Is Eschatology Still on Our Agenda?

The last couple of blog posts have been considering "What Mean these Stones?" - the Charismatic heritage that means so much to so many. One of the key hallmarks of the 1970's was the positive eschatology that swept the world. The sermons from the Bible Weeks and the prophecies and indeed the worship songs all spoke of a glorious church that was advancing the gospel. A couple of my favourite worship songs that I remember hearing thundering out from the cowsheds of the Bible Weeks was;

"For I'm building a people of power

And I'm making a people of praise
That will move through this land by My Spirit
And will glorify My precious name".

"Jesus has sat down at God's right hand, He is reigning now on David's throne,

God has placed all things beneath His feet - His enemies shall be His footstool ...

Sound the trumpets, good news to the poor, captives will go free, the blind will see,

The kingdom of this world will soon become, the kingdom of our God!".

Well a sure way to check the validity of any theology is if it gets roundly criticized and condemned by "cautious evangelicals" and indeed - positive eschatology did indeed. I found an insightful piece by the ironically-named "Discernment Ministries" (I always wince when I see a ministries devoted or named as such). They write;

"However, in 1971 a watershed event took place that was to unite all camps of the budding Restoration Movement, and helped it to adopt officially its neo-latter rain doctrine. Arthur Wallis, fired by his endtimes vision which was becoming ever more radical, called a national leaders’ meeting in 1971 to discuss eschatology. He wanted to do away with the “doom-and-gloom” theology theology of pre-millennialism. He believed what was needed was a united leadership to oversee the coming of the kingdom, and the restoration of the glorious endtime church".

It's interesting that Arthur Wallis is credited with the advent of positive eschatology (at least in the UK). Every charismatic leader (such as Terry Virgo and Bryn Jones) credit Arthur Wallis's books such as "In the Day of Thy Power". The "Discernment Ministries" article goes on to talk about Ern Baxter's contribution to this positive eschatology - which of course makes my ears prick up;

"Baxter was invited to speak, along with Bryn Jones, at the Capel Bible Week in 1974, and later went on to achieve an almost godlike status amongst the Restoration fellowships. He could do no wrong ... Ern Baxter’s teaching was, like that of Arthur Wallis, derisive of pre-millennialism, and contained the concepts of the Pattern Son and the Corporate Christ as well as the role of the Church in bringing in the Kingdom. Baxter had, by the mid-70’s, become part of the influential Fort Lauderdale Five".

I think I would disagree with the statement; "He could do no wrong". But that's an aside. What also led me to think about this post was that I am reading the infamous "Left Behind" novels in my spare time. I'm enjoying the drama but the depressive theology is wearing me down.

Oh that there were a series of novels from the victorious eschatological view point!

What's my point? I heard a video recording of Dave Holden speaking at the Brighton Leadership Conference 2000 (the one where they cancelled Stoneleigh Bible Week) and he said something very insightful;

"Your eschatology will shape your ecclesiology".

Or in other words - what you think about the end times will shape your church life, what you sing, what you preach and above all - how you reach out to the lost. Have we forgotten about thinking about the end times? I don't mean heaven and the 2nd Coming. I mean how history is going to wrap up. One more victorious 70's song I used to love singing at church;

"The Lord has given

a land of good things,
I will press in and make them mine.
I’ll know His power,
I’ll know His glory,
And in His kingdom I will shine.

With the high praises
of God in our mouth
And a two-edged sword
in our hand,
We’ll march right
on to the victory side,
Right into Canaan’s land".

I'm Frustrated, and Angry ... !!!

My job is in a very bizarre place at the moment. My official title is "Pandemic Influenza Nurse" and one of my key roles is to visit the Emergancy Department every day and count up how many children they saw with flu. This data is crucial for deciding how quickly a potential "second wave" of swine flu is coming. Words like "surge" and "second wave" are used a lot in this part of health care. And it is quite a weird feeling. I've been puzzling as to why the job has been frustrating me because although the numbers are growing steadily, they aren't showing the signs of an imminent peak approaching in pandemic influenza ... yet.

