Sunday, 18 June 2023

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 RushdoonyGary NorthKenneth 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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