Total Commitment

By James W Adams

Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself . . .” (Matt. 16:24). Discipleship demands total commitment. If there is one thing, above all else, that causes people to be lost, it is their unwillingness to commit themselves wholly – body, soul, and spirit – to the Lord. Yet, it should be observed that this must be a completely voluntary act. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, it was prophesied that the Lord’s servants of the Messianic kingdom would be “willing in the day of his power” (Psa. 110:3).

There is a “philosophy” and a movement emanating from that “philosophy” among our so-called “liberal” brethren, and a few avant-garde, professed “conservative” brethren of the far left variety, which masquerades under the title, “Total Commitment.” In fact, however, it is no more than a highly organized system of coercive, psychological pressure. This feature of the so-called “philosophy” has been so marked in its practical manifestations as to evoke charges of “cultism” both from within and without.

The movement had its origin among professed churches of Christ, in Gainesville, Florida, in a congregation known as “The Crossroads Church of Christ.” The movement’s basic principles have come to be called by many, “The Crossroads Philosophy.” It has been the occasion of much consternation and heated controversy among various segments of the “On-the-march” wing of professed churches of Christ. Though it began ,yin Florida, its echoes have reverberated throughout the nation. It has given rise to morbid curiosity, spurious investigation, and tentative acceptance (somewhat timorous) even among persons professing to be “conservative” – persons possessed of a certain type of mentality which egotistically rejects the “traditional” and gravitates to the novel and unusual.

No informed, sincere brother in the Lord opposes “total commitment” to Christ, but coercion and cultic demagoguery are not to be confused with New Testament consecration. Total commitment which is motivated and sustained by personal faith in Christ and love for God and things spiritual is a blessed virtue. Coerced commitment – whether psychologically or physically induced and enforced, or both – is a pernicious evil, particularly in religion. It is enslavement to fallible, human masters as opposed to the hallowed commitment of gloriously liberated sons of God. Pragmatic though it may be in its immediate, visible effects, its ultimate end is spiritual suicide.

To teach total commitment, born of faith and love, as a solemn duty of eternity-bound men and women is one thing. To coerce “total commitment” to humanly conceived and psychologically implemented programs of religious activity which are totally consuming, under the guise of consecration to Christ, is quite another thing. In fact, it is the difference between a sectarian cult and a New Testament church. It is the difference between a devoted disciple of a crucified, risen, and coronated Lord and an idolatrous zealot of a charismatic Manipulator. It is the difference between a New Testament “saint” and Jim Jones devotee or a Ron Hubbard “Scientologist.” In the use of these illustrations, we do not imply that the Crossroads’ philosophy and practice are identical with those of the men mentioned, but we do perceive a striking parallel between the coerced commitment which characterizes all three systems, and we are as much opposed to said coerced commitment in one system as the other.

It is a source of never-ending amazement that some very respectable, “conservative” brethren have considered themselves under some sort of compulsion, if not overtly to defend, at least to publicize in a semifavorable light the so-called “Crossroads’ Philosophy.” This has been done in lengthy, highly qualified, and culpably ambiguous “analyses” – dissertations which have raised more questions than they have supplied answers. From the analyses themselves, even a casual reader can recognize that they are based on superficial investigations which accept as evidence the personal assurances of the persons promoting the philosophy rather than competent data. These apologetic exposes have served (we hope not intentionally/ to camouflage significant errors in the Crossroads’ philosophy and practice and to palliate highly questionable methods of procedure even in reference to things not wrong within themselves. One is forced to wonder about the motivation behind such efforts as those demonstrated in the apologetic disclosures to which reference has been made. A very pertinent question is raised by them: What possible, defensible interest can truly “conservative” brethren have in becoming involved in a quasi-defense of a neo-liberal gimmick which has finally concerned our “On-the-march” brethren enough to shock them out of their egotistical smugness and self-righteous sense of sufficiency to stir up a controversy among themselves over it?

Specious titles, such as “Total Commitment,” are often employed by propagandists to camouflage the unlovely features and destructive tendencies of their products. Semantics can be deceptive. This is well illustrated by an advertisement run in the daily newspaper by a bank in South Wales. The bank had sustained financial reverses and was not in a position to make loans. To make this known without hurting the image of the bank, the ad was thus worded: “Within the framework of existing ratios of liquidity and statutory reserve deposits, the banks have little room for maneuvering at present.” What they were really saying was: “We cannot lend you any money right now!”

In the same way, religious innovators and cultic demagogues cover many of the quagmires of their progressive (?) and personally self-profiting activities with dignified and traditionally acceptable religious nomenclature. Hence, be careful! Do not swallow their prescriptions without carefully studying the label and analyzing the contents of the bottle. In a word, beware of sectarian gobbledegook which has been sugar-coated with specious terminology! Shakespeare correctly noted that “A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Conversely speaking, it is just as true that sulphuric acid may be called “water,” but doing so does not make it any less deadly to him who drinks it. When I was in high school chemistry, more years ago than I care to admit, we used to recite a little piece of doggerel to the effect: “Johnny used to live here, but he doesn’t anymore, for what he thought was H20 (water) was H2S04 (sulphuric acid.” How very, very correct we were!

“Total Commitment” is the answer to the eradication of many spiritual ills provided it is produced and maintained by hearts voluntarily consecrated to the Lord in personal “faith, hope, and love.” Structured regimentation through psychological pressure and manipulation, however, is a deadly poison emanating from human, spiritual ambition and religious quackery. The Ephesian book-burners (Acts 19:18-20) learned this when they opened their hearts to the teaching of the Spirit-filled apostle of the Lord. Do we really need to be reminded of the “Jonestown Massacre” or be pointed to the recent revelations in Reader’s Digest (May 1980 and September 1981) concerning so-called “Scientology”? The path of religious history is literally strewn with the wrecks of the lives of millions who were not able to distinguish between “total commitment” as taught in the New Testament and cultic demagoguery as advocated and practiced by designing men. Shall we be totally deaf to the lessons of history?

