The following post contains a handful of Biblical passages describing the nature of the Day of the Lord and the return of Jesus, emphasizing the wrath, judgment and violence that He will use as He executes justice against the wicked. I’ve also juxtaposed some comments by neo-liberal Brian Mclaren concerning his views on the return of Jesus. Mclaren’s comments are instructive. First, Mclaren’s derogatory comments about Jesus are deeply offensive to me as a follower, worshipper and lover of Jesus. Second, Mclaren’s arrogance, hubris and confrontational approach toward those who hold to a historical, conservative, literalist hermeneutic should be noted by all who care about preserving orthodoxy. And finally, it is the sharp contrast between Mclaren’s comments and the Scriptures that should be noted again, by all who desire to be men and woman of the Scriptures and not men and woman whose faith-system is dictated by the spirit of the age. As Paul so aptly warned (my paraphrase), “Do not allow yourself to be conformed to this world, rather be transformed [into the image of the living Word of God], by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low, the LORD alone will be exalted in that day… The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted. And they will be humbled. —Isaiah 2:11,13
The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion… The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. —Psalm 110:,1-2,4-6
Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. —Isaiah 63:1-4
Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter… My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood… For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom… Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat. For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. —Isaiah 34:9-12
I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land… Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done.— Joel 3;2, 4
Now consider the following comments made by Brian Mclaren:
“This eschatological understanding of a violent Second Coming leads us to believe that in the end, even God finds it impossible to fix the world apart from violence and coercion… If we remain charmed by this kind of eschatology, we will be forced to see the nonviolence of the Jesus of the Gospels as a kind of strategic fake-out, like a feigned retreat in war, to be followed up by a crushing blow of so-called redemptive violence in the end. The gentle Jesus of the First Coming becomes a kind of trick Jesus, a fake-me-out Messiah, to be replaced by the true jihadist Jesus of a violent Second Coming. This is why I believe that many of our current eschatologies, intoxicated by dubious interpretations of John’s Apocalypse, are not only ignorant and wrong, but dangerous and immoral.
The “jihadist Jesus of a violent second coming”. Lord have mercy on those who indict the Lord of evil. As for us, let us stand with the word of God and the good confession of the saints at the end of the age, who in glorified form, all in unison, declare the following:
You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were, for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve. And I heard the altar respond, “Yes Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments”. —Revelation 15:5-7
22 Responses
I was texting someone this week live as you are in a perpetual court of law (God’s Court) as always upholding mercy to the highest at the same time……and if needed have two credible witnesses accessible to you.
Ironically, comments like that will be used to support the future jihad against those who hold to a biblically-based eschatology. Especially since they come from someone who will be from an approved flavor of Christianity.
Hi Joel
Mr Mclaren must not read the gospels if he postulates a ‘gentle Jesus’ who is in supposed opposition to the returning righteous judge. It is Jesus himself who declared his second coming together with righteous judgement. Our Lord is indeed gentle and loving in his dealing with us but only after we have entered into relationship through the ‘offence’ of the cross. Outside of the cross any person is subject to the uncertainty, unfairnesss and violence of this age. We also, as Christians, have no absolute guarantee that the troubles of this age will not impact us (look at the church in North Korea and Middle East)but we do have the promise of Gods redemptive love and ultimate glory in the New Heaven and New Earth. I have genuine compassion for all the ‘Mclarens’ who will one day have to answer to the righteous judge for misrepresenting the Lord of Glory.
From a secular point of view, I can see why he’d use words like:
crushing blow, jihadist, violent.
From the secular worldview, everyone should be left alone to live according to their own eyes, desires and thoughts, especially because we only get one life, then nothingness.
So the idea that God considers him and many others that he thinks have nothing wrong with them, as base evil men, only to be wiped out at the second coming. I can see why the Bible would offend him.
But from a Biblical worldview, God has been so patient, waiting 6000 years for humanity to stop raping, murdering and abusing one another, and the second coming is the cut off point, where enough is enough, and those who insist on living apart from God will finally be held to account, not just in the world to come, but right now, in this world.
