Posted on 01/24/2002 12:12:38 AM PST by BurkeCalhounDabney
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:36:54 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The apocalyptic 1995 novel "Left Behind" and its eight sequels have sold 50 million copies. The Christian end-of-the-world epic by authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins has spawned a Hollywood movie and sparked renewed interest in Bible prophecy.
Despite its enormous success, "Left Behind" is being criticized on theological grounds by some Christians who say the story of worldwide tribulation following a sudden "Rapture" of born-again believers is based on a faulty interpretation of the Bible.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
HOW about considering this regarding the false prophets of our age "all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire." or perhaps the "lord lord, did we not prophesy in your name? DEPART from me ye that work iniquity and lawlessness? I NEVER knew you."
Or the ever famous commands to stone "false prophets presuming to speak a word in the name of the Lord which I have not commanded them to speak" type of stuff?
This apparently does not bother some of the sheep. But I think it probably DOES bother the shepherd.. and all true shepherds.
I think people PRESUMING to speak for God ought to stay away from false scenarios, selling materials with those scenarios as a premise and encouraging others to participate in them as well. And then taking up the offering or getting a kickback from the sale. A false balance is still an abomination to the lord, and it matters NOT if the guy doing it is the head of your favorite ministry or my favorite one either.
Lies are still lies, deceit is still deceit, and false hope is still false hope. Ministry should entail NONE of these false premises, nor should it entertain them as viable concepts. Follow such folks at your OWN peril.
Jesus had a lot to say about folks who would deceive many in the end, as false leaders, prophesying and predicting the emergence and location of "the christ".
Jesus said the very elect were even in danger of being deceived. Jesus it seems, has been proven right by those who lie in his name.
Scoffers come into existence, as a result of centuries of false prophecies, dealt by the hands of false ministers or prophecy teachers, or prophets who POSE as ministers of light. How that can reflect positively on the sure hope of the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus in yours or anyone else's mind, is beyond me.
Its easy to cut and paste scriptures. NOT so easy to remember the general principles of God. Lying and deceit concerning issues ONLY GOD KNOWS to get money and followers is evil. Folks who practice such things endanger their own eternal destiny and the lives of those who know no better than to swallow that pap.
I spent some time searching, and I think I found the correct verses..Now I think it's a manmade tradition because I don't think it matters where the deceased lay.. (IE:think of those who were cremated)
Matthew 24
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
The "theology" (one of the various "dispensational" theories) is only about 140 years old here:
While the pre-tribulational, pre-millennial dispensationalist scheme has certaily caught in American Christianity, vis. Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye's popularizing (Late Great Planet Earth; Left Behind serial offerings), and within the 20th century promoted on a more scholarly basis by Lewis Chafer and Dallas Seminary and others, who in turn took it from John Scofield and his Scofield Study Bible, it is a novel view of eschatology. A novel view that is having less and less support among even some dispensationalists...
It is not based upon historic Reformational theology in any sense, and is completely at odds with covenantal Reformed theology. Point of fact, it was *never* taught, believed, or even hinted at, by anyone in the historic Christian faith.
John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren (circa A.D. 1830s) literally invented it, though others in the Plymouth Brethren sect certainly contributed to its formulation (e.g., A.N. Groves; B.W. Newton; W.H. Dorman; E. Cronin; and J.G. Bullett). Some dispensationalists chafe at this, but the fact is dispensationalism is a direct product of the Plymouth Brethren movement in England in the early 19th century. It isn't found in the New Testament; it isn't found in the Church fathers; it isn't found in the universal creeds of the historic Church; it isn't found in Augustine; it isn't found in any of the great Reformation creeds and statements of faith; it isn't found in Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Spurgeon, Dabney, Machen, well, I hope the reader gets the point.
I am not saying it was a minority view, or a hated view, or even considered a heretical view--it simply didn't exist until J.N Darby concocted it in the 1830s.
