The Two Most Attractive Eschatologies (Views of the End of the Age) Both Are Wrong

The Two Most Attractive Eschatologies (Views of the End of the Age) Both Are Wrong

The most popular view of the last days before Yeshua returns is the pre-tribulation rapture theology. It dominated most of the Evangelical and Pentecostal world in the 20th Century. My view is that it is now in significant decline, but I would like to have a scientific survey to verify this. Though my pastor in the Reformed Church in my teenage years did not hold to this view, many of the members did and I embraced it through a Bible club and Christian camp. This view takes note of the terrible situation of tribulation and judgments on the earth just before the return of Yeshua as described in the prophets and the book of Revelation. However, wonder of wonders, Christians will not have to go through this time. Just before it begins, seven years before the return of Yeshua to earth, they will be taken off the earth (raptured) and meet the resurrected saints in the air. They will be with Yeshua in heaven for the seven years of this terrible time of plague, death, and the Antichrist. This is really attractive, isn’t it? It is argued in John Walvoord, The Rapture Question, and Hal Lindsay’s Late Great Planet Earth.

The second most attractive view and I would like it to be true. It is that Christians will take over the whole world and all its institutions and will rule in righteousness without the second coming. He will come later. In its classic form, this righteous rule was said to be 1000 years, whether symbolic or literal and was called Post Millennial. Why is this view so attractive? It is because it gives us a very optimistic focus on the advance of the Church, evangelism, and total social transformation effected by the faith and faithfulness of the disciples of Yeshua in the power of the Spirit. There no psychological ambivalence to engaging the world and all its culture formation institutions for we are destined to win in every sphere. However, if Yeshua comes soon, then all these efforts will be for naught and instead of taking over, the worst period of darkness will come first. This optimistic view is very motivating. We are building for our children, grandchildren, and beyond. This was the dominant Evangelical view in the second half of the 19th Century. It was held by the great anti-slavery founder of Wheaton College, Jonathan Blanchard, who adopted the motto, “For Christ and his Kingdom” as a motto whereby His Kingdom is gaining and will rule overall. It was the view of Charles Finney, the great revivalist. There were some who even believed in the importance of the Jewish people in all this. They would return to their land, embrace Yeshua, and Jerusalem would become the world capital. Most people lost confidence in this view due to World War I. Things did not seem to be getting better. Today there is a growing number, though still a small minority worldwide, that espouse this view. Marcelus Kik, in his Eschatology of Victory, defends it. The Theonomist movement that seeks to make God’s law the law of societies promotes it. This was fostered by Gary North, Rousas Rushdoony, and David Chilton in Paradise Restored.

The problem with both of these views is that they do not measure up to the Bible interpreted in context. The Pre-Tribulation escape view is based on such tests as II Thes. 2 where we read that the great day of trial will not come until the Anti-Christ is first revealed. Somehow, they reverse the meaning and say that if the rapture had come, you would see the Antichrist, so it has not come. (II Thes. 3) Rev. 3:10 is a key proof text where the Church of Philadelphia is told that God would keep them from the hour of trial. This letter to this historic church is hardly a strong proof. Also, the text is used where the Antichrist is restrained until the restrainer is taken out of the way. This must be the taking away of the Church it is said, but there are other convincing interpretations. (II Thes. 2:6) The second coming with the rapture is always presented in clear texts as one event that comes at the end of this age, after the Tribulation. For this, see Mike Brown and Craig Keeners great book, Not Afraid of the Antichrist.

The optimistic take over the world philosophy is built on extending the optimism predicted on the spread of the Gospel into believers taking over the whole world. For example, in the parable of the leaven in Matthew 13:33, the leaven permeates the whole of the dough. It is taught that the dough is the world and therefore the whole world is taken over. So also, in the parable of the mustard seed, it grows into the largest tree in the garden (13:31-33.) The Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14). Surely must mean total take over. Yet other parables in Matthew 13 speak quite differently. The events of the Olivet discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, are seen as past and about the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century. The book of Revelation is seen as the past as well, the first century. However, this is hard to see since Revelation was written after the fall of Jerusalem and looked toward what will happen before the final destruction of the Babylon system then represented by Rome, but which speaks of the events just before the Second Coming and a turning of Jerusalem to Yeshua in chapter 11. I would love to believe this most optimistic position, but it does not square with the facts. By historical norms, it is not heresy to believe this. Some say it was the view of the great Jonathan Edwards, but that is disputed.

The Bible is very consistent in the clear texts including the prophets, the teaching of Yeshua, and the book of Revelation. The time just before the coming of the Lord is a time of great victory for God’s people but also a time of the battle of good and evil at its height. What is true of Israel at the end is applicable to the whole Church, “Darkness will cover the earth, deep darkness the peoples, but ADONAI will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light, kings to the brilliance of your rising. (60:2, 3) I am not a Roman Catholic, but Roman Catholic biblical scholars can do amazing work. Here is their summary of this issue in the standard Catechism for today, “The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through progressive ascendancy, but by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. (Paragraph 677) I was amazed when I read this. It as after I wrote the book, Passover, Key to the Book of Revelation.

So we do not take over the world or escape the tribulation if we are still living at that time, but we have victory in going through the final battle of good and evil. The aforementioned book and our book, Israel, the Church, and the Last Days give a good summary of our views of the last days, eschatology. The danger of the wrong views is that we do not prepare the people of God for their possible involvement in the final battle.

