A 21 Day Tour of Israel in 9 1/2 Minutes

Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

Itinerary for 21 Days in Israel this June

This June we will be taking a three week class at the Jerusalem University College. There are 14 people going so far, and there are a few days/hours if you want to join us. Here is a video detailing the itinerary on a map of Israel.

Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

My Eschatological History

As a infant I was baptized Presbyterian. Their eschatology would have been amillennial, unless it held to a stricter Reformed concept, in which case they might have been post-millennial. My Grandfather and father had long been members an EUB (Evangelical United Brethren) church that was built by my Great Grandfather in 1900. It was an Evangelical church until it united in 1946 with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The eschatology in this church would have been premillennial. In 1968 (four years after the picture below was taken of me standing on the stairs of this church) the EUB joined with the Methodist to form a denomination known as United Methodist. At that point, as I now can recall, the United Methodist appeared to be uninterested in eschatology. From a few comments I remember from Methodist in the '60's and the '70's it seems to me that they really didn't believe Jesus was physically coming back and every verse in the Bible was spiritualized. This created an amillennial position that referred all the promises into the sweet-by-and-by.

The church my Great-Grandfather built in 1900. I am the four year old standing on the steps in 1964.
My father still attends this church outside Spencer, Iowa.

 A Methodist neighbor told me the Second-coming of Christ occurred when we died. I remember thinking that it wasn't much of a Second-coming because: 1) My death is not Jesus' Coming back to earth, and, 2) If this was the case then the "second coming" was followed by a "third coming", and a "fourth coming" and by the time I died it would be like the "ga-zillion-billionth-coming". In these early years I didn't have too much confidence in what people said about God. They all seemed kind of uncommitted. Yet, I did realize they didn't like bad language and it really bothered God if you were loud or talked in church. So, I obliged them and God. I didn't swear nor would I run in the church sanctuary. But, I always felt like no one really had a clue; that is not to say I knew anything, but I just kind of knew that God could do better than what I was hearing and seeing.

Now, a couple of reasons why I had the impression there was more to this church stuff than what most people let on was this:

1. Whenever I came down stairs in the morning my Grandfather (whose family had come over from Germany in the 1890's) would be sitting in his chair by the window with a cup of tea, and everyday...everyday...he would be reading his Bible. When I opened the door from the steep staircase to enter the dining room I knew the first thing I would see was my Grandfather reading from the Bible. He would look up at me and say something like, "Are you up for all day?"...but, why was he reading the Bible? Why didn't he tell me to read it? Where was my Bible?
2. At night at my home whenever I would see my dad before he went to sleep...he would be reading his Bible. Why? It was just an observation I made, and I saw it all the time. My dad didn't preach in church. Although he was always there and he was one of the best Sunday school teachers I had. He was good because he was a great teacher no matter what he taught, but he was better than the other teachers because he knew the Bible. My Dad and my Grandfather didn't say much about the Bible at home, but they were always reading it at home. Why? 

Here the family is on my Grandpa Wiemers' farm in 1962 outside Spencer about half a mile from the church my Great-grandfather had built. I am the furthest to the far left sitting on my Dad's lap. My Grandpa is in the other chair to the right.

I specifically remember the night when I was a freshman in high school (months after my junior high Methodist Confirmation class and ceremony)  that I saw my unread Bible in my room. I recall thinking something like, "Well, it is probably time I read this Bible. I'm not going to be a kid forever." My impression was that men read the Bible and it was time for me to man-up and read it. So, I picked up my Bible and started to read a chapter out of the Old Testament and a chapter out of the New Testament every night. I did not miss. I would not miss. I went for over 450 days without missing a night. I refused to miss a night reading my Bible. Now, I did not understand everything, but I believed it was important for my eyes to look at every word and read every verse. Obviously, after a year and a half I had read through the Bible and had started again.

