The Last Word on the Last Days: Part 1--Dispensationalism (click on the chart to enlarge!)

Looks pretty crazy doesn't it? Before I say a word about Dispensational Premillennial Pre-Tribulation Rapture Eschatology, I thought I'd give you an idea what I'm up against. Charts like this are common among folks who believe this Left Behind style end-times scheme. They are necessary because the plotlines are so stinkin' complicated that you have to write them down to get a grip on their immensity. I'm going to stew this chart down to a tender seven or so points that I hope you can digest them, much like cooking up some good fresh green beans so they're easier to chew on.

Here goes:

1. In the OT God selected Abraham as the father of the Jews, to be His own nation. God made promises to Abe and His Seed that have never been revoked about giving him the land of Canaan, the covenant of circumcision, and about Abe being a blessing or a curse to all mankind.

2. The result of this was the Jewish nation, called forth to God's true worship from their pagan environment in Egypt, to whom He gave the land of Canaan, His Law, and many promises.

3. The Jews went through periods of disobedience and obedience throughout their history, with God saying that He would eventually establish His eternal Kingdom, involving the Jews, at some point in the future. The prophets elaborated on Deuteronomy during this time as it pertained to a future prophet, like Moses, whom the Jews called Messiah, who would inaugurate the Kingdom and deliver them. The prophet Daniel alluded to a "stone cut without hands" (Christ the Messiah) in his visions that would destroy all the empires of the world and rule. The prophet Daniel specifically foretold that 483 years would occur from his time till Messiah's coming, and that at the end of this time (69 prophetic weeks), the prince/prophet/Messiah would die and a nation would destroy the Jews. The 70th week would see a future destroyer who would attack God's people and then be destroyed. The "stone cut without hands" would be the only Kingdom left--Messiah and His Kingdom (interpreted to be only the Jews by some Jews).

4. Christ came to the Jews in the Roman occupation period of history. He was the promised Messiah and King. The Jews did not understand the Trinity, which they couldn't see in the OT, and furthermore, Jesus did not meet their expectations as a military leader, so they killed Him. What they didn't know is that He was the Messiah, yet His first coming did not start with world conquest, but the conquest of sin, Satan, and death. They couldn't even see His role as a sacrifice for sin, though they killed sacrifices for their sins all the time.

5. The Jews, having rejected the Kingdom, were rejected by God as the main agents of redemption of the world for a while, while the church age, a "mystery" to the OT prophets (Col. 1:26) was revealed to last for an indefinite time. This age could've lasted a few years, but its been now over 2000 years.

6. Most dispensationalists believe that the church age is not the full Kingdom of God described in the OT, therefore, Christ will return suddenly to "rapture" (catch up) the church before He brings tribulation on the earth. During the tribulation, the earth will suffer His wrath 7 years, but He will redeem Israel, which will begin to believe in Him and spread the Gospel like crazy. After His wrath is spent on the agents of Satan, they are consigned to hell, and Satan is locked-up. Those redeemed in the tribulation will unite with the raptured saints on earth in a 1000 year Kingdom under Jesus Christ, ruled from Jerusalem.

7. At the end of 1000 years, Satan is released from bondage for a while to recruit all remaining unbelievers throughout earth who will try to attack Christ. What results is their destruction by fire from heaven, the last judgment and finally, all the redeemed enter the eternal state in a new heaven and earth, while all the unbelieving, evil people are consigned with Satan to eternal hell. So ends the history of sin and death in this world.

*Points are Scripture referenced as follows: 1)Genesis 12-25 2)The rest of the Pentateuch 3)The OT History Books, The Psalms, The Prophets (mainly) 4)The Gospels (note Matthew's many citations of the Prophets and Psalms) 5)The Gospels and Letters
6) The Gospels, Letters, Revelation, The Prophets 7) The Revelation

Wow! Isn't that a mouthful! The issues are too many and too big to address pro-con debate style, so let me make a few remarks and we'll be done.

1. Dispensationalism is highly Scriptural, which is its appeal. It hits on Scripture after Scripture, giving them historical tags. No wonder people like this--its history beforehand. People like that certainty and predictability. They like the fact that every base is covered. However, there are many weak links in the chain, given that many of its scripture-based interpretations are dubious (for fun, try to distinguish Christ's coming in the Rapture vs. His 3rd Coming in Judgment from a simple reading of the NT).

