BOB DYLAN

May 29, 2001 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –

From my “hippie” days prior to conversion in 1973, I remember rock legend Bob Dylan (1941- ) (real name Robert Zimmerman) very well. It was in 1962 that Dylan legally changed his name and produced his debut album. His famous song “The Times They Are A-Changin” appeared in 1964. I had started listening to rock music intently in the early 1960s, and I was consumed with that type of music until I was saved in 1973. That was the heyday of Dylan’s career, and I still recall the haunting, sensual nature of his music. He helped to popularize the merging of folk and rock music and sang some very immoral songs as well as songs with pacifistic, civil rights, socialistic, humanistic, and New Age themes. He was one of the chief poets of the ’60s rock generation. His songs posed many interesting questions, but he had no answers. In “Blowing in the Wind,” he asked such things as, “How many roads must a man walk down before he is called a man?” What is the answer? “The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind...” What does that mean? It means he doesn’t know the answer and he is not sure anyone knows the answer. Sadly, that is the philosophy of most of Dylan’s fans because they have rejected the Bible.

Dylan’s vast influence has been anything but wholesome and godly. It was Dylan who introduced the Beatles to marijuana (Peter Brown, The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles). Dylan “went through some profound drug experiences during 1964-5, taking up Baudelair’s formula for immortality: ‘A poet makes himself a seer by a long prodigious and rational disordering of the senses.’ He … tried just about everything he could to ‘open his head’ as biographer Tony Scaduto puts it” (Waiting for the Man, p. 144). Many of Dylan’s songs were about drugs, including “Lay Down Your Weary Tune,” “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

There was even violence at some Dylan concerts. For example, in Slane, Ireland, in July 1984, the police had to barricade themselves inside their station as mobs of Dylan fans besieged them, rioting, breaking windows, and overturning cars.

Dylan’s backup group, which was known only as the Band, was formerly called Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. They “had a reputation for pill popping, whoring, and brawling that was second to none” (Robert Palmer, Rock & Roll an Unruly History, p. 3).

The cover to Dylan’s Desire album (1976) depicts him smoking marijuana in one corner, a black magic tarot card in another corner, and a huge Buddha in the bottom corner. Next to the Buddha are the words: “I have a brother or two and a whole lot of Karma to burn … Isis and the moon shine on me” (Muncy, The Role of Rock, p. 167).

Dylan divorced his wife Sara Lowndes in 1977.

In 1978, Dylan attended a home Bible study with girlfriend Mary Alice. She had recently “re-dedicated her life to Christ” and was concerned that she was living with an unsaved man who was not her husband. She invited two assistant pastors from the Hollywood Vineyard Church (associated with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship under the leadership of the late John Wimber) to visit Dylan’s home. Dylan’s testimony was as follows: “One thing led to another ... until I had this feeling, this vision and feeling. I truly had a born-again experience, if you want to call it that. It’s an over-used term, but it’s something that people can relate to” (Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 160, citing a November 1980 interview with Robert Hillburn of the Los Angeles Times). From this testimony, we can see the influence of false Vineyard theology, which focuses on experiential feelings, visions, voices, personal prophecies, healing, tongues, spirit slayings, and such things. This experiential-oriented theology does not produce stability in the Christian life. Dylan spent three and a half months at the Vineyard church’s School of Discipleship, and his next three albums, Slow Train Coming (1979), Saved (1980), and Shot of Love (1981), were gospel albums of sorts.

Dylan soon repudiated any claim to the Christian faith and went back to his standard rock music. Dylan never attended church regularly and soon quite altogether. Even rock historian Steve Turner, who has attempted to justify Dylan’s apostasy, admits: “The womanizing and drunkenness that Dylan once saw as evidence of the old life have apparently continued almost uninterrupted” (Turner, “Watered Down Love,” Christianity Today, May 21, 2001). Dylan’s 1983 album was titled Infidels. The July 21, 1983, issue of the Washington Post noted that Dylan believes in reincarnation and that “everyone is born knowing the truth.” An article in the San Luis Obispo (California) Register for March 16, 1983, quoted Dylan as saying: “Whoever said I was Christian? Like Gandhi, I’m Christian, I’m Jewish, I’m a Moslem, I’m a Hindu. I am a humanist.” In recent years, Dylan has practiced Lubavitch Hasidism, an ultra-orthodox form of Judaism, suggesting he has returned to his Jewish roots.

In September 1997, Dylan performed before Pope John Paul II at a Roman Catholic youth festival in Bologna, Italy. A crowd of 300,000 young people attended the festival. The 56-year-old Dylan sang two songs directly to the Pope. Dylan then took off his cowboy hat and bowed before him. The Catholic organizer of the festival, Cardinal Ernesto Vecchi, said that he had invited Dylan because he is the “representative of the best type of rock” and “he has a spiritual nature.”

