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Eschatology Media Videos

Eschatology 101 – Timelines

To help you continue in your understanding of the four major views of the End Times, here are the timelines for the four major views of Eschatology presented by David Murray of http://headhearthand.posterous.com. These are excellent.

Dispensationalism

Dispensational Premillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

 

Historic Premillennialism

Premillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

 

PostMillennialism

Postmillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

 

Amillennialism

Amillennial Timeline from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

Categories
Gospel Idols

Idolizing our Good Works – Part Two

Yesterday we had a discussion of idols. Today, we will look at examples of what we discussed previously.

Some examples of personal idols: a) Workaholism. Work becomes the thing you live for–to be productive and useful, or to feel successful and powerful. b) “Codependence.” Because you “need to feel needed” you stay in unhealthy relationships with perennially needy individuals. c) Beauty and image. This can have various forms, including 1) eating disorders and excessive time, effort, and concern about appearance, and 2) pornography. d) Romance. This is not the same as pure sexual gratification. You live for crushes or for someone to love you. e) Family as idolatry has many variations: 1) your children’s prospects and happiness become the most important thing, or 2) meeting your parents’ expectations become the most important thing, or 3) getting married or having a ‘perfect’ marriage becomes the most important thing. f) Money as idolatry has many variations: 1) having (and saving) lots of money may be your ‘security’, the main way you feel safe in the world, 2) having (and spending) lots of money may be the main way of feeling significant and important. g) Perfectionism in general. You live to keep complete control of your life.

Some examples of social/cultural idols: a) Fascism-makes an idol of one’s race or nationality. “I am acceptable because I am a(n) ______” rather than getting identity as a child of God. Leads of course to racism. b) Communism-makes an idol of the state. Government will solve all problems rather than God. Marx said everything is political, and all problems are political/economic ones, rather than spiritual ones. c) Populism-makes an idol out of public opinion or majority rule, rather than what God says is right. d) Capitalism-makes an idol out of the free market. Like communism, seeing all our problems as economic ones. Seeing all issues in cost-benefit terms. Sees all things, even people, as ‘commodities.’ e) Multi-culturalism—makes one’s ethnic group or culture an absolute value. There are no absolute standards by which to judge. f) Enlightenment “humanism”–makes an idol of reason and scientific investigation. Science has an answer for everything and reason will open all doors. g) Individualism–makes an idol out of individual freedom. Nothing must curb the individual’s freedom to choose whatever he or she wants to be happy. h) Traditionalism–makes the family and tradition an idol. Traditional cultures see the rights of individuals as unimportant compared to the name and interests of the family and tribe.

Quotations for Thought: “The Greek word for ‘Lust’, epithumiai [inordinate desires], used in Galatians 5:16ff; Ephesians 2:3, 4:22; 1 Peter 2:11, 4:2; 1 John 2:16; James 1:14ff, is the catch-all for what is wrong with us. The New Testament merges the concept of idolatry and the concept of inordinate, life-ruling desires…for lust (i.e. demandingness, craving and yearning) is specifically referred to as ‘idolatry’ (Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5)…Here is the most basic question which God poses to each human heart: “Has something or someone besides Jesus taken the title to your heart’s functional trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight? Questions…bring some of people’s idol systems to the surface. ‘To who or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance?…What do you really want and expect [out of life]? What would [really] make you happy? What would make you an acceptable person? Where do you look for power and success?’ These questions or similar ones tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors. [This directly relates to] the immediate motivation of my behavior, thoughts, and feelings. In the Bible’s conceptualization, the motivation question is the lordship question: who or what ‘rules my behavior, the Lord or an idol?’” —David Powlison

“When a finite value has been elevated to centrality and imagined as a final source of meaning, then one has chosen…a god….One has a “god” when a finite value is…viewed as that without which one cannot receive life joyfully. Anxiety becomes neurotically intensified to the degree that I have idolized finite values…”

Instead of striving to Love someone, look to the Gospel, see how completely unloving you are and how unlovely you are and that God in Christ still loved you, you can love others as yourself.

Instead of striving to be joyful, look to the Gospel, see how truly joyless you truly are and how joyless your life is and that God in Christ was joyfully serving and obeying the Father for you and in your place – and THIS joy is yours as you believe the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus and His finished work upon the cross FOR you and IN your place.

Instead of striving for peace, look to the Gospel, see how un-peacefully you have treated God, yet God in Christ pursued peace FOR you and IN your place and by faith in the Gospel (in Jesus and His finished work on the cross), you have peace with God.