I walked home from work today and was "venting" at God. I don't know if that's allowed but I did. I was thinking about how so much of life is made up of hoping. Hoping for ... more. 2006/2007 were very key years for me in my spiritual life. There were such exciting promises that God was going to visit the country in glory and power and things would never be the same again. I had dreams personally. I heard some such exciting sermons particularly at "Together on a Mission" in Brighton. And I'm not quite sure what happened.

This year has been one of the most challenging of my life. But what I've noticed is that the strategies of the enemy have changed! Earlier in the year I dealt with bullying at Acorns Childrens Hospice and the resulting stress of that with lying management - and the experience of being on anti-depressants. Now things are different! I love my job and find it rewarding and challenging. But I'm so bored and frustrated waiting for "something" to happen in life! As Rob Rufus puts it, I find myself eating food, passing it through my body and taking up space in life. And that is NOT good for someone with my temperament!

So my walk home ...

I was pondering about frustrations and promises of God that haven't been fulfilled and I think that the church generally reacts in a couple of ways - two are wrong and only one is RIGHT:

1. Disheartened.

The Old Testament says that unfulfilled promises make the heart sick. I have seen again and again church leaders especially so full of hope in the Charismatic Movement during the 1970's and 80's - and I have audio-tape after audio-tape of their preaching hope and vision. And yet you look at where they are today and they are embittered and disappointed. They have looked and hoped for revival and for world-change and haven't seen it.

Rather than holding on and trusting in the promises of God some have embraced functional cessationism and declared that if God will not reveal Himself then clearly He never intended to pour out His Spirit or give His gifts in the first place. They retreat to the relative safety of the Word of God (conviniently ignoring the fact that the Word of God NEVER EVER says that God has stopped anything) and adhere to doctrine and theology. And death.

2. Distracted.

The other option is that some churches don't lose their hope but they become impatient waiting for God to move and devoting time to praying and seeking Him. So they become distracted. They begin looking around the world to see "success stories". Looking to churches and church leaders who seem to be seeing a measure of numerical growth. Those churches and church leaders then become famous and are invited on tour around the world to speak at conferences to give their "tips".

The churches attending those conferences hear those "tips" and mistake them for the anointing of God and thus try and integrate those "tips" in their churches. Now this may work to a degree. People may come into those churches. But it will never, ever produce a Pentecostal revival where the glory of God hovers over cities and nations and we can watch and see MILLIONS swept into the Kingdom of God.

So what do we do?

We remind ourselves of the promises of God and we remember that some are yet to be fulfilled. We don't give up hoping and praying and watching for them. We remember that God is more passionate than we are to fulfill those promises and waiting for a people who are content to wait for His perfect timing. Here are my two favourite UNFULFILLED promises. That means that a day is rapidly coming when we will see them come to pass.

A. Numbers 14:21: "but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD".

This is probably my most favourite promise in the Word of God. It got a lot of coverage in the 1970's at the Bible Weeks. It was even sung after one of Ern Baxter's monumental sermons at the Dales Bible Week. It HASN'T been fulfilled yet. But it is GOING to be! One day - Isaiah 60 will be fulfilled as well and all nations will come to the dawning of the light! One day all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord!

B. Acts 2:17: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams".

If Numbers 14:21 was my favourite promise in the Word of God then this surely must be the second. I read this and am staggered at how so-called "teachers of the Bible" can hold to a cessationist point of view. How Christians can proudly despise "experience" and claim they are "doctrinal". This promise is an outpouring of unparalelled proportions. To be sure - the Day of Pentecost was the "beginning of that fulfillment" (as F F Bruce writes in his commentary). But it's not been done yet.

So as I was turning the corner almost home - I got back to thinking about swine flu and the possible "second wave". I earnestly believe that swine flu or pandemic influenza is a demonic counterfeit. The whole health service is waiting planned and ready for whatever the future may hold and dreading it. Whereas the church should be poised, ready and waiting looking like Elijah to the skies waiting for a cloud to appear. This isn't the time to get distracted or disappointed! This is the time to fix our eyes on the horizon and wait for the glimmer of glory that says the tidal wave of glory is coming.

