First, the key word I am seeing here is "
opinions!" Opinions are seldom the same. Not to sound arrogant, but God's word is not subject to anyone's opinions, including mine. There are entirely too many "opinions" in the church and not enough acceptance of the "witness of Scripture." In other words, acceptance of man's opinion of what Scripture means, and
not of what
Scripture actually says. I see very little Biblical validation of the different views held, only a lot of vain justifications of them (Formula: God said A and B, but He actually meant C.) In reality, if we accept what God actually said, then there is no reason for an added personal opinion. God said that Christ came and established His Kingdom, rules in it as Lord now, and those who are saved live and reign with Him in this established New Testament Israel. There's no need for opinions of Him coming to establish and reign in another Kingdom on earth. God's word
explicitly says He is reigning now and His kingdom is now, and His people reign with him in that kingdom. Man's personal opinions about another millennial period is a private interpretation, not something validated by His word.
Romans 3:4
- "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."
Let God's word
always be counted as the unassailable truth, and man's word contradicting it must be seen for what it is.
A lie! Or to put it another way, every man's declaration, opinion or interpretation that contradicts God's word is false. This sound judgment between God's word and man's is what Christians are lacking today. Not deeming words that contradict God's word to be a lie, but rather just another possible view, a valid opinion or at best, misguided! Thinking truth uncharitable, it is never a lie, which is what it actually is. People as so qick to accept unbiblical (unvalidated) views so that they can "continue" to espouse their views without condemnation, censure or reprobation. But that doesn't make it an honest difference of opinion among Christians, it is a form of deceit or willful dishonesty. That's not a popular thing to say, but I believe that it is a very accurate depiction of much of the church today.
Secondly, why is there such a haze over the millennial period where it's particularly unclear what is the truth? For example, people like Douggg with his OP is trying to invalid amillennialism based on
which church are teaching it.
Here's my take. The haze over the millennial understanding is
a man made fog. An obfuscation of truth by means of selective (
dishonest) handling of Scriptures that pertain to it. I know Christians like to say it's just an "honest difference of opinion", but there's really nothing honest about it, particularly from those who have studied the issue for years. Actually, it's not really unclear where the truth is (
my opinion), it's just that
people are carnal by nature and
most don't really want the truth,
they want justification of what they have been tauught or
for what they believe.
Therefore,whatever view that best conforms to what they have been taught, they readily accept
despite the FACT that there is really no real biblical justification for it. I say unequivocally that there is absolutely no "real" Biblical justification for Premillennialism, Preterism or Postmillennialism
because God's Word doesn't ever contradict itself or teach two entirely different views of the millennium. God being infallible, at best
only one eschatology can be correct, and "by definition" that would be the one that Christ taught--which is today labeled
Amillennialism. No other eschatology passes the "what God
actually said, and prophesy fulfills" test. All the others fail miserably and are based on worldviews, assumptions, subjection, conjecture and speculation. If the Lord didn't say it, and Scripture doesn't confirm it, then it's man's private interpretations like I often saw men doing it here.
Ezekiel 22:28
- "And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken."
If God's word doesn't say it, then the doctrine is suspect right off the top. We could give example after example of professing Christians ignoring clarity, but for the sake of brevity, I'll note only one. In Premillennialism there are millions of Christian evangelicals, led by their Zionist false prophets, who teach that the nation of Israel, who rejects Christ, are "still" God's chosen people, when Scripture
"Very Clearly" teaches that with the rejection of Christ national Israel
fell as God's congregation and
the kingdom was taken from them and
given to the church. Despite the fact that this is all very clear in Scripture, these professing Christians feign ignorance or twist God's word so that it really has no meaning concerning God's judgment, the children destroyed, the curse of blindness, His going to the Gentiles and His kingdom taken from National Israel. It's as if God never said any of these things, and that so they may feel justified in holding opposing views. The point is,
the fact that they delude themselves doesn't then mean that it's not "very clear" in Scripture that this teaching that Christ will come again to establish an earthly kingdom is in error. It only reveals how national Israel isn't the only people with an obstinate heart, that in their deceit they reject the truth. The church is following in the same footsteps, confirming that there is nothing new under the sun. Even in the parables Christ taught,
if we are honest with ourselves, their meaning is abundantly clear, but only if we have the Spirit of truth to recognize truth. The parable of the Vineyard, where the householder has farming stewards who killed His son (Matthew 21:33-43), and the householder returns and destroys the wicked farmers who killed his son, and then let out his vineyard to other farmers. The meaning is clear to everyone
except those who will not receive its message "because" they don't really like what it says. That's the haze over the Scriptures, the dark cloud of obscurity brought about by the man himself.
If anyone wants to know the Truth about Historical Amillennialism may read the following article:
Amillennialism: A Word Direct From The Scriptures