According to Mohler

"These are the days that will require courage, conviction, and clarity of vision.  We are in a fight for the most basic liberties God has given humanity, every single one of us, made in his image."

I recently ran across this article in Dr. Albert Mohler's blog of March 21 of this year. There is certainly no equivocation here.  In the article (The Gathering Storm: Religious Liberty in the Wake of the Sexual Revolution) he goes on to state that those of us who have been made in His image are presently engaged in an existential struggle to maintain a moral set of standards that are progressively being negated in the World community by a strong, dedicated and proactive force. This ominous progression is advancing "with astounding velocity."  He continues:

A revolution in morality now seeks not only to subvert marriage, but also to redefine it, and thus to undermine an essential foundation of human dignity, flourishing, and freedom.  Religious liberty is under direct threat.  During oral arguments in the Obergefell case, the Solicitor General of the United States served notice  before the Supreme Court that the liberties of religious institutions will be an open and unavoidable question.  Already, religious liberty is threatened by a new moral regime that exalts erotic liberty and personal autonomy and openly argues that religious liberties must give way to the new morality, its redefinition of marriage, and its demand for coercive moral, cultural, and legal sovereignty. 

 

These are days that will require courage, conviction, and clarity of vision.  We are in a fight for the most basic liberties God has given humanity, every single one of us, made in his image.  Religious liberty is being redefined as mere freedom of worship, but it will not long survive if it is reduced to a private sphere with no public voice.  The very freedom to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ is at stake, and thus so is the liberty of every American.  Human rights and human dignity are temporary abstractions if they are severed from their reality as gifts of the Creator. The eclipse of Christion truth will lead inevitably to a tragic loss of human dignity.  If we lose religious liberty, all other liberties will be lost, one by one.

 

The bold has been added.  I was thinking of adding bold to other parts of the quote but decided that more than half would have been in bold and thus making the devise almost meaningless.  So let's stick with "These are days that will require courage, conviction, and clarity of vision." I noticed that he did not appeal to some form of Christian activism.  I was actually pleased by such.  It is not that I advocate against Christian activism.  Just the opposite is the case.  Rather, I was pleased that, acting as a learned scholar, he seemed to leave the severity of the subject matter to stand by itself and not be diluted with extraneous thoughts.  "Stop and cogitate" he might have said. "These are days that will require courage, conviction, and clarity of vision".

Dr. Mohler continued on with many thoughts -  naming names, concepts, organization, etc. Leave it to say that I agreed with all that followed.  However, - allow me to deflect a little and expand on a thought that began the article. Immediately following his clarion-like call to courage, conviction, and clarity of vision he alludes to the bulldog-like efforts of the great Winston Churchill in his attempts to awaken a lethargic Western World community to the immanent dangers of the expansionist mentality of Adolph Hitler in the late 1930s.  He saw that if not impeded - Nazi hegemony would prevail over all of Europe (and beyond?).  One would do well to read the article. 

I was going to continue this article with allusions and conclusions concerning the situation surrounding the dark days preceding WW2.  Did Churchill prevail and awaken a comfortable World community, or did the reality of invasion do so?  The subject-matter became substantive enough that I thought it best to continue this line of thought with another post.  Part two to follow.

Let's close with this:  For those of you who are aware of World conditions and are sobered by such a scenario - Do you feel that our Christian community is going to soon become courageous, become convicted by the godless atmosphere that is pursuing the demise of Christianity and its moral and biblical code, and do you believe that a myopic clarity of vision is soon to prevail in the American church?  Do you even think that such a scenario is required?

My appeal is for us to consider the warnings of Dr. Mohler, to stop and cogitate and to consider that courage, conviction, and a clarity of vision may soon be demanded of us.  The World condition may force the matter upon us. 


 

Open Windows

Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. Then these men said, "We shall not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God."

 

The narrative that covers the above scenario is found in Daniel 6:1-17.  Daniel, as a young man, was captured and sent to Babylon during the conquest of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 B.C. Many years have passed, Persia has conquered Babylon  with Daniel now finding himself serving in the court of Darius the Mede.

