Pushback on My Gatekeeping Video - AD Responds

Alright, so I did want to do a part two of yesterday's video about gatekeeping the gospel, and there's a couple things that I think were kind of misunderstood in what I was saying, and I kind of get it because of how contentious sometimes debates on eschatology can be, but if you noticed, I didn't even mention any eschatological position.

What I was talking about was more of a mindset and a way of living your life, because there's the escape pod Christianity that I was talking about, I know people who live that life that are dispensational, premillennial, amillennial, optimistic, neutral, pessimistic premillennial, and even postmillennials if you can believe it.

So it's not really about eschatology proper, it's not really about a certain millennial theology proper, it's about the way you live, like what you do day to day, what your outlook is, and things like that.

And so I don't want you to get triggered by thinking I was attacking dispensationalists or pre-Trib Rapture or premillennials, I wasn't, and that's why I deliberately didn't mention anything like that.

But let me talk a little bit more about that in just a moment. One of my commenters had a good point, and she said that I kind of came across almost as if I was saying that Christians couldn't be persecuted anymore, or that Christians wouldn't be persecuted anymore, that's really more accurate.

Christians wouldn't be persecuted, or Christians shouldn't expect to be persecuted by a pagan government or something like that. And that's not the case at all, in fact, there's persecution going on right now.

And the thing is, she brought up this verse from 2 Timothy chapter 3, and she said that this does actually say, kind of promises that Christians will be persecuted. Here is what the Word of God says. Indeed, all—this is chapter 3, verse 12.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. And so, you know, she said, look, that certainly seems—anyone who seeks to live a godly life will be persecuted.

Sure, that's very true, Paul does say that, but I don't think what he's saying here is that this is the expectation for all of history, in all time, in all of that, because there have been times in the United States where Christians were not persecuted for trying to live a godly life.

In fact, most people were Christians or expected to at least attempt to live a godly life, and so it just doesn't comport with history. But even more importantly than that, the verses themselves don't seem to teach that.

So if you want to back up just a few verses, listen to what he says. Paul says this—oh, I lost it, there it is, there it is—he goes, he's talking about false teachers and evil people, and he says, avoid such people.

This is verse 6. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Now, here's the important part, verse 8. Just as Janus and Jambres—I don't really know how to pronounce that—just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

So what he's saying is, yes, people are going to be persecuted, just kind of like how Moses was opposed by those two magicians and all of that, but the good news is, they're not going to get very much farther, they're not going to get very far, everyone's going to know that they're foolish, that they're talking nonsense, just like with Janus and Jambres.

When they tried to do their magic to kind of compete with Yahweh, it was very plain within a few short minutes that actually Yahweh was in charge here, not the magicians. And so even in this context where he's saying, you know, people who seek to live a godly life will be persecuted, what he's saying though is, but take heart, they will not get very far, everyone's going to know how foolish they are at some point.

So my point is not that Christians can't be persecuted, what my point though is that it's not the expectation, and we don't need to make that the rule, that if you're not persecuted, you must not really be a Christian, you must not be trying to live a godly life, because we can expect—at least that's what Paul seems to say—that at some point in history, the foolishness of those who persecute you will be very, very obvious, and I would imagine that at some point the persecution will stop completely when the gospel of the kingdom of God is spread everywhere.

And here's how I foresee the kingdom of God growing. This is not a graph of the kingdom of God, but it's just an example. This is a graph of the stock market, adjusted for inflation. I'm not saying the graph of the kingdom of God looks like this exactly, but what I'm saying is, imagine that when the graph goes up, the kingdom of God is expanding, when the graph goes down, it's contracting, let's just say.

So over time—and then these are the years—so over time, you can see that it trends higher and higher, right? So the gospel of the kingdom of God is spreading, more Christians, more people that are bowing the knee to Christ and setting up institutions that honor Christ as Lord, and all of that, over time it grows.

But there are periods of contraction where there's calamities or problems or persecutions, and so I would expect that in these down periods, right? And again, I'm not saying this is the graph of the kingdom of God, but in these down periods, there would probably be increased persecution of Christians, right?

