The plague of political correctness is infecting just about everything in the West. But when it starts doing its worst on our defence forces, then we are in real big trouble. It seems Emperor Obama has declared war on Christianity, especially in the military. One nasty case of anti-Christian bigotry after another has been coming forth from the Obama regime, and it is beginning to look real ugly.
Under the reign of terror by BHO, the military has enacted a number of shocking anti-Christian policies, and there seem to be no signs of a let up. It appears that Obama is fully intent on eradicating every last Christian from the military. Here are just a few recent examples. But because there is so much to choose from, let me just offer quotes from a number of representative articles on this theme:
“Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to ‘rape’ and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is calling on the Air Force to enforce a regulation that they believe calls for the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.”
“During a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, a U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism and even ‘Islamophobia’ as examples of ‘religious extremism,’ Fox News’ Todd Starnes reports. Listed alongside them were the Ku Klux Klan, Hamas and al-Qaeda. The incident reportedly occurred during an Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief on religious extremism. At the top of the list is Evangelical Christianity. However, other extremist groups included Sunni Muslims, and Nation of Islam and the Jewish Defense League.
“Col. Crews recounted an interchange in 2010 between Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a military chaplain. While Adm. Mullen was briefing the troops on what the repeal might look like, the chaplain asked if those with ‘biblical views that homosexuality is a sin [would] still be protected to express those views?’ Adm. Mullen reportedly responded, ‘Chaplain, if you can’t get in line with this policy, resign your commission’.”
“The Pentagon’s top brass has dealt another blow to a decorated Army officer who was fired last year as a war college instructor because of his teachings about radical Islam, his attorney told The Washington Times. A four-star general’s rejection of Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley for consideration for command of a combat battalion likely means the end of a promising Army career of an armor officer who was decorated for valor in Iraq and received glowing evaluations.”
“U.S. soldiers assigned to Camp Marmal in northern Afghanistan said the removal of a cross from an Army chapel has created a ‘huge controversy’ and at least one soldier called it a ‘direct attack against Christianity and Judaism.’ A Pentagon spokesman told Fox News & Commentary that the cross was removed after someone complained. He also said the cross violated Army regulations.”
One of the most recent stories says in part: “An Air Force spokesperson said personnel are not allowed to proselytize but are free to express their personal religious beliefs so long as it ‘does not make others uncomfortable.’ But a critic pointed out an Air Force officer was told to remove a Bible that was on his desk. ‘When on duty or in an official capacity, Air Force members are free to express their personal religious beliefs as long as it does not make others uncomfortable,’ Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley said in a statement to Fox News. ‘Proselytizing (inducing someone to convert to one’s faith) goes over that line.’
“Tingley said Air Force leaders ‘must avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion.’ That statement has caused alarm among a number of religious liberty groups – including the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
“‘What does “As long as it does not make others uncomfortable” mean,’ executive director Ron Crews asked Fox News…. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) also took issue with the Air Force spokesperson’s use of the word ‘uncomfortable.’ ‘If that is the standard, then Christianity will be over because there will always be somebody who is uncomfortable no matter what someone’s belief is when it comes to Judeo-Christian beliefs,’ he told Fox News. ‘It appears it is getting more and more difficult to be a Christian and serve in the military’.”
Did you get that? As long as it “does not make others uncomfortable”! Can I begin to tell you all the things that people say that make me uncomfortable?
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they hate God.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they can’t stand Christians.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they are pro-baby killing.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they are Marxists.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they voted for Obama.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they don’t like books.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they don’t like donuts.
-I feel uncomfortable when people tell me that they are not Geelong fans.
I could go on all day. So should all these people be forced to shut up simply because what they say makes me feel uncomfortable? What sort of idiocy have we got happening in the military? Is there anything Obama won’t do in his war against Christianity?
As one commentator notes, “Obama has a history of thinly-veiled hostility towards Christians and Jews. Certainly, this announcement comes under his watch and with his blessing. . . . And now, being Christian and doing what Christ commanded, which is to share Christian love and faith, will get you a court martial.
