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Faith in the Fog

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by Bart L. Denny, Ph.D. Text: Mark 9:14-29 Faith That Believes, but Can’t See Clearly Have you ever tried to drive through thick fog at night? You know the road is still there.  You know you’re headed in the right direction.  But you can’t see very far ahead. So you slow down. You grip the wheel a little tighter. And every decision feels heavier than it should. That’s a lot like what faith can feel like sometimes. I don’t know if this describes your experience, but there have been seasons in my life when I genuinely believed in God.  I believed He was real. That He was good.  I believed He had the power to act, and that He was working through all things for my good.  And at the same time, I struggled to see clearly what He was doing.  I still prayed. I still showed up.  I still tried to do what I knew was right.  But there were nights when I went to bed wondering why nothing seemed to be changing. Belief was still there… But clarity wasn’t. The ...
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Did the Early Church Fathers Believe in a Pretribulational Rapture?

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by Bart L. Denny, Ph.D., Th.M. I wrote this article years ago, and while I still see value in some of the arguments presented, my view has become more settled with time. Let me say it plainly: No, the early church fathers did not believe in a pretribulation rapture —at least not in the way John Nelson Darby and modern dispensationalists since the 1800s have taught it. They didn’t believe in it for one very good reason: the Bible didn’t teach it that way , and they were far closer—both chronologically and culturally—to the apostles than we are. But what did they believe? Let’s explore. Reading the Fathers with a Clear Eye Some scholars and popular writers have tried to find early traces of the pretribulation rapture among the church fathers. The argument often goes like this: If these early Christians believed in the imminent return of Christ and held to a millennial reign, then maybe—just maybe—they also believed in a secret rapture of the church before a Great Tribulation. Sounds in...
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