause until the tram stopped, and then when it quieted down to a reasonable level, I would get another 30 seconds or so, whilst the passengers were boarding the tram.

 

Every now and then when I preach in the town centres, a noisy street cleaning vehicle will pass by, and so rather than strain my voice I will simply pause my message for the 30 seconds or so until it passes. This may mean you will have to repeat some things you have already said to reiterate as new people may in that time join the crowd.

 

Also when picking your initial spot to preach from, make sure it is a place where people can hear you and you are not drowned out by competing noise.

 

Picking Your Spot

 

When choosing where to preach, there is no point competing with traffic noise, or a street musician, or a shop with a loud PA System. Nor is there any point in preaching where people are not. If there are only a few people passing by then it is much better to approach them and just talk with them one-on-one, or one-to-a-group. For open air preaching you need to find a busy place where people are regularly passing by.

 

Observe the wind direction, and preach with the wind behind you. If the wind speed is only slight then this may not matter, but preaching with a strong wind behind you (especially if you are elevated) will make your voice carry a much longer distance.

 

Over time you will learn to project your voice so it ‘bounces’ off stone buildings and other objects, to help you be heard louder and further away.

 

Lift Up Your Voice Like A Trumpet

 

Just like the rest of your body gets fitter with exercise, your vocals should get louder and stronger the more you preach. With regular practice you will be able to preach louder and for longer. One word of caution: Don’t preach from the throat because if you do then not only are you likely to sound like a raging mad man, but you also won’t last longer than 10 or so minutes. Make sure your voice comes from the stomach.

 

When you first start preaching your “big voice” may seem like it is all on one level with no variation of tone, making you sound harsh. But do not worry; over a short time as you get louder and with prayer God will help you develop a voice of compassion.

 

Preach With Elevation. Get A Soap Box. Preferably A Step Ladder

 

Elevation makes a huge difference. This is underestimated by so many, so let me repeat this principle again, because it is so important:

Elevation makes a huge difference! Because:

 

No.1. It means your voice will travel further. Loudspeakers in buildings are placed at a height for a reason. When you are elevated your voice will travel further, and also your voice will pick up more of the wind from a higher point.

 

No.2. You are more visible and prominent. If you are shouting whilst standing on the ground in a high street, then to passers-by, you look like a mad man. However, when you are on a soap box or a step ladder, then people will give you more respect and stop by to listen, because it gives people the impression that you have something to say.

 

No.3. For your own protection. When you are preaching, people will sometimes come right up to you and if you are on the same level ground as them, then this can be very intimidating when people come right in your face. Nor can you continue shouting when someone’s face is only inches away from yours. However if you are on a step ladder, then when people come close up, they may still be aggressive, but it’s not natural for even the most hardened men to pick a fight with someone who looks eight or nine feet tall. Think of an animal that makes its hair stand on end when threatened. The extra height gives the same psychological effect.

 

Also, it is much better to take your own ladder or soapbox to stand on, rather than stand on a public bench or steps.

 

Firstly, because then you can find the best place to open air, and set up your ladder and preach from there, rather than being restricted to preaching from places that are often substandard.

 

Secondly, if you are on public property, like standing on a bench then there is nothing to stop an aggressive heckler getting up alongside you.

 

This is not to be legalistic though, for instance, you may one day be out shopping, when a great opportunity to open air preach arises. In which case you should preach as God presents the opportunity, ladder or no ladder.

 

Engage The Heckler

 

Some of the worst open air preaching advice I have encountered is when I hear people say, “When I get a heckler, I completely ignore him, and just keep focused on my message and so he soon goes away.”

 

Listen! A good heckler is an open air preacher’s best friend. Banter between the preacher and the heckler can turn a crowd from just a few people to sometimes even a hundred in a matter of minutes. Who wouldn’t stop to watch a lively debate in the street, especially on a subject in which most people have their own strong opinions?

 

Make it a priority to pray for God to send a good heckler.

 

Leave Answering The Heckler To The Preacher

 

When there is a group of you, and the one who is preaching gets a heckler, don’t make the mistake of trying to help the preacher by answering the heckler. This will just draw the crowd away from the preaching. If the person preaching is inexperienced and feels it is getting too much for him, he could simply say “My friend here is now going to step up and answer your objections.”