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 5, pp. 65, 76
February 4, 1982

Premillennalists And Some Parables

By Dudley Ross Spears

The premillennial teaching concerning the church and the kingdom does not harmonize with the Lord’s teaching in some of His parables. The Schofield Reference Bible refers to the church as “the mystery parenthesis.” The church, in the premillennial concept is a second thought, a stop-gap or a last-minute alternative to the establishment of the kingdom. They tell us that Jesus intended to establish His millennial kingdom during His first advent, but since the Jews rejected it, He changed quickly and established the church. The church does not fit into a single premillennial interpretation of Old Testament prophecy. As Russell Boatman says, “The prophets saw only Christ’s first coming and His yet to come earthly kingdom; thus His two comings are said to have been fused into one in the minds of the prophets. The church is regarded as ‘in the valley’ beneath the sighting of the prophets who saw instead the higher ranges of God’s purpose in Christ” (What The Bible Says About The End Time [Joplin: College Press], p. 103).

Some of the parables of Christ picture the kingdom as a feast. Take the parable in Luke 14:15-24 as an example. The rejection of the kingdom, second thought establishment of the church, will not fit the parable in any of the wildest of interpretations. Jesus begins with the statement, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God” (v. 15/. The parable is the story of a man who made a great supper and sent his servants to bring those invited to the table. “Those bidden” refers to the Jews to whom the Lord came first (John 1:11, 12). They all rejected the invitation. The man of the parable then, in order to fill his house, sent his servants to gather others from “streets and lanes of the city” and bring them to the table. The parable ends with the judgmental statement, “For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper” (v. 24/. The ones Jesus had in mind were the Jews who rejected the invitation to eat bread in the kingdom.

The Lord has no such rosy future in His plans for the Jews as that which the premillennialists have. The Lord flatly says they will not taste of His supper, that is, they will not have a second chance. The premillennial program requires the parable to include something like this – please keep in mind that what follows is fictional, not factual.

“A certain man made a supper and bade many, and sent his servants at supper time to say to them that were bidden, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they began making excuses, thus rejecting the man’s invitation. Therefore the man changed his plan, postponed the supper for an indefinite time, set up a luncheon or snack bar instead, knowing that sooner or later, when he tried again, those who were bidden would then accept the invitation.”

The premillennialist, who takes the postponement theory, does not live who can say the above is a misrepresentation of his position. This is more evidence that they are teaching rank and plain error. May God help us all to see the difference.

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 4, p. 59
January 28, 1982

Millennialism and The American Political Dream

By Steve Wolfgang

That Americans have long perceived a special relationship between their country and their God is a fact obvious enough to be a truism. Historians have spent considerable time in the past 15 years explaining “the civil religion,”(1) producing reams of articles, essays, and book-length manuscripts.

The phrase “the civil religion” (used by Robert Bellah in the 1967 article which began the recent discussion) was intended “to describe the religious dimension of American political life that has characterized our Republic since its foundation and whose most central tenet is that the nation . . . stands under . . . a ‘higher law.”‘(2) Respected authors followed with books bearing titles such as Redeemer Nation: The Idea of America’s Millennial Role,(3) God’s New Israel: Religious Interpretations of American Destiny,(4) The Nation With the Soul of a Church,(5) The New Heavens and New Earth: Political Religion in America,(6) and The Broken Covenant.(7) The concepts of America as a “garden in the wilderness,” a “city set on a hill,” or “God’s chosen people” with a special destiny, have long been staples of American religious historiography. Notable Americans, from the Founding Fathers through a succession of Presidents and Senators, periodically have joined the “average American” in asking God’s blessings (if not invoking the Divine will) on diverse, even opposite, political goals of every sort. Truly, God has been perceived as “on every side of every social issue . . .; He has participated in every war on every side; He is a Democrat and a Republican, high tariff and low tariff, a fascist and a communist.”(8)

Much of the pre-Civil War millennial hope took the form of a glorious post-millennialism, which anticipated the reform of society through religious conversion on a scale so grand that the return of Christ would inevitably follow.(9) Like other Americans of their time, many of the early “Restorationists” (Alexander Campbell and his Millennial Harbinger in particular)(10) shared the enthusiastic postmillennnial optimism of their contemporaries; like their counterparts they saw their dream of an American millennium dashed by the war which sundered the nation. The aftermath of that conflict lead many who had anticipated the “marriage supper of the lamb” instead to what has been called “the Great Barbecue.”

Post-Civil War America witnessed an ever-increasing series of “prophecy conferences” which became an identifying feature of much of conservative Protestantism, later styled “Fundamentalism.”(11) According to one church historian, “dispensationalism became standard for large numbers of Fundamentalists,”(12) and still another recent work identified The Roots of Fundamentalism as “British and American Millennarianism.”(13)

Meanwhile, the remnants of whatever socio-religious optimism had survived the nineteenth century normally found expression in “the social gospel.” By the First World War some of these religious liberals found in the Fundamentalists enough of a threat to their own modernism to launch an attack (or counterattack, depending upon one’s viewpoint). It was a frontal assault across the board, not only against the conservatives’ view of miracles and verbal inspiration, rejection of higher criticism and comparative religions, but on the Fundamentalists’ millennial views as well. Shailer Matthews’ journal The Biblical World carried articles on “The Premillennial Menace,” and the Christian Century carried at least 21 anti-premillennial articles during World War 1.(14)

Naturally, the Fundamentalist response was to return fire, resulting in the full-scale warfare now known as the “Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy” of the 1920’s.(15) Though evidently retreating in disarray following the death of William Jennings Bryan immediately after the Scopes Trial, this conservative-premillennial impulse was only shallowly submerged. It remained close enough to the surface of American religion to be seen by anyone who cared to look (which few did – particularly those in the political, social, and religious “mainstream”). Though perhaps finding limited expression in the early Billy Graham campaigns, this undercurrent of extreme premillennial (“dispensational”)(16) is religious conservatism found even Graham too “ecumenical” for their taste(17) (to say nothing of the even more “worldly evangelicals”(18) who emerged after World War II).

The 1960’s and 1970’s, however, brought not only numerical decline in liberal Protestantism and Catholicism, but a renewed fervor and higher profile on the part of long-dormant dispensational religious conservatives. When the supposedly “evangelical” President, Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter, proved to be a bitter disappointment to these “modern” Fundamentalists, organized efforts were begun in earnest to exert pressure on American life through several avenues of the political process.

