A Christ-centered Approach to Last-Day Events. Norman Gulley

A Christ-centered Approach to Last-Day Events Norman Gulley Copyright © 1998 by Review and Herald ® Publishing Association International copyright ...
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A Christ-centered Approach to Last-Day Events

Norman Gulley

Copyright © 1998 by Review and Herald ® Publishing Association International copyright secured The author assumes full responsibility for the accuracy of all facts and quotations as cited in this book.

Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this book are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Bible texts credited to Moffatt are from: The Bible: A New Translation, by James Moffatt. Copyright by James Moffat 1954. Used by permission of Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated. Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible texts credited to RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. Texts credited to RV are from The Revised Version, Oxford University Press, 1911. This book was Edited by Gerald Wheeler Copyedited by Eugene Lincoln Jacket designed by Ron J. Pride Cover photo/illustration: PhotoDisc/Ron J. Pride Typeset: 11/12 Times PRINTED IN U.S.A. 02 01 00 99

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Gulley, Norman R. Christ is coming! : a Christ-centered approach to last-day events /Norman Gulley. cm. p. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Seventh-day Adventists—Doctrines. 3. Second Advent. I. Title. BX6154.G85 1998 236—dc21

ISBN 0-8280-1335-7

2. End of the world.

98-23498 CIP

“For more than 30 years Norman Gulley has been teaching and writing about the last things. His doctoral dissertation focused on Karl Barth’s eschatology, and Gulley brings a depth of reflection and richness of research to this book. Christ Is Coming, the pinnacle of his life’s work, makes a major contribution to the Adventist Church and to Christian thought in general. What impresses me most about this book is Gulley’s love for Christ and the assurance that He brings as we face the end-time.” William G. Johnsson, Ph.D. Executive Publisher and Editor Adventist Review

“Seventh-day Adventists for too long have anticipated the end of this world with fear and trepidation. Norman Gulley successfully challenges that premise. He demonstrates that ‘the real time of trouble is for those who hate God’s people, and seek to eradicate them.’ The author has given us a work that encompasses far more than predictions about last-day events. It summarizes the lifework of one who has taught systematic theology for almost 40 years.” Rose Otis Vice President North American Division

“At last a thorough treatment of the Adventist doctrine of eschatology with a solidly biblical and Christ-centered focus! Eschatology is treated wholistically, within the larger perspective of the biblical worldview and the major alternative worldviews and end-time movements. This book will be an invaluable guide to last-day events for college and seminary students as well as pastors and laypersons. I plan to use it as my textbook for my seminary class in biblical eschatology.” Richard M. Davidson, Ph.D. Old Testament Department Andrews University Theological Seminary J. N. Andrews Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and Chair

“Gulley’s book provides an exciting, positive picture of the Second Coming for those whose faith is in the Lord. It is well grounded in Scripture, written in an easy-to-grasp style, yet provides additional material for those who wish to dig deeper. A must read for every Adventist who believes and hopes for the soon return of our Lord.” Randall W. Younker, Ph.D. Director, Ph.D./Th.D. programs Andrews University Theological Seminary

“A comprehensive, sensible, thoroughly Adventist, thoroughly Christ-centered look at a doctrine of the end-times. This book fills a major gap in Adventist publication.” Jon Paulien, Ph.D. Professor of New Testament Interpretation Andrews University Theological Seminary

“Christ Is Coming! is the most comprehensive volume on last-day events in the light of the great controversy that has ever been written. With its focus on Christ instead of the crisis, it brings hope to the heart and refreshes the soul.” Jack J. Blanco, Th.D. Dean, School of Religion Southern Adventist University

Norman Gulley’s book Christ Is Coming! is a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read discussion of the major issues regarding salvation, the understanding of Scripture, and the end-time prophecies. Its evaluation of the deceptive end-time doctrines of our time is beneficial for every reader. Its greatest contribution is the consistent application of the everlasting gospel to the prophetic Word of God.” Hans K. LaRondelle, Th.D. Professor Emeritus of Theology Andrews University Theological Seminary

Christ Is Coming! is written to give the reader step- by-step instructions on how to prepare for the final events in the great controversy. Gulley takes complex contemporary themes and develops them into a simple, concise writing style for average people.” Oliver J. McKinney Ministerial Association Secretary Southern Union Conference

“If you are serious about watching and working while awaiting the parousia of our Lord, Norm Gulley’s thoroughgoing volume will help render the journey informed and expectant. I’ll be keeping my copy close at hand.” Mervyn A. Warren, Ph.D., D.Min. Chairman of Religion Oakwood College

“The book is fragrant with hope, faith, and confidence in Christ’s soon return, and I’ve been deeply moved by it. Those who know and love Norman Gulley as a teacher will hear his voice in every line, and if they listen carefully, they will hear Christ’s voice as well.” Ed Christian, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of English and Bible Kutztown University of Pennsylvania “One of the most popular religion classes at Southern Adventist University is Last-Day Events, taught by Norman R. Gulley. From years of experience and deep study he offers a unique textbook Leo Van Dolson, Ph.D. that is for all members of the church.” Adjunct Professor of Religion and Health Evangelism Southern Adventist University

