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IGNORING GPS: ANNOTATIONS for a Story Poem about Premillennialism

Posted by Brenda Miller , 31 May 2023 · 0 views

See "IGNORING GPS, or 'Do You See What I See'": a Story Poem on Premillennialism and Following God" for the poem in a separate post. It was written in response to the topic of removing the idea of "Premillennialism" from the Alliance Statement of Faith, at Council 2023. Although this poem may not be re-published, you are welcome to print out a copy for private use, and to distribute a link to it using the tools at the bottom. God bless. The poem, "Ignoring GPS" is here: https://ecommunity.c...-following-god/

 

Note: The Camel and the Woodchuck are both British. The Camel sounds a bit upper class; the Woodchuck sounds like a Cockney. The Frog and the Salamander are both Americans.

 

 

 

ANNOTATIONS FOR THE POEM

 

"IGNORING GPS

or

'Do You See What I See?'"

by

Brenda Miller, May 2023

 

 

1A painted desert contains iron and manganese that color the rock layers. This desert is the Painted Desert in Arizona.
Images: https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/painted-desert-arizona

 

2. Blue-spotted salamander: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52354-Ambystoma-laterale

 

3. Spring peeper: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/24268-Pseudacris-crucifer

 

4. Badlands:

 

5. High tea: a substantial supper, not the same as afternoon tea, which is more delicate fare.

 

6. Skin breathing: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/endothelial-biomedicine/skin-breathing-in-amphibians/2FD778E408DA8C7273E43531880773C0

 

7. Great Commission: https://biblehub.com/matthew/28-19.htm

 

8. A Story to Tell to the Nations, example:

 

Lyrics: https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Weve_a_Story_to_Tell_to_the_Nations/

 

9. Faith Statement issues summary, March, 2023: https://cmalliance.org/video/the-alliance-statement-of-faith-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-116/
Faith Statement: https://cmalliance.org/who-we-are/our-faith-and-mission/statement-of-faith/

 

10. Polity defined: https://www.gotquestions.org/church-polity.html
Polity issues summary: https://cmalliance.org/video/alliance-polity-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-117/
Summary of Polity and Faith Statement as of July 12, 2022: https://cmalliance.org/video/statement-of-faith-update-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-108/

 

11. "Annihilate it" refers to the proposal to strike the word "premillennial" out of the Statement of Faith, see transcript, last two paragraphs: https://cmalliance.org/video/the-alliance-statement-of-faith-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-116/ .

 

12. Most annotations are brief, this one is not, as it explains some of the rationale undergirding this poem.

 

"How I Was Led to Believe in Premillenarianism" is a valuable article by A. B. Simpson. The original (The Christian Alliance and Missionary Weekly, November 13, 1891, pp. 298-299, 10 of 16 on the top bar, under "Christ our Coming Lord") is here: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/alifepdf/AW-1891-11-13.pdf#search=%22How%20I%20was%20led%22 .
Another place this—and many other documents—can be found is here: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/man-movement-mission.pdf . It is Document No. 10, pp 87-89, or 85/357 in the bar at its top.

 

This is in an exceptionally useful series of documents called The Man, the Movement, & the Mission: A Documentary History of the Christian and Missionary Alliance compiled by Dr. Charles Nienkirchen, Canadian Theological Seminary, in May 1987. The document has primary documents written by Alliance founder A. B. Simpson (including his letters to his wife—interesting! ), and from A. W. Tozer and other writers.

 

You can navigate to it on the Alliance website, here (requires sign-in): https://cmalliance.org/archives/founding-documents . It is under the heading "Publications."

 

SYNOPSIS - this includes my perspective in writing this poem:

 

It is sometimes assumed that A. B. Simpson was such a promoter of Premillennialism because he grew up with it, was taught it, or it was just the standard belief of his day.

 

But no, Simpson begins this article by saying he was taught to believe Christ's coming meant Christ comes to the soul for those saved, at death, and in the Gospel. He then said:

 

"I so believed for fifteen years, and during my early ministry so taught. Twelve years ago I received the Holy Spirit, and new light was thrown upon the Word. I saw how weak and insufficient for service I had been in the old way; and as I waited before the Lord, I found Him pressing this truth upon me, and I was forced to be willing to believe that the old axioms I had accepted were false, and that the personal reign of Christ was clearly taught in Scripture."