Torah in Messiah and the Present Crisis

Michael Rudolph and I wrote a book on applying Torah entitled Torah in Messiah. It is our view that Torah is practical but must be applied according to New Covenant fulfillment, primarily through the teaching of Yeshua. Messianic Jews and Gentiles should have something to say to the difficult social justice issues of our day. And it must be based on a Biblical definition of justice, not Marxist or socialist which come from a wrong worldview. This is why I wrote a book on Social Justice.

I do not have much hope for attaining progress in society without the influence and believers and the transforming power of the Gospel. So, if you are putting trust in mere human efforts you will fail. Many books have been written on the history of progress in social justice since the first century. Progress has come from the influence of believers and the Bible, first of all, due to the unheard-of idea that every person is created in the image of God and is due love, respect, and justice on that basis.

What is love and what is justice? If you study the whole Bible, you can conclude the following. Love is the passionate identification with others that seeks their good guided by Law. Their good is defined by God’s intended good destiny for them. This must always be our motive. Then justice is seeking an order of righteousness that maximizes the potential of people to fulfill their God-given destinies or that maximizes the fulfillment of love for all people. We seek an ordering of society that maximizes love and justice. However, unless there is a great influence of the Gospel by a significant number of committed disciples of Yeshua, history does not give much hope that much can be attained. I want to now apply this to the life and teaching of Yeshua and what he has to say about the issues of racism and the violent riots. Richmond is a historic center for the pain of these matters and the Confederate monuments are controversial. Z how do we bring healing? I approach this message assuming the definitions.

Love and Justice begin with a call for repentance. Mark 1:15. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, or available to you. What does this mean? God’s Kingdom order of love, justice, and miracles is breaking into this world and you are called to repent and enter into it. Repudiate selfishness and hatred, and vengeance and give yourself to the power of the Kingdom. The Kingdom influences all of life. Note the ending of slavery largely came from Evangelicals. Many books on progress in history show this. Rodney Stark’s The Victory of Reason and British historian Tom Holland, Dominion, How the Christian Revolution remade the World.
Yeshua calls for submission to the Torah teaching of Yeshua. This is most clear in the Sermon on the Mount near the beginning, Matthew 5:16, 17, and the end Matthew 7, were we are told to build on the rock of his teaching.
1. The context of Luke 4 is important. Yeshua said that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim liberty.” To whom? The Gospels is first to the outcast, marginalized, and oppressed. The year of Jubilee is the context of Luke 4. It is the year when the slaves go free. Mennonite J. Howard Yoder in The Politics of Jesus is brilliant on this.
2. The Sermon on the Mount’s Beatitudes proclaims the end of victim status. You cannot claim victim status and know the power of God and your life is now in his hands. Matthew is about the great reversal because the kingdom has now invaded earth.
Our approach to change must include the rejection of violence: The Zealot movement and its attempts to overthrow the Roman government by violence was the context of Yeshua’s teaching against violence. The Romans did practice terrible oppression and racism. I am not saying that there is no place for just war, but this is far secondary to the way we seek change.
1. Yeshua councils turning the other cheek and volunteering to carry a load a second mile when a Jewish person was conscripted by a Roman soldier to carry his load. This response to Roman oppression and shaming was unprecedented. It is the way of love. The oppressed shows love to the oppressor, the enemy.
2. Satan comes not but to rob, steal, and destroy. The false shepherds of John 10:7, 10:10 were the ones seeking violent revolution.
3. When Yeshua wept over Jerusalem and predicted its destruction it was because he knew the zealots would gain control and ultimately go to war. The chose the false shepherds instead of the Prince of Peace
4. Romans 13 speaks of submitting to authority during the days of Nero! Now there are limits to submission and the Apostles made it clear that this did not include obeying sinful commands or shutting down the spread of the Gospel.
Our approach calls for reconciliation and forgiveness based on the Gospel. We are to attain a heart of love for the enemy: Matthew 19:21 councils us to forgive 70 X 7 and teaches this forgiveness on the basis that the debt we owe to God far outstrips any debt another might have to us. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation to God and one and other. II Corr. 5:18
A successful movement that pursues justice has to be driven by reconciled believers. Jonathan Blanchard (founder of Wheaton College), revivalist Charles Finney, EvangelicalHarriet Beacher Stowe, The Pastors Beachers, William Ward and Henry, and Wilbur Wilburforce show this witness. A Marxist humanistic movement of violence will lead to destruction and greater suffering. A true movement begins with reconciliation, with the Body of Believers with the repentance, reconciliation, and unity of all races and ethnicities. In this time of anti-police rhetoric and black offense, the best way forward would be a movement led by Christian Policemen and Black Christians, pastors, and members. These kinds of people can lead a non-violent movement of justice. Martin Luther King led just such a movement with Christians and Jews, blacks, and whites. His themes were Christian or biblical.
The history of 20th century white churches is one of the saddest chapters. I am not speaking about southern Christians who had a racist or segregationist theology which was terrible. I am speaking about the non-racists who would sing with their children, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” The sin was in neglect of their responsibility to first focus their efforts of the Gospel and their works of love to the poorest communities. An escapist theology as fostered and they, therefore, did not see pursuing justice as a central part of the Gospel.
You can know that the violence, destroying, and killing is not from God and is like unto the zealots and will set back the cause of justice.
However, pursuing justice and reconciliation has to be based on finding the truth and not based on lies. The claim of systemic racism is not helpful. Being guilty on the basis of being born white is anti-biblical. Rather we need to pursue the issue of specific areas of racism. In education, housing, family, business, and policing. The black experience is not that so many are killed unjustly, but that so many are mistreated. Why does the government allow 7,500 black on black murders per year? Where was the Church on mass? The Church should be there, preach the gospel and its members should be willing to lay down lives? Just where does racism show itself? It is in the heart. Is it in corporations? Which? Real discrimination has to be proven. I note public school disaster and the black underclass and the need to escape this system. Anecdotal evidence is not going to help solve this. There has to be objective social science studies by people without a Marxist agenda. A vague broad claim will just be denied. I know that only a Gospel effort for the poor and massive investment of our lives will turn around the poor of the cities. This is why we support every month the Richmond Ministry CHAT and its high school. It is one example of the Gospel in action. There should be thousands of examples. I am not thinking the government will solve it. By some measures, 22 Trillion has been spent since Johnson’s great society legislation. Much was squandered and did not work. But If we identify with and support violent revolutionaries or sympathize with it, we have abandoned the Gospel way and the power of God.

