I’m in the middle of sharing a mini-series within a larger series of writing and I’m really enjoying myself! I have committed to publishing a brief article, blog post or thought once a day for an entire year! What a challenge! In the midst of this journey, I’ve discovered that writing a series of posts with a common theme helps order my thoughts. Currently, I am writing a series of posts in which I reflect on what it means for me to be a Recovering Bapticostal.
I am not the first or only person to use this identifying moniker. There are others out there like me. The Pentecostal part of me had its genesis when I was raised in the Assembly of God Denomination from birth to about age 17. As a high school senior, I decided to go another direction in the pursuit of my Faith. At that time in my life, I embraced the general belief system of the Southern Baptists – thus my reference to Bapticostal.
While I can point to many things I gleaned from both brands of Christianity that have helped me be a better person, there are other things from which I find myself recovering. The focus of my spiritual journey finds its expression in my work to Recover from the toxic parts of both systems. I’m hopeful this brief explanation clarifies my intent a bit.
Today, I want to share a short story that I think might bring a smile to your face.
Growing up in the Assemblies of God Denomination, The Second Coming of Christ was a topic of great discussion! Whenever that topic surfaced, almost invariably folks would begin talking about the Millennial reign of Christ. Almost without exception, most of the folks I hung with proclaimed some sort of Premillennial return of Christ. I found that a great many of my Baptist friends held similar views.
When I went to college at Hardin-Simmons University, my horizons widened. I was made aware that there were other perspectives of the Millennium and the return/reign of Christ. Added to my knowledge of Premillennialism were ideas related to Postmillennialism and Amillennialism. Now, I will not go into great detail to distinguish and differentiate between and among the views here. That would be extremely complicated and likely a bit boring and confusing to boot. What I will tell you is that if you get adherents of each view in a locked room, you are likely to have one heck of a verbal if not physical brawl! Not something I want to witness.
On to the promised smile . . .
One of my favorite professors while at H-SU was Dr. Ellis. He taught Greek. I recall how some in my classmates often sought to trip him up and trap him into saying something that revealed his true perspective on controversial topics. No matter how hard my peers tried, no one was ever successful. I remember one day, one of the guys asked, “Dr. Ellis, which one are you? Are you Pre, Post or Amillennial?” He sat back with a rather smug look on his face. I believe that the young man felt he had finally found the question that would force Dr. Ellis to tip his hand. Dr. Ellis slowly turned from the blackboard on which he was writing and with a rather wry grin on his face, responded in a way I will always remember.
Dr. Ellis said, “I’m actually none of those.” The room fell silent. How could our beloved professor be none of those?
“I’m actually something else,” he continued. Young preacher boys looked at one another quizzically. What was he talking about? What else was there?
“I’m Panmillennial, “ he proclaimed with an even wider grin (a grin, by the way, that typically announced his victory over his would-be saboteur). Panmillennial? What is that? We all wondered and waited for the forthcoming answer. He paused and his grin morphed into a broad smile. “Panmillennial – It will all Pan Out in the end! Why worry about it now?
Wow! We were speechless! Foiled again . . . and . . . taught a tremendous lesson!
No one really knows anything for sure about when it will all end or how it will all end. Realistically, it’s all a matter of interpretation and speculation at best. In the end, like Dr. Ellis said, “It will all Pan Out in the End!” And I’m completely comfortable with that. How about you?
Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