 

Not only did Simpson not believe Premillennialism before the Spirit led him, he said, "I was forced to be willing to believe" (italics mine)—in other words, he was not even willing to believe the premillennial view. The Spirit had an unwilling student. Simpson had been taught, and had taught others, that Christ would come in different spiritual ways, but he did not believe Jesus would ever physically reign on earth as King—until God intervened, and changed Simpson's mind.

 

God has a message—a 4-fold story about Jesus for the Alliance to tell worldwide. But the Kingship of Jesus needs to be defined. What does the King reign over? How? Spiritually only, or also on earth? I believe the Spirit chose to make His answer clear: The only eschatological view that proclaims a literal, physical rule for Christ is the Premillennial view. That is the definition of "King" the Holy Spirit gave to A. B. Simpson. What kind of King will He be? A Premillennial King.

 

This is a game-changer.

 

The doctrine that the King of Kings Jesus Christ, who once hung on a cross outside Jerusalem, some real day in the future will reign from a New Jerusalem was given to the Alliance through A. B. Simpson but from God. That is why I use such terminology in this poem, as God's Rule or "God gave."

 

Despite this, in the 1887 Constitution for the Christian Alliance, Simpson wrote a paragraph about those who believed other than the Premillennial view (see VI.--"Members" in https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/1887-constitution-christian-alliance.pdf on page 2).

 

That section includes the statement:
"Inasmuch as many persons who desire to become members of this Alliance and are in full accord with its principles in other points, cannot yet fully accept the doctrine of Christ's Pre-millennial Coming, it is agreed that such persons may be received into full membership, provided they receive the first three points of testimony, and are willing to give this subject their candid and prayerful consideration."

 

There is no evidence God led this decision, or agreed with it.

 

Did God decide, knowing full well that Jesus will be a true King on earth, that to teach the opposite—which is a lie—is perfectly fine? Having made the effort to bring Simpson to accept the Jesus-Will-Reign-on-Earth-Premillennial view, did God decide to make that view extraneous, just one of many options?

 

The choice is now whether to agree with the President and Board who have paraphrased this and want this to be permanent—with no evidence that the decision Simpson made was initiated or ever approved by God.

 

Messengers are supposed to deliver the message, not to edit it according to their own wishes.

 

There is a burden of proof that must be met for those who want Simpson's decision, his "1887 Exemption" to trump the Premillennial view.

 

I view President John Stumbo as a true man of God whom God prepared for his role, along with his wife, Joanna, both of whom the Alliance have been fortunate to have. I do not believe anyone on the Board is trying to create mischief in these proposals. The problem with these nice people is that they do not think like the devil. I do.

 

They seem to be a trusting lot. They see a door open with a Rule that says "Keep this Door CLOSED" (a sign God wrote) and it has been left open a long time, and they say, "There is no problem with keeping that door open. But it squeaks a little. Let's take it off its hinges. Nothing bad will come in." I say, "The reason nothing has come in, is because there is a Thing out there that is waiting for you to take the door off. If it comes in now, you can still fight it off. It will not allow you to sense danger, and if that door is gone, very bad move, 'checkmate,' you are finished."

 

The Board has sought to solve the problem of violating the mandate from God about what is to be taught, by trying to change the "Rulebook" about who we are and what we are to teach and what our Story to the Nations is to be. They have sought to take out one word, a word God put in, and now seek to add words to rationalize continuous violation—to make the door open permanently: To take it off its hinges. Very bad move.

 

The only legitimate option and the one that has not been considered objectively and with God's will in focus, and with the priority of the Mission in view, is to close the door now, while you still can. It should not have been opened in the first place.

 

For that reason, I very strongly encourage anyone with the power to vote, to vote—and to vote with full confidenceagainst the extremely misguided proposal these good people, the President and the Board, have made, to permanently weaken the Statement of Faith on the topic of Premillennialism, and to carve into stone errors that should not have happened, to remove a door from its hinges that should not have been opened, and to remember that what the Holy Spirit Himself put it into the Statement of Faith only the Holy Spirit should ever be able to remove.

