Farewell For Now by Bill Blue

This will be the last article of "Prove All Things." We would like to share with our readers why we decided to publish our articles in the first place, how we chose the topics we decided to write about, the responses we received, and why we have brought the series to an end.

GOAL ONE: PREACH THE GOSPEL (Matt.28:19-20; 2 Tim. 4:2)

For nearly a year (45 weeks), Jeff Himmel and six other men at the Spring Warrior Church of Christ have written on a variety of religious topics beginning with "Why we believe in a God," and ending with a series discussing some common misinterpretations of Scripture concerning the end of time. The articles ranged from the simple and non-controversial to more doctrinal and controversial. We discussed the nature of God and the Bible, the trinity, salvation, authority and worship.

GOAL TWO: EDUCATE OTHER FAITHS ABOUT US

When we began this series of articles, our initial mission was to publish 24 articles to see what kinds of responses, if any, we would receive. Because of the limited number of articles, we decided to write about some of the beliefs that separate us from other faiths. This way, people in the community could learn first hand what we believe, and the Scriptural basis supporting these beliefs (1 Pet. 3:15). Before we wrote the first article, we chose the topics we would write about, and in what order. Along the way, some of the responses we received led us to write additional articles.

GOAL THREE: ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO DUST OFF THEIR BIBLES

At Spring Warrior, we stress individual responsibility for studying, teaching and sharing God’s word (2 Tim. 2:15). One of the more subtle messages we tried to convey by having six men who weren’t preachers write articles is to give the readers some idea about Bible literacy at Spring Warrior. We have classes for children starting at 15 months. We have no nurseries. One Catholic said it best when he said, "Give me a kid until he is 5 years old, and he will be Catholic for life." There is a lot of truth in that. We do not stress games and events, but Bible knowledge. Children can tell you where God lives before they are able to speak in complete sentences. Three year olds are encouraged to memorize the books of the Bible. Adult men are encouraged to preach from the pulpit.

Our belief in individual accountability even influenced our series title. Over the years, it has been our experience that when studying with one who is troubled by a particular passage in the Bible that they will commonly say that they will need to "ask their preacher about that." We encounter this so often that before we wrote the first article some in our congregation suggested that the title of the series should be, "Ask your preacher." We ultimately decided against the title because we wanted to encourage people to read the Bible for themselves instead of relying on someone else’s opinion to shape their beliefs.

JUDGING OUR WORK

By focusing on the differences between our beliefs and that of other various Christian faiths, we knew we would provoke thought. We received some many responses, the vast majority of which contained citation to Scripture. Although some of the responses did not agree with our interpretation of the Scriptures, we have nonetheless been heartened by these responses because they proved to us the following: (1) that individuals read our articles; (2) they felt passionate enough about what was written to respond (thus they had faith); (3) their citation to Scripture indicated that they opened their Bibles; and (4) from all appearances the writers prepared their own responses and did not rely on a preacher or someone else.

REASONS FOR ENDING FOR NOW

As anyone who has ever written a weekly series of articles can affirm, it is much easier to publish articles when you know months in advance what will be written, and by whom. We have exhausted our initial list of topics. We may decide to resume our articles again in the future. In the meantime, however, we encourage our readers to continue writing us about our past articles, or any other topic they wish to discuss.

If you know of a topic that you would like us to address, or a question you would like answered, you may send me an email to the above address with the phrase, "Prove All Things" in the subject line. If we resume publication of the articles, we may incorporate your suggestion or question (anonymously) into a series of planned articles.

If you want to read any of the past articles, you may find them reprinted in Adobe Acrobat (*.PDF) format at the following web site: http://www.bibleweb.com. Please note that the web site is my personal site, and nothing other than these articles have been endorsed or approved in any way by the elders at Spring Warrior.

Premillennialism: The Nation of Israel by Scott Mixon

On May 14, 1948, Israel was officially declared a state. Supporters of Premillennialism look to this moment as a sign of the beginning of the end. This was further encouraged by the Six Day War in June of 1967 when Israel would triple its possession of land. Premillennialism also promises a return of the Jews that is yet unfulfilled, that Jews will once again occupy sacred cites, rebuild the temple and restore their ancient worship. Specific beliefs vary between religious groups but that is the basic theory.

God’s covenant with Abraham included three Promises. First, God promised Abraham and his descendants land. In Genesis 15:18, God told Abraham "to your descendants I have given this land, from the River of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates."

Inspired witnesses say the land promise has been fulfilled. Joshua, in Joshua 21:43-45 said, "the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give unto their fathers and they possessed it and lived in it. Solomon reigned over the correct boundaries, 1 Kings 4:21. Moses gave instruction concerning cities of refuge in Deuteronomy 19:7-9 that were to be kept only if God fulfilled his promise. Joshua 20:7-9 confirms that those cities were built.

Retention of the land was always conditional, based on Israel’s obedience, Joshua 23:12-13, 15-16. The land was an everlasting possession. However, the word everlasting in Hebrew meant "age lasting", meaning there was no guarantee that possessing the land would be forever and possession could come to an end. The same word is used for other covenants, like circumcision in Galatians 5:1-4 and the priesthood in Hebrews 7:11-25, that were abolished at the Cross.

Second, God promised Abraham "I will make you a great nation" in Genesis 12:2. In Genesis 15:5; 22:17, God promised to "multiply his seed as the stars of heaven and as sand by the seashore."

Genesis 21:3, 12 confirms that Isaac was the son in whom this promise was fulfilled. Though Israel was destroyed and later driven from the promised land because of sin, they were never totally destroyed. According to Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10; 30:11, Israel was promised "a full end" would not be made of them as of other nations. A remnant would return after 70 years. God fulfilled the nation promise to Abraham and kept His promise to restore the remnant in Nehemiah 1:3-11.

Isaiah prophesied the Lord would set His hand "the second time" to recover the remnant of His people in Isaiah 1:10-11. The first time was when they returned from Babylonian captivity in Ezra 1. The second time is in the church age according to Paul’s quote and applications of this verse, Romans 15:12. There is no promise of a third time. In Christ a remnant of Israel is saved as well as any Gentiles who obey by faith. Therefore, the Church is the spiritual remnant of Israel, according to Grace, Romans 11:5.


Third, God promised Abraham that "in you all families of the earth will be blessed", Genesis 12:3. In Genesis 22:18, God said, in your seed all nations will be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice."

According to Galatians 3:8-16, Christ is the seed. God’s blessing upon Israel was not for their sakes alone, but in order that "all nations would be blessed." According to Galatians 3:26-29, all who obey Christ are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise." Christians are now the spiritual Israel of God, Galatians 6:16; Romans 9:7-8. Therefore, Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of this covenant and the hope of Israel, Acts 26:6-7; 28:20.

The theory of Premillennialism is a false teaching based on many misused Bible passages. A thorough study of the Bible leaves no room for a literal "1000 year reign." There is no warning of his coming by predictions of the world events or tribulations that will precede the event of His coming. His coming will be sudden, unexpected and without warning. Therefore we must be ready. Let us remember the warnings of adding to what is already written, Revelation 22:18, 19 and "prove all things" by the scriptures.