Dr. Walvoord came from solid Dutch stock. He was raised in the cold country of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Though attending a Dutch Reformed church he did not come to Christ until his teen years. He admitted that he was religious but the gospel was not made clear in that Reformed atmosphere. Both his parents were Christians but the spirituality was especially evident in his mother.
“John” attended Wheaton College for his BA, where I many years later received my MA. He was on the Debating team and became a master of logical thinking and of clarity in presenting ideas. He was on his way to Princeton Seminary when he happened to ask Wheaton’s president, James Buswell, if that is where he should go. Buswell answered that he ought to check out that new and small school down in dry, hot, and dusty Dallas, Texas, called the Evangelical College, later renamed Dallas Seminary.
Walvoord received his Th.B., Th.M., and later his Th.D. at Dallas. He began to teach courses and became the assistant (and an assistant editor) to the founder, Dr. Lewis S. Chafer. To sharpen his theological pencil he later received an MA in Philosophy at Texas Christian University.
Walvoord helped edit Chafer’s classic Systematic Theology which was first published in 1947. This outstanding dispensational/premillennial set is still being sold today. In 1952 Walvoord became president of Dallas when Chafer died. Over the years he wrote, edited, contributed to, and acted as co-editor, of some sixty volumes of theological works and commentaries. In my opinion one of his greatest volumes is about the coming messiahship of Christ entitled The Millennial Kingdom. In this book he nails the false thinking of the Reformed and Covenant people. He looks historically at how amillennialism came to be and destroyed a full understanding of the entire Bible. Walvoord put into strong biblical form the great doctrines of the rapture of the church, the coming tribulation, and the coming kingdom reign of Christ over Israel and the world.
Thousands of men studied under Walvoord, as I did, throughout the 1930s and into the early 1980s. I was privileged to have written his biography with him, entitled Blessed Hope, published by AMG Publications, with the Forward by Tim LaHaye. I spent months in his office recording his thoughts for the book. One day he looked out his shaded window and said with deep spiritual meaning, “Maybe today, maybe He will come back today!” Dr. Walvoord was always gracious, kind, deeply spiritual, and sharp until his dying days! No one could win in a debate with him over premillennialism and dispensationalism. He had all the biblical arguments down pat!
It is sad that young theologs won’t take the time to study the great giants such as Walvoord. They come up ignorant as to what theology is really all about as coming forth from Scripture!
I miss Dr. Walvoord every day!
“John” attended Wheaton College for his BA, where I many years later received my MA. He was on the Debating team and became a master of logical thinking and of clarity in presenting ideas. He was on his way to Princeton Seminary when he happened to ask Wheaton’s president, James Buswell, if that is where he should go. Buswell answered that he ought to check out that new and small school down in dry, hot, and dusty Dallas, Texas, called the Evangelical College, later renamed Dallas Seminary.
Walvoord received his Th.B., Th.M., and later his Th.D. at Dallas. He began to teach courses and became the assistant (and an assistant editor) to the founder, Dr. Lewis S. Chafer. To sharpen his theological pencil he later received an MA in Philosophy at Texas Christian University.
Walvoord helped edit Chafer’s classic Systematic Theology which was first published in 1947. This outstanding dispensational/premillennial set is still being sold today. In 1952 Walvoord became president of Dallas when Chafer died. Over the years he wrote, edited, contributed to, and acted as co-editor, of some sixty volumes of theological works and commentaries. In my opinion one of his greatest volumes is about the coming messiahship of Christ entitled The Millennial Kingdom. In this book he nails the false thinking of the Reformed and Covenant people. He looks historically at how amillennialism came to be and destroyed a full understanding of the entire Bible. Walvoord put into strong biblical form the great doctrines of the rapture of the church, the coming tribulation, and the coming kingdom reign of Christ over Israel and the world.
Thousands of men studied under Walvoord, as I did, throughout the 1930s and into the early 1980s. I was privileged to have written his biography with him, entitled Blessed Hope, published by AMG Publications, with the Forward by Tim LaHaye. I spent months in his office recording his thoughts for the book. One day he looked out his shaded window and said with deep spiritual meaning, “Maybe today, maybe He will come back today!” Dr. Walvoord was always gracious, kind, deeply spiritual, and sharp until his dying days! No one could win in a debate with him over premillennialism and dispensationalism. He had all the biblical arguments down pat!
It is sad that young theologs won’t take the time to study the great giants such as Walvoord. They come up ignorant as to what theology is really all about as coming forth from Scripture!
I miss Dr. Walvoord every day!