When I was 16 I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior when I clearly heard the gospel presentation at a Christian concert. I went forward on the last time through the song, "Just as I Am." My life had changed. Then, during the summer before my senior year in high school I was working on a construction job with a carpenter named Bob Hill. One afternoon the carpenter stopped working and started to teach me from the Bible dispensational-pre-tribulation-pre-millennial eschatology. Of course, I did not know these theological labels, nor did he use them when he taught me. What I do remember is how amazed I was at how the Bible verses snapped into a sequential order, how my heart was filled with joy and how my mind was rushing with excitement.

Galyn Wiemers writes down measurements for Bob Hill that will be used to install a new ceiling
during a construction project in Thompson, Iowa. (July 1977). It was on one of these days in July
that Bob Hill explained premillennial eschatology to Galyn for the first time.

 The summer of 1977 was my introduction to a dispensational approach to scripture. It was the first time I had heard the verses concerning the Kingdom of God be spoken of as being literally fulfilled in a 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. Of course, being Methodist since 1968 I had never heard the word "rapture" and the concept was unmentioned. All of a sudden the Second Coming of Christ was no longer a fictional fantasy with a spiritualized interpretation applied in a nonsensical fashion that even a child doubted its significance. Now, the whole of history seemed to vacillate between two absolute realities: 1) God was the Creator, 2) Jesus would establish his kingdom. And, me, a seventeen year old, what was I to do with the introduction to this biblical reality? I had been introduced to a fantastic system of eschatology, and I was grateful!

Now, 33 1/2 years have gone by. I have taught dispensational pre-millennialism with a pre-tribulation rapture to hundreds of people publicly starting in 1985 up until now. I have diagrams and charts in books that I have written and handouts I have made. Never have I doubted Christ's return or a literal kingdom on earth. Nor do I doubt this now. But, there are several stones that I have not turned over. There are other "good" eschatological approaches that cannot simply be dismissed. I find the Preterist model a solid collection of information. I do not like it. I do not agree with it. But, I have to understand it, defend it, present it and let it stand or fall on its own. I am very, very interested in the Pre-wrath model, but I find LaHaye's and others who attack the Pre-wrath model to have very, very disappointing arguments against it. In fact, the very fact LaHaye's most stated arguments revolve around the statements that claim Pre-wrath is a "new" eschatology makes me laugh in disgust because that is exactly what our critics say about our position. Then the critics move to calling Pre-wrath unscriptural or unorthodox, and I sneer again because in a world of orthodox theology where historically all  Protestant Churches, and at many times, the Catholic Church, are virtually in total agreement concerning theology, bibliology, christology, soteriology, angelology, pneumatology and more, they are in total disagreement of multiple points concerning eschatology.

My point: The study of eschatology has to undergo a serious process of testing and proving. This has never happened in church history at, what I consider, a satisfactory level. In this study we will see how eschatological views have been driven more by the political climate of the church and by temporal situations in the world than by scriptural interpretation.

Indeed, my eschatological views are more inline with LaHaye than anyone else, yet at the same time LaHaye's apparent arrogance to stand on the top of pop eschatology and renounce and ridicule with out presenting the humility to allow a eschatological system rise and fall on its own commitment to truth is disappointing.

I guess after all these years I believe the Word of God can stand on its own. I have seen it change and impact lives over the last five decades, and now, in a sixth. Surely it can continue to preserve the Truth. Other areas of study that have to be considered and tested are hermeneutical systems which either correctly or erroneously interpret the Scriptures. Eschatologies also have to be proven with historical events, historical study of theology and consistency in the Word of God.

This is an enormous undertaking. I have a tremendous amount of material to read, information to study, history to be examined, etc. I have learned enough to know that there are some eschatological models that cannot be dismissed with flippant statements and spooky accusations of heresy. Grow up! If it is a heresy prove it! But, I am no longer entertained by eschatological closed mindedness motivated simply because some portion of an eschatological model doesn't agree with your best selling end-times novel series or because you  don't have the academic experience to think critically through an issue or the patience to educate yourself concerning the footnotes of an authors volume on eschatology. I am in pursuit of the Truth, and, from my past experience, it means I will have to leave camp to meet the challenge. This is one reason cowards camp together...they can find protection from what scares them. I might be back, but I cannot stay here simply because I fear leaving an eschatological camp. At least at this point, eschatology should not divide us. Very, very....very few have the background, the insight, the resources, but mainly the DESIRE to meet this challenge.

