Reflections On Truth, October 1992

"Come, Let Us Reason Together"

by David Padfield

Is Christ coming back to this earth to set up a literal kingdom for 1,000 years? This question will be discussed on the evenings of November 5 and 6, 1992 at the meetinghouse of the Northwest Church of Christ (Evansville, Indiana). Todd Weiner, a premillennialist from Freeland, Maryland will be affirming "The Scriptures teach that Jesus will reign on this earth with His saints after the advent of His second coming." I will be denying this proposition.

The teachings of Weiner are very similar to that of R. H. Boll, a man whose theories caused a great deal of trouble in Kentucky earlier in this century. Weiner wrote to me several months ago and said, "I repudiate a number of the false doctrines of the denominational premillennialists. Two of their false doctrines are the postponed kingdom theory and the pre-tribulation rapture theory. (I believe the catching away of 1 Thes. 4:16-17 occurs at Christ's second coming, not 7 years before)." He has also stated, "The postponed theory states, if I am not mistaken, that Jesus came to establish the kingdom but since He was unexpectedly rejected by the Jews He decided to establish the church instead. They believe that Christians are not presently in the kingdom of God. I reject this. I believe that those who are in the true church are in God's kingdom right now. The question is, will there be another phase of this kingdom? I believe there will be. I believe there will be a millennial phase of the present kingdom when Jesus Christ returns to reign on this earth. Rev. 20:1-6; Rev. 2:25-27; 2 Tim. 2:12; are some of the scriptures that prove this."

On November 19 and 20, 1992 we will be conducting another debate near Baltimore, Maryland.

In that discussion I will be affirming, "The Scriptures teach that the event signified by the smiting and destruction of the image in Daniel 2:35, 44 began to take place on the day of Pentecost."

Weiner's view on Daniel 2:44 is as follows: "I believe that the smiting and subsequent destruction of the image by the stone of Daniel 2 is yet future. It will take place when Christ returns with His saints and destroys the image and the four kingdoms they embody. Amillennialists falsely believe that the smiting of the image began to take place on the day of Pentecost. Now while it is true that Pentecost marks the birth date of the church, the 'stone cut out without hands,' there is absolutely no evidence of the early church bringing about the sudden catastrophe depicted in Daniel 2 and 7. The stones impact and destruction of the image does not signify the moral influence of the gospel as some amillennialists wrongly suppose, but rather destructive force. Nothing short of Jesus Christ coming back in flaming fire with all holy ones to destroy the existing world kingdom could possibly fulfill the scenario depicted in Dan. 2:44."

I have asked John Welch to be my moderator. John has worked with me in this capacity in three previous debates. Harry Lewis, my fellow laborer here in Evansville, will be taking notes for me. Harry has been a great encouragement as I have been preparing for this discussion. Gene Taylor will be driving in from Tallahassee, Florida to help with my charts.

I am looking forward to a good discussion of the word of God. Please bring your Bible and come study with us.

For further study

View other articles on this debate or download Charts from the Padfield-Weiner Debate. Over 100 overhead charts used by Padfield in this debate. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view the charts. You are free to print the charts and use them in sermons and Bible classes (PDF file size: 341k).