David Blue, who played with Country Joe & the Fish and who toured with Dylan as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue, died in 1982 at age 41 of a heart attack while jogging. Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan’s manager during the 1960s, died in 1986 at age 39 of a heart attack.

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2. Origen (A.D. 185-254) was one of the chief fathers of allegoricalism. He led the school at Alexandria from 202 to 232. Though he endured persecution and torture for the cause of Christ under the emperor Decius in 250, Origen was loaded with false teachings. Following are some of the strange heresies of Origen: (a) He taught that celibacy was a holy state above marriage. (b) He lived an ascetic life contrary to the example of the apostles. (c) He taught a mixture of pagan philosophy and Christianity. (d) He taught baptismal regeneration. (e) He believed in purgatory. (f) He taught that all men and even Satan and demons would eventually be saved. (g) He taught the preexistence of the human soul. (h) He taught that the Holy Spirit was the first creature made by God. (i) He did not believe that the Scriptures are infallible. (i) He doubted that Jesus Christ is fully God. (k) Christ, in his atonement, made a ransom to Satan. Origen’s character is described by the Lutheran historian Mosheim as “a compound of contraries, wise and unwise, acute and stupid, judicious and injudicious; the enemy of superstition, and its patron; a strenuous defender of Christianity, and its corrupter; energetic and irresolute; one to whom the Bible owes much, and from whom it has suffered much.”

3. Another father of allegoricalism was Augustine (A.D. 354-430), also one of the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church. Augustine was also a heretic. (a) He was a persecutor and the father of the doctrine of persecution in the Catholic Church. The historian Neander observed that Augustine’s teaching “contains the germ of the whole system of spiritual despotism, intolerance, and persecution, even to the court of the Inquisition.” He instigated bitter persecutions against the Bible-believing Donatists who were striving to maintain pure churches after the apostolic faith. (b) He was the father of a-millennialism, teaching that the Catholic Church was the kingdom of God. (c) He taught that the sacraments were the means of saving grace. (d) He taught that Mary did not commit any sin. (e) He believed in purgatory. (f) He was one of the fathers of infant baptism, claiming that unbaptized infants were lost, and calling all who rejected infant baptism “infidels” and “cursed.” (e) He exalted the authority of the church over that of the Bible.

4. The Roman Catholic Church has continued to interpret the Bible allegorically throughout its history.

On the other hand, separatist Bible believers, such as the School of Antioch in the 2nd and 3rd century, some of the Waldensian groups, and various Anabaptists, have rejected allegoricalism and interpreted the Bible literally. We give two examples:

The School of Antioch was founded in the third century by Lucian (died A.D. 312) and trained preachers who rejected the allegorical method of interpretation. Some of these were Theodore, pastor of Mopsuestia (A.D. 350-428), Chrysostom (A.D. 354-407), Thodoret (A.D. 386-458), and Diodorus of Tarsus. “Diodorus of Tarsus’ books were devoted to an exposition of Scripture in its literal sense, and he wrote a treatise, now unhappily lost, ‘on the difference between allegory and spiritual insight’” (F. W. Farrar, History of Interpretation, pp. 213-15).

William Tyndale was the translator of the first English Bible from the Greek and Hebrew in the early 1500s and was put to death by Rome for his noble work. He said: “Thou shalt understand, therefore, that the Scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense. And that literal sense is the root and ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth whereunto if thou cleave, thou canst never err or go out of the way. And if thou leave the literal sense, thou canst not but go out of the way. Neverthelater, the Scripture useth proverbs, similitudes, riddles, or allegories, as all other speeches do; but that which the proverbs, similitude, riddle, or allegory signifieth, is over the literal sense, which thou must seek out diligently…” (William Tyndale, cited by Charles Briggs, General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 456-57).

WHY WE REJECT ALLEGORICALISM

1. GOD GAVE THE SCRIPTURES TO REVEAL TRUTH TO MAN, NOT TO HIDE IT.

It is given for light, not confusion. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29). Thus, in the Scriptures God uses the normal rules of human language.

2. GOD CREATED HUMAN LANGUAGE (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:19). Man is made in the image of God, and he thus has amazing communicative abilities. The first purpose of human language is that man might know and communicate with God. When Adam was first created, there were no other people to talk with. Adam talked only with God, and it is reasonable to assume that God gave man the linguistic ability to communicate with Him efficiently. God also created the different languages at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:9). When God has spoken to men from the creation until now, He has always done so through normal human language. According to 1 Cor. 2:10, the Scriptures in normal human language are capable of communicating the “deep things of God.”

