Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free for now, but please consider clicking on the button at the bottom to become a paid subscriber to enjoy this along with Monday’s “Off The Shelf” feature about books and Wednesday’s “The Quarter Inch,” a quick(er) commentary on current events.
Dear Friends,
It was a rather quiet week for The Square Inch Newsletter. You paid subscribers didn’t receive all of your normal emails, and I’d like to think you noticed. I do apologize for that. I left bright and early Monday morning on a brutal, three-airplane trip to Philadelphia. For some bizarre reason, Delta Airlines didn’t have any aircraft making a journey from Minneapolis to Philly, so they routed me through Atlanta. Nothing says efficiency like sending me a thousand miles in the wrong direction. On top of that, I couldn’t upgrade any of my seats because all flights were completely full, and I got a middle seat on every one of them. My worst nightmare.
But I made it. And the week was very busy. I was in Philly because I was delivering a plenary address at Westminster Theological Seminary’s conference on “Van Til and the Future of Reformed Apologetics.” It was a huge honor for me. I first started reading books by Cornelius Van Til over thirty years ago, as a very odd fifteen year old, and to find myself standing in Van Til Hall on the campus of Westminster Seminary (where Van Til spent his career) giving a lecture on Van Til’s apologetic before a packed audience was fairly surreal. It went better than I could have hoped.
The whole conference was superb, in fact. The plan is that all of the contributions from the speakers will be compiled into a handsome book in the near future. After one of the other speakers had finished I said to Scott Oliphint, “You know what I think? I think we’re going to put together a really great book!” I don’t know if WTS is planning on putting the videos online, but I’ll let you know if and when they do.
In the meantime, they posted a really nice “reel” on Instagram full of great archival footage of Van Til himself. Check it out here.
There was some other news this week, not nearly so pleasant, and I think I ought to provide some comment about it.
I am a signatory to a weighty and publicized “open letter” regarding the theological orthodoxy (or lack thereof) of a fairly well-known and respected teacher. Gary DeMar has for decades been a helpful resource on issues surrounding eschatology, or the “End Times.” Particularly, he has been a relentless foe of dispensational views of the end times and the constant hysteria it stirs up among God’s people. He has done a lot of good work (for example, his book Last Days Madness) helping people to understand that many of the prophecies they think are “just around the corner”—like, say, a worldwide “Great Tribulation” and the rise of the “Antichrist”—are actually prophecies that were fulfilled already in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70. This is a concept known as “partial preterism.”
And that, by the way, is not a terribly controversial view—a great many, if not most, New Testament theologians understand that many of Jesus’ predictions of doom in, say, the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 refer to the imminent destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
But something has gone awry, and it appears that Gary has walked himself right out of the Christian faith. Not only does it seem that he believes that some prophecies of Scripture are fulfilled in A.D. 70, it appears he believes all of them are. That means that there is no future Second Coming of Christ, no general resurrection at the end of history, and no final judgment. This is a heresy known variously as “full” or “consistent” or “hyper” preterism. Over the last year a number of Gary’s friends have noticed some troubling indications along these lines, and a group of us reached out privately to him (more than once) to gain some clarification on his views. We put three very simple questions to him, and they are three questions he refuses to answer:
Do you believe in a future bodily, glorious return of Christ?
Do you believe in a future physical, general resurrection of the dead?
Do you believe history will end with the Final Judgment of all men?
As you can see, this is not exactly a doctoral examination. It is incumbent upon any Christian whosoever to give an unqualified affirmation of these doctrines. They are the unanimous judgment of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church from the beginning, and enshrined in the Christian creeds. Hesitating to answer would be concerning enough; refusing to answer is unacceptable, particularly for a man who teaches eschatology for a living.
After we published our letter, Gary responded to one of the signatories thus:
Yes, I did get a letter. Yes, Andrew and I discussed the issue in some texts. Yes, I was unwilling to affirm three questions that someone or some group came up with. Why? I believe it sets a bad precedent (what will the next set of questions be and for whom?), especially on the topic of eschatology when there is a great deal of inconsistency and some ambiguity regarding the topic. More time should be set aside for study than for demands and accusations. I'm going to continue to ask questions, study, and work through this controversial topic.
To which I replied:
Respectfully, you have spent an entire career confidently and competently doing Q&A sessions answering questions from strangers on ... eschatology. Now it will set a "bad precedent" to answer a few simple questions from some of your oldest friends on eschatology because you worry it might lead to more questions on eschatology?
Dialogue died out, but Gary has promised to respond to the letter in a podcast on Monday. I am not optimistic that we will get an affirmation of our three questions. If his interactions on Facebook are any indication, it will be hair-splitting sophistry about this text or that text and how “complicated” the issues are—and, to be clear, a non-answer is actually an emphatic answer. He will not affirm the basic Christian confession that “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead” and “we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting.”
I am sorry to sound harsh, but not affirming that creed makes you not a Christian and places you under judgment and wrath. Gary needs to repent of his hubris and “leaning on his own understanding” (Prov.3:5) as though he is the only one in the history of the church to read the Bible rightly. The Apostle Paul had dealings with a group of people who taught this heresy: “They say that the resurrection has already taken place” (2 Tim.2:18). Hymenaeus was apparently the ringleader, and Paul has this to say:
Some have rejected these [teachings] and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. (1 Tim. 1:20)
It appears that Gary has succumbed to a Last Days Madness of his own, and I call upon and plead with him to come back to his senses, learn “not to blaspheme,” and to submit himself to the Lord Jesus Christ, who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Publishing that letter has already been salutary. The hornet’s nest was kicked, and many on social media have made themselves known as believing this heresy. I was unaware that it had gotten such a foothold in certain circles, but now we know. And while those circles might be fringe, the Apostle Paul says that this very heresy “will spread like gangrene” (2 Tim.2:17). He tells Timothy to expose and oppose this heresy so that others might not be led astray. And so, in addition to writing the open letter to Gary, we have written a statement about this heresy. You can read it here, and I would encourage you to add your signature.
Some have been critical that this was done publicly. We attempted to do it privately and were rebuffed. Others claim that the proper procedure was to go through church courts. But Gary runs a public para-church ministry specializing in these very doctrines he has twisted beyond recognition, and he can and must therefore be held accountable in public. But, by all means, Gary’s church has some work to do, as well.
Sobering. Watch your life and doctrine, brothers and sisters, and do not be led astray.
Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus!
Thank you for reading this week’s Square Inch Newsletter.
I've been thinking some lately on the second coming of Jesus Christ. It seemed to me like I don't hear many songs about it or much talk about it. Thank you for writing about it here. I just read Saint Patrick of Ireland. There in 400 AD, Patrick and his converts in Ireland believed that Jesus would return soon. And I read the latest issue of Christianity Today where they did a long article about the war in Ukraine. It said many people in Ukraine believe that Jesus could come very soon now, also that many people are coming to Jesus there. When it is my turn to play music at church for the Prelude or Offertory, sometimes I play songs about the coming of Jesus the second time. I just bought John Piper's new book "Come Quickly, Lord Jesus" via Westminster Press and began reading it.
Outstanding. And courageous.