The Coming Kingdom - Part 40
� 2015 Andy Woods
In this series, the biblical teaching on the kingdom of
God has been surveyed from Genesis to Revelation to demonstrate that the whole
counsel of God's Word conveys the idea that the kingdom is a future reality. In
addition, this series has examined the isolated New Testament texts and
miscellaneous arguments that "kingdom now" theologians rely upon, and
it has demonstrated how each is insufficient to convey "kingdom now"
theology. As we move on to the final leg in our journey, we began noting why
this trend of equating God's present work in the church with the Messianic
kingdom is a matter believers should be concerned about, since this theology
not only radically alters God's design for the church but is also the seedbed
of many major false doctrines that have sadly entered Christ's church.
LARKIN'S WARNINGS
In the last two installments, we called attention to Alva
J. McClain's warning concerning the impact of how "kingdom now"
negatively impacts the church's calling, purpose, and mission. It is
interesting to observe similar warnings given nearly a century ago in the
writings of Clarence Larkin:
...the Church is not an
�Organization� but an �Organism.� Therefore it is not a �Social
Club,� organized and supported solely for the benefit of its members. Neither
is it a �Place of Amusement� to pander to the carnal nature of man. Nor is it a
�House of Merchandise� for the sale of �Indulgences,� or other commodities,
whereby the money of the ungodly can be secured to save the penurious church
member a little self-sacrifice. Neither is it a �Reform Bureau� to save the
�bodies� of men. The reformation of men is very commendable, as are all forms
of �Social Service,� but that is not the work or mission of the
Church. The world was just as full, if not fuller, of the evils that
afflict society today, in the days of Christ, but He never, nor did the
Apostles, organize any reform agencies. All the great philanthropic and
civilizing agencies of the world are �By-Products� of Christianity. We are
told in Acts 5:15, that the people laid their sick in the streets that
the �Shadow of Peter� might fall upon them and heal them. But if
Peter had spent his time �casting shadows,� and neglected his
Apostolic work of trying to save the �SOULS� of men, his shadow would
have lost its power. Jesus knew that the source of all the evils in the world
is SIN, and that the only way to eradicate sin is to Regenerate the Human
Heart, and so He gave the GOSPEL, and the �Mission� of the
Church is to carry this Gospel to the world. �EVANGELISM,� not
�Social Service,� is the �Mission� of the Church. Mark 16:15-16. The great
mistake the Church has made is in appropriating to herself in this Dispensation
the promises of earthly conquest and glory which belong exclusively to Israel
in the �Millennial Age.� As soon as the Church enters into an �Alliance with
the World,� and seeks the help of Parliaments, Congresses, Legislatures,
Federations and Reform Societies, largely made up of ungodly men and
women, she loses her spiritual power and becomes helpless as a redeeming
force.[1]
Larkin further notes:
...but the "Mission" of the Church is her
"COMMISSON" to "Evangelize" the world. Mark 16: 15-16. Acts
1:7-8. The "Kingdom ldea" has robbed the Church of her "UPWARD
LOOK," and of the "BLESSED HOPE." There cannot be any
"Imminent Coming" to those who are seeking to "Set up the
Kingdom." The "Kingdom Idea" has robbed the Church of the
"Pilgrim" and "Martyr Spirit," and caused it to go down
into Egypt for help. When the Church enters into an "Alliance with the
World," and seeks the help of Parliaments, Congresses, Legislatures,
Federations and Reform Societies, largely made up of ungodly men and women, she
loses her "SPIRITUAL POWER" and becomes helpless as a redeeming
force. The end of such an "Alliance" will be a "Religious
Political Regime" that wilt-pave the way for the revelation of Satan's great
"Religious Political Leader" and "Superman" ‒ the
ANTICHRIST.[2]
Here, Larkin notes at least five consequences that 'kingdom now" theology has upon
Ecclesiology, or the doctrine of the church. First, "kingdom now" theology causes the church to drift
into a Social Gospel agenda favoring holistic redemption of societal structures
in lieu of fulfilling the Great Commission. When the church becomes something
that God never intended nor called her to be, she cannot expect, and in fact
will be emptied of, His divine resources and empowerment. Second, viewing itself as the kingdom of God upon the earth causes
the church to become at home in the world in contradistinction to the New
Testament portrayal of the church as a mere pilgrim passing through both
temporary and alien territory en-route to her ultimate eternal destination.
Both of these points were covered in the prior installment. However, let us now
take note of three equally important
points that Larkin's above comments surface.
