9-16-17 Last Days Madness
The greatest pandemic to ever hit this world wasn't the Plague, the Spanish Flu, or any other biological agent, but a spiritual pathogen we know as sin. Sin has infected every human (save One) and has manifested itself through satanic, demonic, and human efforts since the dawn of time. One powerful expression of it is with the twisting of the truth. It began when Satan (the serpent) asked Eve the first question in the Bible, "...yeah hath God said?" Since then, the truth has continually been twisted and warped to accommodate the fallen motivation and ambitions of both men and darker entities.
One of the more sinister aspects to truth-twisting is liberalism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as (emphasis mine):
- the quality or state of being liberal
- a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity
- a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard (see gold standard)
- a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy (see autonomy 2) of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties; specifically: such a philosophy that considers government as a crucial instrument for amelioration of social inequities (such as those involving race, gender, or class)
Liberalism takes many forms but it generally (when applied in philosophical and theological terms), means a departure from the literal interpretation to more of a subjective one (i.e., intellectual liberty). If we hold that God's word is divinely inspired and God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), then applying our own, fallen interpretation to it, we are bound to depart from truth to something else. With ample amounts of liberalism applied, the truth then can become all things to all people.
Assessment
The rising tide of liberalism swept across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries like a powerful philosophical tsunami destroying every ideological, theological and economic pillar in its path. Liberalism swept aside objective truth for subjective reasoning at every turning point in a society, leaving nothing but rubble in its wake. Nothing was safe and nothing was sacred. Every society ever given over to its alluring charm has suffered the consequences of the same corrosive effects: Eroding family structure, collapsing ethical and moral standards, and the generational implosion of a post-modern era.
In more recent times, the ideological destruction began with European seminaries embracing the literal departure from a literal interpretation of Scripture. With objective and eternal truth muddied, the confusion it generated permeated out through the rest of the societal fabric. From there it moved westward to the American seminaries. The mainline denomination pulpits began self-censoring so as not to offend their congregants.
As large sections of society were still church-going folk, the influence of questioning even basic, fundamental Christian doctrines began to divide the Church and weaken its influence in society. In the vacuum, human secularism rushed in to fill the gap in the schools and universities with atheism and moral relativism. From the universities out to the government sanctioned public school system where the next generation of teachers would come from, "progressives" continued their lemming-like march to the left. Skepticism and historical revisioning were then carried by the political-left and fueled by pop culture like gas to a flame.
The Sexual Revolution was the first salvo. Next came the Feminist Movement. Followed quickly by abortion on demand. A subsequent result of these was the explosion of divorce (now made easy) by the American government. The homosexual agenda became the newest rallying cry. The lefts relentless attack on the basic building block of society (the family unit), was almost complete.
With a government-approved redefinition of marriage (to mean that people should be able to marry whoever or whatever they want to) the law of the land, the attack on the family unit was complete. By 2017, Western elites even became uncomfortable assigning gender identities to themselves or others as the whole idea of it somehow became offensive. To them, changing genders should be as fluid as changing clothes. This, at the same time they dogmatically and hypocritically force-fed Darwinian evolution as scientific fact to kids in school. This while ignoring the absolute biological truth of gender identity and life's start at conception.
The left's blind hatred of Christianity finally surfaced because it represents the ultimate objective truth. This blinding has allowed the left to defend Islamic terrorism by coddling it. The left's blinding has allowed it to create academic "safe-spaces" while at the same time condoning street violence. Meanwhile, freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the right to bear arms, and the consent of the governed are (all of which made the American experiment successful) currently on the chopping block. Simultaneous to our erosion of rights is the redefinition of Christianity being a form of far-right extremism while Islam is been championed as the "religion of peace." This, despite the fact that the overwhelming number of terrorist attacks for the past forty years were and are accompanied by the exuberant shouts of "alluha akbar."
Adding insult to injury, if anyone dares oppose this rising tide of this liberal lunacy they are met with violence, harassment, financial and/or legal bullying, and outright dismissal. In other words, if you disagree with this type of abstract reasoning being championed by the media, pop-culture, politicians, religious leaders, and even to some extent, the military, you will be bludgeoned. The silence of the governed began with the removal of God from schools and will culminate in the complete eradication of Christianity from the marketplace of ideas. Unless done as a form of mockery, the name of Jesus has become the most taboo subject in any public platform.
Here is the rub: If society gets to the point where men and women are free to decide what gender they are, not by biological truth, but through subjective reasoning, or which bathroom they should use, or whether Islam presents a greater threat than Christianity, then you can be absolutely sure that the church of said society is going to have serious "truth" issues within its own walls.
Assessment
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said...?" (Gen 3:1)
If we take the way-back-when machine to 1999, Gary DeMar (a Partial [or inconsistent] Preterist) published his book entitled Last Days Madness. He did so as means to mock and counter what was then considered the dominant view of Christian eschatology, i.e., the Pre-Millennial view. I say "then dominant" as I am not sure where the church is today in its eschatology. But not to be outdone in the scoffing business, Hank Hanegraaff (the Bible "Answer" Man and now Greek Orthodox convert) decided to cash in and publish his 2007 book entitled The Apocalypse Code: Find out What the Bible Really says about the End Times and Why It Matters Today. Neither of the aforementioned books actually offered any explanations for our current state of affairs. Rather, they simply attacked Dispensationalism rehashed the same-old tired arguments about how all (or most) of biblical eschatology was completed in the first century with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem circa AD70.
