In 1827 Darby left the Anglican priesthood, and by 1831 he was among the leaders of the Plymouth Brethren, a “non-denominational” movement that denounced main-line Christianity. He began to teach that the “true” church would need to be removed from the earth in order to make way for the completion of God’s dealings with the Jews. He referred to this secret removal of true believers as the “Rapture.” No previous Christian—Catholic or Protestant—ever had proposed such