Biblical Repentance and White Repentance

The leftist radicals in the Black Lives Movement (by no means the majority in the movement) have hijacked the movement for radical post-modernist ideas that are Marxist and anarchist. (The two are not coherent, but what can you do? I have not found consistency and coherence to be part of this movement). There is now an attempt to get all who have white skin to repent for their privilege and whiteness and to go through a re-education process to reject such white values as enablement (ability), perfectionism, objectivity as a standard, and more. You get the idea of a cult here and of communist re-education. The perversion of the true meaning of repentance and of discipleship (their re-education substitute) is of the spirit of the Antichrist. However, let’s look at true repentance.

The New Testament emphasizes individual repentance, not repentance for race, color, ethnicity, or political groupings. The only emphasis of repentance for corporate sin is focused on Israel, whose repentance and acceptance will lead to the return of Yeshua. Biblical repentance focuses on the fact that all people are equally created in the image of God but have sinned and are deserving of eternal death in Hell. That is a pretty bracing idea! There is no emphasis on changing the society, but the society was radically changed for the good from Christianity. There are too many books that well prove this. There is no emphasis on white Italians as a group repenting for the Roman Empire. The centurion who received his healing miracle from Yeshua was not asked to repent of his being a Roman soldier (note the anti-police movement now and the fact that Romans were very brutal in Israel-Yeshua’s council was to turn the cheek and to walk a second mile). Nor was the centurion who form the preaching of Peter received the Spirit told to repent of being a Roman soldier. When the seculars seek repentance from a group as they define it, it will probably lead to no good, but only eventually to resentment, backlash and retaliation since reconciliation requires all to repent and forgive. Secular movements for shaming and repentance will certainly fail.

Now is there a place for corporate repentance? Yes, I believe so. As Daniel said of his nation, “We have sinned.” Through the prophet Jonah there was repentance in Assyria under their King and corporately. Ultimately the nations will repent and turn to God, and this will then include the individuals in those nations turning to God as well. This is a persistent theme in the Psalms and very much emphasized in Isaiah. We understand that this will be through the Gospel of the Kingdom. We have been part of prayer journeys where Christians have repented for the sins of their nations in Spain, Italy, and Japan. However, we never expected the unbelievers to so repent. This was organized so that the Christians of those different groups would come to full reconciliation as with Jews and Germans and Koreans and Japanese. This was based on the idea that there was sin in an identifiable and real corporate group and that the Christians were able to represent that group. This is also possible only because New Testament identity makes secondary all other points of identity. As individuals, my identity before God is that I am first created in God’s image and all are equally so created and valuable. Secondly, it is based on the fact that my primary identity now is as one who is saved by the sacrifice of the Messiah and am now a New Creation in Him.

A legitimate corporate repentance requires a legitimate identifiable corporate group to repent. All corporate groups have sin and need to repent!! The problem with the Black Lives Matter radical minority is that they seek repentance for a condition that is not an offense against the Law of God and thus not subject to repentance. Whiteness is not a category for repentance. It is only due to defining blacks as if they were a world-wide ethnicity toward which whites must repent. Indeed, some whites did so treat blacks as if they were one corporate identity. So, skin color becomes in these cases a point of identification that is not based on real ethnicity and is fiction because whiteness is not a corporate identity. I am of Norwegian descent and Jewish descent. My ancestors were not involved in slavery or fostering racism. My grandfather was an anti-racist and my mother wrote anti-racist poetry. My Jewish ancestors fled the anti-Semitic programs in Rumania. Yet, I am classed as a white that needs to repent. I wonder about Asians who have done better than other ethnic groups in the United States. Is this a source of oppression for which they must repent also? If one wants to pursue corporate repentance among Christians in Christian gatherings to release greater power and humility, then it is important to note that whites are not one ethnicity. There are Russian, Scandinavian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Slovak, French, Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Estonian, and I could go on and on. All have tribal roots that were even more troubling in their pagan days. Should I repent for what was done to Native American’s in the 19th century or as a white Jew to blacks for slavery and racism? This is very counterproductive. White as a category for automatic repentance based on skin color is reverse racism that is dangerous.

