A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

n the Christian Leader, were his exposition of the Book of Reve- lation1* and his text on biblical doctrine which he used while teaching at the Bible school in Herbert, Saskatchewan,17 DIFFERENT LEADERS, DIFFERENT VIEWS Mennonite Brethren leaders did not speak with one voice 110 ESCRATQLOGY: NOT WITH ONE VOICE on eschatological matters. While all agreed on the basic issue of the blessed hope, they had significant differences on the "how" and the "when." Henry F. Toews, a graduate of the Baptist seminary in Kansas City, taught at Tabor College from 1910 to 1929. His book Bibliscfoe Gmndwahrheiten Heft I gave a detailed out- line of eschatological teachings with the following sequence of events: the rapture, the wedding of the lamb in heaven, the great tribulation on earth, the gathering and conversion of Is- rael, the conversion of many Gentiles, Christ's return and rule in the millennium, the binding of Satan for one thousand years, the release of Satan and his last rebellion against God, the final judgment of the nations, and the final triumph of Christ in the new heaven and the new earth.18 Jacob W. Reimer, a leading Mennonite Brethren evange- list and preacher in Russia and later North America, had been a frequent attender of the Blankenburg Conference where he imbibed Darbyistic views. In keeping with the dispensational understanding, he saw the church as a parenthesis and fo- cused heavily on the national restoration of Israel.19 Abraham H. Unruh, prominent Mennonite Brethren Bible teacher in Winkler and Winnipeg, spoke to the various events of eschatology without following the schematic form of dispensationalism. His most extensive statement on the topic was an outline of the eschatology of the German theologian Adolf von Schlatter, of whom Unruh was an ardent student. Most significant in this analysis was the emphasis that one could not take the words of Jesus and Paul and add Old Tes- tament prophetic utterances to build a conclusive theological scheme. According to Unruh, any scheme built on such a process was as much a matter of personal speculation as it was a reflection of Jesus or Paul.20 For example, the passage in Romans 11:26- "And so all Israel shall be saved "-did not in Unrurfs view suggest a national restoration. As in 2 Chroni- cles 12:1 t "aU Israel" referred to the individuals who made up 111 A PILGRIMAGE OF i-AllH the whole- God wanted "to save all Israel," but this did not set aside the condition of individual decision (compare Zechariah 12:11-14), So the place of Israel in God's future plans was