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Believers Who Will be Raptured – KAU#274
Kingdom Alert Update #274
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IN THIS ISSUE
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-BELIEVERS WHO WILL BE RAPTURED BEFORE THE TRIBULATION:
THE VERY GOOD AND THE VERY BAD – BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LUKEWARM?
-I WILL BE PREACHING AT FAITH BAPTIST OF CHATTANOOGA THIS WEEK.
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BELIEVERS WHO WILL BE RAPTURED BEFORE THE TRIBULATION:
THE VERY GOOD AND THE VERY BAD – BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LUKEWARM?
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“A wise man by investigation sometimes changes his opinion, but a fool, never.”
(J.R. Graves)
INTRODUCTION
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Premillenalism: A Fundamental of the Fundamentalist Movement – KAU#188
PREMILLENNIALISM: A FUNDAMENTAL OF THE FUNDAMENTALIST MOVEMENT
Luke 2:14 ….on earth peace, good will toward men.
Ernest R. Sandeen, in his 1970 work, “The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800-1930,” is correct when he maintains that Fundamentalism in the 1920′s was not a spur of the moment, uneducated reaction to Darwinism and Modernism (though its detractors often attempt to paint it as such). It was a religious movement; it was not spawned by socio-economic or geographical factors. Sandeen documents the connection between the premillennial movement (mostly urban and northern by the end of the 19th century) and the rise of 1920′s Fundamentalism. He writes:
“For it is millenarianism [premillennialism] which gave life and shape to the Fundamentalist movement.” (p.xv)
Why is Fundamentalism so greatly related to premillennialism in history? Notice the following reasons:
1. Christians who interpreted all the Biblical prophecies concerning the Second Coming in a literal sense would obviously be inclined to interpret the Biblical passages concerning the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the Blood Atonement, the inspiration of Scripture, Creation, etc. in the same manner! To the degree that significant Second Coming passages are allegorized, will be the degree that other fundamentals of the faith are in danger of being allegorized. Indeed, when the Second Coming passages begin to be spiritualized, a crucial barrier is torn down between Fundamentalism and Modernism. If Christ’s words concerning His own return in Matthew 24 “actually” only refer to His sovereignty in world affairs in A.D. 70 (i.e. the destruction of the temple), then why not also “spiritualize” the Virgin Birth? If Christ’s RETURN in Matthew 24 is allegorical, why not also the details concerning Christ’s BIRTH? It was also prophesied (Isaiah 7). Likewise, if the bodily return of Jesus in Revelation 19 and the “thousand years” of Revelation 20:2 are figurative, why not also teach a figurative “Satan”? He is found in the same verse as the “thousand years.” In other words, if literal supernaturalism is to be replaced with spiritual supernaturalism in regard to significant Second Coming passages, why not do the same in regard to other Bible doctrines? Certainly, the differences between Christianity and naturalism become very small in such an interpretive system.
2. If the prophecies concerning the last days, the falling away, the departing from the faith, the rise of the Whore of Babylon on seven mountains, the persecutions mentioned in the Book of Revelation, the Beast from the Sea, the Mark of the Beast, the one-world governments, the weather disasters, etc. are all behind us in history, it certainly would become easier for professing Christians to believe they are called to snuggle up to the world and immerse themselves entirely in social betterment and ecumenical activities. A cruise ship may offer many delights and enticements. Yet, the knowledge that it is sinking makes it much easier to despise its luxuries and abandon ship.
3. The belief that evil will continue to increase (2 Timothy 3:13) and that man is not progressing (i.e. premillennialism) makes it much easier to see the falsehoods in evolution. However, if mankind is progressing, why not the whole natural world as well?
These are some of the reasons why Fundamentalism and premillennialism were historically, largely synonymous. Exceptions do not overthrow a general rule. It is true that there were some non-premillennialists who were, nevertheless, very conservative in many aspects of Christianity. However, though there was some fellowship, it is also true that they purposely distanced themselves from the Fundamentalist movement. They had considerable trouble explaining why a move away from the Fundamentalists was not a move toward liberalism, especially since they interpreted the significant Second Coming passages in the same manner as the Modernists.
Additional proof for the above assertions can be seen from examining the testimonies and actions of both Fundamentalists and Modernists in history. Premillennialism and Fundamentalism were largely synonymous. The whole Christian world at the start of the 20th century appeared to be drunk with postmillenialism and Modernism. Although popular British premillennialists such as D. M. Panton loudly called themselves “Fundamentalists” in the 1920′s (J. I. Packer was therefore wrong on this point in his “Fundamentalism and the Word of God,” 1958) the following history deals only with Fundamentalism in the U.S. These early Fundamentalists attacked postmillennialism as the river that flowed into the sea of liberalism.
