The Kingdom Come

The fourth episode of the REAL Antithesis Hour. This week Roderick Edwards and RiversOfEden discuss the basic contrast between the historic Christian view of the Resurrection of the believers, as bodily and future compared to the Full Preteristⁱ or Hyperpreterist view of a spiritual resurrection or a "covenantal resurrection" in the past.

RiversOfEden, known for consistently applying the hyperpreterist methodology shares the conclusion that accordingly there should have been a physical resurrection in the first century.

We look at some Old Testament texts to see how the Old Testament believers regarded the nature of the resurrection; whether physical or spiritual.

TEXTS:

• 1 Kgs 17:21- 22
• Psa 139:8
• Psa 17:15
• Mt 27:51-53
• Eze 37:1-16
• Hos 13:13-14
• Dan 12:1-2

Next week, we'll get into the New Testament more and contrast how Christians understood resurrection.

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Athanasius was the 4th-century Christian theologian known for his epic and unwavering stance against anti-Trinitarians called Arians (source). But even more, Athanasius was often alone in his defense of the historic Christian Faith. I don't mean that Athanasius was a rebel who had a doctrine different than the rest of Christianity, rather that while Athanasius was consistently in line with the teachings of historic Christianity, there were times in his life that the "leaders" of the segment of the Church of which he was part abandoned the historic Christian doctrine.

On the other side of this is the TRUE rebel who reads the Bible and claims they alone have come to a conclusion different than every other Christian in history. Such a person often comes up with a doctrine never taught in historic Christianity and when people reject this doctrine and the person advocating it, the person may go into "Martyr Complex" mode -- woe is me, I'm being persecuted for Christ's sake -- when in reality they are being opposed for their OWN sake.

The third episode of the REAL Antithesis Hour. We continue our discussion on some key time-texts that Full/Hyperpreterists point to as having an AD70 terminus and where historic Christianity says most often speaks of Christ's glorification. We get more into a debate-mode this go around and yet STILL neither of us threaten legal action or banning.

So get comfy and see how REAL Antithesis is done.

Texts in discussion:

1. Mt 24:1-3
2. Lk 21:20-22
3. Heb 9:26-28

Disclaimer: This program was NOT created using Skype or any such program; just good ole fashion phone lines.

Listen to this podcast:
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Take a moment to compare these two videos. The first is Emergent/Postmodernist Rob Bell complaining how Christians shouldn't be telling anyone they are in danger of going to hell.

The next video is Todd Friel from The Way of the Master, comparing different "doctors".

http://www.pinpointevangelism.com/Bullhorn.htm

Now you can friend TKC on Facebook. My policy there will be to "friend" anyone that requests (even hyperpreterists and those who validate that heresy). I want the TKC Facebook extension to be a place where we can get everything out in the open. Unlike how some of my detractors will do podcasts or write blogs where they speak falsehoods but give no opportunity to challenge them, I have ALWAYS had a policy of transparency when it comes to allowing people to challenge what I put forth (just read all the comments by people who don't like what I say about Rob Bell or about automatic infant salvation :) ).

So, come friend me on Facebook and lets have OPEN and HONEST interaction.

CLICK HERE: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001477399226

The second episode of the REAL Antithesis Hour will be recorded Thursday April 7th and uploaded by the 8th. During this show the hosts, Roderick Edwards and RiversOfEden will open the "mailbag" and discuss feedback from the first episode. We'll also address some of the latest developments.

TIME-TEXTS DISCUSSED
Mt 10:23
Mt 16:27-28

Listen to this podcast:
See how REAL antithesis works. To download to your mp3 device or computer -- right click HERE and SAVEAS.
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Actually I am combining two weeks worth of Bible studies in this one posting. Our group is pleased to announce the birth of Solomon Jacob S. The Lord blessed the couple with a wonderful son. Also, our group hosted the grandmother for one of our studies. She came all the way from California...not for the study but to see the newborn. :-)

We have all experienced listening to a sermon where a sports analogy was used to make the point. There is certainly nothing wrong with trying to get a person to understand the point of the Bible by employing something a person can grasp from their everyday life. This is exactly what a parable is; a common truism. The apostle Paul even references "sports" when he compares our faith to a "race" (Acts 20:24, 1 Corinthians 9:24, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 12:1).

The problem isn't the use of analogies to elucidate the intent of Scripture but rather the problem comes from malformed analogies. For example, a fellow (who claims to be a pastor) has been a continued disputant against my position that he and folks such as Dr. Kenneth Talbot are "sell-outs" and "compromisers" when validate the heresy of hyperpreterismⁱ.