It didn't exist in any form in the United States until circa 1864; Darby graced the United States with his presence.
Darby so impressed Dr. James Brooks of the 16th and Walnut Avenue Presbyterian Church in St. Louis that Dr. Brooks is considered the "father of American dispensationalism."
One of Dr. Brooks' students was named C.I. Scofield. So, essentially, the historical beginnings may be rightly traced, literally, from JN Darby, to James Brooks, to C.I. Scofield, to Lewis Chafer and subsequently being churned out at Dallas Seminary, founded by Dr. Chafer.
What made it "take off," so to speak? During this circa of history, the American denomoniations were being heavily corrupted by liberalism, in the wake of Chuck Darwin's philosophical piece, Origins of Species (Darwin wasn't a scientist, but a failed divinity student--his Origins is one of the books that everyone talks about but never reads...it is not a work of science, but is simply the [largely borrowed...] musings of Darwin), and the cultural impact it had.
By 1923, liberalism and historic Christian teaching came to a real confrontation at Princeton Seminary (at one time one of the great defenders of the historic Christian faith). The General Assembly in 1923 resulted in J. Gresham Machen and other scholars from Princeton breaking from the school and forming Westminster Theological Seminary, September 25, 1929. A truly great educational institution.
The Reformed scholars of the school defended historic Christian teaching against the anti-christian liberalism that was taking over much of the American church. The works they published defended the fundamentals of the faith, such as the inspiration of Scripture, the Virgin birth of Christ, the bodily Resurrection, the divinity of Christ and the substitutionary atonement of Christ. Those that held to historic Christian teaching were then labeled "fundamentalists" (it should be carefully noted that these "fundamentalists" should not be equated with or confused with the current dispensationalist fundamentalists, as they are strikingly different, whereas the so-called present-day fundamentalist is typified as being anti-intellectual, anti-historic, anti-creedal, which the great men that fought the liberals in the early 20th century were certainly not any of the above).
The liberalism of the day made such headway into the mainline denominations that they essentially ceased being Christian when an honest analysis is made of their doctrinal and creedal content; in our day, none of the mainline denominations may be rightly called Christian from a historic, New Testament perspective.
In this horrific state of affairs, came the Scofield Study Bible and the energetic preaching of C.I. Scofield. In response to the major denominations in the U.S. being corrupted by liberalism, the independent church movement began, and with noble purposes to be sure.
Essentially all of the leaders of the early independent church movement were dispensationalists, and the defacto Bible that was used was the Scofield Study Bible.
Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer founded Dallas Seminary in 1924, and while the mainline demonominations were jettisoning the Christian faith, this dispensationalist school was upholding historic doctrines such as the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of Christ, His miracles, the bodily Resurrection, et. al.
The person in the pew didn't want to hear that the Bible was "wrong," and that Jesus--if He ever existed--was just a nice man, deluded, but just a nice man, that miracles are "impossible," and that they were not only not in the image of God, they were simply a quirk, a biological oddity, a product of time and chance--in short, animals, of no more worth or real significance than a dog, or cow, or rat, or slug. In that worldview, Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler are ultimately the same, as ethics and morals are nothing but the subjective illusion of evolved animals, with the same reward--if anything, Hitler acted more "rationally consistent" with the modern worldview, as he fully believed in evolution and the survival of the fittest. But that is another story, with the present state of American government and public education as monuments to the nihilistic, relativistic worldview they are based upon (that includes both parties, folks--the Republican party is different in degree, not kind, from the Democratic party
Dallas Seminary filled the void that was left by the abandoning of the Christian faith by the mainline denominations (and as a side note, the cults took advantage of this as their rise took place during the same time period)--Dallas Seminary produced scores of graduates, and these men planted churches all over the United States, Bible-believing churches, and those sickened by the liberalism of the mainline churches flocked to the new dispensational fundamental churches. These churches did preach the Gospel and defend the faith, to their credit.
