2008 Is History – So What?

United States moves away from free market capitalism at alarming rate – Businesses lining up for “bailout money”

Stan McCullarss last blog post..Dennis Miller on "global warming"

Eschatology is as complex, as deep, as dark and mysterious, as anything imaginable. Patterns/paradigms can be and are constructed by individuals with a desire to manipulate others. Theological subtleties are a part and parcel of the biblical landscape. Many good and sincere people who are undoubtedly children of God have made mistakes on this issue. That is one reason Southern Baptists have never made an eschatological position as test of fellowship – except that Jesus will come in person at the end of this age, whenever that is. In the meanwhile, let us strive to take the whole earth for His glory. I do not speak as one who knows it all. What I know is probably the least amount of what is to be known. What we do owe to one another as believers is love and respect. Perhps a good place to end on this would be on the Whitefield/Wesley Calvinistic/Arminian strife. Whitefield requested that Wesley preach his funeral sermon. When reminded of the controversy between them and whether he would see Wesley in Heaven, he replied, “No, he did not expect to see him there, because Wesley would be so close to the throne and he (Whitefield) so far from it that he would not be able to see him.” Wesley did preach his funeral and in reply to a like enquiry gave the same answer with the reverse that he would be so far from the throne and Whitefield so close thathe would no be able to see him. This is the spirit of a Great Awakening, one able to think outside the box – not in an arrogant way but humbly.

My Dear Brother, I was not in the least offended. I grew up under the tutelage of men who had been associated with Dr. R.G. Lee. so you know what kind of eschatology to which I was exposed. I even heard Dr. Lee preach his famous sermon on the Millenium at KC in’63. Then came home to hear the pastor of a FBC unload on Dr. Lee, his a-millenial positions. Practically all of us in the audience were then premils. And that pastor was of American Indian descent and a grad of Southwestern.
Since then I have changed, but it does not matter. God is so great, so overwhelming in love and tenderness, that as one put it about the Gospel Message and a ready acceptance of it, “O, it was so wonderful, that I could not resist it.” My hope and prayer is for that Great Awakening which even premils can labor for along with amils and postmils. I am not even sure any of the three positions are adequate to dealing with the multiplicity of materials in the Old and New Testaments related to the End Times. In fact, all three have their problems. The Great Consummation and the Seasons of Refreshing have yet to be considered in the depth and detail that they merit, and, when and if they are, I suspect all three positions individually and collectively will be found wanting and yet contributing to the Grand Finale which our God has planned for the whole earth. God has a place and a time and a work for all of his children. I tremble at the complexity in the midst of the profound simplicity of Biblical and Systematic Theology. I am reminded of what an American Indian friend said concerning fishing. He was fishing a mountain stream one day with out much of a catch. He glanced down stream saw a Big Rock on the other side some distance away. he figured that was a good place for trout. He had all of his fishing gear on, and he glanced down to check the depth, He said, “I could see the bottom and the grains of sand rolling along the bottom of that clear mountain stream. I figured it was 2-3 feet deep. So I stepped off into it, and I almost drowned. The depth was 18-20 feet. I came up grasping at every sprig of grass. Anything to help me out of there.” The Biblical teachings are like that. Even when we think we clearly know and understand them, we are looking into another medium as my friend was and we are in over our heads. I had a friend say to me once, “Have you ever thought of the fact that every last soul on earth at one time could be the elect of God?” I answered no. Seven yrs. or so later Jonah 3 in conjuction with that question demolished my eschatology and prepared me to grasp Jonathan Edwards’ Humble Attempt and William Carey’s Obligation to Use Means in the Conversion of the Heathen. No, I am not offended. I feel a great sense of hopeful anticipation that perhaps, just mabe, God is going to fulfill His promises as they are pleaded for such a world-wide visitation or as C.S. Lewis, put it, “They pull down deep Heaven upon their heads.” Consider Mr. Spurgeon’s Evening Devotion for August 6th on PS.72;19, He takes it as a call to prayer for the whole earth, and questions the manhood of one who will not pray and labor to this end; “LET THE WHOLE EARTH BE FILLED WITH HIS GLORY; AMEN, AND AMEN.” God speed the day, when that plea and work shall be fulfilled and finished.