“Nobody knows exactly what Obama’s playing at, but it stands to harm our fighting forces and is probably contrary to our Constitution and good sense. Now, like Nero before him, Obama intends to discipline any soldier who professes Christianity. This has happened before, soldiers punished for being Christian. The time and place was that of the Roman Empire. Of course, we know what happened to them.”
BHO is certainly our most PC and anti-Christian president ever. If the military is anything to go on, it will only get worse. And Christians voted for this guy? And twice?
It would be good if many more Americans rose up in vocal opposition, as so many French people did on the subject of funny marriage.
David Morrison
When Obama forecast after his election in 2008 that under his administration there would be “a fundamental transformation of America” few believed that eradication of America’s Christian base would be part of that transformation, but it is becoming abundantly clear. The trouble is that many Christian leaders – such as Rob Bell – are not Christian at all, and have neither the will nor the means to oppose this evil president.
It’s time we stopped calling such leadership merely by their own profession. On the contrary, “By their fruits you shall know them”, i.e. that they are ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing.
He comes out with stuff which I had to contend with in my undergraduate days at university from outright unbelievers in their efforts to destroy Christian faith.
Also, my wife and I note the many websites (by no means all of them ‘shonky’) that brand Obama as the antichrist. Now I know that you not enamoured with such talk, taking the view that eschatology is a “secondary issue” (does that include the Second Coming itself, which Paul calls “the blessed hope”, Titus 2:13?), but is there not a place for asking whether this is so? Are we seeing the great world-wide apostasy which Paul forecast in 2 Thess.2:3ff? Are we seeing the final manifestation of the great beast, and his false prophet (in partic. the media and educational institutions) of Rev.13? Is it out of place to ask such questions? I believe not!
Murray R Adamthwaite
Thanks Murray
Yes, you are quite right on Obama and Bell. But since you seem to misunderstand, and thus misrepresent, me in your last remarks, let me restate my position: Of course everything the Bible teaches on is important, but not everything is essential for salvation. There are some core doctrines which a person must believe to be called a Christian, such as the deity of Christ and the Trinity, etc. Also, all biblical Christians believe in and look forward to the second coming of Christ. There is room to move however on some of the details of the parousia. There is no need to send believers to the wall if they differ on their understanding of the millennium, or their view of whether or not – and when – there is a rapture, etc. A person is not barred from the Kingdom, in other words, because of his preference for, say, premillennialism over amillennialism. Thus the doctrine of our Lord’s return is vital, but particular understandings of it are not – at least for salvation. In that sense they are indeed secondary, as are things like one’s understandings of church government or modes of baptism.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
As you point out Bill, complete idiocy and utter bulldust. Under their Constitution there was always to be a separation of State and Religion but in this case it is becoming the reverse and no less than full blooded religious persecution. Once there was Freedom of Speech, freedom of belief, and freedom from Religious Persecution all entrenched in the American Constitution.
Now no more is it so my “Bucko’s” just like section 2 of he Australian Constitution which states “The power of all Governments lies within it’s people. For whom all Governments exist and acts for”. Is this the case now? because we the people have stood back and allowed successive Governments erode our Social and Civil Liberties.
We have allowed ourselves to come under the gradual control of Big Brother starting back in the days of McArthyism and the claims of “Reds under then Bed”. We have allowed Government Propaganda to lull us into this State that we no longer have full control over our lives and circumstances and more importantly our Religious Freedoms and Moral Beliefs.
We only have ourselves to blame because we never challenged these issues from the very beginning of their initial appearances. Very few of us raised concerns,. Instead we listened to very clever Government Spin Doctors and resigned ourselves to our ideological fates as dictated by Big Brother.
Leigh Stebbins
And they have the disgusting gall to call CHRISTIANS hypocrites??? These very people have enjoyed their existence in their country due to the principles of Biblical Christianity, this is what makes it so pathetic, when I first became a Christian I used to hear the line “churches are full of hypocrites”, now after 30 years as a disciple of Jesus and what I see happening around me, I have no doubt that there is more hypocrisy outside the church than there is within it!