“With the impressive thoroughness we’ve come to expect, Norm Gulley has done the Seventhday Adventist Church and the Christian church in general a great service in preparing a textbook on last-day events. . . . It holds a wealth of immediately relevant information that every concerned and committed Christian will want to read.” Warren Ashworth, Ph.D. Professor of Religion Pacific Union College

“This comprehensive volume is a must for all who want to hear the present heartbeat of centrist Adventist eschatology.” Arthur N. Patrick, D.Min., Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professor Church History and Pastoral Ministry La Sierra University

“A comprehensive and all-encompassing overview of where we are today in terms of lastday events. Dr. Gulley has written a book that all Seventh-day Adventists should read, whether they would agree with every point or not.” Clifford Goldstein Editor, Liberty

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Dedication his book is dedicated to all my students, past, present, and future. What an inspiration and joy to have you in my classes! I dedicate the book to those I have had the privilege of presenting last-day events to at camp meetings, workers’ meetings, and weekend seminars. You too were such a blessing to me! I look forward to more. I have learned from you. Last, I want to dedicate the book to each reader, that you may be encouraged to joyfully face final events.

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Acknowledgments want to thank the Review and Herald ® Publishing Association for undertaking to publish this volume. I salute you for sensing the church needs a textbook/ sourcebook on last-day events. Special thanks are due Richard Coffen, vice president for editorial; Gerald Wheeler, assistant vice president; Jeannette Johnson, acquisitions editor; and Tim Crosby, editor-at-large. I am grateful to these persons and to all the team who worked so well on the project. As always, Gerald Wheeler did excellent work in editing. I want to thank those who gave such kind and generous endorsements of this book. Their words are an encouragement. Above all, I want to thank my Saviour for the many ideas that came to me while looking at last-day events from His perspective. I have sensed His presence with me in the research and writing of this books, and worship and adore Him for His gracious leading during the many years of gathering and thinking through the data. Grateful thanks to Peggy Bennett, director of libraries and her staff for obtaining interlibrary loan books and articles through the McKee Library at Southern Adventist University.

I

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Foreword he heartbeat of Adventism is succinctly expressed in the words of the Hymn, “We have this hope which burns within our hearts, hope in the coming of the Lord.” While early Adventists eagerly grasped the prophecies of the Second Coming, their focus centered not so much upon the doctrine per se as on Christ Himself. It was with tears of joy and eager anticipation that they looked forward to seeing their Saviour and Lord. That hope is still the spirit of Adventism today. As the good news of salvation through Christ alone and His soon return is broadcast by satellite and shared with others by millions of Adventists around the world, the great controversy between Christ and Satan is intensifying. Planet Earth, filled with people for whom Christ died, hurtles through the pre-Advent time zone with comparatively few aware that they are heading toward the end of human history. The faster we travel, the greater our need of the Holy Spirit to help us focus on Christ instead of the crisis while at the same time recognizing the hazards along the way. Dr. Norman Gulley has provided a comprehensive, Christ-centered volume on end-time events, movements, and scriptural teachings crucial to our understanding and safety. Postmodern thinking, which holds opposite values to be equally true; spirituality without the authority of Scripture; theistic evolution without 24-hour days of creation and a weekly Sabbath; worship as entertainment; and apparitions of Mary with supposed messages from heaven are only a few of the hazards exposed. While Dr. Gulley wrote Christ Is Coming! first as a textbook for Seventh-day Adventist young people, I recommend it to all of whatever age and Christian persuasion whose hope is the return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

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Robert S. Folkenberg

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Contents

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 PART ONE l INFORMATION FOR THE JOURNEY CHAPTER 1 l HOPE FOR POSTMODERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Differences Between Modernity and Postmodernity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Difficulties in Postmodernity for the Study of End-time Events. . . . . . . . . . 31 Postmodern Theory Cannot Be Lived . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Limits to Pluralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Opportunities in Postmodernism for Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Gospel as Transcultural, Transgenerational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The X Generation and Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 CHAPTER 2 l THE LARGER BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 The Larger Worldview of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 CHAPTER 3 l CHRIST KNOWS THE FUTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Process Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Process Theology as Threat to Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The Issue of Personal Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 A Deeper Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

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Faulty Idea of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 True Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Truth About God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Christ as Revelation of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Crossless Theology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 CHAPTER 4 l CHRIST IN CONTROL OF FINAL EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Escape From Egypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Red Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Our Greatest Danger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Go Possess the Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Other Giant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Other Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 CHAPTER 5 l SNEAK PREVIEW INTO LAST-DAY EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Importance of Daniel and Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Entirely New Religious Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The Book of Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Another Major Division in Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Two Further Structures in Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The Great Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 CHAPTER 6 l DISPENSATIONAL FINAL EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 System of Biblical Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 The Roots of the Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Dispensational Hermeneutics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Is the Present Return of Israel Prophetic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Calvary as Christ’s Last Word About Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 CHAPTER 7 l OTHER VIEWS ON FINAL EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Nineteenth-Century Ideas About the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

