"For all the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the Tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins" (On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World, by Ephraem the Syrian, A.D. 373)
Post-tribulation (rapture) writers continue to attack the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine by claiming that it cannot be true because no Church writer or reformer ever taught this doctrine until approximately 170 years ago. This is patently untrue, as evidenced by Ephraem the Syrian, in A.D. 373. And there is no shortage of ancient quotes agreeing with it.
The real question for sincere students of scripture must be whether or not the Bible teaches the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and the catching up of the living, which it does.
The argument that no one ever wrote of this "truth" throughout the first 1,600+ years of Church history, though untrue, has been very effective, causing many Christians to abandon their belief in the pre-Tribulation rapture.
Several fascinating manuscripts contain clear evidence of the teaching of the pre-Tribulation rapture in the Early Church.
...Those who have stated that the pre-Tribulation rapture was never taught throughout the entire history of the Church until 1820 are simply ignorant of the many Christian texts that support it.
Article References: Margaret McDonald, Grant Jeffrey, archaeological discoveries, Emmanuel Acurnza, Edward Irving, John Darby, Dave MacPherson, John Bray, Plymouth Brethren, Ephraem the Syrian, epistle of Barnabas(A.D. 110), Hippolytus (A.D. 220), Shepherd of Hermas (A.D. 110), John Gill.