Because I truly believe that the tectonic plates of hell's strongholds are shaking and moving and when they do - a massive tsnuami will result. God has promised on HIS Name that all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. So bring it on! We're waiting!

The Flight of the Eagle

I want to apologise for a somewhat cranky last post. That'll teach me to write a blog post just after having got home from work after a rubbish day. I was gently chastised by a friend asking if I was back into "swiping at SGM-mode" and I can assure everyone I'm not. My family are still very much involved in SGM as are some people I care deeply about. I think my frustration comes from seeing a people who used to believe in restoration and in the Holy Spirit and His power and His work - and now seem so different, so reformed and so theology-focused. That's not an excuse for being cranky!

My main annoyance was that my grouching may have distracted from my key point about a positive eschatology and evangelism! How ironic is that - I'm pleading for a more optimistic end-time world view and writing very grumpily. Anyhow - that being said I want to share a frequent dream/vision I have at times when I'm sleeping. It comes frequently especially after reading Isaiah 60; "Arise shine for your light has come ... nations will come to your light". I keep seeing myself flying in my dreams over country and cities and everywhere I fly - people are worshipping exuberantly crying out; "He is good and His love endures forever!".

I've looked on You-Tube and the closest I can come is this to what I see in my dreams;



It's so easy in day-day life to get bogged down in the trials of what life brings. But look at the eagle! He glides above and beyond and he sees so much more than we do. Can he see the nations coming to the dawning of the light of the Bride? I think he can! So, so much more than we can! We can so easily ge depressed and down-cast by life. The eagle doesn't get down-cast. He soars high above the clouds near to the sun.

There's a reason why "Life on Wings" is the name of this blog and the name of my favourite sermon of Ern Baxter's. It embodies everything that the Christian should be!

Forgotten Restoration?!

I was quite humiliated at the gym today. I was running on the treadmill and have put together a playlist on my IPOD for the half-marathon I'm running in Birmingham on Sunday 11th October. I put a couple of surprise tracks on the playlist from "Salvations Song" - the Together on a Mission live worship album from last year. One of my favourite songs on that is by Louise Fellingham called; "From The Rising Of The Sun". I love it. I love, love, love, love, LOVE it!

Here's the lyrics;

FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN

To the place it sets again

All can know that You alone are God

You have shown the sweetest grace

Not forgetting those You've made

Saving all who turn to You in faith

Heaven rain down

Bring salvation to this place

From the ends of the earth

The nations will come

Every knee bowing down

To the Holy One

Creation will give You praise

The Name that's above all names

There's a people You have called

And You're drawing them to come

This Your church is growing day by day

Only one way You have made

It's through Jesus, God the Son

sent to carry all our sin and shame

Heaven rain down

Shower righteousness and grace

Why did I humiliate myself? Because I started getting very excited. So excited that tears started rolling down my face. I think I probably hid it well among sweat! But some thoughts began occuring to me. But what excited me so much was the thought of nations coming to the light of the church - as the Bible promises. Here's what I thought;

If you don't believe truly in restoration then you can't properly get truly passionate about the Great Commission.

Before we get distracted by terms let me quote the passage of Scripture from which this beautiful song comes;

Isaiah 60:1-7; "Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you ... But the Lord will rise upon you - And His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms ... The wealth of the nations will come to you ... And I shall glorify My glorious house".

So with this glorious promise there in the Word of God, why is the church so darkly pessimistic about it's future? Of course we all know we're going to heaven - that's assured. But it's the bit in-between that seems to flag up some questions. Much of religion that I have experienced tends to take the analogy of a medieval castle. We raise the drawbridge - post a few "prayer" archers on the roof and hope that the devil and the powers of darkness don't scale the walls. Or even worse - that sinners come knocking trying to come in and get saved.

