Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
the MOTA at that time. . . was the apostle Paul.
|
Had the NT concluded with the apocalypse of Paul, or some final epistle by Timothy, your argument might have merit. But it has none. The NT was concluded by John's writings; John who'd been there at the beginning, who'd gone to the mountain with Jesus, and who'd leaned on his breast.
Yet John was not MOTA, nor Peter or Paul or James. It was Jesus, and always will be. Preach Christ and not the 'normal church'; Christ and not 'The vision of the age'. The 'unique move' and the 'ministry of the age' are trojan horses, covers for the minister of the age, God's deputy and seer of the unique restored vision. It is the kingdom of self, the kingdom of self-deception. I was there and saw the dejection and discouragement as the latest 'flow' arrived from the 'oracle' in Anaheim. Eventually one of the faithful would brighten and exclaim, "But it's the church!" (Which btw is probably what some said when Johannes Tetzel was passing through.)
19th- and 20th-century Protestantism has been rife with claims of oracular primacy, of God's special, final vision to end the age. Charles Taze Russel, Mary Baker Eddy, Ellen White, Witness Lee, Joseph Smith, Elizabeth Claire Prophet, Herbert W. Armstrong: claim 'the mantle', whip them into a pre-millenialist frenzy, and charge them a buck (or two) apiece for your pamphlets and training seminars. Charlatans and frauds. . .the self-deceived with their captive flocks.