What’s the allure of the views of Bible prophecy that dismiss God’s promises to Israel and exalt the church as God’s kingdom on the earth? Why do many teachers go astray from what the words of Scripture tell us about our future as well as that of the world?
These questions again came to my mind after I received an email boasting that “dispensationalism is on the decline.” By that, the writer meant that many Christians are turning away from our belief in Jesus’ thousand-year rule on the earth. As evidence, he cited Kirk Cameron’s apparent switch from belief in a pre-Tribulation Rapture to the more popular Dominion Theology, which teaches that the church will usher in millennial conditions on earth before Jesus returns to the earth.
As I thought about the email heralding the merits of this variant approach to the end times, I began to see a pattern of why so many adhere to beliefs that deny Jesus’ imminent appearing.
I responded to the email by stating that our beliefs are not a matter of what’s popular, but they must find their basis in the words of Scripture. Sadly, a great many churches adhere to the beliefs of Dominion Theology, namely that world conditions will get better, not worse. This viewpoint stems from the errant teaching that God has rejected Israel and the church is now God’s physical kingdom on earth, but takes it a step further by asserting that the church, not Jesus, will bring kingdom conditions to the nations.
Its adherents also claim that antichrist is not a person, but rather a spirit that the church will defeat.
The teachings of Dominion Theology do not match the words of Scripture, not at all. Paul referred to antichrist as the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and distinguished his person from the “mystery of lawlessness” that was already at work in the world in his day (and continues to our day). He also revealed that the Lord would “kill” him at “his coming” (2:7-8).
The Lord will end antichrist’s reign of terror on the earth, not the church.
Jesus warned His disciples that the world would “hate” them (John 15:18-25); He never promised that they or the church would win the world over to their side. The Lord told us to expect persecution, not applause.
No comments:
Post a Comment