It seems crazy to me! Jesus said "I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!". That's not a defensive promise! Ern Baxter always asked the question, since when did you see a pair of gates jump off their hinges and chase a screaming church down the street?! No! This promise is Jesus Christ promising His church - there is not one stronghold that is able to stand against My advancing church! Not even hell itself!

Now - back to restorationism for a minute. Lots of Christians pray for revival. Two examples: My former senior pastor Dr Stanley Jebb commented on it in a recent blog, yet I have a tape where he spoke very strongly against restoration in our old church in Dunstable - after decades of believing in restoration passionately, singing wonderful choruses about it (Does anyone remember "I hear the sound of rustling"??!) and of course going to the glorious Dales Bible Weeks to hear Ern Baxter preach on it!

A former friend of mine - ex-blogger Jesse Phillips used to talk about revival a lot (he may still believe in it - I'm not sure). But Sovereign Grace Ministries would not be classed as having a positive end-time eschatology as I understand it from their resident theologian/'apostle' Jeff Purswell. So I confess myself a bit confused - what is the point of praying for or hoping for revival if there is no active expectation that the Church is destined to grow gloriously to a degree that not only the nations will "flow to it" but also that the nation of Israel will be wonderfully provoked to come in?

Church history is almost united in the understanding that revival means a "re-viving" of the church. The Holy Spirit being poured out in unprecedented power so that the church is corporately affected. I like Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones definition that it is "a corporate baptism of the Holy Spirit". The result of course is that the world cannot help but come. But it all begins with the church! It must all begin with the church!

My point - let me state again:

If you don't believe truly in restoration then you can't properly get truly passionate about the Great Commission.

Perhaps a bit controversial and I'm ready to stand corrected! But let me ask what mentality you have when you go out to witness and spread the Gospel. Do you really believe that we are saving them "one by one" and any convert is a bonus (which of course is true) but we are really working to a rapidly coming deadline and hell is going to be more full than heaven anyway? Or do you walk out of your house daily KNOWING that we are on the winning side and that God is more capable of saving millions through one outpouring of revival than we are with our evangelism techniques and "crack squads" or "hit teams" imported from the USA (or whatever they are called) or maybe adopting Mark Driscoll-esque techniques in your church and uttering the odd profanity or crude joke from the pulpit?!

I believe that a positive eschatology can absolutely transform your life. It can affect how you go to work, it can affect your worship at church - singing celebratory songs of triumph rather than bleeding heart ballads hoping God might show. It can most definately affect your evangelism in ways we can't even dream of! When we are simply "hoping for the best" - I suspect our evangelism cache will only spread to white, middle-class "safe" people. We will leave the "dangerous" lost to the few evangelists who dare to go into prisons etc. But if we really believe that we are on the winning side and that the principalities and powers REALLY were bound at the Cross and disarmed - and we KNOW that we have a glorious message to take - that God is reconciling the world to Himself not counting men's sins against them, then we will surely want EVERYONE to hear!

Let me get really practical for a minute. As a children's nurse there is no horror I hate worse that paedophilia. If there was still the death penalty, I probably would be tempted to call for it for this alone. The thought of children being hurt or damaged breaks my heart. But can I deny them the gospel of grace? That God wants to reconcile THEM to Himself and is not holding their sins against them? There are two incidents that make this more than just theory.

A paedophile who used to work for my old hospice - Acorns in Birmingham - is awaiting trial. Now it doesn't surprise me that this happened. I experienced enough at Acorns to know that the management is entirely ineffective with archaic screening processes who waste more time and money on "investigations" such as they used to bully me for months, than to ensure that their standards are upto scratch. But that's an aside - he was there. And he did this. But he needs the gospel! And the arms of Jesus Christ stretch to him! And you know what? If I really allow the glory of restoration to sink in - I can see him coming into the church.

Or the paedophile ring that were caught in the UK just this week. This one upsets me just as much as the man at Acorns. That a woman can work at a nursery and misuse her position like this - just staggers me. But she and they need the gospel too! And are we really going to leave it to a prison chaplain (who may or may not believe the gospel anyway!) or some evangelists? No! A restored church is the only hope! As Lex Loizides wonderful song went;

"It is the Church! The hope of the world!".

