Category Archives: Objections

JAMES WHITE AND 2 TIMOTHY 3 (1)

Amillennialism, Objections, Pessimism December 10, 2014 Comments: 4

PMT 2014-148 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.White 1a

Introduction to My New Series

Amillennialism is postmillennialism minus hope.

Before the early twentieth century, theologians would speak of only two eschatological positions: “premillennialism” and “postmillennialism.” In this regard, amillennial theologian Cornelis Venema notes regarding amillennialism and postmillennialism: “Whatever differences exist between the two views, they have in common an identical framework” [Venema, Promise of the Future, 220]. In fact, both systems are post millennial in that they hold that Christ returns after the “millennium.” Continue reading →

PILGRIM MOTIF V. POSTMILLENNIALISM?

Church, Objections, Optimism, Pessimism December 5, 2014 Leave a comment

WandererPMT 2014-146 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I have an occasional practice of asking Facebook friends and PostmillennialismToday readers for some questions about eschatology that they might have. Be aware: I usually upload blog articles several weeks in advance. So your question might come slowly, rather than what you might expect: “the time is near.” Send your questions to me at: KennethGentry@cs.com

Chris Comis asks: “What is your response to the ‘pilgrim/sojourner’ motif in the Scriptures, especially as it is often presented by amills and premills from 1 Peter? Just curious.” Continue reading →

END-TIME REVOLT IN DISPENSATIONALISM AND POSTMILLENNIALISM

Dispensationalism, Millennium, Objections December 3, 2014 Comments: 4

Tank firingPMT 2014-145 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I have started a practice of asking Facebook friends and PostmillennialismToday readers for some questions about eschatology that they might have. This is my second effort at that. Be aware: I usually upload blog articles several weeks in advance. So your question might come slowly, rather than what you might expect: “the time is near.” Send your questions to me at: KennethGentry@cs.com

Ben Askins asks: “What similarities and differences are there between the postmillennial conception of the brief period of global rebellion at the end of the millennium and the dispensational post-trib premillennial conception of the Great Tribulation?” Continue reading →

ISLAM VERSUS POSTMILLENNIALISM?

Objections, Optimism, Pessimism October 24, 2014 1 Comment

Islam swordPMT 2014-129 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I receive many email, blog, Facebook, and conference questions on various eschatological issues. From time-to-time I plan on running a question in PostmillennialismToday. Here is one I received very recently, wondering how about a difficulty postmillennialism faces today.

Dr Gentry. With the threat of Islam around the world particularly it’s growth and infiltration into western society, how do we rationalize the teaching of Christian postmillennialism? Will they continue to grow and threaten western society or will they come to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour?

This is an excellent question. A question that needs to be gotten out front, because I can imagine it is on many Christians’ minds when they hear of the optimism of postmillennialism. The dominant eschatology today is dispensationalism, which is pessimistic to the core regarding the future until Christ raptures the church. How can a postmillennialist have hope in the light of such a widespread problem in the world today? Continue reading →

THE ANTICHRIST FOR FUN AND PROFIT

Interpretation, Objections, Pessimism September 8, 2014 Comments: 9

Antichrist 2The Antichrist is a popular and dreaded eschatological figure. This has been the case for centuries. But in our day of a dispensational hegemony in evangelicalism, this is particularly significant.

The role of the Antichrist is quite misunderstood though. Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield easily dismantled the populist conception of the Antichrist from Scripture itself. Warfield provides helpful insights into John’s teaching on the Antichrist when he notes that John “makes three declarations concerning Antichrist which appear to traverse its implications. He transposes Antichrist from the future to the present. He expands him from an individual to a multitude. He reduces him from a person to a heresy.” [1] Continue reading →

FINAL BATTLE = FINAL COLLAPSE?

Objections, Optimism, Revelation September 5, 2014 Comments: 2

PMT 2014-108 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.Nuclear explosion

In Revelation 20:7-9 is often employed against the historical optimism of postmillennialism. However, postmillennialists are very much aware of Revelation 20, and they do not see it as contradicting the postmillennial hope. This is the fourth in a brief series on this passage showing that it does not contravene our historical optimism.

The passage reads:

“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”

The surrounding (parembolen) of the “beloved city” (Rev 20:9) by nations drawn from the “four corners of the earth” (20:8) probably mirrors the surrounding of Jerusalem in AD 70.“For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank [parembalousin: paremballo < paremballo] before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side” (Lk 19:43; cp. Lk 21:20). Continue reading →

THE FINAL BATTLE

Objections, Optimism, Revelation September 3, 2014 Leave a comment

PMT 2014-106 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.Tank

John’s stating that these nations are in the “four corners of the earth” is a Semitism for the far reaches of the earth, represented by the four cardinal directions (Rev 20:8; 21:13; cp. Ge 28:14; Dt 3:27; Ps 107:3; Isa 11:11-12; Jer 49:36). Here he mentions “nations,” which shows that tes ges here is not “the Land” of Israel (as commonly in Rev), but the broader world.

We should understand that “after the Thousand years the symbols become even simpler and broader. They are in the far future now, and St. John deals only with gigantic general principles” (Carrington, The Meaning of Revelation, 325). “This shows that the very distant future is designed to be merely glanced at by the writer. So it is with the Hebrew prophets. But here, there is a special reason for brevity. The main object of writing the book is already accomplished, for substance. Christians have been consoled by assurances, that all the enemies with whom the church was then conflicting, would surely be overthrown. . . . [So that] mere touches and glances are all which it exhibits, or which were intended to be exhibited” (Stuart, Apocalypse, 2:354). Continue reading →