Recently we discussed a sermon that gave prominent
lip-service to “God’s law” in society while assiduously avoiding any specifics.
(There’s a real silver lining to this, btw, which we’ll discuss in a later
article.) The sermon we reviewed was part 2 in a 2-part series, and part 1 is
actually more remarkable in a number of ways, especially in regard to how
premillennial eschatology can destroy whatever else good your theology has to
offer society.
In the first part of his series, “Who is God’s Candidate,”
John MacArthur, Jr. not only gives just as much token talk to God’s law as in
the part we previously reviewed, he actually spends a good bit of time
preaching from the historical sanctions sections in Deuteronomy 28 and 29. He goes so far as to argue that these type
of sanctions do not only apply to ancient Israel, but to all nations in all times
and places. In short, he actually argues that God still judges nations today,
in history, according to His law.
This is a fairly radical
contradistinction to most premillennialists, although, again, without any
specific discussion of the details God’s law requires for society and social
institutions, such talk is empty. What good does it do to know about judgment
in history according to God’s law if we don’t have specific knowledge of how to
apply that law? Nevertheless, such an appeal to Deuteronomy 28 and 29 is something Reconstructionists have been
teaching for decades, and our premillennial opponents have been denying and
using as a point of criticism against us. So this seems huge.
But then the great blade in the
premillennial guillotine finally drops.
Remember the America that was, some
of you? This is not a Christian nation; there’s no such thing. It never has been
a Christian nation. Even the founding fathers were not true Christians. But
they did understand that Christianity was a fix necessity, because it
established divine law; and when people knew that this was law from God, it
controlled their behavior. Biblical ethics, biblical patterns of morality were
honored, respected, and expected. Marriage, family, virtue, work,
relationships, success were all connected to noble ideals that are found in
Scripture. That’s long gone, long gone, unlikely to ever appear in the
lifetime of anybody sitting here, because evil men just get worse and worse.
Even if we could set aside the
problems we formerly discussed, as well as a few other foibles found here—even
if MacArthur’s overall appeal for God’s law in society were robust, detailed,
correct, and sincere—in the end, his eschatology slices down and leaves the
whole theology headless and in a pool of blood.
Social theory giveth, and eschatology
taketh away.
We have discussed this problem so many, many, many, many, many, many times. It very often comes in the form of
this misapplication of 2 Timothy 3. Gary DeMar
has busted the “worse and worse” myth more times than can be counted. For
example, he recently wrote,
[T]his type of thinking prevails
more than one would think. Jan Markell is a believer in an end-time scenario
that demands the return of Jesus in our generation to rescue us from inevitable
doom. Until that happens, do not look for and do not expect to be successful at
any type of long-term societal transformation. In fact, to participate in this
type of work Markell tells her audience is “delusional” and will keep “people
out of heaven.” We are most fortunate that there were enough people centuries
ago who were not hoodwinked by an eschatological claim like hers. What would
Christians who follow Markell’s end-time worldview be saying and doing today if
they were faced with calls to abolish the slave trade and build long-lasting
productive cultures? Markell uses 2 Timothy 3:13 to support her end-time
claims:
There is no Biblical support for this
belief, for the Bible teaches just the opposite. In the end of days, bad things
will wax worse and worse until the world calls out for a savior.
Second Timothy 3:13 actually says, “But
evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived”
(KJV). For twenty centuries, billions of people have called out to Jesus to be
their savior and have gone on to do marvelous things in God’s name. It says
nothing about “until the world calls out for a savior.” Earlier in the same
chapter, Paul told Timothy that these evil people “will not make further
progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of those two
[Jannes and Jambres] came to be” (v. 8). While the ungodly self-destruct,
Timothy was to “continue in the things” he had “learned and become convinced
of” (v. 14). Providentially, the history of the church is the history of men
and women following Paul’s instructions and not the speculations of people like
Markell.
I would love to think JMac is making
some changes for the better, but as I discussed previously, this is not the
case. Even if it were true in regard to God’s law, it would not matter because
this eschatology robs any good social theory of its power. Any appeal for
greater influence of Christianity in society is dead in the face of a belief
that it can’t and won’t happen, and premillennialism’s fingerprints are on the
murder weapon.
You are correct if you think you hear
some echoes of Reconstruction in sermons like these, but you need to take the
next step. Start reading specific applications, start making specific
applications yourself, and dump the unbiblical, pessimistic eschatology. The
longer you remain in it, the worse and worse your worldview will get.
