Just my take...
by Judie
Ahhh, the "social gospel"...should true believers have any part in such a movement?
Many would think or say, "well, what harm can it do, after all Christians should make a difference in this world shouldn't they?" To which I would respond, ABSOLUTELY! But exactly what difference are we as believers called to make? This is where I think the issue starts to get a bit convoluted in christendom.
The only answer I care to discuss here is what the BIBLE says on the subject...
Considering the teachings of Jesus, what I conclude is that although we should indeed meet the needs of our fellow human beings if and when we can, we certainly should not make that endeavor our primary "focus" or calling in life.
Simply put, the Lord NEVER called His people to "fix" this present world with all it's unfortunate woes, but rather to REACH those who don't yet know Him and teach them the ways of truth.
The commission of Mt.28:19,20 is quite clear on this - "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
In my view, there is no confusion whatsoever as to what the Church should be spending their time and efforts doing. As Jesus said, His Kingdom is not of this world - so tell me, why should we as His people be attempting to build His Kingdom in this present world? Makes no sense.
Let's consider for a minute what our relationship to this world should be...the admonition in Colossians 3 tells us to "NOT put our affections in the things on this earth but to seek those things which are above". In James 4:4, and 1 John, we are told to "NOT love this world or be a friend to it".
Another important consideration is that Jesus clearly said that where our treasure is there our hearts would be also. Needless to say, it seems pretty clear that our ultimate hope should not be in this present world since we who belong to Christ are just strangers and pilgrims passing through on our way to our REAL home.
So, I really have to wonder where all the confusion on this issue is coming from. Does scripture not make it clear enough that we are to be about our "father's business"? And do we not realize that His business is surely not about picketing or lobbying for our many "rights" and comforts? Nor is it about making the doing of GOOD WORKS and "changing society" our primary focus. Neither Jesus or the disciples ever pursued such things, so why should we? As the writer of the article below accurately states - "the root of the problems in our world is SIN". I wholeheartedly agree.
Now, if SIN is indeed the problem, and it is, then there is really only one solution...SALVATION. The salvation of souls is the primary mission Jesus gave to the Church. He didn't call us to "moralize" or "politicize", he called us to EVANGELIZE! This is why it's so crucial that we believers don't allow ourselves to become DISTRACTED with all the "good things" we can do in this world...good things that oftentimes cause us to neglect our true calling and mission. Remember, Jesus never said to feed the world, He said to feed His sheep. He also said, that if we seek to save our lives in this world, we'll lose them.
Now don't get me wrong, I fully realize that doing good things has a significant place in the life of the believer, but I also realize that it should never take precedence over sharing the truth of God's Word to reach souls. It's noteworthy to also point out that we should never compromise our principals or the truth of the Gospel for the sake of getting together with others to DO "good things"...never!
That said, I think it's safe to say that we'd all be wise to check our priorities and ask ourselves exactly WHAT and WHO we are building for? Are we building on the solid rock - Jesus Christ - resting in HIS righteousness and seeking HIS Kingdom? Or is the foundation of our faith and life set more on the shifting sinking sands of this evil present world with all it's coveted creature comforts?
In closing, my prayer is that we'll ignore all the constant distractions coming our way, both good and bad, and get back to sharing the TRUE Gospel message that alone can save, heal, and change the hearts of men. The message of the GRACE of God and His finished work on the CROSS - this is the help and hope that the world so desperately needs. It is also the greatest and most precious gift the true believer can give to a sin-sick dying world that's in dire need of life-giving TRUTH and godly direction.
Saints, there's much work to do - let's be about our Father's business, He's counting on us to truly make a difference...the RIGHT difference...and the only one that will count for time and eternity!
Come soon Lord Jesus!
Hope you enjoy the article below.
In His love,
Judie <><
The Shameful Social Gospel
by T.A. McMahon
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Romans:1:16
For various reasons, Christians of different sorts have tinkered with "the gospel of Christ" as though it needed adjustments. Not major alterations, most will tell you, but just some minor tweaking here and there. The changes often begin by one's declaring that there is no real change involved, simply a shift in emphasis. Yet, no matter what the rationale may be, the end result is being "ashamed of the gospel of Christ."
To be "ashamed of the gospel" covers a number of attitudes from being totally embarrassed by it to thinking one can improve upon it a bit to make it more acceptable. One example of the former is the recent claim by an Emerging Church author that the teaching regarding Christ's paying the full penalty for the sins of mankind through His substitutionary death on the Cross is irrelevant and viewed as "a form of cosmic child abuse." More subtle examples include trying to make the gospel seem less exclusive, and the "softening" of the consequences from which the gospel saves mankind, such as the wrath of God and the Lake of Fire.
Prevalent among many religious leaders who profess to be evangelical Christians (i.e., Bible-believing Christians) is the promotion of a gospel that is acceptable to, and even admired by, people throughout the world. Today, the most popular form of this is the social gospel.
Although the social gospel is common to many new movements among evangelicals, it is not new to Christendom. It had its modern beginning in the late 1800s, when it developed as a way to address the various conditions in society that caused suffering among the populace. The belief was, and is, that Christianity will attract followers when it demonstrates its love for mankind. This could be best accomplished by helping to alleviate the suffering of humanity caused by poverty, disease, oppressive work conditions, society's injustices, civil rights abuses, etc. Those who fostered this movement also believed that relief from their conditions of misery would improve the moral nature of those so deprived.
Another driving force behind the introduction of the social gospel was the eschatological, or end times, views of those involved. Nearly all were amillennialists or post-millennialists. The former believed that they were living in a (symbolic thousand-year) time period in which Christ was ruling from heaven, Satan was bound, and they were God's workers appointed to bring about a kingdom on earth worthy of Christ. Post-millennialists also believed they were in the Millennium, and their goal was to restore the earth to its Eden-like state in order for Christ to return from Heaven to rule over His earthly kingdom.
The social gospel, in all of its assorted applications, helped to produce some achievements (child labor laws and women's suffrage) that have contributed to the welfare of society. It became the primary gospel of liberal theologians and mainline denominations throughout the 20th century. Although its popularity alternately rose and fell as it ran its course, it was often energized by the combination of religion and liberal politics, e.g., Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Midway through the last century and later, the social gospel influenced developments such as the liberation theology of Roman Catholicism and the socialism of left-leaning evangelical Christians. It is in this present century, however, that the social gospel has gotten its most extensive promotion. Two men, both professing to be evangelicals, have led the way.
George W. Bush began his presidency by instituting the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. His objective was to provide government funding for local churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious ministries that were providing a social service to their community. Bush believed that programs run by "people of faith" could be at least as effective as secular organizations in helping the needy, and perhaps more so because of their moral commitment to "love and serve their neighbor." As he prepares to leave office, he has declared that he considers his Faith-Based program to be one of the foremost achievements in his tenure as president. Presidential candidate Barack Obama stated that, should he win the election, he will continue the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
Rick Warren, the mega-selling author of The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life , has taken the social gospel to where it's never been before: not only worldwide but into the thinking and planning of world leaders. Warren credits business management genius Peter Drucker with the basic concept that he is executing. Drucker believed that the social problems of poverty, disease, hunger, and ignorance were beyond the capability of governments or multinational corporations to solve. To Drucker, the most hopeful solution would be found in the nonprofit sector of society, especially churches, with their hosts of volunteers dedicated to alleviating the social ills of those in their community.
Warren, acknowledging the late Drucker as his mentor for 20 years, certainly learned his lessons. His two Purpose-Driven books, translated into 57 languages and selling a combined 30 million copies, reveal the game plan for what Drucker had envisioned. Warren had local churches implement this vision from his books through his enormously popular 40 Days of Purpose and 40 Days of Community programs. To date, 500,000 churches in 162 nations have become part of his network. They form the basis for his Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
What is his P.E.A.C.E. plan? Warren's presentation of the plan to the church is found at www.thepeaceplan.com. On video, he identifies the "giants" of humanity's ills as spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy, which he hopes to eradicate by (P)lanting churches, (E)quipping leaders, (A)ssisting the poor, (C)aring for the sick, and (E)ducating the next generation.
Warren uses the analogy of a three-legged stool to illustrate the best way to slay these giants. Two of the legs are governments and business, which have thus far been ineffective, and, just like a two-legged stool, cannot stand. The third very necessary leg is the church. "There are thousands of villages in the world that have no school, no clinic, no business, no government—but they have a church. What would happen if we could mobilize churches to address those five global giants?" Warren reasons that since there are 2.3 billion Christians worldwide, they could potentially form what President Bush has termed a vast "army of compassion" of "people of faith" such as the world has not yet experienced.
In addition to the Christian version , Warren has an expanded inclusive version of the P.E.A.C.E. plan that has drawn support and praise from political and religious leaders and celebrities worldwide. At the 2008 World Economic Forum, he declared, "The future of the world is not secularism, but religious pluralism...." Referring to the ills besetting the world, he declared, "We cannot solve these problems without involving people of faith and their religious institutions. It isn't going to happen any other way. On this planet there are about 20 million Jews, there are about 600 million Buddhists, there are about 800 million Hindus, there are over 1 billion Muslims, and there are 2.3 billion Christians. If you take people of faith out of the equation, you have ruled out five-sixths of the world. And if we only leave it up to secular people to solve these major problems, it isn't going to happen" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGytW4yh0C8 ).
To accommodate working with people of all faiths Warren has revised the "P" in his P.E.A.C.E. from "planting evangelical churches" to "(P)romoting reconciliation" and the "E" from "equipping [church] leaders" to "(E)quipping ethical leaders." Warren has elsewhere acknowledged his practical shift to pluralism: "Who's the man of peace in any village—or it might be a woman of peace—who has the most respect?...They don't have to be Christian. In fact, they could be Muslim, but they're open and they're influential, and you work with them to attack the five giants [to which he has added global warming]." He quotes a secular leader who affirms what he's doing: "I get it, Rick. Houses of worship are the distribution centers for all we need to do."
Warren has joined the advisory board of Faith Foundation, established by former British prime minister and recent Roman Catholic convert Tony Blair. The Foundation's goal is to further understanding and cooperation among the six leading faiths: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jewish. How does the Cross fit into this ecumenical gathering? It doesn't. Critical to achieving that ecumenical goal is the elimination of the problem of exclusive religions, a concern articulated by one of the World Economic Forum panelists: "There are some religious leaders in different religious faiths who, in seeking to affirm their own faith and its authenticity and legitimacy...deny other people their faith with its legitimacy and authenticity. I don't think we can keep going like this without...spawning the kind of hatred we are all here to try and solve. I think it's up to us to hold the clergy's feet to the fire of whatever faith. That we insist that we affirm what is beautiful in our own traditions while at the same time refusing to denigrate other faith traditions by suggesting that they are illegitimate, or consigned to some kind of evil end."
The Bible declares all the religions of the world to be "illegitimate" and "consigned" not to "some kind of evil end" but to their just end. Only belief in the biblical gospel saves humanity: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved;...He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (Acts:4:12; John:3:36).
The history of the social gospel is, in nearly every case, a sincere attempt by Christians to do those things that they believe will honor God and benefit humanity. In every case, however, the practical working out of "benefiting humanity" has compromised biblical faith and dishonored God. Why is that? God's Word gives no commission to the church to fix the problems of the world. Those who attempt to do so are starting out under a false premise, "...a way which seemeth right unto a man ," not God's way. So where can it go from there? "The end thereof are the ways of death," i.e., destruction (Proverbs:14:12). Furthermore, the problems of the world are all symptoms . The root cause is sin.