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Twentieth-Century Ideas About the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Danger of Historical Criticism of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Biblical Eschatology Is Three-dimensional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Christological Eschatology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 CHAPTER 8 l THE ROLE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Earmarks of the Counterfeit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 How Satan Has Made a Counterfeit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Catholicism in the End-time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 CHAPTER 9 l THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 CHAPTER 10 l MODERN SPIRITUALISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 The Pretense of Spiritualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 No Protection in Churches Against Spiritualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Role of Spiritualism in the End-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Masterpiece of Deception. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 CHAPTER 11 l THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Challenge to End-time Christians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Extensive Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Astonishing Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Roots and Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Importance of Acts to Tongues-speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 The Debate on Tongues in Acts and Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Biblical Evaluation of Tongues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 The Two-Baptism Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Tongues as a/the Sign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Why Spirit Baptism After Conversion in Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 The Real Meaning of the Full Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 The Function of the Spirit Since Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 The Sign of the Spirit’s Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Tongues and the “Spirit of Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Non-Christian Tongues-speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 “Christian Tongues” Induced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

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Bypassing the Conscious Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Linguistic Analysis of Tongues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Why Tongues? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Tongues Movement as Fulfillment of Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 CHAPTER 12 l THEOSOPHY: ROOTS OF THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT . . . . . . 159 Where We’ve Come So Far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 The End-time Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 New Age of Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Brief Overview of Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Theosophical Preparation for the New Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Helena P. Blavatsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Alice A. Bailey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Reappearance of Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 The Coming Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 CHAPTER 13 l THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT AND END-TIME EVENTS . . . . . . 179 When Does It Begin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 New Paradigm Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Humanity Taking Charge of Evolution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Global Consciousness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Global Union and the Antichrist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 CHAPTER 14 l THE NEW AGE ATTACK ON JESUS CHRIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 In the End-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 False Gospel Promoted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, 1907. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 The Urantia Book, 1955 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 A Course in Miracles, 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Is One Greater Than Christ to Come? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

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CHAPTER 15 l THE CHRISTIAN COALITION AND THE ENDGAME . . . . . . . . . 211 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 CHAPTER 16 l DOMINION ESCHATOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Goal: World Dominion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 CHAPTER 17 l PRECURSORS OF END-TIME ESCHATOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Savonarola in Florence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 John Calvin’s Geneva. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Oliver Cromwell in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Puritans in England and New England. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Religion and State United in Other Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Confusion of God’s Kingdom With the World’s Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 The Kingdom in Premodern Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 The Kingdom in Modern Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Biblical Views of the Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 CHAPTER 18 l YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 The Trump Card in the End-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Debate About Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 CHAPTER 19 l THE INTERMEDIATE STATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 He Saw Her Last Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 The “Already” and “Not Yet” Eschatological Tension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Intermediate State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 CHAPTER 20 l PURGATORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 More Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Where Did the Idea Come From? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Protestants Take Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 CHAPTER 21 l HOLISTIC VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Contemporary Holistic Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

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What About Soul Sleep? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 CHAPTER 22 l THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Old Testament Insights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 New Testament Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Death and Spiritualism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Death as the Last Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Christ’s Return and the Resurrected Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Christ’s Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Christ’s Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 CHAPTER 23 l THE DEBATE ON HELL HEATS UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 The Hell-Death Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Those Opposing Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 CHAPTER 24 l THE CASES FOR AND AGAINST HELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Taught in Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Taught by Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Examples Seeming to Confirm Hell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 The Case Against Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 CHAPTER 25 l THE BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW AND HELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 The Question of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 CHAPTER 26 l THE BATTLE AGAINST THE SABBATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Satan’s Guise in Attacking Christ and His Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 A Look at History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 CHAPTER 27 l THE SABBATH IN CRISIS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 Three Views on the Sabbath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335 Old and New Covenant Dichotomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Sabbath Not Rejected in the New Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

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Sabbath Not a Creation Ordinance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Sabbath as Temporary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Sabbath as a Creation Ordinance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 The Creator/Redeemer Dichotomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 CHAPTER 28 l SATAN’S SUNDAY SABBATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 Sunday in the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Sunday Worship in the New Testament Questioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 Origin of Sunday Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Sabbath as a Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Sunday as a Moral Commandment?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Sunday and Religious Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 CHAPTER 29 l THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 Sabbath as Essence of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Types Met Fulfillment in Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Sabbath More Than a Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Sabbath Remains for Christians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 The End-time Sabbath Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 How to Prepare for the Coming Crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 CHAPTER 30 l THE REAL ISSUE IN THE COMING SUNDAY LAW . . . . . . . . . 358 The Purpose of the Sabbath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 Sabbath as Creation Ordinance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Sabbath Unfolded in Salvation History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Old Testament Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 New Testament Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 The Real Issue in the Sunday Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 The Final Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 CHAPTER 31 l EVOLUTION: A THEORY IN CRISIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 The Mission of Seventh-day Adventists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Massive Influence of Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 Influence on Christians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Evolution of Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

