If one were to take the "head in the sand" approach, or be like the three famous monkeys: "Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil." then this book is not for that person. In some respects The Three R's Rapture, Revisions, Robbery is a troubling book. It is troubling, in that, it shows those who are willing to investigate the propensity of modern day, popular prophecy - profit makers - teachers, men who procure and promote questionable positions (Pre-trib-rapturism), from unlikely sources ( e. g. pyramidolgy, and astrology) while propping these dubious views up by a method referred by this reviewer as "Text tearing." A procedure which uses out of context passages from the Bible to bolster a preconceived idea.
If that were not enough to cause serious Bible students alarm, Dave MacPherson further exposes the perpetual plagiarism - that's the "Robbery" section mentioned in the subtitle - that has been practiced by prominent pretrib-rapturist from the very inception of this relatively recent (169 years old) aberration of the faith - the faith once delivered unto the saints. This should cause astute saints deep concern. Dispensationalism's questionably origins have been suppressed - here is the Revisionism of the book - according to MacPherson. By citing the works of former writers and comparing them with contemporary authors, MacPherson makes his point. Most notably of those charged with plagiarism is, as the subtitle mentions is a popular pop prophecy author, Hal Lindsey. Others are named, as well, such as Joseph Seiss, E. W. Bullinger, and John Darby; the list includes contemporary men like Chuck Missler and Tim LaHaye. LaHaye's fault lies in omissions and suppression of the facts, as is understood by this Pastor, when citing former works. Documentation is judiciously supplied so that the honest Christian may decide for himself.
Plagiarism is literary piracy; it is intellectual theft. A plagiarist practices forgery by assigning his name to the labor of another. The Scripture, however, has not been suspended where it commands, "Thou shalt not steal." (Exo 20:15 KJV) "Gaw-nab" translated in that statement is from the Hebrew term which means, "carry away." Whereas "klep'-to" comes from the Greek and is defined in part as to "take away by theft i.e. take away by stealth." MacPherson adequately demonstrates how that this practice of carrying away the writing of previous authors has been frequently utilized from the beginning of the dispensationalism short history of less than 200 years.
MacPherson further demonstrates that two considerably prominent men of our century have raised the charge of plagiarism against Hal Lindsey. Both of these men are of the dispensational persuasion and have had enormously influential careers during their life time. On page 109 the late Merril F. Unger a highly esteemed scholar is shown to be one of those who have complained about Hal Lindsey's lifting - stealing - ideas. The second man cited who also makes the charge of plagiarism against Lindsey is Texe Marrs, who currently has an ongoing ministry known as The Living Truth Ministries. This is presented on page 118 of The Three R's Rapture, Revisionism, Robbery.
Dispensationalism, it is succinctly proven in The Three R's is an extremely wobbly system which is built upon the sifting sands of occultic and cultic practices, as well as literary thievery that are sure to sink the system one day. Moreover, it has been popularized in the last three decades by men of very questionable scholarship who have, it has been discovered, displayed dishonest practices. MacPherson certainly deserves a hearing from seekers of the truth.
Some of the former works by Dave MacPherson, for those interested, are The Incredible Cover-Up copyrighted 1975 by Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey 07061, The Great Rapture Hoax copyrighted 1983, New Puritan Library 91 Lytle Road, Fletcher, N.C. 28732, and The Rapture Plot copyrighted 1995, Millennium III Publishers, Simpsonville, South Carolina 29681.
Pastor John Stephen Brown serves the LORD Jesus Christ - and has for over thirteen years - at the Eternal Grace Baptist Church. This assembly is a historical, particular, unregistered Baptist Church. Pastor Brown may be reached in one of the following ways:
8965 N. Co. Rd. 675 E. Bainbridge, Indiana
(765) 522-1308
E-mail: preacher@link2000.net