What percentage of the "people of faith," who comprise all religions and make up five-sixths of the world's population, understand and accept the gospel—the only cure for sin? Or how many of the 2.3 billion "Christians" in the world believe the biblical gospel? The numbers tumble down exponentially. "Yes, but...they are a massive volunteer force and distribution outlet of resources for slaying the giants of world suffering!" What does it profit the billions of "people of faith" who may alleviate some of the world's symptoms yet lose their very souls?
The social gospel is a deadly disease for "people of faith." It reinforces the belief that salvation can be attained by doing good works, putting aside differences for the common good, treating others the way we want to be treated, acting morally, ethically, and sacrificially—and that doing so will endear humans to God. No. These are self-deceptive strivings that spurn God's salvation, deny His perfect standard, and reject His perfect justice. Salvation is "not of works, lest any man should boast." In fact, it is "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians:2:8-9).
Jesus declared Himself to be condemned humanity's only hope for reconciliation with God: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John:14:6). There is no other way, because God's perfect justice demanded that the penalty for sin for every human ("for all have sinned"-Romans:3:23) be paid. Only the perfect, sinless God-Man could and did pay that infinite penalty in full by His death upon the Cross. Only faith in Him reconciles a person with God.
The shameful social gospel today not only promotes "another gospel," it helps prepare a kingdom contrary to the teachings of Scripture. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). He will return from heaven (John:14:3) to "rapture," or catch, those who believe in Him (His bride) up into the clouds and take them to heaven (1 Thessalonians:4:17). The kingdom that remains on the earth will be the kingdom of the Antichrist.
Consistent with its amillennial/postmillennial beginnings, the efforts of the social gospel are earthbound in their attempted restoration of the kingdom of God. Eugene Peterson has infiltrated that heresy into his Message Bible: "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again" (a perversion of John:3:17).
Rob Bell, in his book Velvet Elvis , reflects the "fix the earth" eschatology of nearly all Emerging Church leaders: "Salvation is the entire universe being brought back into harmony with its maker. This has huge implications for how people present the message of Jesus. Yes, Jesus can come into our hearts. But we can join a movement that is as wide and as big as the universe itself. Rocks and trees and birds and swamps and ecosystems. God's desire is to restore all of it....The goal isn't escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. And God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work."
For Emerging Church leader Brian McLaren, this is the future way of life for the Christian. In an interview July 28, 2008, on ChristianPost.com , he said: "I think our future will also require us to join humbly and charitably with people of other faiths—Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, secularists, and others—in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for all people, things that matter greatly to the heart of God." No, what matters to the "heart of God" is "that all should come to repentance" and believe the gospel.
Anyone who puts his hope in this social gospel, which employs "people of faith" to make "this world the kind of place God can come to," needs to heed the words of Jesus in Luke:18:8: "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" People of all faiths , yes, but certainly not " the faith," for which Jude exhorts true believers to earnestly contend. Lord, help us all not to be ashamed of Your gospel! TBC
Showing posts with label amillennialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amillennialism. Show all posts
February 22, 2012
October 2, 2011
Is Your Eschatology Showing?
by T. A. McMahon
When I became a believer, the most popular Christian book of the day was The Late Great Planet Earth, written by Hal Lindsey. It stimulated a great deal of interest in biblical prophecy and, in particular, in the doctrine of the Rapture of the church. Prophecy and the Rapture were two theological concepts that were foreign to someone like me, who had been raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I couldn't figure out what either one of them was about or what they had to do with Christianity.
As I grew in my understanding of the Scriptures, however, I began to get very excited about both doctrines. The idea that Jesus could be coming back at any time to take me to heaven to be with Him was indeed a blessed hope (Titus 2:12-13). Yet only a few years later I noticed that some of my evangelical friends (and just Christians in general) didn't share my excitement--or at least the interest in it seemed to be on the wane.
Enthusiasm appeared to be fading into a blasé attitude regarding the imminent return of Jesus for His bride. Great expectation wilted to a posture of semi-confusion: "He could be returning prior to the Great Tribulation," or "He may come back for us midway through the Tribulation," or "perhaps at the end of the Tribulation." To keep it from becoming a debate issue among evangelicals, some called themselves "pan-tribbers," meaning pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib--whatever panned out would be fine with them.
A number of things contributed to that attitude. It was recognized that the timing of the Rapture was not a doctrine that was essential for salvation, nor was a belief in it critical. It would take place for those who were truly born again--whether or not they believed that it would, and no matter when they believed it would take place. Thus the feeling among many grew that it was no big deal what one believed.
Some were also intimidated by the rise of anti-Rapture teachers, who were quite militant and aggressive in their attempts to prove that the doctrine wasn't in the Bible or even that it was heretical. The problem with these objections is that they reflect the thinking of men rather than the teaching of God, something that is always a recipe for serious problems (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). This also raises a question (which for most evangelicals didn't seem relevant 30 years ago but today begs an answer) that is quite significant: Is your eschatology showing?
Eschatology is the study of what the Bible teaches about the End Times. It considers the events that will take place related to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ: what will precede His return, what will happen during His return, and what takes place following His coming back to earth. Obviously, since He hasn't returned yet (though some would dispute that), all of the related teachings make up biblical prophecy. So, eschatology has to do with what the Scriptures teach prophetically about the Last Days.
What, then, do I mean by asking, "Is your eschatology showing?"
Scripture tells us that the just (i.e., justified believers) shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:7, Galatians 3:1, Hebrews 10:38). This means that what we believe must be lived out in order for our lives to be fruitful and pleasing to the Lord. If our understanding of what the Word of God says will take place in the future is not true to the Scriptures, our activities based upon that misunderstanding will be unfruitful and even spiritually destructive. I have given some reasons above why people avoid eschatological issues, to which I could add that some regard them as too far in the future to be of any practical concern or value in their lifetime. That's never been the case, and the practical realities of eschatological beliefs are becoming more evident every day.
The most prevalent eschatological teachings in church history are Premillennialism and Amillennialism. Premillennialism is the belief that Jesus Christ will return to earth in an event known as the Second Coming, which will be at the beginning of His thousand-year reign from Jerusalem. Then there is Amillennialism. Amillennialists do not believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth; rather, He is said to have taken dominion over the earth right after His resurrection and now rules from heaven.
A somewhat related view is that of Postmillennialism, which declares that Christ's Second Coming will take place following His figurative millennial reign from heaven.
Is the eschatological view of Amillennialism showing? Yes, and it has been for millennia, starting back in the fourth century. Augustine, the chief architect of the major dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, is credited with introducing Amillennialism in his book The City of God.
To maintain some semblance of biblical veracity, Amillennialists must spiritualize nearly all of the prophetic scriptures related to Israel and the Millennium because a literal interpretation completely contradicts their eschatology. Spiritualizing is a process of interpretation that disregards the plain sense of the text in order to ascertain a "higher" meaning, especially one that reinforces one's doctrinal bias. That approach to interpreting the Word of God, however, has had terribly destructive consequences. For example, the prophetic scriptures that refer to Israel have been spiritualized by Amillennialists to apply to the church. That false doctrine is known as replacement theology, although in replacing Israel with the church, those who teach such things major on the blessings and rarely if ever apply to the church the curses directed at Israel.
Roman Catholicism started the Amillennial ball rolling, and it was continued by the Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, with the difference, of course, being their belief that the Protestant church rather than the Church of Rome had replaced Israel. Among its other problems, replacement theology has been instrumental in sowing the seeds of anti-Semitism within Christendom. The Catholic Church published more than 100 anti-Semitic documents between the sixth and twentieth centuries (see A Woman Rides the Beast).
Luther, in particular, exemplified anti-Semitism among the reformers. The vicious diatribes in his writings such as On the Jews and Their Lies, although not based solely on his Amillennialism, were certainly dependent on it.
Calvin's Amillennialism was the basis for his attempt to create a Christian utopia in the city of Geneva, which he controlled. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Amillennialism was the breeding ground for Preterism. During the counterreformation, Jesuit priest Luis de Alcasar interpreted the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as having already been fulfilled in the first century A.D. It wasn't until the early eighteenth century, however, that Preterism, the belief that most, if not all, biblical prophecies have been fulfilled, began to be espoused by Protestants.
That, of course, was then--but what about today? Amillennialism is the most common eschatological belief among professing Christians. It is the view of Roman Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Episcopalians, the Church of Christ, some Independent Baptists, and most Calvinists (with some notable exceptions). In the last quarter-century Amillennialism has spawned Christian Reconstructionism/Theonomy, a latter-day attempt similar to Calvin's failed experiment to set up the "City of God" in Geneva.
The goal today, however, is far more ambitious as it seeks to take dominion over the world. The Reconstructionists, a.k.a. Theonomists, are all about setting up the Kingdom of God on earth through the implementation of the Old and New Testament laws and principles. An offshoot of Reconstructionism is the Coalition On Revival, or COR. This is a movement that made some headway in the decade of the '90s through the support of leading evangelicals and through the political activism of the religious right.
Its strategy is to make the Christian worldview dominant in all "spheres of society": education, science, politics, the arts, the military, and so forth. As the name more than implies, the eschatology of COR, or Coalition on Revival, is focused on bringing about worldwide revival, something that most Christians would find favorable. That may be the reason that some highly visible evangelical leaders who do not hold to an Amillennial theology--or its offspring--signed the original COR Manifesto. As one might expect, the Coalition On Revival is decidedly anti-Prophecy and anti-Rapture. The biblical doctrines of Prophecy and the Rapture do not support the agendas or goals of the Amillennial-driven COR proponents.
Though Christian Reconstructionism and the Coalition On Revival seem to be past their heyday of influence within Christendom, they are regarded by some as nothing more than a passing trend. I disagree. Trends such as the Manifest Sons of God, the Shepherding Movement, the Word/Faith teachings, the Church Growth trend, the Emerging Church Movement, and so on and so forth, come in waves much like an ocean wave, which approaches the beach, crests, and then crashes upon the sand, dumping whatever debris it carries. What's deposited by the wave sometimes sticks in the sand, while other flotsam disappears back out to sea. That's the way it is with unbiblical teachings and trends that have attracted large numbers of Christians throughout church history.
The Kingdom-dominionism of the Latter-rain, Manifest Sons of God movement that I mentioned earlier is a classic example. It started in Canada in the mid-1940s, and has ebbed and flowed throughout Christendom, particularly among Pentecostals and Charismatics. You can see its heretical teachings reflected today in so-called spiritual revivals and movements such as the Toronto Blessing, the Brownsville Revival, the Kansas City Prophets, the International House of Prayer (IHOP), and the New Apostolic Reformation.
Christian Reconstructionism influences and Coalition On Revival concepts are also making a modest yet effective return. There is a high-quality apologetics series produced by Focus on the Family titled The Truth Project(see TBC 9/11) that has been capturing the hearts and minds of young-adult evangelicals throughout the country. Significant doctrinal problems arise, however, because a major "scriptural worldview" of the series, albeit unstated, is Amillennialism. Some of the key teachers are Calvinists. Reconstructionism is never mentioned; nevertheless, the central teachings of Reconstructionism and Theonomy are apparent.
