Rapture Fever
by Gary North by Gary North
Dis@nsationalism Removes Earthly Hope 77 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. Mine eyes are ever toward the LoRD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net (Psa. 25:12-15). For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth (Psa. 37:9). For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off (Psa. 37:22). Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). Just Around the Corner! If the Rapture is just around the corner, then the Beast and the Antichrist are in our midst already, preparing to take advantage of every opportunity to deceive, persecute, and tyrannize the world generally and Christians in particular. This would mean that all attempts by Christians to improve this world through the preaching of the gospel and obedience to God’s Word are doomed. There would be insufficient time to reclaim anything from the jaws of inevitable eschatological defeat. Thk is precisely what dispensationalists believe, as I hope to demonstrate in this subsection. Dave Hunt assures us that the cultural defeat of the Church of Jesus Christ is inevitable. Our task is to escape this world, not change it. Those who teach otherwise, he says, “mistakenly believe that the church is in this world to eliminate evil, when in fact it is only here as God’s instrument of restraint. It is not our job to transform this world but to call out of it those who will respond to the gospel.”1 In short, he views the Church’s 1. Dave Hunt, Whatever Happerud to Heaven? (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 1988), pp. 268-69.
78 FL4PTURE FEVER work in this world in terms of his view of the Church’s only hope: escape from the trials and ttibulutions of lfe. We are to call men out of this world, spiritually speaking, so that Jesus will come back in the clouds and call His Church out of this world, literally speaking. 2 His view is exactly the same as that of House and Ice, who make it plain that Christians are working the “night shift” in this world. (And we all know how far removed from the seats of influence all “night shift” people are!) They write: “The dawn is the Second Coming of Christ, which is why he is called the ‘morning star’ (2 Peter 1:19). Our job on the ‘night shfl is clarified by Paul in Ephesians 5:1-14 when he says we are to expose evil (bring it to light), not conquer it. . . .“s The Right Hand of Glory This anti-dominion perspective conveniently ignores the “passage of passages” that dispensationalist authors do their best to avoid referring to, the Old Testament passage which is cited more times in the New Testament than any other, Psalm 110. What few Church historians have recognized is that it was also the Church fathers’ most cited passage in the century tier the fall of Jerusalem: (Dispensationalists keep citing unnamed early Church fathers in general for support of their thesis that the early Church fathers were all premillennialists - an assertion disproved by one of their own disciples.)5 Psalm 110 may 2. For a Bible-based explanation of what “this world” means, see Greg L. Bahnsen, “The Person, Work, and Present Status of Satan,’’Jounral of Christian Recomtnsction, I (Winter 1974), pp. 20-30. See the extract I provide in my book, 1s the World Running Doron? Criszk in the Christian WorkluiEW (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1988), pp. 220-22. 3. H. Wayne House and Thomas D. Ice, Dominion Tlwology: Blzssing or Curse? (Portland, Oregon Multnomah Press, 1988), p. 172. 4. David Hay Glory at th Right Hand (Nashville, Tennessee: AMngdon, 1973). 5. In a 1977 Dallas Seminary Th.M. thesis, Alan Patrick Boyd concluded that the early Church fathers were both amillennial and premillennial, and he rejected then- Dallas professor Charles Ryrie’s claim that the early Church tithers were all premil-
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78 FL4PTURE FEVER<br />
work in this world in terms of his view of the Church’s only<br />
hope: escape from the trials and ttibulutions of lfe. We are to call<br />
men out of this world, spiritually speaking, so that Jesus will<br />
come back in the clouds and call His Church out of this world,<br />
literally speaking. 2<br />
His view is exactly the same as that of House and Ice, who<br />
make it plain that Christians are working the “night shift” in<br />
this world. (And we all know how far removed from the seats of<br />
influence all “night shift” people are!) They write: “The dawn<br />
is the Second Coming of Christ, which is why he is called the<br />
‘morning star’ (2 Peter 1:19). Our job on the ‘night shfl is<br />
clarified by Paul in Ephesians 5:1-14 when he says we are to<br />
expose evil (bring it to light), not conquer it. . . .“s<br />
The Right Hand of Glory<br />
This anti-dominion perspective conveniently ignores the<br />
“passage of passages” that dispensationalist authors do their<br />
best to avoid referring to, the Old Testament passage which is<br />
cited more times in the New Testament than any other, Psalm<br />
110. What few Church historians have recognized is that it was<br />
also the Church fathers’ most cited passage in the century tier<br />
the fall of Jerusalem: (Dispensationalists keep citing unnamed<br />
early Church fathers in general for support of their thesis that<br />
the early Church fathers were all premillennialists - an assertion<br />
disproved by one of their own disciples.)5 Psalm 110 may<br />
2. For a Bible-based explanation of what “this world” means, see Greg L. Bahnsen,<br />
“The Person, Work, and Present Status of Satan,’’Jounral of Christian Recomtnsction,<br />
I (Winter 1974), pp. 20-30. See the extract I provide in my book, 1s the World<br />
Running Doron? Criszk in the Christian WorkluiEW (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian<br />
Economics, 1988), pp. 220-22.<br />
3. H. Wayne House and Thomas D. Ice, Dominion Tlwology: Blzssing or Curse?<br />
(Portland, Oregon Multnomah Press, 1988), p. 172.<br />
4. David Hay Glory at th Right Hand (Nashville, Tennessee: AMngdon, 1973).<br />
5. In a 1977 Dallas Seminary Th.M. thesis, Alan Patrick Boyd concluded that the<br />
early Church fathers were both amillennial and premillennial, and he rejected then-<br />
Dallas professor Charles Ryrie’s claim that the early Church tithers were all premil-
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