And in these up periods, there would be decreased persecutions of Christians. That's what I would expect, and I don't think that 2 Timothy 3 would preclude that. In fact, I think that Paul accounts for that when he talks about how the men that are like the guys that oppose Moses, eventually their folly is going to be known to everybody.

So my point is not that Christians won't be persecuted. My point is that it's not the expectation, it's not the rule of faith, that the one indicator that you know for sure, if you want to know someone's a Christian, is that they're persecuted.

I think that's way too simplistic and doesn't comport with history, and quite frankly, it doesn't comport with the scripture here as well. Again, Christians will be persecuted, in fact, Christians are being persecuted right now, all over the world, even in Canada.

But we don't need to use that as the one major indicator of who's true and who isn't. Now, that's the first thing. Now, the second thing that I wanted to mention really quick is a lot of people were saying, show me in the Bible where it says that we need to win institutions to obey Christ, or for the gospel, or things like that.

Show me in the Bible where it tells us to do that. Christ is the hero in this story, we're not supposed to do anything. Christ is going to save us, and I find that very confusing. A lot of people will make comments like that, and to be honest, it's almost embarrassing what the answer is, because it's the Great Commission's the answer.

Like, there's no extra commission, that's the commission. What does the Great Commission say? It says, go therefore into all nations, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything that Christ commands.

So, make disciples of the nations. Not just one or two people in each nation, no, make disciples of the nations. We're talking about vast groups of people, and then what are we supposed to do after we baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

So, they convert according to the grace of God, and the mercy of God, and all of that by faith. After they've converted, we've baptized them, they've put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, what do we do?

We then teach them to obey everything that God has commanded. And so, we're discipling the nations by baptizing them, and teaching them to obey Christ in every area of life. In their personal life, in their home life, in their communities, in the governments, in their businesses, in everything.

Nothing's excluded from this. And so, I don't mean to sound like I'm insulting or anything like that, I don't mean to insult you, but it really is that simple. It's the Great Commission is where we get that from the Scripture.

Now, the last thing I did want to address is, again, this idea of me. One guy even said that I was potentially even slandering premillennials, and that I characterized premillennials all wrong because of the escape pod theology.

And again, guys, I intentionally didn't mention eschatology, I didn't mention any theological terms proper, because quite frankly, this is a criticism that applies across all spectrums of theology, across all spectrums of what you consider your eschatology, or your pre-trib, post-trib, whatever, your millennial theology.

Nobody's excluded from this criticism. Because the reality is, there are people that are just waiting it out for their escape pod, whether they're postmillennial, premillennial, amillennial, and all of that, because it's not what they say they believe, it's how they act.

In fact, the person I had in mind when I was making this video is kind of a neutral amillennial, right? So he's not pessimistic, not really optimistic either, just sort of a kind of middle-of-the-road amillennial, and I would agree with this guy on almost all theology—covenant theology, all this stuff—but he doesn't really consider the earth his home.

He doesn't really consider the squabbles in the institutions of our nation really worth it, because after all, this is not really our house, or our home. Christ is going to come back and he's going to make it all right.

What can we really do about it? In fact, it's going to be futility all day long. And to me, it's like, that's what I'm talking about. That mentality where because you know it's futile, or you think it might be futile, you don't really act.

You don't seek to influence the legislature to do something for Christ. Now let me tell you something about my pastor, right? My pastor is an amillennial, as far as I know, he's an optimistic amillennial.

And one example of just something he's done in the past a number of times in Vermont—they often will come up with these crazy laws and things like that that are immoral—and he'll go to the sessions, the open-mic sessions, and he'll speak, and he'll tell the legislature, look, before God you have a duty to execute justice, and here's what justice is, thus says the Lord, and you must do this or that, and he's trying to influence those people.

I'm not saying you have to do that, but that's just an example, because regardless of what his millennial position is, or if he believes in the Rapture or not, he's acting and composing his life in such a way that he's thinking multi-generationally, he's holding people to account of the Word of God, and he's insisting that leaders lead according to God's Word, because that's what's required of these leaders.