In other words, the idolatry of your heart is a law that only brings condemnation and increases the trespass (Romans 5:20), but in Christ, as we look to the Gospel, we are continually conformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,t are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

But if we strive to love others, or seek peace, or choose to be joyful, we inherently look to our efforts to do these things, and we have even (very possibly) made love or peace or joy (and our efforts) into idols. BUT the Spirit of God Who dwells within us does His Gospel-Apply work to our hearts and ALL that Christ has done for us and in our place is OURS and becomes fruit (Galatians 5:22ff).

This is Good News to all who believe because the Gospel is the power unto salvation even from our good works that we idolize.

Categories
Gospel Idols

Idolizing our Good Works

There are two things in Scripture that are classified as “the power of God” 1) The Gospel 2) Jesus Himself

Romans 1:16-17 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel. Why? Because IT (Jesus and His finished work on the cross) is the power of God for salvation. This salvation is not just “entrance” into the Christian life. It’s ALL of the Christian life. The Gospel is the power that saves us (Justification) and the power to grow us (sanctification).

Christians do not grow simply by ‘trying hard to live according to Biblical principles.’ What then is the key to how we change into Christ-likeness? It’s found in the Bible’s concept of idolatry. ‘Idolatry’ in the Bible is a major theme for what ails us—psychologically, intellectually, sociologically, culturally.

The inevitability of idolatry – The very first commandment is “I am your God—have no other gods before me.” There is no third option between those two. Rom 1:25 says we will “worship and serve” either God or some created thing (an idol). It is not possible that we should worship nothing. Something will capture our hearts and imaginations and be the most important thing, the ultimate concern, value, or allegiance. So every personality, community, and thought-form will be based on either God Himself or on some god-substitute, an idol.

The range of idolatry – So an ’idol’ is anything more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity. Idolatry is the inordinate desire of (even) something good. This means any thing can become an idol, including good things such as career, family, achievement, your independence, a political cause, material possessions, certain people in dependence on you, power and influence, physical attractiveness, romance, human approval, financial security, your place in a particular social circle or institution. Idols are not only personal and individual, they are also corporate and cultural. Different societies can make into ultimate values things like the family (“traditional values”) or feeling (romanticism) or the state (communism) or racial superiority (fascism) or rationality (empiricism) or individual will and experience (existentialism) or group identity (post-modernism.)

The power of idolatry – On the one hand, an idol is an empty “nothing” with no real power to help us and save us (Isaiah 40:20; 41:6-7.) It is only a way we are trying to save ourselves (Isaiah 44:10-13.) On the other hand, paradoxically, our idols exercise great power and control over us. They enslave (Jeremiah 2:25.) Once we have come to believe that something will really make us happy, then we cannot help ourselves—we must follow our god. Idols demand complete dependence (Isaiah 44:17); they completely capture our hearts (Ezekiel 14:1-5). In Romans 1 Paul shows how all the breakdowns in life—spiritual, psychological, social, cultural—come because we “worship created things rather than the creator.” (Romans 1:25)

The importance of understanding idolatry – The Bible does not consider idolatry to be one sin among many (and thus now a rare sin only among primitive people). Rather, idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong. Why do we ever fail to love or keep promises or live unselfishly? Of course, the general answer is “because we are weak and sinful”, but the specific answer is always that there is something besides Jesus Christ that you feel you must have to be happy, that is more important to your heart than God, and that is enslaving the heart through inordinate desires. For example, we would not lie unless first we had made something—human approval, “face”, reputation, power over others, financial advantage–more important and valuable to our hearts than the grace of God. So the secret to change is always to identify and dismantle the basic idols of the heart.

We will continue this discussion by looking at examples tomorrow.

Categories
Gospel Love of God

Is Love A Decision ?

One statement that irks me says something like this, “Love is a decision – decide to love today.”

Really? And we know this for sure?

What drives me nuts about statements such as this is they are commands. If love is simply a decision, then I can love anybody at any time. Right? Right?

But can I truly love on demand? You are certainly a better person than I if you can love on demand. I can’t do it.

And this is where the Gospel steps in. John 4:19 tells us “We love because he [God] first loved us.” And John couples this great truth with “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

And this is good news. I can only love when I see that I am as unloving as they come, yet God in Christ first loved me! And this is my motivation to love others. When I see that God has loved me and demonstrated this great love for me in Jesus on the cross, I can love others because the Spirit of love indwells me and loving others becomes a fruit of the Spirits Gospel-applying work in my life. (See Galatians 5).

And then I can love God and love others upon which all the commands hang.

Categories
Christianity Gospel

Three Reasons Why I Am A Christian

Why Am I A Christian? I am sure many people out there question why anyone would be a Christian. “That’s just crazy stuff!” However, there are very real reasons why people are Christians.

The very real and typical answer is by the Grace of God. Period. See Ephesians 2:8-9.

But there are other reasons which are an outflow of God’s Grace in our lives.