2. Dispensationalism is a new phenomenon. It's about 150 years old. It was invented by the Brethren Christian Community in Europe/Britian and formalized by John Nelson Darby circa 1830. This is not considered a liability by dispensationalists, since the people near the end were expected to understand prophecy better, since the times of fulfillment were at hand. However, this leaves the question: "Why did no one come to this view before 1830?" It's not easy to answer why some enlightened interpreter of Scripture didn't come to it earlier. (Also see Revelation 1:1)

3. Dispensationalism also carries the baggage of its namesake--the Dispensational periods included in the original scheme. These aided in distinguishing periods of history, since dispensationalists make radical differences in between different periods of redemption history, the biggest being Jewish Kingdom of Heaven vs. Christian church. Again, this requires some interpretive gymnastics, which I won't go into here much, except to say that the NT regards the 1st Coming of Christ as the inauguration of His Kingdom, howbeit in the hearts of men (Matthew 12:28).

There's my first post. Dispensationalism is very complicated and teaches many unlikely doctrines, strung together from many proof-texts. It also teaches much truth. I would say my own end times view is akin to dispensationalism in some ways, and not in others. In my opinion, the ideas in my 3 points are my problems with it. In my following posts I'll consider the amount of strengths and weaknesses of dispensationalism as well as the next view I look at. I'll do that until I reach a conclusion, at which point we'll be able to see each view's strengths and weaknesses.

Hope you enjoy the journey.

His peace,

Greg

PS Dispensationalists can be Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic, whatever...the system is ubiquitous among Evangelicals. Most of the mainline denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal, Catholic, etc.) are wary of it.

New Series

I will be embarking on a series of blogs entitled "The Last Word on the Last Days" (hahaha). This will be a similar format to my previous series "Strange Facts and the Age of the Earth." In case you missed my conclusions on that series, you are welcome to go back and read them yourself, but basically my conclusions were the following:

1. The majority report on evolution is certainly not true as the public schools, universities, and scientists teach it. The fossil record doesn't match. The DNA record doesn't prove that DNA can morph according to environmental influences. There is no secular answer for the start of life (against Stanley Miller and all his followers), because the naturalistic mechanism proposed isn't powerful enough given even billions of years based on pure chance. There is a growing movement in the sciences that recognizes these and other problems with the current majority paradigm of naturalistic evolution. So evolution is headed out scientifically. It's no secret Scripture doesn't agree, and that is more important than all the opinions just presented.

2. The age of the earth remains a problem for the biblical chronology. However, it is highly likely Genesis is a factual/poetic account, given to Moses's primitive people to fit there education level on the universe. Before anyone goes ballistic over what I just said, consider half the days of Genesis are not normal (a la day 1, where light exists with no light-bearing bodies). Also consider that God can and did change human DNA (where do you think Eve came from?). So it seems that there is room for more time than 6 normal solar days in Genesis. However, before I go too far, I will say that if God is as the Bible describes Him, 6 solar days, and all the problems that go along with it from our perspective would be no problem at all to God. Correct? Notice that none of what I have said undermines normal history taking place in Genesis 2 with Adam and Eve. The temptation would have simply taken place after day 7, whether it was a long time, or a shorter one. God knows.

3. Where does this leave us? Genesis is history, but it doesn't include all the details, and that for our benefit. It immediately zooms in on mankind in chapter 2, describing why we are sinners and gives a proto-Gospel answer to that problem. The Bible is theocentric (God-centered), but is also anthropocentric (man-centered). So many other details about God's world are not important to His main plan and message. We will be scratching our heads about a great many things (Genesis included), all the way to Glory.

Speaking of scratching heads...I'll start my new series soon...

Shalom

Greg

Luke 6:43-45: Fly Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

Today my preacher addressed the text in the headline, and it appeared to be difficult. Not because he was unprepared. Not because he didn't deliver well. It is just a difficult subject. The greatest hardship in addressing this text is it's connection with the preceding text about "Judge not that ye be not judged" (Luke 6:37). There is a irresistible tension set up when one attempts to harmonize what we heard today with that text that immediately precedes it. The quandary goes like this: "If we are not to judge--then how are we to judge people's fruit?" There are only two options here: 1) Do not judge other's fruit all 2) Or judge them.