For example, I. M. Haldeman (1845-1933) was a fiery, Fundamentalist pastor of the First Baptist Church of New York City. He fought valiantly against feminism, worldliness, modernism and postmillennialism. A newspaper ad for the evening sermon (held at 8 P.M.) at his First Baptist Church reads:
“Are the Pre-Millennialists pessimists? Does their doctrine of the imminent coming of Christ cut the nerve of missionary effort, discourage Christian activity and stop progress in the Church; or is it the Post-Millennialist who practically denies an inspired Bible, teaches ethical culture instead of Blood redemption and deceives the world with false hopes of peace? Dr. Haldeman will bring Post-Millennialism to the bar of Holy Scripture and demonstrate that it is the dry-rot of the Church today. At this service Dr. Haldeman’s new booklet, ‘Christian Science Unveiled in Its Own Words,’ will be given away.”
In 1906, he authored, “The Coming of Christ Both Pre-Millennial and Imminent.” He wrote:
“Some tell us, with no lack of rhetoric and emphasis, that the purple and the gold of these glad millennial days are on us now….Those who hold this view are known familiarly as Post-Millenarians….Does it matter whether Christ shall come before or after the Millennium?…the Second Coming is mentioned from one end of the Bible to the other….Examination will show that it is mentioned in connection with EVERY FUNDAMENTAL doctrine…It is bound up with every sublime promise….It is bound up with every practical exhortation. Does the Apostle exhort us to meet together on the Lord’s day and not to forsake by any means the assembling of ourselves together? He does so in view of the coming of the Lord….In fact, this Coming is declared to be the central chord of all vital Christian life….It is clear enough that if the Coming of Christ cannot possibly take place till a thousand years after the world’s conversion, then the event as a practical fact in the present life of the Christian is of little avail and cannot arouse him….The wicked servant belongs to the category of those who shall be ashamed before Him at His coming; who shall not receive an abundant entrance into the kingdom; who shall lose their crown and be shut out from participation in ‘the joy of the Lord,’ even His rule and glory on the earth. All this is an added evidence that at the Coming of our Lord He will not find a faithful, a perfect, a triumphant and millennial-producing church.”
A few years later, in 1912, Fundamentalist writer S. S. Craig, in “Divine Wrath Impending,” wrote:
“If the purpose of the present dispensation is to convert the world and introduce universal righteousness, as maintained by the great body of theologians and preachers, then not only is the Church at fault but Christianity is a greater failure than any of the heathen systems of the East….But this is impossible.”
We already see that Fundamentalists were cutting the Modernist tree down at its root: its misunderstanding of the Great Commission and the progress of man in this age (before the physical return of Christ). The next year, in 1913 (directly before World War I!), an article by Craig appeared in “Watchword and Truth.” It was titled, “What is Truth?” Craig argues for nine FUNDAMENTALS of the faith that were currently under attack by cults and liberals:
“I. That the whole human race was on probation in Adam and fell with him in his fall into death – temporal, spiritual and eternal…
II. That Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God and the Son of Man, having two natures in one person forever, and that He by His Life, Death and Resurrection potentially redeemed and rescued the whole human race from its fallen condition…
III. The method of redemption is redemption by substitution, by vicarious suffering of an innocent victim. It is redemption by Blood. It is by an atonement so infinitely meritorious that it puts away sin…
IV. Regeneration is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person in the Divine Trinity, whereby, on the condition of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He imparts the very life and the very Nature of Christ to the believer by virtue of which he becomes a son of God and an heir of eternal glory…
V. The Bible affirms that the devil is no myth but a veritable person possessed of marvelous wisdom and almost boundless resources…
VI. The Bible affirms that Hell is a reality, a place as well as a condition….”
Craig’s last three “fundamentals” reveal the great extent to which premillennialism and the Fundamentalist movement were synonymous:
“VII. The Bible affirms that the progress of the human race is downward. They affirm that it is upward…
VIII. The Bible affirms that the world-system, considered as a whole, is approaching its doom, and that it is going down under the wrath of God in the most fearful judgment ever recorded in the history of the race. Matthew 24:21; Revelation 16, 19. They deny this and affirm that the outlook for the race never was so bright as today. This is the devil’s gospel of optimism and delusion. In the last ten years, thousands upon thousands of Christians have been caught in these and other snares of the enemy. But there is no need for it. No true child of God need be deceived.