So how do we deal with corporate repentance for the situation of the black community? Recently there has been repentance in black African tribes who sold their enemy tribes into slavery. I can also think that the United States as a corporate country can repent of having allowed slavery in the South, and they as a nation would embrace policies to lift the black community. This would be from Christian influence and Christians repenting for their nation. I can imagine Christians form the nations that were in the slave trade repenting. Each ethnic group could look at their history. I can imagine descendants of Southern Christians whose ancestors owned slaves repenting, but this is now a smaller and smaller percentage of southerners. Here are some more categories. I can imagine most churches that are not black repenting for the neglect of the poor and especially blacks. (This is my #1 repentance issue). The Church has not sufficiently brought the Gospel in power to life the black community. I can imagine Republican Christians repenting for the Republicans ignoring the black community until more recent years since they were not voting for Republicans. I can imagine Christian Democrats (there are fewer and fewer in this party that used to be the party of the majority of Evangelicals) for setting up a welfare structure that destroyed the incentives of black men and destroyed the black family. There would also be repentance for supporting the education lobby to the destruction of black education and not allowing choice. However, such a spirit of right repentance, love, and reconciliation could only come from Christians.

So, there is plenty to repent of. As those who are submitted to the Biblical World view, I would hope that our hope is not in pollical change, agitation, protest, and more without a Biblical world view base. Also, I would hope that we take seriously the truth as exemplified in the Bible that social progress is primarily though the Gospel being presented with power and a revival among God’s people. In the midst of these painful movements in America, may Christians get out of their comfort zones and be in the cities presenting the message of the Gospel and love and reconciliation.

Christianity has been tried and found Wanting?

This is a common phrase, but G. K. Chesterton disagreed and said, “Christianity has been found difficult and therefore untried.” What the famous Chesterton really meant is that while multitudes profess Christianity, few really practice it.

The Bible teaches that all human beings are created in the image of God. That foundational truth leads to teaching on how we are to treat all human beings.

Jacob (James) says of the tongue, “With it we bless our ADONAI and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the image of God. . . these things should not be.” (Jacob 2:9,10)

Paul said, “From one He made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having set appointed times and the boundaries of their territory. They were to search for Him, and perhaps grope around for Him and find Him.” (Acts 17:26, 27)

Yeshua said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for the ones who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:17)

The Biblical teaching provided the unique understanding that led Thomas Jefferson to write, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Actually, these truths are not self-evident but came from Biblical revelation since these truths are not proclaimed in other cultures. The Bible alone gives us the ideal of all people being of worth and deserving of dignity, respect, love, and equal justice under the Law.

Without the biblical world view influence in the West (it did have sway in the Middle East for a season before Islam), we would not have made significant progress toward human rights. Many are sounding the alarm that rejecting the Biblical Jewish and Christian roots of the West will not lead to greater freedom and justice but to a new tribalism and a new barbarism in the way we treat people. We see Jewish leaders warning about the decline of Christianity in the West. We can name so many. Rabbi David Lappin, Rabbi S. Boteach, Dennis Prager, David Horowitz. The culture war against Christianity if successful will end in disaster. We note as well, the words of an atheist historian who is yet worried about the cultural trends and not acknowledging this. Here is a little of what a book reviewer wrote.

Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, which has come as something of a surprise for several reasons. First, Holland is not a Christian. Second, Holland’s book is one of the most ambitious historical defenses of Christianity in a very long time. While studying the ancient world he realized something. Simply, the ancients were cruel, and their values utterly foreign to him. The Spartans routinely murdered “imperfect” children. The bodies of slaves were treated like outlets for the physical pleasure of those with power. Infanticide was common. The poor and the weak had no rights.

How did we get from there to here? It was Christianity, Holland writes. Christianity revolutionized sex and marriage, demanding that men control themselves and prohibiting all forms of rape. Christianity confined sexuality within monogamy. (It is ironic, Holland notes, that these are now the very standards for which Christianity is derided.) Christianity elevated women. In short, Christianity utterly transformed the world.

In fact, Holland points out that without Christianity, the Western world would not exist. Even the claims of the social justice warriors who despise the faith of their ancestors’ rest on a foundation of Judeo-Christian values. Those who make arguments based on love, tolerance, and compassion are borrowing fundamentally Christian arguments. If the West had not become Christian, Holland writes, “no one would have gotten woke.”

Then how do we account for the injustices in the history of the West, the cruelty of religious wars, slavery, colonialism, racism, and so much more? We account for it by realizing that Christianity has been a battle against the native proclivities of fallen human beings. Most were really not discipled to live as Messiah and to follow his ways of peace, reconciliation, and love. When such people came to the fore, people of deep godly goodness, they produced great gain. The influence of such people as John Newton, the former slave trader, and writer of the beloved hymn Amazing Grace is amazing. When he said this grace “saved a wretch like me” he was referencing his cruel work in the slave trade. His friend William Wilberforce was the key member of Parliament whose Christian faith motivated him to see the elimination of slavery throughout the British Empire. Champions of civil rights like Jonathan Blanchard, the founder of Wheaton College (1860), and the great revivalist and leader at Oberlin College, Charles Finney played significant roles. We read of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin without realizing that her Evangelical father and brother were abolitionist pastors. Her biblical faith motivated her.

Alas, progress always came from a minority, but it came and was based on reading the Bible Most rationalized their unbiblical views and yet claimed to be Christians. The history of the Western World is a history of the struggle to really convert the paganism of the heart. Paganism remains in the heart and syncretism is the rule. Maybe it was not the syncretism of bowing down to the gods of Canaan, but it was the syncretism of war, cruelty, slavery, and colonial exploitation. Sometimes the missionaries who wanted to lift the population fought the leaders of the companies and governors who were there to despoil the natives for the enrichment of the home country. The Bible’s teaching was and is dismissed as impractical, or only for the really few who are called to a more rigid obedience. The rest can call themselves Christians and even attend Church while they engage in the real politic of state craft, or rapacious business dealings, or sexual exploitation. Truly Chesterton was right. Christianity was found difficult and was not usually really tried.