The general outlines of the latter-day dispensationalists’ political involvement have been fairly well outlined in the popular press.(19) During the 1970’s, with changes in FCC regulations and the development of new technology such as satellite programming and the proliferation of cable TV networks, a coterie of independent evangelists extended the invitation to their “electronic church.”(20) Out-flanking an older corps of preachers such as Graham, Oral Roberts, and Rex Humbard, the new group which emerged in the seventies included Jerry Falwell (an independent Baptist minister whose “Old-Time Gospel Hour” originates from his 18,000 member Thomas Road Baptist church in Lynchburg’ VA),(21)

and James Robison (a Ft. Worth-based Southern Baptist TV evangelist). The “charismatic” wing of the electronic church is represented by men such as Pat Robertson (a Yale-educated attorney and son of a former U.S. Senator from Virginia, whose “700 Club” is produced by his own Christian Broadcasting Network in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk, VA area; and by his former employee, Jim Bakker (an Assemblies of God preacher whose “PTL Club” originates from Charlotte,NC). Both Falwell and Robertson have strong doctrinal inclinations of a dispensational sort which cause them to favor millennialistic backing for moral support (if not military spending/ for the State of Israel. Robinson and Bakker have both experienced difficulties with the FCC and other governemental agencies which may be partly responsible for their entry into and support of political activity by religious conservatives.(22)

A second element in the influence of the religious “New Right” was the linkage of these TV evangelists with their large audiences,(23)computerized mailing lists, and huge ministry incomes(24) with a potent set of conservative political lobbyists who shared similar concerns on moral issues if not other political ideology. A former Colgate-Palmolive marketing executive, Ed McAteer, was familiar with a number of the TV preacher, being a member of a Southern Baptist church “pastored” by Adrian Rogers (past SBC president). As field director for the Conservative Caucus (headed by Howard Phillips, who is Jewish), McAteer was able to make apparent to a “triumvirate” of conservative lobbyists the power of the electronic church (and the willingness of the TV evangelists to become politically involved. The “triumvirate” consisted of Paul Weyrich, head of a conservative lobbying school in Washington and of the Committee for Survival of a Free Congress’ Richard Viguerie, a direct-mail wizard and editor of the Conservative Digest; and Terry Dolan of “Nicpac” (National Conservative Political ‘Action Committee). It was Weyrich (a Catholic) who reportedly coined the term “Moral Majority” in a meeting with Falwell, encouraging him to head it and supplying an aide (Robert Billings) as its operational director. Billings “later became Ronald Reagan’s religious affairs advisor, before establishing his own organization in 1980 called the National Christian Action Coalition.”(25) Two other organizations grew out of the interrelated workings of these men: the Religious Roundtable (at whose meeting in August of 1980 candidate Reagan gave an endorsement of the group and made his widely-reported anti-evolutionary statement); and the Christian Voice (founded in California in 1979 by Robert Grant, a Fuller Seminary and California Graduate School of Theology student) which is perhaps best-known for its Congressional “hit lists” of members with unacceptable voting records.

It is through such organizations that the views of Jerry Falwell (and those of his ilk) regarding the State of Israel have become publicized. Certainly there are other issues (abortion, women’s and homosexuals rights, evolution, school textbooks and the whole question of public and private education, etc.) which bind a number of religiously diverse elements together very loosely, but we are concerned here with the premillennial aspects of the current religious ferment. It should also be pointed out that the focus of God’s promises to his chosen people and indeed the promised land itself have shifted according to dispensational thinking, from America to the modern state of Israel (begun as a political entity in 1948) though the two are still linked in Falwell’s mind. Describing himself as a “premillennialist, pretribulationist sort of fellow” and an “ardent Zionist” at the same time, Falwell “preaches that one reason God favors America is that America ‘has blessed the Jew His chosen people.”(26) The reason he considers not only Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum but Menachem Begin to be “personal friends”(27)is his publicly stated support for Israel. “I support the Jews,” he says, “for Biblical reasons. I take the Abrahamic covenant literally. God has blessed America because we have blessed the Jews.”(28) Asserting that “If Hitler could rise up from hell today, he would say ‘Amen’ to that,” Falwell continues:

The Jews look on conservative Christianity as the right wing that has been their enemy in years past. It is only a modern phenomenon that conservative Christianity is pro-Jewish. Socalled Christians wiped them out during World War II, and all of them were right – wingers. It has just been in this generation that mature, Bible-believing Christians have stood up and said, ‘Hey, we are for the Jews because God is for the Jews.’ The leadership in conservative Christianity today is solidly behind the state of Israel; there is no question about that.(29)

However, addressing a rally in Richmond, VA, Falwell noted that “some in his audience might still be antiSemitic. ‘And I know why you don’t like the Jew,’ he went on. ‘He can make more money accidentally than you can make on purpose.”‘(30)

Thus, even though some major features of the premillennial scheme have had to be rearranged (just as premillennial date-setting ala Hal Lindsey has been revised on numerous occasions), Falwell and other dispensationalists still cling to their false doctrines on this issue as well as on others.

It is difficult to assess the impact that dispensationalism has had on even conservative politics. One would surmise that it has had little effect other than allowing Falwell to be pictured in intimate discussion with world leaders such as Begin(31) or former Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat, and to be able to say, selfimportantly, to one’s audiences, “I talked with Prime Minister Begin today, and he told me . .”

The relatively unstable nature of the current Middle East situation may produce problems for dispensationalists, however. If concern over oil resources prompts a continued courting of the Arab nations by the U.S., then another major re-writing of premillennial doctrine may have to accompany a new round of datesetting. Secondly, the loose coalition of business and political leaders now allied with the religious right may fracture if hard political decisions over who to best ally ourselves with begins to take precedence over doctrinal premillennial speculation.

