Worse & Worse?
Claiming the Promise of the Kingdom

Modern Evangelical America tells us that times for the Church are getting darker. They purport the message that things are getting worse and worse, and that soon, the End shall come, and the Antichrist shall rule (*let the lightning crash*).
The popular idea is that all is spiraling downward toward the final moment when the "Great Tribulation" shall come, and the church will be "raptured" away.

I'll bet some folks thought similarly, that things were getting grim for Christians on October 30th, 1517. However, the next day, a fellow named Martin Luther surprised them by nailing his 95 thesis to the door of the Castle Church.
Funny how - in the midst of all that darkness - he sparked a Reformation, shaking the whole of Chirstendom forever.

I'll bet some doom-n-gloom folks thought that things were nearing the end for the Protestants when George Wishart was tried by the Catholic Church and burned for "heresy."
Until this funny little fellow who had been following Wishart around, acting as his bodyguard (holding a double-bladed sword) decided to take up the cause and became a Protestant Minister. His name was John Knox.

American Evangelicals today are aggravated because their attempts to "evangalize" American culture have been frustrated. A lesson in History shows us that Christians in America and England felt a similar frustration in 1730.

As G. R. McDermott points out, "They, too, had failed to reform their societies after decades of political and social effort. Preaching endlessly for moral reformation elicited boredom and contempt; reducing standards for church membership brought in more people but few conversions; and political leaders paid lipservice to...religion while furthering the secularization of society."

Rough times? It was for Jonathan Edwards when he was refused admission to preach in a Northampton church. If Hal Lindsay had been there, he might have told us it was the end. Jonathan Edwards, however, stepped onto his Father's tombstone (yes, he really did) and began to preach.
Imagine it: standing there on the tombstone, the rain begins to fall, and two or three people passing stop to listen to this man speak. Is he drunk? They wonder. What is he doing out here in the graveyard? Then two or three more are motioned over. Someone pokes their head out of the church; Is that really John out there preaching?
His pages begin to curl in the rain, his clothes are soaked, his voice is muffled by thunder, but the crowd gathers...
Enter stage right: The Great Awakening.

So, the next time some premillenialist tells you that things are getting "worse and worse," or that evil is just a "sign of the times..."
Remember, that all it takes for things to go from worst to best, is a rainy place to speak. Perhaps an unknown follower. Or how about one little fellow with a hammer, a thesis, and a devotion to God?

The Reasoning of Evangelical America

I'll admit it upfront: I am not what we might consider a modern "evangelical." This means that you probably won't find me pounding on your door on any given day, to instruct you to pray the Roman's Road Prayer. (Doesn't mean, however, that I don't believe in being a witness.)
The situation in my mind is - however - one that concerns the inconsistencies in Evangelical Theology. The problem lies when they try to cross over from (abstract) Theology into (corporeal) Practicality.
Here's a for-instance or two...

Evangelical: "Jesus is coming soon."
Me: "Bet you invested in your company 401k."

Evangelical: "The end is near."
Me: "Planning for your child's college? Bet so."

Evangelical: "The Signs of the Times are everywhere. We should be ready."
Me: "Been out to eat lately?"

Evangelical: "He is at hand!"
Me: "Re-roofing your house, eh?"

In otherwords - The Premillenialist philosophy (theology) says one thing, and practically, they do another; because it simply wouldn't be reasonable or comfortable to live as if tomorrow, the Antichrist were coming.
My temptation was to stop writing here...to leave the hypocrisy splayed wide open, and point the righteous finger at the Evangelical world, however, I would not be doing my duty as an honest theologian if I did.
Therefore I must confess that the hypocrisy is not one-sided. Amillinial proponents (as well as us Posts) often run a-foul of this sort of hypocrisy as well.
In our case, it is the reverse:

We say: "Usher in the Kingdom."
Problem: We live like Premillenialists.

We say: "The Golden Age is dawning."
Problem: We could care less about Dominion.

Ultimately, the situation looks like this: The Premils ought to either act on their end-times doom and gloom, or change their theology to match ours.
And we ought to either change our theology (which we shouldn't), or we ought to begin to live with Dominion in mind. This means taking a fresh look at how we live, how we work, how (and why) we water our yards and rake our leaves.

The Scriptures say: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion..."
We say: "It's time to get to work."