Postmillennialism - Amillennialism On Steroids Bad Eschatology - Part 10

 

Postmillennialism - Amillennialism On Steroids

Bad Eschatology - Part 10

After AD 1000, Augustine's Amillennialism started to look a bit frayed at the edges. Many of his predictions remained unfulfilled and some Amillennialists were beginning to ask questions. Premillennialists weren't able to answer any of those, because they were too busy being burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church. And anyway, the RCC was skilled at redefining 'what God actually meant' and keeping the peasants in line.

Then came the Protestant Reformation, which meant that the Pope began losing control of the debate. So, Rome launched a counter attack - unleashing every kind of dirty trick possible. They created Preterism and even an early form of pretrib rapture - which the Pope didn't like very much. The Pontiff also unleashed the Jesuits against European monarchies, which was so successful that Europe started pushing back hard - leading to the temporary disbanding of the Jesuits by the 'Holy See' in 1773. But, let's get back to Postmillennialism.

The questions about Amillennialism never went away, and some tried to put a positive spin on this eschatology by saying that Amillennialism wasn't wrong because the symbolic Millennium taught by Augustine hadn't started yet. And it was an Anglican Priest, Daniel Whitby, that set the ball in motion in his book, A Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament - first published in 1703 in two volumes. (And yes, that is a link to Walmart.)

It was at the end of the second volume of this commentary, where Whitby proposed a 'New Hypothesis' about the Millennium. I was able to find a downloadable copy of that book and skimmed through what he said about this new idea. His commentary on the subject starts at page 1698 of the pdf. Here's the link if you want to download the whole thing:

downloads.dbs.org/archive/English-(1703)-Whitbys-Paraphrase-and-Commentary-New-Testament-(Vol.-1-2).pdf

That's a 273mb file, so I have disabled the link just in case you click it by accident. Just put an 'http://' at the beginning of that link, and it should download properly. Alternatively, you can go here to find it:

https://betterbibles.wordpress.com/versions/

(Just search for 'Whitby', and you'll find it about halfway down the page.)

However, his ideas are such gobbledygook (and yes, that's a word) that I would rather quote Clarence Larkin's far more concise summary, from his book, The Second Coming Of Christ:

[Whitby] claimed that Israel and Mount Zion represented the Church. That the promised submission of the Gentiles to the Jews was simply prophetic of the conversion of the Gentiles and their entrance into the Church. That the lying down of the lion and the lamb together typified the reconciliation of the Old and New natures, and that the establishment of an outward and visible kingdom at Jerusalem, over which Christ and the saints should reign, was gross and carnal, and contrary to reason, as it implied the mingling together of human and spiritual beings on the earth.

His “New Hypothesis” was that by the preaching of the Gospel ‘ Mohammedanism would be overthrown, the Jews converted, the Papal Church with the Pope (Antichrist) would be destroyed, and there would follow a 1000 years of righteousness and peace known as the Millennium; at the close of which there would be a short period of Apostasy, ending in the return of Christ. There would then be a general resurrection of the dead, followed by a general judgment, the earth would be destroyed by fire and eternity would begin.

That appears to be a good synopsis of what Whitby said, and it's horrifying.

How is it possible to read the Book of Revelation and come away with this view?

What utter madness.

Whitby took Augustine's colossal blunder and made it even worse. He basically said that...

...it's OUR job to create the Millennium!

According to Whitby, it won't be the Return of our Lord who will usher in the Millennium. We'll need to do that ourselves. Only after we have successfully conquered the world for Christ - and ruled for a thousand years - only then will Jesus return to accept the kingdom that we have created.

I know that Whitby was claiming that this would occur 'naturally' through the preaching of the gospel, but look around at the postmillennialists who have taken Whitby's 'New Hypothesis' and decided that maybe the gospel wasn't enough.

Would a Carrier Strike Group and a couple armored brigades help the process along?

If you think that those are strange thoughts, consider how the Roman Catholic Church was so successful in spreading it's own version of the gospel. The RCC discovered very quickly that encouraging military conquest would make it easy for them to round up shattered civilians and drag them into the loving arms of Rome.

I am finding far too many 'christians' who seem eager to take up arms to fight for their version of 'christendom'. That is not the way of Christ, and all who live by the sword shall die by the sword - and then answer to God for their actions. But, let's look at how Postmillennialism is talked about today.