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Recent Publications Calling Evolutionary Theory Into Question . . . . . . . . 379 The Parameters of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Causation as a Part of Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 The Origin of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 CHAPTER 32 l EVIDENCES AGAINST EVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Descent or Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 The Function of DNA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Complexity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 The Human Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 The Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 CHAPTER 33 l EVOLUTION UNDER FIRE AND AN END-TIME CHALLENGE . . 398 Natural Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 The Fossil Record Doesn’t Support Darwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Punctuated Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Cambrian Explosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Cladistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 Molecular Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Evolutionary Logic Questioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Evolution as a Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 The Changing Evolutionary Worldview and the Challenge to Seventh-day Adventist Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 CHAPTER 34 l THE PRE-ADVENT JUDGMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Jesus Understands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 The Pre-Advent Investigation in Its Biblical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Pre-Advent Judgment in Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 CHAPTER 35 l THE GOOD NEWS OF THE PRE-ADVENT JUDGMENT . . . . . . . 427 Day of Atonement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 Pre-Advent Judgment in Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Revelation Corroborates Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 The Good News About the Pre-Advent Judgment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

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CHAPTER 36 l THE MILLENNIUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 The Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 Postmillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Dominion Theology—A Form of Postmillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 Amillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 Dispensational Premillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 Historic Premillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Why the Millennium Is in Heaven, and Not on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 A Closer Look at Revelation 20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 The Purpose of the Millennium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 The Everlasting Kingdom Reign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 CHAPTER 37 l HOW TO HAVE ASSURANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 The Good News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Christ in You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 Devotion to Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 PART TWO l THE JOURNEY CHAPTER 38 l IT’S THE END-TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 Look What’s Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 Gathering for the Journey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 Where Should We Begin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 So Let’s Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 The Other Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 What Happened Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475 CHAPTER 39 l SATAN’S FINAL PUSH FOR WORLD DOMINATION . . . . . . . . . 476 Behold the Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476 A Gathering Under Way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 The Christian Front and Sunday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 The Sunday Battleground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Satan’s Final Takeover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

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CHAPTER 40 l ALL THE WORLD WONDERED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 The Sea Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 America in the End-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 Strategy of the Christian Coalition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 Look Out—It Could Happen Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 Another Trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 Fire From Heaven. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 Where Are We Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 The Bottom Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 CHAPTER 41 l THE EARLY TIME OF TROUBLE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 The Holy Spirit in Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 Coming Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 The Stealth Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 The Thief in the Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 The Holy Spirit Resisted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 How Many Adventists Will Experience the Thief in the Night?. . . . . . . . . 501 How to Prepare for the Latter Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 How the Disciples Prepared for Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 Enoch as Mentor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 Results of the Coming Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 CHAPTER 42 l A DOUBLE GATHERING UNDER WAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Two Gatherings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Another Vital Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 Elijah a Type of the End-time Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 CHAPTER 43 l THE GREAT TIME OF TROUBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 Too Late . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 Probation Closes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519 Satan’s Final Fling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 Where Are the Saints? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 Why the Great Time of Trouble? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 Time of Judgment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 The Larger View of the Great Time of Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

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Other Events in the Great Time of Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 The Great Time of Trouble as Remembered by Christ’s Bride. . . . . . . . . . 535 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 CHAPTER 44 l THE GREATEST RESCUE OF ALL TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 The Importance of Calvary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 Can Humans Delay the Advent? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 Threefold Dimension of Last-day Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 Two Pictures of the Second Advent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 Armageddon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 The Book of Esther. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 CHAPTER 45 l THE OTHER JOURNEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 The Great Divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 The Mysterious Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 The Second Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 Homeward Bound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Heaven at Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 How Could He Do It?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 An Unforgettable Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 The 1,000-Year Vacation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Going Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Armageddon, Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 The Final Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 An Empty Heaven?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 Calvary Forever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 BIBLICAL INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 NAME INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 TOPICAL INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583

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Introduction

ur planet rushes toward its rendezvous with destiny. Time is running out. Will we make it to the third millennium? One thing is certain. People around the world sense that something is coming. Never before have people around the world had so many angel encounters. Never before have there been so many apparitions of the virgin Mary. Never before have psychics become so widely accepted. Never before has spiritualism had such a worldwide impact, as seen in the New Age and charismatic movements. Never before has the Catholic Church had such global influence. Never before have Christians been in a position to dominate American politics as in the Christian Coalition. Something is going on behind the scenes. Planet Earth moves like a plane on a transoceanic flight. It has been a long time since takeoff, and the trip has been bumpy at times. Yet look ahead. A dreary, dark, dense sky threatens. Black, surly storm clouds gather along the whole horizon. They begin to surround and shake the

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plane. No detour offers an escape around the storm. Planet Earth must move into it. The most stupendous crisis of all time is about to unfold. The early time of trouble, the great time of trouble, and the time of Jacob’s trouble loom large ahead. Even now turbulence batters the planet as it enters the fringes of the coming storm. Recently, near the beginning of the semester, I took a survey of some students at Southern Adventist University who were studying last-day events. The results showed that 49 percent worry about the present pre-advent judgment, 56 percent are scared of lastday events (in fact, 41 percent would rather die than go through last-day events), 37 percent believe they gain entrance to heaven through Christ’s sacrifice plus their human efforts, 50 percent are not sure they would be saved if they died today, and yet 88 percent claimed they know Christ as a personal friend. That is a stunning revelation, when you realize they represent a cross sec-