Welcome to the very first episode of The (NEW) Antithesis Hour with your host Roderick Edwards. In these hour long podcasts we will tackle no holds barred, controversial issues. No kid-gloves. No wishy-washy relativism. No good-ole buddy chats about sports and weather. When you tune in, you will get a full dose of pitting one view against another.

So, we Christians have all been in the situation where we are either sitting under the guidance of or know of a pastor who is teaching bad or wrong doctrine. What is our obligation as "laymen"? Perhaps it depends on the severity of the bad doctrine. Maybe we will be told that we would need to go through an official process such as an elder board, but not all church structures even have an elder board. Sometimes the pastor is the end of line.

Scripture says:

"Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses." -- 1 Tim 5:19

But is this really speaking of challenging a pastor on bad doctrine or rather on bad behavior. Verse 20 goes on to say:

"But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning." -- 1 Tim 5:20

So, clearly the "accusation against an elder" is in reference to his sinning.

TKC has a pretty good collection of "feeds" from other websites (see here) but I'd like to give people the opportunity to contribute more. Send me a feed or more via the contact form and if it is a sound, historic Christian site or a site that is not contrary to sound, historic Christianity I'd be happy to add it to the feed collection.

Oddly enough, I never added a feed to my other ANTI-Hyperpreteristⁱ site until today -- (see here).

Our study group continues our study through Genesis. This week we studied Gen 14-17. It is difficult because the context and the many place/personal names. The summary is that Abram and his family, including his nephew Lot were living in the Canaan (eventually present day Israel/Jordan). Lot was taken captive by warring parties. Abram took 318 men and attacked, freeing Lot.

Upon Abram's return, the kings of the region (king of Sodom and the king of Salem, came to pay Abram tribute). Salem is the eventual present day Jerusalem and it's priest-king was Melchizedek. The Bible introduces Melchizedek as the "priest of God Most High".

TKC will be starting a new podcast series. The inspiration for this new podcast series comes from a failed podcast program of the same name. Why would a failed program inspire a new podcast? The reason the previous program failed, was because first it really was NOT presenting opposing views. Most of the time, the two participants spent more time trying to advance some mediocre middle-ground. Secondly, they spent more time attacking their common enemies rather than critiquing each others view.

So, seeing how badly those participants handled what could have been a good concept, this podcast was born so that we may attempt to do it right.

Occasionally I receive emails about thekingdomcome.com's content. Many are from Emergent-types telling me how I'm not lovey-dovey enough but I receive many rather interesting emails that are worthy of interaction. What follows is an email from someone saying they are a former twice-ordained minister.

First, when people hear the word "heretic" or "heresy" they often feel some pity or sympathy for the person being called a heretic. Perhaps it is human nature to feel sorry for and root for the underdog. But is there EVER a right time to describe something as a heresy and the person advocating it a heretic?

To start, we must define what we mean by heresy. In the Christian sense, heresy is NOT simply something that goes against the teaching of those in control. Again, people often visualize the "big bad institutional church" forcing people to believe what the institution is teaching or else be labelled a heretic. However, to correctly define heresy we must decouple ourselves from the idea that the "church" is corrupt and trying to impose beliefs on the poor "followers". This wrong idea, may be a misunderstanding of Protestantism, where a person envisions themselves as a "little Martin Luther" taking on the Roman Catholic Church.

DEFINITION OF HERESY

The text in the Bible that perhaps most succinctly defines heresy is Romans 16:17-18.

I've been a Christian since 1984. I, like many long term Christians have made many transitions over the years. Christians in general seem to go through some observable stages. First, an excited zeal where they desire to share their new faith with anyone and everyone. Then the person may go through a stage where they adamantly defend whatever Christian tradition/denomination they are a part. Next, a sort of apathy or burn out settles in where the person begins to feel like they are merely going through motions. Sometimes at this point or before, the person challenges the status quo of whatever denomination they are a part. Some people simply drift away and never really practice their faith openly.

We continue our study through Genesis as we look at Genesis 9-13, the account immediately after the Flood. Noah and his family rode out the storms and waters up from the deep.

GEN 9:1-28

In Gen 9:3 we see God appears to now bid humans to eat meat but we must wonder if this is how we should interpret this text. Some commentators, including John Calvin interpret the text as merely a re-establishment of the eating of meat as it was before (ref). It is more likely that God is affirming that the animals will repopulate and Noah and family may partake of them as they did before...since it would seem they didn't eat the animals while on the Ark.

Gen 9:4-5 seems to be a prelude to the "Kosher" laws of not eating blood with meat. Gen 9:8-11 speaks of a covenant God makes with Noah and his offspring about never destroying the earth again...at least not by a worldwide flood.