3. BIBLE PROPHECIES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FULFILLED LITERALLY. Examples are the prophecies concerning the nations (such as Babylon and Tyre), the prophecies of Israel, and the prophecies of the first coming of Christ. All of these have been fulfilled literally in every detail, and it is reasonable to assume that unfulfilled prophecies will likewise be literally consummated.

Prophecies of Israel:

Deuteronomy 28
Verse 36 – Lam. 2:9; 2 Ki. 17:4-6; 2 Ch. 33:11
Verse 37 – Lam. 1:21; 2:15-16; 3:45-46
Verse 38 – Joel 1:4
Verse 41 – Lam. 1:5,16; 2 Ki. 24:10-16; Dan. 1
Verse 43 – Lam. 1:1, 5; 5:2-4
Verse 48 – Lam. 1:11, 14; 4:8-10; 5:5; Jer. 28:14; 4:13; Hab. 1:6-7
Verse 49 – Lam. 4:19; Ezek. 17:3, 12; Hab. 1:8; Jer. 5:15; 48:40; Hos. 8:1
Verse 50 – Lam. 4:16; Is. 47:6; 2 Ch. 36:17
Verse 51 – Is. 1:7
Verse 52 – Lam. 2:5; 7:9; 2 Ki. 25:1, 2, 4; 17:5-6; 18:13
Verse 53 – Lam. 2:20; 4:5, 10; 2 Ki. 6:28-29; Jer. 19:9
Verse 62 – Neh. 7:4; Is. 1:9; Jer. 4:2
Verse 64 – Jer. 16:13; Ezek. 11:16
Verse 65 – Lam. 1:3, 13; 3:4-7; 5:5, 9


Prophecies in 1 Kings

1 Kings 11:31 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 12:16-17
1 Kings 13:2 – fulfilled 2 Ki. 23:15-16
1 Kings 14:10 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 15:28-29
1 Kings 16:3 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 16:11-12
1 Kings 21:19 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 22:38; 2 Ki. 9:24-26
1 Kings 21:22 – fulfilled 2 Ki. 9-10
1 Kings 21:23 – fulfilled 2 Ki. 9:36

The Prophecies of the Nations:

SAMARIA: Micah 1:6 predicts utter ruin to Samaria, even down to its foundations. Tan reports, “During the time of Christ, Samaria was still a prominent city and was visited several times by Christ. But now, the old city stands no more.” “Vegetation grows on the hillsides of Old Samaria. The stones of the palaces have been thrown down and many of them have found their way to the valley below” (Martin Wyngaarden, The Future of the Kingdom in Prophecy and Fulfillment, p. 20).

TYRE: Ezekiel 26:3-16 predicts seven steps to the destruction of Tyre:

(1) Nebuchadnezzar shall besiege and sack Tyre (vv. 7-11).
(2) Many nations will participate in destroying Tyre (v. 3).
(3) The city will be made flat like the top of a rock and even the dust will be scrapped (v. 4).
(4) Its stones and timbers will be laid in the sea (v. 12).
(5) Other cities will fear greatly at Tyre’s fall.
(6) It is to become a place for the spreading of nets, referring to fishing (v. 5).
(7) The old city of Tyre will never be rebuilt (v. 14).


“This prophecy against Tyre was partly fulfilled in 586 B.C. when King Nebuchadnezzar took the mainland city of Tyre after a siege of thirteen years but was unable to take its nearby island to which most of the people had fled. In 322 B.C., Alexander the Great, by scraping up the stones and timber of the mainland city as building material, built a great causeway to the heavily-defended island, and so completed the conquest of Tyre. Today, the site of ancient Tyre has fresh water supply enough for a large modern city, but it has not been occupied for 2,300 years. However it is very popular with fishermen!” (Tan, p. 65).

The Prophecies of Christ’s First Coming: Psalm 22. In this Psalm alone, there are many specific prophecies about Christ’s death:
v. 1 – Matt. 27:46
vv. 6-8 – Matt. 27:39-44
v. 9-10 – Matt. 1:18-23
v. 11 – Mk. 14:50; Heb. 1:3
vv. 12-13 – Matt. 27:39
v. 14-16 – Matt. 27:35
v. 17 – Jn. 19:33
v. 17b – Mat. 27:36
v. 18 – Matt. 27:35; Jn. 19:24

Thus, we see that Bible prophecy has always been fulfilled literally, and there is no reason to believe that future prophecies will be fulfilled any differently.

4. EVERY MAJOR SECTION OF THE BIBLE FORETELLS IN DETAIL THE SAME EVENTS. In this way, God is emphasizing the literalness of these events. If a person studies Old Testament prophecies, Jesus’ prophecies, the Apostles’ prophecies, and the prophecies described in Revelation, he will see a repetition of the same events. All give details of the same major scenes—the worldwide tribulation, a wicked world ruler, Christ’s second coming in glory, destruction of rebels, restoration and national regeneration of Israel, the glorious earthly reign of Christ.

