In our last article we carefully observed how Satan became the “prince power of the air.” Although this event seems to have taken place at his fall, since then, he has endeavored to become part of the workings of man on earth. As men began increasing on the planet, various sins became prominent; some of these are exampled in Genesis 6 (the time of the Flood) and Genesis 11 (the Tower of Babel). More and more, men sought to collaborate with this “prince power of the air” in order to become greater authorities and powers in the earth. Through this allegiance, Satan became the “god of this world.” …

The powers converging on the planet Earth should cause every true Christian to be in a posture of watching and praying, yea, in a posture of readiness for the coming of our Glorious Saviour. This Blessed Hope should ever be purifying our souls as part of the preparation for that event in which He will call us unto Himself. The burden for the next few articles in Straightway will be drawn from the Old Testament prophet Daniel concerning what the Lord permitted him to see down through the ages of time. …

As a preacher of the Gospel, I am becoming more aware of the fact that I may be preaching to the last generation of young men and women before the coming of Christ in a rapture as well as the coming of Antichrist and the final kingdom of man in prophecy. It is the worst, the darkest, and the most deceptive generation of human history. It may well be the prelude generation before the coming of the Tribulation Period. This is why it is crucial that God’s remnant people today come to an understanding of the Book of Daniel. …

No other book in the Bible has been attacked like the Book of Daniel. Since Porphyry, a Syrian, some 1700 years ago, the book has been in the Critic’s Den. Porphyry claimed that instead of being written by Daniel about 533 B.C., it was a forgery written in the time of the Maccabees about 168 B.C., after Antiochus Epiphanes (whose appearance is so clearly foretold in the book), in order to comfort the Jews in their trying times. Ironically, the Septuagint (the Greek rendering of the Old Testament) of 285 B.C. included the Book of Daniel, over one hundred years before the critics declared its writing. …

The Book of Revelation, like the Book of Daniel, is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic is a term meaning “to unveil” or “to uncover” and thus “to reveal” something which has been beforehand hidden. Apocalyptic writings are usually written in times of trouble and distress of God’s people. It becomes evident from reading this particular apocalyptic book that persecution and difficulty were already threatening the Church. Both without and within, serious problems and sufferings were present. …

In the previous article we observed that Christ addresses His message of Revelation 3:14–22 to the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans. He declares to this messenger that his congregation has become “lukewarm.” The Greek word used here for lukewarm occurs only this one time in the New Testament; it carries the meaning of “tepid water.” In this address Christ refers to three different spiritual states: a state of coldness, a state of warmth or fervor, and a state of lukewarmness. There are many in the world who are cold to the things of Christ; the Gospel leaves them totally unmoved and uninterested as to any aspect of spiritual fervor. Every believer once knew this cold state that gave no evidence of grace. By contrast, those who are described as hot are ones who show genuine spiritual fervor and leave no question as to the presence of eternal life, the sanctifying power, and the presence of the Holy Spirit; they have a fervent testimony. …

Christ makes it very plain in this epistle to the messenger of the church of the Laodiceans that lukewarmness is a spiritual state or condition. It is evident the pastor was to reveal to his congregation that they were in a state of lukewarmness. Although there is the implication that this condition possibly could change, it seems clear by the end of the epistle that they will choose not to change. The statement is obvious: “I will,” or in the original Greek, “I am about, I’m on the verge, I’m at the point of spewing you out of my mouth.” The church of the End Time is in a state of lukewarmness, a state far more dangerous than coldness. The state of lukewarmness is another term in the Bible for apostasy. …

As we have observed in the previous articles, the public presentation of Fundamentalism now is blending into Neo-Evangelicalism. Over the course of several decades Fundamentalism has slowly embraced Neo-Evangelicalism through the use of its methodology of evangelism, its approach to education, its writings, its music, and its ministers. …

“Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left” (II Kings 19:4). Perhaps this now must be our prayer in the Postmortem era of Historic Fundamentalism. We have longed and prayed for revival that would call Fundamentalism back to its legacy, its purpose of existence, and to its God. Nevertheless, recent years have proved there is no desire for such a revival from its leaders and the new breed of young men coming from the seminaries and schools of Fundamentalism. Most Fundamentalists have acclimated their Christianity toward contemporary music, non-offensive preaching, and withdrawal from the battlefield. Thus, we must now begin praying only for the remnant within Fundamentalism. …

We have entered another year in the twenty-first century, and it is taking us further away from the marked presence and influence of Fundamentalism of the previous century. The 1999 World Congress of Fundamentalism gave concerned evidence of crucial changes that have now come to pass. The present generation of professing Fundamentalism, knowing nothing of Historic Fundamentalism, only experiences a new Fundamentalism that is a product of compromise and corrupting change. The former line of separation between true Fundamentalism and Neo-Evangelicalism has now been erased. …

How often crucial moments come to a movement like Fundamentalism to test if it will be deterred from its appointed course. Although there were symptoms appearing in the 1970s when my dear father and I entered the Fundamentalist movement, it was not until the 1980s that such moments of concern became more and more evident. We had completely left the Pentecostal denominational system with its ecclesiastical leaders, its contemporary music, and its heavy leanings toward an existential Christianity. Sad to say, we began to see similar symptoms appearing in Fundamentalism. …