Steve Davis
The rejection of Christianity in the west certainly seems to have reached a tipping point that suggests the end of this age is fast approaching. Not to make the west the centre of the world as though what happens elsewhere is insignificant but the west has long been a light to other nations in terms of freedom and the freedom to learn about and proclaim the gospel. Now we seem to be in the kind of situation where other evil cultures and nations throughout history would have repented if they had heard the message that is currently freely available and proclaimed but increasingly rejected in the west. Couple that with the return of Israel to the promised land, it’s physical and ideological assault by the surrounding Islamic nations, and the unique ignorance of so many professing Christians to what they claim belief, it just seems like the stage is being set for us to permanently join our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Obama is working hard to take away freedom, Christianity is standing against his plan to transform the society in a control state and use all immoral forces to destroy US civilization. Is continues opposite statement are obvious as is abusing God world like when he blessed the parenthood abortionist and after at meeting with Christian is defending the sacrosanct life. Only a devil inspire person can be like that and if him is a Muslim will work in such way to destroy the social system of USA and western world.
Luigi Rosolin
For years the USA has been the champion super-power of the free world. We relied on them to fight or lead the fight in many battles. But if all “Islamophobes” are weeded out of the military, will the rest have the guts to fight radical Islam? We may be on our own then.
John Bennett
Sorry, Bill. No offence meant. I genuinely did not understand your position on eschatology. However, you did not really answer my question: in the light of the many websites which brand Obama as either THE antichrist, or at least AN antichrist, is it legitimate to ask, (a) whether this might be so, and (b) whether the world-wide apostasy, in which homosexuals lead the charge, is the great apostasy/rebellion which Paul forecasts in 2 Thess.2:3ff?
I believe that these are legitimate questions, and I gather that you have a number of comments along this line, only some of which you post. So is this type of question what you regard as, inter alia, of “secondary importance”? It is a genuine query.
For my part, I see the onslaught of anti-Christian sentiment, bigotry, and persecution on this growing world-widce scale as quite possibly the great apostasy. If so, there is little we can do about it, but we can and must testify against it, and warn of coming judgment, even if that invites ridicule. We must stand in this evil day, and having done all, stand – when many are caving in (cf. Eph.6:13). Pray that we may escape these things and be able to stand before the Son of Man when He comes (Luke 21:36). Above all, look up, for your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28).
Some see this outlook as pessimism, and inveigh against it. I do not. I see nothing wrong with a keen eye and ear to what is happening on the earth, and then looking for the coming Day of God. Meanwhile, I of course endorse all efforts to testify to this corrupt generation about righteousness, self-control and judgment to come (Acts 24:25). That, as I see it is our task at this present time.
Murray R Adamthwaite
Thanks Murray
With 2500 articles on this site, my position on all sorts of things ought to be rather clear by now. Scripture orders us to ‘occupy till he comes’ and to be salt and light, among other things. This can and should be done regardless of one’s eschatology, or millennial views. For example, Wilberforce was postmillennial in his eschatology while Shaftesbury was premillennial. Although they had quite different views of the end times, both were keenly committed to better society around them. See more on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/1999/04/08/end-times-and-christian-responsibility/
And as a historian, I am rather surprised that you are even asking such questions. There have been hundreds of folks declared to be the Antichrist over the last 2000 years. Indeed, according to Scripture, we have been living in the “last days” for 2000 years now. And of course the Bible speaks of antichrists, plural, as well. So I certainly am not foolish enough to start saying this or that person is the one. However BHO certainly has plenty of antichrist attributes and actions.
There have been plenty of ebbs and flows in church history, with great advances and great fallings away. I have been saying for years now that things will likely get much worse in the West for the immediate future at least. But God is still at work, and especially doing great things in the non-West. So I am not pessimistic but optimistic. Jesus is on the throne and will one day return. In the meantime in obedience I work to extend his Kingdom, and encourage others to do the same.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks Bill.
I must say that nothing you have said in the post above is at all news to me, nor would I disagree with most of it, save for what you write in the second paragraph. Speaking in general terms, the observation about the multitude of identifications of antichrist through history (of which I am well aware!) is in my experience used as a device to dismiss all concern with end times, and 2 Thess.2 in particular. This and other passages may as well not be in some people’s Bibles at all. And then the prayer on which the Bible closes, “Even so come, Lord Jesus” (Rev.22:20): it does not seem to figure very much at all in their prayers.
