And Zech. 12:10 was done when?
The passage you would level at Bible-believing, Trinitarian, evangelical Christians is misplaced. I am not the one scoffing at Christ's Second Advent - it happend precisely as he said it would - judgment fell on the wicked city of Jerusalem that killed the prophets,even the Son of God. The temple, the priesthood, the animal sacrifices, the Old Covenant system were destroyed - a new, better, perfect covenant replaced it (avail yourself of the letter to the Hebrews).
It did? I did not know we were living in the Millennial with Christ ruling from a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (Ezek 44-48)
I would submit if anyone is 'scoffing' it is the people who have been turned off of the good news of Jesus Christ, of salvation by grace and the blessings and benefits that believers have in Christ through the Church because they see hysterical Christians declaring for a century and a half that the 'end is near' and it never comes to pass.
Yet
They see the premillennial date setters as false prophets - rightly or wrongly. For instance, Jack Van Impe (and his lovely wife Roxella) asserted that 2001 would see the ""rapture."" Glad for Jack (and his lovely wife Roxella) this isn't Old Covenant Israel, he might be dodging some stones.
Those who believe in the Rapture know that no date can be set, it can happen anytime.
Another interesting factoid - The ground zero of dispensational premillennialism in the 20th Century was, arguably, Dallas Theol. Sem. DTS has virtually abandoned every distinctive of classical dispensationalism because the system as it matured and as many of its thinkers matured and as the peculiar sytem faced decade after decade of critique acknowledged - its exegesis was faulty, its hermeneutic untenable and finally most of the Dallas types acknowledged it. They hold to radically modified 'progressive dispensationalism' which looks alot like 'historic premillennialism' which looks an awful lot like many amillennialists save for the interpretation of the single passage that speaks of a millennium in Rev. 20. This news though has not filtred out into the pews where folks still listen to Van Impe, Camping, La Haye, Ice, etc, et.al.
Yes, Dallas and others have left Premillennial Dispensationalism for the false 'progressive' dispensationalism.
That is because they were never rooted in the inspiration of the Bible, but in long gone 'Originals'.
Not having the Bible as their final authority it was only a matter of time before they drifted into other heresies.
How can the premills here look forward to a rebuilt temple when Hebrews (apart from the rest of the New Testament and alot of prophetic hints and pointers in the OT) explicitly says that the temple and animal sacrifices are gone and worthless. There is absolutely NO ground in Scripture for offering the 'it will be a memorial' argument. There is no Scripture that suggests animal sacrifices in a rebuilt temple are warranted as a memorial for the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or in the new moon or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come (Col.2:16-17)
Paul says these are things to come not have gone forever.
As scary as it may be to read articles dealing with prophetic texts that don't fit the mold of William Miller, Scofield, Darby, etc. - I suggest taking an honest look at some of the work available at http://www.bibleprophecy.com/ and http://www.preteristarchive.com/ and http://www.preterist.org/ You will see an optimistic alternative to the doomsday scenarios offered by folks such as Lindsey who make millions off their fictional books and, because they believe the end is near, live in poverty and give their money to missions, children's hospitals, etc..... No, sorry, rather Lindsey and the other false prophets take that money and invest it in the stock market, support ex-wiveS, etc. - for Jesus I'm sure.
Premillennialists have produced some of the best and greatest soul-winners (D.L Moody, Billy Sunday) along with the greatest emphasis on missionary activity.
Might I add, fortheDeclaration is a good illustration of why amills/postmills/prets/transmills must offer a zealous defense of the truth - because they pull the same crap as Democrats when they want to shut down discussion, debate and frighten potentially open minded folks on the sideline into running from the truth. But, unlike Democrats who might scream 'racist' or 'nazi' at Republicans and Libertarians, dispies pull out the old bromide of 'heretic' or 'false prophet' the moment they feel their fragile system is threatened.
The difference is that the scripture states that you are teaching a false doctrine.
Now, regarding the list that have above (Post,Amill,preterist, etc) you all cannot be right.
It is the preterist, the postmillennialist, the optimistic amillennialist who are preparing for the future - working, saving, investing, thinking long-term and looking to exert dominion and influence in order to transform our culture. Those in the 'culture of death' are going to die out. Those who are having large families, training their children in Biblical thinking, inculcating a full-orbed Christian worldview in them are going to transform the future for God. I am quite sure there are some premills who try, though not as successfully because of their presuppositions and eschatology, to do the same. But such activity (such as Falwell and Robertson participating in the political process and cultural debate) is as inconsistent as a Christian Scientist taking antibiotics or having double by-pass. They are, gladly, hedging their bets that their exegesis might not be spot on.
Any Premillennialist who thinks he is going to change anything has in practice rejected Premill.
That does not mean we are not to fulfill our responsibility to be good citizens (vote, jury duty, military) but we know that things are going to get worse not better, espically when the church is removed from the scene.
Blessings on the New Israel of God.
Even so, come Lord Jesus
Amen and Amen!............................................Your# 38...GREAT COMMENTS! Maranatha!
How consistent. But, why then hang around FR? If you are going to be consistent then you ought to sit passively until your rapture, unconcerned with politics, cultural battles and so on. You and other premills are living on borrowed currency from historic amill/postmill thinking.
I thank you for your post. You have illustrated for me very well that wild-eyed KJV only, dispensational premill. position that is in steep decline.
If you are really interested in the answers to your questions, you need to go to http://www.swrb.com/ and visit Still Waters Revival Books and get ahold of some classic works on Zechariah and Revelation. Or, http://www.postmillennialism.com/ which has a number of excellent articles and books. I am quite sure you won't, but that is of course because your exegesis is faulty and fragile and liable to be destroyed with a little light from God's Word.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Scofield notes and Moody Press