Two interesting questions should be addressed in conclusion. First, if this strain of pro-Israel, pretribulational dispensationalism has been with us for to these many years, why has it only recently become so radicaly politicized? Why would members of religious bodies which while dispensational, are also thoroughly otherworldly in their basic ideology, become invoved in political reform campaigns? Several reasons suggest themselves. The first is the dominance of an increasingly secular, antireligious flavor in our society, produced in part by the political and social radicalism of the past two decades. Secondly, as both brother Ed Harrell and liberal Christian Century editor James M. Wall(32) have pointed out, the kind of prosperous times we have been living in have traditionally produced voters preoccupied not only with personal moral considerations but with what they perceive as the imminent collapse of society itself. Finally, as my favorite columnist, George Will astutely observed, the answer to the question of “why so many people are aroused … is they have been provoked”(33), Brother Harrell put it this way when dealing with the same question of why

Millions of religious Americans, inspired by their evangelist leaders, swarmed to the polls in 1980. It was because they had been attacked. Liberal religion and liberal politics put tremendous pressure on conservative Christians in the years immediately before 1920 and 1975 and then recoiled in shock and indignation when the fundamentalists fought back. If you don’t want to fight, don’t hit a fundamentalist. Though the parallel is not exact, it brings to mind Commodore Vanderbilt’s remark after being outfoxed by Daniel Drew in their war over the Erie Railroad. Moralized the subdued Commodore: ‘Never kick a skunk.’(34)

Thus, it would appear that rather than being led into politics by the demands of their theology, even though dispensational, the fundamentalists were drawn into the political fray for larger reasons, though their doctrinal preconceptions have surely governed the manner in which they have expressed themselves or rationalized their participation in political affairs.

Finally, what has any of this to do with New Testament Christianity; and, by the same token, what can New Testament Christians have to do with the movement? The answer to both questions, it seems to me, is “Nothing!” Certainly it can be established that premillennialism (whether pre- or post-tribulational, or the “Bollite” variety more common among Churches of Christ) is as unscriptural as either Calvinism or Catholicism. Thus, in order to have “fellowship” with the Religious Right, a true New Testament Christian would need to strain his convictions as far or farther than Jerry Falwell has had to do (rather torturously, it seems) in order to accommodate himself to Jews, Catholics, and Mormons with whom he may be united on diverse and isolated issues such as Zionism, abortion, or women’s rights. True, one might agree with Falwell (or with Jews, Catholics, or Mormons) about these or other politico-religious issues. But those whose allegiance is to New Testament Christianity have no more business allying themselves with Falwell and his dispensational perversion of prophecy (or Pat Robertson’s biblically false charismatic notions) than they do in making “common cause” with the Roman Catholic Church or the Latter-Day Saints. While one may look favorably upon their efforts in areas such as school textbooks, the evolution issue, etc., those who follow Christ and his word cannot afford to make unholy alliances with those who will label such attempts as “Campbellism” and oppose a “Campbellite” as viciously as they will an evolutionist or a homosexual.

During the Scopes Trial of 1925, when William Jennings Bryan was looked upon by some even in the Lord’s church as the next thing to an apostle of Christ, a gospel preacher from Albertville, Alabama reminded Christians that “it is no worse to deny the Bible act of creation than to set aside the New Testament plan of salvation, and not one of the denominational~preachers will preach it as it is.”(35) One of his compatriots, considering the relative demerits of an evolutionist and a premillennialist, offered this colorful analysis:

Many preachers are clapping their hands for the Bible at the Monkey Trial at Dayton, but at the same time they “can’t see any harm in Bollism.” Truly people are “blind and can’t see afar off” . . . so “annoint your eyes with eye salve . . .” Bollism is more dangerous to mankind than monkeyism because Bollism claims Bible for what they teach and monkeyism does not.(36)

In these times when the likes of the Moral Majority not only confuses the minds of the general public about what the Bible actually does teach, but entices Christians to join hands with it, we would do well to heed the admonition.

Endnotes

1. Robert N. Bellah, “The Civil Religion in America,” Daedalus (Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Boston, MA), Winter 1967. Reprinted in a “Daedalus Library” Volume, Religion in America, ed. Robert N. Bellah & William G. McLoughlin (Boston: Beacon Press, 1966, 1968), pp. 3-23; and in Russel E. Richey &Donald G. Jones, eds., American Civil Religion (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), pp. 21-44.

2. Bellah, “American Civil Religion in the 1970’s,” in Rickey & Jones, p. 255.

3. Ernest L. Tuveson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968).

4. Conrad Cherry, ed., (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971).

5. Sidney E. Mead (New York: Harper & Row, 1974).

6. Cushing Strout (New York: Harper & Row, 1974).

7. Robert N. Bellah (New York: The Seabury Press, 1975).

8. David Edwin Harrell, Jr., “Peculiar People: A Rationale For Modern Conservative Disciples,” in Disciples and the Church Universal (Nashville: DCHS, 1967), p. 41.

9. See Harrell, Quest for a Christian America (Nashville, DCHS, 1966), pp. 39-58.

10. See Steve Wolfgang & Ron Halbrook, “Alexander Campbell & The Spirit of the Revolution, I & II,” in Truth Magazine, 22 /February 16 & 23, 1978/, pp. 123ff. & 137ff. See also Richard T. Hughes, “From Primitive Church to Civil Religion: The Millennial Odyssey of Alexander Campbell,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 44 (March, 1976), pp. 87-103; and Earl Kimbrough, “How the Restorers Dealt With Prophecy,” in The Restoration Heritage in America (Florida College Annual Lectures, 1976), pp. 57 ff.

11. Named for a series of pamphlets titled “The Fundamentals” first appearing about 1910 and issued in four bound volumes by the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in 1917.

12. C.C. Goen, “Fundamentalism in America,” in America Mosaic: Social Patterns of Religion in the United States (Phillip E. Hammond & Benton Johnson, eds.; New York: Random House, 1970), p. 87.

13. Ernest R. Sandeen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970); reprinted in paperback edition by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1978). Other recent studies of Fundamentalism include C. Allyn Russell, Voices of American Fundamentalism: Seven Biographical Studies (Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1976); and the excellent recent book of George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism & American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), cited below.

14. Marsden, pp. 147-148, 271.

15. For an excellent documentary of some aspects of the conflict, see Willard B. Gatewood, Controversy in the Twenties: Fundamentalism, Modernism, & Evolution (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1969).

16. The following books may be useful in separating the various strands of millennial thought (postmillennial, premillennial, amillennial, dispensational, pre-tribulational, post-tribulational, etc.): Robert G. Clouse, ed., The Meaning of The Millennium: Four Views (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1977), with chapters by George Eldon Ladd (Historic Premillennialism), Herman A. Hoyt (Pispensational Premillennialism), Lorraine Boettner (Postmillennialism), and Anthony A. Hoekema (Amillennialism); Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979); Millard J. Erickson, Contemporary Options in Eschatology: A study of the Millennium (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1977); For some historical backgrounds see Clarence B. Bass, Backgrounds to Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960), and C. Norman Kraus, Dispensationalism in America: Its Rise and Development (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1958).

