Kingdom Alert Update #226 Part 2

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MY REPLY TO JACK VAN IMPE, By Joey Faust
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PART II:

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THE ADVOCATES OF MILLENNIAL EXCLUSION
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JACK: ‘This denies the Gospel.’ Yes, if it were so, but it isn’t. ‘On the
other hand, the doctrine of Millennial exclusion protects and guards the
Gospel, since the various warnings to believers are not applied to
eternity, but only for 1000 years.’ Uh. Big deal. Only 1000 years of
suffering. At least you can get out of the Catholic purgatory after some
prayers. You can’t get out of this Millennial Exclusion thing for over
1000 years. God help us. To me Rexella, this is nothing but a Protestant
Purgatory. Nevertheless, some 300 scholars, covering 100 years of history
proclaimed this, both in America and Canada. Let’s continue. Who backed
it? Dr. George W. Dollar, author of ‘A History of Fundamentalism in
America’ promotes the book stating, ‘God’s going to send all the wicked,
lazy, unprofitable Christians to outer darkness for 1,000 years, and there
shall be a gnashing of teeth.’ Dr. Donald W. Gilmour III of Dallas
Theological Seminary, states, ‘These truths have been held and taught
throughout Church history.’ Watchman Nee warns: ‘To lose the crown is to
lose Kingdom entrance.’ W. F. Roadhouse (1875-1951), and D. M. Panton
(1879-1955) both declare, ‘Christians who do not repent before they die
will be briefly punished at the Judgment Seat and the excluded from
Christ’s future 1,000 year Kingdom.’ G. H. Pember (1837-1910) wrote,
‘Surely if they leave the world fully justified, but incompletely
sanctified, it follows that they shall be hurt of the Second Death, though
only temporarily.’ Yes, but that still amounts to a thousand years,
Rexella. I don’t want any kind of that ‘temporarily’ believe me. Continue.
Paul Rader, founder of the great Tabernacle in Chicago, said: ‘Everything
that has to do with the 1,000 years must meet the most terrific fires of
testing. Only that which can pass through the fiery test at the Judgment
Seat can be admitted into this thousand years of Millennial splendor.’
Never thought that that man would teach something like that.”

REXELLA: Right, right.

JACK: What a great man he was. Oswald J. Smith of the People’s Church in
Toronto Ontario for over 50 years and a personal friend, said: ‘If we
suffer we shall reign with Him. This was the great motive to the
Christians of the early church. Pastor D. M. Panton, widely known writer,
and diligent student of prophecy spoke of a select or partial rapture and
a partial reign.’ And the Dr. Smith continues, ‘This view I must say, I
have no hesitation whatever in accepting.’ And what did Dr. Panton, and
Dr. Smith believe? Whew! Panton OPENLY taught that, ‘Some Christians that
miss the Millennium will be temporarily punished in the fiery underworld
according to their works.’ Imagine!….J. D. Faust, in his book, ‘The
Rod,’ again writes, and I believe this to be in total error, ‘Christians
are warned about the danger of being temporarily hurt by this Lake of
Fire…The fires of the underworld are real and terrible. And the
disobedient Christian that does not repent in time may temporarily
experience the fires.’”

RESPONSE: When I wrote my book, I wrote it to be read, not flipped
through. I was unaware that there would actually be people that would
critique the book without reading it through from left to right. In this I
was green to the world of public controversy. In my book, I make a clear
distinction (clear to anyone who reads it through) between the Lord’s fire
at His Judgment Seat in the sky (which proceeds out of His mouth and
throne) and the banishment to the underworld. In earlier editions I refer
to this fire at God’s throne as “The Lake of Fire,” since, as I show in my
book in LATER becomes this Lake at His second coming to destroy
Antichrist. Careless critics, who assume they can understand a book by
reading bold paragraph headings, miss the fact that I make a distinction
between the Lake of Fire and the underworld (Hell). And I say carnal
Christians are chastised momentarily by the Lord’s BREATH (and I provide
full Biblical documentation), and then banished to the underworld
throughout the duration of the Millennium. Detractors look for the most
shocking quotes they can find. In my book I quote Govett and show some
evidence that the Sea of Glass is the Lake of Fire at an EARLY STAGE.
Critics often leave out much explanatory material – probably because they
don’t read it in the first place! I boldly confess what any edition of my
book asserts, that: Unfaithful Christians who do not repent are in danger
of being slain by the Lord’s fiery breath at the Judgment Seat of Christ,
and then being banished for 1000 years in the underworld according to
their deserts.

