JD: You know for the past 3 years we’ve dealt with very important theological issues facing the church in our weekly discussions together here, and this week we want to consider 2017 and what that next year may hold in store for each of us. What do you see as some of the on going or maybe new major theological issues in this coming year?
DJ: It’s a little bit hard to predict everything that’s going to come along but we can certainly look at past trends and see that these are going to probably intensify. I think the number one at the top would be the on going de-emphasis on the importance on right doctrine which actually is, I think, the reason for everything else that we end up talking about because people either don’t understand, don’t believe or except the Word of God and understand theology, and there’s a lack of expository preaching. And that leads to things like we’ve talked about claims of trips to heaven; there are more books coming out all the time and an occasional movie. And then even back in 2008 the book ,the Shack, came out which is a heretical book which portrays God the Father as a matronly black woman, and there’s a movie coming out this year. So that’s going to continue and pick back up where it left off years ago.
The LGBT agenda is going strong as ever. We talk a lot of
times about Pope Francis efforts toward global religious unity and how that
affects evangelical church with a lot of evangelical’s embracing him. Signs and
wonders movement and extreme charismatic movement and the signs and wonders and
all of these together, with the Catholic church and charismatic movement
relating to what I would say is religious convergent in the last days.
I think the on going resurgent’s of Calvinism and covenant
theology is going to continue which is one of the things that puts prophecy in
crisis because it affects dispensationalism, and there’s a lot of anti
dispensational rhetoric out there. And the secondary affect or maybe another
primary affect is it leads to growing anti Israel sediment in the world and in
the church. Another thing is the continuing growth of messianic Judaism and the
Hebrew roots movement with authors like Jonathan Cohn and Mark Builts. Another
thing that we haven’t really talked about much but that’s the role of men and
women in the church that continues to be a big issue and continuing to grow.
And so there lots on things that are on the horizon that we’ve touched on but continue to be
serious issues.
JD:
We report this information because it is setting the stage
for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
One of the major theological trends that we must recognize is
the lack of teaching of Bible prophecy. As we move into 2017 we must study the
Bible, the prophetic Word of God. II Peter 1:19 say, we have a sure Word of
prophecy and we must study this Word.