17. For development of this interpretation of Graham, see David Edwin Harrell, Jr., “The Roots of the Moral Majority: Fundamentalism Revisited,” Occasional Papers (No. 15), Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, Collegeville, MN (May, 1981), pp. 2-3. See also the chapter on Graham by William C. Martin in Harrell (ed.), Varieties of Southern Evangelicalism (Atlanta: Mercer University Press, 1981).

18. The phrase is the title of one of Richard Quebedeaux’s two books on the Evangelicals (see Steve Wolfgang, “Neo-Evangelicals: Shift Toward Modernism,” in Truth Magazine, 22:43 (November 2, 1978), pp. 694-696, especially note 6). The distinction between the “old-line” Fundamentalists and the post-World War II “Neo-evangelicals” cannot be emphasized too strongly if the movements are to be understood. George M. Dollar’s History of Fundamentalism in America (Greenville, SC: Bob ones University Press, 1973), for instance, characterizes the Neo-Evangelicals as “The Enemy Within” (chapter XII).

19. The following is only a partial bibliography. On earlier manifestations of conservative political religionists see Arnold Forster & Benjamin R. Epstein, Danger On the Right (New York: Random House, 1964), which includes a chapter on George Benson and the National Education Program at Harding College; Daniel Bell, ed., The Radical Right (New York: Vintage Books, 1967); and John H. Redekop, The American Far Right: A Case Study of Billy James Hargis and the Christian Crusade (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968). For a study of some social views of various small sects see David Edwin Harrell, White Sects and Black Men in the Recent South (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971).

There have been several noteworthy articles on the Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and related groups in the popular news magazines in the past decade or so. Some of these include ”U.S. Evangelicals: Moving Again,” Time, September 19, 1969, p. 58; Harold O.J. Brown, “Restive Evangelicals, “National Review, February 15, 1974, p. 192;’ “The New Evangelicals,” Newsweek, May 6, 1974, p. 86; “A Born Again Faith,” Time, September 27, 1976, p. 87; cover story and related articles, “Born Again!” Newsweek, October 25, 1976; “The Evangelicals: New Empire of Faith” (cover story & related articles, Time, December 26, 1977.

The recent space of articles on the resurgence of Fundamentalism and related political involvement includes the following. From Newsweek: “Born Again Politics” (cover story & related articles), September 15, 1980; “Churches, Politics, & the Tax Man,” October 6, 1980, p. 46. From Time: “Politics from the Pulpit,” October 13, 1980, p. 28; “To the Right, March!” (Cover story & related articles, September 14, 1981). From U.S. News & World Report: “Preachers in Politics: Decisive Force in ’80? (September 15, 1980), p. 24; “Bigger Game for Religious Right,” (November 17, 1980), p. 42; “As Religious Right Flexes Its Muscles,” (December 29, 1980/January 5, 1981), p. 69). Also informative have been the following: Martin E. Marty, “Fundamentalism Reborn: Faith & Fanaticism,” Saturday Review (May 1980), p. 37; Clint Confehr, “Jerry Falwell’s Marching Christians,” Saturday Evening Post (December 1980), p. 58; Bob Johnson, “Evangelical Conservatives Are Planning Future Battles,” Louisville Courierjournal, October 19, 1980, p. D-1; Sid Moody (Associate Press), “Moral Majority,” AP feature, Sunday, October 25, 1981; William F. Buckley, Jr., “The Moral Majority Will Get You,” (syndicated column, On the Right, November 30, 1980).

Religious news publications, notably the Christian Century, have also given the New Right considerable coverage. Among the many article appearing in the Century have been the following which I have found informative: “‘Christian Voice’: The gospel of Right-Wing Politics,” (August 15-22, 1979), p. 781; James M. Wall, “God’s Piece of Cheese,” Feburary 27, 1980, p. 219; Ted Moser, “If Jesus Were A Congressman, ” (April 16, 1980/, p. 444; Martin E. Marty, “Christian Voice’s Rating Game,” (June 8-15, 1980), p. 687; James M. Wall, “The New Right Exploits Abortion,” (July 30-August 6, 1980), p. 747; John Scanzoni, “Resurgent Fundamentalism: Marching Backward Into the ’80’s?” (September 10-17, 1980), p. 847; Robert Zwier & Richard Smith, “Christian Politics and the New Right,” October 8, 1980, p. 937; “What’s Wrong With Born-Again Politics? A Symposium,” (October 22, 1980), p. 1002; James M. Wall, “The New Right Comes of Age,” (October 22, 1980), p. 995; “New Right Tops 1980 Religion News” (December 31, 1980), p. 1283; “The Decade Ahead in Church-State Issues,” by John M. Swomley (February 25, 1981), p. 199.

James M. Wall, “What Future for the New Right?” (November 25, 1981), p. 1219.

Finally, in addition to the articles cited elsewhere in this article, I have found the following to be helpful in sorting out the confusing welter of New Right personalities and organizations: Bruce Buursma, “The 700 Club,” Louisville Courier Journal, June 4, 1976, p. B-1; Philip Yancey, “The Ironies and Impact of PTL,” Christianity Today, September 21, 1979, p. 28; and “Is Morality All Right?” (Christianity Today, November 2, 1979), p. 76. See Ed Harrell, “Roots of the Moral Majority,” footnotes for still other references.

20. For a lengthy and well-written analysis of the New Right in general and the TV evangelists and Falwell in particular, see Frances FitzGerald, “A Disciplined, Charging Army,” The New Yorker (May 18, 1981), pp. 53ff.

21. For detailed information regarding Falwell’s organizations, see Steve Wolfgang, “Evangelicals & The Moral Majority,” printed outline in Bible Lectures, Church of Christ, 2222 Wendell Avenue, Louisville, KY 40205 (November 1, 1981).

22. See Harrell, “Roots,” pp. 5-6.

23. “An estimated 130 Million Americans tuned in a religious program each week (in 1980), approximately 47 percent of the population, while only 41 percent attended church services” (Harrell, “Roots,” p. 3).

24. Robertson, Bakker, and Falwell take in annually an estimated 158 million, $51 million, and $50 million, respectively (Harrell, “Roots,” p. 3).