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C HRIST I S C OMING ! tion of Seventh-day Adventist youth from all over the United States and other countries, studying a variety of majors. They are among the final generation, yet many do not want to be part of it. Something is radically wrong here. And who could say that the results would be any better if we researched older people? To be afraid of last-day events is human. Who wants to exchange a comparatively normal existence for what is just ahead? Yet it will be our finest hour, one we’ll speak about forever in eternity, as we shall see later. It is the time when Satan faces resounding defeat. He knows this and is out to take over not only the world but Christians too! As never before, Christians need faith: a faith that keeps a steady gaze on the coming Christ beyond the crisis. Christ, and not the crisis, should occupy their minds. For not so much what is coming as who is coming should occupy the mind. The outcome of a football game is not over until the fourth quarter. Satan causes havoc in final events, but Christ will have the last word. But that’s not all. Christ will be with His people through those final events. He promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). His presence will mean everything to His followers. He will do for them what they could never do for themselves. Many people look at final events as if they have to go through them alone. No wonder they remain petrified! But Christ longs that His people look to Him. Jesus asked if when the Son of man returns, would He find faith in the earth? (see Luke 18:8).

Perhaps here is the problem. Few will have the necessary faith. Faith in Him will make the decisive, determining difference for the journey through endtime turbulence. In this book we will look frankly at the coming crisis, but not apart from the present and coming Christ. As we rapidly move toward the third millennium, it is time to let Christ liberate us from the shackles of fear. Do you long to hope again? Or even for the first time? Since 1960 college and seminary students have taken my last-day events class. It has been a joy to proclaim the good news about final events through these classes and seminars in different parts of the world. My conviction is that many Christians are far too scared of final events. But when they hear of coming events in their Christ-centered context, fear falls away. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). For nearly 40 years I’ve rejoiced to see thousands of persons begin to hope again. I have written this book so that you too may stop fearing coming events. Satan is in the business of getting Christians fixated on what is coming instead of on Christ. By the way, I surveyed those students at the end of the semester. Ninetysix percent had lost their fear of last-day events. What a dramatic change wrought by Christ! They gained freedom to rejoice in Him and now face final events as their privileged destiny. So can you! May God bless you and give you freedom too. l Norman R. Gulley, Ph.D. Professor of Systematic Theology Southern Adventist University

Preface

ookshelves bulge with last-dayevents books that claim to predict the events awaiting us. They speak about the new world order, the New Age movement, the secret rapture, the alleged role of Israel in the end-time, Armageddon, and the millennium. Other books supposedly tell us about life after death, with alleged reports from resuscitated human beings returning to speak about what they experienced. More books report on the coming one-world government, the millennial kingdom, and America’s role in final events. Reconstructionists, dispensationalists, and historicists all have their own ideas. We need to know what is out there and how to evaluate it. This book does some of that for you. Above all, we need to see what Satan’s strategy is through such movements. He is using the New Age movement, the charismatic movement, spiritualism, channeling, the Christian Coalition, and dominionists to take over the planet. As Christ’s followers, we need to know how the concept of process theology undermines final events.

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This book also looks at ideas that have a definite bearing on final events. Satan will use Sunday sacredness and the state of the dead as two pillars in the end-time. We will evaluate them. Today many people question the concept of hell, the view of the immediate survival of the soul at death, and Darwinian evolution. As Christians, we need to know about such debates and the biblical answers to them. All of these impact on last-day events. The issues of death and hell will form a part of final events for most Christians. Catholics add purgatory to the controversy. The proponents of all three concepts present them as final events for the individual in a way that grabs the focus from coming global or cosmic final events. What does the Bible speak about them? We need to know, so that we have an answer to give our Christian friends as well as having protection for ourselves. In an unprecedented way in the end-time Satan will confront Christians with what seems to be their dead loved ones. Evolution challenges the first

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C HRIST I S C OMING ! angel’s message of the book of Revelation. Sunday directly attacks the third angel’s message. Both messages play a central role in final events. We’ll study their meaning and expose the counterfeits launched against them. And we will explore the real issue in the coming Sunday law and examine the deeper meaning of the Sabbath for survival through those final events. This book will consider the importance of the pre-Advent judgment. All these things are vital to a preparation for final events and to give us insight to

face them unafraid. After looking at how to interpret end-time events and evaluate end-time movements and end-time doctrines, we then take the journey through final events. If you want to skip to the journey and take that first, then come back to the other sections, that is fine. But much in the earlier material will help make the journey clearer and equip you for the real journey just ahead. l Unless otherwise stated, I have used the New International Version of Scripture throughout.