Today we deal with social protests on the issue of racism. How much racism still exists in America, how systemic it is in police departments or other sectors of society is a great ongoing debate. There will be statistics, surveys, and studies after the smoke clears (literally). Drawing conclusions on this is not the point of this essay. The turn to Marxism and socialism as providing solutions would be a disastrous turn. Only the power of the Gospel and a more Biblical influence will take the United States forward in a lasting and positive way. There needs to be much repentance for the lack of faithfulness to the claims of the Gospel. Some are leading in this. I should note that racism, enslaving other populations, and genocide are part of the terrible and long history of most world cultures. It is not a specifically European/American problem.

One story will have to suffice and will show us the depth of the problem in the human heart. In 1906 the Holy Spirit was poured out in meetings on Azuza Street in Los Angeles. The meetings were led by a black preacher, William Seymore. These meetings launched what we now know as Pentecostalism. Today Pentecostalism and its offshoots in the new charismatic movements and networks are by far the largest and most effective movements of growth in Protestant Christianity. There is amazing growth in China, Asia in general, India, Africa, and South America.

That the leader, in the beginning, was a black preacher should have said something to all who followed after. It was that God was after an inclusive movement that broke down all barriers of race and ethnicity. In the beginning, it was so. Then something happened. The whites decided that it was unseemly for them to be in a movement with blacks and they split from the blacks and started white Pentecostal denominations. Hence the largest Pentecostal denomination in America, the Church of God in Christ, is a black denomination. There has been verbal repentance from the leaders and spoken reconciliation, but so much more needs to happen in joining together to see the Gospel go forth with power and to focus on solving the issues of the underclass black communities. We could give so many more examples. What did this happen? It was rationalization. It was part of the long history of Christianity. As a Messianic Jew, I can point to the worst of it all, the long history of Anti-Semitism in the West. Yes, “Christianity was found to be difficult and untried.” But thank God for those who tried it. Much of the real progress in the west is due to them and Holland saw it.

V. Raymond Edman, May 9, 1900- Sept. 22, 1967

Recently I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to read a book by V. Raymond Edman, They Found the Secret. Why I never got to reading this book until now is a bit of a mystery to me. I have always carried a special reverence for Dr. Edman. Here is a little history.

In August 1967, I was a junior transfer student at Wheaton College, in Illinois. I was in a time of great anxiety and agnosticism. I hoped that the studies in philosophy, religion, psychology, and religion would provide someplace to stand. In a time of great anxiety, a classmate suggested that I go visit Chaplain Evan Welsh, the pastor for the students. I poured out my heart to him. He became a spiritual father to me and the most important human male mentor in my life. My father died before my 9th birthday. Dr. Welsh spoke with a great and deep respect for “Prexy Edman.” He was President from 1940-1965. He is credited with leading the college to its academic ascendency in Evangelical higher education, Wheaton being called the Harvard of the Evangelical world. I can testify that Wheaton was academically rigorous. It was generally known that he prayed through the whole list of students every week. Dr. Welsh also noted to me that Dr. Edman had some amazing experiences in the Spirit. I thought he said there was an angelic visitation when he was sick as a missionary in Ecuador. Dr. Edman retired from his role as President and now was Chancellor. He had been seeking to overcome heart problems and was recovering from a heart attack. We would see him walking in the main areas of the campus from time to time.

On Sept. 22nd he was the speaker in the chapel. It was his first time to speak after recovering. The beautiful chapel was named after him. It was designed with acoustics and size so that the finest symphony orchestras could play at Wheaton and they did. Dr. Edman got up to speak and exhorted the students to enter chapel with reverence, for we were coming into the presence of the great king. He told of his friendship with Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and what it is like to enter the presence of the King, then exhorting us to see ourselves to be ready to enter into the presence of the King. Then at that moment, he slumped and fell to the floor. Wheaton’s President, Dr. Hudson Taylor Armerding (named after the famed missionary to China) came to the microphone and called out, “is there a doctor in the house?” Then he dismissed the students to their classes as he went to his knees to attend Dr. Edman. I then went to my next class, Sociology of Religion with Dr. Lamberta Voget. Then we heard the bells of old main, Blanchard Hall, ring 67 times. Dr. Edman was gone at 67 years old. Dr. Edman died in Edman chapel and it was immediately re-named Edman Memorial Chapel. This greatly affected me. I was a witness to this in my agnosticism. Was God in this? How?

Within a few days, a public memorial service was held. Billy Graham preached the message and the Wheaton Choirs sang. I think Dr. Billy Graham preached his greatest sermon, at least by my evaluation, that he ever gave. Dr. Edman was his mentor from his days at Wheaton and then onward until Dr. Edman died. Graham spoke on “A time for all things, to be born and a time to die.” He not only gave a great message but told about the great life of Dr. Edman. The favorite hymns Dr. Edman were sung, “Stayed Upon Jehovah,” and “It is Well with My Soul.” Somehow these events left me with a lifetime sense of connection to this man.

During my two years at Wheaton, I heard some of Dr. Edman’s favorite aphorisms. “Not somehow but triumphantly,” and “Don’t doubt in the dark what God has told you in the light.” They stuck with me, especially the last one. But I did not read his books. Now I read this one. It included his testimony.

