For a transcript of this video along with resources and other information please visit http://www.MEDIAROOTS.org

After the death of the apostles, Christianity continued to grow and flourish, even though it was beset by poverty and persecution. When we read the writings of the early Church, we enter a world that is in some ways very different than ours. Persecution and ridicule helped to keep the Church free of converts who would come merely to seek worldly advantage. Closeness to the apostles was strength. Some churches could even speak of the times when the apostles actually sat in their midst and explained the ways of Christ.

Language was also an advantage. Their faith was one that was “handed down,” more than one that was determined merely by studying ancient languages and trying to guess the root meanings of words. I find it kind of funny when I read of some university professor today, claiming that the ancient Greek plainly—and—emphatically says something, and then find out that the very people who lived in ancient Greece said just the opposite. With this advantage, the early Church often cuts through many of our longstanding facades and institutional excuses.

On the other hand, the early church was in many ways very much like we are today. A casual read through the book of Corinthians reveals that the early Christians certainly were not immune to the problems of worldliness, compromise, and sin. The early Christians clashed with their culture—and that clash came with many hard situations that forced the Church to seek the face of God.

And just as we are today, they were just regular men and women. Their words are not Gospel, authoritative, or inspired. In their day, as much as in ours, the words, life, and calling of Jesus stand without comparison or exceptions. Regardless of the changing times and opinions of men, the Word of God stands forever.

That said, the closeness to the apostles, the natural understanding of ancient languages and cultures, the purification of persecution—not to mention the sheer antiquity of their age, makes the early Church an invaluable commentary, to say the very least.

Divorce—and also—Remarriage

A few pointers in early Christian theology will help in understanding the ancient view of divorce and remarriage.

First, the early Church saw marriage as a lifelong, unbreakable bond until the death of one of the partners. You can’t miss this point and understand their view. Modern discussions about divorce and remarriage never seem to grasp this point.

The modern Christian frequently cries out, “Can’t my sin be forgiven?” The answer is, “Of course, Jesus can forgive your sin.” However, the modern mind misses an important point. The problem preventing the person from considering a second marriage is not the “sin” per se. Yes, the sin must be dealt with and repented of. However, as the early Church saw it, the actual barrier preventing the new marriage is not the “sin,” but rather the fact that the person is still married in the eyes of God.

To enter into another marriage would have been serial polygamy to the early Church. Jesus said, “Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Today we ask, “Why does Jesus call the remarriage ‘adultery’ if the woman is legally divorced?” The early Church answered that it was called “adultery” simply because the woman was still married in the eyes of God—regardless of what divorce procedure she went through.

Second, the issues of divorce and remarriage are looked at as two separate entities. The title of this article is a bit clumsy to stress this very point. In our modern understanding, justification for a divorce also grants justification for remarriage—the early Church would disagree. As the Apostle Paul said, “But and if she depart [divorce], let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband” (1 Cor. 7:11). As we will read, the early Church did at times allow for separation. However, this understanding would harmonize with Paul’s teaching that the separated person was expected to “remain unmarried.”

When the early Church is considered as a whole, a conspicuous unity is seen considering the subject of divorce and remarriage. Heth and Wenhem, in their book Jesus and Divorce, say, “To list those who hold that remarriage after divorce is contrary to the gospel teaching is to call a roll of the best-known early Christian theologians…In all, twenty-five individual writers and two early councils forbid remarriage after divorce”(p. 38).

Hermas

Heth and Wenhem tell us that the earliest Christian teaching on divorce is found in The Shepherd of Hermas. Many of the early Christians quote from this work. In this book, Hermas is seen as a man questioning his heavenly guardian about what a man should do if he learns that his wife is guilty of adultery and persists in it.

I say to him, “Sir, permit me to ask thee a few more questions.” “Say on,” saith he. “Sir,” say I, “if a man who has a wife that is faithful in the Lord detect her in adultery, doth the husband sin in living with her?” “So long as he is ignorant,” saith he, “he sinneth not; but if the husband know of her sin, and the wife repent not, but continue in her fornication, and her husband live with her, he makes himself responsible for her sin and an accomplice in her adultery.” “What then, Sir,” say I, “shall the husband do, if the wife continue in this case?” “Let him divorce her,” saith he, “and let the husband abide alone: but if after divorcing his wife he shall marry another, he likewise committeth adultery.” “If then, Sir,” say I, “after the wife is divorced, she repent and desire to return to her own husband, shall she not be received?” “Certainly,” saith he, “if the husband receiveth her not, he sinneth and bringeth great sin upon himself; … For this cause ye were enjoined to remain single, whether husband or wife; for in such cases repentance is possible.

Here it should be noted that Hermas allowed for separation because of adultery, but like the apostle Paul, required that the man remain single in hopes of his wife’s future repentance. He even quoted Paul in 1 Cor. 7:11 as support.

