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Showing posts from November, 2022

He Came Down...to Deliver

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  by Bart Denny What follows is the sermon I intended to preach at Pathway - A Wesleyan Church on November 30, 2025, the first Sunday of Advent, when we would have lit the "Hope" candle on the Advent wreath if heavy snowfall had not preempted our service. This is the first message in a series titled He Came Down: The Wonder of God's Nearness. He Came Down... to Deliver Exodus 3:1-15 Introduction Have you ever walked through a season when you felt… unseen? When you wondered, “Does anyone know what I’m carrying? Does anyone understand? Is anyone even listening when I pray?” As we step into Advent, we need this reminder: Advent tells us we are not forgotten. Advent isn’t about people climbing their way to God. It’s the story of a God who comes down into the very places where we are — the ordinary, the unnoticed, the overlooked. And that’s why we’re not beginning this Advent series where you might expect. Instead of Bethlehem or Nazareth, we’re starting in the wilderness of ...
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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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