In my ongoing studies in the early-church fathers, I have discovered a number of pretribulation-rapture passages in Ephraim the Syrian that I haven’t seen referenced in books, magazines, or online. I offer ten of the clearest here. Perhaps “undiscovered” is an overstatement, but unless my radar needs to be significantly upgraded, these passages do seem to have largely escaped notice in prophecy-loving circles. I found them in his 150-plus Greek works which not only aren’t included in the standard English-translation church-father collections, but the vast majority of them have never been translated into English, at least not with any semblance of formal publication...
Please visit my good friend Lee Brainard's excellent website (Soothkeep) for great content and information.
Please allow me to add that I saw this information on Soothkeep's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OFpIwgEhdE&t=47s), and was amazed at its Biblical accuracy. In fact, I shared the information with many people, and heartily recommend it to others as well. My previous post came about after doing some research to see if others had also come across Ephraim's writings and discovered that Grant Jeffrey had also. I offered my comment in the hope that others will see that Mr. Brainard's great research and findings have also been validated by other Christian writers.
The late Grant Jeffrey heavily referenced Ephraim (he spelled his name Ephraem) the Syrian's text entitled "On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World." in defense of the the early church (and early church fathers') beliefs prior to the Nicene Council in 325 AD in a pretribulation rapture, second coming at the end of the tribulation, and a literal millennial kingdom. He shared his writings in his books "Final Warning," (1995) and also in "Heaven: The Mystery of Angels." (1996). He offered graceful rebuke for opponents of John Darby's popularization of pretrib rapture teaching stating that open access to the Bible was not widespread - especially in the RCC - until much later.
Pete, thank you for this fascinating article. I have a family member who is a devotee of A. Ladd and his book the Blessed Hope. I read it myself and have drawn the conclusion that Mr. Ladd was off the mark. I hope to pass this on to my BIL
Thanks again
JM
The Bible is the word of God and only the Bible!
Dave MacPherson, in his book The Incredible Cover-up, has done much to further the myth that Margaret MacDonald was John Darby's source for the Pre-Trib rapture. This has been disproved multiple times, but nothing shakes his incredible hatred for this doctrine. The information in Lee Brainard's article goes a long way in disproving MacPherson once again. A very good article!