~ Postmillennialism is based on very carefully selected – but misunderstood – Scriptural passages.
~ It began to take root as a theory in c1658.
~ Their primary eschatological misconceptions began with a misinterpretation of Revelation 20.
~ Postmillennialists usually have a “partial-preterist” interpretation of Revelation – believing most of its prophecies were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
~ A major tenant of Postmillennialism is the successful spread of the Gospel.
~ Most Postmillennialists will admit that Christianity has made little progress in the world so far…..but believe it eventually will accelerate.
~ They believe in Theonomy: the christianization of the world.
~ Theonomists minimize the distinctions between Christians and Jews because it theoretically increases the number of those who are ‘christianized’.
~ “There will be no actual restoration of the nation of Israel”.
~ Postmillennialists expect a steady christianization of all nations prior to Christ’s return.
~ “The world will continue to improve leading up to the time of Christ’s physical arrival on earth. The world will be largely converted without some miraculous intervention. The present Gospel Age will eventually root out all evil”.
~ “Christ will come after most of the world is converted to Christianity and Believers have established the Kingdom of God on earth”.
~ “The 1,000 years is figurative and represents the Church Age as an extended and indefinite era. This period therefore has no clearly defined ‘beginning’.”
~ “The time of ‘Great Tribulation’ represents the persecutions of the early Church during the first century. This brief period of tribulation is over because it could not occur during the lengthy period of global conversion. Therefore Christ’s Second Coming takes place LONG AFTER the ‘Great Tribulation’”.
~ “Satan was ‘bound’ when Jesus died on the Cross and will remain bound until the Second Coming”.
~ The Millennium is not to be viewed as literal, but as an on-going period of time which began with the Incarnation”.
~ “The Millennium is currently in progress to demonstrate the power and triumph of the Gospel”.
~ “Since Christ, through the Gospel, actually ‘reigns’ on the earth NOW, it is not His Second Coming that brings in the millennial era. This emblematic 1,000-year period demonstrates the magnificence of the Gospel Age”.
~ During this ‘millennial era’, Christ rules the earth – not from a physical throne – but through gradual global christianization. At the completion of this period Christ returns to the earth”.
~ The ‘Millennial reign’ of Christ will be completed just prior to the Second Coming; that is to say the Second Coming concludes the millennial period”.
~ “The Kingdom of God arrives through the slow but steady spread of the Gospel and ends when Christ physically returns to earth. World evangelism is the key to the Second Coming (Mt. 24:14), and the whole human race will be mostly evangelized prior to that event. Peace will prevail and evil will be banished”.
~ “The power of the Gospel will cause the world to improve until the present Church Age blends into the ‘millennial age’ during which time the Church will be in charge of the earth”.
~ “Discrimination, injustice, and wars will be a thing of the past prior to His Second Coming”.
~ “God’s power will become more fully manifest over His enemies as the time of His physical return draws closer”.
~ “At the end of the millennial period, Satan is loosed for a brief time – then bound forever”.
~ “The ‘souls of the righteous’ in Revelation 20 are those who die prior to the physical resurrection of all people”.
~ Since c1000 AD, Postmillennialism has been continuously rewritten in order to view the millennial period period as symbolic of the entire Church Age – however long it may last – and now see the Millennium as an extended time of spiritual prosperity for the Church.
~ While some Postmillennialists hold that the Church is currently in the millennial period, others hold it to be a futuristic period.
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~ World-conversion is unscriptural, unrealistic, and theologically reckless. The percentage of conversions to Christianity in the world is NOT on the increase.
~ Jesus spoke of WORSENING conditions as the end-times approach (Mt. 24:9-14) and taught that evil will be epidemic during the tribulation period.
~ Blind optimism leaves little room for Christ’s teachings concerning expectancy and readiness.
~ Postmillennialism was a popular doctrine when the Church was under less persecution, for they felt it was a sign that Jesus would soon return.
~ Postmillennialism began to be eclipsed by other millennial positions c1918 due to the disillusionment
resulting from the harsh realities of wartime conditions.
~ Since WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and current wars in the Middle East, many Postmillennialists have been forced to redefine their theories – and inquire – “If the world is actually improving…..why all these wars?”