Part One

Information for the Journey

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Chapter 1

Hope for Postmoderns

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oday we’re in the midst of a profound transition from what scholars call modernity to a new period they label as postmodernity. The human race has entered a new era that presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities to our study of end-time events. Many have attempted to describe postmodernity. “A massive intellectual revolution is taking place,” Diogenes Allen says, “that is perhaps as great as that which marked off the modern world from the Middle Ages. The foundations of the modern world are collapsing, and we are entering a postmodern world. The principles formed during the Enlightenment (c. 1600-1780), which formed the foundations of modern mentality, are crumbling.” 1 Leith Anderson says, “We are experiencing enormous structural change in our country and in the world— change that promises to be greater than the invention of the printing press, greater than the Industrial Revolution, and greater than the rise and demise of Communism. Our world is changing so

quickly that we can barely keep track of what is happening, much less figure out how to respond.” 2 Defined We begin with a simple fact: Postmodernity comes after modernity. The seventeenth-century Enlightenment, which dominated human quest for knowledge and understanding for 200 years, launched the intellectual period we call modernity. Scientific method brought multiplied technological benefits, but it also negatively affected global ecology as well as bringing the human race to the brink of a nuclear holocaust. As a result, its earlier belief in knowledge as inherently good came to a shattering end. Thus, early in the twentieth century thinkers began to challenge the modern worldview, and it continues to be questioned. Postmodernity is also antimodernity. The modern worldview included the acceptance of humanity’s inevitable progress, often based on evolutionary theory. We have now come to a generation that for the first time does not see

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C HRIST I S C OMING ! any inevitable better future. The optimism of the Enlightenment, with its vaunted belief in human reason, has given way to pessimism and meaninglessness. It is as if the world has suddenly awakened to a reality check. Whereas scientific method, reason, and universal objectivity influenced the modern worldview, postmodernity rejects scientific method, reason, and universal objectivity. The collapse of a unified, rational, and meaningful worldview has thrown the human race into a period in which each person approaches reality from his or her own particular presuppositions and assumptions. No single worldview provides a meaningful assessment of reality. “Defining the idea of postmodernism,” Gary Phillips writes, “is a bit like nailing down Jell-O.” 3 Differences Between Modernity and Postmodernity When it comes to comparing modernity and postmodernity, a radical discontinuity overshadows the continuities we do find. First, let us look at an example of continuity. The modern antipathy to metaphysics and the transcendental continues in postmodernity. “While modernism categorically denies the transcendent and spends a great deal of time and effort attempting to prove that the transcendent does not exist,” William E. Brown says, “Postmodernism confronts the transcendent with a yawn.” 4 Postmodernity especially champions liberation causes. If we have no transcendent God, then human beings themselves have to become revolutionaries to bring change in their own strength and in their own way. The

new worldview defends the marginalized. Yet at the same time, as Carl F. H. Henry notes, “religion is marginalized and trivialized,” 5 and “Postmodernists have genuinely given up on the idea of absolute truth.” 6 What a paradox—they have an absolute mission or right (to liberate), yet without an absolute mandate or truth, which leaves one wondering how even liberation can be an absolute truth for them! Modernistic philosophy shut God out of our part of His universe. Its closed continuum worldview rejected any inbreaking of the supernatural within the normal operation of cause and effect. Huston Smith suggests that the modern mind thought that “seeing further in a horizontal direction would compensate for loss of the vertical.” But modernistic philosophy failed to realize that human vision on the horizontal plane is still confined within a closed universe and is therefore trapped in its own subjectivity. Smith illustrates this vision with a line silhouetting the Himalayan range. Modernity grabbed both ends and pulled it into a straight line.7 Also modernity flaunted human reason as the savior of all human problems. Such extreme rationalism was not enlightened, although it was a product of the Enlightenment. Postmodernists rightly question such intellectual arrogance, but go too far by rejecting reason altogether.8 The solution lies between the two extremes, employing a proper use of reason under the guidance of Scripture to arrive at solutions. After all, the God of all truth invited humanity, “Come now, let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18).

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Difficulties in Postmodernity for the Study of End-time Events Postmodernism raises major difficulties when presenting end-time events. If we are to be relevant to our generation, we must pay full attention to the challenges that postmodernity poses. The first thing we must keep in mind is that we must think through end-time events in light of the current generation, not one that has already gone. We must present final events afresh for every generation. This does not change the content, but it may change the way we communicate it. 1. Opposed to System How can one present a systematic presentation of the journey through endtime events when postmoderns reject the very concept of such systems? We must realize it’s one thing to reject a system, and another thing to live a muddled life. Often the very ones rejecting such systems still organize their day, plan their vacations, and work in a routine manner, arriving at appointments on time. Modern life demands schedules, whether for travel, business, or listening to the evening news. We find an inbuilt orderliness in air flights (sometimes), television programs, and the publication of Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, and U.S. News and World Report, to name a few examples. Postmoderns oppose systems only on the theoretical level, not everyday life. Yet there is no advantage to reject something at the theoretical level that proves eminently workable in ordinary living. We can understand why postmoderns want to discard the strictures of modernity, the science that led to

ecological and nuclear threats to the planet, but modernity has more to it than that. It has a good side that continues in postmodernity, because life is more orderly than the theory of postmodernity allows. 2. Opposed to a Center Although postmoderns reject the idea of a center in every theory, they cannot live out the concept in practice. If God is not the center of a person’s life, then someone or something else will be. The Ten Commandments deal with the problem up front. The very first commandment says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2, 3). The Deuteronomy account repeats it (Deut. 5:6, 7). Humans are incurably worshipers, an important fact to remember, because the end-time confrontation will involve worship, and all humanity will participate. The fact that human beings worship stems from their creation by God (Gen. 1:26-31; 2:7, 20-25). God made them for Himself. If they do not worship God, they will worship some other god or gods, which is why religion occurs in every culture, however primitive or advanced. Creation has programmed human beings to seek a center to their life, to give it meaning and security. Postmodernity has not lessened the number of die-hard football and baseball fans. Basketball still draws the crowds, as do tennis, golf, and car racing. People still seek after Hollywood stars and praise them on Oscar nights. And work is often central to those wanting to get ahead, whether in profes-

