____by Lane Rogers__________The Historical Perspective___Part One
This is the first section of three or four that I will do on this subject as part of the introduction to the Book of Revelation. These lessons will deal mostly the historical aspects of Modern Millennialism.
I must tell you up-front this is not a subject I really enjoy but when we speak of the book of Revelation the nature of current millennialism prophecy that is so common in the United States cannot be ignored. In my life time, the Doomsday Prophecies that are now so prevalent erupted in 1970 with the distorted works of Hal Lindsay and Late Great Planet Earth. The capstone to Lindsey's work came in 1976 with the publication of his Terminal Generation. I have written before about the origins of this particular theological perspective (Check it out here) but I have been told that it is hard to understand for the layman so as I start a class on the books of Daniel and Revelation it may serve us all if we review the modern roots of this millennial philosophy. For my basic guide I will use the Old College Press text books and improvise to modern times.
The phenomenon centers largely on a fundamentalist Christian view (if one may be called Christian who holds this belief system) about the end of the world as predicted by different prophets in the Bible. "Much of the fire and brimstone rhetoric has been fueled by the literalistic teachings of the Dallas Theological Seminary (and its Bibliotheca Sacra) and the Chicago Moody Bible Institute."1
The sale of religious books across the nation is proof that this end times philosophy is not abating as evidenced by the recent best sellers of the Left Behind series. To many of these doomsday prophets the fundamental sign of the times was the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Some of the claims of these apocalyptic gurus are not self evident to any serious student of the original Bible text. One such non-self-evident claim is that Bible predicts the emergence of a powerful Russian force that will sweep down on the Middle East (Ez. 38:15-16) and the Chinese masses will pounce on Arab lands (Revelation 9:18), and that European Common Market fulfills Daniel 7:24. Even today we are told that Barack Obama is Satan in disguise and this was all predicted in the Bible. While many may agree with the premise that Obama is Satan in disguise, to say the Bible speaks of such things is ludicrous.
I
was raised in the church
of Christ in
a small central Texas town. In those days we had some very lively
discussions with the Baptists across the street but as I look back on
those early years, even then the Baptists were somewhat Gnostic in
their plan of salvation but not nearly so much as they are now. Their
doctrinal positions across the board have changed over the years. In
those days, we
generally circled our wagons on 'baptism.' The local Baptists usually
tried to make the argument that baptism was just a 'work' (an idea I
rejected as being borrowed from Roman Catholicism[See
Catholic Doctrine and Outward Signs of Inward Grace])
and not
related to one's salvation whereas I would argue that baptism was
essential for salvation, the correct position then and now. Since
Lindsey's book their adoption of millennialism has widened the gap
between us to the point of becoming insurmountable. It is no
longer just 'baptism"
and "instrumental music" that separate us. The Baptists
and many other so called main line Protestant groups have embraced
Hegelian
Philosophy (Look
Here for Hegel and Karl Marx). I
see this as mostly an educational problem since philosophy classes in
the American Educational system are extinct for the most part. We
can't expect people to recognize Hegelianism when they don't know
what it is! This isn't something that is questionable since Hal Lindsey
often quotes Hegel in his books. Another term that I have coined for
this phenomena is "Christian Marxism." For evidence of the link
between Hegel and Communism look at the new Communist Party's website
and see that they also reference Hegel (Here).
The separation between what was once clearly recognized as the "cults" and mainline "Protestants" has been blurred. William Miller and the Seventh Day Adventists, the Mormons, and the Jehovah's Witnesses all share the same theology as the Baptists and many other so-called Evangelical groups. The fact that the Jehovah's Witnesses have twice had to altar their prophecy charts (once in 1912 and then again in 1976), seems to bother none of these "end times" groups. Some of these modern self proclaimed prophets tell us that 1914 and WWI were the fulfillment of Matthew 24:1-8, while others declared that 1945 (United Nations) was an initial sign in the eventual fulfillment of Daniel 2. Still others are absolutely certain that 1948 (the Nation of Israel) expresses Ez. 37 regarding the great apostasy, and 1950 marks the official sign of the National Council of Churches (toward World Council of Churches, then on to the World Council of Religions). It is also asserted that the fulfillment of Revelation 17; Daniel 12:4 was realized in 1957 and the new possibilities of space exploration; Ezekiel 38, 39 found fulfillment in 1974 with the resurgent international Russian influence; and many claim that Christ was to return in 1988, which was supposedly 'a generation' after the great sign of 1948 and the rebirth of Israel.
Any introduction to Biblical prophecy presupposes the following factors.
1. The existence of a personal, rational, self revealing, creator-redeemer God.
2. God has spoken in creation and history through words, events, expressed in the scriptures, and ultimately in the incarnation.
3. Man, even sinful man, can understand, and is responsible for understanding the divine oracles.
4. God has chosen to reveal his cosmic purpose to man within history, thus ordering and relating both His transcendence, immanence, theory and praxis. 2
5. Prophecy is one of God's instruments of revealing His Lordship over the details of history.
6. Prophecy sustains both God's transcendence and man's freedom.
7. Biblical prophecy is unique and cannot be compared with the sensationalism we see today.
8. For more complete concepts on biblical prophecy see my other articles (Look Here)
1. Christ is Lord of world history and acts within the context of salvation history.
2. Christ through His cross, resurrection and ascension won the final victory over sin, Satan, and death.
3. His Kingdom was established on earth 2000 years ago (Col.1:13-14). The saved are the earthly part of the kingdom while the rest of those in the kingdom are described in Hebrews 12: 21-24. For a complete review of the kingdom of God see other articles on this site. Look Here
4. The "Last Days" spoken of in the Bible were 2000 years ago. Jesus lived and spoke in the "Last Days" (Hebrews 1:2). The church was to be established in the "Last Days" (Isaiah 2:2). The term the "Last Days" as it is used in the Bible means the "Last Days" of God's theocratic reign over Israel.
5. The coming of the Lord the next time will be a single event.
6. There will be a general resurrection of both the redeemed and non-redeemed.
7. The so-called "rapture" will take place after the general resurrection__1st Cor. 15:51f; 1st Thess. 4:17.
8. After this follows judgment.
9. The earth and all things in and on it will disappear.
1College Press
Praxis is also key in meditation and spirituality, where emphasis is placed on gaining first-hand experience of concepts and certain areas, such as union with the Divine, which can only be explored through praxis due to the inability of the finite mind (and its tool, language) to comprehend or express the infinite.
According to Strong's Hebrew dictionary, the Hebrew word, ta‛am, is; properly a taste, that is, (figuratively) perception; by implication intelligence; transitively a mandate: - advice, behavior, decree, discretion, judgment, reason, taste, understanding.