And I am sorry - but at the moment, it looks rather like the world has no hope. When someone like C J Mahaney puts the onus for an effective pastoral ministry on the church by stating:

"The effectiveness of pastoral ministry is dependent upon a proper response TO pastoral ministry".

It just seems a recipe for disaster, condemnation and legalism to me. Not to say completely unbiblical. The apostle Paul had one of the most effective New Testament ministries short of our Lord Jesus Christ. He not only was completely full of grace in his doctrine but he performed signs, wonders and miracles. Yet can we say that the Corinthian church were completely supportive of his ministry? They gossiped and criticised him and it seems didn't even give him any monetary support (2 Corinthians 11:8-9). They thought they were more spiritual than he was. Did that affect the effectiveness of his ministry? Not in the least. So it's another Mahaney-typical "catchy" summary - and a gift he is very good at. But it's not Biblical.

Again - another digression. But my heart and my passion in this is to call for a bit of optimism. I've spent so much time over the last few months typing up Rob Rufus's sermons and anyone who has read them will know he is grace-obsessed. But without a positive eschatology to set that doctrine ablaze, I find myself wondering what the point is. Fortunately I know Rob Rufus's eschatology is ENTIRELY positive!

Maybe you shrink back from the term "restoration" and can't quite get the "post-millenial" eschatology that I am pleading for here. But if I can at least make you re-consider some of the glorious promises in the Bible - particularly in Isaiah 60 - then I think we will find our hearts full of hope and our prayers for revival come alive!

Come Lord Jesus! Pour out Your Spirit we pray!

Ern Baxter Resources on the Victorious End Times!

I have been quite challenged over the past few days about the lack of a standpoint - especially among UK churches and UK bloggers as compared to elsewhere across the world concerning eschatology or the end times. Disagree with John MacArthur as I may - the man must be given credit for faithfully teaching the view of the end times that he believes. I noticed that Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, senior pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, California, and visiting professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary, California has issued an article refuting John MacArthur's extraordinary attack on Reformed amillennialists from earlier this year.

So amillenialists are speaking out and answering back. But amillenialism seems to me to be virtually as fatalistic and pessimistic as premillenialism. I noted with interest that John MacArthur didn't seem to make any interaction with postmillenialism at all in his Shepherds Conference "rant". I wonder if that signifies he doesn't see much credibility in this viewpoint anymore. It's not so much that the teaching of premillenialism troubles me (although it does), it is more that certain issues and subjects do need to be dealt with - such as the question of Israel (Romans 9) or the outworking of certain Scriptures in Revelation.

So what I wanted to do in this post was to begin to bring together some useful resources by Ern Baxter that begin to best represent what I feel to be the most Scriptural view of the end times after offering a few simple definitions of what postmillenialism is.

If you have got this far in reading and are already beginning to turn off at the overuse of theological terms, then I beg you - don't! I have gathered together a number of quotes that really emphasise that it DOES matter how we view the end. For example, my favourite quote was of David Holden's from the Brighton Newfrontiers Conference in 2000. He said;

"Your eschatology affects your ecclesiology".

In other words if you view the end negatively and fatalistically then you will live negatively and fatalistically. If you view the end with hope, vision and a positive outlook then your world mission will be affected for the better. My concern is that holding a premillenial or amillenial eschatology might also make one lazy. If it is all going to "get sorted after the Second Coming" then where is the motivation or the impetus to go out to all nations and spread and take the gospel? If all the promises in the Old Testament and New concerning the end times are to be fulfilled after Jesus has returned (or in some millenium) then where is the faith factor to cry out to God for the "Latter Rain" or to see "Zion made a praise in the earth" or to see "nations flow up to Zion"?

So with that in mind, someone reading this might ask, "Well what on earth does each millenial position mean or believe?". Here is a useful diagram that seeks to sum up the essence of each position;

What is 'Postmillenialism'?

