Escha-what?

As promised a few weeks ago, here is the first part of my end time study. 

With this subject, one needs to find a starting point.  Where I started in my studies was not the usual place but at what is called the Millennial reign of Christ.  I will come to this later but I wanted to begin learning and not feel like I was spinning my wheels considering at what time the tribulation will occur.

I will try and teach some form of series chronologically and begin in the Church age.

There is going to be some debate as to when the church age ends and again when it began, depending on if you are dispensational.  I see little point in debating this as it is not a critical tenant of the Christian faith.  You may see it as beginning at Penetecost (Acts 2), you may see it at outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Gentiles (Acts 10) or even at the Ascension of our Lord Jesus(Acts1).  There an awful lot of discussion and it doesn't get any more unified in terms of mass agreement form here on out.

Eschatology means the study from the time of the end, I use it to refer to a collective study of things which include - the rapture, the Millennial reign of Christ, The second coming of Jesus, Judgement, the False Prophet and the Anti-christ.

So where shall we begin?  Lets look at Matthew 24, I encourage you if you are following this series to read the passages as I touch on them.  Sometimes I will quote passages, other times, I am assuming you are reading them and give bullet points if the passages are long such as this one.

The bible is not like any other book, is unique amongst all what the world calls religious texts, it contains matters pertaining to physics, geology, biology, history, ecology, theology and a great many other ologies.  Why is it unique?  It is because on every matter it touches on, and especially in these areas which are not essential to the gospel it is proven as being accurate, it taught things hundreds of years sometimes before an area was found to be accurate, for example it teaches the earth is round, imagine if science then proved the earth was flat, this then creates a question of the supernatural origin of the Bible , can it really be trusted?   It if it cannot be trusted on something observable then it cannot be trusted on things which are unseen.  For some additional reading, check this out - http://evidencebible.com/witnessingtool/scientificfactsintheBible.shtml  The bible is consistent over the thousand of years with multiple authors - can you get 10 people to agree on something controversial?  Try separating those people, by culture, language and time add another 50 people - it all adds to the reliability of the scripture as being authored by God (I think I'll write another acticle on this later).

Matthew 24 - Jesus is asked what will be the signs of your second  coming and the end of the world?

Jesus responds with a long list of conditions and events some of which I will touch on just now. 

1 - Many will come in the name of Jesus deceiving many.  These are false messiahs and false religious leaders saying they are Jesus (David Icke is an example of saying He is like Jesus)

2- Wars and rumors of wars - Global and regional conflict shall increase. Talk of wars kicking off, threats of wars, commentary of war its all what we see now and have done for some time.

3- Famines and Pestilences, earth quakes and natural disasters - I looked into this a while ago an 2010 was a record breaking year for earthquakes.  We also live in a media age where we know and hear of disasters where 40 years ago we did not.  Sure these have always existed, but an increase of them is something that can be quantified that even the secular world is noting.

These things are called the beginning of sorrows.

Labor pains in child birth increase in severity and get closer together, these signal the impending birth of a Child.  This parallel is drawn here with pains upon the earth as the return of Christ draws closer.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

I think of the tolerance and mass acceptance of false teaching that we see.  Money is a sign of godliness, God exists to serve mankind, a recent trend of the discussion on a universal path to salvation - these are not new lies but getting recent discussion which is leading to the deception of many.  Entertainment  is in the church big time, its the vehicle seen to grow the church.

Thanks for reading.

JFK

The other day I watched JFK by Oliver Stone.  I recall the first time I saw it about 1995. 
I remember my mind being blown that there could be such a thing as a conspiracy; that things are not always as they seem.

I remember being in Washington DC with my mum and walking around the monuments looking at people wanting if someone was getting a secret file that if anyone knew they had leaked the info they would be assassinated. 

That was the turning point for me, where I became suspicious and its stuck with me ever since.

What stories or events do you believe are not as we have been told? Does holding such views make you fit in or do you think people think strange of people who think differently? 

I've got to go, they are watching me.

Charlie Tango Sierra out

Are you free?

I had a conversation today on twitter, that went something like this.

