Conflicts in Eschatology

The believing church today tends not to view eschatology as a very important doctrine. There are so many positions out there that pastors are afraid to speak lest they lose members from their congregations. This is not following the biblical example. Paul addressed this in 1 Tim 1:19-20:

holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

2 Tim 2:17-18:

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.

 2 Tim 4:14-15:

Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.

As we can see in Paul’s correspondence with Timothy, he had his eschatological opponents. Now I realize that they said the Lord had already returned. This would have been a serious breach of God’s word, and would be today. Paul turned them over to Satan for saying the resurrection had already happened. He said these false teachers upset the faith of some and were making shipwreck of their own faith.

The point is this: Eschatology is the hope of the church. Christ in you, the hope of glory! (Col 1:27b). If it is taught wrong, then a rebuke is in order. If it is not taught at all, then a more severe rebuke is in order! We must not let church growth or popularity or anything else decide how we teach the whole counsel of the word of God. It’s one thing to be ignorant of the Scriptures. It’s quite another to blatantly disregard them. This does not bring about unity in the church, but only uniformity, which misses the intended purpose of preaching the whole counsel of God. It is the unity of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that we preserve, and nothing else can unite us.

I’ve heard many disregard the teachings of dispensationalism because they don’t understand it, are plagued with those who say it references different forms of salvation, or disagree with it because they are covenant theologians. Covenant theology, in its earliest forms, held to different covenants in different eras of the Old Testament, much like the dispensations. But most have eliminated those covenants to Law and grace. 

In many instances, reformed believers teach what is known as replacement theology. This teaching suggests that the church has replaced the nation of Israel in God’s redemptive program. This “theology” completely ignores passages of Scripture such as Romans 9-11 and many everlasting promises of God to Israel peppered throughout the entire Old Testament. They ignore the absence of any references to the rapture in the entire teachings of the Old Testament. This very powerfully suggests that the rapture is related to the church only; and that all the OT eschatology must concern only the nation of Israel.

Reformers who believe in replacement theology (that the nation of Israel has no future) usually follow an eschatology that is either a-millennial or post-millennial. Their idea of verbal plenary inspiration of the Scriptures comes to an end when they approach eschatology. Some claim an eschatological language used by the writers of eschatology, which must be deciphered before an accurate interpretation may be reached. This is most unfortunate for Reformed theology because it brings it into disrepute.

Many amillennial interpreters believe that Satan was crushed at Calvary and is bound during the church age or what is claimed to be a non-literal millennial age. Unfortunately, they overlook Peter’s rebuke of Ananias (Acts 5:3) or Paul’s rebuke of Elmas the magician (Acts 13:8-10) or giving his defense before the King (Acts 26:18) or when he claims that Satan is hindering him from visiting Thessalonica (1 Thes 2:18) or turning egregious sinners over to Satan (1 Cor 5:5) and Paul given Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan (1 Tim 1:20) or tempting a Christian (1 Cor 7:5) or referring to the schemes of the Devil (2 Cor 2:11) or Satan’s disguises (2 Cor 11:14) or Paul’s thorn in the flesh from a messenger of Satan (2 Cor 12:7) or the Ephesians commanded not to give the Devil an opportunity (Eph 4:27) and to put on the whole armor of God (Eph 6:11) or of leaders (1 Tim 3:7) or Paul’s warning to Timothy (1 Tim 5:15) or of Christians escaping Satan’s snare (2 Tim 2:26) or the coming of antichrist by the power of Satan (2 Thes 2:9) or claiming that God would crush Satan under the Roman Christians’ feet (Rom 16:20) or James command to resist the devil (Jas 4:7) or Peter’s warning that the devil prowls like a roaring lion (1 Pet 5:8) or John saying those who practice sinning are of the devil (1 John 3:8, 10) and in Revelation 2:10, 13, 24; 3:9 et. al., where John speaks of Satan’s power, his synagogue, his throne, etc. There are just too many references to Satan/Devil after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to believe that Satan has been bound for 2,000 years as a-millennialists teach.

The popularity of post-millennialism was great in the late 19th century and early 20th century. But WWI and WWII pretty much destroyed the movement. Yet in recent years there has been a revival of sorts due primarily to charismatic reconstructionism and teachers like R.C. Sproul.  This eschatological scheme strongly encourages replacement theology as it claims that Christians have replaced the nation of Israel and must take over the world; after which it becomes the church’s mission, having conquered the world, to make it good enough for Christ to return. We see branches of this post-millennialism taking different forms with different denominational groups. 

Sometimes called Dominion Theology (based upon the KJV’s use of the term in Genesis 1:28), it can take many forms and falls under different identities and platforms. One of the most popular stems from R. J. Rushdoony in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. He called it Christian reconstructionism. He believed that the US and the world should be under Old Testament law (The Torah, the first five books of the Bible). He was strongly Calvinistic and a cessationist.

Another form of Dominionism is Catholic Integralism. Antonio Spadaro and Marcelo Figueroa have entered into an ecumenical alliance with Protestant 

reconstructionist. They want to establish a theocratic state. Once again we see a movement toward a one world government. This one world government walks hand in hand with reconstructionism. 

Perhaps the most popular thrust of Dominionism is Kingdom Now Theology and is particularly popular in Pentecostalism (its followers claimed 20 million members in the early 1990’s). It rose to prominence in the mid to late 1980’s. This is the teaching that God wants Christians to help Him take back dominion of the earth and eventually rule the world for Christ. It is known in social institutions as “kingdom” of education, “kingdom” of science, “kingdom” of arts, etc. Kingdom Now Theology is influenced by the Latter Reign movement, and critics have connected it to the New Apostolic Reformation, “Spiritual Warfare Christianity,” and Fivefold ministry thinking. C. Peter Wagner, founder of the New Apostolic Reformation, writes: 

The practical theology that best builds a foundation under social transformation is dominion theology, sometimes called “Kingdom Now.” Its history can be traced back through R. J. Rushdoony and Abraham Kuyper to John Calvin. 

Unfortunately, these recent trends (from the ‘60’s to the present) are not backed in good theology or proper interpretation. Jesus Christ is the only one who can break the seals and return the earth to man’s rightful rule. It will take the God-Man to do it. No movement of man can accomplish what is Christ’s rightful position of authority. Only by divine power can this be accomplished, and only by Jesus Christ.

The end times has always been a study of immense curiosity. People want to know what the future holds, and they will believe just about anyone who wants to talk about it.

1  Wagner, C. Peter. Dominion!: How Kingdom Action Can Change the World. P. 59. Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books. 2008.

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