DID THIS ANTICHRIST AND SECRET RAPTURE THEORY ORIGINATE WITH MARGARET MCDONALD?
Historical evidence actually revealed it originated much earlier. Before and during the Protestant Reformation, the Reformers embraced the truth "Historical" interpretation of the Bible where the antichrist was clearly seen as a system of apostasy and persecution rather than a single individual. John spoke of antichrist that "shall come" but he also added that "even now are there MANY antichrist" 1 John 2:18. So we know that there was not just one but many antichrist and that the antichrist system was operating when John was writing about 2000 years ago. The conclusion of who studied this prophecies during the Reformation was that there was only one system that fits all the characteristics of antichrist which was the Papal system of the Roman Catholic Church. The following are the many identifiable characteristics:
1. It will rise to be a great power after the fall of pagan Rome Empire after (476 AD)
2. It will be a geographically small nation (a little horn). (Daniel 7:8)
3. It will rule over many people, nations and tongues (it will be universal). (Revelation 13:7)
4. It will be headquartered in the city of seven hills, Rome.
5. It will be religio-political entity - a political city- state rule by a priest-king.
6. Its priest-king will make great and blasphemous claims. (Revelation 13:1,6)
7. It will claim authority over all kings (Revelation 17:18)
8. It will claim its power to change the holy times and laws of God as its mark of authority. (Daniel 7:25)
9. It will be an apostate Church that makes the nation drink her cup of apostate doctrine. (Revelation 14:8)
10. It will be a "mother" h Church with apostate daughters coming from her. (Revelation 17:5)
11. It will be a persecuting power, killing the faithful of Jesus Christ as heretics. (Revelation 13:7)
12. It will hold power and authority for 1260 years following the fall of pagan Rome.
13. It will suffer a deadly wound that will end 1260 years of dominance and persecution.
14. It will be revived after the deadly wound, and all the world would wonder at its revival. (Revelation 13:13)
No wonder the Roman Catholic Church was so opposed to the Bible being available for everyone to read for themselves. To control what they called heretical doctrine the Catholic Church called for a special meeting known as the Fifth Lateran Council, (1512-1517) which forbid anyone to publish a book without prior censorship and also prohibited anyone from preaching on the subject of antichrist. The leader of the Council and the Catholic Church also attempted to ban or burn all Bible and heretics that owned and preached from them.
The major characteristics identifying the antichrist power was this 1260 years of persecution of the "saints" which was fulfilled in the Catholic Church's persecution of Christians throughout the dark ages beginning in 538AD after the fall of pagan Rome empire and extending to 1978 (1260 years exactly), when the Pope was taken prisoner by Napoleons general Berthier and died. This was the deadly head wound. (Revelation 13:13) In order to divert attention away from the Roman Catholic Church as the antichrist power, a new interpretation would have to be found. This was done by rejecting the true "Historical" interpretation and accepting a false "Futurist" interpretation proposed by a Jesuit doctor of theology, Francisco Ribera (1537-1591).
In this book entitled "In Sacrum Beati loannis Apostoli, & Evangelastiae Apocalypsin Comentarij", he postulated that the 1260 days prophecy were not 1260 years, but a literal 3 1/2 year of 1260 actual days, and therefore none of the book of Revelation had any application to the Middle Ages or the Papacy. It applied to a future period just prior to the second coming of Christ; hence it was called "Futurism" or the "Fururist" interpretation. Manuel De Lacunza (1731-1801), a Jesuits priest from Chile, also advocated futurism in his manuscript entitled "La Venida del Mesias en Gloria i Magestad" (The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty). Written under the assumed name of Juan Josafa (Rabbi) Ben-Ezra, Lacunza hoped to obscure the fact that he was a Roman Catholic, in order to give his book better acceptance in Protestantism. Ribera's futurism puts the antichrist into a future three and one-half literal years. Alcazar's preterism identifies the antichrist as Nero. Both put antichrist outside the Middle Ages and the reformation period identified by Protestant Historicists as antichrist's reign 1260 of prophetic years. The truly amazing part of all this is that the Futurist theory dominates Protestant teaching today. That scenario is directly traceable back to the pen of the Jesuit Francisco Ribera who manufactured this theory for the sole purpose of diverting attention of the Papacy in what could be described as a stunning reversal, Protestants have over time actually become the Papacy greatest ally by spreading its Jesuit spawned propaganda. What irony that Protestants who originally broke away from what they clearly recognized to be the h antichrist led Church of prophecy, now champion the Futurist interpretation from high profile ministries. Futurism has without doubt, been successful beyond his Jesuit authors. The same applies to the Preterist interpretation of Luis De Alcazar, although to a much lesser decree.