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr was an early convert to Christianity around the year A.D. 130. Patristic scholars suggest that Justin is quoting from some kind of ancient catechism. Whatever the case, Justin has some pretty strong words against remarriage. Commenting on the need for Christian chastity, Justin teaches on the different uses of the words “adultery,” as used by Jesus. Justin mentions Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” warnings, as well as His teaching from Matt. 19 concerning the “eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven”. After discussing the problem of lust, Justin brings up Jesus’ words on remarriage saying:

“And, Whosoever shall marry her that is from another husband, commits adultery. And, There are some who have been made eunuchs of men, and some who were born eunuchs, and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake; but all cannot receive this saying.

“So that all who, by human law, are twice married, are in the eye of our Master sinners, and those who look upon a woman to lust after her.”

Look at those words “twice married” that I highlighted. They are from the Greek words, διγαμίας ποιούμενοι, which literally translate “double marriage,” or rather—bigamy. These are some challenging views for our modern times. Notice that he said that even though “by human law” the divorce was accepted, in the eyes of God it was sin.

Athenagoras

In A.D. 177, Athenagoras from Athens wrote, “A plea for the Christians.” In this writing he says that a Christian:

“Should either remain as he was born, or be content with one marriage; for a second marriage is only a fair-seeming adultery. ‘For whosoever puts away his wife,’ says He, ‘and marries another, commits adultery’; not permitting a man to send her away whose virginity he has brought to an end, nor to marry again.”

In this statement, Athenagoras states that he recognizes that his culture is allowing remarriage so he called it “fair-seeming adultery.” Others have translated this statement as, “for a second marriage is only auspicious.”

Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria, teaching some kind of a catechism class around A.D. 194, speaks out strongly on marriage saying:

Now that the Scripture counsels marriage, and allows no release from the union, is expressly contained in the law, ‘Thou shalt not put away thy wife, except for the cause of fornication;’ and it regards as fornication, the marriage of those separated while the other is alive. … ‘He that taketh a woman that has been put away,’ it is said, ‘committeth adultery; and if one puts away his wife, he makes her an adulteress,’ that is, compels her to commit adultery. And not only is he who puts her away guilty of this, but he who takes her, by giving to the woman the opportunity of sinning; for did he not take her, she would return to her husband. (Stromata, 2:24).

When debating against several heretical groups that were renouncing marriage altogether by quoting Jesus’ words on becoming eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, found in Matt. 19:9, Clement defends the passage. He says that the passage is obviously teaching about what a man should do if his wife leaves him because of fornication.

“Not all can receive this saying. There are some eunuchs who were born so, and some who were made eunuchs by men, and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven; let him receive it who can receive it,” they do not realize the context. After his word about divorce some asked him whether, if that is the position in relation to woman, it is better not to marry; and it was then that the Lord said: “Not all can receive this saying, but those to whom it is granted.” What the questioners wanted to know was whether, when a man’s wife has been condemned for fornication, it is allowable for him to marry another (Stromata, Bk. 3, Ch. 6)

Origen

Origen, another philosopher-turn-Christian, speaking sharply against remarriage said:

Just as a woman is an adulteress, even though she seems to be married to a man, while a former husband yet lives, so also the man who seems to marry who has been divorced does not marry her, but, according to the declaration of our Savior, he commits adultery with her (Commentaries on Matthew 14).

Even after the age of Constantine and his legalizing of Christianity in A.D. 312, the doctrine remained strong. Stephen Wilcox, in his article, “The Authoritative Teachings of the Early Church on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage,” offers an impressive summary of the teachings of the early Church, and outlines the writers which spoke explicitly on that point. His summary goes beyond the Constantine era. However, I think the consistency and force of the later writers bears witness to the uniformity of this doctrine. Ironically, most of these later writers are venerated, even by modern Reformed theologians today. Quoting Stephen Wilcox:

Summary of Early Church Doctrine on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage 90 A.D. – 419 A.D.

If a spouse persists in adulterous behavior and there is no other alternative, the marriage relationship can be terminated by the innocent party (Hermes, Clement, Jerome, Augustine).

Spouses that are divorced for any reason must remain celibate and single as long as both spouses live. Remarriage is expressly prohibited (Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine).

To indulge in lust with the mind is to be guilty of adultery of the heart (Justin Martyr).

Whoever marries a divorced person commits adultery (Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine).

Whoever contracts a second marriage, whether a Christian or not, while a former spouse lives is sinning against God (Justin Martyr, Ambrose).

God does not, and the Church must not, take into account human law when it is in violation of God’s law (Justin Martyr, Origen, Ambrose).

God judges motives and intentions, private thought life and actions (Justin Martyr).

The marriage covenant between a man and a woman is permanent, as long as both husband and wife are alive (Clement, Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine).

It is a serious offence against God to take another person’s spouse (Basil).

The Church must charge all persons who are in possession of another living person’s former husband or wife with adultery (Basil).

Marriage and affection with a remarried spouse while a former spouse lives is the sin of adultery (Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine).

It is a serious mistake to believe that it is simply one’s right to divorce a spouse and take another. Even though human law may permit such a thing, God strictly forbids it, and cannot, and will not honor it (Clement, Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine).

Anyone who follows human customs and laws regarding marriage, divorce and remarriage, instead of God’s divine instructions should stand in fearful awe of God Himself (Clement, Ambrose).

All lawmakers, in and out of the Church are warned, to their peril, to hear and obey the Word of the Lord in regard to His commands on marriage and divorce (Ambrose).

