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ROLLER UPDATE #33 – July 28, 2010

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Q: Will Enoch and Elijah be the two end-time “prophets” of Revelation 11?

A: No. The question is based on two commonly-believed ideas, both of which (in my opinion) are incorrect. The first idea is that Revelation 11 “WILL” be fulfilled in the FUTURE. I believe that it WAS fulfilled in the PAST. I have explained this in my “Studies in Revelation,” which I will be happy to send you (by email), absolutely FREE, if you ask me to. The second idea is that both Enoch and Elijah are still alive (neither having died yet). I believe that they are both dead. It’s easy (in my opinion) to prove that Enoch is dead, since Genesis 5:23 clearly states, “And all the days of Enoch were 365 years.” If Enoch were still alive, he’d be 5,500 years old by now. If Genesis 5:23 is true, then he died before his 366^th birthday. It’s a little harder to prove that Elijah is dead, since the Bible nowhere clearly states his age (at death, or at any other time in his life). He was seen going up “into heaven [the sky]” “by a whirlwind [a tornado]” (there was a “chariot of fire” there, but the Bible DOESN’T say that Elijah “rode” in it) in 852 BC (2 Kings 2:11); but, 9 years later, in 843 BC, according to 2 Chronicles 21:12, King Jehoram received “a writing [a letter]” from him, discussing all the things that he had been doing since Elijah’s tornado-trip (Jehoram wasn’t even the king yet, when the tornado-trip happened). How did that happen, if Elijah wasn’t still alive, somewhere on Earth? After that, we hear no more about him. My guess is that he was living in a cave on a mountain somewhere in the desert, and that he died there, sometime before 800 BC. If that’s not what you believe, I’d love to hear a better explanation – be sure to include the part about the letter he wrote to King Jehoram! And, yes, I know all about the theory that both Enoch and Elijah went to Heaven and are up there to this day; but, according to John 3:13, “No man has ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man who is in Heaven.” In my opinion, that’s as clear a statement as any that you can find in the Bible, and it totally rules out the idea that Enoch and Elijah (or any other human beings, except Jesus) are in Heaven today, or ever have been.

If you have a question that you’d like me to answer in a future issue of the Roller Update, please send it (right away!) to johnroller@faithbiblechristian.com.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne; and the books were opened: and a another book was opened, which is (The Book) of Life; and the dead were judged by the things written in the books according to their works …And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire (which is the Second Death).”

This is the most awesome scene, yet at the same time the most divinely gracious, in all of Scripture. Surely, no child of Adam, great or small, could hope to escape the all-consuming fire on That Day on the basis of his works alone. All have fallen far short of God’s glory, perRom 3:23.Yet just as surely, every penitent sinner trusting in Christ’s vicarious death on that day will find his name in the Book of Life. On that day he will inherit eternal life, the gift of God’s grace and mercy, and sing Toplady’s immortal lines: “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to thy Cross I cling!” Certainly then the Book of Life on that Great Day should be looked upon, and recorded by every theologian and every Creed worthy the name, as the greatest symbol of God’s sovereign grace,- next only to the Cross itself, in all human history.

Yet what do we find:

(1) It is totally ignored in Calvin’s “Institutes” of 1536, the author reputedly the great champion of God’s sovereignty in salvation.

(2) It is also ignored in the Lutheran,Swiss, Dutch, and other Reformed Catechisms and Confessions, such as Heidelberg, Dort, etc.

(3) It is likewise ignored in the Westminster Confession (see below), supposedly the epitome of Reformed orthodoxy; likewise in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Anglican reformed orthodoxy; and of course ignored in the “Great Creeds” of Romanism (as one might expect), even though manyevangelicals are taught to look upon these Roman Creeds (Nicea, Constantinople, Chalcedon, etc.) as sacro-sanct.

(4) More surprising is the fact that the Book of Life is ignored by the great Baptist Confessions, of London 1689, Philadelphia 1720, and New Hampshire, and even omitted in Spurgeon’s catechism. Instead, all these Confessions and Creeds, describing the Judgment Dayscene, follow Rome in portraying salvation vs. damnation as determined by the Books of Man’s Works on that day. And ignoring the crucial statement in Rev. 20:15 cited above, they use the language of Jn. 5:29 alone to excuse such a shocking oversight.

B. THE WESTMINISTER CONFESSION TOUCHING the LAST JUDGMENT

(Typical of Other Reformed and Baptist Confessions)

Chapter XXXIII: Of the LAST JUDGMENT.

NOTE: Biblical references are cited in the original at the points marked*,but nowhere is there any reference toRev. 20.

1. God hath appointed a day,wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ”, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father”. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged”, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body,whether good or evil”.

2. The end of God’s appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of His justice in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient.For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fullness of joy and refreshing, which shall come from the presence of the Lord: but the wicked who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power*

3. (A paragraph solely to warn men of the need to be prepared and watchful, since none know the hour at which the Lord will come. Again no reference to Rev. 20 is given.)