25. Ibid., p. 4. See “Born Again at the Ballot Box,” Time, April 14, 1980, p. 94.

26. “Politicizing the Word,” Time (October 1, 1979), p. 62.

27. Falwell comment as guest on William F. Buckley’s Firing Line (televised February 15, 1981; Transcript subject No. 448: “Are We Menaced By the Moral Majority?”), pp. 3ff.

28. “Unmasking Jerry Falwell & His Moral Majority” (cover story; see related articles also) Christianity Today (September 4, 1981), p. 25.

29. lbid.

30. “Politicizing the Word,” Time (October 1, 1979), p. 62.

31. “Patricia Pingry, Jerry Falwell: Man of Vision (Milwaukee, WI: Ideals Publishing Corporation, 1980), p. 66; see also remarks on p. 70.

32. Harrell, “Roots,” p. 9, n. 60. Both Wall and Harrell refer to Richard Hofstadter’s analysis of “the Paranoid Style in American Politics.”

33. ”Who Put Morality In Politics?” Newsweek (September 15, 1981), p. 108.

34. Harrell, “Roots,” p. 9.

35. R.N. Moody, “Our Messages,” Gospel Advocate, 67 (July 9, 1925), p. 656.

36. J. G. Allen, “Our Messages,” Gospel Advocate, 67 (July 25, 1925), p. 705. See also A.A. Bunner, “Bryan as a Bible Teacher,” Gospel Advocate, 67 (October 29, 1925), p. 1034; Ed Harrell, “Fundamentalism Again,” Vanguard, 5 (August 1979), p. 1; Steve Wolfgang, “The Moral Majority?” Guardian of Truth, 25 (February 12, 1981), p. 1.

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 4, pp. 54-58
January 28, 1982

The Battle Of Armageddon

By S. Leonard Tyler

The battle of Armageddon is the theme song of many religious leaders in the present world. They seem to feel capable of and delight in fixing the times, seasons, periods, cycles, phases and happenings of the age to point forward, as a count-down, to the great battle of Armageddon. They, as it were, open the door and allow us to peer into the greatest of all events to come. This is the speculative stance picturesque in their eschatological imaginations to the battle of Armageddon. Some of the most fantastic expectations, imaginable dreams, greatest illusions, and wildest fantasies find fulfillment in their assumed assemblage of all nations, prepared with the most modern nuclear implements of warfare, to fight the great battle in “the valley of Megiddo.” They have all of the faithful of the Lord allied against all of the wicked of Satan literally and physically fighting this final battle of Armageddon. Gog and Magog are identified as a real prince and nation and thrown into the fray. Yes this is, to them, a real carnal, “flesh and blood,” war with all the righteous people battling it out with guns, tanks and bombs with all the unrighteous people.

Billy Graham said, “There is no doubt that global events are preparing the way for the final war of history, the great Armageddon!”(1)

Jerry Falwell, implying Israel’s place in God’s eternal scheme of redemption as yet to be accomplished, compares Genesis 12:1-3 with John 3:16 as being equally promised and believed concludes, “To stand against Israel is to stand against God. We believe that. I love the Jew because God loved the Jew . . . . My deep conviction is that America will not remain a free nation unless we defend the freedom of Israel.”(2)

Hall Lindsey wrote under, “Perfect Parable,” regarding “fig tree” leaves coming again as being May 14, 1948 when the Jewish people became a nation and applied Matt. 24:34 (“Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” NASB to this generation. The sign was to him the rebirth of Israel and a generation is about 40 years. He then concludes, “If this is a correct deduction, then within forty years or so of 1948, all these things could take place.” He states that “many scholars” believe this. Writing under, “What’s Your Game, Gog?” Lindsey gives us his view:

We have seen that Russia will arm and equip a vast confederacy. This powerful group of allies will lead an attack on restored Israel. However, Russia and her confederates will be destroyed completely by an act that Israel will acknowledge as being from their God. This act will bring many in Israel to believe in their true Messiah (Ezekiel 38:15ff).

The attack upon the Russian confederacy and the resulting conflict will escalate into the last war of the world, involving all nations.

He goes further by saying, “In this chapter we will trace consecutively the predicted events that lead to the Armageddon campaign: the various sequence of battles, the particular powers who fight each other, and how in turn each is destroyed. The crucial prediction of the revived state of Israel’s part in triggering Armageddon will also be shown.” He then gave a chart of Russia’s moves from phase 1 through phase 5 and, finally, to her Waterloo.(3) He garbles the prophets to give them a literal interpretation and application in order to chart the second coming of Christ, the rapture, tribulation and Armageddon which leads, according to Lindsey, into the millennial kingdom. What an expanded and presumptuous imagination he exerts to reach his conclusions!

Time Setting

Time setting seem to be inherent with those who interpret this text literally. One cannot give a literal interpretation to Revelation consistently without having beasts leading the battles, frogs taking orders from dragons of the sea and multi-headed animals directing the affairs of human beings.

D.M. Canright gives some evidence of literal interpreters and their time setting. He list some as early as the middle of the second century. In the Latin church he sights, “Public and private buildings were suffered to decay, and were even pulled down, from an opinion that they were no longer of any use, since the dissolution of all things were at hand.” He also emphasizes the claims made by William Miller, the founder of Adventism, that the world would end in 1843-4. Mrs. Ellen G. White somewhat settled the point at the time by saying, “I have seen that the 1843 chart was directed by the hand of the Lord, and that it should not be altered; that the figures were as he wanted them; that his hand was over and hid a mistake in some of the figures” (he gives her, Early Writings, pp. 67, 68 as a reference. Mr. Miller also said, “I believe the time can be known by all who desire to understand . . . . Between March 21, 1840, and March 21, 1844, according to the Jewish mode of computation of time, Christ will come.”(4) This is 1982 and Christ has not yet appeared. Thus Mr. Miller and Mrs. Ellen G. White are found to be false witnesses (prophets. They did not know and could not know the time of Christ’s second coming. Therefore, for the same reason, I reject all time setters, for no man knows when Jesus is coming (Mk. 13:32-37).