MAJOR PROPHETIC EVENTS FORETOLD IN ALL PARTS OF THE BIBLE
Event O.T. Jesus Apostles Revelation
Antichrist Dan. 9-12 Ma. 24:15 2 Th. 2:1-12 Rev. 13
Great Tribulation Is. 2;13;24;34 Ma. 24:21 1 Th. 5:1- 3 Rev. 6-18
Glorious Return Ze. 14:1-4 Ma. 24:29-30 2 Th. 1:6-10 Rev. 19:11-16
Conversion of Israel Jer. 31-33 Ma. 19:28 Rom. 11:25-27 Rev. 7
Destruction of Rebels Ze. 12-14 Lk. 19:27 Jude 14-15 Rev. 19:17-21
Glorious Kingdom Is. 35 Ma. 25:31 Rom. 11:25-27 Rev. 20

5. JESUS TAUGHT MEN TO UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES THROUGH NORMAL MEANS (Lk. 10:25-26).

6. JESUS SAID THESE EVENTS ARE YET FUTURE. He pinpointed the general time of their fulfillment to be just before His coming in glory (Mt. 24:15-29).

7. THE EARLY CHRISTIANS INTERPRETED PROPHECY LITERALLY (ACTS 3:19-21; ROM. 11:25-27). THIS IS ADMITTED BY ALMOST ALL CHURCH HISTORIANS. “The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment” (Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 1884, II, p. 614).

8. THE PROPHECIES ARE BEGINNING TO BE FULFILLED LITERALLY. The machinery for the one world government and religious organization described in Rev. 13 is being set up. Earthquakes, wars, famine, and false teachings are increasing just as Jesus said they would (Mt. 24:3-8). The nation Israel is back in its land in preparation for the literal fulfillment of all the prophecies pertaining to it. This supports the belief that God has not permanently rejected the nation Israel, but has only temporarily set them aside until He is ready to fulfill His promises to them (Rom. 11:25-29). There is no good reason to doubt that Bible prophecy will be wholly fulfilled in the future.

9. PRACTICAL NECESSITY ALSO DEMANDS THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY. To interpret Bible prophecy allegorically destroys the absolute sense of God’s Word. If prophecy does not mean exactly what it says, there is no way to discern exactly what it does mean.

For example, consider Revelation 20:1-3. If this passage does not mean that a literal angel binds a literal devil in a literal bottomless pit for a literal thousand years, we have no means of knowing what it does mean. If it does not mean what it says, it could mean anything that any interpreter says it means. Thus, the teaching of the Bible is thrown into complete and permanent confusion.

“The literal method is a true and honest method. It is based on the assumption that the words of Scripture can be trusted. It assumes that since God intends His revelation to be understood, divine revelation must be written based on regular rules of human communication. To interpret literally means to explain the original sense of the speaker or writer according to the normal, customary, and proper usages of words and language. In order to determine the normal and customary usages of Bible language, it is necessary to consider the accepted rules of grammar and rhetoric, as well as the factual historical and cultural data of Bible times. It is proper for a word to have various meanings and senses. However, when a word is used in a given situation, it should normally possess but one intended sense or meaning. This is the regular law of linguistic exchange among sensible people. Music lovers seek to understand music composers, not by out-thinking and out-sensing the composers, but by following the latter’s choice and use of precise musical notes. Students of Music Appreciation courses do not go about trying to listen for something which is not there, but attempt rather to know the intended meaning and mood of a given composer through his use of the notes. Otherwise what the composer is trying to say is ignored and what the interpreter wants to say becomes the important factor. Literal interpreters believe that Scriptural revelation is given to be understood by man. It believes the Bible to be revelation, not riddle” (Paul Lee Tan, The Interpretation of Prophecy, p. 29-30).

10. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION MAKES THE BIBLE STUDENT A SLAVE TO ENLIGHTENED TEACHERS WHO HAVE THE “KEY” OF UNDERSTANDING. This is how the Catholic Church has kept its people enslaved to its unscriptural traditions and dogmas. Rome taught the people that the Bible can only be understood properly by the priests.

“Whether it is the interpretation of prophecy or non-prophecy, once literality is sacrificed, it is like starting down an incline. Momentum speedily gathers as one succumbs to the temptation to spiritualize one passage after another. ... Moreover, under the method of spiritualization, there is no way for an interpreter to test the validity of his conclusions, except to compare his works with that of a colleague. Instead of ‘a more sure word of prophecy’ (2 Pet. 1:19), interpreters end up with an ‘unsure’ word and chaos in the ranks” (Paul Lee Tan, The Interpretation of Prophecy, pp. 73,74).

