I do not agree with the popular Tribulation, Rapture, Millennium Eschatology (TRM) that is still held by many Christians.
- I used to teach this eschatology, but when I studied the scriptures seriously, I found it was not there. It is produced by imposing a perverse interpretive framework on the scriptures. I have written extensively on this on my website and in Times and Seasons.
- The TRM eschatology minimises the victory of the cross and assigns the powers of evil authority they are not entitled to and they have made great use of it. It minimises the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
- The forecasts produced by the TRM eschatology are continually proved wrong by history. I have seen the dates changed dozens of times since I became a Christian (remember 1978). A model that continuously produces incorrect predictions is a worry.
- I have seen the damage done by this eschatology. I have seen young Christians pull out of their university courses, or sell their business, because they took this teaching seriously (fortunately most Christians don’t). They are now disillusioned with lack of purpose, because they forsook their calling and were disappointed when what their teachers would happen did not. This is sad, because they were the cream of the crop.
- The TRM eschatology is impossible to live by. If the tribulation will break out in 2017 (I think this is the latest date) and Christians will be raptured out soon, we should all be out preaching the gospel while hiding in the hills to be safe. Fortunately, most Christians who believe this eschatology ignore it when it comes to everyday life.
- TRM writers focus love to write about the Tribulation. They do not write so much about the millennium, because it is a rather ugly compared to the beauty of the Kingdom of God, with rebelious people be intimidated into obedience using police power and military force. Nothing like the Kingdom that Jesus described.
- I note that many churches are gradually discarding bits of the TRM eschatology. About time.
More at False Teaching about God's Plan
2 comments:
Thank you for that. TRM Christians also lack discernment about the times they live in, sometimes underestimating or misinterpreting evil, because they reckon that if no one is actually tattooing "666" on anybody yet, things can't be too bad yet. It's easy to embrace error when you figure that all of the really bad stuff is still in the future. ( It's also easy for a nation's foreign policy to become badly distorted when TRM Christians are numerous and influential.) One of the ironies of the TRM phenomenon is that it originated with a 16th century Jesuit, Francisco Ribera. The TRM crowd likes to play up the role of the Catholic Whore of Babylon--but their own theology originates with a member of a group they themselves would regard as the uber-pimps.
Sign of the Kingdom is a great book that deals with this TRM in fill
Highly recommend to the Body of Christ it is by Gorge Kouri
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