Third, because
there are not presently and numerically enough Christians necessary to
establish God's kingdom upon the earth, it becomes necessary for the church to
find common ground with those who do not share its biblical convictions in
order to build the political coalition needed to implement a "kingdom
now" social agenda. As noted above, Larkin well explains:
The great mistake the Church has made is in appropriating to herself in this Dispensation the promises of earthly conquest and glory which belong exclusively to Israel in the �Millennial Age.� As soon as the Church enters into an �Alliance with the World,� and seeks the help of Parliaments, Congresses, Legislatures, Federations and Reform Societies, largely made up of ungodly men and women, she loses her spiritual power and becomes helpless as a redeeming force.[3]��
In the prior installment, we noted the "kingdom
now" agenda behind popular pastor Rick Warren's "PEACE" plan.
Consequently, it comes as no surprise that Warren has become one of the leading
advocates of ecumenism in our day. Recently, the "Evangelicals and
Catholics Together" mantra has been given new life by mega-church pastor
and bestselling author Rick Warren. In a recent interview with Catholic News
Service, he noted:
We have far more in common
than what divides us.
When you talk about Pentecostals, charismatics, evangelicals, fundamentalists, Catholics,
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, on and on and on and on. Well they would
all say we believe in the trinity, we believe in the Bible, we believe in the
resurrection, we believe salvation is through Jesus Christ. These are the
big issues. Sometimes Protestants think that Catholics worship Mary like
she�s another god. But that�s not exactly catholic doctrine...and people
say well what are the saints all about? Why are you praying to the saints?
And when you understand what they mean by what they�re saying there�s a whole
lot more commonality. Now there are still real differences, no doubt about
that. But the most important thing is if you love Jesus, we�re on the same
team. The unity that I think we would see realistically is not a structural
unity but a unity of mission. And so, when it comes to the family we are
co-workers in the field on this for the protection of what we call the sanctity
of life, the sanctity of sex, and the sanctity of marriage. So there�s a
great commonality and there�s no division on any of those three. Many times
people have been beaten down for taking a Biblical stance. And they start to
feel, �well maybe I'm out here all by yourself.� No you�re not (italics added).[4]
Has Warren forgotten that we, as Protestants, broke away
from the Roman Catholic Church during the days of Martin Luther and John
Calvin?� Why the existence of this
historical rupture between Protestants and Catholics? The answer to this
question lies in the fact that we as Protestants saw things in Roman
Catholicism that we could not find in Scripture. There are vast and
insurmountable theological divisions between Bible-believing Evangelicals and
the Roman Catholic Church. The rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation
involved the five "solas."
"Sola" is a Latin expression meaning "alone." These five
solas are Sola Fide (faith alone), Sola Gratia (grace alone), Solus Christus (Christ alone), Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (to the glory of God
alone). While Protestants embrace these five theological realties or solas, Roman Catholic theology rejects
them.[5]
Yet, the "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" mindset erases all of
those theological barriers and puts Evangelicals and Catholics on the same
theological footing.
Apparently not content to build a bridge to Catholicism
only, Warren also seems to be building a similar bridge into Islam. Such
advocacy of interfaith cooperation across vastly divergent belief systems is
revealed through many of Warren's public statements. Note Warren's words from a
recent World Economic Forum panel discussion
To my Islamic brother here from Italy, I would say I'm not
really interested in inter-faith dialogue, I'm interested in inter-faith
projects. We've got enough talk. So... a few weeks ago, at Georgetown
University, we brought in three imams, we brought in three Catholic priests, we
brought in three evangelical pastors, and we brought in three Rabbis and we
said 'what can we do about AIDS?' And we started on some common ground on those
issues; what can we do that we all care about?[6]
Note how Rick Warren, with Tony Blair present at this World Economic Forum panel discussion, publicly referring to an Islamic cleric as �My Islamic brother.� The New Testament, on the other hand, teaches that our brothers are only those who believe in Christ and do the will of God (Matt. 12:46-50). Thus, in no sense can an Islamic cleric be viewed as a brother of a born-again believer.
�(To Be Continued...)
[1] Clarence Larkin, Rightly Dividing
the Word (Glenside, PA: Clarence Larkin Estate, 1920), 48.
[2] Clarence Larkin, The Second Coming
of Christ (Glenside, PA: Clarence Larkin Estate, 1918), 51.
[3] Larkin, Rightly Dividing the Word,
48.
[4] Matt Slick, �Rick
Warren's Comments on Roman Catholicism,� online:www.carm.org, accessed 20 July
2015.
[5] For more
differences, see James McCarthy, The Gospel According
to Rome (Eugene, OR: Harvest, 1995).
(Source: SpiritAndTruth.org)