One of the toughest factors we face in untangling prophecy is that this battle must be fought on the ground of humility since all of eschatological teaching is blanketed in a mist of Jesus' words...

• "No one knows about that day or hour" (Mt.24:36)...
• "Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." (Mt.24:42)...
• "The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of." (Mt. 24:50)...
• "Watch out that no one deceives you." (Mt. 24:4)...
• "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is...do not believe it." (Mt. 24:26) 

My Sunday School pins from the Presbyterian and United Methodist churches from 1965-1974.

Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

Rethinking Eschatology

From no intention of my own, I am stripping my eschatological views down to their theological foundation. The only credit I can give myself is my honest desire to understand what I believe. Teaching from a position that lacks clarity is not  a pleasant experience since the heat of embarrassment from my questioning soul being forced to formulate words rises though my body manifesting in clumsy wording and disconnected statements. There is no integrity in words that rise out of a soul that is knowingly ignorant. How can a teacher communicate with words that are spoken without commitment from a soul that questions the very words that the mouth is speaking? Thus, I must retrace my eschatology and carefully reassemble it with the Truth that has been revealed and the facts of history that can be gathered. No eschatological views will be automatically dismissed due to my theological prejudices IF they can make their presentation with scriptural and historical support. None of my preconceived belief's are safe in this personal theological inquisition. Indeed, I have a preferred eschatology, but it is not exempt from this shakedown and it must gird itself for the onslaught of questioning and penetrating skepticism I have already unleashed on it in my own soul and with my own thoughts.

Now, there will be many evangelicals (Here I flatter myself as I entertain the thought that evangelicals and other Christians are reading this. But, I must continue in this pleasant fantasy to help stimulate myself as a teacher in my quest for truth and the understanding of that truth.) who will rush to judgment to defend their shallow understanding of end-time events with quotes from best-selling pop authors and denominational talking points based on 3-4 verses that they have never questioned. The very fact that I will have to start this study teaching the meaning of words like "eschatology," "chiliasm" and "imminence" while introducing and unraveling concepts such as "pre-millennial," "amillennial," "post-millennial" indicates that perceived "commitment to the truth" held by many Christians could be shaken and destroyed with slightest bit of teaching based on an alternate eschatological view. The very fact that I will only hear rebuttals supported by the writings of men like LaHaye, DeMar, Rosenthal, or Lindsey, but will have to explain to Christian readers who men like Irenaeus, Hippolytyus, Papias, Methodius, and Justin are when I teach means I should not be the only Christian shaking down my eschatology.

I am shaken after having held to the same views since the 1970's, but I will stabilize very soon and will reemerge to shake, dismantle and question your eschatology. I will teach a solid eschatology that will not need to be ashamed of Scripture, history, early church writings, or the latest end-times pop author. I am not saying I am changing my views. I am saying I am stripping them down and considering everything (...OK, I'm not considering the cults who have formed their eschatological models based on additional "authoritative" writings [think Mormans], personal visions [think Seventh Day Adventist], twisted hermeneutics with mistranslated Scripture [Jehovah's Witness], or faulty eschatological systems proven repeatedly to fail [Harold Camping, etc., etc.]). I am talking about considering Preterist, Historical, Futurist, Pre-Trib, Pre-Wrath, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib, Pre-, Mid-, Post-Millennial and all forms of dispensational concepts. Nothing new there, well,...OK, that needs to be discussed.