As with the officials in the Babylonian court, the officials in the Persian court are jealous of Daniel.  He is wise, faithful, possesses no signs of corruption, is a possessor of an extraordinary spirit, and above all is about to be appointed with authority over the entire court. This man stands out as a righteous and faithful man.  He is an embarrassment to the members of the court.  So what does one do with such a man?  Why kill him of course!

 

As many of us know, the members of the court remind the king that it is in his authority to generate an injunction and by the law of the Medes and Persians be bound by its conditions.  Not even the king himself can revoke that document.  The narrative continues:

 

Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: "King Darius live forever!  All the commissioners...have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who make a petition to any god or man besides you, O king...shall be cast into the lions' den. Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction. Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.

 

What a remarkable response was made by this seasoned veteran of God!  Daniel  knew, yet he left his windows open.  Have you ever deliberated over that part of the passage?  I have not until this time around.  What kind of a man would leave the windows open knowing that he had enemies that were awaiting, with patience and directed zeal, the possibility of observing him disobeying the very commandment of the king himself?  Loyalty to God, and/or arrogance are the two scenarios that come to mind.  Knowing about the nature of Daniel, we will assume that loyalty and not arrogance was his motive.  What kind of a man, indeed!

 

 Let's fast-forward 2500 years to the present time and consider this response as a metaphor for our lives today.  Would you leave your "windows open" if  you  were pressed to choose between loyalty to a Caesar-like person or to choose manifest loyalty to the Gospel message and to the God of that message?  Would the cultural conditions of a godless world at such a time cause you to "close your windows"? Under modern conditions it seems that such a state is more than possible.  The world community is in flux.  The godless are becoming more bold in their desire to have license to sin and rebel. However, somebody is in the way.  That remnant-like portion of the world Christian community that remains faithful to Christ and His Gospel message will be in the way.  It will be required of us that we be Spiritually wise, be faithful, possess no signs of corruption, but possess that extraordinary Spirit that caused us to be born again from above. In short we will be an embarrassment to the world court and we will have to be dealt with.  Will we leave our windows open at such a time?

What kind of a man was this Daniel, and what kind of a man, or woman will we be required to be when such conditions surround us?  What dominated my thoughts concerning Daniel's response was that he was not only intellectually loyal to God, but, more importantly, he was experientially loyal to God. This is no small condition.  Intellectual knowledge of the Word of God, and of the God who was revealed in that Word, may not always be sufficient to pass the test when we have our faith put under duress. When Daniel's state of mind and subsequent courage was discussed in a recent bible  study of the text, a brother-in-Christ immediately alluded to the courage of the two priests that were required to cross the Jordon river in flood stage (Joshua 3:13-17).  They did not fail the test.  What was similar to Daniel was the fact that their faith in God and in their loyalty to God had been tested under conditions of duress for forty years of wandering in desert places.  They had been tested and were found to be approved.  Like Daniel, they were transformed into faithful servants of God and to the Torah of God.  It's who they were, not just what they did.  So too was Daniel.  He was a tested servant living in a foreign land whose love, loyalty and affection to Torah and God transformed him into a man who left his windows open for all the world to see.



 

If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it has hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

- John 15:18-19-

We live in a comfortable America.  How sad. 

 

 

 

 



Provoking Selfexamination

Who is the man who fears the LORD?

He will instruct him in the way he should choose.

His soul will abide in prosperity,

And his descendants will inherit the land.

The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him.

And He will make them know His covenant.

(Ps. 25:12-14)

Upon reading through the Psalms this morning, this passage stood out enough that I set it aside to be pondered upon. Upon doing so my attention was deflected away somewhat from the fruit that this fortunate individual was producing unto that mind-set that was causing such blessed fruit to be produced.  Why was this person "being instructed", "abiding in prosperity" "having secrets revealed" and having His "covenants made known"? 

Why obviously he, or she, feared God; a subject not often dealt with within our community since the default mind-set of our community is almost always to interpret that to mean reverential respect.   One can superficially believe that he or she respects God.  One can continue to live a superficial life doing so without the demand for self introspection or repentance being required. To fear God, however, implies more than a superficial life that allows one to default to a mind set that does not deal with eternal matters. Accountability is implied when one fears God.  Spurgeon commented on this passage with this powerful admonition;  one that I will keep forever,  teach on forever, and preach on forever. "Let the question provoke self examination" he shouts  with his pen.  Spurgeon then concludes with these sobering words:  "Gospel privileges are not for every pretender.  Art thou of the seed royal or no"? (The Treasury of David, seven-volumes, I, p. 445) Can one fear this great God and love Him with reverential respect at the same time? The thought comes to mind of the child who hears the dreaded words from mom: "just wait until your father comes home"  Does the child love dad and fear his soon return at the same time?  Most assuredly he or she does.