“If we preach the Bible literally, it is like telling the truth. You do not have to remember what you said. But if you spiritualize . . . what you said about a passage yesterday may be diametrically opposed to what you make it mean today. . . . A man will find himself contradicting himself over and over again as he preaches through the years” (W.A. Criswell, Why I Preach that the Bible is Literally True, p. 145).

Beware of the “Keys” to Bible Interpretation

If there is such a thing as the “KEY” to Bible interpretation, it is to study the Bible through the literal normal method and to let the Bible speak for itself. Yet, there are many strange “keys” promised by various groups.

The Christadelphians have a Bible study course called “The Key to Bible Understanding.” According to this “key,” salvation is achieved by faith plus works, death is to cease from breathing and does not mean man’s spirit goes to heaven or hell, resurrection is not for the wicked, baptism is required for salvation, hell is not a place of eternal torment, etc.

Mary Baker Eddy of Christian Science wrote the “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” By this “key,” hell and death and sickness are not real but are merely illusions.

A new book that uses the hyper-dispensational approach, “One Book Rightly Divided,” has a cover illustration featuring a key lying on a Bible. By this “key,” Paul preached a different gospel than Peter, only Paul’s epistles are for the churches, Hebrews and James teaches you can lose your salvation, 1 John teaches that salvation is by faith plus works, and men will be saved by works during the Tribulation.

One web site features the “kitab-i-iqan: the key to unsealing the mysteries of the Holy Bible.” This describes the teachings of someone named Shoghi Effendi who has allegedly broken the seals of Bible prophecy. By this “key,” grave refers to error, heaven refers to divine revelation, tribulation is “not knowing where to go for the truth,” earthquake is “the hearts of believers being moved by the Holy Spirit,” being raised from the dead means having faith, clouds are “things contrary to the desires of man,” and angels are “people who have replaced faults with divine attributes.”

Another web site that features a “key to Bible prophecy” interprets the beast of Revelation as America and the destruction of life described in Revelation as the abortion of babies today.

Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s “key to the Bible” was “divine nuptials” or the struggle to form a faithful people. He taught that salvation is through the Catholic sacraments, that Mary is the Queen of Heaven, and that God exalts virginity and devalues marriage and the sexual relationship between a man and woman.

The “Key to Bible Understanding” by O.L. Dunaway of Truth Gleaner ministries, teaches that hell is not a place of eternal torment, that death is not a journey to heaven or hell, that baptism is necessary for salvation, etc.

The “Key to Understanding Bible Contradictions” by Gary Naler claims that contradictions in Scripture are “Yahweh’s intended riddles” and he proposes that men did not see this “key” for 2,000 years. One of the supposed riddles is Jesus teaching on the new birth in John 3! According to this “Remnant Bride” teaching, God is calling a remnant out of the organized churches, all of which are apostate, and this remnant is Elijah who will prepare the way for the return of Christ.

According to the “House of Israel Bible Studies” the “key” to the Bible is the covenant of David which supposedly has passed to the “lost tribes of Israel,” which are now found in England and the United States; Manasseh and Ephriam are now the United States and England; the British throne can be traced back to the kings of Judah; the pyramid on the U.S. dollar refers to its connection with Israel, etc.

Beware of the “keys” to the Bible that are offered by false teachers. Any claim that someone has discovered a “new key to” or has only recently learned the “real meaning of” Scripture is false. “If it is new it is not true, and if it is true it is not new”! The real key to understanding the Bible is simply to take God at His word, to approach the Bible through the rules of normal language, and to let the Bible interpret itself.

WHAT ABOUT THE ALLEGORY IN GALATIANS 4:21-31?

1. This is the only case of an Old Testament event seen by the New Testament as an allegory.

2. This method however is entirely different from the allegorical method of non-literal interpreters, because in Galatians 4, Paul assumes the literal existence of Hagar, Sarah, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, etc. He cites them as allegories only for the purpose of illustration. The prophetic allegorists, though, say that Zion is not Zion and that the 144,000 in Rev. 7 is not 144,000 and that the 1,000 years in Rev. 20 is not 1,000 years. This is not what Paul was doing.

3. Paul never interpreted Bible prophecy allegorically, always literally – literal tribulation (1 Thess. 5:1-3), literal antichrist (2 Thess. 2:8-12), literal resurrection (1 Cor. 15), literal return of Christ with his saints (1 Thess. 3:13; 4:14), literal kingdom (2 Tim. 4:1), literal fulfillment of Israel’s promises (Rom. 11:25-27).

WHAT ABOUT APPLICATION AND THE DEVOTIONAL USE OF SCRIPTURE?