Christians are to stop making excuses and trying to find justification for divorce and remarriage. There are no valid reasons acceptable to God (Jerome, Augustine).

A marriage is for life. No matter what a spouse turns out to be, or how they may act, what they do or don’t do, or the sins they commit, the covenant remains fully in effect. A remarriage while a former spouse lives is not marriage at all, but sinful adultery. God does not divide the one flesh relationship except by physical death (Hermes, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine).

Marriage is a lifelong covenant that will never be invalidated by God while both parties live (Hermes, Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Augustine).

It never has been lawful, it is not now lawful, and it never will be lawful to divorce and remarry. To say and do otherwise is to worship and adopt the adulterous superstitions of a different God than the one to which we have to do (Augustine).

How often we hear the cries and pining supplications for a return to early Christianity! How often we beat our chest and ask God “how long” before we will see revival in His Church like the days of old! How frequent do we amuse ourselves with complaints about “liberal influences” within the Church as we fashion ourselves the brandish of conservative crusaders! Are our conservative Christians today holding onto biblical truths, or just shifting a few paces behind the world? I remember hearing an old man once say, “I used to be in the middle of the road—but the road moved.”

Brethren, the road on which marriage, divorce, and remarriage has traveled has moved considerably throughout the ages. We can raise our head and dismiss the early Christians as fanatics, ascetics, or heretics; but when we find ourselves chipping away at the very foundations on which we stand, we might just find ourselves shouting from a crumbling facade… “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3)

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By: Robert Crosby

David was up late as usual at midnight watching the “Late Show” when he first asked the question: “What would happen, Lord, if I sold the TV set and spent that time—praying?” After David Wilkerson prayed that prayer in 1958, the world would soon find out.

“What would happen, Lord, if I … ?”

After his television was actually sold, Wilkerson began to devote his midnight to 2 a.m. hours to prayer. One night while trying to pray, he found himself unusually drawn to an issue of Life magazine sitting on his desk. At first he suspected his interest in reading to be merely a human diversion pulling him away from the discipline of prayer. Nonetheless he couldn’t get away from it and finally asked, “God is there something you want me to see?”

Caught By The Eyes

The trailblazing pastor-turned-street-evangelist and founder of Teen Challenge died tragically on Wednesday, April 27, at age 79 in a car accident in Texas. He leaves his wife, Gwen, who survived the accident, and several family members, but he also leaves a church in Times Square and a drug recovery ministry (Teen Challenge) that has resulted in lives changed around the world. His story was first told in the bestselling 1963 book The Cross and the Switchblade.

What Wilkerson saw in that issue of Life was destined to change his own life and that of so many others. He read the report of a gang on trial in New York. He recalls the story:

… my attention was caught by the eyes of one of the figures in the drawing. A boy. One of seven boys on trial for murder. The artist had caught such a look of bewilderment and hatred and despair in his features that I opened the magazine wide again to get a closer look. And as I did, I began to cry.

“What’s the matter with me!” I said aloud, impatiently brushing away a tear. I looked at the picture more carefully. The boys were teen-agers. They were members of a gang called the Dragons. Beneath their picture was the story of how they had gone into Highbridge Park in New York and brutally attacked and killed a fifteen-year-old polio victim named Michael Farmer. The seven boys stabbed Michael in the back seven times with their knives, then beat him over the head with garrison belts. They went away wiping blood through their hair, saying, “We messed him good.”

The story revolted me. It turned my stomach. In our little mountain town such things seemed mercifully unbelievable.

That’s why I was dumbfounded by a thought that sprang suddenly into my head—full-blown, as though it had come into me from somewhere else: Go to New York City and help those boys.

The internal summons Wilkerson felt in that prayer time soon led the skinny 35-year-old Pennsylvania pastor from the mountains of Philipsburg to the streets of New York, from tending a local church to advocating for gang members and drug addicts in a courthouse. His ministry caught fire throughout the New York area and around the world. In the 1960s and ’70s it took form as a Christian addiction recovery program called Teen Challenge, a network of social and evangelistic training and work centers.

The Jesus Factor

The success rate of the Teen Challenge program and its proven approach to Christian discipleship emerged amidst Wilkerson’s evangelical and Pentecostal worldview and theology. Its effect has been repeatedly researched and documented, and its results proven to be quite astounding. It is, in fact, unparalleled as a recovery program in its efficacy.

In a 1975 survey by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, Teen Challenge was shown as having an 86 percent or higher success rate of recovery from drug addiction among its participants. When Teen Challenge became a political talking point in 2001, as President George W. Bush launched his Faith-Based Initiative, some questioned Teen Challenge’s use of the number (for example, it doesn’t count the 30 percent or so who start the program but do not finish). But even so, the remarkably low recidivism rate provided more credibility to the program, and the research ultimately isolated the most distinctive aspect of the program as “Jesus” or “God”; thus, it came to be known as the “Jesus Factor.”

Teen Challenge has grown to become the oldest, largest, and most successful drug recovery program of its kind, with over 170 centers in the United States and 250 worldwide. A vital part of the program has been prayer for conversion and often the baptism in the Holy Spirit (emphasis on this experience subsequent to conversion is the chief characteristic of Pentecostalism).

