“Sickening. You can keep your God of Fail.”
What is it about reformation theology causes it’s adherents to become so sour?
What is it about reformation theology causes it’s adherents to become so sour?
Are we supposed to be excited and thrilled about blasphemy and the apostate making Christianity look foolish and cult-like with this insane Futurist Fantasies?
What orthodox views (whether "reformed" or not) of eschatology brings are hope and joy, not despair and promises of failure that come from the Futurist camp.
When we read the eschatology passages from Daniel, the prophets and in Revelation, we know that the trials and tribulations we individually suffer under work out for the Glory of God in that the Church - the Remnant - will remain until the Parousia. For Futurists, you have no hope, no vision of a God who is involved. Futurists have a Deist model where God only acts to give you goodies and when it gets real tough out there, will swoop down, transform you and drop you into a seven year party and rave scene. This is the vanity religion of self, with no care or concern for the Church or for the next generation of believers. When the Going Gets Rough, I Get Raptured. Explain how that works out for those getting their heads chopped off today in central Africa.
Take for example the foundational premise of all Futurists - that God couldn't care less about the "parenthetical Church" rather all affection and plans are for the "apple of His eye" - the people who rejected, crucified and continue to hate Jesus Christ. Other than the premise being heretical, the idea that the extent of our LORD's involvement in our lives is to do that cross thing and then bless us by satisfying our felt needs rejects the Gospel and substitutes Genie Jesus the Cosmic Butler sort of relationship with the Almighty Holy Creator.
When we read, what is normally interpreted by the Futurists as passages referring to a future Israel, in the context of the mystery revealed - there is hope and joy knowing that while "the Beast" manifest in every generation since Pentecost endeavors to attack Christ and His Church, that we have a Savior who does more than grants us a path out of Hell and a Lexus in the driveway, He gives us the hope and strength to finish.
The "nations surrounding the Holy City" passages don't refer to the secular city of Jerusalem, it talks about the Church where our LORD's enemies are legion and are pressing to harm the Church. Then we read where God confounds the enemy, causing them to harm themselves in the process, sparing the "holy city". This gives the Church living under the persecution of Rome, Catholicism, Islam, Nazi Germany, Soviet Communism or today's Western Gaia worship, and the oppressive ideological/religious regime of tomorrow hope in that like all of the predecessors, they collapsed do to their own confusion within the ranks.
Futurists, of course, saying this doesn't concern the Church, nor does it concern The Now, is just words on a page that can be wrested in any convenient manner to support wild and irresponsible fantasies of the next "Prophetic" book and video author.
It isn't sour, far from it. There is joy and hope in the large sense mixed with frustration in the other in that so many people are Lost and are Hell bound determined to spread the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt that fully characterizes the Premillennial Dysfunctionalist "faith".