“The literal method of interpretation is concerned with interpretation, not with application. Applications are fair to the Bible when they are based on that which has been literally interpreted. To base interpretations of the Bible on applications is erroneous and will end in chaos. ... The literal interpreter, by insisting on the literal sense of Scripture, does not imply that the Bible has no depth or latent riches. God’s Word contains truths, principles, and applications which every interpreter must fathom. Some of these are latent, inward, and hidden; others are patent, outward, and obvious. ... The correlation of both the simple and the profound in God’s Word is wonderful to behold. But this licenses neither a mystical approach nor a forced search for some superadded ‘spiritual’ sense. There is nothing clandestine about Christianity. The proper approach to God’s Word is the reverent one of accepting what it says and then making applications to life” (Paul Tan, p. 31).

For example, we interpret the prophecies about return of Christ literally as belonging to the future and the prophecies of the Lord’s blessing upon Israel as literal events of the future, but we also get spiritual application from those prophecies for our Christian lives today. An example is Isaiah 59:18-21.

18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

This passage describes the coming of the Lord and the establishment of His kingdom. Verse 18 refers to His judgments during the Great Tribulation; verse 19 refers to the worldwide kingdom; verses 20-21 refer to the restoration of Israel and the New Covenant. This is the interpretation, but there are many applications for church age believers. Some of these are the following: God judges sin. The Lord is to be feared. God is the God of the whole earth. The Lord protects His people against the enemy’s most fierce attacks. The Lord is the Redeemer, the Savior. God demands turning or repentance. God offers a covenant of salvation today through Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God opens men’s hearts and minds to the truth. Salvation is eternal. Thus, we see that there is a literal interpretation and there is an application.

[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]

“REMOVE THE WALL -- Each one of us has a wall around himself: a wall of resistance, of fear and anxiety. ... We know very well what takes place when there is a wall -- then we have resistance, conflict, everlasting battle and pain, because ANY SEPARATIVE MOVEMENT, ANY SELF-CENTERED ACTIVITY, DOES BREED CONFLICT AND PAIN. ... When we remove the division between the ‘me’ and the ‘you’, the ‘we’ and the ‘they’, what happens? ONLY THEN AND NOT BEFORE, CAN ONE PERHAPS USE THE WORD ‘LOVE’. And love is that most extraordinary thing that takes place when there is no ‘me’ with its circle or wall” (J. Krishnamurti, ‘You Are the World’, quoted in Emergence Online, December 1996).

Global oneness and breaking down every barrier that separates people is a theme that is repeatedly heard in the world today. Rock singers proclaim “We are the world.” Disney theme parks proclaim “It’s a small, small world.” The United Nations seeks to break down national barriers. International news organizations glorify global unity. All of this is a cry against separation.

SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY ROME

The Pope, of course, has always considered separation heresy. The Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards and other Anabaptist and separatist Christian groups through the centuries were charged as heretics. Force was frequently used to bring the separatists into the fold, and Rome’s attitude has not changed. It still considers itself the only true church in which the fullness of Christ and truth abide. It claims to be the “mother church.” Those who are separated from Rome are being wooed into the fold today through ecumenical gestures. In November 1964, during the Vatican II Council, Pope Paul VI issued the “Decree on Ecumenism,” which launched Rome’s direct and open participation in the modern ecumenical movement. Vatican II had also declared that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church:

“THIS IS THE SOLE CHURCH OF CHRIST which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, which our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care. ... This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, SUBSISTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHICH IS GOVERNED BY THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER AND BY THE BISHOPS IN COMMUNION WITH HIM” (Vatican II, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” chap. 1, 8, p. 329).

Having reiterated its dogma that the Catholic Church is the sole church of Christ, Rome then stated its ecumenical policy:

“The Church established by Christ the Lord is, indeed, one and unique. Yet many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true heritage of Jesus Christ. To be sure, all proclaim themselves to be disciples of the Lord, but their convictions clash and their paths diverge, as though Christ himself were divided. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS DISCORD OPENLY CONTRADICTS THE WILL OF CHRIST, PROVIDES A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THE WORLD, INFLICTS DAMAGE ON THE MOST HOLY CAUSE OF PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS TO EVERY CREATURE” (Vatican II, “Decree on Ecumenism”).

Rome has been very plain about its ecumenical position. It has only one goal, and that is to bring every church and denomination into its fold. It considers separation from itself to be contrary to the will of Christ. Pope John Paul II dedicated himself untiringly to the task of bringing the “separated brethren” back into his fold. He often spoke of “THE INTOLERABLE SCANDAL OF DIVISION BETWEEN CHRISTIANS.”

At an ecumenical service conducted at the Vatican in 1985, the Pope embraced the three non-Catholic observers and said, “DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS ARE CONTRARY TO THE PLAN OF GOD.”

SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY THE LIBERAL PROTESTANT ECUMENISTS

The liberal ecumenical denominations (such as United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., United Church of Canada, The Church of England, the Uniting Church in Australia, and others associated with the World Council of Churches) boast of their broadmindedness. They can smile at practically any attack upon the Word of God or the Lord Jesus Christ. If a “clergyman” or “clergywoman” denies or questions Christ’s virgin birth or resurrection, that is tolerated. If he or she claims the Bible is filled with myths, that is tolerated. If he or she is an adulterer or a practicing homosexual, that is tolerated. There is one “heresy,” though, which is not tolerated, and that is the “heresy” of a dogmatic fundamentalist faith in the Word of God and the “heresy” of biblical separation.

In the early 1950s World Council of Churches’ leader Lesslie Newbigin (a bishop in the Church of South India who helped form the WCC) published The Household of God (SCM, London, 1953). He divided Christianity into Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal. Newbigin called on Pentecostals to discard their separatist stance and join hands with the liberal ecumenical crowd:

“We must therefore assure our brethren of our willingness to learn from them in the fellowship of the ecumenical movement. ... We must tell them that in order to enter into the ecumenical conversation with us it is not necessary for them to abandon any of their distinctive convictions, but only to recognize us as fellow Christians sharing with them -- even though we be in error -- the same Spirit. WE MUST ASK THEM TO CONSIDER WHETHER BY DENYING ALL FELLOWSHIP WITH US, THEY DO NOT SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS IN THEM, AND WHETHER FAITHFULNESS TO THEIR LORD AND OURS DOES NOT ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE US TO SEEK UNITY WITH ONE ANOTHER.”

In June 1984, World Council of Churches leaders received Pope John Paul II to the WCC headquarters in Geneva. They conducted an “ACT OF PENITENCE,” SEEKING PARDON FOR “OUR DIVISIONS and for our failure to overcome them” (Evangelical Press Service, June 16-20, 1984). WCC General Secretary Philip Potter initiated the meeting with a prayer that it “be for all of us a step forward in our search for the unity of the church.”

In 1987 the National Council of Churches in America welcomed John Paul II to their nation with these words: “We join Pope John Paul’s conviction that CHRISTIAN DIVISIONS ARE “AN INTOLERABLE SCANDAL which hinders the proclamation of the Good News in Jesus Christ.”

This attitude toward separation among liberal ecumenists was illustrated when Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in Minnesota formed local ecumenical ties. A covenant was signed by representatives of both denominations, affirming the things they hold in common, and pledging members of the denominations to “ASK GOD’S FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINFULNESS IN FOSTERING THE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH” (Episcopal News Service, Nov. 7, 1996). The covenant was signed by Episcopal Bishop James Jelinek and Roman Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn in a solemn ceremony at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Minneapolis.

SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY EVANGELICALS

From our files we could pull hundreds of statements by Evangelical leaders who claim that biblical separation is wrong. The Promise Keepers movement was founded upon this philosophy. In an interview on the national radio program Promise Keepers This Week (August 31, 1996), PK Founder Bill McCartney said:

“Promise Keepers is going to have to understand that more and more Catholics are going to participate. And what every guy needs to do is, STOP LOOKING AT PEOPLE’S LABELS, and ask this question: ‘Does this guy know Jesus? Does he love Jesus with all his heart? Has he been born of the Spirit of God?’ And if you see that fruit, then QUIT MAKING JUDGMENTS. ... So LET’S NOT START CATEGORIZING PEOPLE. Let’s just allow God to be God and he can bless who He chooses to bless. And that’s how Promise Keepers is going to grow.”

McCartney does not believe we should make judgments and separate on the basis of doctrine, at least that is what he repeatedly states. As long as someone “loves Jesus,” we are to accept him and work with and fellowship with him.

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) promotes the same philosophy. The 54th Annual NAE Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 3-5, 1996, had the theme: “Reaching America: ONE VOICE IN UNITY.” Speaking before this convention, Joseph Stowell, president of Moody Bible Institute, used John 17 as his text, “That they may be one.” Stowell said:

“GOD NEVER INTENDED THAT OUR DIFFERENCES WOULD DIVIDE US. We belong to Christ so our mission and purpose are the same. If you belong to Christ you are lifted above the differences, and all else becomes secondary. Promise Keepers Clergy Conference in Atlanta showed the unity that is possible. ... WE MUST REPENT OF OUR ATTITUDES as I did in Atlanta. I WENT TO A MAN WHO HELD DIFFERENT DOCTRINES THAN I HELD AND APOLOGIZED because I never cared about him. Our differences are not that big, and we must realize this is what will build trust. Revival happens when God’s people network together. The world shall know we are one by our love” (“A Report on the 54th Annual Convention of the NAE,” Ralph Colas, American Council of Christian Churches).