But I feel your heart. Yeshua and His Father are not willing that any should perish, but that all should repent and live, but judgement day is about setting things in place so that the millennium can truly be pure and just and that the world can be how God always intended it to be…
I forgot to add, Yeshua is nothing like men who enjoy the spilling of blood and have blood lust. When Yeshua will slay men on the day of the Lord, he will do it with no sadistic feelings at all, but will merely be carrying out the orders from on high, with a pure and straight heart.
wonder what he makes of Ezekiel 38-39?
Nick,
Right. When someone is “intoxicated by dubious interpretations of John’s Apocalypse, [who] are not only ignorant and wrong, but dangerous and immoral” then it is a short step for self-appointed vigilantes of tolerance-and-peace to feel the moral obligation to stop them. History has demonstrated this again and again.
Joel,
Thank you for all that you do. Thank you that you are an example of the love of Christ. The way you speak, teach, and write, is with such love. This is why your words carry so much weight. Like Jesus said, those who have an ear will hear the message. Mclaren, fails to see that the Scriptures do not support the death of every non-beleiver. Only the death of those who followed the Antichrist and the beast (Satan). That is who Jesus destroys. There is no conversion of those followers of Satan in the last days.
Lest we forget that God destroyed those who were so wicked that He actually regretted making mankind and cleansed the earth with a great flood which was also an antitype of baptism through water as Peter explains in 2 Peter.
Mclaren strikes me as a type of Calvinist in the sense that people have no choice in the matter as to whether or not they follow Christ and receive salvation. But at the same time finds it had to believe that God would destroy those who were not pre-destined to salvation. This is why he calls orthodox eschatology as immoral. In other words, he says that it would be unfair. Mclaren would have been denounced by the Apostles as a heretic at worst or a Gnostic at best. Either way he is clearly wrong.
May God bless you Joel (and your supportive family) in all that you do. Continue pointing all your words towards Jesus and He will reward you for it. I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and thank you for imparting this wisdom upon the world.
– Ron
Hi Joel;
It seems to me the second coming of Christ is what a number of Jews expected in his first coming.
David,
I would say it is similar, but far, far more spectacular.
Blessings
Brother Joel,
Thank you so much for your diligence in warning the sheep of our Lord on the likes of Brian McLaren!
I think it might be worthwhile to remind your readers about what really lurks inside of McLaren, as shown in his involvement, shared “world view,” etc., with Satanic forces and organizations through “The Vision Project.” Please note that Lucis Trust, the U.N., Bono, etc. are also fellow “visionaries” in this organization, which you can no longer find on the internet without a password. Because they were exposed, one can only find information about them (and McLaren’s shared “vision” for the future planet) via the WayBackMachine.
This first link is to a list of visionaries (note that BMac is right below Dale & Sara McKechnie of Lucis Trust). The links on the page also work and will show you each of the visions by the visionaries.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070121094822/http://www.thevisionproject.org/Visionaries.html
Blessings of our Lord to you, Brother Joel!
Mick
Also, here’s a link that shows what the Vision Project is all about:
http://web.archive.org/web/20100317010519/http://www.thevisionproject.org/about/
This links shows which websites, at the time of the archive on WayBackMachine, were involved with Vision Project:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070708220907/http://www.thevisionproject.org/visionary_websites.html
Lastly, in April 2011, I did a report on McLaren’s connection and shared vision for a new world, and I sent it out to 35 watchman websites, several of which posted my report. Here’s a link to my report via Moriel Ministries website. Please note that the links in the report no longer work since being exposed, the Vision Project is now password protected.
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/uncategorized/connecting-the-dots-on-brian-mclaren
For other websites that picked up the report and ran with it, just Google it. Please note that neither I nor any of the websites reporting on this McLaren connection are the originators of the information–the information on who, a professor at Truth Exchange, is found in my report.
Blessings!
Thank Mick. Its obvious for anyone who actually cares to study, how far into the polluted swamp of outright paganism that Mclaren and many of his fellow neo-liberal comrades have plunged. What is more concerning to me however is how many formerly solid believers he has dragged off in with him and also what a wide range of groups will allow him to address their sheep or speak into their congregations etc. These guys are truly deliberate subversive forces. Lord have mercy.