Dr. Edman was connected to the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination and made Wheaton Graduate school a place where CMA leaders could be trained. Now I found that his roots were in that 19th to early 20-century movement that believed in a second work of grace, a work of being explicitly filled with the Spirit enabling both power for witnessing and for a victorious holy life. This is according to the famous Keswick conferences first in England and then at Keswick, New Jersey. Some called this second work of grace, the Baptism in the Spirit. It was accepted by Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, his right arm and successor R. A. Torrey and many other famous people from many denominations, including the famous Bishop Hadley Moule in England. Edman presents 20 mini-biographies, most of the figures who were well known in their day and others still well known in my early days of ministry. All of them gave testimony of this definite second work of grace, a theology that was rooted in Methodism. They were amazingly effective or fruitful and lived joyful lives. They professed a great level of victory over sin. They also professed an ability to know the voice of God in his leading in their lives and to lead them into greater and more specifically applied truths in the Bible. Edman professed the same thing. After reading this book, I became convinced again that we do not adequately disciple people to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. This is the key to avoiding burn out, to fruitfulness, joy, and victory.

I recount one more little story. After my days at Wheaton, I spent another 9 months in agnosticism, but then came back to strong faith. At Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I had wonderful professors. I was, however, not in touch with the clear way God had been speaking in to me in those years and professed an Evangelical rationalism. This was in 1969-71. Before I came back to a charismatic orientation, talking about the Spirit speaking to us was not credible to me. Then one day one of my professors was talking about V. Raymond Edman during the days he was on the faculty at Wheaton and Edman was the President. The faculty was given delegated authority by the board for some decisions. They would sometimes get into debates and not be able to come to an agreement. On one of these occasions and probably others too, as described by the professor, Edman asked them to suspend the discussion so he could go and pray. After prayer, he returned to the meeting and said, “God spoke to me and told me what we should do.” My professor did not think this was a good way to lead. I agreed back then, but now I agree with Edman. He was a great and spiritual man and led Wheaton by seeking to know the voice of the Spirit for 25 years! I only discovered Messianic Judaism after this time and became a leader in the movement. But when I came back to the things of the Spirit, I found an orientation like V. Ramond Edman. There is a commonality, a significant and legitimate overlap between the best of Evangelicalism and Messianic Judaism. After reading Edman’s book, that common ground is most apparent. We need the kind of spiritual orientation that was characteristic of this great and godly man.

Revolution and Biblical Worldview

I have been greatly saddened to see the extent to which younger Christians and Messianic Jews are saluting revolutionary social movements that are opposed to the Biblical World View. Perhaps they do not realize this incompatibility.

As I reflect on history, it seems that every social revolution that was not directly motivated by the biblical worldview or indirectly influenced by this world view, has led to destruction. The Roman Catholic Catechism amazingly warns against utopian movements that are not based on biblical norms, and as you know I am not a Roman Catholic, but this statement is amazing.

“The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come . . .”

Let’s just recount a few of these revolutions, biblical and anti-biblical.

The Biblical normed movements include the following: the anti-slavery movement in England led by the famous Evangelical William Wilberforce who was friends with former slave trader John Newton who wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace. Then came the anti-slavery movement in the United States backed by Jonathan Blanchard, the founder of Wheaton College, the famous revivalist Charles Finney, and the Stowe family, the most famous of which is Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her father and brother were anti-slavery ministers. Then in recent years the biblical-based civil rights movement under Rev. Martin Luther King. The biblical movements all hearken back to the idea of all humans having equal worth and created in the image of God. (U. S. Declaration of Independence). In Acts 17:26 we read, “From one He made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having set appointed times and the boundaries of their territory.”

However, the anti-biblical movements led to death and destruction. The French revolution and its guillotine, the Russian Marxist revolution, and other terrible Marxist examples: China, Cambodia, and today in Venezuela. As Satan masquerades as an angel of light, we should note that the movements of our day may indeed come from an antichrist spirit. The Devil, we read in John 10:10 comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Tens of millions have been slaughtered. Marxist phrases like “To each according to his need and from each according to his ability,” sound so attractive but can be so deceptive as they call for a leveling equality tyranny.

Today, we find ourselves in a situation of tragedy in the loss of a black man by the name of George Floyd and the police abuse of other blacks. We also see the carnage of black on black crime, 7500 killed and we are not supposed to mention this. Why? Because the revolutionaries do not want us to see the whole picture but to focus on the anti-police anti-American ideas they put forth. A biblical conscience should be deeply outraged by all this pain. There should be movements of believers to clean up police and to lift the lives of our minority friends who are equally valued.

However, we now find the leaders of movements of deception were ready, poised to take advantage of the situation, spreading violence, utopian anarchist messages, Marxist ideology, and more. When they occupy part of a city, they steal the property rights of the citizens. When they demonize police, they demonize many who give their lives to protect the people. They violate Romans 13 that exhorts us to respect the civil authority and the power of the sword in authority.

The views and tactics of these radicals are anti-biblical. They single out white people and include Jews in that category! Yet in the Bible, we speak of many ethnic groups. They are white, black, yellow, and every shade and style of bodily form. All are created equal. White-skinned people have many different backgrounds from many ethnicities, some nations with colonial history but some having no such history. From the European nations have come the very ideas of civil rights and human rights that we seek to extend and advance (especially England). The atheist historian Tom Holland in a recent book notes that all we value in rights, tolerance, and mercy come from the influence of the biblical world view. Amazing! However, when Martin Luther King spoke biblically, he rightly said that human beings should be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. When whites are being made to repent for white privilege and especially white group guilt, this is the spirit of communist re-education camps not real biblical repentance for sin. Of course whites in America today are by percentages more privileged. But in the Bible, this would not be cause for repentance for a special original sin type guilt. It would be a source of gratitude for all that has been received in God’s providence and then would require a responsibility to lift those who are not so privileged. White guilt in America could have value as a concept if those who are privileged of all races do not seek to lift those who are less successful. But repenting for whiteness as inherently evil is anti-biblical. I do think the American Church has reason for repentance in not focusing its primary efforts to the poor, for the Gospel is the greatest liberator.