The Scripture calls us to make too many judgments (remember that pesky discernment), for the first option to be a live one. So this inevitably leads us to a second sticky question:

How are we to judge people?

My preacher gave the simple answer and explained it well: Judge all things by the Word of God.

This led him to the difficult position of explaining that all things people judge as evil are not evil. However, this is not the end of the story. There is a burden upon Christians to consider their actions, so sin is not the only issue. There is also the issue of other believer's consciences. So anything that makes one stumble, lose faith, or does the same to others, is off limits.

Here is where the difficulty came in. My pastor noted a vineyard owner in town who has been rejected by his church. Then came the shocking statement: "It might not be a sin to own a vineyard and sell wine." Without a doubt, this is true, but I'm sure it raised some eyebrows this morning down here in the Bible Belt! Let me say immediately that I agree with my pastor. He is one of my heroes, and I love him. However, this kind of thing in the ministry in a Bible Belt Baptist Church is where I got my title. O how carefully one must step amongst the landmines of cultural sensitivity!

My pastor went on to explain that this is a Romans 14 issue--an issue of conscience. Not all people are able to handle a person selling alcohol. I can even hear Habakkuk 2:15 being shouted out by people all over the county right now! Yet right there in that passage, the motivation for the one giving out the alcohol is exposed: "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, to thee that addest thy venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! (Hab 2:15 (ASV)). The motivation of this person is to bring drunkeness and shame on his neighbor. This is most likely not the cold-hearted motivation of the local vineyard owner my pastor talked with. The Bible roundly condemns drunkenness, but never condemns plain use of alcohol as a beverage, nor of its selling to others. Similarly, soldiering is an occupation that without a doubt can bring someone into the position of harming someone, but God doesn't condemn it through John the Baptist earlier in Luke, because a soldier's duties don't always involve personal malice as a rule (3:14).

God is all about the motivation of the heart concerning behaviors that can affect others for good or bad. Certain sins are named in the Bible, and that's that for them. There is no other case or argument. However, many things in the Bible require careful discernment, judgment, and grace to determine their moral value. I have become convinced through today's sermon and my previous studies of Romans 14, that we don't know that chapter as we ought here in my state. It's true in missionary work, that anything that is a cause for stumbling or a hindrance to the Gospel, ought to be abstained from. However, that doesn't mean its easy to determine what is legal. Every situation must be analyzed with the highest goal of loving God and man as first priority. That said, we are required to live wisely, in the fear of God, more than anything else.

Keep floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee Brother R!

Greg

911 and Today's Tea Party

Yesterday was a horrific and heroic day in US history 8 years ago. Planes smashed into the World Trade Center destroying them. Other planes hit the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. I have read much conspiracy literature concerning these events. However, two things are most certainly true--in New York, crisis struck and service workers reacted with courage and discipline. Thank God for firefighters, EMTS, paramedics, policemen, and others who served their fellowmen and country on that day. Thanks also to others who served in Pennsylvania and Washington. God bless their families and comfort them with His peace. Furthermore, God bless and keep those who were lost on that day and their families because of these acts of violence and terror.

Much has happened since that fateful day. Americans have largely continued with their lives as normal. However, trouble has been brewing. President Obama and the Democratic led congress have attempted to counter one of the greatest recessions in our nation's history by spending taxpayer money hugely. The US government now has huge debt (much of it backed by China), and has funneled huge amounts of taxpayer money for the forseeable future into the nation's large insurance companies, banks, and automakers. Rather than allow these companies to fail and restructure or disband (which would be just), we the people have been expected to foot the bill as big business repairs itself with our money. Now Obama has said of reforming (socializing) the healthcare industry, "I am not the first president to address this issue, but I am determined to be the last."