Both men hold to a form of Dominion Theology known as Reconstructionism (versus the more extreme 'Kingdom Now' variant). Looking at these gentlemen's authored book list, it is fair to say both seem content in promoting the anti-blessed hope corner of the market. Sadly, in a post-Christian nation such as America circa 2017, these two are not alone in the skepticism business. Other preterists such as David Chilton, R.C. Sproul, and Kenneth Gentry have chimed in as well with their own myopic interpretations of how biblical eschatology is not relevant to our world today.
From GotQuestions.org
Dominion theology refers to a line of theological interpretation and thought with regard to the role of the church in contemporary society. Dominion theology is also known as Christian Reconstructionism and theonomy. Dominion theology states that biblical Christianity will rule all areas of society, personal and corporate. Christian Reconstructionism reasons that society will be reconstructed by the Law of God as preached in the gospel and the Great Commission.
Those who hold these views believe that it is the duty of Christians to create a worldwide kingdom patterned after the Mosaic Law. They believe that Christ will not return to earth until such a kingdom has been established. The principal goal, then, of dominion theology and Christian Reconstructionism is political and religious domination of the world through the implementation of the moral laws, and subsequent punishments, of the Old Testament (the sacrificial and ceremonial laws having been fulfilled in the New Testament). This is not a government system ruled by the church, but rather a government conformed to the Law of God.
Conclusion
In a struggle to find its relevance, a growing majority of post-modern, post-Christian American churches have increasingly become divergent in their orthodoxy and orthopraxy. They do this to accommodate an increasingly diverse congregations. Many churches have increasingly turned away from and/or watered down core doctrines of the Christian faith, i.e., (the Gospel [salvation by grace through faith], the deity of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, and the monotheistic reality of our triune God [one God in three persons]) as to not offend their congregations.
Instead of being e Pluribus Unum (out of many, one), we have become Unum de Multis (out of one, many). Instead of believers from all walks of life, ethnicities, backgrounds, etc. coming together in a common faith, believers in the common faith are diverging along numerous paths that lead them away from the Scriptural truth. The same reasoning that got sincere adults questioning what their sexual identity is, or which bathroom they should use, or how they could serve in the military while pretending to be the other gender, is the same type of reasoning that questions whether the bible really means what it says. That reasoning begins with applying a liberal approach to hermeneutics which allows the reader to decide and make up its own definitions of what Scripture actually says...regardless of whether that is defining sin or defining prophecy.
Prior to World War I, Dominionism (in the form of Post-Millennialism) was very popular. But the realities of the Great War dashed the hope that mankind was on the mend. The reason I mentioned the preterist books and their authors, was that if what they were selling were true (that Christians will ultimately conquer the world for Christ thus ushering in the Kingdom Age), shouldn't we be closer now than we were 10, 18, or even 100 years ago?
The same could be said for today. Instead of a world getting better through the vigorous application of Christian Reconstructionism, what we see is the exact opposite. Mankind is becoming hopelessly confused and in even more bondage to satanic deception.
When you take a literal, grammatical, and historical rendering of Scripture, you plainly see that the world will continue to wax worse and worse until the Rapture of the Church. Then, the world will enter a freefall period culminating in the most horrific, violent, and evil time mankind has ever known (Matt. 24:21-22). It might be convenient to want to blame all of our recent turmoil on Obama, Saul Alinsky, or George Soros, but the real problems have a much darker origin than just the leftists who want to impose their socialist ideologies on the world at large.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
We know that Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. He predates every evil man or woman who has ever lived. He influences mankind to resort to their basest nature and to reject God, reject His Son, and to reject salvation by imposing any number of ideologies that prevent man from coming to the knowledge of the truth. Imposing a false eschatology is just one of his many tools he uses generously and to great effect. It is now to the point, that at a time when the Church should be the most awake (prophetically speaking), they are either passed out in pews with drool pooling at their feet or wasting their time trying to change a world that is currently passing away.
Much to the Dominionist's chagrin, the church is not going to rise up and become the "church militant" to conquer the world for Christ that ship sailed with the Dark Ages. Jesus stated that the last phase of the church age would be dominated by both a dead church, and a nauseating church who was lukewarm, self-absorbed, and unaware that their God is outside the door knocking so as to be invited in (Rev. 3:1-6, 14-22).
Obviously, the skeptics out there will poo-poo anything that the Bible has to say. But if I can posit one verse (written 2,000 years ago) by Jesus about what the world would be like in the last days, and compare that with ANY other religion, eschatology, philosophy, or anything else to see who is more accurate. Describing the last days, Jesus says...
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Matthew 24:9-12
Does this not sound like today? We have groups like Islamic State, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram killing Christians by the thousands in the Middle East and Africa. We have people in the West seemingly tolerating anything and everything except Jesus Christ and Christianity. We have many, many false prophets, cults, and false religions leading many astray. We have large sections of society (both in and out of the church) asleep and disconnected from what is going on in the world. The world has become angry, bitter, and increasingly hostile.
The church militant will not conquer the world for Christ; that is something only He can do (Dan. 2:44). In fact, the world will mourn at His appearing at the Second Coming (Rev. 1:7) which is how we know the Church isn't present on the earth at that point but returning triumphantly with Him at His coming. We do not mourn His appearing, but long for it (Titus 2:13; Phil. 3:21-22).
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Tim. 4:8
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