A.Person - We need to vote for the right people to be free.
Me - It doesn't matter who you vote for, without Christ you will never be free.
A.Person - I was talking about politics, not religion.
Me - What does it profit a man if he lives in a free country or inherits the whole word, there is no Freedom in Christ.
A.Person - Don't go quoting scripture at me, I'm a christian.
Me - We should love the word of God, a Christian saying dont quote scripture at me is like saying to my wife Don't smile at me.

I dare say this guy never looked up the verse I quoted but the truth is politics cannot save anyone, how can you define freedom outside of Christ?  You simply cannot. It goes even further than that,

1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Eph 2:1 says

 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

With Christ, you can live under the fiercest oppresion and still be free, what a miracle.  

Ask the Lord for forgiveness today and make you a new creation. 

 

Myths of Fingerprints

Before I get into my notes, I want to clear up two misconceptions which are often salvo's fired at each other whilst they take cover thinking the arguement over.

Myth 1 - A pre-trib rapture view was not taught until the 18th century.

The story goes something like this, some woman was having a seance and received the 'revelation' of pre-trib, it didn't take off, some Baptist minister found her notes decades later which didn't take off until Darby popularized it later.  The story you've maybe heard is similar or maybe even more fanciful, regardless I've heard this said and it usually accompanied with a 'arguement over' kind of stance.

Truth
Here is a quote from the 3rd century from Ephraem of Nisibis.
“For all the saints and elect of God are gathered prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.”
 
Conclusion
So?  However old a story is doesn't substantiate it.  Take the the recent quote doing the rounds saying a parchment has been found from the 4th century saying Jesus had a wife.  Which Jesus is that then Mr Parchment? And if that talking about Jesus of Nazareth, does that invalidate the some 200,000 corroborating parchments partial and more comprehensive documents proving the scriptures have been unchanged since they were wrote?

Myth 2 - Those who believe in pre-trib see themselves as super soldier Christians wanting to go through the tribulation.

In their minds, the are seeing themselves are superior to the 'lesser, weaker' brothers who cant stand the thought of going through some persecution.  If truly an argument is based on something as foolish as this then it would have died long ago because at least some other folks out there read their bibles and there would not be credible scholars on all sides.

Conclusion
Again, so what, this does not build the case for a pre-trib stance.

Lets put the logic away, and look to the scriptures.

Are you with me?

The Rapture - pre,post,whenever

About a year ago, I began a personal study into what is called the Rapture or the end times from a Biblical stand point. 

I will post my notes shortly, its not conclusive as its a huge topic, but I decided that I wanted to find an in road into the scriptures and start from there and flesh out my understanding with just the bible.  It was something I had been meaning to look into with more depth since the start of 2011 and had flirted with looking at websites and I thought I need to look at the text for myself without any external influence until I had a more understanding for myself.

I began at the most unconventional place where I thought was more cut and dried and less controversial sub-topic which was end of the tribulation and into the Millennium and then into eternity before looking at the most disputed topics like tribulation and Jews and Gentiles.

In my writing on this topic I am primarily writing to an audience that knows certain phrases, where as usually I try and write to an audience without assuming they know anything so if you dont know what a phrase means - please care to ask.

I don't post this to say I know it all or I have it all figured out, I'm primarily putting this particular study onto the internet so I have an electronic record of my notes which I have already lost twice.

So your probably wanting to know because its the question everyone wants to know - do I believe in pre-rapture, post rapture, pre-wrath, mid trib, post pre mid trib or any other term that you care to use, well before I answer that, I just want to say it has been my experience that once a idea has been ingrained into someones view especially on this topic - rarely does anyone change their mind so I am not posting this to even start a debate, I can totally be wrong, you can totally be wrong and really the only way that we can know is when we see how things pan out. 

All sides believe they can justify their position with scripture so its going to be a stalemate if verses and more importantly interpretation is banded about,however if you have a view and don't understand where it came for then hopefully this series of blogs might be of some interest to you.