Scripture clearly rejects Amillennialism. The Bible foretells that the imminent Rapture of the church, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennial Reign of Christ, the Dissolving of Our Present Heavens and Earth, and the Creating of a New Heaven and New Earth, will all take place, in that order. That prophetic biblical scenario, however, does not fit with Amillennialism (or Postmillennialism) or any of the other attempts to usher in the Kingdom of God (See Whatever Happened to Heaven? Resource Pages).
The true scriptural view is that the biblical events that I just listed will literally take place and need to be considered in regard to any plans or agendas of men or ministries. We should not expect worldwide revival or a global Christian transformation--not, that is, until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ, because the Bible declares that the Last Days will be characterized by great spiritual deception in the world and apostasy in the church. Does that mean that we should bail out on the world? No. But there is no scriptural basis for believing that the world will be or can be transformed through biblical law or biblical principles.
It should be apparent that one's Amillennial beliefs have practical consequences for anyone who lives those doctrines out in his life. However, the same is true for those who claim to be Premillennialists, who believe that Jesus must return in order to begin His literal one-thousand-year reign on this earth.
What does the Bible say regarding the living out of a Premillennial eschatology? First of all, the doctrine is characterized primarily as a believer's "blessed hope": "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12-13). Verse 12 indicates what our lives should be like as we are "looking for that blessed hope": "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;" John, the beloved, and likely the last of the apostles to go to be with Jesus, gives us this exhortation, which no doubt he himself lived out: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:2-3).
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (John 14:23). And in Luke 6:46, Jesus posed this question: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" We need to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith, once and for all delivered unto the saints.
Paul wasn't simply passing on some platitudes or a take-it-or-leave-it suggestion to young Timothy when he wrote, "But thou, O man of God, flee [sinful] things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God...that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Timothy 6:11-14).
Our lives need to reflect what Paul wrote as we look forward to Christ's appearing. To that John adds, "...abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming" (1 John 2:28). Peter not only wraps it up for us, he mentions the difficulties involved and then underscores where our hearts need to be as we look forward to an event that will be more exciting than anyone of us can imagine. He declares, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:6-9).
I hope and pray that our true biblical eschatology is showing. Maranatha! TBC
Quotable
Second Corinthians 5:10 assures us, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Do you really believe as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ that there will be a day on which you will stand before His throne? We will each go one-on-one with the God of this universe. Can you imagine that? Do you think it will matter on that day whether you told a very lost and dying world about the only answer for a soul--Jesus? Yes, it will. It will matter whether you shared the most precious thing you have with everyone you could.
Mark Cahill, One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven
When I became a believer, the most popular Christian book of the day was The Late Great Planet Earth, written by Hal Lindsey. It stimulated a great deal of interest in biblical prophecy and, in particular, in the doctrine of the Rapture of the church. Prophecy and the Rapture were two theological concepts that were foreign to someone like me, who had been raised in the Roman Catholic Church. I couldn't figure out what either one of them was about or what they had to do with Christianity.
As I grew in my understanding of the Scriptures, however, I began to get very excited about both doctrines. The idea that Jesus could be coming back at any time to take me to heaven to be with Him was indeed a blessed hope (Titus 2:12-13). Yet only a few years later I noticed that some of my evangelical friends (and just Christians in general) didn't share my excitement--or at least the interest in it seemed to be on the wane.
Enthusiasm appeared to be fading into a blasé attitude regarding the imminent return of Jesus for His bride. Great expectation wilted to a posture of semi-confusion: "He could be returning prior to the Great Tribulation," or "He may come back for us midway through the Tribulation," or "perhaps at the end of the Tribulation." To keep it from becoming a debate issue among evangelicals, some called themselves "pan-tribbers," meaning pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib--whatever panned out would be fine with them.
A number of things contributed to that attitude. It was recognized that the timing of the Rapture was not a doctrine that was essential for salvation, nor was a belief in it critical. It would take place for those who were truly born again--whether or not they believed that it would, and no matter when they believed it would take place. Thus the feeling among many grew that it was no big deal what one believed.
Some were also intimidated by the rise of anti-Rapture teachers, who were quite militant and aggressive in their attempts to prove that the doctrine wasn't in the Bible or even that it was heretical. The problem with these objections is that they reflect the thinking of men rather than the teaching of God, something that is always a recipe for serious problems (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). This also raises a question (which for most evangelicals didn't seem relevant 30 years ago but today begs an answer) that is quite significant: Is your eschatology showing?
Eschatology is the study of what the Bible teaches about the End Times. It considers the events that will take place related to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ: what will precede His return, what will happen during His return, and what takes place following His coming back to earth. Obviously, since He hasn't returned yet (though some would dispute that), all of the related teachings make up biblical prophecy. So, eschatology has to do with what the Scriptures teach prophetically about the Last Days.
What, then, do I mean by asking, "Is your eschatology showing?"
Scripture tells us that the just (i.e., justified believers) shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:7, Galatians 3:1, Hebrews 10:38). This means that what we believe must be lived out in order for our lives to be fruitful and pleasing to the Lord. If our understanding of what the Word of God says will take place in the future is not true to the Scriptures, our activities based upon that misunderstanding will be unfruitful and even spiritually destructive. I have given some reasons above why people avoid eschatological issues, to which I could add that some regard them as too far in the future to be of any practical concern or value in their lifetime. That's never been the case, and the practical realities of eschatological beliefs are becoming more evident every day.
The most prevalent eschatological teachings in church history are Premillennialism and Amillennialism. Premillennialism is the belief that Jesus Christ will return to earth in an event known as the Second Coming, which will be at the beginning of His thousand-year reign from Jerusalem. Then there is Amillennialism. Amillennialists do not believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus on the earth; rather, He is said to have taken dominion over the earth right after His resurrection and now rules from heaven.
A somewhat related view is that of Postmillennialism, which declares that Christ's Second Coming will take place following His figurative millennial reign from heaven.
Is the eschatological view of Amillennialism showing? Yes, and it has been for millennia, starting back in the fourth century. Augustine, the chief architect of the major dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, is credited with introducing Amillennialism in his book The City of God.
To maintain some semblance of biblical veracity, Amillennialists must spiritualize nearly all of the prophetic scriptures related to Israel and the Millennium because a literal interpretation completely contradicts their eschatology. Spiritualizing is a process of interpretation that disregards the plain sense of the text in order to ascertain a "higher" meaning, especially one that reinforces one's doctrinal bias. That approach to interpreting the Word of God, however, has had terribly destructive consequences. For example, the prophetic scriptures that refer to Israel have been spiritualized by Amillennialists to apply to the church. That false doctrine is known as replacement theology, although in replacing Israel with the church, those who teach such things major on the blessings and rarely if ever apply to the church the curses directed at Israel.
Roman Catholicism started the Amillennial ball rolling, and it was continued by the Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, with the difference, of course, being their belief that the Protestant church rather than the Church of Rome had replaced Israel. Among its other problems, replacement theology has been instrumental in sowing the seeds of anti-Semitism within Christendom. The Catholic Church published more than 100 anti-Semitic documents between the sixth and twentieth centuries (see A Woman Rides the Beast).
Luther, in particular, exemplified anti-Semitism among the reformers. The vicious diatribes in his writings such as On the Jews and Their Lies, although not based solely on his Amillennialism, were certainly dependent on it.
Calvin's Amillennialism was the basis for his attempt to create a Christian utopia in the city of Geneva, which he controlled. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Amillennialism was the breeding ground for Preterism. During the counterreformation, Jesuit priest Luis de Alcasar interpreted the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as having already been fulfilled in the first century A.D. It wasn't until the early eighteenth century, however, that Preterism, the belief that most, if not all, biblical prophecies have been fulfilled, began to be espoused by Protestants.
That, of course, was then--but what about today? Amillennialism is the most common eschatological belief among professing Christians. It is the view of Roman Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Episcopalians, the Church of Christ, some Independent Baptists, and most Calvinists (with some notable exceptions). In the last quarter-century Amillennialism has spawned Christian Reconstructionism/Theonomy, a latter-day attempt similar to Calvin's failed experiment to set up the "City of God" in Geneva.
The goal today, however, is far more ambitious as it seeks to take dominion over the world. The Reconstructionists, a.k.a. Theonomists, are all about setting up the Kingdom of God on earth through the implementation of the Old and New Testament laws and principles. An offshoot of Reconstructionism is the Coalition On Revival, or COR. This is a movement that made some headway in the decade of the '90s through the support of leading evangelicals and through the political activism of the religious right.
Its strategy is to make the Christian worldview dominant in all "spheres of society": education, science, politics, the arts, the military, and so forth. As the name more than implies, the eschatology of COR, or Coalition on Revival, is focused on bringing about worldwide revival, something that most Christians would find favorable. That may be the reason that some highly visible evangelical leaders who do not hold to an Amillennial theology--or its offspring--signed the original COR Manifesto. As one might expect, the Coalition On Revival is decidedly anti-Prophecy and anti-Rapture. The biblical doctrines of Prophecy and the Rapture do not support the agendas or goals of the Amillennial-driven COR proponents.
Though Christian Reconstructionism and the Coalition On Revival seem to be past their heyday of influence within Christendom, they are regarded by some as nothing more than a passing trend. I disagree. Trends such as the Manifest Sons of God, the Shepherding Movement, the Word/Faith teachings, the Church Growth trend, the Emerging Church Movement, and so on and so forth, come in waves much like an ocean wave, which approaches the beach, crests, and then crashes upon the sand, dumping whatever debris it carries. What's deposited by the wave sometimes sticks in the sand, while other flotsam disappears back out to sea. That's the way it is with unbiblical teachings and trends that have attracted large numbers of Christians throughout church history.
The Kingdom-dominionism of the Latter-rain, Manifest Sons of God movement that I mentioned earlier is a classic example. It started in Canada in the mid-1940s, and has ebbed and flowed throughout Christendom, particularly among Pentecostals and Charismatics. You can see its heretical teachings reflected today in so-called spiritual revivals and movements such as the Toronto Blessing, the Brownsville Revival, the Kansas City Prophets, the International House of Prayer (IHOP), and the New Apostolic Reformation.
Christian Reconstructionism influences and Coalition On Revival concepts are also making a modest yet effective return. There is a high-quality apologetics series produced by Focus on the Family titled The Truth Project(see TBC 9/11) that has been capturing the hearts and minds of young-adult evangelicals throughout the country. Significant doctrinal problems arise, however, because a major "scriptural worldview" of the series, albeit unstated, is Amillennialism. Some of the key teachers are Calvinists. Reconstructionism is never mentioned; nevertheless, the central teachings of Reconstructionism and Theonomy are apparent.
Scripture clearly rejects Amillennialism. The Bible foretells that the imminent Rapture of the church, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennial Reign of Christ, the Dissolving of Our Present Heavens and Earth, and the Creating of a New Heaven and New Earth, will all take place, in that order. That prophetic biblical scenario, however, does not fit with Amillennialism (or Postmillennialism) or any of the other attempts to usher in the Kingdom of God (See Whatever Happened to Heaven? Resource Pages).
The true scriptural view is that the biblical events that I just listed will literally take place and need to be considered in regard to any plans or agendas of men or ministries. We should not expect worldwide revival or a global Christian transformation--not, that is, until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ, because the Bible declares that the Last Days will be characterized by great spiritual deception in the world and apostasy in the church. Does that mean that we should bail out on the world? No. But there is no scriptural basis for believing that the world will be or can be transformed through biblical law or biblical principles.