JACK: “‘The underworld is the dark realm in the heart of the earth that
the Lord uses as a prison until after the Millennium. It is under the
earth. It is the same as Hell or outer darkness, and all unfaithful
Christians will be imprisoned in this underworld until after the
Millennium or after the thousand years. The suffering there will be
according to their works. There will be differing degrees of
chastisement.’ David Regan calls this a sort of Protestant Purgatory. And
well he should Rexella, believe me. Stephen S. Craig in 1916 stated, ‘The
prospect of punishment after death for some who are ultimately to be
saved, savors of the Roman doctrine of Purgatory, where the fire purges.’”

RESPONSE: Craig was an advocate of Millennial Exclusion, and the above
quote doesn’t belong to him. Van Impe has been very sloppy quoting from my
book, and he has been twice as sloppy in refuting it. The above quote is
actually by G. H. Lang who then goes on to show the DIFFERENCE between the
views.

JACK: “J.D. Faust, in his book tries to put down some fundamental
dispensationalists to try to prove they’re wrong, and states, “Now,
there’ve been many dispensationalists who have not embraced selective
resurrection or Millennial exclusion at the Judgment Seat. Among them were
Doctors J. M. Darby, J.H. Brooks, C.I. Scofield, Clarence Larkin, and E.W.
Bullinger…”

RESPONSE: Throughout this review, Mr. and Mrs. Van Impe will imply that I
have stated that I am not a dispensationalist, and that Millennial
exclusion cannot be harmonized with such a view. Of course, this all
depends upon what one means by “dispensationalist.” My actual words were
as follows:

“Within the confines of dispensational premillennialism there have been
many advocates of kingdom exclusion. Many of these writers will be
examined in the next chapter. Robert Govett (1813-1901) issued his
futurist commentary on the Book of Revelation in 1843. Within a decade, he
was also combining this literalist and futurist view with the doctrine of
the pre-trib rapture (partial) at the secret coming of Christ. Govett is
therefore one of the earliest writers to actually place in print the
combination of these views. He was also one of the chief defenders of
millennial exclusion. Many that held that true believers could be excluded
from the pre-trib translation, the millennium (or both) used the term
‘dispensational.’ J. R. Graves entitled one of his books on rapture
exclusion, ‘Dispensational Expositions of the Parables and Prophecies of
Christ.’ H. W. Fry’s book, ‘God’s Plan in the Bible’ taught the danger of
exclusion from both the rapture and the mil-lennium. It claimed to be a
primer on ‘dispensationalism’ and was endorsed by Bullinger and many
Darbyites! It is therefore erroneous to equate dispensationalism with only
the views of Darby. He was simply a leading figure in a broader movement.
At the time, prominent pastors such as Charles Spurgeon named Govett and
Pember (both advocates of millennial exclusion) as the leaders in the
movement. James Grant (1802-1879) gives Govett the principle credit for
publicizing dispensational views. In America, the premillennial futurism
of Joseph Seiss was certainly at the forefront of dispensational
scholarship and influence. It is true that there have been many
dispensationalists who have not embraced selective-resurrection or
chastisement at the judgment seat (e.g. J. N. Darby, J. H. Brooks, C. I.
Scofield, E.W. Bullinger, C. Larkin, etc.). Even so, such writers are only
part of the history of dispensational thought. Many came from Reformed
backgrounds and were inclined to teach that all true Christians are
faithful Christians. They were therefore forced by this view to apply all
the strong warnings to false professors. This argument was unacceptable to
many premillennialists who argued that such a practice undermined literal
interpretation itself.”

This is very different from how Van Impe paints the partial quote of my
words.

REXELLA: “Well you know what, when Jack came to me, and he read that
script to me, that he just gave to you, I wrote down several questions. I
said Jack, I just have to ask you these questions. And I think maybe there
are questions GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND, as he read this to you from the
book, ‘The Rod,’ by J.D. Faust. This was my first question to him. And it
was from a quote, Dr. George W. Dollar. He’s a great theologian….Now
Jack, friends, I have heard, and I am sure you have heard the term outer
darkness, and you’ve also heard gnashing of teeth. But I’ve never heard it
applied to Christians!”

RESPONSE: So she’s never heard of the Methodists, Charismatics,
Pentecostals, Church of Christ, Salvation Army, Assembly of God, Nazarene,
Church of God, etc.? What does she mean that she has never heard outer
darkness applied to Christians? It is probable that the majority of the
people in her audience have preachers who apply it to CHRISTIANS – yet
they refer it to absolute eternal punishment. Yet, the timing is the
Second Coming of Christ. And premillenialists believe that Jesus comes to
set up His MILLENNIAL Kingdom. What occurs to the banished servant AFTER
the Millennium is not stated in the text. Yet, elsewhere we are assured
that he will be raised up on the Last Day.