And here we are today...most conservative churches today are dispensationalist in orientation, and most church goers think it is *the* historic, Bible-believing view of eschatology and hermeneutics, which it simply is not.
Anyway, that is the historic background to dispensationalism and the Hal Lindsey brand "mark of the best" and the "Left Behind" series. "The Beast" of Revelation was most likely Caesar Nero. "Apocalypse Then" essentially.
Is there going to be another physical Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem? The New Testament clearly states that believers in Christ are the Temple of God; the final view of the physical (carnal) Temple of the Old Covenant nation of the Jews was foretold by Christ to be destroyed; it was, circa A.D. 70.
The kingdom was to be taken from the Jews and given to others; it was, and now the covenant people of God are those that have their faith in Jesus Christ, whether ethnically Jewish or Gentile. National Israel rejected her covenant with God, rejected her Messiah, and ultimately rejected God Himself. There is no special significance to the modern secular state of "Israel," which is [a] utterly contemptous of Christ; [b] is overwhelming atheistic in belief; [c] ethnically, they are German, Polish, English, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Kazaharian, etc....but biological, lineal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Biologically doubtful, theological irrelevant as regards New Testament belief.
"The mark of the beast is a counterfeit for the seal of God's name on the saints (7:2-8; 14:1; Ezek, 9). The beast owns those who are marked, and they are his slaves. Speculations about a visible mark miss the main point of the spiritual distinction between the two groups" (New Geneva Study Bible study notes for Rev. 13:16 Thomas Nelson, 1995), p. 2023.
Recommended Sites:
http://www.chalcedon.edu/report/97dec/Wilson_Judaism_Lite.html
http://www.reformed.org/eschaton/beast.html
Also Recommended:
Understanding Dispensationalism, by Vern S. Poythress (Zondervan Publishing House).
82 posted on 11/17/01 5:15 PM Pacific by EthanNorth HERE
And Israel did not "exist" until 1948. Prior eschatology was built upon the premise that the Church had replaced Israel as the "chosen people." Well God seems to have had another view of eschatology than the theologians of the past, eh?
God has restored Israel and this changes the whole picture of Revelation. Obviously God has a plan for Israel in these last days.
If God was finished with Israel in 70 AD, then why is Israel now the center of almost all of the conflicts in the world today? Mere coincidence? I think not.
Like I said, whether or not I agree with the theology, the predictions, etc., I find the series interesting.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Revelation 19:7-9
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed [are] they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (Revelation 19:11)
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; (Revelation 19:17)
Revelation 20:5-6
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, (Revelation 20:7)
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:9)
Revelation 20:14-15
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
I find your dissertation skewed, biased, extremely judgmental and uninformed.... Biblically speaking, of course. Is that better? *chuckle*
always in Christ, jon
He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
It never occurred to me that the 3 mentions of 1000 years are not the same period of time. That seems the most natural way to read this. How can you read it to be different periods of time?
Historically, the fact is the church has always believed that the book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John in 95 A.D.
More likely written around 65-66 AD.
That's incredible. Name any historical reference or support for that. To support the the 95-100 AD date, I cite Eusebius, a Church historian from the 4th century.
Mr. DeMar agrees the idea of the Rapture could lead Christians to "cultural complacency based on prophetic inevitability." Another danger is that Christians will be disillusioned if the "Left Behind" scenario doesn't happen.
"Every time these failed predictions occur," he says, "some people start questioning the Bible."
Mr. DeMar certainly doesn't give much credence to people's faith, does he? If you could be so easily disillusioned in God.....it's time for a spiritual checkup, anyway. LaHaye doesn't set dates... nor does he state he knows exactly "when" the Lord will return. LaHaye gives a fictional account of "how" things could "possibly" play out during the times just before Jesus comes. This author has written a very presumptuous piece....IMHO.
success=$$$ in the Laodicean church.
it has entertainment value, that's all.
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