It should be apparent that one's Amillennial beliefs have practical consequences for anyone who lives those doctrines out in his life. However, the same is true for those who claim to be Premillennialists, who believe that Jesus must return in order to begin His literal one-thousand-year reign on this earth.
What does the Bible say regarding the living out of a Premillennial eschatology? First of all, the doctrine is characterized primarily as a believer's "blessed hope": "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12-13). Verse 12 indicates what our lives should be like as we are "looking for that blessed hope": "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;" John, the beloved, and likely the last of the apostles to go to be with Jesus, gives us this exhortation, which no doubt he himself lived out: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:2-3).
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (John 14:23). And in Luke 6:46, Jesus posed this question: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" We need to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith, once and for all delivered unto the saints.
Paul wasn't simply passing on some platitudes or a take-it-or-leave-it suggestion to young Timothy when he wrote, "But thou, O man of God, flee [sinful] things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God...that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Timothy 6:11-14).
Our lives need to reflect what Paul wrote as we look forward to Christ's appearing. To that John adds, "...abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming" (1 John 2:28). Peter not only wraps it up for us, he mentions the difficulties involved and then underscores where our hearts need to be as we look forward to an event that will be more exciting than anyone of us can imagine. He declares, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:6-9).
I hope and pray that our true biblical eschatology is showing. Maranatha! TBC
Quotable
Second Corinthians 5:10 assures us, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Do you really believe as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ that there will be a day on which you will stand before His throne? We will each go one-on-one with the God of this universe. Can you imagine that? Do you think it will matter on that day whether you told a very lost and dying world about the only answer for a soul--Jesus? Yes, it will. It will matter whether you shared the most precious thing you have with everyone you could.
Mark Cahill, One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven
September 2, 2011
Focus on the Family's "Truth Project"
The Less Than Truthful "Truth Project"
T. A. McMahon
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. --John 17:17
The Truth Project (TTP) is a 12-part DVD series produced by Focus on the Family to encourage Christians in an understanding of a biblical worldview, and especially its application for their lives. Now, before anyone gets too excited (or put off) regarding the title of this article, let me say that there is much in this series that deserves praise. There are, however, some serious problems.
The first thing that blessed me as I began my 13-hour tour through the episodes was Del Tackett's exhortation to his mostly college-age students to "think!" That's not exactly a common characteristic among today's postmodern and experientially prone generation, and that includes young evangelicals whose biblical "education," for the most part, has consisted of some form of entertainment. Of course, Tackett wants them to think biblically and deeply. Amen to that!
Del Tackett is an excellent communicator. He not only has a command of his subject matter, but he also exudes an infectious passion for the Lord and for His Word. You can see that those "students" selected to participate in the program weren't just props for a well-designed production and set--it appears that they were really understanding, perhaps for the first time, some of the biblical insights that were being taught.
Many of the teachings are solidly biblical, such as the episode that addressed "The Family," which alone may be worth the price of the entire series. We couldn't agree more with Tackett's professed desire to encourage all believers to have a love for the Scriptures and to get to know the heart of God through the revelation of His Word. In view of the sad fact that there are very few quality productions that deal with apologetics and are directed at young adults, I initially wrestled with whether to raise any of the critical issues that concerned me. In other words, I didn't want to put people off regarding a series that I believe has biblical value. What finally motivated me to address what I found to be problematic teachings were two thoughts: 1) Everything in life, in every way possible, needs biblical scrutiny. If it has the support of Scripture, then we need to be encouraged to make it a life support. 2) A stated objective of TTP is to exhort believers to think through all teachings, test all theories, doctrines, and dogmas. They encourage one to ask relevant questions, especially concerning the consequences regarding what is being taught--in particular, where is it leading or headed? That seemed to be the video's marching orders, so there should be no objections to my doing just that.
In spite of all that impressed me about The Truth Project, there were still some troubling aspects that tempered, even dampened, my enthusiasm at times. It reminded me of an ocean voyage that I took before I started graduate school. It was a terrific cruise if you could handle the seas that the North Atlantic was dishing up. I'm not easily susceptible to seasickness, so it was quite enjoyable for me. The last thing that entered my mind was whether or not the ship was on course to Southampton, England. I assumed that it was and gave it no further consideration. That memory resurfaced as I thoughtfully sailed with the "good ship Truth Project."
I wasn't too far along into the series when I realized that some of the "crew and its captain" were Calvinists. Del Tackett, according to his biography, was introduced to the Reformed faith in the late 1970s and started The New Geneva Theological Seminary as a branch of Knox Seminary in 1992. Knox Theological Seminary is a ministry of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and is a bastion of Calvinism. Tackett is now associated with Coral Ridge Ministries and does a weekly TV program for them called Cross Examine. One of the main contributors to TTP is R. C. Sproul, perhaps one of the most influential Calvinists of our day. Although there is no overt teaching regarding Reformed Theology, its influence is noted throughout, including quotes from The Westminster Confession and a powerpoint slide presentation declaring man's needs: "Grace, Regeneration, Redemption." Calvinists teach that a person must be regenerated by (irresistible) grace before he can believe and be saved.
Perhaps even before my concerns about Calvinism, the fact that TTP was a production of Focus on the Family bothered me. Why? I can think of no ministry that has sown the seeds of psychotherapy among evangelicals more deeply than Focus on the Family, with psychologist James Dobson. Focus on the Family has made the humanistic teachings of self-esteem and self-love the pillars of their organization. Del Tackett was president of Focus on the Family Institute during the TTP production, and his organization's self-esteem bias shows itself as he declares that God has given everyone a "hunger for significance." That selfist teaching is certainly biblical--but not in a good way. It caused the fall of angels and mankind. Lucifer's desire to raise his "significance" level in heaven (Isaiah 14) and Eve's desire to be "as the gods" (Genesis 3) obviously indicated their "hunger for significance." Nevertheless, Tackett recognizes the errors of humanist psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. His criticism takes place in a TTP episode labeled "Anthropology." I find that odd because the issues in this episode are related specifically to psychology, which, curiously, is rarely mentioned in TTP. That missing topic appears less than honest, given the Focus on the Family connection.
Focus on the Family has not only been a chief promoter of psychological counseling; it is the foremost referral service among evangelicals for professional psychotherapists. Although TTP says that it desires to turn young people from the ways of the world to a biblical worldview, it seems to have intentionally avoided that "sphere" of psychology and its devastating effects upon mankind.
The prestigious Princeton Review reports that the number two most popular field of study for all U.S. college students (secular or Christian) is psychology. Young evangelicals, perhaps even more so, are attracted to and encouraged to choose a career in the pseudo-science of psychotherapy. Ironically, here is what Dr. James Dobson recommends: "Christian psychology is a worthy profession for a young believer, provided his faith is strong enough to withstand the humanistic concepts to which he will be exposed...." No. So-called Christian psychology is both a contradiction in terms and the chief dispenser of "self" teachings in the church (see Psychology and the Church), yet too few are warning our next generation about this incredibly destructive worldview.
There was certainly no hint of an alarm in The Truth Project! The series devotes two hour-long sessions to exposing the pseudo-science of evolution but clearly avoids the even more spiritually deceptive pseudo-science of psychological counseling.
The single-most puzzling item in TTP is the inclusion of a man who unequivocally represents a false gospel: Roman Catholic priest Robert Sirico. Who made that decision? And why is he in The "Truth" Project? Although nothing could be worse than featuring a man, under the guise of truth, who participates in leading one billion-plus souls away from the biblical truth, Sirico has some other issues. Prior to his being ordained a Paulist priest, he was a minister for the Metropolitan Community churches, a professing evangelical movement that was developed to refute the biblical condemnation of homosexuality. In 1975, Sirico performed the first-ever civil-licensed same-sex marriage. He is now a pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Kalamazoo, MI, and president of Acton Institute, an organization that promotes the "coming together of faith and liberty" through "integrating Judeo-Christian Truths with Free Market Principles." His "faith" is not the faith, for which Jude urged believers to contend. But such distinctions are increasingly blurred in this ecumenical age. One of Acton Institute's board members is Dr. Gaylen J. Byker, the current president of Calvin College. Sirico seems to hold the same attraction for evangelicals as does Mormon Glenn Beck, both of whom are very vocal in their promotion of "getting America back to her Christian roots."
Almost none of "Father" Sirico's involvement in TTP seems to make sense (especially considering the historic anti-Catholicsm of Calvinism) until one pulls back to see the direction in which the "ship" is headed. It seems to be a reprise of Christian Reconstructionism directed at this next generation of evangelicals. Reconstructionism is a Calvinist-based movement that was popularized by Rousas Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, and Gary DeMar. Also known as Theonomy, it proposes social and civil governments that are based strictly upon the Laws of God in the Old and New Testaments.
Reconstructionists believe that through the application of God's Laws the earth will be transformed and the Kingdom of God ushered in. Del Tackett preaches that concept in subtle and not-so-subtle ways throughout the series. There's little doubt that he is attempting to emulate John Calvin's vision for the city of Geneva, which Calvin hoped would be a utopia of Christian principles worked out in daily life. That may be the reason Tackett called the seminary that he founded The New Geneva. He is currently on its Board of Directors and a faculty member. Calvin's "biblical Law" experiment in Geneva, however, became so legalistic that he was referred to as "the Protestant Pope."
Calvin's historic failure to apply the Law didn't seem to dissuade Tackett in The Truth Project. For example, he turns to the Fourth Commandment as a principle for New Testament Christians to incorporate into their lives regarding what he calls "The Sphere of Labor." Although the commandment is directed at the Israelites, instructing them to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," Tackett presents it as a principle meant for believers, especially regarding their attitude toward work. This is Theonomy, as well as being a misapplication of the Scriptures. Nine of the 10 Commandments involve moral issues (do not steal, lie, murder, etc.) that are written upon the conscience of man; the Fourth Commandment is not. It is a separation law written for and to be obeyed exclusively by the Israelites (Exodus 16:29; 31:14-16; Deuteronomy 5:15, etc.). We can certainly appreciate Tackett's application of New Testament instructions for the believer today, but attempting to apply the Laws of Moses could constitute legalism, as well as leading to "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6-7).
Reconstructionism is never mentioned, but The Truth Project's suggested reading material list is loaded with Amillennialists/Calvinists such as Abraham Kuyper and A.W. Pink, some key Reconstructionist figures such as Rushdooney and DeMar, and Coalition On Revival enthusiast Gary Amos, among others. Reconstructionists are Calvinists, and many, if not most are amillennialists and preterists (with some notable exceptions).
This means they believe that the church and the world are now in the Millennium and that nearly all the prophesies of the Bible have been fulfilled. That may be why prophecy is nowhere to be found in The Truth Project, which is a huge loss for the hope of developing a confident biblical worldview. Fulfilled prophecy is the best apologetic for proving that the Word of God is of supernatural origin and that we can turn to it with great assurance. It also indicates what lies ahead for the church and the world. Simply and clearly, Scripture foretells that the imminent Rapture of the church, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennial Reign of Christ, the Dissolving of Our Present Heavens and Earth, and the Creating of a New Heaven and New Earth, will all take place, in that order. (See Temporal Delusion, Resource Pages)
The reason that this isn't presented in TTP no doubt has to do with its eschatological perspective. The above prophetic biblical scenario does not fit with amillennialism (or postmillennialism) or any of the other attempts to "transform our culture," "restore our nation," or "fix the world's temporal economic, social, health, injustice, ecological, and other problems." All of this contributes to a temporal delusion, which is simply not biblical. The "worldview" of Scripture is not global transformation, a term used throughout TTP--not, that is, until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Even then, it will not be a perfect society because the Bible tells us that it will end with the rebellion of those who went along with the laws and principles of Christ's rule but who never committed their hearts and minds to Him.