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C HRIST I S C OMING ! sional or business life. Thus workaholism didn’t recede with the advent of postmodernity. The effects of Creation and modernity still live on in spite of postmodernism’s decentering theory. 3. Opposed to Any Worldview Unlike all prior ages, postmodernity has no overarching worldview. Yet we cannot possibly live up to this theoretical position. Postmodernity is a revolt expressed in many different ways. One way occurs through liberation theology, a quest for political power influenced by Marxism. But even liberation theology has a worldview, seeing God as in the business of liberating marginalized people. Thus the concept of liberation holds the center of this worldview. This is but one example of how a movement even within postmodernity does have a worldview in practice. Modernity had both a center and a worldview. Postmodernity has neither. Yet, paradoxically, postmodernity finds itself in a shrinking world that thinks more in global terms, ranging from economy to ecology. At the very time when philosophy seeks to throw order to the winds, a global village has emerged, demanding even greater order. To this extent, in many areas of life, a worldview has been thrust upon the very revolution that abandoned all worldviews. 4. Relativism By rejecting any system, center, or worldview, the only option left to postmodernity was relativism. But relativism means that every individual has a right to his or her own view. The local situation has replaced the broader context, situation ethics usurped the

moral code, and personal preference pushed aside values. “If it feels good” substituted for an objective norm. Order gives way to chaos, hope to nihilism, and the future to the everpresent. Reality has no goal, purpose, or fulfillment. Humanity has become less than human. Such dysfunctionality cannot sustain a viable human existence. We want meaning in our lives. Postmoderns are desperate for meaning and a future. More than ever, they need to know the good news about final events on Planet Earth. Postmodern Theory Cannot Be Lived Having already noticed that it is impossible to actually live out some postmodern theories, we now take a closer look at this fact. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), father of postmodernism, proclaimed God as dead and promoted nihilism, or meaninglessness. Yet he discovered meaning in a social movement of his time and promoted it with gusto, thus demonstrating that he could not practice his own theory. Jean-Paul Sartre’s (1905-1980) world was one of meaninglessness, a world without morals. Yet he couldn’t live up to his theory when he signed the Algerian Manifesto, “taking a position as though morals have real meaning.” 9 A. J. Ayer suggested that only mathematico-logical truths and empirical truths are meaningful. All other statements that we cannot verify by sense data are “nonsense.” Thus all biblical statements are meaningless. Such a view immediately confines truth statements, or statements of

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meaning, to a very narrow slice of life. It forces us to renounce poetry, music, religion, and art. But how can anyone live in such a narrowly prescribed world? Furthermore, the theory could not stand under its own test for a truth statement. After all, how can we possibly test a theory of language that accepts only mathematico-logical and empirical statements by that standard? René Descartes (1596-1650), the father of modernity, used the method of doubt. David Hume (1711-1776) took it to its ultimate conclusion, and it plunged him into utter skepticism. David K. Clark said that “Hume’s philosophy left him completely in the dark about what to think, whom to trust, what cause to defend, or what activity to pursue. Given modern requirements, reason could not dispel his doubts. But he noticed that the company of friends put him in better spirits. So he turned to dining and backgammon to heal his epistemological depressions. His philosophy, however, proved utterly impotent to avoid skepticism.”10 Hume needed relief from his theory, for it simply could not be lived. Jacques Derrida claims that “all interpretations are misinterpretation,” and that a text has no clear meaning. But he jettisoned his theory once when he was misunderstood in a debate with John Searle. “Believing that Searle’s exposition of his position had been unfair to him, Derrida could not resist saying, at several points in his reply, that Searle had misunderstood him and misstated his views, even adding at one point that what he, Derrida, had meant should have been clear enough and obvious to Searle. This is indeed a very far cry CIC-2

from the claim that Derrida’s essential position cannot be stated as others can (or that a reader should not try to grasp the author’s intent!). Derrida thus abandons this position, just as others do, when he feels the need to replace a misstatement of his view with an adequate statement of it.” 11 Stanley Fish is “one of the most influential literary theorists” 12 and “radical” reader-response theorists, focusing on meaning in the reading community rather than in the biblical text itself.13 Reader-response is an important part of the postmodern scene. Fish goes so far as to maintain that “the text as a formal entity does not exist apart from the reader’s interpretive act.” 14 In fact, reader-response theorists believe that readers are coauthors with the biblical writers, and they give to the text the meaning it should have. That is, the text has no real meaning in and of itself. How could life operate on Fish’s theory? It would destroy any agreement on the American Constitution, for example, or any other document, so that every citizen could interpret it as he or she chose. It would put the very concept of governance in jeopardy. Traffic signs would have no standard meaning, and driving would be hazardous. Some may choose to drive on the opposite side of the road, others could agree that red traffic lights indicate that you should drive straight through the intersection and that stop signs would mean you have the rightof-way. Contracts would be impossible and would bring business to a grinding halt, for the same wording would imply different things to different people. If a text has no meaning in itself,