C. SUMMARY OF REASONS FOR THE SILENCE OF THE CREEDS ON THE BOOK OF LIFE

Let us summarize some possible reasons for (and then some of the deadly consequences of) this near-conspiracy among the leading voices of orthodoxy, and their creeds, for the last 500 years.

1. God’s Grand Plan of Redemption for His Saints demands a final test that magnifies, in one great Act, both His perfect justice and sovereign grace.

2. His justice and grace must be seen by all, (first) at Creation, (second) at the Cross, but most of all, (third) at the Grand Assize on Judgment Day,when all of mankind will be present for the first and only time in history.

3. The Book of Life, on that day, is the ultimate symbol of His grace and forgiveness to every saint in Christ Jesus, and passport into the New Heaven and New Earth; and not until That Day will any saint hear from Jesus’ lips those precious words “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!”

4. Why then is this great truth not even found in the great evangelical Creeds and Confessions since the Reformation:

(a) The Book of Life is the centerpiece of God’s action on Judgment Day. A name found written there, or missing there, overrules all else that might be found in the record of a man’s works. And, in keeping with perfect jurisprudence (of which Almighty God is the paragon), His public verdict on every soul awaits That Day, and the opening of That Book. Therefore the role of the Book of Life demolishes all cherished theories of “Instant Rapture to Heaven at Death” based upon Platonism and Rome, which still prevail in the major denominations.

(b) The central place given to the Book of Life in Rev. 20:15 makes the Romish doctrine of the perpetual torture of the lost in hell a crowning insult to Almighty God! Why? Because, since every name written in that precious Book is there by God’s sovereign choice and grace, with no merit in the sinner to earn it, it follows that, if perpetual torture is to be God’s continuing activity for the remainder of mankind, every name omitted from that Book therefore means that God has chosen to torture that person forever. It is no wonder then that Pelagian Romanism shudders at Rev. 20:15! But there is no explanation for the Book of Life being erased from “Reformed theology”whose banner is God’s sovereignty in salvation! – except for it being a threat to the Romish doctrine of perpetual torture, which reformed theology and many other church creeds strangely cling to.

D. THREE CONSEQUENCES OF OMITTING THE BOOK OF LIFE FROM CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS

1. It thereby protects the unbiblical view of death, innate immortality, and final punishment imported from the Gnostics by Romanism and adhered to in the Reformed Creeds and, in Baptist Confessions of Faith also.

2. It thereby protects the consequent unbiblical view of “going to heaven when you die” found in most evangelical creeds (and going to “purgatory”, found in Romanism); a view whose deadly effect is to make Resurrection Day of no importance,- as Tyndale so often hammered at in debating the Romanist monks, and later the “famous theologian” Sir Thomas More, in his day.

3. It subtly also protects the perverted (Romanist) view of Divine Justice,and of man’s sinfulness. That view is that Man is a sinner only by act, not by nature (contrary to Mt. 7:18; 12:35,15:18, et al.). Therefore the Book of one’s Works (Rev. 20:12) will surely record one’s in abilities and ignorance, and must surely enter into the justice God metes out to the young, the poor, and the ignorant,- opening the “door of heaven” to most of mankind except the grossly wicked. On this view, the Book of Life becomes secondary, merely a record of the degree of punishment due to every man, and only the most wicked of men (or those unbaptized by Mother Church, said Rome) not found written there are slated for the Lake of Fire. Thus, ignoring the biblical doctrine of the Book of Life opens the door little by little to quasi-universalism.

*(NOTE: BC = Before the Cross; AD* = Since the Cross)

BC*

1500 The Exodus of Israel from Egypt

500- 429 Socrates

458 – 377 Plato

414 – 352 Aristotle

372 – 300 Epicurus

BC*

0 THE CROSS

AD*

60 John, the Last Apostle forewarns of the characterof Gnosticism

100 End of the Apostolic Era (The apostles + thosewho heard Christ)

0- 85 Philo, begins to combine Gnosticism with Christian doctrine

125-? Tertullian, introduces Montanist theology (warns against Gnosticism)

130- 180 Clement, introduces Platonic speculation to exegetical theology

170- 230 Cyprian establishes primacy of the Roman Church

155- 224 Origen, absorbs neo-Platonism, and universalism.

175- 240 Plotinus (non-Christian) architect of fully developed Neo-Platonisrn

295 First Ecumenical Council, at Nicea

324 – 400 Augustine, neo-Platonist and Pelagian; endorsed Papacy, sacralism, innate immortality,and perpetual torment of the lost.

500 Ecumenical Council of Orange, at which full blown Pelagian Platonism is endorsed as official Romish doctrine.

1410- 1470 Marsilio Ficino, theologian; writes definitive 18-vol.work  Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animorum on man’s natural immortality (neo-Platonism) officially endorsed by Roman Church at Fourth Eateran Council, 1513 AD,when Calvin was 4 yrs old. This was an official text in Calvin’s training for Catholic priesthood.