Tackett chides those who have a "why polish the brass on a sinking ship?" mentality. He seems to be referring to Christians who have abandoned their biblical responsibilities because of an erroneous interpretation of Scripture. We would also take issue with those who think like that, if it indeed characterizes their attitude. The true scriptural view is that the events presented above will literally take place and need to be considered in regard to any plans or agendas of men or ministries. We should not expect worldwide revival when the Bible indicates that the Last Days will be characterized by great spiritual deception in the world and apostasy in the church. Does that mean that we bail out on the world? No. But there is no scriptural basis for believing that the world will be or can be transformed through biblical law or biblical principles. To truly believe that, one would have to literally excise the Book of Revelation from Holy Writ, along with hundreds of other scriptures.
We believe that the mandate for believers in our day is a rescue operation of individual lost souls, not a program of collective global transformation. True believers certainly need to reflect the teachings and love of Christ in every aspect of their lives, but they are to do so first and foremost to please the One who saved them. It may be that some will turn to Christ because of a believer's steadfastness and fruitfulness in the faith, but that will be the exception in this rebellious world, as biblical prophecy clearly indicates. The message of the gospel will never be popular in the world because "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness....unto the Jews [it is] a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness...." (1 Corinthians 1:18,23). Furthermore, rather than drawing the multitudes to Christ by example, Scripture states, "...all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus declared, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:18-19).
In summary, The Truth Project, in our view, is akin to a troop support ship with a mixture of supplies aboard that need to be carefully scrutinized. More importantly, if the ship's compass is off even a few degrees, the vessel will not reach its intended port. TTP has some excellent content along with some erroneous teachings, but its "intended port" of transforming the world is not on the course set by the Scriptures. TBC
Quotable
The vigor of our Spiritual Life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts. I solemnly state this from experience of fifty-four years. The first three years after conversion I neglected the Word of God. Since I began to search it diligently the blessing has been wonderful. I have read the Bible through one hundred times, and always with increasing delight. Each time it seems like a new book to me. Great has been the blessing from consecutive, diligent, daily study. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. George Müller
Q&A
Question: You have criticized preterism and amillennial teaching as being unbiblical, but teachers such as R. C. Sproul present what clearly are reasoned conclusions for their positions. What do you say?
Response: Some believers insist that most Bible prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 at the destruction of the Temple. Yet we must ask, When was Jerusalem surrounded by the armies of all nations? When did Christ's feet touch the Mount of Olives? When did He begin to reign over the world from Jerusalem? Did those who had pierced Him look upon and recognize Him as their Messiah; weep and mourn and believe on Him? Was Israel established in AD 70 in her land, never to be removed again? Can we seriously believe that Zechariah 12, 13, 14; Jeremiah 30:6-12, 31:27-40, 32:37-44; Ezekiel 37-40, and scores of other like prophecies, were all fulfilled in AD 70? And if not, how and by what authority can we apply such prophecies to the church?
Yes, there are a growing number of those who promote preterism or amillennialism, and whether they are Calvinists, Charismatics, or something else, they share common beliefs that are worthy of concern.
The late Bishop Earl Paulk called the Rapture an escape theory. He said that those who bless Israel are manifesting an anti-Christ spirit. He also said that the church is Israel and that Israel has no further place in God's plan. Many still say the same thing. Paulk also taught that we are "little gods" and that Jesus Christ cannot return until we rise to the full stature of our godhood, take over this world, and establish His kingdom for Him. Some details may differ, but this is dominionism, i.e., only when Christians take dominion over the earth can Christ return--not to rapture us home to heaven but to rule over the kingdom that we have established for Him. With this idea, the reign of Christ during the 1,000-year millennium is denied, though this period of time is specifically stated twice in Revelation 20 (vv. 2,7). According to explicit statements in the Old Testament, during the Millennium, Earth will experience worldwide peace such as has never been seen before (Is 2:4; Joel 3:10; Mic 4:3).
Do we really believe that AD 70 saw the greatest tribulation in the history of the world--even greater than the slaughter of Jews and Christians under Hitler, Stalin, Mao ("nor ever shall be" - Mt. 24:21); that Christ came visibly like lightning flashing across the sky (v. 27), that the sun was darkened and the moon didn't give her light, that "the sign of the Son of man" appeared in heaven, that He sent His angels to "gather together his elect from the four winds" (vv. 29-31), etc.? Are we in the Millennium now? Is Satan bound? Is Christ the King now ruling over the earth and turning the world into a paradise? None of these things can be said to have taken place unless these scriptures are spiritualized.
As the old hymn goes, "tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know thus saith the Lord."
T. A. McMahon
The Truth Project (TTP) is a 12-part DVD series produced by Focus on the Family to encourage Christians in an understanding of a biblical worldview, and especially its application for their lives. Now, before anyone gets too excited (or put off) regarding the title of this article, let me say that there is much in this series that deserves praise. There are, however, some serious problems.
The first thing that blessed me as I began my 13-hour tour through the episodes was Del Tackett's exhortation to his mostly college-age students to "think!" That's not exactly a common characteristic among today's postmodern and experientially prone generation, and that includes young evangelicals whose biblical "education," for the most part, has consisted of some form of entertainment. Of course, Tackett wants them to think biblically and deeply. Amen to that!
Del Tackett is an excellent communicator. He not only has a command of his subject matter, but he also exudes an infectious passion for the Lord and for His Word. You can see that those "students" selected to participate in the program weren't just props for a well-designed production and set--it appears that they were really understanding, perhaps for the first time, some of the biblical insights that were being taught.
Many of the teachings are solidly biblical, such as the episode that addressed "The Family," which alone may be worth the price of the entire series. We couldn't agree more with Tackett's professed desire to encourage all believers to have a love for the Scriptures and to get to know the heart of God through the revelation of His Word. In view of the sad fact that there are very few quality productions that deal with apologetics and are directed at young adults, I initially wrestled with whether to raise any of the critical issues that concerned me. In other words, I didn't want to put people off regarding a series that I believe has biblical value. What finally motivated me to address what I found to be problematic teachings were two thoughts: 1) Everything in life, in every way possible, needs biblical scrutiny. If it has the support of Scripture, then we need to be encouraged to make it a life support. 2) A stated objective of TTP is to exhort believers to think through all teachings, test all theories, doctrines, and dogmas. They encourage one to ask relevant questions, especially concerning the consequences regarding what is being taught--in particular, where is it leading or headed? That seemed to be the video's marching orders, so there should be no objections to my doing just that.
In spite of all that impressed me about The Truth Project, there were still some troubling aspects that tempered, even dampened, my enthusiasm at times. It reminded me of an ocean voyage that I took before I started graduate school. It was a terrific cruise if you could handle the seas that the North Atlantic was dishing up. I'm not easily susceptible to seasickness, so it was quite enjoyable for me. The last thing that entered my mind was whether or not the ship was on course to Southampton, England. I assumed that it was and gave it no further consideration. That memory resurfaced as I thoughtfully sailed with the "good ship Truth Project."
I wasn't too far along into the series when I realized that some of the "crew and its captain" were Calvinists. Del Tackett, according to his biography, was introduced to the Reformed faith in the late 1970s and started The New Geneva Theological Seminary as a branch of Knox Seminary in 1992. Knox Theological Seminary is a ministry of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and is a bastion of Calvinism. Tackett is now associated with Coral Ridge Ministries and does a weekly TV program for them called Cross Examine. One of the main contributors to TTP is R. C. Sproul, perhaps one of the most influential Calvinists of our day. Although there is no overt teaching regarding Reformed Theology, its influence is noted throughout, including quotes from The Westminster Confession and a powerpoint slide presentation declaring man's needs: "Grace, Regeneration, Redemption." Calvinists teach that a person must be regenerated by (irresistible) grace before he can believe and be saved.
Perhaps even before my concerns about Calvinism, the fact that TTP was a production of Focus on the Family bothered me. Why? I can think of no ministry that has sown the seeds of psychotherapy among evangelicals more deeply than Focus on the Family, with psychologist James Dobson. Focus on the Family has made the humanistic teachings of self-esteem and self-love the pillars of their organization. Del Tackett was president of Focus on the Family Institute during the TTP production, and his organization's self-esteem bias shows itself as he declares that God has given everyone a "hunger for significance." That selfist teaching is certainly biblical--but not in a good way. It caused the fall of angels and mankind. Lucifer's desire to raise his "significance" level in heaven (Isaiah 14) and Eve's desire to be "as the gods" (Genesis 3) obviously indicated their "hunger for significance." Nevertheless, Tackett recognizes the errors of humanist psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. His criticism takes place in a TTP episode labeled "Anthropology." I find that odd because the issues in this episode are related specifically to psychology, which, curiously, is rarely mentioned in TTP. That missing topic appears less than honest, given the Focus on the Family connection.
Focus on the Family has not only been a chief promoter of psychological counseling; it is the foremost referral service among evangelicals for professional psychotherapists. Although TTP says that it desires to turn young people from the ways of the world to a biblical worldview, it seems to have intentionally avoided that "sphere" of psychology and its devastating effects upon mankind.
The prestigious Princeton Review reports that the number two most popular field of study for all U.S. college students (secular or Christian) is psychology. Young evangelicals, perhaps even more so, are attracted to and encouraged to choose a career in the pseudo-science of psychotherapy. Ironically, here is what Dr. James Dobson recommends: "Christian psychology is a worthy profession for a young believer, provided his faith is strong enough to withstand the humanistic concepts to which he will be exposed...." No. So-called Christian psychology is both a contradiction in terms and the chief dispenser of "self" teachings in the church (see Psychology and the Church), yet too few are warning our next generation about this incredibly destructive worldview.
There was certainly no hint of an alarm in The Truth Project! The series devotes two hour-long sessions to exposing the pseudo-science of evolution but clearly avoids the even more spiritually deceptive pseudo-science of psychological counseling.
The single-most puzzling item in TTP is the inclusion of a man who unequivocally represents a false gospel: Roman Catholic priest Robert Sirico. Who made that decision? And why is he in The "Truth" Project? Although nothing could be worse than featuring a man, under the guise of truth, who participates in leading one billion-plus souls away from the biblical truth, Sirico has some other issues. Prior to his being ordained a Paulist priest, he was a minister for the Metropolitan Community churches, a professing evangelical movement that was developed to refute the biblical condemnation of homosexuality. In 1975, Sirico performed the first-ever civil-licensed same-sex marriage. He is now a pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Kalamazoo, MI, and president of Acton Institute, an organization that promotes the "coming together of faith and liberty" through "integrating Judeo-Christian Truths with Free Market Principles." His "faith" is not the faith, for which Jude urged believers to contend. But such distinctions are increasingly blurred in this ecumenical age. One of Acton Institute's board members is Dr. Gaylen J. Byker, the current president of Calvin College. Sirico seems to hold the same attraction for evangelicals as does Mormon Glenn Beck, both of whom are very vocal in their promotion of "getting America back to her Christian roots."
