This author is extremely well-versed and knowledgeable. His views are backed by historical and Biblical truth. I may hold a different of eschatological belief, I may not. This does not define this book. The author articulates this here and it is beyond fair and true.
First of all, if any of you know who this person is, I’d love to be able to talk to her personally. Now to the review.
First, "the Bible is the basis for complete truth," but this goes beyond the historic doctrine of sola scriptura. I would suggest that the Bible is the basis for complete truth REGARDING everything we need to know for faith in Christ, salvation, and sanctification. But not for everything. The Bible does not talk about everything. It doesn't tell you how to change a tire on a car, or which restaurant is the best for Mexican food, or how to extract gold from a rock, what is the best diet for obese people (sorry "Daniel Diet" folks), or many other things. God wants us to and tells us to go to other sources for truth about things he does not tell us in the Bible. The giants, of course, are in the Bible … a ton. But it isn’t a problem to use other sources to help show that it isn’t just the Bible that talks about them. So, there’s a bit of confusion here.
Second, yes I am Amillennial in my eschatology. But you know what? This is a very old tradition in the Christian church, as Justin Martyr, one of the earliest Christians to talk about this tells you. Justin was himself a premillennialist, but acknowledges that other Christians hold different views--views like mine (No, Augustine didn't make it up). In other words, to call me into suspicion because I hold to a well-recognized, long-standing, orthodox view of eschatology shows historical ignorance.
Third, furthermore, it shows a lot of ignorance about “literalism.” Contrary to popular opinion, we Amills do believe in a literal millennium. We just believe it is now rather than in the future. Of course, if we didn’t believe in a millennium, we wouldn’t believe in Scripture. But this is a label that was given to us by those who hated our position. It was originally an ad hominem and is a strawman and a very unfair one at best. A much better term would be “Realized Millennialism.” No, we do not believe that it is literally 1,000 years, zero months, zero days, zero hours, zero minutes, and zero seconds (that would be the only truly “literal” millennialism according to these standards). But nevertheless, we believe in a millennium. Also, it is vitally important to recognize that “spiritualizing” does not mean “denying literalism.” Guess what? The spiritual world is a LITERAL world, it just isn’t a “physical” world. To imply that the physical is the only "real" world is literally to deny the Bible. Demons literally exist. They just aren’t “physical” creatures. They are spiritual creatures. This has long been one of my pet peeves, because it is another strawman, but a very unfair one to my position.
I literally believe that Christ is reigning … right now! Today. That’s a literal reign. But it is in a spiritual kingdom (although I also believe he literally is the King of kings over all the kingdoms of this world right now too). I just conceive of it differently than Premillennialists do. That is, I do not believe that Jesus has to be here, in his glorified body on earth in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem in order to reign and be King. The NT is pretty clear about this. The church IS Christ's temple. He is the sovereign God of the universe. And his ascension means he is at the right have of the Father in heaven, placed above all rulers and authorities on earth and in heaven. The NT literally says this over and over again. Right now, not in some mythical future.
Finally, I’m totally fine with someone disagreeing with my view. Unlike this reviewer, apparently, I literally believe that we are allowed to have our differences of opinion on the nature and length of the millennium. We aren’t permitted to deny the millennium. But we are allowed to disagree on this matter. It isn’t the Gospel. People aren’t saved by their view of the millennium, but by faith in Christ alone. I love my Premill, Dispy, and Postmill brothers and sisters and I actually think that each of those views, along with my own, contribute different things to our understanding of the end times that are important. I don’t think any of these views is without problems either. The way I look at it is this. Basically no one got the First Coming right. A handful got some of it right, but no one got it all right. God hid it from everyone, precisely so that his plan for redemption and salvation would be carried out just the way he wanted it too. The more I study the end times, the more—not the less—I’m convinced that probably none of us has the Second Coming perfectly figured out either. That includes me! And, yep, that also includes you, and Laura W.
I appreciate her comments. And, I’m glad she didn’t give it one star just because I dared to actually tell you something a little different about the giants than most out there are telling you. Now it’s up to you to think through these issues. I hope this little reply to her review is something many of you will find helpful as you work your own way through this very interesting and sometimes difficult topic of the relationship of the giants to the Return of Jesus.
So thank you Laura, wherever you are, for the review. It gives me an excuse to help clarify some things for others. Maybe I'll do this for a topic on my new podcast: Giant Steps, which we are preparing to launch here in a handful of weeks.
Have a great Lord's Day everyone. Christ reigns. Today.
As a pastor, I use books to grow in knowledge that I don't agree with everything. Learn to gleen. Grab nuggets and align it with Scripture. Keep seeking the truth. Do not let one non-salvation viewpoint keep you from this GOLD!
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