1479- 1534 John Calvin, author of “The Institutes of the Christian Religion,” about age 25; renounced much of Romanism but not sacralism, and retained much neo-Platonism, including innate immortality and perpetual torment of the ungodly.

1500AD* Wm. Tyndale completes 1st printed EnglishNT (martyred before completion of OT); had openlyrenounced Romanism, innate immortality, and purgatory.Notice the remarkable historical symmetry in the above table:

(1) 3,000 years from the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage, to the “liberation” of the Bible and Christian worship from the bondage of Rome; with the Cross at the exact mid-point.

(2) 500 years from Socrates to the Cross in which God allows Satan to prepare the poisonous and subtle notions of Platonism; and 500 years from the Cross to the Council of Orange by which time Satan had corrupted the apostolic chuches with the abominations of Popery.

B. Two Prominent Witnesses to the Corruption of Apostolic Christianity by Platonism

1. P.O.Kristeller, “Renaissance Thought and Its Sources” Columbia Univ. Press, 1979

Chap.10 The Immortality of the Soul (Note: italics by this author)

p.184 “Among the early philosophers the soul was mainly conceived as the animating principle of the body. It was Plato who in a sense combined” the religious and philosophical notions of the soul, conceiving it both as the animating principle of the body and as moral and metaphysical agent capable of more or less perfect moral status ….

p.185 This Platonic doctrine of immortality was preserved and further developed by Plato’s pupils and followers, and especially by the Neoplatonists …

p.186 The majority of recent theologians …admit that there is no Scriptural basis for the natural immortality of the soul, and those who refused to go that far have been forced to rely on implications or on later interpretations …The Christian doctrine of immortality is not found in Scripture, but in the work of the early apologists and Church Fathers. from Justin Martyr to St. Augustine. These writers were familiar with Greek philosophy, as the Biblical Authors were not, and for them it was as vital a task to reconcile Christian doctrine with Greek philosophy as it is formodern theologians to reconcile it with modern science.The Christian notion of the immortality of the soul. as it was finally formulated by St. Augustine is clearly derived from that of Plato and the Neoplatonists.

p.188 re the work of Marsilio Ficino: “His major philosophical work. ..Theologia Platonica de immortalitateanimorum, …might be described as a Summa on the immortality of the soul …While drawing freely on arguments formulated by Plato, Plotinus, Augustine, and other thinkers,Ficino adds many of his own …

p.191 “Ficino’s massive work established a firm connection between the doctrine of immortality and Renaissance Platonism …The wide impact of Platonism …appears in the writings of many 16th century theologians and …in the decree by which the Lateran Council of 1513 condemned the unity of the intellect and formulated the immortality of the soul as a dogma of the Church.”

2. Rousas John Rushdoony, “The Foundations of Social Order” Thoburn Press, 1978

Chap.20, p.206:  ”The world of antiquity, committed to humanism, tolerated any absurdity concerning the future life but rejected…the doctrine of the resurrection. The answer is obvious. Every one of these other beliefs, i.e. the immortality of the soul, reincarnation or transmigration, etc., all affirmed the basic divinity of man and his self-salvation. The Biblical doctrine made man a creature and God sovereign…The immortality of the soul, in its every form, is a doctrine which makes man his own god and savior; it gives man an “open” universe, i.e. free from God, which is man’s to explore in time and eternity.”

p.210: “This is the Christian faith, the resurrection. Pagan antiquity, as well as “primitive” cultures, hold to a belief in a supernatural immortal soul. Whether in its Hellenic form, or as animism, this view is alien to the Biblical perspective. “Immortality” is ascribed to God alone…(1Tim.6:16)…It is Jesus Christ “who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”( 2Tim.1:10)….Whenever and wherever the soul is seen as of another substance than the body, then contempt for the body is inevitable.”

Why the hell…? [2] – Do we need one? Some ambiguous thoughts on Conditional Immortality

http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/1032209-wide-gate-whole-truth.html The debate about hell continues on this forum. The last post only a couple of days ago.

http://wade.typepad.com/nonconformist_chronicles/2010/07/hell-and-revelation-hell-part-9.html Part 9 of Wade Tannehill’s  series looking at hell

I found some  free books on Conditional Immortality and hell:

http://www.hell-know.net/

http://www.sheol-know.org/

http://www.jewishnotgreek.com/

http://theologica.ning.com/forum/topics/mortality-and-immortality?

From Focus on the Kingdom http://www.focusonthekingdomagazine.com/2010/07/v2-n3-immortality-and-our-need-to.html

http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=89340 a debate on a forum

This could be heaven or this could be hell Includes an essay the author wrote after listening to sermons from N T Wright.

While N T Wright does not fully embrace conditional immortality I think he is asking some good questions. And he is calling the church to put the resurrection back at the centre of our faith.

Here is  N T Wright on You Tube