Almost none of "Father" Sirico's involvement in TTP seems to make sense (especially considering the historic anti-Catholicsm of Calvinism) until one pulls back to see the direction in which the "ship" is headed. It seems to be a reprise of Christian Reconstructionism directed at this next generation of evangelicals. Reconstructionism is a Calvinist-based movement that was popularized by Rousas Rushdoony, Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, and Gary DeMar. Also known as Theonomy, it proposes social and civil governments that are based strictly upon the Laws of God in the Old and New Testaments.
Reconstructionists believe that through the application of God's Laws the earth will be transformed and the Kingdom of God ushered in. Del Tackett preaches that concept in subtle and not-so-subtle ways throughout the series. There's little doubt that he is attempting to emulate John Calvin's vision for the city of Geneva, which Calvin hoped would be a utopia of Christian principles worked out in daily life. That may be the reason Tackett called the seminary that he founded The New Geneva. He is currently on its Board of Directors and a faculty member. Calvin's "biblical Law" experiment in Geneva, however, became so legalistic that he was referred to as "the Protestant Pope."
Calvin's historic failure to apply the Law didn't seem to dissuade Tackett in The Truth Project. For example, he turns to the Fourth Commandment as a principle for New Testament Christians to incorporate into their lives regarding what he calls "The Sphere of Labor." Although the commandment is directed at the Israelites, instructing them to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," Tackett presents it as a principle meant for believers, especially regarding their attitude toward work. This is Theonomy, as well as being a misapplication of the Scriptures. Nine of the 10 Commandments involve moral issues (do not steal, lie, murder, etc.) that are written upon the conscience of man; the Fourth Commandment is not. It is a separation law written for and to be obeyed exclusively by the Israelites (Exodus 16:29; 31:14-16; Deuteronomy 5:15, etc.). We can certainly appreciate Tackett's application of New Testament instructions for the believer today, but attempting to apply the Laws of Moses could constitute legalism, as well as leading to "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6-7).
Reconstructionism is never mentioned, but The Truth Project's suggested reading material list is loaded with Amillennialists/Calvinists such as Abraham Kuyper and A.W. Pink, some key Reconstructionist figures such as Rushdooney and DeMar, and Coalition On Revival enthusiast Gary Amos, among others. Reconstructionists are Calvinists, and many, if not most are amillennialists and preterists (with some notable exceptions).
This means they believe that the church and the world are now in the Millennium and that nearly all the prophesies of the Bible have been fulfilled. That may be why prophecy is nowhere to be found in The Truth Project, which is a huge loss for the hope of developing a confident biblical worldview. Fulfilled prophecy is the best apologetic for proving that the Word of God is of supernatural origin and that we can turn to it with great assurance. It also indicates what lies ahead for the church and the world. Simply and clearly, Scripture foretells that the imminent Rapture of the church, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming, the Millennial Reign of Christ, the Dissolving of Our Present Heavens and Earth, and the Creating of a New Heaven and New Earth, will all take place, in that order. (See Temporal Delusion, Resource Pages)
The reason that this isn't presented in TTP no doubt has to do with its eschatological perspective. The above prophetic biblical scenario does not fit with amillennialism (or postmillennialism) or any of the other attempts to "transform our culture," "restore our nation," or "fix the world's temporal economic, social, health, injustice, ecological, and other problems." All of this contributes to a temporal delusion, which is simply not biblical. The "worldview" of Scripture is not global transformation, a term used throughout TTP--not, that is, until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Even then, it will not be a perfect society because the Bible tells us that it will end with the rebellion of those who went along with the laws and principles of Christ's rule but who never committed their hearts and minds to Him.
Tackett chides those who have a "why polish the brass on a sinking ship?" mentality. He seems to be referring to Christians who have abandoned their biblical responsibilities because of an erroneous interpretation of Scripture. We would also take issue with those who think like that, if it indeed characterizes their attitude. The true scriptural view is that the events presented above will literally take place and need to be considered in regard to any plans or agendas of men or ministries. We should not expect worldwide revival when the Bible indicates that the Last Days will be characterized by great spiritual deception in the world and apostasy in the church. Does that mean that we bail out on the world? No. But there is no scriptural basis for believing that the world will be or can be transformed through biblical law or biblical principles. To truly believe that, one would have to literally excise the Book of Revelation from Holy Writ, along with hundreds of other scriptures.
We believe that the mandate for believers in our day is a rescue operation of individual lost souls, not a program of collective global transformation. True believers certainly need to reflect the teachings and love of Christ in every aspect of their lives, but they are to do so first and foremost to please the One who saved them. It may be that some will turn to Christ because of a believer's steadfastness and fruitfulness in the faith, but that will be the exception in this rebellious world, as biblical prophecy clearly indicates. The message of the gospel will never be popular in the world because "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness....unto the Jews [it is] a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness...." (1 Corinthians 1:18,23). Furthermore, rather than drawing the multitudes to Christ by example, Scripture states, "...all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus declared, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:18-19).
In summary, The Truth Project, in our view, is akin to a troop support ship with a mixture of supplies aboard that need to be carefully scrutinized. More importantly, if the ship's compass is off even a few degrees, the vessel will not reach its intended port. TTP has some excellent content along with some erroneous teachings, but its "intended port" of transforming the world is not on the course set by the Scriptures. TBC
Quotable
The vigor of our Spiritual Life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts. I solemnly state this from experience of fifty-four years. The first three years after conversion I neglected the Word of God. Since I began to search it diligently the blessing has been wonderful. I have read the Bible through one hundred times, and always with increasing delight. Each time it seems like a new book to me. Great has been the blessing from consecutive, diligent, daily study. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. George Müller
Q&A
Question: You have criticized preterism and amillennial teaching as being unbiblical, but teachers such as R. C. Sproul present what clearly are reasoned conclusions for their positions. What do you say?
Response: Some believers insist that most Bible prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 at the destruction of the Temple. Yet we must ask, When was Jerusalem surrounded by the armies of all nations? When did Christ's feet touch the Mount of Olives? When did He begin to reign over the world from Jerusalem? Did those who had pierced Him look upon and recognize Him as their Messiah; weep and mourn and believe on Him? Was Israel established in AD 70 in her land, never to be removed again? Can we seriously believe that Zechariah 12, 13, 14; Jeremiah 30:6-12, 31:27-40, 32:37-44; Ezekiel 37-40, and scores of other like prophecies, were all fulfilled in AD 70? And if not, how and by what authority can we apply such prophecies to the church?
Yes, there are a growing number of those who promote preterism or amillennialism, and whether they are Calvinists, Charismatics, or something else, they share common beliefs that are worthy of concern.
The late Bishop Earl Paulk called the Rapture an escape theory. He said that those who bless Israel are manifesting an anti-Christ spirit. He also said that the church is Israel and that Israel has no further place in God's plan. Many still say the same thing. Paulk also taught that we are "little gods" and that Jesus Christ cannot return until we rise to the full stature of our godhood, take over this world, and establish His kingdom for Him. Some details may differ, but this is dominionism, i.e., only when Christians take dominion over the earth can Christ return--not to rapture us home to heaven but to rule over the kingdom that we have established for Him. With this idea, the reign of Christ during the 1,000-year millennium is denied, though this period of time is specifically stated twice in Revelation 20 (vv. 2,7). According to explicit statements in the Old Testament, during the Millennium, Earth will experience worldwide peace such as has never been seen before (Is 2:4; Joel 3:10; Mic 4:3).
Do we really believe that AD 70 saw the greatest tribulation in the history of the world--even greater than the slaughter of Jews and Christians under Hitler, Stalin, Mao ("nor ever shall be" - Mt. 24:21); that Christ came visibly like lightning flashing across the sky (v. 27), that the sun was darkened and the moon didn't give her light, that "the sign of the Son of man" appeared in heaven, that He sent His angels to "gather together his elect from the four winds" (vv. 29-31), etc.? Are we in the Millennium now? Is Satan bound? Is Christ the King now ruling over the earth and turning the world into a paradise? None of these things can be said to have taken place unless these scriptures are spiritualized.
As the old hymn goes, "tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know thus saith the Lord."
January 3, 2011
Apostasy in the Church - A Brief Synospis
This is Part 1 of a 3 part series on how apostasy has entered the Church in the last 1,000 years or so - Part 2 and 3 will follow...
The Temporal Delusion (Part 1)
September 2010
by T.A. McMahon
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
I'm fascinated by timelines. They give me an idea of what events took place in history, how they relate timewise to other historical events, and whether or not former events may have influenced later ones. I especially like biblical timelines. They often begin with the event of creation and end with the future Millennial reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem, supplying a host of details in between. Due to their temporal nature, however, they can only hint at eternity, which is infinite, and for which our life on earth is only a preparation.
The "timeline" presented on the cover of this newsletter is a simple attempt to symbolically remind believers that spending eternity with Jesus is our raison d'être, i.e., it is the reason for our existence.
Why am I making an issue of this? Because the world and, sadly, much of the church are caught up in a temporal delusion: clinging to this earth rather than hoping for heaven. It's part of Satan's strategy to deceive the world into building his kingdom. For thousands of years, he has seduced both professing and true Christians into joining his labor force, with the goal of establishing his own religion, which will be headed by his puppet ruler, the Antichrist. As the intensity of his program increases in these last days, particularly in Christendom, the leaven of this apostasy has been deposited in all theological camps: charismatics, Calvinists, conservatives, liberals, Pentecostals, Baptists, left-leaning Christians, supporters of the Emerging Church Movement, promoters of the "social gospel," et al.
In its simplest form, it is an attitude of disdaining what Paul admonishes us to do in Colossians 3:2: "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Although even those who truly know and love Jesus may struggle sometimes with keeping their affections on Him, there are others who profess Christ and claim to follow His Word yet who continue in their attempts to set up His kingdom here on earth prior to His return. That unbiblical objective, sometimes referred to as Dominion Theology and Kingdom-Dominionism, has taken many forms throughout church history.
One early example was the Holy Roman Empire. The idea was that "godly" (i.e., in support of the papacy) emperors would bring the world into the fold of Christ. When that wasn't successful, the papacy took control, ruling over most of the world at that time. As one historian describes it: "[The Church of Rome governed the medieval world and] had all the apparatus of the state: laws and law courts, taxes and tax-collectors, a great administrative machine, power of life and death over the citizens of Christendom and their enemies within and without....Popes claimed the sole right of initiating and directing wars against unbelievers. They raised armies, conducted campaigns, and made treaties of peace in defense of their territorial interests."1 Like most of the dogmas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, this was contrary to what Jesus taught: "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight...but now is my kingdom not from hence."
Amillennialism was the theological belief of the age, which posited that the Millennial, or 1,000-year, reign of Christ was already taking place, albeit spiritually. The worldly successes of the Roman Catholic Church seemed to support this view, but before long it succumbed to its own excesses and corruption. Although the Reformation was a reaction against the abuses of Catholicism, the Reformers kept the Catholic amillennial eschatology, along with many of its teachings and practices such as infant baptism and replacement theology (the belief that the church has replaced Israel). Verses from Scripture that spoke of blessings for Israel were spiritualized to denote the church; verses regarding Israel's punishment were ignored.
