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Kent Hovind is in jail because he's a premillennialist

Kent Hovind is in jail because he is a premillennialist and has very strong faith and therefore won't give up on even his wrongly placed convictions. Too bad, because he was doing interesting work on the other end of history (the beginning). I just read that he's in jail for 10 years in a federal prison for tax evasion.

So, what does his premillennial views have to do with him being in jail. It's because he doesn't know that the only thing Revelation has to do with today is the millennial kingdom that we're now living in. The premillennial Christian believes that the beast in control of the world-wide anti Christian government wasn't Nero just before 70 AD, but is some sinister person who will soon take control of the world we live in now. In the premillennialist view, the church will ultimately lose and we'll only be saved from the midst of Armageddon in the nick of time by the second appearance of Christ. If you have a strong faith like Kent Hovind obviously does you will cast your eyes with suspicion upon big government and their power grabbing tricks (like taxes). I think Kent Hovind is acting with a clear (but mistaken) conscience.

If, however, you accept that when John said in revelation that these things "must shortly come to pass" he actually meant that they must shortly come to pass (i.e. already did in and around 70 AD), you will see that there has been a fifth empire like Daniel forecast would start like a small rock and grow into a mountain and continue to grow forever. Hopefully you will also see that the church today is not meant to fail but to grow as the millennial kingdom grows, and that the government(s) rest on the shoulders of Christ who is reigning now in heaven.

Dan 2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together. And they became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Sure, there's lots of bad things going on in the world today, but Christ, in part through the influence of Christians through the centuries, keeps things together and growing and getting better (just as fast as we're willing to go with Him). How else could it happen?

The sad part is that the more you believe in premillennialism, I think the less likely you are to work to better this world (contribute to the Kingdom). But then again, maybe I'm wrong...

I'm sure of one thing though: Kent Hovind will have a harder time contributing from his jail cell.

The Evolution / Creation Classroom debate is upside-down

The Evolution / Creation Classroom debate is upside-down in the sense that Christians should not be trying to get creation taught in science class.

They should, however, be arguing that evolution should be taken out of science class because it is not even a true scientific theory. A scientific theory has to be disprovable - it has to make predictions that can be tested. Because the evolution hypothesis describes a process that slowly takes place over millions of years it is impossible to make predictions that can be measured to prove or disprove that theory.

Evolution at best can be called a hypothesis, but more acurately it is a religious faith-based ideology. What can and are being tested and measured are some of the assumptions that support the hypothesis of evolution, e.g. The RATE study that has examined several aspects of the problems with dating the earth as millions of years old [eg why is carbon14 [max 10,000 years old] found inside diamonds dated by other methods to be supposedly millions of years old]

Lets call a spade a spade:"Evolution as fact" in the classroom is state-sponsored teaching of religous dogma. [define dogma]

See also: The funny thing about the Evolution / Creation debate

I love John Macarthur, but...

I was listening the other day to channel 159 on Sirius radio (now 161) and they were talking about whether or not Christians should be involved in changing society through politics. I agreed with the host's contention that just because Jesus didn't affect the world through politics doesn't mean that we shouldn't - Jesus didn't get married either...

The fellow also brought up the point that John MacArthur thinks we shouldn't be pollitically active, linking it to the idea that we are now living in a "post-christian" world [and therefore things are just going to get worse - so why bother trying [I assume is the jist [sp?] ] ]. I agree with the radio host that our society may be post Christian but it doesn't have to stay that way.

I think John MacArthur has a lot of excellent things to say to us from the bible that bring more of our heart closer to God, but the (I believe) faulty eschatology he (and many other excellent pastors) espouses makes Christians tend to want to dis-engage from the world instead of continuing to do spiritual battle as more-than conquerors who are living in the kingdom presently ruled by Christ. We've already won, but much of the present and recent Christian generations since John Nelson Darby started this wrong turn in history have in part forfeited their share in the growth of the Kingdom because of this fatalistic attitude.

I believe Christ is building his kingdom now, through the church, but also through the work of truth [that's Him] within the rest of society as well. If the North American church wants to disengage from the rest of the world because of a "seconds from disaster" attitude, I'll bet He'll be happy to use Christians who are ready to engage in other parts of the world.

The problem with "Left Behinders"

The problem with "Left Behinders" is that the emphasis is on hunkering down, getting spiritual and not being worldy in the sense of almost not participating in higher orders of society other than to make money and look for opportunities to evangelize on the sinking ship. Church is all and society is the mission-field that will eventually burn up - so why bother trying to effect long term change?
Post-millennialism [partial preterism] on the other hand encourages one to engage with the world, because it is Christ's world and we [being more than conquerors] have already won. We are to continue to pursue our main purpose in life - to glorify God in the midst of a dark but inevitably brightening world [and to evangelise the lost so they don't self-destruct just before things get better]. The Kingdom is all, and the Church is just the self-aware [ruling [if we get off our Chicken Little Duffs]] part of the kingdom

Worldliness

If we are to assume that this civilization in which we now live is the fifth empire, the millennial kingdom, then what are we to do with the concept of worldliness? At the time of the new testament writings, the fourth empire [Rome] was the world, and worldliness meant doing things as the Romans did - rule through fear, lust, greed, and generally just plain old self interest.

But what about now? Take a look around you. Take a look at your roads and schools and hospitals and cars and computers and laws and freedoms. Do you honestly think this all happened through the worldliness of selfish people? God used Babylon as a stick to whack Isreal "upside the head". Don't you think he's running the show now [in spite of all the same selfish people]?
I'm not talking about any one nation - I'm talking about this Empire that Christ has built through people "infected" with His Spirit and the fruit of that spirit - is
" love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

And regarding those who are not "infected", He also is reining with an iron rod:

Rev 19v15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron ; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty."

so anyway, if Satan is no longer ruler of this world, but Christ is then we have to be careful with what we consider "worldliness".

Someone [maybe Adrian Rogers?] defined worldliness as anything that makes sin appear normal. I like that. But what about those that assist their ministries with successful business models? Is that worldliness?

I have to go to sleep now, but I'll return to this question, the answer to which I think can be found in 2Peter:

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

What does it really matter? ...part 1

What does it really matter what your creation and end time views are as long as you're saved, right? Well, my argument is that it really does affect your attitude in several ways. Take climate change, for example: If you believe the scientists who say the earth is billions of years old, then all this rapid melting of this glacier and that ice shelf represents an abrupt [and therefore alarming] change. On top of that, if you're a pre-millennialist, this sense of alarm could feed right in to thoughts that "the end is near". Now I do believe we should be personally ready at all times as our individual ends may be near, but living with the sense that our own children likely won't live long enough [before the rapture happens] to die of old age can really change your perspective on life [more on this later]

Back to climate change: if on the other hand we see the earth as roughly 6-10,000 years old, then the things that are happening with the climate are on the same scale as the rest of history and don't represent a drastic change.

Some quick examples of dating problems: 1. a plane of early vintage found buried in greenland ice in a layer normally interpreted as being up to 10,000 years old. 2. Human artifacts found embedded in coal. 3. Carbon14 found in diamonds. [more on this later too.]