I come from Bristol, home of George Müller, one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren movement in the 1800s. He was contemporary to John Darby, a key Plymouth Brethren founder whose assemblies were later called the Exclusive Brethren. Müller’s assemblies were later called the Open Brethren. Darby and some associates of Müller had differences and split. Darby would not accept certain christological doctrines of Benjamin Wills Newton, an associate of Müller and wanted the Bristol assemblies to exclude from fellowship anyone from the assembly of Newton. Müller refused, believing in the autonomy of local assemblies. Müller, on the other hand, saw Darby as teaching a false teaching too. This teaching, in his mind a false teaching contradicting scripture, was Pre-tribulation Rapture. The Wikipedia article about Müller writes: ‘Though the pre-tribulational rapture doctrine gained momentum as a result of the literature of the Brethren movement, Müller's church was wary of such teachings. George Müller held to a Post Tribulation Rapture doctrine along with others such as Benjamin Wills Newton and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, and said that "scripture declares plainly that the Lord Jesus will not come until the Apostasy shall have taken place, and the man of sin shall have been revealed..."’ Both of these men made trips to the USA where they preached. The teachings of Darby are still very widespread there, especially among the Bible Belt evangelical churches. Here in Bristol in England it is mainly the orphanages of Müller which are remembered, and a major road is named after him where his orphanage used to be. As children in churches in the area, we all grew up being told about his faith in God, the answers to Müller‘s prayers which made him famous here and in other parts of the world including the USA. Those were times when using scripture as a reference by which to judge doctrines was still a major feature in the church landscape. Yet charismatic movements we know today had yet to come to the fore, and charismatic workings of the Holy Spirit were not part of Darby‘s and Müller‘s lives. The charismatic experiences of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miraculous healings, were not as widespread or accepted in mainstream Protestant Christianity as they would become in the 20th century with the rise of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. Mainly, for Darby and Müller it was all about meetings of believers, Bible reading and prayer. So for a church leader to intend to lead based on scripture meant constant scripture study and open discussions with other believers. Both Müller and Darby were committed to this, as Plymouth Brethren founders. It was surprising, perhaps, that Müller and his associates did not clamp down in some way on Darby’s teachings about pre tribulation rapture. The split over other doctrinal issues in 1848 led to Plymouth Brethren splitting into Open and Exclusive Brethren. Müller focussed on his orphanage work rather than on seeking to police the Exclusive Brethren and John Darby. Müller believed in the autonomy of local assemblies, and so he did not think his own doctrines should be imposed on other assemblies, or used to police Darby. However, this and the passivity of the other Brethren leaders, left Darby to spread his pre-tribulation doctrines far in the USA and among all of his Exclusive Brethren assemblies. So now it is a prevalent doctrine in the USA Bible Belt and the Schofield Reference Bible has spread it beyond the Brethren movement.
