Thursday, July 23, 2015

We Will Not Bow

John MacArthur pulls no punches on the SCOTUS decision.

Recommended listening.
At the seminary, we put an article up on the seminary website about homosexuality. Within a matter of hours, we received a letter ordering us to cease and desist immediately or face a very severe lawsuit. Could we be sued for taking this position? Absolutely. Insurance companies that provide liability insurances for churches so that we’re protected against lawsuits are beginning to say, “We will not accept responsibility for lawsuits on homosexual or same-sex marriage issues.” The church is out there all on its own. ~ John MacArthur
Click Here

and HERE

Just thought I'd add an update. MacArthur mentions "Rev." Barry Lynn in his talk. Here's what he says:
Barry Lynn, who heads up an organization—a hostile, satanic organization against the gospel and against the Word of God—is making all the moves he can to make sure churches lose their tax-exempt status. And the way they’ll do that is they’ll begin to sue and drag the churches into court on that issue. The government provides student loans for students at Christian colleges. But if that school or that college doesn’t affirm same-sex marriage, and have open enrollment to homosexuals, they can cut off all that funding—Cal grants, Pell grants—which enable students to go to college. This is going to come. We enjoy, as a church, a beautiful campus, large piece of property. We don’t pay property tax, because we’re granted freedom from that tax. How long will that remain if we don’t comply?
Fred Butler did a piece on Lynn back in 2007. Worth a read HERE

Monday, July 20, 2015

Seventy Weeks of Daniel Chart

Thought this was pretty good. Put together by Leonardo Costa:

Click HERE

Friday, July 17, 2015

Does the NT re-interpret the OT?

Does the NT really re-interpret the OT?

This topic came up in a conversation today with an amillennialist. The progression of the argument is fairly standard. An amil guy will wander into a forum and defend someone like Sizer. He'll inform the others that Israel is all done for a numbers of reasons (political and doctrinal) which is all really motivated by the belief that the church is the "New Israel." When the OT heavy artillery texts are introduced, the amil will reach into the bag of tricks for the "NT re-interprets of the OT" defense.

Here are some great links which challenge that notion. Fred Butler has conveniently put Paul Henebury's work into a PDF file HERE.

You can access Dr. Henebury's work directly on his site Part One & Part Two

Dr. Michael Vlach's work on the topic may also be accessed HERE.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Fallacies Against Presuppositional Apologetics

Thought this article from Hip and Thigh was pretty good. Basically because it was written in such a way that even I could understand it - even though it was supposed to be "geeky."

The Fallacies with “The Circular Argument” Against Presuppositionalism:
This will be a geeky post, sorry...Occasionally, I like to write on topics pertaining to apologetic methodology. My primary purpose is to sharpen my personal thinking in the matters of how my exegesis and theology shape my overall approach in apologetics and evangelism. My objective has always been two-fold: I want to make sure I am defending the faith accurately as well as engaging unbelief effectively...keep reading

Friday, July 3, 2015

The New Christian Zionists?

Back in April I noted that Mark Tooley had convened a conference to discuss how the current tide of anti-Israel sentiment among young evangelicals could be countered. You can read my initial thoughts HERE

Tooley is aware that activism by certain professional agitators has been a problem. But he went on to say:
Compounding this activism is the fading of the old Religious Right, whose leaders, like the late Jerry Falwell, were outspokenly pro-Israel and claimed to speak for millions. A new generation of Evangelical leaders is more reluctant to wade into controversy. Some old Religious Right figures were believers in Dispensationalism, a 19th century movement asserting and stressing various End Times events, including the restoration of Israel, before Christ’s return.
Can Christian Zionism be defended in the 21st century? Theologically? Historically? Can it be defended in ways that are consistent with Jewish and Christian scriptures? Are its legal, moral and political out-workings compatible with the ideals of the biblical covenant?
Neither Providence nor the Bible are neutral between a people striving to survive against many others who hope for their elimination. Effectively explaining why requires both good political and theological judgment.
I suspected then that Tooley was giving the impression that dispensationalism had fumbled the job and that a more biblical approach had to be exercised. Enter the "New Christian Zionists." Following that conference, which included Darrel Bock and Craig Blaising, I made some further observations HERE

Despite incessant allusions to Hagee and the so-called popular "Left Behind" theology of LaHaye and Lindsey supposedly fumbling the cause of biblical Zionism - the issue does not lie there. Tooley, Bock, Blaising and anyone else who cares to wade into the murky waters of anti-Israel activism among some leading evangelicals will confront a wall of resistance against the more biblical approach.

I've been writing and researching columns on this topic for the Omega Letter for a number of years now. The likes of Dexter Van Zile, Jim Fletcher and Brian Shrauger (and others) have been writing about this long before I came along. They'll confirm this has little to do with dispensationalism or the pop-apocalyptic pretribulational rapture, as one opportunistic activist recently suggested. He may want to take a look at what some of the proponents of his rapture view have been doing over the years. Get a clue.

As an aside, I find it ironic that I discovered this individual's rapture view via an email exchange which mentioned Herb Peters. Peters thought he'd located the Antichrist and the timing of Daniel's 70th week (ENPI theory). Time proved him wrong. But among his avid supporters were leading prewrath proponents who were so attached to that theory that they were willing to re-interpret Scripture in an attempt to keep it alive after it failed.  

No, it has nothing to do with pop-apocalypticism. Israel hatred flows deep in the veins of some leading Christians who will use any excuse to run down Israel. This bizarre attitude includes ignoring the suffering of Christians in the Middle East and the suffering of Palestinians under Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. See also HERE

They hate Israel. It's that simple.

Further reading:

Declining United Church of Christ’s Israel divestment may not pack any punch