I spent a great deal of time preparing a rebuttal to Professor Robert Lowery’s article "Why I am an Amillennialist". However, upon reading comments on the Pre-Millennial and Amillennial articles, I felt that a scriptural rebuttal would not be appreciated. Then I was accused of not using scripture, so I present my thoughts as a long-standing member of the Restoration Movement in the following.

My objections to Amillennialism are as follows:

1) This view of scripture limits God. It says there is only one way to view the Lord’s Word and only one perspective. There are more ways than one to understand what the Lord, the Creator of all things, has provided for us in His Word. As an example, the Olivet Discourse clearly speaks of events that occurred about forty years after Jesus gave it, but it also addresses End-time matters. When Jesus read from the Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21), he did not complete the passage. He stopped in the middle, rolled up the scroll and sat down because His is a two-part ministry. He was here on earth to fulfill the first part, the Year of the Lord’s favor. The second part, the Day of vengeance of our God, is forthcoming.

2) The article gives opinions as statements of fact and makes assumptions.

By what authority is this statement made? It is a narrow view which, again, limits what the Lord may have intended. The author, Brother Robert Lowery, states that Satan is now bound (!?!) and assumes that he will be released to destroy the Church. In the scripture describing the release of Satan (Revelation 20:7-9), he gathers his forces and marches against "the camp of God’s people, the city He loves". The Word does not say that Satan marches against the Church, and it is an assumption based on spiritualizing that passage. The Church then becomes the camp, the city.

3) Much scripture is overlooked by certain definitive statements in the article;

This contradicts Peter’s statement in Acts 3:21 that Jesus must remain in Heaven until the time comes for God to restore all things as He promised through the prophets.

Scripture says the Lord will restore Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted (Amos 9:13). This is the earthly Kingdom. If it were in Heaven, the Jews would not have to worry about being exiled again.

The Lord says, "I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders." (Isaiah 49:22) This is a Kingdom promise to which Jews have looked forward for millennia.

There will be no sickness in the promised Kingdom. No one living in Zion will say, "I am ill". (Isaiah 33:24) Isaiah also says there will never be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years. The prophet continues by saying anyone who dies before the age of one hundred years will be considered accursed. (Isaiah 65:20) There will be no death in Heaven, so we must be speaking of the earthly Kingdom.

My favorite Kingdom prophecy is; "The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 35:10 & 51:11) The prophet uses the identical language twice, for emphasis. Who are the ransomed? Christians are the ransomed! See First Thessalonians 4:14, Jude 14, Colossians 3:4 and Revelation 22:12.

4) The Amillennial view insists that scripture be viewed as figurative and not literal. And yet all Old Testament prophecy that was fulfilled in the New Testament was fulfilled literally. This literal versus figurative argument is the crux of the matter, and is the basis of all my objections. It is a modern copy of the gnostic theology that plagued the Church in New Testament times. That which is literal (physical) is evil or wrong, but that which is figurative (spiritual) is good and correct.

When the Lord was preparing to take the ten northern tribes from the son of King Solomon, he caused the prophet Ahijah to meet Jeroboam outside of Jerusalem. Ahijah took off his new cloak and tore it into twelve pieces. He instructed Jeroboam to take ten of the pieces because the Lord was going to tear ten tribes from Solomon’s son, Rehoboam and give them to Jeroboam. Here the Lord used a symbolic picture to prophesy a literal event. (I Kings 11:27-33)

The prophet Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord to purchase a linen belt. Later, He told Jeremiah to take the belt and hide it among the rocks by an eastern river, possibly the Euphrates. The Euphrates is fitting because it runs through Babylon, where the Israelites would be deported in captivity. Later yet, the Lord told Jeremiah to go get the belt. By then it was useless and ruined, just as the Lord said He would ruin the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 13:1-11)

Again, the prophet Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord to go to the potter and buy a clay jar. He was then instructed to take elders of Judah with him to the Potsherd Gate and there smash the jar. He told the elders that in the same way the Lord would smash the nation and the city. The Lord used a symbolic picture to prophesy a literal event. (Jeremiah 19:1-11)

Such prophecy is not limited to the Old Testament. Agabus was described as a prophet from Judea. He came to the Apostle Paul in Caesarea, took Paul’s belt and then tied his own hands and feet with it. He told Paul that in the same way the Jews would bind him and turn him over to the Gentiles. (Acts 21:10-11)

In each of these prophecies we find that the Lord used a symbolic picture to draw a prophetic picture of a future, literal event. Amillennialism says that most, if not all, New Testament prophecy (primarily those in the Revelation) must be fulfilled symbolically, and not literally. Who decides which are which? What is the scriptural authority? There is none - it is the opinion of men.

Figurative interpretation of scripture limits what the Lord has provided us in His Word, and its consistent application spiritualizes and clouds the Holy Scripture. This nebulous view of the Holy Word allows within the Restoration Movement the acceptance of Preterism, Post-Millennialism, non-Millennialism (?), "higher criticism" and other so-called "modern" views, which have been with us for centuries. When consistently applied, this figurative view causes some to think that the Church became the spiritual replacement in all prophecy regarding Israel. And here is the real danger!

One of the scriptures overlooked by Amillennialism says that foreign lands will bring the sons of Israel from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the Lord. (Isaiah 60:9) Has this happened? How do you spiritualize this statement? How do you make it figurative? If you replace the people Israel with the Church, will foreign lands bring the Church to figurative Israel (wherever that is) with their silver and gold?

God does not change. (Malachi 3:6) The figurative/spiritual teaching causes confusion as various scriptures, as referenced above, do not seem to agree. This causes confusion in Bible college students who become ministers, and therefore the congregations within the Restoration Movement are confused. The Restoration Movement is drifting, copying "seeker church" programs and music, and is not teaching the wonderful, unchangeable Word of God. I make this statement with the authority of an elder who has seen the lack of Bible knowledge in the Restoration Movement church. Our Bible colleges must teach all of the unchanging, inerrant and Holy Word of God, and not presume that the Creator cannot and will not fulfill His prophecies literally. May His name be praised forever!

My critic(s) in the Christian Standard did not address the following:

I would be happy to discuss these with anyone.

To God be the Glory