 

Take The Time To Learn Apologetics

 

Regarding apologetics (answering objections) there are generally two errors. One error is to spend so much time answering objections and going into such depth with answers, that the Gospel (which is the power of God unto Salvation) is not preached. I’ve seen open air preachers with good crowds spend 20 or 30 minutes answering objections before moving on to the Gospel, but in that time 40 or 50 people have come and gone, who have listened to an objection or two being answered but have not heard how they may be saved.

 

The second error regarding apologetics is to disregard them all together. Sometimes people’s questions are genuine, and even when they are not, apologetics done rightly is a great way to draw a crowd. When someone is shouting objections to you, and you are answering back, other people will stop by to listen. Pretty soon you may have others stopping by and waiting their turn to ask their objection.

 

Keep In Control

 

What I mean by this is often whilst you are answering one persons objection, someone else may shout another objection, demanding you answer them on the spot. What they are doing here is just trying to prevent you from answering. When this happens simply tell them that this person was before them and that you will answer their question in turn. When you do this, they will feel rude, and their butting in then becomes an attack on the other listeners rather than the preacher.

 

Finish Your Answers

 

Often, in the middle of answering an objection, the person who asked the question will try to interrupt by shouting out another objection. And he or she may keep on doing this every time you answer the next objection. When that happens don’t make the mistake of cutting short your answers and moving on to the next objection without properly answering the first. Obviously in this case the heckler is not really interested in your answers. But remember, other people are listening in. Don’t make the mistake of half answering many questions, whilst fully answering none.

 

Avoid Highly Complex Objections

 

Occasionally you may get an objection (and it may or may not be genuine) which would not only take a long time to answer (even five minutes can be a long time in the open air), but it is highly likely that apart from the person you are speaking to, no one else in the crowd will have a clue what you are talking about. In which case don’t lose half of your audience in trying to answer one persons “technical trivia” question. In this situation I would normally just say, “It would take too long to answer here, and go over the heads of most of the other people listening, but send me an email or speak to one of the others who have come out with me”, and then carry on preaching.

 

 

Be Clear In Your Answers

 

In my experience most people objecting do not properly understand their own objections. Many have simply read or heard something by a skeptic which they are happy to believe, no questions asked. But at the same time, they do not understand what the skeptic actually said. So make sure you explain things clearly, and remember more people are listening than the person who asked the question.

 

Don’t Preach In ‘Christianese’

 

Christians have a lot of words and phrases that the average person does not understand, or they mean different things to different people, like “repent”, “walk”, “born again”, “justified” etc. Now I am not saying do not use these words, in fact some are essential. But we must clearly explain what we mean. Explain the way of salvation in simple terms.

 

Keep Your Voice Lifted Up Like A Trumpet

 

One of the first times I preached in the open air, I recorded myself. And I didn’t notice until later when I listened to the recording, that when a group of girls came by who I had an interaction with, that I had made the mistake of considerably lowering the level of my voice, as if I was just speaking to these few people close by rather than the whole square. Always keep your voice lifted high. Remember when you open air preach you want to be heard by everyone in range.

 

You’re Trying To Win People, Not Offend Them

 

Some time ago a street preacher was arrested for preaching against Father Christmas, after complaints of children crying. The Bible does not say ‘Go ye into all the world and preach against Father Christmas’. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive enough without causing offence where it is not needed. Nor are we there to preach about politics. Don’t cause unnecessary offense.

 

Show Love and Compassion

 

If you preach without love then you will sound like a gong or a clanging cymbal. This is something you must constantly pray for. If you regularly preach in the open air and lift the Name of Jesus high then you will be met by a lot of hatred, and so if you don’t guard against it then it is very easy to become cold hearted.

 

Pray, Pray, Pray and Pray

 

One of the saddest things regarding many groups that open air preach is neglect of prayer. On more than a few occasions I’ve seen groups of Christians get together for evangelism, and do nothing more than a quick 5 or 10 minutes of prayer. Sometimes people will have a great time of fellowship beforehand, and maybe even fit in a devotional Bible Study and words of encouragement, but then they reduce prayer to an ‘added extra’. Don’t expect the Spirit of God to move if you’re not going to spend quality time waiting upon God in prayer.

