Theology for the Masses

As a Calvinist, I do not get along with Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man radio show. Also, like myself, his temper can get the best of him sometimes when he his debating someone–I think I see too much of me in him sometimes and I don’t like it–and he can be just down right rude. However, he has published a string of books lately that I have just loved. The first two in mind are The Last Disciple Series: The Last Disciple, The Last Sacrifice. These are his counter to the Left-Behind series that has been published in recent years. It is a fictional account of the fulfillment of the Olivet Discourse and Revelation in AD 70. If you don’t agree with that type of eschatology, you will still benefit much from reading these two books. He does an excellent job bringing to life what it was like to live as a Christian in the Roman Empire during Nero’s reign, especially after he went loony. I felt like I was reading Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars all over again. The other book is his recently published book The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible Really Says About the End Times and Why It Matters Today. This is my review of the book. I am not going to focus on the specific arguments, but rather what he argues for in general.

Hank does an amazing job of setting forth his goal in this book: not to argue for a set model (i.e. dispensationalism, amillennialism, futurism, preterism) but rather to set forth principles in which a lay person or ordained minister of the Gospel can use to accurately read the prophecies found in the New Testament. In doing so, he refutes the mainstream view of dispensationalism and Christian Zionism. In fact, I had never realized how racist Zionism was until I read this book. I had abandoned Zionism when I had abandoned dispensationalism, but wow! He organizes his principles around the acronym: LIGHTS. L=Literal Principle; I=Illumination Principle; G=Grammatical Principle; H=Historical Principle; T=Typology Principle; S=Scriptural Synergism. These six principles he calls Exegetical Eschatology or “e squared.”

L=Literal Principle
In this chapter of the book, Hank argues for reading the eschatological texts according to their literary style. In other words, if it is a poem, read the text as poetry. If it is didactic, read it as didactic. Don’t try to force Scripture into a wooden frame to read it, otherwise texts will be doing things they aren’t intended to do. That is why he advocates reading according to literature, it gets the reader into the mind frame of the author because he wrote something in a specific type of literature to convey meaning.

Illumination Principle
This Illumination principle refers to reading the intended meaning from the text. What has the Holy Spirit illumined? What did the author intend to say? It is best described as “faithful exegesis.” In this chapter, he easily points out that the rapture spoken of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 isn’t some hidden rapture seven years before the final coming. Nor is there two people under two plans in the Scriptures. There is one people of God, true Israel. There is one plan of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one coming of Christ in one phase.

Grammatical Principle
The biblical writers used grammar to stylize what they were saying. Thus you must adhere to the rules of grammar to be able to interpret that text. So when the Bible says, “You,” it means the “you” who the passage was addressing, not some twenty-first century “you.” The same can be said of “this generation.” Jesus or the biblical writers meant their contemporary generation. Adverbs like “soon” and “quickly” didn’t mean something that was far off but very near. It is just simple grammar. Hence he advocates the fulfillment of much New Testament prophecy in the Fall of Jerusalem (he is not a full preterist by any means as he still holds to a future coming of Christ to judge all of mankind and a future resurrection where all will be raised to face that returned Christ in that judgment).

Historical Principle
This principle is broken down into six sub-categories under its own acronym: LEGACY. L=Location; E=Essence; G=Genre; A=Author; C=Context; Y=Years. Location refers to who it was written to. The audience’s identity greatly affects the meaning of the text. An author will write differently to a Jewish audience than a Roman audience because they have different cultures. Essence refers to the themes of the book. This can be love and life, like in the Gospel according to John. Genre refers to the genre of the text, similar to the Literal/Literary Principle in LIGHTS. What is the genre of the text; poem, apocalypse, biography, epistle? This changes the way one reads the text because these are written differently in that time period than they are today. Author refers to who wrote the text. Paul did not speak the same as John or James or Matthew or Mark. Each author has their own unique style of writing and must be read with that in mind. Context refers to the historical milieu in which the text was written. What was going on in that time period that the author felt compelled to address (as you can see these principles aren’t independent but interdependent). Years refers to when this was written. Cultures, audiences, and authors can change over time and one needs to know when something was written. In this chapter Hank argues for the early date of Revelation and fulfillment of the Olivet Discourse as well as the Whore in Revelation 17-18 is not Rome but Jerusalem. Hank also argues that the mark of the beast “666,” which the Greek is literally “six-hundred sixty-six” and not three sixes, can be and was able to be understood by John’s own audience. He uses the concept of gamatria to show what or who he thinks is.

Typology Principle
Hank focuses much on this principle as this is his refutation of Zionism and Christian Zionism. Zionism is the belief that Israel should have the land in Palestine, no matter what, even at the cost of millions of lives, because we are talking about Jews. It is a form of racism because we are in effect saying that the Jews are better than Arabs because they are Jews! And was is worse, Christians who preach Galatians 3:28 advocate this in the name of “biblical prophecy!” Hank is right, in my mind, to say there is little difference in this attitude than what Hitler had in the 1940s and his outrageous treatment of the Jewish people during the WWII. He gives many testimonies of how Palestinians lost their homes all because they were Arab. All they want is the same thing Israel wants: a country of their own. But Zionism and Christian Zionsim stands in their way. What is really sad is that classic dispensationalism said that when Israel became a faithful people again, God would give them back the land. But this modern state is anything but faithful to the covenants of the Old Testament. Yet reformed dispensationalism says the Jews have to be a faithless people to receive the land (In the face of the Old Covenant dictating their faithfulness to have it!); then two-thirds of the Jews must die in another holocaust worst than WWII and the Nazi regime! Hank argues that the Old Testament is full of types, or shadows that point to a future reality. The Jesus is the antitype, the substance of the shadow, the fulfillment of that promised reality. Jesus is the promised Land. He has the new Jerusalem because the old Jerusalem was the filthy prostitute that God has judged. He is the new Temple that dispensationalist think has to be rebuilt (they actually think two more have to be built and are will to destroy the Dome of the Rock and further add gasoline to already burning hatred in the Middle East!). We no longer need the Temple and its sacrifices because Jesus is that sacrifice. To say otherwise is to say Jesus’ death is not the all-satisfying atonement that we need and to defy the clear teachings of the Book of Hebrews (Sorry, I got a little preachy there; can’t help it sometimes.)!

Scriptural Synergy
This is the final chapter of the book. In it, he basically gives this premise: Scripture should be read in light of Scripture. Take the clear passages and use them to understand the difficult ones, not the other way around. Don’t take the confusing symbolism of Revelation and read it into Matthew 5-7! Take what is clear and use that knowledge to interpret what is confusing. In fact, he admits that this is the glue that holds the other principles together. All throughout the book he is quietly using this principle. Then in this chapter he takes you back and shows you how it works by what he did in the book.

All in all, I really recommend this book. I’d give it 4.5 stars out of 5. The best part of this book is that it doesn’t just apply to New Testament prophecy, it applies to reading to the whole Bible. All of these principles are vital to reading any portion of Scripture, not just Revelation or 2 Thessalonians or the Olivet Discourse. You can use this to read Psalms, Proverbs, Acts. This really would be a great Sunday School or small group tool to teach to the class or study. I have to say, “Well done, Hank. Well done.”

(Cross posted at Think Wink)