HOW CHRISTIANITY IS GROWING

Church, Optimism May 27, 2015 1 Comment

Church crowdsCBN.com — In his book The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel Huntington predicts that demographics will decide the clash between Christianity and Islam. And, as he puts it, “in the long run, Muhammad wins out.” In this instance, Huntington is wrong. For the foreseeable future there will be many more Christians than Muslims in the world.

As Penn State professor Philip Jenkins writes in The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, predictions like Huntingtons betray an ignorance of the explosive growth of Christianity outside of the West. Continue reading →

GOD’S THRONE; ISRAEL’S DIVORCE

AD 70, Israel, Revelation May 25, 2015 Comments: 5

Divorce decreePMT 2015-063 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In Revelation 1:12-20 John’s first vision shows Christ in history (spiritually) walking among the churches as their ever-present Protector and Head (cp. Matt. 18:20; 28:18, 20; Acts 18:9-10; Heb. 13:5). The focal judgments of Revelation do not begin until Revelation 6. In Revelation 4 and 5, though, God braces John for those coming fearsome judgment scenes by spiritually transporting him above history to God’s throne room in heaven (Rev. 4:1-2).

Revelation 4 and the Throne

In Revelation 4 John sees God sitting on his judicial throne actively ruling over all creation (Rev. 4:2-6, 11). The four “living creatures” closest to the throne seem to be angels of the highest order: they ever watch (they are “full of eyes,” v. 6) over creation (they appear as creatures and sing of creation, vv. 7, 11), ready to do God’s holy bidding (they have six wings to swiftly fly and they sing of God’s holiness, v. 8) in all of creation (their number represents the four points of the compass, v. 7; cp. Rev. 7:1; 21:13). Whatever John witnesses thereafter — however terrifying the judgments, however vicious the opposition — he may rest assured that not only does Christ concern himself with the affairs of his people in history (Rev. 1), but that God is actively controlling all things from above history (Rev. 4; cp. Dan. 2:21; 4:35; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:11). Continue reading →

EVANGELICALS STRONG AS CHRISTIANITY CRUMBLES

News May 22, 2015 Comments: 2

American Christianityby Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra (Christianity Today)

Amid changing US religious landscape, Christians ‘decline sharply’ as unaffiliated rise. But born-again believers aren’t to blame.

The main methods for measuring American faith are flawed.

So thinks the Pew Research Center, which today released the second wave of a massive study designed to “fill the gap” left by the United States census (no questions on religion), the self-reporting of denominations (“widely differing criteria”), and smaller surveys (too few questions or people).

Scrutinizing the past seven years, Pew finds that, amid the rise of the “nones” and other popular talking points, the fate of evangelicals is proving much brighter than Christianity at large. Continue reading →

UNIVERSALISM, POSTMILLENNIALISM, AND CONFUSION

Objections May 20, 2015 Comments: 4

Confused UniversalismPMT 2015-061 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Many Christians wrongly believe that postmillennialism implies the ultimate salvation of all men. Riddlebarger, for instance, speaks against postmillennialism: “Although the kingdom advances throughout this age, the final eschatological victory is won by Jesus Christ himself at his second coming (1 Cor. 15:54). Not before.” And of certain negative verses he comments that they “all speak of the present spiritual kingdom as finally consummated in ‘the age to come’ but not before.” [1] Reymond believes of the postmillennial vision that “the world of mankind of necessity must be brought eventually to a state of virtual moral perfection — the major contention of postmillennialism . . . a representation of world conditions at the time of Christ’s return which amillennialists reject.”

But postmillennialism does not claim that “final” eschatological victory comes before Christ returns. We do believe that because of the kingdom’s long-term expansion “the number finally of the lost in comparison with the whole number of the saved will be very inconsiderable.”[3] Continue reading →

WHY MUSLIMS ARE CONVERTING

News May 15, 2015 Leave a comment

Muslims agnryBy Breaking Christian News

‘One reason they’re killing is that they wish to stop the rapid spread of Christianity. There has never been a time when a greater percentage of Syrian Muslims, in-country and refugees, have believed in Christ than in the past three years of civil war. We all agree that it’s the greatest awakening happening since the beginning of Islam.’ –Mission Director

The Middle East —Atrocities by the Islamic State (ISIS) are softening the hearts of Muslims to Christianity, and evangelistic techniques and technologies are proving effective, but locally-based missionaries say the main reason for the spike in conversions in the Middle East is simply that former Muslims are finding God is real. Continue reading →

DANIEL’S BEASTS AND REVELATION

Daniel, Interpretation, Revelation May 13, 2015 Leave a comment

Daniels beastsPMT 2015-058 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

From time-to-time I get questions that I think are insightful and may be helpful to other readers. The question below came from a Facebook friend, Cindy D. I believe this will be helpful to publish more broadly than simply in a Facebook “message.”

Question

Hey, Ken,
I have a question! I loved your book, The Beast of Revelation, and to me, it cleared up a lot of questions, and had a hand in bringing me OUT of futurism. I just now saw a post by a guy in a group I am in who wrote the following about why he says Nero can’t be the Beast. Can you give me some feedback on his post that I can share with him on it? Continue reading →

PRETERISM JUSTIFICATIONS (4)

Pessimism, Revelation May 11, 2015 Comments: 3

Prophets killedPMT 2015-057 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is my final argument for the preterism approach to Revelation. In this blog posting I will be focusing on Revelation’s Thematic Indicators.

As mentioned previously, the theme of divine judgment on Israel fits perfectly with the Olivet Discourse. Virtually all commentators note the remarkable parallels between Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. These parallels are sufficient alone to suggest the same theme. But other correspondences exist.

In Matthew 23 Christ scathingly denounces Israel’s leadership as he approaches the dramatic conclusion of his earthly ministry. He notes that Israel’s present failure is not an isolated event, but the culmination of a lengthy historical pattern: Continue reading →