You mention Lord Shaftesbury. John Pollock records of him how this text (Rev.22:20) was embossed on the flaps of all his envelopes. Also, he would insist, “There is no real remedy for all this mass of misery but in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we not plead for it every time we hear the clock strike?” Such words I heartily endorse, but I rarely hear them today. And why not?
Dispensationalists on one hand are obsessed with the so-called rapture (based on a misinterpretation of 1 Thess.4:16-17) that the sudden and glorious intervention of a glorified Christ is lost sight of, while their hope is to escape from trouble by being translated to heaven. I heard this in almost those words recently at Belgrave Heights Convention in response to a presentation on the persecuted church. It is a serious error, in my view.
Then postmillennialists seem to have a special interest in postponing the Coming to the distant future so as be of little relevance to life now. “For all practical purposes, forget it”, seems to be their message. My objection here concerns the many ‘watchfulness’ texts, the fact that the Second Coming is mentioned in all but four NT books, and often at considerable length, and the closing prayer of the Bible, Rev.22:20, the prayer of the Church, which should be on our lips constantly. Preachers of this view will never preach on the subject from one year’s end to the other: again, that has been my observation over the years. So, far from being a “secondary issue”, this too is a serious error.
My own view is that ALL forms of millennialism are errors and by-paths, Rev.20 notwithstanding. An amillennial position puts a Scriptural perspective on the Second Coming, gives due seriousness to the ‘watchfiulness’ texts and the ‘nearness’ texts (James 5:8; 1 Peter 4:7; Rev.1:3 etc.), and gives a perspective on work in this present world: occupy till He comes on one hand; but a constant eye to the coming Day of God on the other. In other words, our eschatology should inform our daily activities; not be an irrelevance. Shaftesbury was a perfect example of this, even though a premillennial (but not a Dispensationalist).
And you all need to know about Mikey Weinstein, Obama’s chief persecutor of Christians in the military:
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/38272018.html
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Keep making us feel uncomfortable, Bill.
It would be good if many more Americans rose up in vocal opposition, as so many French people did on the subject of funny marriage.
David Morrison
When Obama forecast after his election in 2008 that under his administration there would be “a fundamental transformation of America” few believed that eradication of America’s Christian base would be part of that transformation, but it is becoming abundantly clear. The trouble is that many Christian leaders – such as Rob Bell – are not Christian at all, and have neither the will nor the means to oppose this evil president.
It’s time we stopped calling such leadership merely by their own profession. On the contrary, “By their fruits you shall know them”, i.e. that they are ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing.
In regard to Rob Bell have a look at this video clip:
http://aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=5435
He comes out with stuff which I had to contend with in my undergraduate days at university from outright unbelievers in their efforts to destroy Christian faith.
Also, my wife and I note the many websites (by no means all of them ‘shonky’) that brand Obama as the antichrist. Now I know that you not enamoured with such talk, taking the view that eschatology is a “secondary issue” (does that include the Second Coming itself, which Paul calls “the blessed hope”, Titus 2:13?), but is there not a place for asking whether this is so? Are we seeing the great world-wide apostasy which Paul forecast in 2 Thess.2:3ff? Are we seeing the final manifestation of the great beast, and his false prophet (in partic. the media and educational institutions) of Rev.13? Is it out of place to ask such questions? I believe not!