 

Related works:

 

Living Truths issue September 1903: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/living-truths/living-truths-1903-09.pdf . This issue was said in the September 1903 issue of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, first paragraph, "If you want something concise and intelligent on this subject" (premillennialism) to read this (the issue with this paragraph pointing to the Living Truths issue is here: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/alifepdf/AW-1903-09-05.pdf#search=%22the%20new%20issue%20of%20living%20truths%22 ).

 

The Coming One is a book by A. B. Simpson published in 1912. Chapter One is his well-argued, brief, explanation of arguments against and for Premillennialism. The book does not bring up the Premill view after this first chapter. The book is in the public domain, and is free to read here: https://archive.org/details/cu31924014011997 .

 

"The Decline of Apocalyptic Expectation" is by A. W. Tozer and is Document 62 in the compilation by Dr. Charles Nienkirchen, The Man, the Movement, & the Mission.

 

In Tozer's view, "We have lost what someone called the 'millennial component' from our Christian faith." The year was 1966.

 

This article is an excerpt from Man, The Dwelling Place of God. The link for this valuable compilation resource, once more is: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/man-movement-mission.pdf . It begins on page 293 (285/387 in the bar at the top).

 

13. "Prayerfully consider" is in the exception Simpson wrote in 1887, page 2: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/1887-constitution-christian-alliance.pdf

 

14. "Bowl of lentil stew" is an allusion to Genesis 25:34": https://biblehub.com/genesis/25-34.htm

 

15. See Document No. 15, "The Work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance," from The Alliance Weekly 46, May 13, 1916, pp 107-109, in The Man, the Movement, & the Mission compiled by Dr. Charles Nienkirchen, Canadian Theological Seminary, May 1987. It is page 113/357 in the bar at the top: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/man-movement-mission.pdf

 

In this paper, Simpson defines the Christian and Missionary Alliance (not a denomination at that time) by 4 points, the fourth being, "4. It teaches the doctrine of Christ’s premillennial coming as the great hope of the church and the goal of all our Christian work" (last paragraph, page 115).

 

The original document is here: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/alifepdf/AW-1916-05-13.pdf#search=%22The%20work%20of%20the%20christian%20and%22 . Scroll down to page 107. If looking at the bar at the top, it is page 11 of 16.

 

16. Definition 2, as in 'rebel': https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rebellious

 

17. "Editing out what the Holy Spirit worked to put in: See note #12.

 

18. "Premillennial" removed: https://awf.world/statement-of-faith/

 

Refers to decreasing a lack of harmony and decreasing arguments.
19. "Dissentions": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissension

 

20. "Contentions": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contentions

 

21. Alliance President John Stumbo's Video Blog has many videos on the development of this discussion: https://cmalliance.org/videos/series/?category=stumbo-vlog

 

22. See "Notice the striking of 'premillennial' and notice that there’s no asterisk" in the next-to-last paragraph in the transcript for this video: https://cmalliance.org/video/the-alliance-statement-of-faith-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-116/ .

 

The last paragraph notes the Board's desire to keep amillennialists in the Alliance. The amillennial view denies a need for Israel as a nation, partly through ignoring Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11.

 

Romans 9: https://biblehub.com/romans/9.htm

 

Romans 10: https://biblehub.com/romans/10.htm

 

Romans 11: https://biblehub.com/romans/11.htm

 

This is a view from former amillennialist David Reagan: https://youtu.be/3e_gK0zrPn8?t=152 ,"The Evil of Replacement Theology, Part 1." He describes growing up in amillennialism at the beginning of his talk. The link is set to begin there; to see the Introduction, please pull the timing bar at the bottom to the left to see it from its start.

 

Please note however, that not all people who hold eschatological views that say there is no need for the Jewish nation of Israel for the end-times, teach Replacement Theology. This issue is briefly noted here by David Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KxZVsKsZQg

 

Besides the amillennial view, postmillennialists and partial preterists can also meet the proposed revised Statement, as they do the 1887 Exception written by A. B. Simpson.

 

23. A reference to allowing an open door to non-Premillennials and creating an environment where Replacement Theology and those who oppose the nation of Israel could drown out those in favor of Israel.

