Why the future is bright and promising

Today, as we stand poised just inside the doorstep of a new millennium, we are also on the threshold of a new reformation and an even greater awakening than has occurred in the past. The words of the 16th-century Reformers couldn’t ring more true or louder: (semper reformanda) “The Church is reformed and always reforming.”

Fact is, we moderns have not reached the point where reform is no longer needed. And in this our opinion, the divisive, defeatist, pessimistic, strained theories, and side-stepping interpretative devices of end-time Bible prophecy (eschatology) encompass the next major area ripe for reform. These falsehoods have distracted us from our high calling—both an earthly and heavenly calling much higher and greater than we’ve been led to believe. When realized, this reformation will change the way the Christian life is lived out. No longer will dolefully sitting round waiting for Jesus to come back be acceptable. No longer will watching the culture deteriorate into godlessness be permissible. No longer will 6 to 7 out of every 10 children raised in the faith and leaving the faith by age 23 be tolerable (statistic from: Leslie Leyland Fields, “The Myth of the Perfect Parent,” Christianity Today, January 2010, 24). With this next reformation and reawakening, all this will change.

But reformation can be messy. It always has resisters and attackers. This next reformation will be no exception. Some will keep on preaching and teaching things not found in the Bible simply because they are committed to it, have built their ministries upon it, and would be embarrassed or find it awkward or career-threatening to “change horses in the middle of the stream.” Others will come against me and fellow co-reformers. But for many of you, who seek after truth and long for a more firm foundation upon which a genuine biblical faith can be better built, it will be a godsend and a breath of fresh air. This is the further reformed faith that must be re-presented in the Church and taken to the world.

As has been true of other reformations, this one will require a new way of thinking, new perspectives, and a paradigm shift away from some of the traditional and defective positions currently holding sway. As such, we must follow the scriptural admonition to “Test everything. Hold on to the good,” (1 Thess. 5:21). Our failure to do this in the past has put us in our current eschatological dilemma of so many failed prophecies and conflicting positions. This is the sad but present-day status of our faith at which much of the world scoffs. But how long can we continue stretching out the biblical “last days” and perpetuating imminency of Jesus’ so-called “return” before biblical faith completely loses its meaning and value?

The time for further reformation has come. Its potential is huge. A more responsible apocalypticism is within our grasp. In this regard, we are very appreciative and much indebted to Dr. James Earl Massey, Former Sr. Editor of Christianity Today magazine and Dean Emeritus of the School of Theology, Anderson University, for his endorsement of John Noe’s original work and first edition of the book from which most of this material comes. As Dr. Massey foresees and wrote, “Noe’s book just could be the spark that ignites the next reformation of Christianity.” Then where do we go from here?

First, we must be willing and have the courage to admit that we were wrong and have misunderstood some very important, foundational aspects of Scripture and our faith. This is a necessary prerequisite. For far too long, far too many have been far too vocal and in far too great a frenzy to get out of here (the Rapture) and get the world destroyed. This fear-based, traditional, “orthodox” doctrine has been a fool’s paradise. It is an outright misunderstanding, misconception and misrepresentation of God’s redemptive plan of the ages. Please be assured, we have nothing to fear from the biblical end that was and last days that were — only positive things to gain, and much to celebrate because of them. Therefore, endsaying with its long record of negative impact upon the Church and the world must be relegated to the ash heap of history.

Next, we must fan the spark of reformation into a flame, and the flame into a raging fire of purification. Our current eschatological system needs a major overhaul. Minor tweaking of the four major, competing, confusing, and conflicting positions will not fix the problem. Like Copernicus’ model of planetary motion, which upset the current thinking of his day, we, too, will have to unlearn more things in order to relearn them correctly. Therefore, we propose the following four-step process for this next reformation. continue reading…

Sources:

1The Perfect Ending for the World by John Noe