Christianity’s Claim: Research the facts for yourself.

The Bible is a collection of over 60 books of different genres (history, poetry, wisdom, apocalyptic, etc…), spanning over 1,500 years, written by over 40 authors including shepherds and kings, fishermen and doctors, soldiers and lawyers. Compare that with any other religious book.

Further, there are over 5600 Greek manuscripts in existence which far outweigh the number of manuscripts to other ancient writings. Think Plato, Aristotle, Homer (Illiad), and others (See this chart for details).

Skeptics do not see this as definitive enough, however, “if the critics of the Bible dismiss the New Testament as reliable information, then they must also dismiss the reliability of the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, Homer, and the other authors.” It’s almost as if skeptics dismiss the Bible without looking into the evidence.

The Bible may look like it has contradictions and other issues on the surface, but the Bible has a self-consistency that surpasses other religious books. The internal consistency of the New Testament documents is about 99.5% textually pure.

If you are skeptical of these claims, go research it out yourself before you deny its viability of truth.

Christianity’s Claim: The Eyewitnesses are telling truth

“All Christianity asks of men on this subject, is that they would be consistent with themselves; that they would treat the evidence of other things; and that they would try and judge its actors and witnesses, as they deal with their fellow men, when testifying to human affairs and actions, in human tribunals,” writes Simon Greenleaf, one of the founders of Harvard Law School. “Let the witnesses be compared with themselves, with each other, and with surrounding facts and circumstances; and let their testimony be sifted, as if were given in a court of justice, on the side of the adverse party, the witness being subjected to a rigorous cross-examination.

“The writers of the Biblical accounts invited critical analysis, as revealed in 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1; and Revelation 2:2. They wanted people to believe their testimony was true. It was imperative they provided accurate, objective and truthful information, because lives were at stake. Not just their lives, but the lives of those who received their message.

When the authors of Scripture describe events, they use specificity. In other words, only when real events are described can the details be verified and consistent. There were eyewitnesses of events such as feeding of the 5,000, 500 eyewitnesses of Jesus appearance after his death, not to mention Paul’s first hand experience with Jesus on the road to Damascus, as well as, James, Jude, John, and many many others. The authors mention all of these people as if to say, “Don’t believe me? Go talk with these first-hand witnesses yourself.” Many eyewitness were still alive when people received the letters and documents of Scripture.

“There were plenty of people around when the New Testament documents were penned who could have contested the writings. In other words, those who wrote the documents knew that if they were inaccurate, plenty of people would have pointed it out. But, we have absolutely no ancient documents contemporary with the First Century that contest the New Testament texts.”

For further reading and research, check out: http://www.tektonics.org/guest/truthfulness.htm
I also recommend CARM: http://carm.org/

Categories
Eschatology

Eschatology 101 – Overview

Eschatology is the study of the Last Days, also known as the End Times or Last Days. Eschatology revolves around the Day on which Jesus Christ returns to earth to gather up His people, and each view within the study of Last Days centers upon what is called the Millennium and when Christ’s Second Return, also known as the Day of the Lord, will happen in relation to the Millennium.

The Millennium is solely mentioned in Revelation 20 six (6) times as “a thousand years”. A single reading of the passage seems to provide one meaning, but the issue is not so simple.

The issue of the Millennium has to deal with the nature of the Millennium. In other words, the goal of Eschatology is to figure out the characteristics of the Millennium:

Is the Millennium centered around the nation of Israel?
Is the Millennium “physical” in characteristic?
Is the nature of the Millennium “spiritual” but nonetheless real?
Will the Millennium be characterized by peace and “Christian-ized” living?
Will things grow worse and worse as the Millennium progresses?

These, and other, questions need to be answered, hence the study of Eschatology is vital. Each view of the Millennium (listed below) is simply based upon presuppositions one holds about Scripture, Christ’s Kingdom, and the Promises and People of God. Yet, the discussion of Eschatology is not as easy as one would think.

  • Dispensational Premillennialism
    • Pretribulational
    • Hard distinction between Israel and the Church
    • Strictly literalistic reading of Scripture
    • Physical earthly reign of Christ
    • 1000 literal year millennium
  • Historic Premillennialism
    • Soft distinction between Israel and the Church
    • Semi-literalistic reading of Scripture
    • Physical earthly reign of Christ
    • 1000 literal year millennium
    • Posttribulational
  • Amillennialism
    • Posttribulational
    • PostMillennial
    • Sees Scripture expressing symbols of reality in Scripture
    • Spiritual reign of Christ in believers’ hearts
    • 1000 (indefinite) amount of time for the millennium
    • Allows for the inclusion of ethnic Israelites ala Romans 9-11
  • PostMillennialism
    • Posttribulational
    • 1000 (indefinite) amount of time for the millennium
    • Physical reign of Christ at the end of the millenium
    • Semi-literalistic reading of Scripture

We will continue this discussion in a future article.