Wilkerson’s journey spawned his bestselling book, The Cross and the Switchblade, with 15 million copies now sold worldwide in 30 languages and a 1970 film starring Pat Boone, which a reported 50 million people have seen. Christianity Today included the book in its 2006 list of “The Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals.”

A Lasting Impact

But just how has Wilkerson, a Pentecostal pastor from a small town, actually “shaped evangelicals” and the world? In the church in which he served during his early years as a pastor (the Assemblies of God), in the Pentecostal movement, and in the evangelical movement, Wilkerson’s life, message, and passion have revived the importance of:

Spirit-Filled Service To Humanity.

Wilkerson reminded us that “Spirit-empowerment” is about serving hopeless people boldly and compassionately, not about merely seeking a self-gratifying emotional religious experience. Long before “social action” or “compassionate ministry” were buzz words or en vogue in the church, Wilkerson was engaging in it not out of efforts to be “relevant” but out of a pure sense of divine call. Today’s renewed emphasis on compassionate ministry among Pentecostals and evangelicals owes much to his example.

A Renewed Reverence For God.

Holiness may seem to be an antiquated term by our standards, but not by God’s. That’s what Wilkerson would say, over and again. Followers of Christ are still called to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). Teen Challenge helped us see the connection between biblical holiness and personal wholeness. Healing took on new significance through this Pentecostal leader—the healing of mind and soul. Wilkerson has been known for his uncompromising preaching style and call to holiness for decades. While some have felt his preaching to be often prophetic in its emotional honesty and biblical ethic, others have branded him instead as irrelevant, behind the times, or old fashioned. While Wilkerson consistently preached hard against sin, that is arguably because he saw firsthand the toll sin could take on a life. Countless faces of helpless lives and the cries of hardened addicts perhaps kindled an anger of sorts within the late preacher’s soul, anger toward sin and the enemy of our souls that sounded as a poignant cry within his preaching.

Acknowledging The Signs Of The Times.

Wilkerson consistently saw and believed that the judgment of God is inevitable and that Christians should be concerned, repentant, and prayerful. When dubbed a prophet by others, Wilkerson would often quote Amos, “I’m not a prophet, neither the son of a prophet.” His writings, however, would beg to differ. In 1974, he published a small book filled with earth-shaking predictions and unapologetically titled The Vision. This book swept the charismatic and Pentecostal world with great interest in his descriptions of an ever-increasing darkness that would soon fill the culture. Many were challenged by the apocalyptic images, while many others thought it too much “gloom and doom.” While reflecting on his life today, I gave this older book a fresh read. As I did so, it soon became clear that much of what he predicted at that time has in fact already come true (some even in the last two years), including:

There is a worldwide economic confusion just ahead. … It is not really a depression I see coming—but a recession of such magnitude that it will affect the lifestyle of nearly every wage earner in America and around the world. … A false economic boom will precede the recession—but it will be shortlived. … We are going to witness the bankruptcies of some of this nation’s major and most popular corporations. … The auto industry is going to be hurt badly. … The world’s greatest economists will be at a loss to explain the confusion.

As with most impassioned souls and preachers, there is a need to divide between divine insight and personal opinion, between wheat and chaff. Never, however, have Wilkerson’s forecasts seemed to me to be either insincere or in any way self-serving. On the contrary, they have consistently come across more as warnings than as efforts at sensationalism. And, honestly, what concerns me at this point is not what Wilkerson predicted in his writings, but more so the predictions he made that have not yet come true. (For instance, The Vision predicts an unprecedentedly large earthquake in the United States that would be preceded by “another earthquake, possibly in Japan.”) While some in the evangelical movement may take issue with these types of writings, Pentecostalism has carried a history of holding strongly to the inerrancy of the Bible as “THE Word of God” while also praying for and responding to “a word from God” for the moment, as long as it does not contradict Scripture. Wilkerson brought warnings and the hope of Christ not only to drug addicts, but also to the church. He implored us to read “the signs of the times.”

Back To The Pastorate

In 1986, by all signs Wilkerson was ready for retirement. But, while walking down 42nd Street in New York City, once again during his midnight hour of prayer, he said that he felt God calling him back to the city to plant a church there. He found the fresh sense of call irresistible. By October of the next year he made his second move to New York, this time into a rented auditorium. The preacher whom some said was “old school” or “behind the times” actually planted a church in Times Square itself! Within two years, Times Square Church purchased the historic Mark Hellinger Theater, and now counts some 8,000 regular worshippers.

Until his untimely death this week, Wilkerson’s focus in more recent years has been investing in the lives of pastors and their families with the goal of “renewing their passion for Christ,” challenging them to ask, as he did, “What would happen, Lord, if I … ?”

Robert Crosby is Professor of Practical Theology in the College of Christian Ministries and Religion at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, an Assemblies of God school. He has also written several books, including More Than A Savior: When Jesus Calls You Friend (Multnomah) and Conversation Starters (Focus on the Family).

When most boys are immersed in video games, school, and sports, Rankin Poage from Rancho Santa Fe is spending his time sharing biblical prophecy with adults.