In a biblical world view, we must not identify with movements that single out people of any color for special guilt or praise on account of skin color and ethnicity. All ethnicities have good things to be praised and bad things from which to be redeemed. We all are sinners. As such we can look at the sad history of the world. It is not merely Europeans that have oppressed people. All of world history shows one ethnic group oppressing and subjecting other ethnic groups. It is the nature of sin to favor those who are “like me” and to disfavor and distrust those who are not. The Bible speaks to this in the numerous texts on how to treat the stranger, demanding that the Gospel first be given to the poor to lift them and finally in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We ask the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and the parable answers the questions and extols the hated and marginalized Samaritan. However, the Marxist influence in the Black Lives Matter movement, (and Black Lives Really do Matter), and the anarchist anti-police and anti-government thrust will lead to terrible destruction especially for the poor and marginalized. Believers must not enable or support these aspects of what is going on. When people are asked to repent for being white this is more a communist shaming and re-education tactic than the Biblical call repentance before a holy God who says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All are called to deep repentance before him, to search our hearts for any prejudice and by the Spirit to root it out of our hearts. We will never be perfect on the issue of preferring ourselves to others, but must always work against this selfish tendency. However, Christians and Messianic Jews must not cow-tow to Marxist and anarchist phrases and demands. We must call all to repentance.

In our universities, leftist ideologies have reigned. We have for 60 years sowed to the wind in our universities and in the United States are now reaping the whirlwind. The corruption of the movement for civil rights and lifting black communities is being corrupted with Marxist and anarchist ideas and will lead to more destruction. The only hope I see is in the Gospel and a massive revival beyond anything we have ever seen. Such is the deep darkness right now, but my hope is that the Lord will rise upon us. (Is. 60)

A Modest Proposal for Theological Integrity

Many today pray for and believe for the fulfillment of the prayer of Yeshua for the unity of the people of God (John 17:21). We hear of calls for humility, love, repentance form competition, prayer, cooperation, and more. One thing we do not hear is a call for theological integrity. What do I mean by theological integrity? I am not speaking about judging theological integrity by any particular stream of theological commitments. There is a tendency in some streams to dismiss others on the basis of their theological stream and claim that only their stream has integrity. This we must not do if we are to gain John 17 unity. The theological streams include Calvinism, Arminianism, Pentecostalism, new charismatic streams, Methodist, Lutheran, Holiness, Anglican and so many more. These streams all have attained credibility and longevity, and it is time to allow for differences of interpretation within broad orthodoxy. This broad orthodoxy is defined by the historic and more recent confessions of faith that have gained near-universal acceptance as rightly representing a summary of the most important Biblical truths. Theological integrity is first based on the embrace of this broad orthodoxy. This includes the broad orthopraxy of Biblical morals and ethics.

However, some who claim to embrace broad orthodoxy still say very bizarre things. When they say such things, others react and dismiss these people as false teachers and vilify them. Some go on a public crusade against these ministers. I am very accepting of those who do not think like I do. I also came to what was for me a very hard conclusion, that God’s anointing and power are not correlated to accurate precision in theology. As a theologically trained person, I would that it be that anointing and power were correlated to accurate theology. I am sure after years of examination that it is not so. Anointing and power come from the heart of faith and love more than theological precision. God’s work is often through weak theological vessels. If we vilify these people and their work, we could be rejecting the work of the Spirit and in danger. However, accurate theology is still important and can prevent some sad results. Can we hope for a way through this problem? But let me first note just a few of the kings of bizarre things that have been taught and are taught today but some who have large platforms and influence.

In recent times we have heard those with influence teach the following. 1. That there is no judgment during this age, but that this is an age of grace and love without judgment or wrath. Judgment and wrath are Old Testament realities, not New Testament. 2. That the New Testament teaches that we are only to love God and that we are not to think that the fear of God is relevant or proper motivation. 3. That the Old Testament is irrelevant to believers in the New Covenant. Yes, it is the Word of God but is now mostly irrelevant. It is as a past word of God now that we are in the New Covenant. 4. That God expects us to exercise faith in such a way that we can all become very rich. I could go on and note other aberrations You may have your own list. I sometimes wonder if these people carefully read the Bible, and even just the New Testament! Do they really fully accept even the authority of the New Testament, though of course, I argue always for the authority of the whole Bible. Accepting the New requires accepting the authority of the Old since the New Testament directly teaches the continuing authority of the Old which it calls Scripture and does not use the phrase Old Testament. .

It would be very helpful if those who have a large platform of exposure due to their anointing, media, or a large Church would have a theological partner to vet writings and media presentations before launching off into the never-never land of bizarre theology and bizarre proclamations. The theological partner would be one sympathetic to their general orientation. My friend Dr. Craig Keener of Asbury Seminary, who wrote the brilliant book Spirit Hermeneutics, is a top Biblical theologian. His book is a corrective for Pentecostal and Charismatic scholars and applies to all Bible teachers. Professor Keener is a very strong supporter of movements that show the power of the Spirit. A person such as Dr. Keener could be a great aid to the large platform ministers whose presence in media: in television, videos, and writing gains a great following. With such a platform of influence comes greater responsibility.