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C HRIST I S C OMING ! but only in the mind of the reader, then no language would have meaning in and of itself either. It would exist only in the mind of the hearer. Life would simply break down hopelessly on these terms, for no one could ever be sure that he or she could communicate. How could one order from a catalog over the phone? How could any TV station present the evening news? What purpose would weather reports have? What would an emergency 911 call accomplish? What meaning would a doctor’s diagnosis have? What would university teaching accomplish? The list is endless. It is simply impossible to accept Fish’s reader-response theory and make sense out of life. Limits to Pluralism The pluralism of postmodernity also causes chaos. As Mortimer J. Adler reminds us in his book Truth in Religion, “a stable and peaceful society cannot exist under the domination of two or more competing governments unless one is subordinate to the other.”15 Adler shows that pluralism has always existed when it comes to matters of taste and is tolerable in that context, but not in the context of truth.16 He notes that “anything that is transcultural is clearly in the sphere of truth.” Thus the pluralism endemic in postmodernism cannot survive in practice in certain contexts. Opportunities in Postmodernism for Truth Despite all its problems, however, postmodernism does give opportunity for truth to regain what it lost to modernism. Too often the church capitulated

to the threat from modernism instead of resisting. The modern worldview had more influence than the biblical worldview, and the church surrendered to it. The tragedy is now obvious as the modern worldview has itself retreated before that of postmodernism. 1. Christianity’s Capitulation to Modernism Postmodernism has called modernism into question. Yet it is the very modernism to which the church often surrendered to keep its intellectual respectability. Since the 1960s, in the post-Vietnam era, many people have turned away from the materialism of the West to the mysticism of the East. Some of them are seeking for what they sense is missing in the West. Turning to the East for fullness, they explore Hinduism and Buddhism. “Those dissatisfied with secular modernity most often turn to the East or to the distant mythic past,” says William C. Platcher. “One reason seems to be that Christianity cannot criticize our culture very effectively if it has already accepted many of the assumptions of that culture as the price of intellectual respectability.” 17 The fact is, as Stanley Grenz reminds us, “most major Protestant denominations” “ ‘defected’ to ‘modernism.’ ” 18 Unsure of their own biblical foundation, they caved in to science and to culture. But the collapse of modernism demonstrated the limitations of science. Science cannot deal with ultimate or existential meanings. “Theology need cater to our prevailing styles of thought only if it wishes to,” says Huston Smith. “Nothing in the way

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of evidence requires that it do so.” 19 With respect to culture, I concur with William C. Platcher that “Christianity cannot criticize our culture very effectively if it has already accepted many of the assumptions of that culture as the price of intellectual respectability.” 20 Accommodation closely accompanies the desire for acceptance. To confine Scripture to a cultural artifact is a case in point. Then Scripture ceases to be the Word of God to culture. Culture judges Scripture instead of the reverse. 2. More Room for Religion Modernism stifled religion by closing the door to the transcendent with its rejection of metaphysics. It confined the parameters of possible thought and study to a closed continuum of cause and effect, so that it in effect removed God from the realm of human history. Science limited reality to the observable, so that the religious dimension of human experience could occupy only an interior substitute for objective reality. Now the collapse of this modern worldview has radically questioned such strictures. “In a way that has never been possible in modernity, one can find philosophical or rational space for ‘giving an account for the hope that is in you,’ ” Don R. Stiver comments. “In other words, there is no philosophical hindrance that a priori calls such a response into question. And given the importance of reason in modernity, this renewed sense of the rationality of religion opens up a new social and cultural space for religion. In other words, if the opportunity can be seized, postmodernity allows conceptual space for religion’s

stretching its arms and walking about in a way not possible in the cramped quarters allowed for it since the onset of modernity. The danger is that it may continue to pace back and forth in its alltoo-familiar constricted confines, not knowing that the surrounding bars have long ago rusted away.” 21 3. Intellectual Strength of Christianity Diogenes Allen, in his book Christian Belief in a Postmodern World: The Full Wealth of Conviction, speaks of “a new openness for faith.” He reminds us that Christianity has been on the defensive intellectually during modernism. During that period many have declared that the post-Christian age has dawned, “on the basis of physics, biology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology.” 22 We are now in an age when philosophy and science, once used to attack Christianity, now find themselves under siege. During the reign of modernism, Christianity came under severe attack for the first time. This was a revolt against the authority found in church and Scripture. Human beings became their own authority, and human reason ruled supreme. The historical-critical methods of biblical study did their devastating work on the biblical documents. Evolutionary theory radically called into question the Genesis account of Creation, and geology doubted the universal Flood story. Human reason elevated itself above divine revelation, thus bringing God’s Word captive to humanity. But this worldview is now collapsing. As Allen notes: “No longer can