It seems as though we have far too often used that Hebrew verb (yare) to substitute a slumber-like euphemism of reverence in the place of a sobering and thought-provoking admonition to actually fear God.  It is not suggested here that one should fear God as one would fear a tyrant.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.  He took it all upon Himself; we have been redeemed by the most powerful act of love to ever have been exercised in human history!  Yet - it seems to me that a staggering sense of sobriety is required of those of us who proclaim His great name. 

Let us consider that every man, woman, or child who has ever lived upon this planet will spend eternity somewhere.  One should ponder the implications of that word "eternity".  We live in perilous times beloved; times that may be Biblical.  If Biblical, then a great apostasy awaits the planet (Mt.24:9-10). Those who call themselves Christians will be sifted during times of testing.  One remains faithful and is called-out unto His presence and the other becomes apostate,  is placed under the ban and is cast into outer darkness.  If the end of the age is not near, and His coming is far away, then one lives-out his or her life in the sobering belief that this is a great God Who will demand an accounting of his or her life.  Such a person will also be called-out unto His presence. For those who live out their lives by default and do not self-examine and who lightly esteem the One Who redeemed His beloved ones, there awaits the same fate as those who became apostate when under trial and the casting-out into that outer darkness awaits them - or so it seems to me.

And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot, I would that you were cold or hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

(Rev. 3:15-16)

 



Sobering words by a great God.  Are we of the seed royal, or not?  A little introspection may be suggested here.  I can think of only two eternal states of being for the Human race:  Those who belong, and those who don't.  FEAR GOD  -  eternity awaits.

There Are Certain Jews

and they do not serve your gods

or worship the golden image which you have set up

 

 

One of the more famous stories found in the Bible is that of the ordeal endured by the three young captives deported to the court of Nebuchadnezzar the conquering king of Babylon upon his defeat of Judah and Jerusalem in the period of 605-586 BC.  In the first wave Daniel and his three companions Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have gone to the court to be trained-up in the culture of the Babylonians that they may serve that powerful king.  One is invited to revisit the passage describing this ordeal found in Daniel, chapter three.

 

 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold...

 

There are certain Jews who have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods

or worship the golden image which you have set up.

 

It is not the intent of this article to review the entire chapter.  A single thought came to my mind while sharing with some men in a bible study we hold on Monday nights.  Allow me to speculate and even postulate to expand that thought.

 

When the members of the court came before the king to announce that there were certain Jews who refused to obey, bow down, or worship the image, the king was enraged and threatened the three of them with a violent death.  Their response was immediate. Filled with certitude and resolve, they were determined to suffer whatever consequences that might follow. Their response was more than an intellectual determination; it was a reflection of who they were.

 

 

O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this.  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath... (vv. 16-19 bold added)

 

 

Now what kind of persons can utter such things under such circumstances!  And so my mind began to speculate concerning the essence of these young men.  "Reading between the lines" I speculated that these three had been chosen for the court because of their special nature, namely, "their intelligence in every branch of wisdom, their discerning of knowledge, and being endowed with understanding" (1:4). These young men had been raised in the knowledge of and the fealty to Torah law. They had been trained up in the way of the God of Abraham.  Their inner nature had been forged over a function of time and that process produced more than an intellectual understanding and approval of the life-style demanded by that God; it was in their viscera; it was who they were.  At the moment of crisis, they did not serve the false gods of a gentile kingdom and neither did they bow down to  and thus prostitute themselves to a gargantuan idol capable of cowering the entire known world of the Babylonian kingdom.  They were steeled to be faithful to the God of Abraham their father and to the God of Moses their law-giver.

 

So, let's fast forward 2600 years to today.

To those of us whose tendency is to take the bible literally when reading various passages that describe the close of the age and the return of Christ in power - one question should dominate our thought process:  Will I be able to stand?   To those of you who are less than inclined toward a literal understanding of things eschatological I invite you to a least postulate such a condition.

