Camping’s Chaos

Harold Camping is set to go publicly this evening. The Rapture did not happen as he had predicted. Now, though he is flabbergasted, he is ready to make an official pronouncement. Is it possible that Camping will re-adjust his time table? Not likely…at least for now. The incalculable damage he has caused in thousands of his faithful listeners will have lasting repercussions in the psychology of belief.

History, however, proves that followers do what they do best: they follow. And thus it is likely that some will continue to be guided by Camping’s chronological gymnastics. Calls for Camping’s repentance have been made , and though it is likely that the rapture “prophet” will make some sort of apology, what is most likely is that he will continue to utter the same sorts of eschatological ideology based on bizarre numerology and strange allegory.

Camping’s chaos teaches at least two things:

First, abandoning the church has severe consequences. Christ’s Bride ensures and proclaims the faithfulness and truthfulness of the Groom. Abandoning the Bride will almost always lead to a departure from the message of the Groom.

But also, and finally, we can learn that the prediction business is really bad science. Be aware of modern day prophets in the airwaves.

Update: Harold Camping is now affirming that May 21st was a spiritual judgment and October 21st is the true physical judgment. He assumed some blame, said that he offered no financial advice, that he is always learning, that people should not view him as infallible, and that third time is a charm…he actually didn’t make the last statement.

Machen’s Vision of Transforming the World

A solid building cannot be constructed when all the materials are faulty; a blessed society cannot be formed out of men who are still under the curse of sin.  Human institutions are really to be molded, not by Christian principles accepted by the unsaved, but by Christian men; the true transformation of society will come by the influence of those who have themselves been redeemed.

Thus Christianity differs from liberalism in the way in which the transformation of society is conceived.  But according to Christian belief, as well as according to liberalism, there is really to be a transformation of society; it is not true that the Christian evangelist is interested in the salvation of individuals without being interested in the salvation of the race.  And even before the salvation of all society has been achieved, there is already a society of those who have been saved.  That society is the Church.  The Church is the highest Christian answer to the social needs of man.

Christianity and Liberalism pgs. 158-159 (Eerdmans printing of the 1923 edition)

via Steven Wedgeworth

Critics of Theonomy and the Eschatology of Victory

Theonomy from its early days in Tyler, TX has changed quite a bit. Did it win the day? In many ways it did. Ministries like American Vision, Vision Forum, Chalcedon, and a host of political and theological ministries were and are largely influenced by the dozens of books written by Gary North, David Chilton, James Jordan, and others. As an example, I recently saw Stephen Mansfield’s list of books that most influenced him. Rushdoony and Chilton were in that list. I could name many other modern thinkers who were influenced by the great Theonomic/Reconstructionist writers.

Over the years, the “movement” has spread all over the country. One critic of theonomy spoke gleefully of the demise of the Tyler group. In the critics’ words, “how could such a utopia continue if even the first leaders couldn’t keep it together.” What this critic fails to understand is that every powerful movement in history undergoes transitions; what we might call “little deaths.” The theonomic movement may no longer be in Tyler, TX, but it has re-emerged more powerfully, and in many ways, diversely throughout the country. They are in Hollywood, at the front of the Homeschool revolution, pioneering a Classical Christian School movement, and powerfully engaged in socio and political discussions.

We may criticize Constantine for not preserving a Christian theocracy in the early church, but how can we overlook the significant impact he would have in the future? Like every work–attempting to return to Biblical standards–we should always expect the future to bring new manifestations, which improve upon the previous. This is the way of Biblical revolution. Christians are called to an eschatology of victory; an eschatology grounded in progress.

What the Liturgy does…

Liturgy transports worshipers into the eschaton. The corporate expression of God’s people on the Lord’s Day is an eschatological experience. In worship, the Spirit pulls us from earth to experience a taste of the world to come in heaven. When we pray “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven,” we are praying for the interruption of our earthly lives with a heavenly reality; a reality, which is not fully yet, but that is being realized.

Postmillennial Progression

Psalm 98 begins like Matthew’s parables of the seed. The rather insignificant seed (kingdom) is soon discovered to be larger than all the other plants. What once seemed to be weak soon becomes strong. This is the progression we see in Psalm 98. In this psalm, doxology begins in the house of worship (Israel=New Israel), then it flows to the land, and culminates in all of nature; a display of the all-consuming power of the kingdom of God.

Ecclesiastical Escapism

Jeff Kennedy summarizes his case against pre-tribulationism:

The case for a pretribulational event in Revelation rests on a patchwork of inferential ideas, none of which can withstand the scrutiny of rigorous hermeneutics. As it turns out, the pre-tribulationists only hope is to interpret the Philadelphian church in a vacuum, excising it from its cultural, literary and immediate context. The result is a church that is devoid of its own historical personality and serves as nothing more than a historical prop allowing modern believers to extrapolate an ecclesiology of escapism.

Pre-Tribulational Irrationality

Pre-Tribulationists argue that the church must be absent from earth from chapters 4-18 of Revelation because the term church is not used in these chapters.  However, as Kennedy observes, this rationale is utterly flawed:

According to the pretribulational approach, one could argue that Jesus is not in heaven because the word Jesus is absent in the heavenly scenes depicting the saints and the elders worshipping him. Instead it opts for the term lamb. Or one could also argue that the “anti-christ” is not on earth because the word “anti-christ” is not used in these chapters, instead it used the word beast or false prophet. Again, the word rapture or catching away is never mentioned in Revelation and the coming of Jesus is not referred to as the parousia.

Pre-Tribulationism Critiqued by a Pre-Millennialist

The Pre-Millennialist Jeff Scott Kennedy writes in his paper An Ecclesiology of Escapism that Pre-Tribulationists fail to distinguish between “literal” and “literalistic.” Kennedy writes that the literal view allows that “figures of speech may well point to literal realities.”

The imagery of the New Testament offers invaluable points of comparison between our experience and the unknown. Jesus, for instance, used metaphors of scattering seed on various types of soil, hidden treasure in a field, or mustard seeds that become large trees, in order to communicate aspects of his very real Kingdom.