 

The Premillennial view is the only one that believes in a future rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, or has a need for Israel to continue as a nation. The other views are compatible with, even if they do not teach, what is known as "Replacement Theology." This is the view that the Church now has the promises of Israel as a replacement for "the Chosen people," not just by being grafted into Israel.
Romans 11:18 on grafting: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/romans/11-18.htm

 

24. Allowing everyone to choose what "seems right in their own eyes," (here referring to eschatological views within a denomination) is an allusion to the story of the priest, concubine, and Benjamites; this is a recipe for disaster. It is also a model for disunity, not unity. The allusion is to Judges 21:25: https://www.bibleref.com/Judges/21/Judges-21-25.html

 

The story itself is in Judges chapter 19 through 21:
Judges chapter 19: https://biblehub.com/judges/19.htm
Judges chapter 20: https://biblehub.com/judges/20.htm
Judges chapter 21: https://biblehub.com/judges/21.htm

 

The statement "an alliance in defiance by connivance trying to license non-compliance" is not an insult, but a statement of fact. If God is the one responsible for changing A. B. Simpson's mind and defining the King and the Alliance as "premillennial" (see note 12), then the attempt to subvert or undermine that, and/or to create a continuance of it being subverted or ignored is an act, however unknowingly, of defiance in an attempt to get around something God put in place by allowing ("licensing") what is out of compliance with it.

 

25. "Defiance," definition 1: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defiance

 

26. "Connivance," defined: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/connivance

 

27. "(trying to) license," definition 1: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/license

 

28. "Non-compliance," defined: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noncompliance

 

29. "Dominoes falling" is a reference to the unseen future ramifications of how the Alliance will deal with Premillennialism.

 

Dominoes falling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARM42-eorzE

 

30. "Wrongly intertwined" – an allusion to Leviticus 19:19: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/leviticus/19-19.htm

 

31. "Contrary," definition 3 as in "rebellious": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contrary

 

32. "Unwary," definition 1 as in "naïve": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unwary

 

33. "The Work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance," in The Alliance Weekly 46, May 13, 1916, pp 107-109. The original document is here: https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/alifepdf/AW-1916-05-13.pdf#search=%22The%20work%20of%20the%20christian%20and%22 . Scroll down to page 107. The bar at the top, is page 11/16.

 

It is also Document No. 15 in the compilation by Dr. Charles Nienkirchen, Canadian Theological Seminary, May 1987, The Man, the Movement, & the Mission, pp 115-119; (113/357 in the top bar): https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/man-movement-mission.pdf .

 

Page 116, paragraph 2:"Twelve years ago" when Simpson withdrew from the church he pastored

 

Page 116, paragraph 3: "Our first meeting consisted of seven persons, not one of whom had an income of more than $300.00 a year"

 

Page 117, paragraph 7 "it is not too much to say that more than 100,000 people in all parts of the land are in active sympathy and fellowship with the Alliance."

 

34. An allusion to 2 Corinthians 2:11, be aware of the schemes of the devil: https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_corinthians/2-11.htm

 

35. Allusion to the song "Stand Up! Stand Up for Jesus!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79FT7kJpZ1g

 

36. The lowest common denominator: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/lowest-common-denominator

 

37. "Almost any direction" here is a reference to the many different beliefs on eschatology that would in practice be considered essentially equal: amillennialism, postmillennialism and partial preterism. Only full preterism would be excluded under the proposal (this is true both for the removal of the word and for the addition of words).

 

38. The terms "cost or problem" and "benefit or value" are an allusion to cost-benefit analysis. The reasoning here, in a non-business example, is that what is assumed to be a too-high cost of needing to end memberships of those not meeting the minimal standards in the Alliance, has been considered more important than what is assumed to be a too-low benefit of being defined as Premillennial.

 

39. "In full sympathy": In Document No. 66, "Why Our People Give So Much for Missions," in the compilation by Dr. Charles Nienkirchen, Canadian Theological Seminary, May 1987, The Man, the Movement, & the Mission, (297/357 in the top bar): https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/miscellaneous/man-movement-mission.pdf , it is page 307, second paragraph:

 

"It is needless therefore to say that our people are in full sympathy with premillennial views of eschatology. Our work is a good answer to the argument, sometimes urged by men who do not believe in the Lord’s coming, that it paralyzes missions. Our experience is that it is our greatest incentive. We believe that nothing will bring the coming of our Lord so soon as worldwide evangelization."