God desires humility. If the critics would be slower to condemn, this would help unity as well. Let their writings of correction come with humility and pleading on a biblical basis. May those with large platforms and who have power ministries have the humility to have advisors who are well trained and solid in theology. This would be helpful to the quest for greater unity.

The Problem of Evil in the Contemporary Age

The issue of pain and suffering is an age-old problem for those who defend the truth of the Biblical faith. In my apologetic text, The Biblical World View, an Apologetic, I seek to deal with this comprehensively. The problem is summarized in Archibald McLeish’s JB, a modern take on Job who argues, “If God is God (omnipotent) he is not good. If God is good he is not God (omnipotent). From Augustine, we have the classic free will defense. This is embraced by C. S. Lewis in his classic The Problem of Pain. Basically, the idea is that the choice of our ancestors brought about a fallen world with terrible suffering, but God in his goodness and wisdom beyond our full comprehension uses this for the discipline of the human race and as the context by which he can bring forth a redeemed community for which it will all be worth it in the end. Actually, the intellectual case is quite good.

However, one important matter is beyond the intellectual case. This is a psychological issue. The real issue with the problem of evil is that people are not able or willing to believe in a good and loving God (though He is also a God of judgment for the wicked) if there is so much pain and suffering in the world. Sometimes this response is awakened by a teenager coming into his or her first crushing disappointment. Though Augustine in the 5th century gave us our most accepted defense of the Biblical view, most of history does not show Christians and Jews wrestling with pain and suffering. Generally, they saw themselves in a fallen world and saw their own sins as so glaring that they did not expect to not see pain and suffering. Somehow living with pain and suffering seemed fitting to them. They did not see themselves as having a right to a good life without suffering. What is amazing about this history is that until the mid 19th century this problem was not much of a focus and not a great question of faith struggle. People might struggle with universalism (all will be saved) or Unitarianism (difficulty with the logic of the Trinity) but not the problem of evil. I think it is connected to the theory of evolution and the delusion that there is a credible explanation for creation in atheistic evolutionary naturalism. A great book on the issue of moderns and the problem of pain and suffering was written by Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. Keller is brilliant in presenting us with the psychological issues and showing that especially in the more pampered and spoiled West, we respond to pain and suffering with outrage rather than with faith and resignation. C. S. Lewis makes a similar point by noting that surgery was done without anesthesia before chloroform was discovered and people of that time were in an age of faith! Previously it was thought that we did not have the right to avoid pain and suffering. Most people lost the majority of their children as children, and the life expectancy in the West was 45. Those who deal with struggling people dealing with this issue need to deal both with theology and psychology. This was so in my case where I had great mentors who were able to address both and help me through it.

A Modest Proposal for Theological Integrity

In recent times we have heard those with influence teach the following.

1. That there is no judgment during this age, but that this is an age of grace and love without judgment or wrath. Judgment and wrath are Old Testament realities not New Testament.

2. That the New Testament teaches that we are only to love God and that we are not to think that the fear of God is relevant or proper motivation.

3. That the Old Testament is irrelevant to believers in the New Covenant. Yes, it is the Word of God but is now mostly irrelevant. It is as a past word of God now that we are in the New Covenant.

4. That God expects us to exercise faith in such a way that we can all become very rich.

I could go on and note other aberrations You may have your own list. I sometimes wonder if these people carefully read the Bible, and even just the New Testament! Do they really fully accept even the authority of the New Testament, though of course I argue always for the authority of the whole Bible. Accepting the New requires accepting the authority of the Old since the New Testament directly teaches the continuing authority of the Old which it calls Scripture and does not use the phrase Old Testament.

Trump and the Prophetic Consensus

I have given rational reasons as to why Christians and Messianic Jews can justly support Donald Trump in spite of this past behavior and in spite of behavior today that is concerning. My arguments have been based on policy. My readers know my views on policy.

However, I have not before noted that there is a very strong consensus from credible prophets that Christians and Messianic Jews are called to support President Trump. When I have slightly indicated such recently, there has been great push back on the fact that many so-called prophets are not trustworthy and that they don’t trust the glitzy T. V. prophets either.

However, I have walked with prophetic people for decades. The ones I walk with are not the glitzy T. V. prophets who make wrong international proclamations and do nothing when they turn out to be false. I have walked closely with some who are not famous, not media personalities but have deep humility and have a very strong track record of accuracy. I think there is a strong consensus among them. Here is what they have said.

Trump’s election was by the hand of God.
His election was predicated since 2012 before anyone thought of him as even a candidate.
He would be a great disrupter, coarse, and unorthodox. It was for the sake of completely shaking up an evil and compromised establishment.
He would restore religious liberty.
He would support Israel and be a Cyrus. He is the 45th President and is connected to Isaiah 45. He would be a Cyrus to Israel. Note that he moved the embassy of the U. S. to Jerusalem. This was prophesied before he was elected. After the embassy move, Israel minted a coin with King Cyrus of Persia on one side and Donald Trump on the other side.
Others have noted that Trump would also be like a Jehu and would go after Jezebel. He would be a wild man like Jehu.
He would roll back some of the evil directions re: abortion and other negative trends against Evangelicals.

There is a lot more but I think having more than a merely human perspective helps us, though we do need to confirm prophetic words and not just follow. Some words seem quite amazing and predictive.