Mark 8:12 and Luke 21:36

Keith, who will never post here he indicated, e-mailed me: "Like I say I'm a pan millenialist - I have faith it will all "pan" out in the end and find no reason to sift through contradictory hints from the Bible. Real answers are not there and Jesus even warned against speculation. Mark 8:12. Don't mean to be brusk, but that is what I think."

I was thinking about Mark 8:12 where Christ asked the pharisees, "Why does this generation seek a sign?" Yes, Keith, I should not look for the signs. Clinton, you are not a sign--see previous post. But, still, the study of Revelation promises a blessing.

Adam, who I have been trying to get to post because he is a pretribulation dispensationalist, e-mailed me "I tried to post but I'm not sure if it went through or not. 'Watch ye therefore and pray always the ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.' (Luke 21:36) Escape what? The tribulation!" He also e-mailed me about a dispensational conference near here that included LaHaye himself--you mean they just keep up these conferences noting the signs? What do they think about Mark 8:12 as Keith noted! Adam, I don't agree with your ideas about the tribulation. But I will keep a watch and keep thinking and reading and praying.

Earl is busy now and Bill is off studying other issues. Since I am the only one posting of late, I will take a break and concentrate on my other blogs. Hopefully someone will pick up the slack. But I am still enjoying the blessings of Revelation.

I preordered a DVD and will post when I view it. “The Late Great Planet Church: The Rise of Dispensationalism”, can be preordered at http://store.nicenecouncil.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=671

An Historical Premillennialist Takes Issue With Pretribulational Dispensationalism

Dr. George Eldon Ladd (1911-1982)

Why does George Ladd, foremost Historical Premillennialist of the last century, dismiss Dispensationalism? In "The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views" he says that Dispensationalists expect the millennium to be all about the Davidic kingdom with all its sacrifices; then he notes that this is impossible because of Hebrews 8 which notes that the old covenant is obsolete—we have a new covenant.

Ladd maintains that Dispensational Premillennialism was an idea that was hatched N. J. Darby and others in the 19th century. Meetings and Bible conferences were held in the early 1800s and at one of these C. I. Scofield hatched the idea for his reference Bible. The Rapture was added before the tribulation—hence pretribulationalism.

Historical Premillennialist Ladd then states in "The Blessed Hope": “We can find no trace of pretribulationism in the early church; and no modern pretribulationist has successfully proved that this particular doctrine was held by any of the church fathers or students of the Word before the nineteenth century.” (p. 31) Christ is to come after the tribulation according to Ladd who uses Scripture to prove his case. A pretribulation rapture is “not supported by any affirmations in the Word of God” (p. 88) Ladd notes that by defining the blessed hope “in terms of escape from suffering rather than union with Christ [one] may be guilty of the positive danger of leaving the Church unprepared for tribulation when Antichrist appears. . . . Questions of theology are not decided by our desires or dislikes; they are decided by appeal to the Word of God. ” (p. 164)