Categories
Glory of God Quotations

God has twisted together his glory and our good

“We glorify God by working out our own salvation. God has twisted together, his glory and our good. We glorify him by promoting our own salvation. It is a glory to God to have multitudes of converts; his design of free grace takes effect, and God has the glory of his mercy; so that, while we are endeavoring our salvation, we are honoring God.

What an encouragement is this to the service of God, to think, “while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God; while I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God’s glory!”

Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, “You will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away”? So, for God to say, “Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified!”

Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (Banner of Truth: 1890, 2000), 13–14.

(HT: Peter Cockrell)

Categories
Gospel

Kony 2012 and Gospel Action

So, I’ve watched this video:

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

It tugs my heartstrings. I want to do Something. Anything.

And then I read this short post discussing the video:
http://www.how-matters.org/2012/03/06/good-guys-bad-guys/

BUT the video AND the short post are each missing something.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m unashamedly hopeful about the ability of humans to change their own situations. But the events of the Arab Spring certainly remind us that lasting change must come from within.”

This is why political / social activism is not the complete answer. The Gospel must be the motivation and impetus of action because the Gospel will implant itself and true change will come from within– not that the political / social situation will change so much as true change that matters. But any political / social change for the good is, well, good, too.

We are NOT doing enough. I think we American Christians have gotten lazy and used to the high life (compared to the rest of the world), and we don’t like infringing on our cushy lifestyle.

This is something I’m thinking through– long and hard– what am I doing for the “least of these”?

I’m torn.

1) I want to spend more “resources” (e.g. money, TIME, effort, possessions, etc…) to meet needs and share the Gospel

2) I do not want to haphazardly “spend” all of my “resources” (see above) without much thought

3) I want to strategically spend my “resources” in the most effective way possible

4) I do not want my strategic spending as an excuse to do nothing right now.

The short post reminds me that I do not want to continue to be the one who tells the Jacobs of the world, “I feel your pain brother…go in peace” (James 2:14-15) and feel I’ve accomplished something.

There’s that tension in me, again, that’s coming into play.

As a friend of mine is reading through Generous Justice by Timothy Keller (see here), he shared some questions he’s wrestling through:

1. What am I personally doing?

2. Is sending a check enough or just soothing my conscience?

3. If I want to help the poor & disadvantaged in Greenville am I subconsciously being that “paternalistic” man trying to solve my brother’s problems?

4. What does doing justice and looking out for the poor look like?

5. How did the church (including me) get so calloused to helping the physical AND spiritual needs of both the lost and those of the household of faith?

Glad we have Miracle Hill here in town and it’s many ministries…but again wrestling through how do I personally do this beyond my Jerusalem?

Question: With the Gospel as our motivation and impetus to action, what are some action steps we can implement? IOW – what are some practical things (practical outworkings of the Gospel) we can do that are genuine and concerted efforts to obey James 1:27 et al?

Update: 3/9/2012

Situations are not always what they seem. The complexities are generally under the surface and difficult to detect. Yes, things are as bad as we’re told but the solution(s) are not so easily found. So, I present to you the following:

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

My Take on #StopKony
My take on #StopKony/

Kony 2012: A survivor’s perspective
Kony 2012: A survivor’s perspective

Christianity Today wrote a lengthy article discussing the situation of Joseph Kony and the children of Uganda: Deliver Us from Joseph Kony
Why the children of Uganda are killing one another in the name of the Lord.

Deliver Us from Joseph Kony

Plus, Tim Challies offers advice: Just breathe. Stop and think.

Update2

LoroJoro adds her 2 cents: On Kony, Criticism, History, Colonialism, and Conscience

Here is the continually updated article discussing the pros and cons of Kony2012 and the whole situation by the Guardian mentioned by LoroJoro: Kony 2012: what’s the real story?

Update3 3/12/2012

Medical missionaries in Uganda respond to Kony 2012: On Kony and viruses.

Categories
Gospel

Who Wrote the Gospels?

Dr. Michael J. Kruger answers the question, “Who wrote the Gospels?”

Dr. Michael J. Kruger
Associate Professor of New Testament
Reformed Theological Seminary

Categories
Glory of God Kingdom of Heaven

The kingdom of heaven is where God is glorified, not just a place that happens to be up high

The kingdom of heaven is where God is glorified, not just a place that happens to be up high. And we too can work very hard at seeking a higher ground and being better, but if our greatest goal is our own betterment, then we are self-worshipers and idolaters.

And if we strive, the purpose of striving cannot really be to reach God, since He is already here with us.

Read more here.