Violence will rule the day (II Tim 3:1-5), death is promised us for refusal to take a mark and to worship a man and his image (Rev. 13:14-18) and apostasy will bifurcate the church (Mt. 24 - be sobered by the entire chapter). To those of you who have an eschatological position that disagrees with the above scenario, please do not let that position propel you on to a rabbit trail.  The godless world that currently surrounds us is becoming increasingly violent and the strong tendency is for those who are proactive in it to coalesce around two enemies: Israel and the Church.  This freight train is gaining momentum and those driving that train are not deterred by our eschatological belief- system, nor by our theology.  License to sin, not accountability, is their goal and we are in the way. 

So I ask myself that question:  Will I be able to stand?  Will I be steeled like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, or will I join that great apostasy predicted by the Lord Himself when I have to face my own Babylonian statue -  in whatever form it might take in my life - at whatever moment-of-decision that is demanded of me?    So many "Christians" are living a shallow life in this country; an untested faith dominates their psychology and I fear for them as our present age is becoming increasingly violent and godless.  All of this to say that a little bit more sobriety concerning the time in which we live would be more that productive.  Our faith may be tested more than we anticipate.

 

 

 









 

 



Looney Tunes

As most of you have heard by now Pope Francis has, in so many words, recognized the Palestinian Authority to be a viable state entity (the first World leader to do so) among the international community.  He further informed the world that the chairman of that state Mahmoud Abbas was an "angel of peace". With warm affection gifts were exchanged.  We were informed that this man, who worshiped Yasser Arafat his mentor and the one whom Abbas succeeded in leadership was not merely a man of peace (he's not), but the leader of 1.2 billion followers declared him to be an "angel" of peace.  By the way, if true, he's got the wrong angel.

Honestly, Looney Tunes comes to mind - Daffy Duck lives and has taken over the international community.  Think of the entrance music to the Barnum and Bailey circus -  Comical in the midst of constant tragedy.  When looking at our world condition today and the "leaders" shaping those conditions, one must conclude that we have amongst us children trapped in adult bodies.  These are the sophisticates of the world; the ones calling evil good and good evil and who are substituting darkness for light and light for darkness (Is. 5:20).  These are the ones who are calling Islam the religion of peace and are tripping all over their feet to proclaim that the violence  currently being generated by such as Boko Haram, Al Queda, Hamas, ISIS, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad etc. is a deflection from true Islam - that religion of peace. 

Do not think that I am declaring these men and women to be uneducated, uninformed, and unsophisticated in the natural realm.  They are indeed mature in their ability to obfuscate and confuse.  It is in the spiritual realm that they are children - buffoons actually.  We as Christians have pretty much lost the information-flow in this world.  We have been called-out of such (John 15:18-22), but in the midst of the unfolding of world events we are required to proclaim and live out the demands and liberty of the Gospel of Christ.

Licentiousness is what the world wants - a license to sin and to not be held accountable. And it seems that they are doing quite well in their efforts. So, should we wring our hands.  Well, no actually.  I have been sharing with those who come across my path this thought:  When frustration in the midst of this world circus seriously discourages you, let that frustration drive you into the bosom of Christ (John 15:4, 5).

One day at a time beloved, one day at a time.  Time is on our side and all will be revealed.

Haaretz is not America

Please understand that what is to follow is not blasphemy.  For several years now I feel as though I have been intellectually stuck with a pin every time I hear the misuse of what has become an icon of American Christianity, namely, the misuse of that magnificent conditional offer that God made to Solomon and "His people" national Israel.

If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (II Chron. 7:13-14)

Now, please, don't deflect from what is to follow by shutting down your thinking process because you think that the subject-matter is national Israel.  That is a topic for a later time.  God is promising to the people who posses God's "house of sacrifice" (v. 12) that when under conditions of (severe) distress God will heal their land.  Under conditions of humility, hunger for God, and repentance God will heal.  Zech. 12-14 comes to mind, especially 12:10. 