Wikipedia seemed a good albeit basic place to start my study and review of postmillenialism. It distinguishes between two different forms of seeing how the end times will pan out. The first is "Revivalist postmillenialism";

"Revivalist postmillennialism is a form of the doctrine held by the Puritans and some today that teaches that the millennium will come about not from Christians changing society from the top down (that is, through its political and legal institutions) but from the bottom up at the grass roots level (that is, through changing people's hearts and minds)".

As opposed to Reconstructionist postmillenialism;

"Reconstructionist postmillennialism, on the other hand, sees that along with grass roots preaching of the Gospel and explicitly Christian education, Christians should also set about changing society's legal and political institutions in accordance with Biblical (and also sometimes Theonomic) ethics ... In the United States, the most prominent and organized forms of postmillennialism are based on Christian Reconstructionism and hold to a reconstructionist form of postmillennialism advanced by Gary North, Kenneth Gentry, and Greg Bahnsen".

I am relatively familiar with the Reconstructionist postmillenialism stand as my home church had quite a bit to do with the Reconstructionist teachers during the 1980's as I was growing up. Both David Chilton and Greg Bahnsen came and spoke at a meeting in our church on the end times and my senior pastor Stanley Jebb promoted a number of their books. Also Dr Jebb and the theological students he was training went to a conference in the UK to hear R J Rushdoony before he died. I understand that the Chalcedon Foundation is the strongest Reconstructionist resource left today.

Dr Ern Baxter Resources on the End Times.

"It's time to get men like Bryn Jones, Ern and Arthur Wallis off the shelf and soak ourselves in their revelation again. If we cannot justify our existence as a distinct people then we have no right to exist" - Keri Jones

a. Sermons.

Ern Baxter made a number of references to the end times and his view of "Ultimate Triumph" in a number of sermons. Here are the key ones;

"Thy Kingdom Come!" - Ern's monumental address to the Kansas City Shepherds Conference in 1975 (that I now understand Larry Tomczak and C J Mahaney were present at). It was heard by thousands of apostles, prophets, evangelists and mainly pastor/teachers. It is presented in parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

"The Land" - This key sermon was part of Ern Baxter's series "Where Are We Going?" preached at the Dales Bible Week 1976. It is posted courtesy of George Kouri.

"Sovereign Surprises" - As will become clear Ern Baxter was a proponent of the "Revivalist Postmillenial" position. He believed fervently that God can and indeed has come in mighty outpourings of the Holy Spirit throughout church history and it is through revival that God will wind up history with His Church a glorious Bride (Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones held similar views on revival). Ern preached this sermon at New Covenant Church in Dunstable, UK in September 1983: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

"How Must the Glorious Church of God Function?" - Ern Baxter taught vigorously that Restorationism was indeed a biblical hope - one that we should look for and work for. In this sermon he teaches practically how restoration should work itself out. He covered unity, signs and wonders and life in the Holy Spirit. Here's a quote;

"The disciples had to enter into a dynamic experience to enable them to function in community and in outreach - We must know personally the Pentecostal Experience".

The transcript is here with some additional links to Newfrontiers resources.

"What on Earth is God saying about Discipling the Nations?" - This is quite possible THE key sermon of Ern Baxter's on the End Times and how he believes the Church must work and look towards it. It was deeply Biblical with a vast amount of Scriptural texts used.

b. Interviews.

Ern Baxter's view that the Church would end up gloriously dominant throughout the earth with nations bowing to the Lordship of Christ came through in various interviews he gave also - mainly to the New Wine Magazine. Here are the main two I have transcribed so far;

"Regarding William Branham" - although much of the discussion was focussed around Ern's experiences of working with Branham there is a great deal of conceptual argument for how the Church should be expecting and experiencing the anointing of signs and wonders that Branham manifested personally.

"Declaring God's Purposes" - An interview given in January 1980 to New Wine focused around the prophetic significance of what God is doing in our day and what He will do in years to come.

c. Articles.