Murray R Adamthwaite
Thanks Murray
Yes, you are quite right on Obama and Bell. But since you seem to misunderstand, and thus misrepresent, me in your last remarks, let me restate my position: Of course everything the Bible teaches on is important, but not everything is essential for salvation. There are some core doctrines which a person must believe to be called a Christian, such as the deity of Christ and the Trinity, etc. Also, all biblical Christians believe in and look forward to the second coming of Christ. There is room to move however on some of the details of the parousia. There is no need to send believers to the wall if they differ on their understanding of the millennium, or their view of whether or not – and when – there is a rapture, etc. A person is not barred from the Kingdom, in other words, because of his preference for, say, premillennialism over amillennialism. Thus the doctrine of our Lord’s return is vital, but particular understandings of it are not – at least for salvation. In that sense they are indeed secondary, as are things like one’s understandings of church government or modes of baptism.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
As you point out Bill, complete idiocy and utter bulldust. Under their Constitution there was always to be a separation of State and Religion but in this case it is becoming the reverse and no less than full blooded religious persecution. Once there was Freedom of Speech, freedom of belief, and freedom from Religious Persecution all entrenched in the American Constitution.
Now no more is it so my “Bucko’s” just like section 2 of he Australian Constitution which states “The power of all Governments lies within it’s people. For whom all Governments exist and acts for”. Is this the case now? because we the people have stood back and allowed successive Governments erode our Social and Civil Liberties.
We have allowed ourselves to come under the gradual control of Big Brother starting back in the days of McArthyism and the claims of “Reds under then Bed”. We have allowed Government Propaganda to lull us into this State that we no longer have full control over our lives and circumstances and more importantly our Religious Freedoms and Moral Beliefs.
We only have ourselves to blame because we never challenged these issues from the very beginning of their initial appearances. Very few of us raised concerns,. Instead we listened to very clever Government Spin Doctors and resigned ourselves to our ideological fates as dictated by Big Brother.
Leigh Stebbins
And they have the disgusting gall to call CHRISTIANS hypocrites??? These very people have enjoyed their existence in their country due to the principles of Biblical Christianity, this is what makes it so pathetic, when I first became a Christian I used to hear the line “churches are full of hypocrites”, now after 30 years as a disciple of Jesus and what I see happening around me, I have no doubt that there is more hypocrisy outside the church than there is within it!
Steve Davis
The rejection of Christianity in the west certainly seems to have reached a tipping point that suggests the end of this age is fast approaching. Not to make the west the centre of the world as though what happens elsewhere is insignificant but the west has long been a light to other nations in terms of freedom and the freedom to learn about and proclaim the gospel. Now we seem to be in the kind of situation where other evil cultures and nations throughout history would have repented if they had heard the message that is currently freely available and proclaimed but increasingly rejected in the west. Couple that with the return of Israel to the promised land, it’s physical and ideological assault by the surrounding Islamic nations, and the unique ignorance of so many professing Christians to what they claim belief, it just seems like the stage is being set for us to permanently join our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Simon Fox
Thanks guys. Some will not back down here:
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/05/05/rear-admiral-wont-back-down-from-constitutional-right-to-share-faith-66682
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Obama is working hard to take away freedom, Christianity is standing against his plan to transform the society in a control state and use all immoral forces to destroy US civilization. Is continues opposite statement are obvious as is abusing God world like when he blessed the parenthood abortionist and after at meeting with Christian is defending the sacrosanct life. Only a devil inspire person can be like that and if him is a Muslim will work in such way to destroy the social system of USA and western world.
Luigi Rosolin
For years the USA has been the champion super-power of the free world. We relied on them to fight or lead the fight in many battles. But if all “Islamophobes” are weeded out of the military, will the rest have the guts to fight radical Islam? We may be on our own then.
John Bennett
Sorry, Bill. No offence meant. I genuinely did not understand your position on eschatology. However, you did not really answer my question: in the light of the many websites which brand Obama as either THE antichrist, or at least AN antichrist, is it legitimate to ask, (a) whether this might be so, and (b) whether the world-wide apostasy, in which homosexuals lead the charge, is the great apostasy/rebellion which Paul forecasts in 2 Thess.2:3ff?
I believe that these are legitimate questions, and I gather that you have a number of comments along this line, only some of which you post. So is this type of question what you regard as, inter alia, of “secondary importance”? It is a genuine query.
For my part, I see the onslaught of anti-Christian sentiment, bigotry, and persecution on this growing world-widce scale as quite possibly the great apostasy. If so, there is little we can do about it, but we can and must testify against it, and warn of coming judgment, even if that invites ridicule. We must stand in this evil day, and having done all, stand – when many are caving in (cf. Eph.6:13). Pray that we may escape these things and be able to stand before the Son of Man when He comes (Luke 21:36). Above all, look up, for your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28).
