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Biblical Reasons Why We Should
And Practical Suggestions on How We Can
Create Heaven on Earth
One of the great ironies of the dispute between the "Kingdom Now" Christians ("Reconstructionists") and the "Rapture Soon" Christians ("Dispensationalists") is that the Dispensationalists denounce the Reconstructionists for their emphasis on politics and use of the sword, and yet look forward to a Kingdom which is a top-down political hierarchy based primarily on the use of the sword ("the rod of iron"). They denounce the use of the sword by Christians in our day, only to have them all take up the sword in "the Kingdom Age" as they "rule and reign under Christ" who has returned to set up a physical Kingdom in Jerusalem.
Conversely, most Reconstructionists are defenders of "the Free Market," oppose socialism, and believe the Kingdom advances in this age by conversion, not imposition.
It isn't just the timing of the Kingdom that is at issue, it is the very nature of Christ's Kingdom. It is a question of method and strategy -- how the Kingdom comes into existence, grows, and in maintained.
Does the end justify the means? No, and not only that, but the means sometimes become the end or goal. Many people have joined clubs or organizations which claim to be working toward some benevolent social goal, but the newcomer finds out the club members are engaged in activities which not only will never attain the stated objective, but are working against it. When the newcomer asks the old-timers, "Why are you doing this?" or "Why are you doing it this way? the answer is inevitably, "That's the way we've always done it." And any attempt by the newcomer to change the way things are done will expose the fact that the real goal of the organization is no longer to achieve the advertised social goal, but to protect the club's status quo and "the way we've always done it."
Those who are waiting for the Rapture have a view of the Kingdom which Christ repudiated. It's the same view of the Kingdom held by those who executed Christ. They were waiting for a Socialist Messiah, who would divest the emperor and his henchmen of their empire and take it over for God. They would bind up their imperial oppressors in chains and rule over them, just as they themselves had been oppressed by the empire. Jesus had a completely different strategy, and a completely different view of the Kingdom. His strategy for overthrowing the empire was to command His followers to "love your enemies." Obedience to His commands would bring the blessings of the covenant, which were the same blessings promised by the emperor, but these blessings would come through the Providence of God, rather than the socialist redistribution of wealth.
Premillennialists are socialists in waiting.
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