 

I suggest at least one hour of prayer (and enjoying God) before you go out to evangelize, and include singing a few hymns praising God in that. This may mean one hour less on the streets, but it will be worth it.

 

Check Your Motive: Is It To Know And Enjoy God In A Greater Way?

 

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you. ” Matt 6:33

 

Evangelism should be driven by love of God and love of fellow man. You must constantly keep check of this, and be careful to make sure that evangelism does not become a ritual or an idol.

 

Driving home one evening after an amazing day of open air preaching in which I had seen God move in a mighty way, with crowds of hundreds hearing the Gospel, I was jumping for joy, singing at the top of my voice along to Matt Redman on the car stereo ‘Lord Let Your Glory Fall’, and praising God. Then I felt God say, “Why didn’t you praise Me like this last week, when you had just a few people stop to listen?” Ouch!

 

It is wonderful when God draws big crowds. I pray for that, and I am confident in God who is faithful to answer prayer and do great things, but we should never forget what a great privilege it is to go out as ambassadors for Jesus Christ and proclaim how great God is and His glorious salvation when just a few or even no one seems to be listening. Your desire should be to draw closer to Jesus and come to know Him in a greater way in all that you do. If you make this your priority then I assure you that God will never let you down. Glorify God and enjoy Him!

 

Load Your Preaching With Scripture. Memorize

 

“Where the word of a king is, there is power” (Ecc 8:4). As I learned from Charles Spurgeon, it is God’s words that convert people, not our own explanations. So fill your preaching with Scripture and in order to quote Scripture in the open air, you must memorize Scripture.

 

Fill Your Preaching With Christ. Who He Is And How Great He Is

 

The Apostle Paul said “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23), yet in much evangelism today, Jesus Christ is reduced to a footnote. If you want to win people to Christ then you must preach Him.

 

Make Disciples

 

The great commission in Matthew 28:19-20 is to make disciples and teach them in all things, and so where possible evangelism should be done in the context of the local church. Make sure your church fellowship details are on your tracts. Tell them about it, how to get there and offer transport help.

 

Witness and Tracting Whilst The Preacher Is Preaching

 

Most open air preachers I know do not like the others with them to tract the crowd whilst they are preaching. Their thinking behind it is that people will go from listening to the preacher to reading a tract. I differ on this, and believe it is best to tract everyone in the crowd, otherwise many will leave without a tract. In fact I normally preach with a pile of tracts in my hand and encourage people to take one.

 

I also encourage the people with me to discreetly witness to people listening. When I say discreetly, what I mean is, don’t go into the middle of the crowd and witness to people listening to the preacher, and don’t be loud, or you will just break up the crowd as attention will turn to you, but maybe start up a witnessing conversation with someone you see watching at a distance. Ask them what they think of what is being said and take it from there. If people listening see you with tracts, Bible and t-shirt, so they know you are obviously with the preacher, then many times people will approach you.

 

Wear Gospel Clothing

 

Granted I cannot find a Scripture verse to support this, but Wesley and Whitefield wore their preacher’s robes in the open air for a reason. Wearing our matching t-shirts, with the cross and Scripture verses on them, has led to countless conversations. Sometimes people listening to the preacher will look for others wearing our matching evangelism t-shirts.

 

Keep It Legal

 

Get to know the law of the land regarding where you can and cannot preach. There are enough good legal places to preach without unnecessarily offending by preaching on private property without permission.

 

Be Careful Who Gets Up To Preach

 

When we first started open air preaching, we would leave the step ladder or soapbox set up in between people speaking. However we have learned to guard the soap box and take up the ladder, as we have had Muslims try to get up and preach, and also on one instance a guy who I did not know suddenly got up on my ladder without asking and started preaching. At first he seemed to be Christian, but it turned out he was a Seventh Day Adventist, and when a heckler gave him some abuse, he suddenly chased him across the street and pinned him against the wall. As you can imagine this did not do our witness a whole lot of good.

 

How Will You React To Hostility?

 

Whilst open air preaching I have been kicked, punched, had bottles and cans thrown at me, knocked off my ladder and also had an awful lot of hate-filled speech hurled at me. Much of this is done with the intent of trying to get you to react in an unloving way. All of these are perfect chances to show the love of Christ, by turning the other cheek and going the extra mile, and using them as an illustration for the Gospel.

Kevin Williams