Today, in Somerset, there was a Tea Party. It was pro-US, but more than that, themed heavily on our responsibility as citizens to control the democratic process by exercising our right to vote. The keynote speaker refrained, "We must vote out all those who have produced the current situation--democrat and republican." Sitting there, I thought to myself, "how can the people change this situation by voting out politicians?" Surely, the speaker understood that the campaign process is shaped by and favorable to the often self-serving rich, who then bring forward one of two candidates to every post, from which we must choose one. Surely he knows that the problem is not that we can't vote them out, but it is the choices we are given. Big business and the wealthy shape the Republican party. Big business and the wealthy even shape the Democratic party. Campaigning is a costly business and the rich will have their advantages and often their way when it comes to shaping the leadership of this country and the world, and the agenda that leadership imposes. The people are angry...but I doubt they will prevail, as this world is controlled by Satan and his lies about greed and indulgence. As Ecclestiastes says, "Money is the answer to everything." (10:19).

(I am not against rich people in general. However, if the bail-outs are not the rich working with the politicians to preserve and extend their assets as the rest of the country runs low on cash, I don't know what they are. I also believe that despite the inconvenience of the system, good politicians do make it into Congress, however, their numbers are meager. This is were a Gospel revival nationwide could make a difference. If the Holy Spirit doesn't turn the human heart from stone to flesh, there is no answer for greed, poverty, or sharp dealing. Certainly socialist "change" is not the answer, as it provides no accountability or sense of urgency to to instill the values of accountability, work ethic, or fair wages. If the chains of Christ do not lead men--the chains of sin will prevail over them.)

I then thought, "What then is my duty, considering there is faint hope for such nationwide character reformation?" Romans 13 came to mind. I mulled over the fact that Paul told Christians to obey the ungodly and evil Roman government with its Satanic emperors. Why? Paul answers that the authorities have been appointed by God to enforce the law and protect us. This is the best advice. We might not be able to change the political/economic system to a more just one economically and politically, but we can bear witness for Christ, work for our food, deal squarely, and obey all laws not in conflict with God's law under the present system. We may not be able to live comfortably on social security when we retire in the future, and we might not be able to leave worldly goods to our children and grandchildren, but we can instill these values in them and pray that Mammon does not become their god. The positive side of that is thankfulness to God for whatever we receive. Even to the point were all we might have is a day's food at a time and clothes on our backs. (Blessed are the poor/poor in spirit). Thankfulness entails also the recognition that many citizens of this world live in absolute poverty and disease, and that though we Americans seem to have less all the time, we certainly have many more material things than most of the world. We ought to help them in whatever way we can.

I predict the rich will continue to influence the system for personal gain, simply because they have advantages the working and middle class do not. Unconstitutional/progressive/socialist ideas will continue to overtake our Constitution's original intent in legislature and the courts a bit at a time as the world moves toward globalism. Unless America is granted another great revival, which would grant a change of heart to many, many Americans, our country, as after 9/11, will never be the same and will not continue to be governed under the values it was in the past. (Not that the country has been perfect--far from it, but it has and still is great in many ways--just ask all those immigrants why they want to come here.)

However, I say, with the courage of a New York firefighter, rushing into the burning towers, we must fight the good fight, teach our fellowman and children about the Kingdom of righteousness that will never be abolished, about the Treasure laid up that can never rust or be stolen, about the retirement that is really permanent rest, and about the Leader--the Good Shepherd, who never goes astray, who never will leave us or forsake us, who will take care of us eternally. Jesus Christ is His name. This is the Kingdom of Heaven, which we must latch onto forcefully--the USA is a kingdom of this world and can ultimately not provide any of the these things. Never will we fail if we do this, though the world fall apart around us. Let's roll...

Country Boy

So many things have happened since July. I figure I'll start with something I love--music. Lately I have been studying country music and bluegrass because I play guitar at church and I wish to incorporate some aspects of these styles into my playing. What sparked this desire was finding an Albert Lee video on YouTube.



I came across this video because in the days when I played mostly rock and metal, all of my guitar mags raved about Albert Lee when they came to talk about country music. I didn't give it much thought, but I was simply astounded when I found out how good Albert Lee was! I already knew that Chet Atkins was a guitarist's guitarist, and that his influence, Merle Travis had also had a drastic influence on many American styles of music from rock to folk, but I had no idea of the technical expertise owned by Albert Lee and other country soloists. So, new musical respect has arrived in my mind concerning country guitarists--they are as good, or better than their rock and roll counterparts.