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VAN IMPE FORGETS WHAT HE BELIEVES ABOUT MATTHEW 25:30!
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REXELLA: “Uh, you know you’ve got to rightly divide the word of truth if
you’re going to understand all the dispensations in the Bible, and who it
applies to. Does this [Matthew 25:30] apply to Christians?”

JACK: “Absolutely not Rexella. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, study to shew thyself
approved unto God…watch it. Rightly dividing the word of truth. Now to
WHOM was the text given? To WHOM does it apply? Well in MATTHEW it has to
do with the King, and the coming of the King….And it is the Gospel of
the Kingdom of Matthew 24 verse 14. S Matthew 8:12, chapter 22:13, and
CHAPTER 25 VERSE 30, IS TALKING TO THE JEWS, NOT TO CHRISTIANS. Oh, if
people would only rightly divide the word of truth….”

RESPONSE: Van Impe next goes into a lengthy exposition on crowns, etc. to
which we will return momentarily. However, during this exposition, he
quotes EXTENSIVELY from Matthew 5-7 and applies this material DOCTRINALLY
to believers! But what happened to his above view that “MATTHEW” is only
for the Jews? Now watch how Van Impe ends this exposition:

“Oh, I want to be with that crowd. Oh how I HOPE it’ll be true Rexella,
THAT JESUS WILL LOOK AT ME AND SAY, ‘WELL DONE THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL
SERVANT, Matthew 25:21.”

Rexella then adds: “I’m sure he will Jack. I’m sure he will.” Van Impe
later continues to apply Matthew 25 to HIMSELF. He can’t get away from it:

“Oh, I want my Savior to say unto me in that day, ‘Jack, well done, thou
good and faithful servant.’ But the point is if he [Paul] could LOSE IT.
YOU CAN. Live the life!”

Not to be outdone, Rexella ends the video with an appeal TO BELIEVERS:

“I’m talking to Christians first of all…the challenge today that Jack
has presented to US, is to HEAR THE WORDS FROM HIS MOUTH, ‘WELL DONE, GOOD
AND FAITHFUL SERVANT.’”

Now my question is this: Does Matthew 25:21-30 APPLY to CHRISTIANS or not
(according to Van Impe)?:

Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler
over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew
thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and
gathering where thou hast not strawed:
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Did not Van Impe confess TWO TIMES (even telling us the verse, “Matthew
25:21″) that he wants Jesus to say these words to him as a FAITHFUL
servant? Yet, we are to believe that if he is UNFAITHFUL (which he assures
us is a possibility since he states that Paul was concerned about it),
that the VERY WORDS OF JESUS, IN THE SAME CONTEXT DO NOT APPLY? Why are we
told that Matthew 25:30 does NOT apply to Christians, but to Jews, but
that Matthew 25:21 DOES apply to Christians? It is clear that Van Impe HAS
NO CONSISTENT interpretative key concerning the warning passages EXCEPT
ONE: IF HE DOESN’T LIKE IT, OR IF IT’S TOO OMINOUS SOUNDING, HE GIVES IT
TO THE JEWS! Van Impe quotes the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and
applies it to modern Christians. Yet, in this very same commission our
Lord commands His disciples to teach the GENTILES all the things He has
commanded and taught His disciples! And that He will be with them unto the
end of the world (Matthew 28:20). There are NO words in the later Epistles
which negate or change our Lord’s warnings to His disciples (Matthew
25:30, Luke 12:47, etc.). On the other hand, there are many passages in
the Epistles which CONFIRM them (1 Timothy 6:3, 2 Corinthians 5:9-11,
Hebrews 10:27, Colossians 3:25, Ephesians 5:5-7, etc.).

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VAN IMPE AND T. T. SHIELDS
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REXELLA: “As Jack mentioned, he is a dispensationalist….Many of the
names you read, Jack, to us a moment ago, back you up on this. Men like
Doctors Darby…and then T. T. Shields, of course he really put this down
by saying you’d need a psychiatrist if you believed it. We don’t go that
far.”

JACK: “Oh no. I still love my brothers in Christ. But that was T. T.
Shields. He was a fiery warrior for the Lord in his day.”

RESPONSE: They forget to tell you that Shields became an AMILLENNIALIST
and had departed from premillennialism when he made the statement about
Millennial exclusion. Pink attacked Millennial exclusion, and then also
became an amillennialist. John Wilmot also attacked it and then left his
premillennialism. The system of literal interpretation leads one to
Millennial exclusion. This is why Robert Govett, a foremost defender of
Millennial exclusion, shocked the world with his Revelation commentary
called: “The Revelation of St. John, Literal and Future,” in 1843. This is
why I have a chapter in my book called, “Safeguarding Literal
Interpretation.”