"A Demonstration of His Glory" - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 - concerning Ern Baxter's time of very significant ministry that he spent in the United Kingdom in 1977. He and Ruth came to the huge Dales Bible Week run by Bryn Jones and Harvesttime but attended by most of the major charismatic church groups including Terry Virgo and what was to become Newfrontiers, Gerald Coates and what was to become Pioneer People, Tony Morton and his churches from Southampton - along with other significant people in the UK charismatic scene including Arthur Wallis and Stanley Jebb. It was so significant because it was a time of remarkable unity where the Charismatic Movement in the United Kingdom stood together particularly in spiritual warfare. It was a remarkable year of unity visited by angelic manifestations especially - Ern makes reference to these.

"The Earth is the Lord's" - Part 1 and Part 2; "The Foundation of Victory" - Ern deals with a statement in Scripture that this is true NOW!

"Why the Ebb?" - Anyone with an acquaintance with church history will know that revivals have come and gone. Ern Baxter was uniquely positioned to see moves of God come and go. He lived through the Pentecostal Movement, the Healing Movement with William Branham, the Latter Rain Movement and the Charismatic Movement. But he was never satisfied with them - he always wanted, prayed for and expected and looked for more. In this autobiographical statement, he answers the question why revivals seem to ebb due to man's lack of belief.

d. Smooth Stones from Ancient Brookes (Quotes):

Here is an increasingly growing collection of quotes (not just from Ern Baxter) on an optimistic eschatology and why it is essential to daily living.

And Finally ...

The series of messages - "Ultimate Triumph" - really is for me Ern Baxter's key addresses concerning how we should see the end times through the scope of the Word of God. He carefully goes through each of the key sections of the Bible and teaches how we should have hope and faith to motivate us into action and mission. Here are the three parts;

1. Ultimate Triumph - Prophesied in the Old Testament.

2. Ultimate Triumph - Inaugurated in the Gospels and Acts.

3. Ultimate Triumph - Consummated in the Epistles and Revelation.

"Ultimate Triumph" Part 1 - Published!

I am thrilled to be able to make Part 1 of the "Ultimate Triumph" - "Prophesied in the Old Testament" - series available by Dr Ern Baxter. It is a series of 3 sermons that he preached in the USA but it is touching on a subject that, like the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is in danger of being swept under the ecclesiastical carpet for the sake of some form of unity. A secondary subject it may be - but Dave Holden is right when he said that our "eschatology governs our ecclesiology". How we look to the future and view the end times shapes how we live in the present.

I love what Jesse Phillips wrote in his post; "Post-millenial golden age". He said;

"We don't know how the world will end, but I believe that we should be ambitious and faith-filled with respect to the effect that the gospel can have if we are faithful to preach it".

There is a part near the end of the message that utterly thrilled me and I must make mention of it. Ern Baxter noted Ezekiel 47 - where the river of God flows out from the altar (the Cross) to the nations. He noted firstly that there is movement in the river of God! No stagnancy! Then he notes the deeper and deeper progression of "action" words;

"What have we got here? The river starts and it is to the ankles. Then the knees. Then the loins. Then its waters to swim in. This is the progression since Christ’s redemptive act in history and before it is over, the whole earth will be redemptive waters to swim in. You say I like my pessimistic view better. Well go live with it then. I like the Bible view! Ultimate Triumph! Jesus shall reign where’er the sun doth its successive journeys run!".

There is nothing wrong in and of itself about singing "Jesus keep me near the Cross". But if we never realise in our church life what the Cross was designed and intended for - namely to bring a host of sons to glory - and simply rest misty-eyed around the Cross, welling up every time a song about the "old rugged Cross" is on the song list - then surely we have missed the point? Christ endured the Cross! It wasn't a pleasant thing or a romantic thing! He endured it - what for? The JOY set before Him! What was that joy? Surely the vision of a whole earth covered in the glory of the Lord - a whole earth shining with the results of His redemptive sacrifice. Every tribe and tongue singing "Worthy is the Lamb!".

Next in the Series: Ultimate triumph inaugurated in the Gospels and Acts.