Dear Mom,

I was thinking about you this morning while I brewed my coffee. I pictured you sitting at the kitchen table with your Bible open beside your cup of tea, the way you’ve done for years. I’m thankful for that picture — it’s one of the things I’ve always admired about you: that steady commitment to God’s Word.

You’ve said to me before, “I don’t need church history; I just need the Bible.” And in one sense, you’re absolutely right: the Scriptures are all we need to know the way of salvation. “The sacred writings… are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). On that we stand together.

But as I’ve read the Bible more and wrestled with difficult passages, I’ve come to see that the challenge isn’t having more books — it’s making sure we understand this book rightly. The Spirit who inspired it has also guided generations of believers before us to wrestle with the same words. Listening to their insights doesn’t add to Scripture; it helps keep us from drifting into private interpretations that the church never held.

That’s why I want to talk about this with you.

I know your heart is to honor God’s Word, and I love that about you. But here’s what troubles me: without realizing it, you already lean on church history—you just lean on the most recent slice of it.

We talked before about Darby’s teaching of the secret rapture is history. It began in the 1830s. And by saying you only need the Bible while embracing his teaching, you’re really depending on a very recent lens to read Scripture. If the secret rapture of the Church is so central, why did no Christian for 1,800 years ever teach it? Did God really hide this truth from the entire church until the 19th century? That doesn’t sound like the Christ who promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

The early church, the Reformers, the Puritans—all of them read passages like John 6, 1 Thessalonians 4, Matthew 24, and 2 Thessalonians 1 as pointing to one glorious return of Christ on the last day. Not a secret rapture, not one and a hlaf, or two comings. One. If we shrug off their testimony, we risk being cut loose from the wisdom God has preserved for us through the ages.

Mom, I don’t bring this up to argue, but because I long for us to reason together with open Bibles. I want you to see that what you’ve been taught isn’t simply “Bible only”—it’s Bible filtered through Darby’s categories. And if that’s true, then we owe it to ourselves to test those categories against both Scripture and the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us.

The Bible is enough. But God also gave us His church—not just the one alive today, but the communion of saints throughout history. Listening to them doesn’t weaken our faith; it strengthens it. Ignoring them doesn’t protect us; it makes us vulnerable to novelty.

That’s why I want to keep this conversation alive with you, Mom. Not to unsettle you, but to draw us both closer to Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

With love,
Your son

Passages to read together:

• John 6:39–40, 44, 54 (resurrection on the last day)
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (loud, visible coming of Christ)
• Matthew 24:29–31 (after tribulation, Christ gathers His elect)
• 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10 (judgment and relief together)
• Hebrews 12:1 (great cloud of witnesses)