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VAN IMPE’S PLIABLE VIEW OF CONDEMNATION
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JACK: “…because we became the righteousness of God in Christ we can have
NO future suffering in a place called the underworld…for 1000 years.
Because John 3:18 adds he that believes in Christ is not condemned.”

REXELLA: “Thank you so much Jack…”

JACK: “[To the Christian] Your’e not going to get away with your double
standards! I’m watching. I’m keeping track. And some day, YOU’LL FACE IT
ALL. The Bible teaches that? Yeah. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10. We must all,
that’s BELIEVERS, appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one
may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done,
whether it be good or bad. I emphasize good or bad. Somehow we’ve come to
a day and age, and I used to teach this but I’ve changed my mind about it,
that the only thing that will come up at the Bema Seat happens to be the
sins of omission….I believe we’re going to be judged for everything,
good or bad….That’s why so many are going to be ashamed when they see
Christ, but they’ll be there!….We’re going to have to give an account of
everything we did, especially that which was never forgiven….’The next
verse says, knowing the TERROR of the Lord…we persuade men.’ This is not
going to be a Sunday school picnic….There’s going to be TEARS…. I hear
people say, Oh boy, when we get to Heaven its going to be
wonderful…there shall be no more sorrow…neither shall there be any
more tears [Rev. 21:4]. But you’ve got your verse in the wrong place.
That’s not for now. It’s not even for the 1,000 years….FOR THE SEVEN
YEARS OF TRIBULATION, AND FOR THE 1,000 YEARS, FOR A TOTAL OF 1007 YEARS,
BELIEVERS STILL WEEP. NOT CONSTANTLY. BUT SPONTANEOUSLY…. BECAUSE THEY
FAILED HIM.”

RESPONSE: Van Impe (like most modern commentators) appears to simply take
the warnings he likes. He does not think that crying often on in shame for
1007 years contradicts the “condemnation” of John 3:18; yet, he believes
any other type of physical manifestation or pain (such as stripes or
temporary banishment) does contradict John 3:18. But the context of John 3
is eternal salvation. No believer will be eternally condemned. Yet, 1
Corinthians 11 shows that believers may be made sick or KILLED in this
life for their sins. There is no denial of John 3 in applying this
principle of chastisement (as the Bible does) to the Judgment Seat of
Christ and the Millennial Kingdom (which are in temporal time, and are
said to end). This argument is made repeatedly in my book. If believers
may be made sick or slain in this life, in the day of God’s patience, how
much more can they be chastised when “judgment” must begin at the house of
God at the Second Coming (1 Peter 4:17)? Van Impe attempts no interaction
with the main proof texts and arguments in my book.

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THE BEMA SEAT ONLY A SPORT’S TERM?
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Van Impe makes much of “Bema Seat” being used in Greek games:

JACK: “God allowed him [Paul] to use a SPORT’S term when he came to that
judgment of the believer’s service, and called it the BEMA SEAT….Why?”

RESPONSE: Van Impe leaves out that the word means JUDGMENT and is used in
the Bible for Pilate’s Judgment Seat. Our Lord’s crucifixion was certainly
not an olympic GAME!:

John 19:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus
forth, and sat down in the JUDGMENT SEAT in a place that is called the
Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
[o oun pilatos akousas touton ton logon hgagen ecw ton ihsoun kai ekaqisen
epi tou BHMATOS eis topon legomenon liqostrwton ebraisti de gabbaqa]

Acts 25:10 Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar’s JUDGMENT SEAT, where I
ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well
knowest.
[eipen de o paulos epi tou BHMATOS kaisaros estws eimi ou me dei krinesqai
ioudaious ouden hdikhsa ws kai su kallion epiginwskeis]

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the JUDGMENT SEAT of
Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
[tous gar pantas hmas fanerwqhnai dei emprosqen tou BHMATOS tou xristou
ina komishtai ekastos ta dia tou swmatos pros a epracen eite agaqon eite
kakon]

So we are to believe that the Judgment Seat of Pilate and the Judgment
Seat of Caesar can deliver the death penalty or stripes, but the Judgment
Seat of our Lord (who is a consuming fire), which uses the same language,
is only a SPORT’S TERM!

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CONCLUSION
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My own conclusion is that Van Impe does not know in a systematic fashion
what he believes about the warnings, and that all this is new to him (as
he confesses). He simply knows that he doesn’t believe what I believe (or
what the great men whom I quote believe). He is probably still in shock
that so many men believed something that he has never even heard of
before. I pray he will reconsider these things. And I do pray that he
would distant himself from Rome’s false Gospel and declare plainly to his
audience that Roman Catholicism will damn people eternally, and that
IDOLATRY is not simply a minor, doctrinal detail. But such boldness and
plainness of speech comes with a price. yet, our Lord is able and willing
to make up any losses a hundredfold!

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