Poage’s interest in the last days sparked when he shared a book report to his class based on a book by Pastor John Hagee on prophecy. The boy stated that the recent earthquakes that devastated Japan and New Zealand are signs that indicate that Christ’s return is near.

Dran Reese, director of the Salt & Light Council, explains that hearing Poage speak on prophecy was like hearing an educated college student.

“He’s really a rare combination of both intelligence and innocence, and it was really very endearing – and really. we were all amazed at his profound knowledge and his ability to tackle a subject so thick about prophecy,” says Reese.

Poage says he preaches prophecy to warn those who are unaware of Christ’s soon return, and Reese points out that God will use the unlikely and weak vessels to bring his message to the people. She notes that Poage’s stance on biblical prophecy is scripturally correct.

The director comments: “At his age, he’s already seeing the writing on the wall for America, and wants to go out to warn people — what they can do, what they should do, and what they should be looking for — what are those signs, and about preaching the Word of Jesus Christ and of salvation to those who still are very lost.”

Most turn first to their pastors. Some provide wonderful, biblical insight into our times. May their numbers increase! From what we hear at this ministry, they are in the minority, for one ministry supporter sent me an email from her pastor. I did a double-take on it upon reading it. I so wanted to believe it was just made up. He writes:

“The number of troubles in the world overwhelmed me for a while and I didn’t know how to respond. I am suggesting we pray for the people we see or hear about in the media who are working in these troubled areas and also for the victims and their families whose faces and voices carry so much grief and anxiety.

“Some may wonder if these are signs of the end-times because they certainly appear to fit the descriptions we read about in the Bible. But, I suggest we don’t rush to express this view. Historically, there have been seasons of trouble that have had the hallmarks of the end-times, most notably, the early 20th century. Some people were driven by fear to repent. Other people concluded that such a violent and indiscriminate series of events that killed ‘innocent’ with the guilty did not present the God of Christianity in a good light and there was then a great falling away.

“Now is not the time to theologize or speculate on causes. It’s just time now to help.”

How tragic that he discourages people from considering the serious warnings that great traumas would come upon the world as we hurdle towards the very time of the end. He discourages a conversation about these issues and would thus rob many of the “blessed hope” that Christ’s return offers. Without the proper biblical perspective, the strongest believer could cave. When we realize what is happening to this planet — the Japan scenario most recently, but preceded by global chaos in many hot spots — it should quicken our spirits and affect the way we live and think and carry on with our relationships. Jesus is coming soon! Live your life in light of eternity!  God is shaking the nations as spoken of in Haggai 2:7.

People cannot take chaos and confusion forever. They need some comforting words. They need some insight. They are asking why all this is happening. They don’t know how to connect the dots. Tell them!  This is a dress rehearsal for Matthew 24. We don’t know if that drama is center stage tomorrow or 20 years from now. But it will happen.

This pastor also told the woman to whom he sent his email that she should not talk about repentance, for that might lead to a great falling away. It is the withholding of the message of repentance that has led to the great apostasy of our day. But he states what is most important — more important even than speaking of repentance — is to go and help. I guess that means the social gospel or good works is what really matters. Yes, it is a great idea to make a donation for those suffering in Japan or you-fill-in-the-blank. The globe is throbbing. But the social gospel has been implemented now for a century as liberalism has emphasized feeding the stomach but starving the soul.

This ministry exhorts you to reach out to the lost with the truth of the gospel while there is time. The world and much of the church are deceived. Strong delusion has run amok. The apostate church is thriving. Bible-believing, discerning Christians are being left on the side of the road, scorned and displaced with no church to attend. The Church of Laodicea has left the light of the Word and the world. That is why a shepherd of the sheep can pen the words quoted above.

I am weary of hearing that Bible prophecy is scorned in church after church. If it is one-fifth of the Bible, it has to be relevant! If Jesus’ first coming is significant, why is His Second Coming controversial and not seeker-sensitive? When and how did the message that the King is coming become a downer? On some end-time issues, we “see through a glass darkly,” but other issues are crystal clear.

It seems that for 25 years seminaries have been cranking out pastors who aren’t sure what theology to teach when it comes to eschatology, so they won’t visit the topic at all.

Here we are, likely in the last of the last days. God bless the pastors who tell the truth and teach the whole counsel of God. I exhort you now, while there is still time, to become fishers of men just as Jesus challenged us. It is a small price to pay in light of what He has done for us. Evangelism and issues of the last days fit hand-in-glove. Everything has an end, even life as we know it. I can almost hear the hoof beats of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

You need to go out and tell people. Shout it from the mountain tops. You are not responsible for their response. There may not be much time left.

By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org

March 23, 2011

By Dr. David R. Reagan
Lamb & Lion Ministries

Harold Camping, owner of the Family Radio Network who has set the date for the Lord’s return at May 21, 2011, is a former engineer, and as such, he loves to play with numbers. They are an obsession with him.

