A response to Bill Ivy's Defense of the Message: Difference between revisions

A response to Bill Ivy's Defense of the Message (view source)

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 :''If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.<ref>The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 1 Ti 6:3–5.</ref>
-==The concept of the "church ages"==
+==The concept of "church ages"==
 Bill Ivy states:
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 :''I believe that God give us a one man ministry, it was a one man ministry to the “AGE”. None other possesses that, he was the last church age Messenger and the Seventh Angel according to scripture (Rev 3:14, 10:1-7).
-Bill Ivy asserts that there is a "church age", but this term never appears in Scripture. it is a construct of dispensationalists such as Larkin and others to justify their assertions as the Spirit of Elijah when they cast themselves in the role of MESSENGER...
+Bill Ivy is stating his belief in the concept of "church ages", but this term never appears in Scripture.
+William Branham did not come up with the idea that there were "seven church ages."
+Some early dispensationalists (such as [[Plagiarism#Clarence Larkin|Clarence Larkin]] from whom William Branham copied the idea, including the dates of the ages) interpreted the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 1:4) symbolically as seven “church ages,” or stages of church history, though few hold this view today outside of [[The Message|the message]]. For the following reasons, this line of interpretation is no more feasible than allegorizing the churches addressed in Paul’s letters:
+#There is '''no reference''' in the book of Revelation that would suggest that the seven church are seven church ages.  The Bible does not use the word "age" or "ages."  This is a construct of early dispensationalists which William Branham copied.
+#Abundant evidence suggests that Revelation addresses seven literal church communities, including items of local color that fit each of the seven letters (see [[Seven Churches In Asia]]).
+#A map shows that Revelation addresses the seven churches in the very sequence that a messenger from John, arriving first in Ephesus near the sea, would travel to each of the cities listed, presumably along the main roads of Asia.  The average distance between each city was about thirty to forty-five miles.
+#Only a forced reading of church history (regularly revised with the passing of time) has allowed this interpretation.
+#Finally, if Revelation requires the completion of seven church ages before Jesus’ return, then, in most centuries of church history, Christians had no right to expect the imminent return of the Lord! This would be a curious conclusion for advocates of the seven church ages view, most of whom vehemently emphasize the imminence of Christ’s return.<ref>Craig S. Keener, Revelation, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 74–75.</ref>
+The burden of proof is clearly upon William Branham and Bill Ivy to show that these local letters are successive "ages" or "eras".
+One "proof" that we often hear is this - "Simply look around at churches today, they clearly demonstrate that we are in the age of Laodicea."  While this sounds like a good argument, as there are many lukewarm churches in North America, it fails to deal with the global church today.  There are currently 245 million Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.  Their churches reflect NONE of the characteristices of Laodicea.<ref>https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/stories/christian-persecution-by-the-numbers/</ref>
 ='''What are we defending?''' By Bill Ivy=