Now, let's fast forward approximately 3000 years to today and consider how that wonderful promise is applied by the American church of today.  We can all agree that, even though it is the opinion of this writer that God was promising Israel this blessing of healing, He was also offering an eternal blessing to all who are called by His name who humble themselves, seek His face, and repent of their sins.  Thus it follows in the minds of many American Christians that if we do so God is going to heal America.  "If only, if only..."  Fill in the blanks. Every time that I hear that phraseology, I feel that I have been pocked in the eye with the proverbial stick. 

If only we will all get out and vote...we will heal America,
If only the Church will...we will heal America,
If only we would all pray...we would heal America,
If only, if only...
Pointed sticks abound.

Beloved, the Church is not going to heal America.  "If only" is not going to happen.  Does that sound blasphemous to you.  Please - read the Book.  The second coming of "the Lamb standing as if slain" (Rev. 5:6) is going to heal America. So, do I feel that the Church should shut down and wait for the Second Coming?  No, It is not my intent that the Church should shut down.  On the contrary we are priests in His Kingdom.  It is our function to hear and subsequently to obey.  The Church is not going to heal the World, neither is it going to heal America.  The remnant of His Church who are in the process of praying to Him for healing, who are humbling themselves, seeking and repenting will constantly be bringing healing to both America and the World, but we will not ultimately accomplish the finality of that impossible task.

The godless of this world will continue to do that which is godless and will eventually win the day in the natural world.  In the duration of the unwinding of human history the ekklesia of Christ will be healing the sick, be saving babies in the womb, see mothers repent and come to Christ, vote and bring better governance to our land, expose sin in the land, offer sanctuary for the weak and cast out, preach the light of the Gospel and welcome in the saved who will become part of the redeemed of the Lord, and so much more.

So, why is this even important?  Can we not at least agree to the possibility that in our professing of this great promise of God that we have created one of our many anesthetizing beliefs?  We proclaim a Scripture as in II Chronicles 7:14 and subliminally believe that by our proclamation of such a Scripture that the living-out of that Scripture is actually occurring. We have numbed ourselves.  We ignore that our nation is not humbling itself, repenting, seeking and praying.  The man-made church is not humbling itself, repenting, seeking and praying.  The remnant is not even sufficiently humbling, repenting, seeking and praying - at least not to the degree that God is going to heal America.  He is bringing healing to America, but He is not going to heal America.

Should we as God's called-out and redeemed elect be living out II Chronicles 7:14?  My yes, and that with much gusto!  Especially as we see the day drawing near should we pursue such.  To whatever degree that God is well pleased with the integrity of our efforts, not only will He bring healing, but He will also, with equal and even greater gusto, cause the calling-out of the Saints unto the final ingathering of His beloved elect.  For those of us who perceive the seriousness of the moment let's pursue humility, repentance, the seeking of His face and with vigorous and constant prayer loose God to bear the fruit that He deems appropriate for this time in history. This is the calling-out of the Church, not the healing of America.

"The Land" is not America -
"Haaretz" in not the Ekklesia.

More Calvin

The following critique may seem to be a bit tedious to some of you, but bear with me as I attempt to extract a (hopefully) reasonable defense of a much-maligned and mocked word.  That word would be chiliasm.   Rather than proactively defending the concept of a literal one thousand year reign of Christ (Rev. 20:4-7) - a task later to be addressed on this site - I have chosen to respond to Calvin's vigorous denial of same (Institutes, 3,25,5).

One can imagine the mind-set of the Reformers in those early days.  What must it be like to be on fire for one's beliefs, knowing that those beliefs proclaim light in the midst of much religious darkness and that eternal lives are at stake? How much more sobering must it have been to understand that proclaiming that light is resulting in the death of many of your contemporaries?  Calvin's response to the contemporary surroundings were with vigor and not always kind.

In defense of the resurrection of the saints he addresses chiliasm in this manner:

But Satan has not only befuddled men's senses to make them bury with the corpses the memory of resurrection; he has also attempted to corrupt this part of the doctrine with various falsifications that he might at length destroy it....But a little later there followed the chiliasts, who limited the reign of Christ to a thousand years.  Now their fiction is too childish either to need or to be worth a refutation.  And the Apocalypse, from which they undoubtedly drew a pretext for their error, does not support them.  For the number "one thousand" (Rev. 20:4) does not apply to the eternal blessedness of the church but only to the various disturbances that awaited the church, while still toiling on earth.  On the contrary, all Scripture proclaims that there will be no end to the blessedness of the elect or the punishment of the wicked (Matt. 25:41, 46).

