Post by Daniel on May 6, 2016 9:26:48 GMT -5
Our Enemies’ Frustration
Jim Fletcher
May 2, 2016
For more than a hundred years, attacks on the Bible have undermined churches in America. Beginning in the late 19th century, the anti-Bible positions of scholars in Germany—and the Darwinian philosophy coming from London—leveled steady attacks on the credibility of the Bible, starting with Genesis.
These attacks, though they were refuted by a few like Robert Dick Wilson at Princeton, devastated American seminaries, which were producing next-generation pastors. Biblical accounts like the Exodus were called into question. It was claimed that multiple anonymous authors/editors contributed to the great prophetic books, like Isaiah.
Why?
Only one reason: those unbelieving scholars did not want to believe that God can predict the future, and instruct His prophets to alert us to future events. The scholars, like all leftists, do not want to follow the One who sets the rules.
A couple generations ago, the biblical scholar Edward J. Young wrote, about the critics of the Bible’s prophetic books:
“They are destructive, for they are seeking, whether consciously or not, to destroy the words God has spoken.”
This was from Young’s book, Who Wrote Isaiah?
The title of the book is strange, because, we think, we know who wrote Isaiah: Isaiah.
That’s if you believe the Bible is true. If you don’t, then Isaiah must have been written/collected/edited by an unknown number of people, who recorded history, not prophecy. The critics simply do not believe anyone can accurately predict the future, so the yet-future declarations from the prophet’s book could not have been written before the events came to pass.
This is part of what Henry Morris called “the long war against God,” in which unbelievers would seek to continually undermine true faith. An added outcome was the damage done to Israel’s reputation: if the biblical promises to the Jews are not valid, then today’s Israel is not legitimate.
Gary Frazier and I discuss these things in our new book, The Miracle of Israel. Incredibly, in modern America, few sitting in the pews have any real knowledge of what the Bible says about anything. The specialness of Israel and the Jewish people is near the top of that list.
Let me give you a practical outcome of generations of these attacks on the Bible.
Relevant magazine, produced for Millennials and those in that group who are evangelicals, never misses an opportunity to mock Bible prophecy, at least the brand studied and taught by, say, Dispensationalists.
I believe that the publisher, Cameron Strang, at some point rejected the prophecy community his father (Charisma publisher Steve Strang) had long operated in, and the problem is, he reacted too strongly the other way. Certainly, there have been excesses in the prophecy community, but not to the degree its critics allege.
There is a massive, coordinated effort right now to undermine prophecy teaching in America. And, as I’ve always contended, if you do not understand modern Israel through the lens of prophetic Scripture, you won’t get it.
Relevant advocates for the Palestinians and supports authors who accuse Israel of war crimes (Donald Miller).
But the ripple in the water extends far beyond that.
In the latest issue of Relevant, Issac Edwards writes a piece titled, “Through Hell and Back,” in which he produces a puff piece about the heretical Rob Bell.
My point is this: the farther one moves from believing all the Bible is true, including its marvelous predictive prophecies, the more one embraces humanistic philosophies.
And yet, when it comes down to it, nothing can stop the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Israel and the return of the Jews to their ancestral land is central to that message. That Relevant and others decry Israel’s “Occupation” of the Palestinians is…irrelevant. Their advocacy for the enemies of the Jewish people is shameful and doomed to failure.
In the meantime, they will continue to apply the pressure to Israel that they can (Relevant’s digital and social media reach is staggering, far outgaining anything that can be produced by prophecy teachers in today’s climate).
In the end, though, it won’t alleviate their frustrations that Israel marches on toward her destiny.
Posted with permission
www.raptureready.com/rap15.html
Jim Fletcher
May 2, 2016
For more than a hundred years, attacks on the Bible have undermined churches in America. Beginning in the late 19th century, the anti-Bible positions of scholars in Germany—and the Darwinian philosophy coming from London—leveled steady attacks on the credibility of the Bible, starting with Genesis.
These attacks, though they were refuted by a few like Robert Dick Wilson at Princeton, devastated American seminaries, which were producing next-generation pastors. Biblical accounts like the Exodus were called into question. It was claimed that multiple anonymous authors/editors contributed to the great prophetic books, like Isaiah.
Why?
Only one reason: those unbelieving scholars did not want to believe that God can predict the future, and instruct His prophets to alert us to future events. The scholars, like all leftists, do not want to follow the One who sets the rules.
A couple generations ago, the biblical scholar Edward J. Young wrote, about the critics of the Bible’s prophetic books:
“They are destructive, for they are seeking, whether consciously or not, to destroy the words God has spoken.”
This was from Young’s book, Who Wrote Isaiah?
The title of the book is strange, because, we think, we know who wrote Isaiah: Isaiah.
That’s if you believe the Bible is true. If you don’t, then Isaiah must have been written/collected/edited by an unknown number of people, who recorded history, not prophecy. The critics simply do not believe anyone can accurately predict the future, so the yet-future declarations from the prophet’s book could not have been written before the events came to pass.
This is part of what Henry Morris called “the long war against God,” in which unbelievers would seek to continually undermine true faith. An added outcome was the damage done to Israel’s reputation: if the biblical promises to the Jews are not valid, then today’s Israel is not legitimate.
Gary Frazier and I discuss these things in our new book, The Miracle of Israel. Incredibly, in modern America, few sitting in the pews have any real knowledge of what the Bible says about anything. The specialness of Israel and the Jewish people is near the top of that list.
Let me give you a practical outcome of generations of these attacks on the Bible.
Relevant magazine, produced for Millennials and those in that group who are evangelicals, never misses an opportunity to mock Bible prophecy, at least the brand studied and taught by, say, Dispensationalists.
I believe that the publisher, Cameron Strang, at some point rejected the prophecy community his father (Charisma publisher Steve Strang) had long operated in, and the problem is, he reacted too strongly the other way. Certainly, there have been excesses in the prophecy community, but not to the degree its critics allege.
There is a massive, coordinated effort right now to undermine prophecy teaching in America. And, as I’ve always contended, if you do not understand modern Israel through the lens of prophetic Scripture, you won’t get it.
Relevant advocates for the Palestinians and supports authors who accuse Israel of war crimes (Donald Miller).
But the ripple in the water extends far beyond that.
In the latest issue of Relevant, Issac Edwards writes a piece titled, “Through Hell and Back,” in which he produces a puff piece about the heretical Rob Bell.
My point is this: the farther one moves from believing all the Bible is true, including its marvelous predictive prophecies, the more one embraces humanistic philosophies.
And yet, when it comes down to it, nothing can stop the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Israel and the return of the Jews to their ancestral land is central to that message. That Relevant and others decry Israel’s “Occupation” of the Palestinians is…irrelevant. Their advocacy for the enemies of the Jewish people is shameful and doomed to failure.
In the meantime, they will continue to apply the pressure to Israel that they can (Relevant’s digital and social media reach is staggering, far outgaining anything that can be produced by prophecy teachers in today’s climate).
In the end, though, it won’t alleviate their frustrations that Israel marches on toward her destiny.
Posted with permission
www.raptureready.com/rap15.html