God’s Plan For Man’s Salvation

God’s plan for man’s salvation is provided by the grace of God for all men who will by faith accept it (Eph. 2:8; Matt. 7:13-14, 24-29). “For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly and righteously and godly.in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savious Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:11-12). Is this compatible with a literal, physical, worldwide, all-nations-involved battle between the righteous and unrighteous at Megiddo? Not to me! It sounds contrary, innately diverse and diabolically opposed to the very essence of the scheme of redemption procured by the precious blood of Jesus our Lord (Eph. 1:3-7).

Some Study Should Be Given

There are some clear, emphatic, and essential rules which must be observed, consciously or otherwise, in biblical interpretation. One is this: Obscure passages should be studied, understood and accepted in the light of plain, understandable texts. The plain, comprehensible passages must never be sacrificed, altered or compromised for some fanciful interpretation of an obscure Scripture. This need is maximized in studying prophetic, figurative and symbolic language. This special study of Premillennialism is a very impressive illustration of such a need.

I doubt if there is a subject where fanciful, imaginative and speculative creativeness finds vent or assumes greater advantage than in the premillennial theory. The essential tenets of the theory are not in the Divine Volume. Interpretations of difficult texts are so far removed from their context that they lose their Divine significance. Thus, the theory becomes purely and only a stigma of the theological, doctrinaire, human mind. Let us consider some plain texts.

Some Plain Propositions To Be Reckoned

The church and kingdom are terms applying to, identifying, encompassing or circumscribing the same people, those belonging to the Lord with special emphasis upon the type of figure used (Matt. 16:16-19; Acts 8:12; Col. 1:13, 18; Heb. 12:28).

The church/kingdom had its beginnings upon the first Pentecost after Christ’s ascension to the Father when He sent the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:7-16; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:7-8; 2:1-47). This is when “He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men” and took His seat at the Father’s right hand as the head of the church (Eph. 1:20-23; 4:8; Phil. 2:8-11). Here Christ began His reign as “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:32-36, 47), with all authority “both in heaven and earth” (Matt. 28:18; 1 Tim. 6:15; James 4:12). The apostles also took their seats upon the twelve thrones of spiritual Israel (Gal. 3:7-8, Matt. 18:18, 19:27-28; Eph. 2:20). Thus, the reign and headship of Christ had its beginning.

The reign of Christ began when Christ sat down upon His throne and will continue so long as he sits (Heb. 10:10-13). The late Foy E. Wallace, Jr., repeats this for me, “Let me say it again; He sits while he reigns, and he reigns while he sits. He began reigning when he began sitting; he quits reigning when he quits sitting; but he will reign to the end, so when Christ quits sitting, it will be the end, and he will then quit reigning. What happens to the kingdom? He delivers the kingdom to God, the Father.”(5)

All of the accomplishments under the New Testament must be within the reign or headship of Christ for it went into effect when He became “both Lord and Christ” and will end at His second coming (Eph. 1:20; John 5:28; 1 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:7-10). He is now reigning and must continue to reign until death is destroyed (1 Cor. 15:22-28). Death will be destroyed at the judgment (Rev. 20:11-15) when the kingdom is returned back to the Father.

The purposes of Christ are the purposes of the church under the New Testament rule of Christ. The church is not a substitute or accident or just a lesser kingdom instituted because the Jews rejected Christ. It was designed in God’s mind, foretold by the prophets, and established and sustained by Jesus Christ; therefore, “unto him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever” (all the generations of the age of the ages, foot note, Eph. 3:21, ASV.). When “all the generations of the age of the ages” have passed there is nothing left to come -except, the end, even eternity.

The kingdom of heaven and the church of the Lord apply to a spiritual relationship shared by those who, by faith, obey Christ, being baptized into Christ (John 3:5; Acts 2:38-42, 47; Gal. 3:26-27). The kingdom is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit (Rom. 14:17). The church is the body of Christ (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:27). It is true that the Lord’s people are militantly engaged in a warfare, but not in a physical struggle or carnal war. It is a spiritual warfare with spiritual armor and designs – righteousness against wickedness in heavenly places (Eph. 5:11; 6:11-13; Gal. 5:16-26). Paul wrote the Ephesians to put on “the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (stratagem, trickery, deceit, SLT) of the devil” (Eph. 6:11-20). Yes, the fight is on against wickedness, sin in high places, ungodliness, and immorality in order to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. The offensive weapon is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The charge is, “Be not overcome with evil but over come evil with good” and “be faithful unto death” (Rom. 12:21; 1 Pet. 1:5-9). Thus, God’s kingdom people, as such, will never fight a physical war, for these texts are applicable now to all mankind and will remain so as long as time and timely things continue. When Christ appears at His second coming, He will render the judgment, consign the destinies of all, both saint and sinner, and close the books (1 Cor. 15:22-28; Rom. 2:5-11; Rev. 20:11-15) .

All Are One In Christ

“There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision . . . but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11). Christ broke down the middle wall of partition to create in Himself of the two (Jew and Greek) one new man, so making peace; reconciliation to God occurs in one body (Eph. 2:11-16; 2 Cor. 5:17-19). There is no distinction between men; under the new covenant both Jew and Greek are justified by faith in Christ (Acts 15:7-11; 10:34-35; Rom. 1:16-18; 3:21-31; Gal. 3:23-29; Col. 3:10-11). The only access anyone has to the Father today is in or through Christ (John 14:6; Heb. 5:8-9; Luke 10:16). This is God’s chosen way by which man is saved (Matt. 7:13-14; 1 Cor. 1:21; Matt. 7:21-27).

Revelation 16:16

“And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Har-Magedon” (ASV., Armageddon AV./. If one approaches this study with a literal interpretation, he begins his search to identify Armageddon. Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary gives just about as clear and concise understanding as any I have read.

Armageddon (the hill or city of Megiddo) Rev. 16:16. The scene of the struggle of good and evil is suggested by the battle-field, the plain of Esdraelon, which was famous for two great victories, of Barak over the Canaanites and of Gideon over the Midianites; and for two great disasters, the deaths of Saul and Josiah. Hence it signifies in Revelation a place of great slaughter, of a terrible retribution upon the wicked. The Revised Version gives the name as ar-Magedon, i.e., the hill (as or is the city) of Megiddo.(6)

The Layman’s Bible Commentary has this to say: “There was no literal mountain of this name, but the reference is probably to the mountains that were near the town of Megiddo, or possibly to the large size of the mound of the city itself. This place stood at the upper entrance to the Plain of Esdraelon by Megiddo the Syrians, and later the Assyrians, must have traveled when they besieged Samaria (II Kings 6, 17) . . . . All down through history this region has been known as a bloody battleground and as a convenient pass for great armies. In a word, Megiddo, had come to stand, in Jewish and therefore in Christian thought, for great and decisive struggle. John uses it here only, and he does not have in mind any thought that at some particular date in time the forces of evil and the powers of good will literally fight it out at this spot. It rather stands for the great final overthrow of spiritual evil by the spiritual power of the Almighty God.”