For those looking for the history of postmillennialism in the 18th and 19th centuries, this article seems to lay out a concise explanation:

American Postmillennialism: Seeing the Glory
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/american-postmillennialism-seeing-the-glory

20th And 21st Century Postmillennialism

The events of World War I and World War II put a dent in the Postmillennial message of a Christendom ever-expanding. All forms of Christianity were in retreat across most of Asia and Europe. Godless Communism was ascendant and secular revolution was in the air. So, the 1950s marked a new low for Postmillennialism, which is why Dr. Walvoord was so dismissive of this eschatology. But, all that changed in the '60s.

Three movements sprang up that pretty much define Postmillennialism today. One group came under the label of Christian Reconstructionism. Men like RJ Rushdoony, Gary North, Kenneth Gentry, and Greg Bahnsen were generally Calvinist/Reformed and advocated the idea of Theonomy - basically a government that imposed biblical laws upon the public.

Then you had a secularist group that may-or-may-not believe in God, but they certainly believed that mankind was destined for great things. Think of the Star Trek universe, where mankind no longer went to war with each other, and there was no need for such things as 'money'. Crime wouldn't exist and there would be plenty for all. Oh, and in this glorious golden age, humanity was no longer inherently sinful. You can bet that LGBT-and-Seeker-friendly churches fall into this group.

The third group is Pentecostal/Charismatic. They are often loosely defined as New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR - a term coined by C Peter Wagner in 1996. It's not an official group, but it describes a movement within Charismatic/Pentecostal churches. And, the groups that fall under the NAR umbrella are:

Third Wave theology

Five Fold Ministries

International House of Prayer (IHOP)

Kansas City Prophets

Bethel Church

Morning Star Ministries

Hillsong Church

Word of Faith

International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders

Manifest Sons of God

Joel’s Army

Seven Mountain Mandate

Generals International

Youth With A Mission (YWAM)

And, if you want an utterly corrupt translation of the Bible that rams home the NAR's dogma, you can go here:

Passion Translation of the Bible by Brian Simmons

All three of these postmillennial movements are utterly corrupt. Worse, they invoke the curse of Revelation 22:19.

and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

 - Revelation 22:19 (NKJV)

Postmillennialism does that, just as much as Amillennialism does. But, these Postmill movements add a tremendous amount of corruption and a desire to reform government into its own image. That last bit is deeply unsettling and something that every Christian should oppose.

Because that's exactly the kind of thing that the Antichrist would take control of and bend to his will.

A couple other sources on Postmillennialism:

Postmillennialism
https://www.monergism.com/topics/eschatology/all-millennial-views/postmillennialism

Creed of Christian Reconstruction
https://chalcedon.edu/creed-of-christian-reconstruction

I truly hope that you’ll be ready for this

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. – Proverbs 22:3

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Revelation Six with "Amillennialism - Augustine's Great Blunder Bad Eschatology - Part 9"

 

Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride

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Amillennialism - Augustine's Greatest Blunder

