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The “pre-tribulation rapture” — the belief that Christians will be whisked away before a seven-year tribulation — isn’t ancient doctrine. It was invented in the early 1830s by Anglo-Irish preacher John Nelson Darby during a series of prophetic conferences. His dispensationalist framework was later embedded into the 1909 Scofield Reference Bible, whose study notes fused theology with a political agenda. By linking Christ’s return to the survival of the modern state of Israel, Scofield’s annotations reshaped American evangelical belief — turning millions into unwavering political foot soldiers for Zionism.