My intention is that this will result in a book entitled something like "Actually Thinking: A Biblical Eschatology." Don't look for it in 2012 since Toni wants to take a break from publishing books. We printed three new books in 2010-2011 and had one reprint of 3,000 copies of a fourth book. Toni's request is reasonable, it is very reasonable. So, our plan is that this will be a year of writing, but not publishing. Of course, you have probably heard that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, so if this proves to be the end of the world then this will not matter anyway. If we assume these three things - that the Mayan calendar maker simply ran out of space, that I actually follow through with this study and Toni's request is honored - then we will look for an eschatological book with ALL the answers and ALL the problems resolved sometime in 2013.

Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

Where God's Word Is, There Is God - Taw - Psalm 119:169-176

Taw (Verses 169-176)

The letter taw is a symbol for a sign, a branded cross or the mark of a “t”. The letter was originally made like an “X” or a “T” and was used as the signature at the end.

169 May my cry come before you, Lord;
     give me understanding according to your word.
170 May my supplication come before you;
     deliver me according to your promise.
171 May my lips overflow with praise,
     for you teach me your decrees.

The Letter Taw
in Ezekiel's day

172 May my tongue sing of your word,
     for all your commands are righteous.
173 May your hand be ready to help me,
     for I have chosen your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation, Lord,
     and your law gives me delight
175 Let me live that I may praise you,
     and may your laws sustain me.
176 I have strayed like a lost sheep.
     Seek your servant,
     for I have not forgotten your commands.

This ending with its closing mark (or, “signature”) is a list of ten requests that are all based on the power and integrity of the Word of God. The writer desires to possess this Word. The ten requests begin with words
such as “may,” “give,” “deliver,” “let,” and “seek.” These closing verses include three statements of fact concerning the Word:

1. You teach me your Word (“decrees”) (171)
2. Your Word (“commands”) is righteous (172)
3. Your Word (“law”) gives me delight (174)

These are followed by four statements concerning the writers attitude toward God’s Word and why this man needs that Word for his life in time as he waits for the fullness of salvation:

1. I have chosen your Word (“precepts”) (173)
2. I long for your salvation (in Phase Three) (174)
3. I have strayed like a lost sheep (in Phase Two) (176)
4. I have not forgotten your Word (“command”) (176)

As he waits for salvation the Psalmist recalls that it is the Word that gives him delight (174). It is the Word that sustains him (175) in this life where sin is around and within him (176). Though he has strayed like a lost
sheep the Psalmist has hope because God’s Truth remains with him. When we have the Word there is hope because where God’s Word is, there is God.

This is the end of our 22 days in Psalm 119. The last 22 blogs are from chapter 36 of my book, "The Word: Apparatus for Salvation, Renewal and Maturity."

Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

Keep Your Sword Sharp with the Word - Sin - Psalm 119:161-168

Sin (Verses 161-168)

The letter sin symbolizes a tooth – not the front teeth, but a tooth that is used for chewing, such as a molar. It also represents the sharpening of swords, arrows – or even the tongue.

161 Rulers persecute me without cause,
     but my heart trembles at your word.
162 I rejoice in your promise
     like one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and detest falsehood
     but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
     for your righteous laws.
165 Great peace have those who love your law,
     and nothing can make them stumble.
166 I wait for your salvation, Lord,
     and I follow your commands.
167 I obey your statutes,
     for I love them greatly.
168 I obey your precepts and your statutes,
     for all my ways are known to you.

Rulers chew up the psalmist with persecution (161). Yet the psalmist fears the power of the Word of God more (161) and rejoices in its promises of victory (162). Seven times a day the writer sharpens the edge of the sword of the Word of God with praise (164). Those who meditate, or chew, on the Word are empowered to keep their souls in God’s “great peace” (165) and enabled to walk in the light, so that “nothing can make them stumble” (165).

Following false ways or giving up in midst of persecution because of fear are always an option, but instead, the psalmist “trembles” at God’s word – not because of temptation or persecution (161). This fear of God’s Word causes him to obey all God’s precepts and statues, because, as he says, “all my ways are known to you” (168). He knows there can be no hiding from God.


Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

Our First Thought? The Word! - Resh - Psalm 119:153-160

Resh (Verses 153-160)

The letter resh was made to resemble the front of a man’s head, and represents something that comes first, something that is the leader, or the first thing on one’s mind.

153 Look on my suffering and deliver me,
     for I have not forgotten your law.
154 Defend my cause and redeem me;
     preserve my life according to your promise.
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
     for they do not seek out your decrees.
156 Your compassion, Lord, is great;
     preserve my life according to your laws.
157 Many are the foes who persecute me,
     but I have not turned from your statutes.
158 I look on the faithless with loathing,
     for they do not obey your word.
159 See how I love your precepts;
     preserve my life, Lord, in accordance with your love.
160 All your words are true;
     all your righteous laws are eternal.

What separates the righteous from the wicked are the things they think about (155, 157, 158). The first thing on the psalmist’s mind is the Word of God, which has been his guide and enables him to confidently wait for God’s deliverance (153), defense (154) and preservation (154, 156). The psalmist is walking in the compassion (156) and love (159) of God, because he has not forgotten God’s law (153), nor has he wavered from God’s statutes (157).


Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

The Word is Established Forever - Qoph - Psalm 119:145-152

Qoph (Verses 145-152)

The letter qoph is a symbol of an axe or the back of the head and refers to “coming around”, as in a circle of space (such as the motion created by the swing of an axe) or “a space of time”. It can also refer to the back of one’s mind.

145 I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord,
     and I will obey your decrees.
146 I call out to you; save me
     and I will keep your statutes.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
     I have put my hope in your word.
148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night,
     that I may meditate on your promises.
149 Hear my voice in accordance with your love;
    preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws.
150 Those who devise wicked schemes are near,
     but they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near, Lord,
     and all your commands are true.
152 Long ago I learned from your statutes
     that you established them to last forever.

The psalmist compares the Word of God to the full circle of time represented by the Hebrew letter qoph in verse 152 when he says, “Long ago I learned from your statues, that you established them to last forever.” Since the psalmist had “learned…long ago” that the Word of God was eternal, he was able to develop a lifestyle that included:

1. Calling on God with all his heart (145)
2. Rising before dawn to cry for help (147)
3. Meditating on the Word throughout the night (148)

While the psalmist spends his life committed to the Word of God, there are others near him who are far from it. These people spend their time devising evil schemes and laws based on worldly philosophies and human opinion (150). However, in the long run, when life and history have come full circle, the Word of God will prove true (152).



Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com

In the End the Word Will Prevail - Tsadhe - Psalm 119:137-144

Tsadhe (Verses 137-144)

Tsadhe is a symbol of a reaping hook, a sickle, or a fish hook, and it indicates that the harvest is coming.

137 You are righteous, Lord,
     and your laws are right.
138 The statutes you have laid down are righteous;
     they are fully trustworthy.
139 My zeal wears me out,
     for my enemies ignore your words.
140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested,
     and your servant loves them.
141 Though I am lowly and despised,
     I do not forget your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is everlasting
     and your law is true.
143 Trouble and distress have come upon me,
     but your commands give me delight.
144 Your statutes are always righteous;
     give me understanding that I may live.

Indeed the harvest, or final judgment, is coming. In the end, it will be the Word that still stands. The psalmist says the Word of God is:

1. Right (137)
2. Righteous (138)
3. Fully trustworthy (138)
4. Thoroughly tested (140)
5. Everlasting (142)
6. True (142)
7. Always righteous (144)

Here and now, the “enemies ignore” God’s Word (138), and the psalmist is “lowly and despised” (141). Even though “trouble and distress have come upon” him (143), the psalmist loves and is zealous for God’s Word (140), which gives him great delight (143). In the end, Truth will prevail, and so he asks for even more wisdom and strength (144).






Galyn Wiemers
Generation Word
http://www.generationword.com