 

The Premillennial return is also called an "incentive" to missions in Document No. 25, page 166, and Document 70, page 330.

 

40. "Our greatest incentive": see quote above in note #39. The original document for "Why Our People Give So Much for Missions," by A. B. Simpson was in Living Truths 5, November, 1905 pp. 636-644 (https://cdn.cmalliance.org/archives/downloads/living-truths/living-truths-1905-11.pdf on page 3/35 in the top bar).

 

41. "Splendid offerings" is on page 306, second paragraph: "It would be simply impossible to get these splendid offerings from an ordinary religious assembly."

 

42. "Newspapers suggested our givers were being 'hypnotized.'" See paragraph 1, p. 305: "At first, the secular press tried to explain it as some sort of hypnotic spell which the leaders threw over the excited and impressionable audience."

 

See also page 307, where Simpson relates a story about something he told a reporter about the Second Coming of Christ, that was printed, he stated it would have helped the readers to understand the movement better "which they had been laughing at as a hypnotic trick or a religious freak."

 

43. "Incentive" is a call that drives someone to action: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incentive

 

"Call" is definition 9, "to ask": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/call

 

See paragraphs 4 and 7 in the transcript to "A Listening Posture – John Stumbo Video Blog No. 118": https://cmalliance.org/video/a-listening-posture-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-118/

 

Simpson considered the Premillennial view to be a strong incentive for completing the Great Commission.

 

44. "Why Is the Rio Grande River So Dangerous?": https://drivinvibin.com/2022/07/06/rio-grande-river/
In short, it is contaminated with mercury, can have dangerous levels of bacteria, water levels can rise suddenly due to dam action, it is largely non-navigable, and there are crocodiles.

 

45. Flummoxed: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flummoxed

 

46. "Heartsick": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heartsick

 

47. "Bewildered" as in "puzzled": https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bewildered

 

48. Baffled: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baffled

 

49. Flabbergasted: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flabbergasted

 

50. "Connive," Definition 1: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/connive
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/connive

 

Note that this is not an insult, but reality; the failure to take action against what is wrong, is by definition, "conniving."

 

51. "Driving shaft" as an image of Premillennialism: https://www.mechstudies.com/what-drive-shaft-definition-types-how-does-work/
See also note #39 on the Simpson article, "Why Our People Give So Much for Missions."

 

52. Song "Amazing Grace" sung by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjogu3Uk9Fs

 

53. "A Listening Posture – John Stumbo Video Blog No. 118": https://cmalliance.org/video/a-listening-posture-john-stumbo-video-blog-no-118/ .

 

54. "Somber," definition 2: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/somber

 

55. "Unholy," not simply a falling short, but a failure to be separate. Its opposite, "holiness," is defined here: https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Holiness

 

56. "Snare," definition 1 B (2): https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snare

 

57. We've a story to tell to the nations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STNu1Po0M28
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50cRxDAkSiM

 

58. Premillennialism: https://www.gotquestions.org/premillennialism.html .

 

59. "Ruinous," definitions 1 and 2: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruinous

 

60. Cockney Slang to English translator to use for "We Adam and Eve Porky Pies from Henry Neville":
"Adam and Eve": https://cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/A
"Porky Pies": https://cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/P
"Henry Neville": https://cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/H

 

61. "Daft," definition 2: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/daft

 

62. "listen . . . to what this Mighty King says": An allusion to the final line in the song, "Do You See What I See"?
The song refers to seeing, hearing, knowing, and listening to the King. This is also the secondary title for this poem.

 

Linda Eder version of "Do You See What I See?": https://youtu.be/nOA3uvGecNs

 

Christian comedian Tim Hawkins on the song "Do You See What I See?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey_IL57a-b0 .

 

 

* "IGNORING GPS" = IGNORING GOD'S POSITIONING SYSTEM

 

** "Do You Hear What I Hear?" an allusion to the song

Home Free's acapella version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIQQDYaoWpc






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