Bad Eschatology – Part 9

JOHN LITTLE JUN 3  Amillennialism - Augustine's Great Blunder Bad Eschatology - Part 9 Augustine was born to a Catholic mother and a pagan father, in AD 354, near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in a town called Thagaste, that would today be northeast Algeria, on the border with Tunisia - North Africa. By that time, Roman Catholicism had been legalized in AD 313 and the imperial capital had been moved to Constantinople (now Istanbul) in AD 330. The Nicene Creed had been proclaimed in AD 325, and the Catholic Church had become the state religion in AD 380 (and the only religion allowed), when Augustine was 26. Before he converted to Catholicism at age 31, Augustine was a devoted follower of Manichaeism and Neoplatonism, and he brought their ideas of the conflict between good and evil into his writings after his conversion. For instance, the idea of a conflict between the City of God and the City of Satan is very Manichaean. And, his Neoplatonic ideas were especially strong in his early writings. He was one of the great rhetoricians of his time. He was a product of the imperial philosophies that were the foundation of the Roman Empire. He saw nothing wrong with an imperial church. He was a Roman Catholic in every sense, and everything that he wrote was in furtherance to the Great Harlot that he thought to be the one true church. Can you blame him? Yes, but none of us really want to. Augustine's Errors Remember that Augustine was emphatic in his Mariology, claiming that Mary was a virgin till she died - conveniently forgetting what the Bible says about the half-brothers of Jesus. He also strongly supported Catholic Ecclesiology, where he claimed that the priests were the direct successors of the Apostles and must be obeyed. He is the originator of the term 'Just War', in which it is a sin to not go to war for a 'just' cause. And, to quote Encyclopedia Britannica: Intellectually, Augustine represents the most influential adaptation of the ancient Platonic tradition with Christian ideas that ever occurred in the Latin Christian world. He fought relentlessly against the Donatists, who rightly believed that the state should have no involvement with the church and that those who betrayed the Body of Christ should not remain in positions of church authority. The Donatists were correct in every way, but Augustine wouldn't see it, saying: "The clouds roll with thunder, that the house of the Lord shall be built throughout the earth; and these frogs sit in their marsh and croak 'We are the only Christians!' " Unfortunately, Augustine was wrong, and compounded his error in AD 411 when an imperial council was convened to resolve the conflict between the Donatists and the Catholics. Through Augustine's superior rhetoric, he was able to convince the Roman Empire to deny the Donatists both civil and religious rights. This led to years of extreme repression, persecution and murder. His Greatest Blunder You could almost excuse Augustine for the above errors. We all get things wrong, and we are always influenced by those who brought us up in our faith. I've had my share of errors that I've had to repent of, so you could say the same about Augustine. But, there was one blunder in which he went too far: Amillennialism For most of Augustine's Christian life, he was a solidly premillennial. He saw the Millennium as real and that it would come after the Return of Jesus Christ. But when the Visgoths sacked Rome in AD 410, all of that changed. Pagans blamed the Christians for Rome's fall, and Augustine fought back with his magnum opus - The City of God. However, instead of arguing from within a Biblical context, he flipped the script, blaming all of Rome's troubles on corruption and immorality and then claiming that none of it mattered anyway, since the Millennium is allegorical and spiritual, rather than physical - as described in Zechariah 14 and Revelation 20. Unfortunately, Augustine's superior writing skill and oratory won the day, and Amillennialism became the core eschatology of the Roman Catholic Church. And, it has done terrible damage to the Body of Christ as well as giving Rome the right to engage in the mass murder of any Christians who disagreed with the Pope. Being murdered by Roman Catholics was the norm for Christians for more than a thousand years after Augustine. It is what we were promised would happen, and we accepted this as our walk with Christ. After all, our willingness to die for Christ is part of how Satan is overcome: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.  - Revelation 12:11 (KJV) The biggest problem came when the Protestant Reformers broke with Rome and formed their own denominations. They threw out much of the visibly Roman elements of Catholicism such as the worship of saints, Mariology, transubstantiation, etc. But, there was one thing that they all kept, without exception: Augustine's Amillennialism This 'spiritualization' of the 1000 year reign of Christ gave liberalism the opportunity to 'spiritualize' other parts of the Bible that they didn't like. After all, if you can 'spiritualize' Zechariah 14 and the whole Book of Revelation, there is nothing in the Bible that you cannot 'spiritualize'. Don't like Paul's admonition against women preachers and pastors? Spiritualize the whole discussion and make vague references to prominent women in the Bible. Don't like taxes? Spiritualize what Jesus said about giving unto Caesar and get out your guns. Do you want to build a megachurch? Spiritualize all that stuff about purity in the Body of Christ and welcome all to join without any of unpleasant need to repent of sins and turn towards righteousness. I could go on, but you get my point. Augustine helped build the profound error that the wolves among us are using to tear down the Body of Christ. It gave the Roman Catholic Church the 'right' to murder us. It gave the liberals the 'right' to tear away at core principles of the Bible. Of all the errors that Augustine made, this was the biggest. For a deeper look into how much damage Augustine did with his Amillennial views, here is a very thorough analysis from Dr. John F. Walvoord: Amillenniallism from Augustine to Modern Times https://bible.org/seriespage/4-amillenniallism-augustine-modern-times Amillennialism as a Method of Interpretation https://bible.org/seriespage/millennial-series-part-5-amillennialism-method-interpretation Amillennialism as a System of Theology https://bible.org/seriespage/millennial-series-part-6-amillennialism-system-theology That is a subset of Dr. Walvoord's larger discussion of how the Millennium was viewed for the past 2000 years. Notice that he wrote all this around 1950. He was disturbed by what the liberals were doing then, and he would be even more profoundly upset over what they are doing now. I strongly disagree with Walvoord's Dispensationalism, but his clarity on amillennialism is definitely worth reading. Back To Augustine So, what should we say about Saint Augustine? Was he a brother in Christ that took a wrong turn? Or, was he just another clever facsimile, built up by Satan to lead the faithful astray? Because I like him as a person, I don't really want to say. But, we should all be very fearful of transgressing this verse: and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.  - Revelation 22:19 (NKJV) Augustine did that, so I have to assume that God took his part from the Book of Life. I hate the thought of that, but I don't have a better conclusion to offer. Please. Do not let your part be taken from the Book of Life. I truly hope that you’ll be ready for this A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. – Proverbs 22:3 ———————————— Keep this ministry alive with a donation. Subscribe for free to Revelation Six and receive my articles in your inbox: Thank you for reading Revelation Six. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share