So your question? Well come back later and you'll find out :)

Everything reproduces after its own kind

The other day, I walked into the sitting room and I see Samuel reclining on the sofa.  He is sitting there watching Wallace and Gromit with his hands behind his head.  How funny I thought, and then I realized, He's copying me. 

Genesis 1:11-12 And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in its self upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in its self, after his kind, and God saw that it was good.

Reproducing after their own kind is something God programmed into creation and we can see it all around, forget what you've been told, Have you ever seen a Giraffe being born to two Black birds?  Never.  

Whether it be in our character, or 'taste' our children will largely be influenced by the things around them.  This is important for us as parents, just as Samuel has started to do something harmless, Eliza threw a play punch at me the other day.  She didn't know anything about it, and she didn't intend to harm me it was just something she must have seen on the TV.   

When it comes to man and our relationship to God, God's desire is just as we were created in his image to reason and have an understanding of right and wrong, He desires for us to reflect him by the work of the Holy Spirit to be doing works of righteousness and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit of God.  

“He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4) What is the corruption of the world?  We see it all around us; we even see it in us.  The world is all about self preservation, God's way is serving others, not counting yourself higher than anyone, to be the least of all and to love God and our neighbor as yourself.  As we give our lives over to God and to serve Him as a living sacrifice, this means his will, his glory, his fame is paramount.

When my children are older, I want the training we instill in them as children to become their characters to be noble and gentle and be strong in the Lord.  When they are out and more mature, their character will reflect onto Beth and I as their parents. 

So what has all of this got to do with my series on the church?  The image the church presents itself is how the world rightly or wrongly see's God.  Are we acknowledging God and his ways before men?  I heard something today relating to the fundamental narrative of creation - the Church has compromised the truth of the scriptures to be in line with the world, in a hope that it will gain favor with the world, but in actual fact what has happened the world has seen, so you compromise on the Genesis of creation, what else will you bend on?   That's a personal challenge to all of us in everything, does the righteousness of the Lord reflect on the world corruption or do we look like them, act like them, smell like them.

What we do in secret is a true test of a disciple of God, not when others are near us. 

Our witness is not for the Church, It is for the world.

Matthew 5:16 let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

I wanted to touch on Church websites, we live in the digital age, there's no going back now, every church or church ministry usually has a website - a 24/7 sign post on what was deemed important when the thing was designed.  A website takes craft, sure you can slop it up but I have to say that most of the church websites I see these days are slick state of the art media centers which have had some money spent on them, they are seen as important so there has been some time taken on designing them.  A flashy logo, catchy titles for the latest series, core values, where we meet........the gos...

I can write more on this another time, I don't actually expect many non-Christians to frequent www.flashychurch.com/near you just as I don't expect non-saved persons to frequent a church service, but that's OK, God didn't design the growth of the church to be done through weekly services.  This is a remnant of ‘Finneyism’, where a pragmatic emotional service was orchestrated and boy it worked because people got saved right?   So, in the modern pattern we see around us, a Church website is seen as something to get 'someone to the service' there seems to be something hugely lacking in the technical arsenal - the gospel.

That's right, you may not come to our service but you may find yourself looking at our site, but the one thing we are meant to be about is absent but what else is there?

Means of donating money, in this 'career path' mentality of ministry needs to be fed, it costs money to pay all of these cutting edge Pastor's, admin staff, worship leaders, children's staff and media pastors.  Media what now?  Media is a tool but there is big money to be had in serving in church, so why with all of the media there is no textual presentation of the gospel? 

When the site was designed, something thought we need a means of getting someone to give their tithe (a whole other conversation) but didn't think the god news of Jesus, I want that up there.  But no one will read it, says another...but I LOVE the gospel says the first.

New Home

Welcome to my new blog.  I decided to move platform and change the theme of my blog slightly.  I decided to theme it on being resolute which means to be determined.  It is hope that over time my blog shall seek to explore truth.  Truth is something that we should seek in all things, so look forward to me blogging on current affairs, matters of theology and anything else which I deem appropriate.
Whenever I post something, it is my hope that some of you may wish to dialog and converse on topics.

Happy reading.