Now all those matters which elude our gaze and far exceed the capacity of our minds must either be believed as from actual oracles of God or utterly cast away.  Those who assign the children of God a thousand years in which to enjoy the inheritance of the life to come do not realize how much reproach they are casting upon Christ and his Kingdom. For if they do not put on immortality, then Christ himself, to whose glory they shall be transformed, has not been received into undying glory (I Cor. 15:13 ff.)

If their blessedness is to have an end, then Christ's Kingdom, one whose firmness it depends, is but temporary.  In short, either such persons are utterly ignorant of everything divine or they are trying by a devious malice to bring to naught all the grace of God and power of Christ, the fulfillment of which is realized only when sin is blotted out, death swallowed up, and everlasting life fully restored! (Bold added)

Perhaps it would be advantageous to drop the word chiliasm at this time.  Some baggage appends to that title and rightfully so.  It seems that Calvin's disgust is pointed to the universalists' claim that all men will eventually be saved and that the chiliasm of his day suggests that Christ's glory is limited to that literal one thousand years (and thus that somehow the belief in resurrection is questioned?).  Consider reading between the lines and footnotes of his thoughts as recorded in the Institutes, 3, 25, 5.

For our ruminations in the day in which we now live, let's replace the baggage of chiliasm with the claims that Rev. 20 should be taken literally, futuristically and as part of the glory and universal reign of Christ that will immediately usher in the eternal glory of chapters 21 and 22.  For all of us who are serious concerning such matters, why don't we all sit down and have coffee with Calvin?  I have some questions that I would like to ask us all.

How does one determine that those who believe that Christ will literally reign for a thousand years "limit" that reign?  Do not those who believe such a literal understanding of the passage (Rev. 20:4)  also believe in the continuing glory of Christ to be immediately found in the following chapters (Rev. 20,21)?  I plead ignorance here.  If the subject matter is dealt with, it is not dealt with in the entire passage alluded to above (Westminster Press, vol. 2, pp.994-6).

Calvin has determined that Rev. 20:4 alludes to the "various disturbances that await the church, while still toiling on earth".  Though I disagree with this assessment, I understand it to be a reasonable (although incorrect) position; one held by intelligent, thinking men and women of integrity before God and one that is worthy of discussion.
Now, when the claim that the "oracles of God are cast away" by those who claim a literal thousand year reign  of Christ, one can reasonably retort by claiming that the oracle of God as recorded by John indeed uttered-forth literally that Christ would reign for 1000 years (20:4-7).  Further, it should be a continuous thought that chapters 20 and 21, also being oracles of God, shout-out the continuing glory of the Lamb of God throughout eternity. 

One can readily understand Calvin's distain for the chiliastic position since, in his mind, that position blunts the understanding of resurrection and possibly proclaims a universalist claim of reconciliation of all of mankind. The man was a warrior in the midst of incredible evil and spiritual darkness.  My intent here is to address those of you who's  belief system is akin to that of that great Reformer.  Chiliasm, with all of its baggage is not the subject matter, rather, I appeal to you that you address the formal claims of the pre-millennial and literal understanding of the final three chapters of the book of Revelation. 

Finally, here is the question:  To those of us who so believe; do you subliminally, or overtly, believe that we are really believing in "childless fiction, casting away the oracles of God and are casting reproach upon Christ"?  Such a mind-set seems to blunt  Christian dialogue for us all, don't you think?

Let's close with this thought.  It has been said that "Covenant Theology isn't so much a 'theology' in the sense of a systematic set of doctrine as it is a framework for interpreting Scripture."  Now here is a problem for all Christian belief systems, namely, that so many of us are guilty to some extent of forcing our hermeneutical tendencies to distort our "exegetical" conclusions.  To what degree does an a-millennial mind-set force an eisegetical conclusion upon a literal and declarative biblical statement?  Remember, we are having coffee here.  Let's all put our eschatological and theological ping-pong paddles away.  Calvin gets a pass because he was fighting a war against tyranny.  We should not be given that same pass.

Let's have coffee - There's a freight train coming.