The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Donald Trump and Prophecy

Thanks for sharing concerning your position. It is comfortable to belong within a present-day group having its champions, so to speak. And probably the men you mention are being more faithful to at least certain of Scripture truths than many are these days, although I have not read their books for myself in order to personally assess this. It is usual with men to feel a greater sense of validity in the enjoyment of their associations, but (as you know) such things in themselves do not validate anything in God’s eyes.

Time would fail me to speak of all of the examples from Scripture in which God’s people (and often those being most faithful to God’s truth) have found themselves largely (if not entirely) destitute of such comforts. But (for the comfort of those who find themselves in such a condition) being destitute of a crowd and of men’s approval does not discredit anyone in God’s eyes, especially the more faithfully they speak according to His Word; and the Word of God (as its testimony applies to present circumstances) is where I would like to try to keep my focus. If I am wrong in my conclusions, perhaps others can show me this from Scripture (even if they wish to borrow their arguments from other men, whomever they have had leisure to read).

With regard to the answer that I provided to your question in my last post, I will attempt to clarify it a little here (perhaps I was not as clear as I could have been):


My previous general answer (but slightly embellished for greater clarity):

“I am sorry. To answer your question exactly, would involve too arduous a task [for me] at present, and I suppose it best under the present circumstances not to be much distracted from the words of Scripture itself. While I do as much as I reasonably can, I generally am not at great leisure to divert my attention to focus on a survey of the numerous writings which men have produced, as I find there are so many views and opinions that have been espoused over the years…”

[bold type in quote added by Nahum]

My previous more specific answer (but slightly embellished for greater clarity):

“Listing the names of all of those with which I can agree in certain [of the] less-essential particulars [i.e., an agreement with my own “particular views of Eschatology” in the area of “non-essentials”] would be an impossible task, since, as I said, I can agree in some particulars of these lesser things with all eschatological camps of Christians, where most people (whoever fit neatly into one of the distinct camps) cannot say so much.”

Explanation.

John Wickliffe (and the Lollards &c.) held to “my particular view” that the Millennium entailed a literal 1000 years, after which Christ would return (except he thought the Millennium was over in his lifetime…). Eusebius (and countless others) agreed with “my particular view” that all of history would be 7000 years (except he thought… … agh. -I guess if your allowed to not entirely agree with the views of the Protestant Reformed Church, I should be allowed my exceptions as well). There are many with whom I agree. Put various tenants of the faith of so many saints of all times together, and being combined, I find it is “my particular views.”

Make a list (if you can) of every last orthodox Christian proponent of the a-mil, post-mil and historic pre-mil positions, and there you will have your list of those who hold to my “particular views of Eschatology” -since I hold with all of them in some point(s), even where these as distinct camps usually are found to strongly disagree with each other.

I don’t approach the Scriptures as one attempting to create a hybridized consensus between popular theological views, but I simply find that Christians (by creating extremes) have so often fought over things that actually are not entirely mutually exclusive whenever understood correctly. For example:

“Are you a Puritan or a Pietist, or, Are you an Old Light, or a New Light sort of Presbyterian?” The best short answer I can give to such questions is BOTH AND NEITHER, --and now I can expect everyone’s displeasure, but if I am being faithful to God’s Word, at least I will have His approval in this matter (which should be what matters most to me). But to put this problem in a more positive light, I actually think it demonstrates that the Good Shepherd did not leave everyone else entirely in the dark in order that he might exclusively tend to my own favored brand of the old “Associate Presbyterians” (even though these might often have tended toward straying, even as the others). It seems Christ has distributed glimpses and perspectives of truth according to His sovereign pleasure, even though I do acknowledge that truth is systematic, and some branches of Christ’s kingdom have had much more of the truth graciously bestowed upon them than others.

[bold type in quote added by Nahum]

My previous more specific answer continued:

“…I think the reality to be that the greater part of Christian denominations have refrained from adopting an official eschatological position beyond what is foundational and is confessed by all Christians…

…Christians and churches generally have allowed a rather generous degree of leeway regarding eschatological positions (so long as these are found within the bounds of orthodoxy)…”

Explanation.

Most denominations have not adopted an official eschatological position (yes, I do agree with you, there is the Protestant Reformed Church with their a-mil position, and then there is the American Presbyterian Church with their historic pre-mil position & others…), and so to the best of my knowledge, no denomination officially “holds to my particular views of Eschatology” entirely (and apparently we can both say this, even though it is more true with regard to me than you).

All of that, and perhaps still it is not the answer you had hoped for, but at present I think it is the best I can do (and I think I actually provided much more than what you asked for, which hopefully (between both posts) will somehow prove helpful to someone). Ask me again sometime after November of 2023 (or better yet, after June of 2026) if you still are wondering concerning a more specific answer. Hopefully I will be able to help you better then (assuming this venue will still exist).

In the meantime, I do hope to be able to have discussion with brethren about rightly understanding the difficult circumstances of the present time in light of Scripture. Thank you