John Calvin attempted to make the city of Geneva a model of the kingdom of God, and, for his controlling effort, earned the title "the Protestant Pope." Although his goal was admirable, the results of his implementation were little different from what he had objected to in the Roman Catholic Church. Historian Will Durant writes, "The new clergy...became under Calvin more powerful than any priesthood since Israel. The real law of a Christian state, said Calvin, must be the Bible, the clergy are the interpreters of that law, civil governments are subject to that law, and must enforce it as so interpreted."2
Another historian writes, "In a class by themselves stood crimes against Calvin. It was a crime to laugh at Calvin's sermons, it was a crime to argue with Calvin on the street. But to enter into a theological controversy with Calvin might turn out to be a very grave crime."3 Geneva was hardly heaven on earth, though that was the intent. For example, "an overabundance of dishes at the table, a too-elevated headdress, an excessive display of lace, a proscribed color in dress--all were fair subjects of debate and punishment,"4 and one never knew when the consistory (the church police) would make a house call. One year saw 400 citizens indicted for moral offenses, and, in 60 years, 150 people accused of heresy were burned at the stake.
Calvin's Christianized society was simply not biblical, substituting law for grace. Not only that, it was inconsistent with Calvinist theology. How was one to "Christianize" those in Geneva who were not among God's elect? Characterized as "totally depraved" and not able to respond righteously because they were not extended "irresistible grace," the "non-elect" could never be the Christian citizens that Calvin demanded.
Kingdom-Dominionism took on a new form in the 1940s in Saskatchewan, Canada. An alleged spiritual revival broke out that spawned the "Manifest Sons of God," or, more commonly, the Latter Rain Movement. The eschatology of this movement shifted from the dispensational view, which is the Rapture of the church followed by seven years of tribulation and ending with Armageddon. The movement promoted a more "positive," even triumphant, scenario, looking for God to pour out His Spirit in a great worldwide revival, which would produce "Manifest Sons of God," a.k.a. Joel's Army. These would be believers, continually filled with the Spirit, who would manifest the same signs and wonders that Jesus did and would judge and conquer the world as they ushered in the 1,000-year reign of Christ.
One of the leaders of the movement has said: "God's people are going to start to exercise rule, and they're going to take dominion over the Power of Satan....As the rod of [God's] strength goes out of Zion, He'll change legislation. He'll chase the devil off the face of God's earth, and God's people...will bring about God's purposes and God's reign."5 This movement, however, ran into the same problems that plagued Calvin in Geneva. The so-called Manifest Sons of God couldn't live up to godly moral standards in practice, even though strict (read "abusive") measures, known as "shepherding," were applied.
The dominionism of the Latter Rain Movement spread far and wide among Pentecostals and Charismatics. Here are some quotes from men whose names you may recognize:
Yes, sin, sickness and disease, spiritual death, poverty, and everything else that's of the devil once ruled us. But now, bless God, we rule them--for this is the Day of Dominion! (the late Kenneth Hagin)
Those in [Joel's] army will have the kind of anointing...[Christ's] kind of power...anyone who wants to harm them must die. (the late John Wimber)
The manifestation of the Sons of God [are] the "overcomers" who will become perfected and step into immortality in order to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. (George Warnock)
The movement was further promoted by the late Bishop Earl Paulk, who taught that Christ was "held in heaven" until His Body, the church, purified itself and the world. Paulk, however, had problems purifying himself, having had a long history of sexual immoralities and was later convicted of perjury. In the 1980s, under Paulk's leadership, charismatic Kingdom Theology joined forces with Calvinistic Dominionist Theology, also known as Christian Reconstructionism, or Theonomy.
Christian Reconstructionism was popularized by Rousas Rushdoony and his son-in-law, Gary North. Reconstructionists believe that by applying the laws of the Old Testament and the principles of the New Testament, the world will be morally transformed by Christians. This, they claimed, would draw people to Christ. Their eschatology is postmillennial, which means that they expect Christ to return after 1,000 years (viewed by some as a symbolic number, meaning that it could be much longer) of successfully reaping the fruit produced by applying the law.
From the 1980s through the turn of the century, a Reconstructionist group called the Coalition On Revival, or COR, greatly influenced conservative evangelicals to seek to transform the U.S. into a Christian-run nation by using the political process. Although the Reconstructionists and the charismatic Kingdom-Now proponents were far apart theologically, the dominionist beliefs that are basic to both camps drew them together. Gary North noted that this surprising liaison made sense in another way: "...bringing together the postmillennial Christian reconstructionists and the 'positive confession' charismatics, with the former providing the footnotes, theology, and political action skills, and the latter providing the money, the audience, and the satellite technology [e.g., TBN and Christian Broadcasting Network]."6
A number of years ago, a friend of mine sat in on a meeting of Reconstructionists and asked if they truly intended to apply the biblical laws such as stoning and other capital punishments, to which a national leader of the movement replied, "Absolutely!" It seems that the Calvinist Reconstructionists learned little from the failure of Calvin's totalitarian experiment in Geneva.
The Kingdom-Dominionist movement continues, especially among charismatics, to our present day. Jack Hayford, George Otis Jr., and C. Peter Wagner promoted a form of Kingdom Theology that involved taking back the dominion that Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden. One of the movement's leaders explains, "Jesus gave us His authority and...we are supposed to reclaim, restore, organize, and rule over the earth--not only in a spiritual sense, but through economical, political, educational, and social reform as well." Here is why, this same person tells us, Christians must put to use their God-ordained authority: "Jesus is held in the heavenlies until all things are restored under His feet. He will not and cannot physically return to earth until the church [has brought] a measure of God's ruling authority back to this earth."7
This form of Kingdom-Dominionism is rife with methods, rituals, and techniques to be followed in order to seize control. C. Peter Wagner's books Breaking Strongholds In Your City and Confronting the Powers contain what he calls "state-of-the-art spiritual methodologies" for taking dominion: identifying territorial spirits, prayer journeys, spiritual mapping, strategic level spiritual warfare, identificational repentance, reconciliation walking, city transformation, praise marches, redeeming the culture, taking our cities, workplaces, and schools for Christ, etc.
I personally experienced the implementation of these techniques during the heyday of Wagner's "strategic level spiritual warfare" influence when some students attempted to "take our local high school for Christ." They buried crosses on the football field and anointed the school windows with oil. Not only did they not take their school for Christ, but they almost caused every Christian student organization to be thrown off campus.
C. Peter Wagner is the chief of operations behind this, and the methods that he says God has given to him are seemingly endless. He is the one who brought John Wimber to Fuller Theological Seminary (FTS) to teach "Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth," later renamed "The Miraculous and Church Growth," which Wagner co-authored with him. Wagner was also the academic mentor who supervised Rick Warren's doctorate dissertation at FTS.
Jack Hayford spent years meeting with Lloyd Ogilvie and other local pastors at Hollywood Presbyterian Church as they applied various spiritual techniques to "transform Los Angeles for Christ." Hayford candidly admitted the failure years later: "My city's [still] being torn on the inside by gang violence and murder, polluted by homosexuality and pornography on the dark side, and suffocated with pride, self-centered snobbishness and sensuality on the 'show' side...[it's] enough to self-destruct us."8
All of these movements from church history hold this in common: they are earthbound. Focused on setting up the kingdom of God here on earth prior to or in order to expedite our Lord's return, all have a very serious problem. According to the Scriptures, the next kingdom to come on this earth is the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will last for seven years. True believers in Christ will have no part in that kingdom. They will have been removed from this planet by the Lord Jesus and taken to heaven. This event is called the Rapture (John 14:1-3; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11; 4:16-18; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 John 3:2-3; Titus 2:13; 1 Timothy 6:14; Revelation 3:10; 2 Timothy 4:8, Luke 12:35,37,40), which will happen prior to the Great Tribulation period, during which time those who have followed the Antichrist will suffer God's wrath.
As Dave Hunt has noted in Whatever Happened to Heaven?: "The great seduction is to turn us from heaven to earth, from the true God to ourselves, from the denial of self to the acceptance, love, and esteem of oneself, from God's truth to Satan's lie. At the heart of this seduction are beliefs that have a deceptively spiritual appeal, but which actually turn us from loving Christ and His appearing to the earthly ambition of taking over society and remaking this world into the paradise that Adam and Eve lost" (p. 308).
Much of what has been presented here are some of the historic seeds of an earthbound dominionism that have been sown in Christianity throughout the last 1,000 years. They have taken root and are thriving in the church in this fledgling twenty-first century. In part 2 of this series, the Lord willing, we will address what is being promoted in Christendom today in an attempt to draw the Bride (true believers in Christ) away from eagerly looking for the coming of the Groom to take her to their wedding in heaven. We will question whether or not efforts within the church (the ecological movement, the ecumenical movement, social gospel endeavors, political activism, "redeeming the culture" techniques, solving the world's problems through a global P.E.A.C.E. plan, etc.) can be supported by the Word of God. TBC
Endnotes
1. R. W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Penguin Books, Vol. 2 of Pelican History of the Church Series, 1970), 18-19, cited in Dave Hunt, Whatever Happened to Heaven?(Harvest House, 1988), 150-51.
2. Will Durant, The Reformation: A History of European Civilizations from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564 (Simon & Schuster, 1957), 472-73, cited in Hunt, Heaven, 175-76.
3. Edwin Muir, John Knox: Portrait of a Calvinist (The Viking Press, 1929), 106-8, cited in Hunt, Heaven, 174-75.
4. Hunt, Heaven, 174.
5. Ern Baxter (associate of William Branham), cited in Sandy Simpson, "Dominionism Exposed," http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/dominionismexposed.html.
6. Gary North, Christian Reconstructionism: The Attack on the "New" Pentecostal, January/February 1988, Vol. X, No. 1.
7. Dr. Kluane Spake, "Dominion Theology and Kingdom NOW," http://hubpages.com/hub/Dominion-Theology-by-Dr-Kluane-Spake.
8. Jack Hayford, cited in Dr. Peter Wagner, "Let's Take Dominion Now," http://www.intheworkplace.com/apps/articles/default.asp?articlid=22902&columnid=1935.
The Temporal Delusion (Part 1)
September 2010
by T.A. McMahon
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
I'm fascinated by timelines. They give me an idea of what events took place in history, how they relate timewise to other historical events, and whether or not former events may have influenced later ones. I especially like biblical timelines. They often begin with the event of creation and end with the future Millennial reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem, supplying a host of details in between. Due to their temporal nature, however, they can only hint at eternity, which is infinite, and for which our life on earth is only a preparation.
The "timeline" presented on the cover of this newsletter is a simple attempt to symbolically remind believers that spending eternity with Jesus is our raison d'être, i.e., it is the reason for our existence.
Why am I making an issue of this? Because the world and, sadly, much of the church are caught up in a temporal delusion: clinging to this earth rather than hoping for heaven. It's part of Satan's strategy to deceive the world into building his kingdom. For thousands of years, he has seduced both professing and true Christians into joining his labor force, with the goal of establishing his own religion, which will be headed by his puppet ruler, the Antichrist. As the intensity of his program increases in these last days, particularly in Christendom, the leaven of this apostasy has been deposited in all theological camps: charismatics, Calvinists, conservatives, liberals, Pentecostals, Baptists, left-leaning Christians, supporters of the Emerging Church Movement, promoters of the "social gospel," et al.
In its simplest form, it is an attitude of disdaining what Paul admonishes us to do in Colossians 3:2: "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Although even those who truly know and love Jesus may struggle sometimes with keeping their affections on Him, there are others who profess Christ and claim to follow His Word yet who continue in their attempts to set up His kingdom here on earth prior to His return. That unbiblical objective, sometimes referred to as Dominion Theology and Kingdom-Dominionism, has taken many forms throughout church history.