IX. We must add one more proposition of boundless significance, namely, that the world’s hope and the hope of the Church centers wholly in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ….”
Craig argued that the liberal, postmillennial theology was as dangerous as the cults. In 1916, he authored, “The Dualism of Eternal Life.” It was a premillennial treatise on the Millennial exclusion and literal chastisement of carnal (though eternally secure) Christians. He wrote:
“But the most significant sign on the world’s blooded horizon at the present time is not found in international politics…Where then? In the desperately corrupt condition of modern theology. Only a few days ago three young men, candidates for the Christian ministry, were being examined before the New York Presbytery with a view to ordination; and so says the report, they, verbally and in writing, affirmed their disbelief in the Virgin Birth of the Christ and in the Resurrection, and in this tremendously far reaching negation of the very foundations of Christianity they were substantially upheld by the Court. This has its significance in that it is symptomatic of a general condition throughout the religious world. Reviewing the history of Christendom for the last sixteen hundred years, there is one thing that men seem determined to do at any cost; and that is that they will NOT LISTEN TO WHAT THE GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH HAS SAID, AND IS STILL SAYING, CONCERNING THE CHARACTER AND COURSE AND DOOM OF MODERN CIVILIZATION. Politicians, economists, educationists, scientists, and last, but not least, THE THEOLOGIANS, vie with one another in their eulogy of the possibilities and perfectibilities of humanity….The two theories [premillennialism and postmillennialism]…are really two systems of interpreting the Bible and are as different and ANTAGONISTIC AS LIGHT AND DARKNESS….What will be, in the Day of Judgment, the penalty pronounced on those who are responsible for the fabrication and perpetuation of this deadly spiritualizing process of postmillennialism whereby the traditions of men are substituted for the living truths of God’s Word?”
These types of writings set the stage for the vocal rise of the Fundamentalist movement. In their counter-attack against Modernism, they felt they were going for the throat of the system by contending against postmillennialism.
Fundamental Baptist preacher, William B. Riley, was a frequent speaker at the Philadelphia Prophetic Conference in 1918. In his sermons, he stated:
“The most marked religious movement of the 20th century is the revival of Chiliasm [premillenialism]….Today it is in the ascendant, and for the first time since Daniel Whitby diverted men from this truth, it is accredited deserved emphasis….Along with this new emphasis there has risen a passionate opposition….When the suggestion is made that the Government ‘investigate the teachings of the premillennialists’ with a view to lodge, if possible, some indictment of disloyalty, it is not difficult to imagine the day when another portion of Gospel word shall find fulfillment, ‘And brother shall deliver up brother…’…To speak of the Lord’s return as a mere figure of speech that is to know no literal fulfillment, is little less sacrilegious than the total denial of inspiration….”
In the 1920′s, Fundamentalist preacher R. E. Neighbour (1872-1945) began the Baptist Bible Union with J. Frank Norris and other Fundamentalists. The B.B.U. was in many ways at the center of Fundamentalism. Neighbour was on the executive committee:
“It was apparently during the Indianapolis convention of 1922 that Dr. R. E. Neighbour actually called the meeting to establish another protest organization….In conversation, [R. T.] Ketcham recalled positively that R. E. Neighbour was the one man really responsible for the founding of the Baptist Bible Union, and Riley in 1924 named both Neighbour and Van Osdel…The first confession of faith was distributed in March 1923….The last statement was clearly and openly premillennial.”