Postmodernism’s influential powers have permeated both our political system through Obama’s Post America and the religious system through the Emerging Church movement. Even more shocking, however, is Postmodernism’s invasion into the Fundamentalist movement; the most obvious of several ways this is true is seen in Fundamentalism’s departure from “historical” Fundamentalism to embrace Post Fundamentalism. This fact is made obvious in the undeniable changes to which colleges and universities have capitulated to Neo-Evangelicalism. …

Historically, Fundamentalism has been the bastion and fortress of the remnant for many decades now. It was God’s weapon to confront the Liberals and Modernists, Romanism, and even Neo-Evangelicalism. Since the late 1970s, we have observed a growing trend within its ranks that has subtly eroded its Nazarite vow before God. We must ask if Fundamentalism today, like Samson, has fallen asleep on the knees of the worldly Delilah while the barbers of Neo-Christianity are cutting its locks (those God-appointed peculiarities that have been the evidences of God’s presence and anointing). Fundamentalism is now turning its sight to mere visible signs of larger churches, more money, less standards, and flirtatiousness with the world and its enticements. …

We believe we are in the End Time of the Last Days; therefore, a part of Christ’s workings is that of preparing His saints to be ready for His secret coming to the air (I Thessalonians 4:13–18). The “former rain” of the Holy Spirit came in the sowing of the seed of the Gospel during the Book of Acts; likewise, a “latter rain” has come (James 5) to prepare the harvest of fruit for the Master. This outpouring of the latter rain seems to have commenced in the mid-1800s; one of its by-products was the opening of the books of Daniel and Revelation to greater understanding. As the last part of the Book of Acts was in the aftermath of the former rain, we now are in the aftermath of that latter rain. While the expanding Charismatic movement is an imitated heresy of the truth of the latter rain, the remnant today finds itself with little remaining from the latter rain. The harvest of Christ’s Second Coming, we believe, is soon. …

Coming to the fourth article in this edition concerning Post Fundamentalism, we must be cognizant of what the Scriptures say concerning the End Time. Sad but true, Fundamentalism as a movement is in the final throes of entering into its own apostasy. When Fundamentalism began, it was a pure river with the call from heaven to stand without apology for the Faith “once delivered unto the saints.” Its early leaders knew the Liberals and Modernists were trying to arrest the Faith and spread its own faith through its seminaries into the pulpits of the denominations. How often we read in Scripture, “And in process of time it came to pass.” Often this phrase marks a change for the worse. …

For the next several issues of Straightway, we will be unfolding aspects concerning the End-time Church, where it is headed, and how its assimilation of Fundamentalism will be a necessity. We have observed in previous articles the philosophical presupposition of “Postmodernism,” a philosophy beyond “modernism” or “reason.” Postmodernism is built upon the premise of existential experience to the point of denouncing reason and absoluteness of truth. This philosophy arises within the institutional Church across the world mainly under the title of the Emergent Church or the Emerging Church. …

In speaking of the seven short epistles of Revelation chapters 2 and 3, it is important to carefully acknowledge that the epistles are addressed not to the churches but to the “angel” of each church. The word angel literally means “messenger.” These messengers are the seven stars in Christ’s right hand according to Revelation 1:16, 20; 2:1. When Revelation 1:11 states, “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia,” the churches are mentioned as the recipients of these messages. Christ makes a distinction between the churches (the candlesticks) and the messengers to those churches (the stars in His right hand). Note that in each of the salutations to the epistles, it is stipulated, “Unto the angel of the church of . . .” Following the salutation, Christ proceeds to declare, “I know thy works,” etc. It is as if He is writing specifically to the pastor of that church rather than to the church itself. …

Each of the seven I Am’s mentioned in the Gospel according to John gives a unique insight about Jesus Christ. What great realms of truth are opened to us in these seven declarations concerning Who He is and What He is: “I am the Bread of Life,” “I am the Light of the World,” “I am the Door,” “I am the Good Shepherd,” “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” “I am the True Vine,” and “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” …

As the Christian comes to know “the Way” found in Jesus Christ, he must also come to know the “walk in the Way.” That walk should be a “walk in the Spirit.” As the Book of Romans unfolds, four crucial phrases in principle arise between 5:12 through 8:39 that summarize the theological burden of Paul’s epistle. Romans 5:12 through 6:23 are dominated by the distinction between life “in Adam” and life “in Christ.” Then in Romans 7:1 through 8:39 another distinction arises between walking “in the flesh” and walking “in the Spirit.” …

In recent Straightway articles we have presented the rise and power of Postmodernism and its effect upon the institutional church. As Christians of this contemporary hour, we must understand that globally we have entered into a post-era. In that this post-era is becoming the corridor leading to a one-world government and one-world religion, it is affecting every facet of human existence. As a result, we now are witnessing through President Obama the emergence of a Post-America time. If God does not alter our present course in history, what can we expect to witness in these coming months and years for our country? …