One early example was the Holy Roman Empire. The idea was that "godly" (i.e., in support of the papacy) emperors would bring the world into the fold of Christ. When that wasn't successful, the papacy took control, ruling over most of the world at that time. As one historian describes it: "[The Church of Rome governed the medieval world and] had all the apparatus of the state: laws and law courts, taxes and tax-collectors, a great administrative machine, power of life and death over the citizens of Christendom and their enemies within and without....Popes claimed the sole right of initiating and directing wars against unbelievers. They raised armies, conducted campaigns, and made treaties of peace in defense of their territorial interests."1 Like most of the dogmas and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, this was contrary to what Jesus taught: "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight...but now is my kingdom not from hence."
Amillennialism was the theological belief of the age, which posited that the Millennial, or 1,000-year, reign of Christ was already taking place, albeit spiritually. The worldly successes of the Roman Catholic Church seemed to support this view, but before long it succumbed to its own excesses and corruption. Although the Reformation was a reaction against the abuses of Catholicism, the Reformers kept the Catholic amillennial eschatology, along with many of its teachings and practices such as infant baptism and replacement theology (the belief that the church has replaced Israel). Verses from Scripture that spoke of blessings for Israel were spiritualized to denote the church; verses regarding Israel's punishment were ignored.
John Calvin attempted to make the city of Geneva a model of the kingdom of God, and, for his controlling effort, earned the title "the Protestant Pope." Although his goal was admirable, the results of his implementation were little different from what he had objected to in the Roman Catholic Church. Historian Will Durant writes, "The new clergy...became under Calvin more powerful than any priesthood since Israel. The real law of a Christian state, said Calvin, must be the Bible, the clergy are the interpreters of that law, civil governments are subject to that law, and must enforce it as so interpreted."2
Another historian writes, "In a class by themselves stood crimes against Calvin. It was a crime to laugh at Calvin's sermons, it was a crime to argue with Calvin on the street. But to enter into a theological controversy with Calvin might turn out to be a very grave crime."3 Geneva was hardly heaven on earth, though that was the intent. For example, "an overabundance of dishes at the table, a too-elevated headdress, an excessive display of lace, a proscribed color in dress--all were fair subjects of debate and punishment,"4 and one never knew when the consistory (the church police) would make a house call. One year saw 400 citizens indicted for moral offenses, and, in 60 years, 150 people accused of heresy were burned at the stake.
Calvin's Christianized society was simply not biblical, substituting law for grace. Not only that, it was inconsistent with Calvinist theology. How was one to "Christianize" those in Geneva who were not among God's elect? Characterized as "totally depraved" and not able to respond righteously because they were not extended "irresistible grace," the "non-elect" could never be the Christian citizens that Calvin demanded.
Kingdom-Dominionism took on a new form in the 1940s in Saskatchewan, Canada. An alleged spiritual revival broke out that spawned the "Manifest Sons of God," or, more commonly, the Latter Rain Movement. The eschatology of this movement shifted from the dispensational view, which is the Rapture of the church followed by seven years of tribulation and ending with Armageddon. The movement promoted a more "positive," even triumphant, scenario, looking for God to pour out His Spirit in a great worldwide revival, which would produce "Manifest Sons of God," a.k.a. Joel's Army. These would be believers, continually filled with the Spirit, who would manifest the same signs and wonders that Jesus did and would judge and conquer the world as they ushered in the 1,000-year reign of Christ.
One of the leaders of the movement has said: "God's people are going to start to exercise rule, and they're going to take dominion over the Power of Satan....As the rod of [God's] strength goes out of Zion, He'll change legislation. He'll chase the devil off the face of God's earth, and God's people...will bring about God's purposes and God's reign."5 This movement, however, ran into the same problems that plagued Calvin in Geneva. The so-called Manifest Sons of God couldn't live up to godly moral standards in practice, even though strict (read "abusive") measures, known as "shepherding," were applied.
The dominionism of the Latter Rain Movement spread far and wide among Pentecostals and Charismatics. Here are some quotes from men whose names you may recognize:
Yes, sin, sickness and disease, spiritual death, poverty, and everything else that's of the devil once ruled us. But now, bless God, we rule them--for this is the Day of Dominion! (the late Kenneth Hagin)
Those in [Joel's] army will have the kind of anointing...[Christ's] kind of power...anyone who wants to harm them must die. (the late John Wimber)
The manifestation of the Sons of God [are] the "overcomers" who will become perfected and step into immortality in order to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. (George Warnock)
The movement was further promoted by the late Bishop Earl Paulk, who taught that Christ was "held in heaven" until His Body, the church, purified itself and the world. Paulk, however, had problems purifying himself, having had a long history of sexual immoralities and was later convicted of perjury. In the 1980s, under Paulk's leadership, charismatic Kingdom Theology joined forces with Calvinistic Dominionist Theology, also known as Christian Reconstructionism, or Theonomy.
Christian Reconstructionism was popularized by Rousas Rushdoony and his son-in-law, Gary North. Reconstructionists believe that by applying the laws of the Old Testament and the principles of the New Testament, the world will be morally transformed by Christians. This, they claimed, would draw people to Christ. Their eschatology is postmillennial, which means that they expect Christ to return after 1,000 years (viewed by some as a symbolic number, meaning that it could be much longer) of successfully reaping the fruit produced by applying the law.
From the 1980s through the turn of the century, a Reconstructionist group called the Coalition On Revival, or COR, greatly influenced conservative evangelicals to seek to transform the U.S. into a Christian-run nation by using the political process. Although the Reconstructionists and the charismatic Kingdom-Now proponents were far apart theologically, the dominionist beliefs that are basic to both camps drew them together. Gary North noted that this surprising liaison made sense in another way: "...bringing together the postmillennial Christian reconstructionists and the 'positive confession' charismatics, with the former providing the footnotes, theology, and political action skills, and the latter providing the money, the audience, and the satellite technology [e.g., TBN and Christian Broadcasting Network]."6
A number of years ago, a friend of mine sat in on a meeting of Reconstructionists and asked if they truly intended to apply the biblical laws such as stoning and other capital punishments, to which a national leader of the movement replied, "Absolutely!" It seems that the Calvinist Reconstructionists learned little from the failure of Calvin's totalitarian experiment in Geneva.
The Kingdom-Dominionist movement continues, especially among charismatics, to our present day. Jack Hayford, George Otis Jr., and C. Peter Wagner promoted a form of Kingdom Theology that involved taking back the dominion that Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden. One of the movement's leaders explains, "Jesus gave us His authority and...we are supposed to reclaim, restore, organize, and rule over the earth--not only in a spiritual sense, but through economical, political, educational, and social reform as well." Here is why, this same person tells us, Christians must put to use their God-ordained authority: "Jesus is held in the heavenlies until all things are restored under His feet. He will not and cannot physically return to earth until the church [has brought] a measure of God's ruling authority back to this earth."7
This form of Kingdom-Dominionism is rife with methods, rituals, and techniques to be followed in order to seize control. C. Peter Wagner's books Breaking Strongholds In Your City and Confronting the Powers contain what he calls "state-of-the-art spiritual methodologies" for taking dominion: identifying territorial spirits, prayer journeys, spiritual mapping, strategic level spiritual warfare, identificational repentance, reconciliation walking, city transformation, praise marches, redeeming the culture, taking our cities, workplaces, and schools for Christ, etc.
I personally experienced the implementation of these techniques during the heyday of Wagner's "strategic level spiritual warfare" influence when some students attempted to "take our local high school for Christ." They buried crosses on the football field and anointed the school windows with oil. Not only did they not take their school for Christ, but they almost caused every Christian student organization to be thrown off campus.
C. Peter Wagner is the chief of operations behind this, and the methods that he says God has given to him are seemingly endless. He is the one who brought John Wimber to Fuller Theological Seminary (FTS) to teach "Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth," later renamed "The Miraculous and Church Growth," which Wagner co-authored with him. Wagner was also the academic mentor who supervised Rick Warren's doctorate dissertation at FTS.
Jack Hayford spent years meeting with Lloyd Ogilvie and other local pastors at Hollywood Presbyterian Church as they applied various spiritual techniques to "transform Los Angeles for Christ." Hayford candidly admitted the failure years later: "My city's [still] being torn on the inside by gang violence and murder, polluted by homosexuality and pornography on the dark side, and suffocated with pride, self-centered snobbishness and sensuality on the 'show' side...[it's] enough to self-destruct us."8
All of these movements from church history hold this in common: they are earthbound. Focused on setting up the kingdom of God here on earth prior to or in order to expedite our Lord's return, all have a very serious problem. According to the Scriptures, the next kingdom to come on this earth is the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will last for seven years. True believers in Christ will have no part in that kingdom. They will have been removed from this planet by the Lord Jesus and taken to heaven. This event is called the Rapture (John 14:1-3; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11; 4:16-18; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 John 3:2-3; Titus 2:13; 1 Timothy 6:14; Revelation 3:10; 2 Timothy 4:8, Luke 12:35,37,40), which will happen prior to the Great Tribulation period, during which time those who have followed the Antichrist will suffer God's wrath.
As Dave Hunt has noted in Whatever Happened to Heaven?: "The great seduction is to turn us from heaven to earth, from the true God to ourselves, from the denial of self to the acceptance, love, and esteem of oneself, from God's truth to Satan's lie. At the heart of this seduction are beliefs that have a deceptively spiritual appeal, but which actually turn us from loving Christ and His appearing to the earthly ambition of taking over society and remaking this world into the paradise that Adam and Eve lost" (p. 308).
Much of what has been presented here are some of the historic seeds of an earthbound dominionism that have been sown in Christianity throughout the last 1,000 years. They have taken root and are thriving in the church in this fledgling twenty-first century. In part 2 of this series, the Lord willing, we will address what is being promoted in Christendom today in an attempt to draw the Bride (true believers in Christ) away from eagerly looking for the coming of the Groom to take her to their wedding in heaven. We will question whether or not efforts within the church (the ecological movement, the ecumenical movement, social gospel endeavors, political activism, "redeeming the culture" techniques, solving the world's problems through a global P.E.A.C.E. plan, etc.) can be supported by the Word of God. TBC
Endnotes
1. R. W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages (Penguin Books, Vol. 2 of Pelican History of the Church Series, 1970), 18-19, cited in Dave Hunt, Whatever Happened to Heaven?(Harvest House, 1988), 150-51.
2. Will Durant, The Reformation: A History of European Civilizations from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564 (Simon & Schuster, 1957), 472-73, cited in Hunt, Heaven, 175-76.
3. Edwin Muir, John Knox: Portrait of a Calvinist (The Viking Press, 1929), 106-8, cited in Hunt, Heaven, 174-75.
4. Hunt, Heaven, 174.
5. Ern Baxter (associate of William Branham), cited in Sandy Simpson, "Dominionism Exposed," http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/dominionismexposed.html.
6. Gary North, Christian Reconstructionism: The Attack on the "New" Pentecostal, January/February 1988, Vol. X, No. 1.
7. Dr. Kluane Spake, "Dominion Theology and Kingdom NOW," http://hubpages.com/hub/Dominion-Theology-by-Dr-Kluane-Spake.
8. Jack Hayford, cited in Dr. Peter Wagner, "Let's Take Dominion Now," http://www.intheworkplace.com/apps/articles/default.asp?articlid=22902&columnid=1935.
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