Some see this outlook as pessimism, and inveigh against it. I do not. I see nothing wrong with a keen eye and ear to what is happening on the earth, and then looking for the coming Day of God. Meanwhile, I of course endorse all efforts to testify to this corrupt generation about righteousness, self-control and judgment to come (Acts 24:25). That, as I see it is our task at this present time.
Murray R Adamthwaite
Thanks Murray
With 2500 articles on this site, my position on all sorts of things ought to be rather clear by now. Scripture orders us to ‘occupy till he comes’ and to be salt and light, among other things. This can and should be done regardless of one’s eschatology, or millennial views. For example, Wilberforce was postmillennial in his eschatology while Shaftesbury was premillennial. Although they had quite different views of the end times, both were keenly committed to better society around them. See more on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/1999/04/08/end-times-and-christian-responsibility/
And as a historian, I am rather surprised that you are even asking such questions. There have been hundreds of folks declared to be the Antichrist over the last 2000 years. Indeed, according to Scripture, we have been living in the “last days” for 2000 years now. And of course the Bible speaks of antichrists, plural, as well. So I certainly am not foolish enough to start saying this or that person is the one. However BHO certainly has plenty of antichrist attributes and actions.
There have been plenty of ebbs and flows in church history, with great advances and great fallings away. I have been saying for years now that things will likely get much worse in the West for the immediate future at least. But God is still at work, and especially doing great things in the non-West. So I am not pessimistic but optimistic. Jesus is on the throne and will one day return. In the meantime in obedience I work to extend his Kingdom, and encourage others to do the same.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks Bill.
I must say that nothing you have said in the post above is at all news to me, nor would I disagree with most of it, save for what you write in the second paragraph. Speaking in general terms, the observation about the multitude of identifications of antichrist through history (of which I am well aware!) is in my experience used as a device to dismiss all concern with end times, and 2 Thess.2 in particular. This and other passages may as well not be in some people’s Bibles at all. And then the prayer on which the Bible closes, “Even so come, Lord Jesus” (Rev.22:20): it does not seem to figure very much at all in their prayers.
You mention Lord Shaftesbury. John Pollock records of him how this text (Rev.22:20) was embossed on the flaps of all his envelopes. Also, he would insist, “There is no real remedy for all this mass of misery but in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we not plead for it every time we hear the clock strike?” Such words I heartily endorse, but I rarely hear them today. And why not?
Dispensationalists on one hand are obsessed with the so-called rapture (based on a misinterpretation of 1 Thess.4:16-17) that the sudden and glorious intervention of a glorified Christ is lost sight of, while their hope is to escape from trouble by being translated to heaven. I heard this in almost those words recently at Belgrave Heights Convention in response to a presentation on the persecuted church. It is a serious error, in my view.
Then postmillennialists seem to have a special interest in postponing the Coming to the distant future so as be of little relevance to life now. “For all practical purposes, forget it”, seems to be their message. My objection here concerns the many ‘watchfulness’ texts, the fact that the Second Coming is mentioned in all but four NT books, and often at considerable length, and the closing prayer of the Bible, Rev.22:20, the prayer of the Church, which should be on our lips constantly. Preachers of this view will never preach on the subject from one year’s end to the other: again, that has been my observation over the years. So, far from being a “secondary issue”, this too is a serious error.
My own view is that ALL forms of millennialism are errors and by-paths, Rev.20 notwithstanding. An amillennial position puts a Scriptural perspective on the Second Coming, gives due seriousness to the ‘watchfiulness’ texts and the ‘nearness’ texts (James 5:8; 1 Peter 4:7; Rev.1:3 etc.), and gives a perspective on work in this present world: occupy till He comes on one hand; but a constant eye to the coming Day of God on the other. In other words, our eschatology should inform our daily activities; not be an irrelevance. Shaftesbury was a perfect example of this, even though a premillennial (but not a Dispensationalist).
Murray R Adamthwaite