(Robert George Delnay, “A History of the Baptist Bible Union,” 1963)
T. T. Shields, who accepted the first presidency of the B.B.U. would, in later years, become a staunch opponent of premillennialism. Yet, it can be seen by the B.B.U. confession of faith that premillennialism was viewed as a “fundamental” of early Fundamentalism. R. E. Neighbour, who founded the B.B.U., was a strong advocate of the system of literal interpretation. As a premillennialist, he also believed in the Millennial exclusion and literal chastisement at the Judgment Seat of carnal Christians. By his writings, there is no doubt that Neighbour linked premillennialism with Fundamentalism itself. As early as 1910, he authored “Pre and Post Millennialism: Vital Issues At Stake.” The title says it all. It was recommended by R. A. Torrey as one of the best yet written on the subject. Neighbour also wrote “The Kingdom Idea.” I. M. Haldeman wrote the introduction to this booklet. In this booklet, Neighbour writes:
“Vast and vital issues are at stake….Christ’s return and His reign are spiritualized or else altogether repudiated….People who are concerned with the ‘coming civilization of brotherly love’ through the conquests of the Church will not concern themselves with the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven….People who place the Lord’s coming after the establishment of the kingdom, thus indefinitely deferring the hour of His return, will not be ‘watching’….The whole Bible centers around Christ, crucified, risen and coming again. The cross is the focus of faith; the risen Christ is the focus of love; and the coming Christ is the focus of hope. A full gospel must include this three-fold vision of our Lord. The third phase of the gospel holds a large place IN THE GREAT FUNDAMENTALS OF THE FAITH….There is not, and there can not be, any possible imminent coming to those who are seeking to ‘set up the kingdom.’….let those who cling to the apostolic faith, beware of the Kingdom Idea which for the past two hundred years (since Daniel Whitby) has been steadily gaining ground, until today the ripening product of that departure has all but swept the Church from her true testimony….Professed believers and confessed unbelievers vie with each other at the card table, the dance, the theater, and the lodge hall with its pagan rites. The lust for gold, the love of fashion and the lure of pride seem to hold saint as well as sinner in subjection….All this the Kingdom Idea [postmillennialism] has accomplished….The Kingdom Idea thus led the Church to pitch her tent, step by step, toward Sodom, until she finally forsook the plain altogether….it presses its conception of ‘Christianizing the nations.’ The money must be gotten, even if the sins of the rich must be condoned….Worldly amusements, un-rebuked, reign in the place of prayer….The Kingdom Idea [postmillennialism] has broken down the wall of separation….As the age nears its close, Satan’s wrath waxes hotter and hotter….Temples where the deism of man is declared, and where sociology, socialism, social service and kindred fads are proclaimed, are the ‘synagogues of Satan.’…enthusiasts who are seeking to put down Satan’s rule, may sincerely love the ‘Lord of glory’ – yet if they follow the Kingdom Idea they must, inadvertently, at least, be helping to further the cause of their enemy….The Kingdom Idea is steadily drifting toward ‘another gospel which is not another.’ Some of its followers have left the faith altogether….Farewell to the gospel of Christ – a new message is demanded…Farewell to the story of His coming – a sad farewell. Farewell to the method of Christ – a new method is imposed….Farewell to pastors and teachers – a sad farewell….The message of the Kingdom Idea is ‘another gospel, which is not another.’ The key note of its message is this: ‘American Protestantism is adjusting itself to the modern world, by laying special stress upon the social implications of the gospel.’….Has the modern world a different heart than the ancient world had?….Has the world really changed?….She is just as far from God as were the peoples of old….Preach the same old story! Plead with sinners the same old way!…Let the Churches cease to demand men who preach ‘smooth things.’….We insist: men who stand in the pulpit and preach ‘Kingdom Optimism’ are ‘blind, leaders of the blind.’….Do not shun a pessimistic message! Preach the truth!…’Be not dismayed at their faces!’…Preach the dark side! Christ did so. Preach the gloom! Paul did so….What care you for the taunts of false teachers – beware, lest God shall humble you!…Preach the glory side!….Christ is coming back again….[But] the Kingdom Idea must compel Protestantism to vie with Rome in setting up a political-religious power.”
Although premillennial Fundamentalists were not agreed as to how much Christians should participate in political efforts to oppose liquor, etc., (Baptists such as Riley and Norris were more involved in such endeavors) they were unanimously agreed about the main responsibility of Christians and the fact that evil would wax worse and worse until the literal coming of Christ. Neighbour’s words reveal that Sandeen’s thesis (i.e. that premillennialism is the root of 1920′s Fundamentalism), if anything, is understated!
After the B.B.U., in the early 1930′s, J. Frank Norris and others began the “Premillennial Baptist Missionary Fellowship.” Again, we see evidence that early Fundamentalists believed that premillennialism was a “fundamental” of Fundamentalism, as well as a wall against Modernism.