They're servants of God, that's what the Bible says. The government are deacons of God, and that means they need to serve God according to His Word, and he's insisting that they do so. Now, they regularly ignore him, but the point is, he's living his life in such a way that he's not sitting on his hands waiting for his escape pod.

You see what I'm trying to say? I have more in common with a dispensational person who believes in the Rapture and all that kind of stuff, who's thinking multi-generationally about his family, who's trying to make a difference in his communities, who's insisting that people that are civil governing authorities kiss the sun and honor the sun, bow the knee to Christ, and things like that.

I've got more in common with that man than I do with a do-nothing, amillennial, post-millennial who just argues about theology all day on the internet and doesn't do anything, doesn't even have kids, probably, and stuff like that.

You guys think that I don't know people that are this way. Guys, I know people of all millennial, maybe except for post-millennial, I know people of a variety of different eschatologies that refuse to have kids.

They refuse to have kids. Why? Because they don't want to bring up kids in a world that is going to hell in a handbasket. That is simply disobedience. Okay? So whatever your eschatology—and look, I'm not saying premillennials are all doing this.

I'm saying even amillennials do this. I'm sure there's some post-millennials that are doing this. But the point is that this is not about eschatology proper. It's not about theology proper. It's about how you conduct your life.

Look, there are plenty of premillennials out there and people who have a pessimistic eschatology, at least in history, that are doing all kinds of things for the kingdom of God. I don't know why they do it, because they do it knowing that it will be futile.

I don't think it's a very good pep talk to say to your troops, hey guys, we're going to go take this beach. We know for a fact we're going to lose, but I want you to lay down your life. Some people do that.

Some people will do that, and I say God bless them because they're being obedient to do what God says you must do in this life. It's a war, and you're supposed to be taking ground, and even if your theology tells you this will be impossible, this is futile, you still have decided to obey Christ.

I have nothing but respect for you. Nothing but respect. I disagree with your theology, but you're on my team, and I'm on your team, and there's nothing wrong with that. What I'm talking about, though, are those of us who, regardless of what we believe about the end times, are sitting on our hands doing nothing.

That are refusing to have children because this world's going to hell in a handbasket. That refuse to insist that the civil governing authority do justice and not evil because, well, after all, this is an evil world.

These are evil times. That's what that video was about. It wasn't about eschatology. I did not mean to trigger you guys that are premillennial and all this kind of stuff. Look, if you're premillennial and you're obeying Christ in the here and now, you're thinking multi-generational, you're having kids, you're raising them in the fear and admission of the Lord, you're insisting that the governors rule according to the law of God, you're building businesses, you're doing all this stuff, you're going to leave an inheritance to your children's children.

Look, I've got no beef with you. I don't even want to try to convince you that your theology is wrong because that's not my issue. We're on the same team. Let me know how I can help you. It's just that simple.

It's just that simple. And so, you know, I hope that clears this up, right? I don't need you to agree with me on postmillennialism. I don't need you to agree with me about the already and the not yet, which I think usually means, well, you know, the Bible says already, so technically I have to say already, but basically in every way you can determine, not yet.

Like, yeah, you're a new creation technically, but it doesn't affect your life in any way right now. Not yet. That's later. Like, I think that's ridiculous. But the point is, though, even if you believe that, because I know technically already, but really not yet.

Don't live your life that way. You live your life like a new creation. You live your life as one who seeks to take ground for the kingdom of God. And even if you don't think that we're gonna, that's okay because you're still working at it.

I got nothing but respect for you. I can be friends with you, and hopefully you can be friends with me, and I got nothing but love for you. So please, don't get triggered by my last video. It wasn't about any kind of eschatological system.

I'm on the same team with pretty much all kinds of eschatological systems. So long as you're taking action for the kingdom of God, all honor goes to Christ. He's, of course, the hero in this story, but he condescends to work through his people.

I hope you found this video helpful. God bless.