The best example is a mathematical formula he discovered that absolutely convinced him that he is correct in dating the end of the Church Age to May 21, 1988. He treats this formula in his writings as if it has eclipsed the world’s previously most important equation — namely, E=MC². You had better sit down. Here’s how it goes:

1. From the time of the crucifixion on April 11, 33 AD (a date that is not agreed upon by scholars) to May 21, 2011 is a total of 722,500 days.
2. The number 722,500 is made up of two sets of an identical series of numbers: 5x10x17 x 5x10x17 = 722,500.
3. Now, since the number 5 stands for atonement (Says who?) and 10 stands for perfection (Since when?) and 17 stands for Heaven (Give me a break!), this formula means, “Atonement has been completed for Heaven,” and it is repeated twice for emphasis.

Harold Camping: Date-Setting Madness – BPB (David Reagan)
Doomsday campers travel the country preaching the Apocalypse…on May 21 – Daily Mail
A Bible Prophecy Problem Concerning the Resurrection – BPB (David Reagan)
The Date of Noah’s Flood – Answers in Genesis
Why Date-Setting the Rapture is Wrong – Pre-Trib Research Center (Thomas Ice)

Labels: 33, Bible, Chapters and verses of the Bible, David Reagan, End time, Family Radio, God, Harold Camping, Jesus

By Dr. David R. Reagan
Lamb & Lion Ministries

Harold Camping (age 88) is at it again! Back in 1992 he published a book titled 1994? in which he set the date for the Lord’s return for September 6, 1994. [1] Now, in his latest book, Time Has An End, he has set a new “absolute” date of May 21, 2011. [2]

Unfortunately, Camping has a lot of influence within Christendom because he owns the Family Radio Network which broadcasts his messages over 150 radio stations within the United States. His message is also being broadcast via satellites to most of the nations of the world.

Unfortunately, also, his message has been featured widely in the secular press, as is always the case with date-setters. That’s because the press loves to play them up to the hilt in preparation for making fun of them when their date proves false. The result, of course, is that Bible prophecy is subjected to ridicule.

Despite the fact that he was proved to be a false prophet in 1994, Camping has convinced many people of the validity of his new date. His followers have erected billboards all over the nation. Some have emblazoned their cars with the message. Others are handing out T-shirts and bumper stickers. A website has been created at http://www.wecanknow.com/ . And mission groups are carrying the message to the four corners of the earth.

An Historical Precedent

It is all reminiscent of a Vermont farmer by the name of William Miller who developed a theory in the 1820′s, based on Daniel 8:14, that Jesus would return to the earth on March 21, 1844. [3]

In the King James Version that passage reads:

“And he [a saint or holy one] said unto me, ‘Unto 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’”

This is a prophecy about the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes and its ultimate cleansing. But Miller applied it to the end times and converted the days into years. Assuming the prophecy was given in 457 BC, he calculated that Jesus would return 2,300 years later, on March 21, 1844. Incredibly, he interpreted the “cleansing of the sanctuary” to refer to the purging of the earth by fire at the Second Coming of Jesus!

When Miller’s date came and passed without any sign of the Lord’s return, he proceeded to set a new date for October 22, 1844. When nothing happened on this second date, most of Miller’s followers became totally disillusioned. The whole experience was dubbed “The Great Disappointment.” Miller died in disgrace four years later in 1849.

But that did not prove to be the end of the matter. One small group of Miller’s followers in New England decided that he had not been wrong after all. Led by a young so-called prophetess named Ellen G. White, they began to teach that on October 22, 1844, Jesus had entered the Holy of Holies in Heaven to begin an “investigative judgment” of the works of every person who has ever lived in order to determine their fitness for Heaven. [4] They further taught that the reason Jesus did not return to the earth on the October date was because of the Church’s failure to observe the Jewish Sabbath. And thus was founded the modern day cult known as The Seventh Day Adventists. [5]

Harold Camping’s date-setting parallels that of the Millerite Movement in several ways. First, like Miller, his cornerstone scripture is Daniel 8:14, but he applies the 2,300 days differently. In his first book, 1994?, Camping argued that the Tribulation began on May 21, 1988 and that Jesus would return 2,300 days later, after He had cleansed the Church, resulting in a date of September 6, 1994.

And just as was the case with the Millerite Movement, when Jesus did not arrive, Camping declared that the day he had selected was spiritually very significant. The only problem was that he had misinterpreted its meaning. Instead of it being the day of the Lord’s return, it was the day that the end-time pouring out of God’s Spirit began, ushering in a period when there would be a great harvest of souls, after which the Lord would return.

Having justified his first error in date-setting, Camping then proceeded to set his second date for May 21, 2011.

In the next part of this series examining the madness of Harold Camping’s date-setting, we’ll look at Camping’s method of biblical interpretation.

Endnotes

[1] Harold Camping, 1994? (New York, NY:Vantage Press, 1992).
[2] Harold Camping, Time Has An End (New York, NY: Vantage Press, 2003).
[3] For more information about William Miller see “William Miller: The Sincerely Deceived Prophet” by Dr. David R. Reagan, Lamplighter magazine, November-December 2003, pages 10-12.
[4] Ibid.
[5] For a detailed discussion of the founding of the Seventh Day Adventists, see “The Seventh Day Adventists: Christian or Cultic?” by Dr. David R. Reagan, Lamplighter magazine, July-August, 2006, pages 3-11.

