The Expanded Edition of "A Case for Amillennialism" Is Here . . . Amazon's Got `em!

This has been the summer for book news!

I'm thrilled to announce that the revised edition of my A Case for Amillennialism is about to hit the bookstores (I've already received my copies).

The expanded edition includes:

*  A "Foreword" from Mike Horton
*  A Preface to the Expanded Edition
*  Two new chapters:
         "The Antichrist" and "Signs of the End"
*  Eschatology charts
*  Scripture and Subject indices

You can order it here:

Paperback edition (from Amazon): 

Paperback Edition

Kindle Edition (from Amazon): 

Kindle Edition

Horton Reviews Kingdom Through Covenant

Kingdom Through Covenant has been touted as presenting a significant alternative between covenant theology and dispensationalism.  I must confess that I own the volume, but have not yet had a chance to read it.

Mike Horton was asked to review the book and offer his assessment.  You can find that review here:  Horton's Review of Kingdom Through Covenant

You Can't Talk About Eschatology Without a Chart. Right?

Thanks to Robert Lira for creating a very useful chart of the two age model of New Testament eschatology.

The chart is available as a pdf in both color (Click here for color chart) and black and white (Click here for black and white version).

Edmonton Prophecy Conference Audio and Handouts Posted -- "Israel and the Last Days"

The audio and handouts of my lectures from this past weekend are posted here:  Israel and the Last Days

It was great to meet so many White Horse Inn listeners, fellow URC folk, and to make many new friends!

Edmonton Prophecy Conference Nov 4-6 -- "Israel and the Last Days"

I will be speaking this coming weekend (November 4-6) at the Orthodox Reformed Church of Edmonton (a URCNA congregation).

Here's the link to the conference with all the necessary info.  Click Here.

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please let them know!

Eschatology by Ethos

It is quite common in Reformed circles these days to identify eschatological systems as essentially "optimistic" or "pessimistic." Of course, "optimism" is good, while "pessimism" is bad. 

Since no one wants to be a pessimist when it comes to understanding the end-times (the Bible is very clear that Jesus wins in the end), postmillennarians champion their system as "optimistic" (and therefore biblical), while all others (including Reformed amillennarians) are decried as essentially pessimistic (and therefore, defeatist). 

I'm convinced this is not a very helpful standard by which to evaluate any eschatological system.  In this essay, I argue my case by pointing out how this paradigm came to be used in Reformed circles and why it fails to account for all the biblical data--some of which speaks of a suffering church and times of great tribulation.

The kind folks at Modern Reformation Magazine have given me permission to post my recent article from the September/October 2011 edition here on the Riddleblog.

Here's the link. Eschatology by Ethos   

Horton Addresses the "Biblical Foreign Policy" Question

Following the recent Barack Obama-Benjamin Netanyahu dust up over Israel's current borders, many evangelicals have responded by warning of covenant curses coming upon those nations who don't support Israel's right to the land (with its current boundaries), because Israel is supposedly a "holy land," or because Israel "has a covenant with God."

The political questions surrounding Israel are important and notoriously difficult to answer.  Where to draw the borders?  Should there be a Palestinian state?  Should there be a divided Jerusalem? 

But to invoke covenant curses because of an unbiblical notion that the modern nation of Israel is a "holy land" is quite another.  In fact, it reveals a serious misunderstanding of redemptive history to do so.  Israel is a modern secular nation, like America, China, or the Philippines.  Israel does not sit on "holy land."  Jesus Christ fulfilled that covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai.  Furthermore, it was Paul who universalized the land promise from Palestine to include the whole earth (Romans 4:13)

Horton addresses this matter here:  A Biblical Foreign Policy?

My Old "Issues" Just Keep Coming Back

I was a guest a while back on "Issues, Etc.," when Harold Camping's prediction regarding our Lord's return first became a big deal.  Issues, Etc., replayed the interview . . . 

Here's the link:  On "Date Setting"

The Consolation of Prophecy -- Growing Churches Churches Conference, April 1-2

First Chino URC is hosting the annual Growing Reformed Churches Conference on April 1-2, 2011.

The theme of this year's conference is "The Consolation of Prophecy."

This year's speakers include Dr. Robert Godfrey, Dr. Cornel Venema, Dr. Dennis Johnson, and some middle-aged bald guy (me).  I'm speaking on the signs of the end.

Here's the conference brochure:

Click Here

No Surprise -- Most Evangelicals Leaders Are Premillennial

A recent poll of evangelical leaders shows that 65% of evangelical leaders identity themselves as premillennial.  No surprise in that statistic--that percentage is about what I would have guessed.

Of those polled, 13% are amillennial, 4% are postmillennial, while 17% hold to "other" views (whatever those unspecified views might be).

You can find the news story here.  Eschatology Poll

In any case, there are a whole bunch of premillennarians who still need convincing!  Start here:  Amillennial Resources, and then go here:  More Amillennial Resources.