The final proof that premillennialism and Fundamentalism were synonymous is found in the Modernists themselves. Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969) was a liberal preacher. On May 21, 1922, at the First Presbyterian Church in New York City, he preached his infamous sermon, “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” In this sermon, Fosdick proclaimed:
“It is interesting to note where the Fundamentalists are driving in their stakes to mark out the deadline of doctrine around the church, across which no one is to pass except on terms of agreement. They insist that we must all believe in the historicity of certain special miracles, preeminently the virgin birth of our Lord; that we must believe in a special theory of inspiration – that the original documents of the scripture, which of course we no longer possess, were inerrantly dictated to men a good deal as a man might dictate to a stenographer; that we must believe in a special theory of the atonement – that the blood of our Lord, shed in a substitutionary death, placates an alienated Deity and makes possible welcome for the returning sinner; and that we must believe in the second coming of our Lord upon the clouds of heaven to set up a millennium here, as the only way in which God can bring history to a worthy denouement [resolution]. Such are some of the stakes which are being driven, to mark a deadline of doctrine around the church….has anybody a right to deny the Christian name to those who differ with him on such points and to shut against them the doors of the Christian fellowship? The Fundamentalists say that this must be done….In such an hour, delicate and dangerous, when feelings are bound to run high, I plead this morning the cause of magnanimity and liberality and tolerance of spirit….I do not believe for one moment that the Fundamentalists are going to succeed…”
Fosdick listed the “fundamentals” of the Fundamentalists. Notice that premillennialism was included. Fosdick argued that NONE of these items were fundamental! The same year, a book was published from a Fosdick lecture entitled, “Christianity and Progress.” In it, he argues:
“The Book of Daniel must be explained by the tyrannies of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Book of Revelation by the persecutions of Domitian, the present recrudescence [i.e. state of becoming sore again] of pre-millennialism by the tragedy of the Great War….At last, in the nineteenth century…Evolution became a credible truth. No longer a dim conjecture, it was established in biology, and then spread its influence out into every area of human thought….Growth became recognized as the fundamental law of life…The plain fact is that human history is a strange blend of progress and regress…While history as a whole, from the CroMagnon man to the twentieth century, does certainly suggest a great ascent, it has not been automatic levitation….we believe that we can tell that the river of human history is flowing out toward the kingdom of our God….in the theology of recent years we have taught a very mild, benignant sort of deity. One of our popular drinking songs sums up this aspect of our new theology: ‘God is not censorious, When His children have their fling.’ Indeed, the god of the new theology has not seemed to care acutely about sin; certainly he has not been warranted to punish heavily; he has been an indulgent parent and when we have sinned, a polite ‘Excuse me’ has seemed more than adequate to make amends…Here, then, are the three perils which tempt the believer in progress: a silly underestimate of the tremendous force of human sin, which withstands all real advance; superficial reliance upon social paliatives to speed the convalescence of the world, when only radical cures will do; flippant irreverence toward the past….”
Fosdick is simply doing his best to restore faith in postmillennialism after World War I. The liberal’s dream appeared shattered. Postmillennialism would gather momentum again only to be crushed in the U.S. again by the Great Depression. Every time it raised its head, it was answered with worldwide calamity. However, each time the calamity subsides, and there is peace once again, a greater number of Christians grasp at the postmillennial dream with renewed fanaticism, making it increasingly difficult to bust the bubble again. With the year 2003 now upon us, postmillennialism and preterism are “evolving” into a form of “positive thinking” that is undeterred by wars and natural disasters:
2 Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
To awaken the saints, and contend for the faith, modern Christians must rediscover the power of Fundamentalism and its connection to premillenialism. History has now proven that although early Fundamentalists were not always perfect in speech, they were certainly NOT over-reacting to sin and error. The moderates (no doubt shaken by liberals such as Fosdick) who objected to premillennial confessions, hard preaching against worldly amusements, and applying warning/judgment passages to the saints, have been proven WRONG by the 20th century!
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ORDER “THE ROD: WILL GOD SPARE IT?” at http://www.kingdombaptist.org
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Posted by Pastor Joey Faust in Kingdom Alert, Prophecy | Comments Off
The World Will Not Be Converted Before Christ Returns – KAU#020
THE KINGDOM ALERT UPDATE #20 (6-11-1999)
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THE WORLD WILL NOT BE CONVERTED BEFORE CHRIST RETURNS
Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
The above Scripture states that the Kingdom of God is not yet here. It also teaches that when it comes it is coming to EARTH. Unless one can prove that the disciples were on some other planet in the “heavens,” the words, “Thy kingdom COME,” mean the Kingdom is COMING down here on earth. Notice the words of Peter Jurieu in 1687:
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Christian Rock: Sexual Evangelism – KAU#012
THE KINGDOM ALERT UPDATE #12 (April 17, 1999)
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WHO STOLE THAT BIBLE VERSE?
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