This is but an example if a literal interpretation is used and is intensified with each application of the supposed powers, nations and kings specified by the prognosticators. In most literal interpretations the suppositions are so expanded that one many search in vain to find any resemblence of fact.

Mr. Ray Summers expresses it well, “If one expects this to be a literal, material battle, he must expect the army to be headed by a committee of three frogs. Both figures are symbolical; neither is literal. There is no reason for making one literal and the other symbolical. The Armageddon in the book of Revelation has no location on the maps of the world; it is logical, not spatial. The battle is between righteousness and evil, the righteousness is the certain victor.”(7) He also wrote, “The three frogs perhaps symbolize some form of evil propaganda since they came from the mouths of three beast, false prophet and dragon, slt). . . True religion has no worse enemies, and Satan no better allies, than false propaganda.”(8) This is just as true today as in years past. Jesus warned His disciples against false prophets (Matt. 24:24. Paul and Peter warn Christians to beware of false teachers (2 Thess. 2:9-10; 1 Tim. 4:1-4; 2 Pet. 2:1-2). Those who refuse the message will become victims of their false propaganda or doctrine. Beware! It is presented on T.V., Radio, upon the printed page, and in multitudes of pulpits.

Armageddon Of Revelation

John unmistakably uses figurative language in this text. The dragon, old Satan; the beast, political powers or governments; false prophet, religious propaganda or false religions; the harlot-Babylon, Satan and antiChrist’s seductive, pervertive and deceptive teaching; a person or place full of vice and immoral practices; and the three frogs out of the dragon’s mouth are all figurative expressions. The battle of Armageddon is figuratively used to represent a war between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. It is a spiritual conflict between those who accept the teaching of Christ (believers) and those lead by Satan’s luring devices of fleshly, material designs. Although it is a spiritual conflict, yet Satan uses every force and material influence available – possessions, pleasure, emotional and selfish gratification. He began his battle against Christ (Matt. 4:1-11; Rev. 12:1-6) but has turned his powers against Christ’s followers, the Christians. We must contend for and fight the good fight of faith (Jude 3). It is the flesh against the Spirit (Gal. 5:15-26). Armageddon symbolically represents a battleground, wherever and whenever good or right is confronted with wrong or evil. How consoling is the revelation; the. culminating facts in every picture, symbol and figure show the believers, God’s people as winning the battle. Thus, Christians, through much suffering and conflict, are more than conquerors. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 4-5).

In Revelation 16:16, “They gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon” /ASV.). The beast, false prophet, the deceiver of those who bare the mark of the beast, and those that worshipped his image are readied for battle. The battle which is waged against “him that sat on the horse” and his army results in the defeat of the beast, false prophet and dragon with all their allies /Rev. 19:19-21). The absolute victory over sin and the world comes at Christ’s second coming and the final judgment (Rev. 20:11-15J. This is that final act of Christ pictured throughout the New Testament, His coming to judge all men and pronounce the destiny (Matt. 25:31-46; John 5:28; Rom. 2:5-13; 2 Cor. 5:10, 11; Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:11-15). Thereafter, no place can be found in the New Testament for any existence upon this material earth. It shall disappear; John said that it had “fled away”; Peter said, the earth “shall melt with fervent heat” (Rev. 20:11; 2 Pet. 3, 7, 10-13). This is not a purification, it is destruction.

The harder the times, the stronger the temptations, the fewer believers and the more ungodliness; the immorality, vice, and worldly lust which seem to triumph are but challenges for stronger faith, more real, true convictions in Christ and His promises. Christians are today fighting this war-good against evil, righteousness against unrighteousness, even Christ against Satan. The victory will be at the second coming of our Lord. Will you stand with Him in victory? Therefore, we should accept the urgings given in Rev. 16:15 as the gathering was being assembled for battle, “Blessed is he that watcheth, and keep his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Peter concluded that the trial of your faith is more precious than gold which perishes. Faith offers eternal life, “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:9). Therefore, let the battle rage but stand like men; the victory is ahead. It is assured to all who through faith submit to the Captian of our souls – we shall win in Christ. This is to me the very purpose of the Revelation letter. The church of Christ, the Lord’s people, shall overcome all her enemies and win the victory of all victories – the salvation of the soul.

Endnotes

1. Till Armageddon, Billy Graham, p. 15.

2. The Fundamentalist Phenomenon, ed. by Jerry Fallwell, p. 215.

3. The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey with C.C. Carlson, paperback Bantam Book, New York, pp. 43, 60, 139, 144, 148.

4. Seventh-Day Adventism Renounced, D.M. Canright, pp. 67, 68, 70.

5. God’s Prophetic Word, Foy E. Wallace, Jr., p. 189.

6. Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary, Universal Book and Bible House, Philadelphia, Pa., p. 46.

7. Worthy Is The Lamb, by Ray Summers, Broadman Press, Nashville, Tenn., pp. 189, 90.

8. – – –

    1. Why do so many preachers and writers find the subject of Armageddon so fascinating?
    2. Why is time setting so unreliable regarding Christ’s second coming?
    3. How should one approach the study of the more difficult texts of the Bible?
    4. What are some plain propositions of the New Testament regarding the end times? Why are these so important in a study of Armageddon?
    5. When are all things to be accomplished under the New Testament? How long is the church to stand through which God receives glory? When will Christ return the kingdom back to the Father?
    6. How can one know that the Lord’s kingdom people will never fight a material war of any kind, much less a physical Battle of Armageddon?
    7. How should Armageddon be understood? Why?
    8. What is essential, if a literal interpretation is placed upon Revelation 16-19?
    9. Where can one find salvation? Will there ever be a different way of salvation?
    10. Where and how can any person be assured of eternal life?

 

Guardian of Truth XXVI: 4, pp. 50-53
January 28, 1982