Labels: Bible, David Reagan, Great Disappointment, Harold Camping, New York, Second Coming of Christ, Seventh-day Adventist Church, United States, William Miller

In August of 2010, I predicted on my national radio program that it was only a matter of time before Glenn Beck would release a distinctively religious book that would promote his New Age Mormonism and universalism. I sensed that Glenn was setting himself up to be the politically conservative alternative to Oprah. His new book, “7 Wonders That Will Change Your Life”, could have been written by Oprah for sure.
Many self-professing Christians cannot see what Beck is up to but there are those in the unsaved world that seem to be exhibiting more worldview understanding than some in the Christian community. The Business Insider published an article on January 4, 2011 entitled, Glenn Beck’s New Year’s Plan Sounds A Lot Like Oprah’s New Network.

On the second week of January of this year, Beck released his latest book entitled The Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life. The book is co-authored by psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow.

Beck’s new book is nothing less than the promotion of universalism, postmodernism, and pagan spirituality, also known as the New Age Movement.

I tried to warn America’s pastors and Christian leaders in early August of 2010, not to unite with Glenn Beck in his spiritual rally that sought to unite all faiths and look to one God. I gave these Christian leaders plenty of evidence that Glenn Beck was a practicing Mormon that was also embracing New Age paganism.

Some of these Christian leaders said that Beck was a “new Christian”, “a baby Christian”, “new brother”, a “little lamb”, or “very close to becoming a Christian.” If they think Glenn Beck meets the Biblical descriptions of a Christian then they have no clue what the book of I John says are the Biblical hallmarks of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

A friend of mine even e-mailed a mega pastor that was publically supporting Glenn Beck’s 8-28 rally to ask him to be careful about embracing Beck and his black robe regiment because of some of the false theology Glenn was espousing. The pastor replied:

Glenn Beck is a new brother and he is learning and growing and coming to the light day by day as he is being discipled by [name of Christian leader removed]. There was once a day when you and I were in the same place he is now. Be careful that you don’t place a yoke on a little lamb rather than an ox.

Would this pastor say Oprah Winfrey is a Christian?

According to Christian Post, another Mega Church pastor said:

I have interviewed persons who have talked specifically with Glenn about his personal salvation persons extremely well known in Christianity and they have affirmed (using language evangelicals understand), ‘Glenn is saved’ He understands receiving Christ as savior.

How confusing to the unsaved world and to baby Christians it must be to have Christian leaders make this claim about being a Christian in light of Beck’s latest book. Many now believe what Beck is promoting in his book is Christianity because Pastors and Christian leaders have announced that “Glenn is saved.” I have had teenagers e-mail me and come up to me at our conferences and express how confused they are by what Christian leaders have said about Beck being saved when they have heard Beck promote New Age heresy.

In light of Beck’s religious and spiritual proclamations in his new book, this would be the week for the Christian leaders and pastors that embraced Beck on the national stage, and proclaimed Beck’s salvation, to release a press release and post a statement on their website that they disagree with Beck’s pagan spirituality and that indeed Beck is not demonstrating theology and doctrine consist with what the Bible says are the hallmarks of a Christian. These Christian leaders need to apologize for leading people to believe that Beck was a Christian or to believe that Beck held and promoted religious views that were compatible with Biblical Christianity. Dr. Erwin Lutzer, of the historic Moody Church in Chicago, correctly declared in August of 2010 on my radio program that any pastor or Christian leader involved in Beck’s rally would be involved in heresy. I agree 100% with that statement.

In his new book Beck and Dr. Ablow promote psychologist Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, New Age authors Robert Pirsig and James Redfied, Buddha, Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche, Gandhi, The Bible and the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. Sadly, Glenn is confused and all Christians should pray that he will come to salvation in the Jesus of the Bible through faith and repentance.

On page 56 Beck says he read A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman which is the Bible of the New Age Movement. I wrote and entire chapter in my book Grave Influence on Helen Schucman and the demon she channeled that helped her write the book.

I have several friends who were Mormons for many years before accepting the Jesus Christ of the Bible as their Lord and Savior through faith and repentance. Tracy was a Mormon for 26 years and e-mailed me to explain why many Mormons are open to New Age Spirituality:

It’s not surprising how easy it is for many LDS to get involved in occult practices based on the “power of the priesthood.” For example, energy healing (chakras), cloud-busting, and other mind-power things. My LDS friends and I were always interested in books like The Magic of Believing, Embraced by the Light, and other New Agey kinds of books. I remember seeing Star Wars when I was Mormon and how many of us in the ward (LDS congregation) were comparing The Force to the priesthood power.

Since we believed we were on the godhood track, using the phrase “I AM” in the context Glenn uses it, fits in neatly with the power of the priesthood through which worlds are created (according to Mormon doctrine). In fact, Mormonism teaches that God did NOT create the universe exnihlo, because God can only manipulate and arrange existing matter; he create it. Thus we see, from the LDS perspective, we too can become I AM, through the divine nature within us.

