Category Archives: Theology

HOPE AND THE GREAT “I AM”

Optimism, Theology, Worldview March 16, 2018 Leave a comment

PMT 2018-022 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Postmillennialism goes against the pessimistic expectations of contemporary Christianity. Christians have adopted Woody Allen’s view of life: “More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

This is because we take our eyes off of God and his great power. We are like the Israelites who feared entering the land. We declare that “we are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us” (Num. 13:31). We need to gain a renewed sense of the glory and power of God. Continue reading →

POLITICS AND TWO-KINGDOM THEOLOGY

Amillennialism, Culture, Kingdom, Theology February 23, 2018 1 Comment

PMW 2018-016 by Larry E. Ball

Gentry introduction:
This is an excellent, short article on the dangers of Two-kingdom Theology. TKT is very much opposed to postmillennialism and to theonomic ethics. In this quick insight into TKT we can see the very obvious negative implications of this theology.

When I recently read the post about Andrew White, a PCA elder and a democratic candidate for the Governor of Texas (The Aquila Report, January 26), I was disheartened, to say the least. What bothered me most is that he seemed to imply that since both abortion and homosexual marriage are the law of the land, they must be right and good in a democratic society. Continue reading →

MOLINISM V. GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

Theology February 13, 2018 Leave a comment

PMW 2018-013 by Paul Helm (Ligonier Ministries)

Note from Ken Gentry: I am a postmillennialist. I am a biblical worldview advocate. And I am also a free-grace, absolute sovereignty-of-God Calvinist. My postmillennialism derives from and is secured by the biblical worldview which is anchored in the absolute sovereignty of God. It is easy to be a postmillennialist if you are a Calvinist.

But there is another view of God’s sovereignty as it relates to free moral agency that has arisen once again on the scene. It is called “Molinism,” after one of its creators, a Jesuit priest named Luis de Molina (1535-1600). This view has become popular among those Christians who recoil at the implications of God’s absolute sovereignty. Thus, I thought a re-posting of this article by Paul Helm might be helpful to my readers.

Paul Helm’s article

In recent months and years, an old controversy about the nature of God’s knowledge has been re-ignited in certain Christian circles. The doctrine at the center of this controversy is called “middle knowledge” (also known as Molinism). In an effort to help our readers better understand the issues at stake, we have invited Dr. Paul Helm to write an introduction to this important subject. Continue reading →

PROVIDENCE

Theology November 24, 2017 1 Comment

PMT 2017-094 by R. J. Rushdoony (Chalcedon Foundation)

Every now and then somebody tries to tell me that everything is useless, because all life is determined by the politicians, or by heredity, environment, capitalists, labor unions, or somebody else. Naturally, a minister has to be polite, so I can’t always say exactly how I feel about such opinions, although I do assert human responsibility as against this excuse-making. Continue reading →

REFORMATION WAS MORE THAN JUSTIFICATION

Theology, Worldview September 26, 2017 Leave a comment

PMT 2017-078 by Larry E. Ball (Aquila Report)

As we prepare to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we celebrate the rediscovery of the foundational doctrine of justification by faith alone. It is the very breath that gives life to every Christian. It is one evidence of our new birth in Christ. However, my personal celebration will be mixed with sadness. Let me be plain about the reason for my dejection.

The Reformation was a movement of the Holy Spirit that changed western culture, but modern Reformed churches have created a pietism that is absorbed with individualism and the heart. Continue reading →

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

Culture, Theology September 12, 2017 Leave a comment

PMW 2017-076 by Richard Phillips (Reformation 21)

[Gentry note: Postmillennialism is a rigorously Bible-based eschatological outlook. It has to be since it runs counter to current cultural decline (though we understand that decline only to be temporary). Too many evangelicals are not as rigorous regarding biblical foundations. They slide away from the biblical worldview, slowly but surely. This article is not written by a postmillennialist, but his sentiments are certainly valid.]

Over twenty years ago, while in seminary, I was present during a hallway conversation with a professor who then seemed to be moving toward liberal theology. A student asked how this man’s higher critical methods would enable him to remain a Christian. The professor gave quite the revealing answer: “I have a Jesus Box that I never touch.” By this, he meant that he had drawn a line of piety around his faith in Jesus to keep out the implications of his liberal scholarship. I remember thinking at the time how vain was this hope. Method always gobbles up message, and no pietistic zeal will ever protect us from our actual lack of faith. That professor has long since moved on, and from his seat in a liberal college he has not surprisingly revised his former evangelical faith in Jesus. Continue reading →

INCLUSIVITY, MORALITY, AND CREATIONISM

Creation, Theology August 1, 2017 Leave a comment

PMW -2017-061 by Gary Bates (Creation Ministries, Intl.)

(Originally featured in a CMI newsletter, July 2010)

[Gentry note: Postmillennialism expects and promotes a biblically-based worldview. A biblical worldview requires a biblical understanding of creation and morality. This article by Gary Bates is helpful for understanding the impact of biblical creation on moral standards.]

Unfortunately, many within the church unwittingly fall for an oft used tactic by atheists, because they are scared that the God of a Christian faith would be caricatured as an unloving, judgmental Creator. To portray God as irrelevant and out of touch in a politically correct world we hear statements like “If God is a God of love why doesn’t he love homosexuals?” Or pro-abortionists might say “If God is all-knowing He would understand why some need to have abortions.” Continue reading →