Why Does Postmil Ruffle Feathers? | Doug Wilson

In this clip from a recent live Q&A, Pastor Doug Wilson answers the question, "Why does postmillennialism ruffle feathers?

Enjoying this video? Check out, "Heaven Misplaced: Christ's Kingdom on Earth"

This video is presented by Canon Press.

[CanonPress]

Enjoying this video? Check out, "Heaven Misplaced: Christ's Kingdom on Earth"

[whollybraille]

You nailed it on the head. A lifetime (60+ years) of being dispensational, the quandries got to be too much. And missions is a major key to this. Oh, to just escape it all. Oh, to spend all my time trying to connect verses to the current news events. Nuts. We have work to do! Thanks.

[spartacusantipas]

"Live as though you will have descendants !"...Thanks Doug

[CJWheat]

As someone who is not (perhaps yet) postmil, I can honestly say that it doesn't ruffle my feathers at all. I agree with Doug that part of me wishes that it was true, I just can't reconcile it hermeneutically at the moment. And I am always cautious about embracing a theological position that I want to be true. I've seen too many people twist the Scriptures in their own minds so as to make uncomfortable truths (like hell, predestination, etc.) disappear.
But I can guess that the reason that the postmil position may ruffle feathers is that, taken in the wrong light, may seem to the outsider to lack urgency. If you believe that we still have thousands of years to go, then the urgency of getting the Great Commission done seems lessened somehow. Knowing that it will all work out in the end seems to diminish the importance of reaching the lost TODAY. However, that is just a guess.
Another possible guess as to why it rubs people the wrong way is that it is always uncomfortable when something that you have always believed to be true is challenged. Being raised Premil, Pretrib dispensational, I know it hit me hard when I first heard that view challenged. I haven't held that position for almost 30 years, but I still remember the punch in the gut feeling when I found out that the Bible doesn't teach that we were going to be beamed up before the really bad stuff happens. It was quite unnerving.

[jeremybrown-HelloJayBird]

Every time I hear Doug talk about his changed views on hedges, I want to know what and how he was planting and how that changed. I have probably spent at least 25 hours thinking about Doug Wilson’s hedges. Lol

[benjaminperez]

I am a proud 11th generation Mayflower descendant. My great plus grandfather was Stephen Hopkins and my great plus grandmother was Constance Fisher. He signed the Mayflower Compact.

[justthisoneguy]

Amen. Read some Rushdooney last year, shook me up. Realized, “we need land for our children, their children, and on!” We sold our home. Bought a farm 2, 200 miles away. Yes. Postmillennialism forces us to view the world differently and act accordingly.

[MrPruijssen]

Would be nice to have the link to the sermon pastor Wilson is talking about...

[hede_the_call]

Pre-mil. Here,
Can't agree hard enough with pastor Wilson.
Jesus might come back tomorrow. Time might be short, and of the utmost importance. And the LORD might tarry another millenium or two. We have to make the most of the time we have AND plan for our children's children's children. Pre-mil's like myself have to stop building ramshackle churches that "only need to last ten or so years" until Christ's return. We have to stop ceding ground to the humanists in every area of culture, because "Crist might come back tomorrow."
If he DOES return tomorrow, I'd rather be found building a cathedral that could last 1, 000 years, than squatting in a hut I threw together "until this all blows over."

[brandongerringer]

Here we are 2, 000 + years into Christ’s 1, 000 year reign.

[MounTaiNeer]

Question: He has referenced this super post mil sermon several times that wasn't post mil in language. Can you let me know if this sermon is available to listen to?

[jeremyzitzow]

As someone who regularly goes out evangelizing weekly on the streets in the Twin Cities of MN, I can assure you that every one of our team of evangelists are taking serious the Great Commission, though not a single one of us is Postmil. That is a straw man argument to accuse "non-Postmil" folks of not taking seriously our command to reach the lost. Because we know hearts will only change by the Gospel...governments and laws have no power to make a man into a new creation. You could still have a theocracy and still have a moralistic society where people's hearts are left unchanged.

The fact we know that Christ will come back soon and pour His wrath and destruction on the lost compels us to share the Gospel with as many as we can before it's too late. That may be next month, or in 1000 years. We do not have that information. But woe to any of us if we don't preach the Gospel!

[WhatAHorribleNight]

For real on ruffling feathers. I've had premill types call me all sorts of names - unrepentant, apostate, and other names which I can't recall but were sufficiently barbed. 😅 And I'm not some gadfly either! I don't say things meant to be provocative. If the topic comes up and someone asks for my thoughts, I'll explain calmly that I take the postmillenial view. But not even this meek approach can avoid the wild-eyed stares and accusations. My own Grandmother once said she prays for the safety of my soul because of my postmill beliefs. The whole thing is just so outlandish. 😂

[VibrantLady]

I became post mill over a year ago... but was careful who I discussed with about it. Unfortunately, a 2 months ago, a few dispensational people got upset about it and forced my husband to resign from his position as an associate pastor of 16 years. I didn't think it would ruffled feathers that much. This stance has completely uprooted our family and has labeled me a heretic. But I stand firm that our Lord is reigning in heaven and earth now... not in a future 1000 years.

[jaquirox]

THAT IS SO TRUE!!!! Thank you Uncle Doug. ♥️

[baldguythoughts]

yah, ok. So my eschatology doesn't cause me nor give me permission to reshape how I obey the two greatest commandments - love God, love people. Having said this, I'm not necessarily completely opposed to the possibility of postmillennialism (w/ a partial-preterist hat, maybe; that full-preterist suit is whacked).

However, our world is currently in a full Romans 1:18-32 freefall. Throw in the technology hockey-stick growth, AI, robots, chipping, control, etc. etc. - hey something has got to give. I mean people actually think there are north of 70 genders - really? We live in a very, very bizarre world.

An inflection point is imminent. The question I have is will it be judgement, revival, or both?

[quintus]

I'd love to hear that sermon he preached in the disp premill church 😂

[ballenf]

I’m just recently converted to pod-mil and that conclusion was my first tough pill to swallow.

[Notworthy]

True. The dispensational premill church and tradition I grew up in produced fear of having children and doing something in society because there probably would not be a future. So why have children? Why have anything to contribute to your community? Just hunker down and get ready for the rapture because the world will be so horrible that we need not even have any children. Now we are reaping the benefits of this system of thought.

[donhaddix]

The phrase “keep you from” in Rev. 3:10 is “tereo se ek” in Greek. Tereo appears 75 times in the Bible and is translated “keep” 57 of those. “Se” means “you”, and “ek”which is translated “from” in Rev. 3:10 is often translated “out of”. It literally means to be out of both the time and place of the event it concerns. Therefore it’s correct to say that the Lord will keep the Church out of the time and place of the hour of trial being referenced in Rev. 3:10. This translation makes Rev. 3:10 agree with 1 Thes. 1:10 where Paul said the Lord will rescue (deliver) the church from the wrath to come.

John 17:15 is part of a prayer that begins in John 17:6 and continues through John 17:19. Jesus was offering it on behalf of His disciples who were there with Him on the night of His arrest. Some try to use this verse as an argument against the pre-Trib rapture. But to do so, they have to change both the purpose and scope of His prayer, which was to seek divine protection from Satan for His disciples.