In the 15th and 16th centuries Europe experienced a series of world changing revolutions. Christians may think of it as the time when the Protestants opposed the Roman Catholic Church but there was more to it than religious revolution. The populations were over throwing centuries of aristocracy (rule by kings, queens and other "royalty").

More than anything else, this is what appears to be happening in the Middle East, so-called "Arab countries". But it is more than just Arab countries since not all of the nations where these revolts are boiling are actually "Arab". For instance, Iran is mainly Persian with only a 3% Arab population. Bahrain is considered non-Arab.







But clearly, the Islamic world is experiencing a similar time that Europe experienced centuries ago.

This week we will continue our studies in Genesis with Gen 5-8.
As you may recall, Gen 5 details the genealogy of Adam's family from Adam to Noah. Gen 6 relates God's "unhappiness" with mankind and the subsequent plan to "wipe humans from the face of the earth". This begins the plan for the remnant to live through the saving of Noah and his family.

Chapter 7 recounts the Flood and then Genesis 8 is the beautiful story of salvation as Noah and his family begin life on earth anew.

The fall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak supposedly marks a significant change in the Arab/Muslim world. Some media is touting it as freedom and democracy coming to Egypt. But I wonder if that illusion will actually materialize. For instance, back in 2006 Gaza and the East Bank (in "Palestine") held what at the time were considered historic elections. In the lead up to the elections, the United States touted the elections as marking freedom coming to Gaza. Even when Israel tried to postpone the elections for fear of more radicals taking over, U.S. president George W. Bush pushed for the elections to go forward. After the elections, many outside of Palestine considered it a failure since the winning party was Hamas, a group classified as a terrorist organization -- even by the U.S. (ref). Immediately after the elections the U.S. and other countries stopped financial assistance to Palestine.

Ironically enough and to bring it back to Egypt, Hamas was founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The 3rd in a series of podcasts with Hyper/Full Preteristⁱ 'Rivers of Eden' often, reluctantly considered the most consistent advocate of the Hyper/Full Preterist view. Rivers of Eden (ROE), discusses how the hyperpreterist movement, and especially AD70.net has hypocritically taken actions to silence his input into the community.

Listen to this podcast as it touches on the current state within the 'preterist movement'.

LISTEN to the Podcast

• Right click this link and download to your computer or mp3 device: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thekingdomcome/MTVA/~5/d9fMVLr6Y2M/prethy...
• Left click this link to listen now on your computer's audio device: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thekingdomcome/MTVA/~5/d9fMVLr6Y2M/prethy...
• Listen via the podcast page here at TKC (best for slow connections)
• Listen using the player below

River's/ROE welcomes continued interaction.
Contact "Rivers of Eden" via email: riversofeden4@gmail.com

As readers may have noticed, I haven't posted for a while on our weekly Bible study group. We are still meeting but sometimes not as frequently due to the weather in our region. Also, there have been a few studies that were so casual, I didn't take notes and I'm not sure I could successfully relate the content and context. However, I will try to be more dedicated to posting the studies again. With that said, we did a study where we simply read through Genesis 1-4. One of the questions before us was, does the text imply literal or allegorical or both accounts?

We read from several different English translations.

I've been a Christian for 27 years and of that time I've seen and been in many theological "fights". Some were merely minor disagreements but some were on par with the most brutal UFC match. There are many reactions to such fierce theological rumbles. Here is a short list of reactions.

1. Ignore the cause of a dispute and simply call for everyone to "agree to disagree" -- this solves nothing.
2. Pick a side and set out to destroy all opposing arguments -- this usually ends in burn out or isolation.
3. Attempt to reconcile the disagreements in a syncretic/relativistic manner -- this insults both positions and solves nothing.
4. Drop out of all discussion on the topic -- this solves nothing.

Although these are the typical reactions, I wonder if they are the only options? I'm sure people could offer more reactions and I'd welcome the civil suggestions. (Please don't offer mere variations on the 4 listed)

The turmoil in Egypt may be a precursor to a revolution that will finally bring the Muslim world into the 21st century. On the heels of revolution in the Muslim country of Tunisia, Egypt as well as Yemen may be heading down the same path.

Young, college educated adults no longer want to live in the 7th-century. However, this doesn't mean they want to toss Islam, only that they want to be able to be human before being identified by a religion.

In states and cities all over America and Canada from the early 1960s back most businesses were closed on Sundays. This mindset stems from what has been called "The Blue Laws". These laws were enacted to respect what is often considered the Christian Sabbath; doing no work on Sunday, a day of rest. It is meant for a time of reflection, worship, rejuvenation. The Sabbath was given to humanity as a gift from God, otherwise corrupt men would work people on every day until they die. It was never meant to be a restriction but as a freedom from a life of otherwise constant labor.