Robert Webber, long-time Wheaton College professor and influential voice in the contemplative movement and the emerging church, says:

“We evangelicals need to turn our backs on the old separatist model” (Ancient-Future Faith, p. 86).

SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY CHARISMATICS

The Charismatic movement is the neo-Pentecostal movement. Old-line Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God were separated from other groups on the basis of doctrine until recent decades. The Charismatic movement, on the other hand, has, from its inception in the 1960s, been extremely ecumenical and inter-denominational. It has been one of the chief instruments in these last days for breaking down doctrinal divisions and creating of a one-world church. The attitude toward doctrinal divisions that permeates the Charismatic movement was illustrated in 1975 at the Fifth International Lutheran Conference of the Holy Spirit. A Catholic cardinal and a Lutheran pastor publicly embraced before the 12,000 in attendance and asked for mutual forgiveness. Lutheran Pastor Donald Pfotenhauer asked Cardinal Leo Suenens to forgive Lutherans for their sins against Roman Catholics, “so the Lord may release His Spirit upon us” (F.E.A. News & Views, Fundamental Evangelistic Association, November-December 1976).

At the 1975 Atlantic City Conference, a Roman Catholic charismatic meeting which included many non-Catholics, Catholic priest John Bertolucci led in prayers for the healing of church divisions. The scene that followed is described by a participant:

“Protestants were asked to stand and Catholics who were next to them were asked to seek forgiveness from their Protestant brothers and sisters for all the pain and hurt caused by their church’s office over the past 400 years. We Protestants did the same ... This night became, for all of us, the time when the Lord chose to heal 400 years of hurt, pain and division between the Catholic and Protestant churches” (Thomas Twitchell, That They May Be One, Logos, 1978, pp. 137-138).

Twitchell ended his book with the exhortation to “hold our leaders, shepherds and ourselves accountable to do all we can to bring together the body of Christ -- today” (Ibid., p. 216).”

Influential Episcopalian Charismatic leader Michael Harper, writing in 1978 of Christ’s return, stated: “THE CHURCH MUST FIRST BE UNITED. It is as inconceivable to think of Jesus returning for a disunited Church as it is to an unevangelized world” (Christian Life, August 1978). In his book The Three Sisters, Harper called for the unity of Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Roman Catholics. “I must confess to a deep longing to see these sisters reconciled to each other; to see them openly united in Christ and the Spirit; learning from each other and humbly listening to each other” (The Three Sisters, p. 11).

SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY NEO-FUNDAMENTALISTS

A new generation of fundamentalists has arisen which has rejected the militancy of its forebears. These neo-fundamentalists still claim to be fundamentalists but they sound like and they act like New-Evangelicals. Two key examples of this phenomenon are Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University among independent Baptists and Cornerstone College and many of the other schools and missions associated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.

Interestingly, the belligerence of the Neo-Fundamentalist toward the old-line fundamental separatist is even more vicious than that of some of the other groups. Consider a statement that appeared in Jerry Falwell’s now defunct and misnamed publication “The Fundamentalist Journal.” The author labels the old-line fundamentalist who seeks to practice separation from error and compromise a “pseudo-fundamentalist” --

“Pseudo-Fundamentalists craft their doctrines and rules carefully. THEY BUILD MASSIVE WALLS OF SEPARATION AROUND THEMSELVES and take great pride in standing ‘all alone,’ besieged by wickedness from without and compromise from within. They set themselves as the ultimate standard of orthodoxy and stand prepared to cross swords with any who attempt to breach the walls. ... What should we do? We must take the whole armor of God, and IN HIS MIGHT COMMAND THAT THE WALLS BE BROKEN DOWN, and walk through into the light of day. Fundamental Christianity, strong and robust as ever, must not succumb to these modern-day Pharisees who find contentment only when they effectively mute God’s church” (Daniel R. Mitchell, “The Siege Mentality of Pseudo-Fundamentalism,” The Fundamentalist Journal, February 1987, p. 59).

The hour is very late. The end-times spirit that will produce the one-world Harlot church described in Revelation 17 is moving powerfully. The pressure to “give up and join in” with the ecumenical movement is increasing with each passing year. Great numbers of men who once stood firm against ecumenism are weakening. There is less forthrightness in the preaching, less clarity in the identification of error.

May God give us boldness to stand! The man who has the mindset and testimony of the sweet Psalmist of Israel will not be able to join hands with anyone who errs from the Word of God: “Therefore I esteem ALL thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right; and I hate EVERY false way” (Psalm 119:128). Biblical love requires biblical hate. Biblical unity requires biblical separation. A wise pastor once said, “I you refuse to limit your message, you will be required to limit your fellowship.”

[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]