On page 79 Beck and Dr. Ablow promote transcendental meditation and Eastern Mysticism. On 85 we read, “As you commit to unlocking and bringing forth the truth inside you, don’t be afraid to pray for help. Don’t be reticent to sit with yourself in silence and meditate. Connect with the miracle of spirit, of God, that has lived inside you from long before you were born.”

Christian mediation is not about “bringing forth the truth inside of you” nor is it about contacting God that has “lived inside you from long before you were born.” This is not Biblical and any Christian that thinks otherwise is either a false convert or is Biblically illiterate. Click here to hear a short video clip by Dr. Ron Carlson on the dangers of New Age meditation.

On page 132 Beck and Ablow proclaim, “Pray to whatever higher power you believe in Praying that God or Nature or the Cosmos or your own internal, immeasurable reservoir of spirit allows you the courage and faith to find and then face the truth”

In several places readers are told it really does not matter what religion or religious leader they follow. On page 157 Beck writes, “Finding what worked for me made all the difference. Finding what works for you will do the same.”

On page 74 the reader is instructed “Just be sure you visit with a minister or therapist from a religion or healing discipline you actually have affinity for, or suspect you might.”

On page 236, reincarnation is promoted through the writings of Robert Pirsig’s book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” the ‘spirit’ of Chris or the ‘ghost’ of Chris, then you can say without further translation that the spirit or ghost of Chris is looking for a new body to enter.”

Beck is a very committed and knowledgeable Mormon:

I have had several Christians tell me that Beck does not really know much about the Mormon faith. That is not what Beck writes in his new book.

“I questioned everything I could think to question about the faith. I went over my doubts again and again with the church bishop. I read everything there was to read on their website and every word of Mormon Doctrine I went to anti-Mormon literature for hints, but I found most of it to be unfair or just plain wrong. I tried every trick I could think of to find a contradiction. The problem was that I couldn’t. Mormonism seemed to explain the world and my place in it better than any other faith I had looked at.” (Page 149-150)

Beck does not believe in Hell, original sin or that Jesus in the only way:

“Latter-day Saints do not believe that your chances ever cease, even with death. They end only with the full understanding and denial of truth by your own exercise of real free will. And even then there is no ‘lake of fire.’ (Page 149)

“As Keith likes to say, ‘There’s no original sin left in the world. Everyone’s just recycling pain now.’ “(Page 154.)

“There is no infant delivered evil, out of the womb. There never has been. Not even one Charles Manson was not born evil. Ted Bundy wasn’t. The BTK killer wasn’t. Hitler wasn’t.” (Page 162)

The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. (Romans 3:23) The Bible says that even babies are born with a sin nature and that we are all conceived in sin. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)

“People are inherently good.” (Page 165).

The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Beck’s book uses the phrase “Your truth” or “your true path” or “my truth” at least 23 times. Here are a few examples:

“It is never too late to embrace your truth.” (Page 124)

“What is your truth whispering?” (Page 130)

“Use compassion to stay on the path to your own truth” (Page 161)

“…determination to unearth and embrace my truth.” (Page 215)

“The fact that I am always attempting to honor my truth” (Page 216)

“There is only your truth.” (Page 220)

“You must use courage and faith to empty the hard drive of your soul and then fill it with your truth.” (Page 288)

Beck’s book promotes the New Age that God dwells within all:

“The third chapter of Exodus helped me start to understand how crucial it was that my focus be on finding God not just in the seas or the cosmos, but in myself.” (Page 57)

If God is everything and everywhere and inside everyone, then I figured He had to be inside me, too. (Page 58)

This is the promotion of pantheism and panentheism.

“Divine power is still inside you.” (Page 71)

“Reach out to people to steady them and enrich them and reflect back to them the light that comes from God inside them. (Page 283)

“You won’t doubt your ability to achieve what you want to achieve in this life because you won’t doubt that God is not only by your side, but inside you.” (Page 254)

Beck’s book promotes the New Age idea that you need to tap into a positive energy for a successful and happy life: (Ten times). Some examples include:

You have a polestar inside you. It is connected with all the energy in the universe. When you begin to follow that star you align yourself with immeasurable, inexplicable forces that will actually help you manifest your best intentions. (Page 79)

The current energy that flows in your favor when you stop denying what you have lived through and how it has shaped you and how you must change is the immeasurable force that you can tap into to dramatically improve your existence.” (Page 113)

“you will elicit the same positive energy from others. When you stop pretending to be just fine and start admitting that you have struggled, just as we all have, then spiritual energy will fill you.” (Page 117)

I wrote this article because I want discerning Christians to have the information they need to refute unbiblical teaching. I want Christians to be watchmen who warn their Christian family and friends about the spiritual deception of people like Glenn Beck, Oprah Winfrey, and a host of other individuals that are promoting another Jesus and another gospel.

Christians also need to be ready to explain to their unsaved family and friends why Glenn Beck’s worldview will not lead them to God as their savior but as their judge. Nowhere in Beck’s new book does he mention the Biblical gospel. What Glenn is promoting is the same lie promoted by Satan in Genesis 3:1-5. I am fearful that the spiritual poison Beck is promoting is not seven wonders that will change your life but in fact, lies that will condemn the souls of millions for eternity.

Distributed by www.worldviewweekend.com

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