Posted on 04/26/2018 4:27:22 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
Plenty of Presbyterians are into Eschatology & Dispensationalism (though probably fewer than Baptists for example).
It’s breaking down Biblical Prophecy from Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, Zechariah (among other books) and the NT - especially Matthew 24 & Luke 17.
The convergence of AI, Transhumanism, The Worldwide Surveillance State, and the daily headlines out of Syria and Israel read right out of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.
We’re close IMHO to something catastrophic changing the world forever. That propels the world into Daniel’s “70th Week”.
Very much depends upon what happens in the very near future involving Russia, Syria and Iran against Israel. I fully expect Iran launching missiles toward Israel to be the triggering event bringing us into the conflict before the false peace.
They will fall short in the Saudi Desert, but be the trigger.
Thank you for your counsel and prayers.
It’s been a long spiritual road and I know I have a long way to go(I’m mighty willful and hard headed)
But I see an invisible Hand in all this and scares me and yet gives me comfort.
I’m not a true believer(yet) but denying God takes as much “faith” as being atrue Christian.
Call me an “agnostic believer”
Got alot of personal issues but I’m trying to return to my faith of my childhood and of my folks.
Thank you very much.
To which I respond - IBTZ. If the Admin Moderators are paying attention.
Jesus will return on HIS schedule, not ours. He may be planning to return 10,000 years from now. Or tomorrow. It is the height of human conceit for us to even begin to guess when.
I don’t scoff about the Bible. I scoff at those who think they can make such a prediction.
Posting it under the 'Current Events' topic is a wee bit much....
You necessarily scoff at the Bible, then, because the Bible gives some UNMISTAKEABLE landmarks that enable us to discern the SEASON (NOT a specific day or hour) in which Christ will return.
If you scoff at the idea of an identifiable season, you then scoff at Christ, Himself, Who commanded us to remain watchful for His coming, as He would not have commanded the impossible.
Given my close encounter with the clergy, I’m calling bullshit of you as well.
Someone is hedging their bet if they don't believe in selling their worldly possessions, donating them to charity and waiting...
The rapture is symbolism.
Amid the knowing of The Season, I remain concerned what may become of many who embrace a view of Rapture and Second Coming happening at greatly disparate times should it eventuate that, as seems evident in 2 Thess. 2:1 & 2, that Jesus’ coming, and our being gathered to Him occur as near-simultaneous events on “The Day of The LORD.”
I see real potential for faith-breaking dismay should it be the case that Tribulation is breaking out, and The Church is still on the Earth; particularly if Antichrist is already revealed, and The Church is still here.
Those expecting to have been taken out — how adept will they be at laying aside their prior expectation and recalibrating their eschatology in real time according to what is happening; will they “receive the love of the Truth” in spite of it meaning that they had all along had the timing wrong?
Understand, it’s fine to embrace whatever eschatological timeline you think, but it is NOT fine to set it up as a thing that you will not let go of if it eventuates that things don’t go the way you think thy might. Grasp that our understanding in these areas is not total; that we can be wrong, and hold your eschatology in open hands, if you will, such that God is permitted to BE God, and do things differently than you now think He’s going to.
In John’s revelation, whenever something is introduced that is to be understood as a symbol, it is also specified what it is symbolic of. So, John sees seven lampstands and is told that they are a symbol of the spirits of seven churches.
This is consistent throughout Revelation. How are we free to conclude that things NOT expressly noted as symbols ARE symbolic? I think there is great peril in that presumption, especially in light of Paul’s dire warning in 2 Thess. 2:10 about those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the Truth.
I’m not making a mandate that you change your mind, but am strongly suggesting that there’s another way to see it, and raising a red flag as to a dire peril Paul specifically flagged to us regarding our love of Truth.
IOW, if it turns out different than you presently think it will, you know which parts of The Book to refer to for a real-time course correction. Be open to doing so.
Nothing else matters. Nothing.
You rightly point out vicious times the church has endured in the past. It is known to me that many Chinese Christians lost faith over their embrace of Darbyism during Mao’s purges. Because of the eschatology they embraced, they thought they’d be Raptured out of Mao’s clutches any day. They weren’t. Many who weren’t slaughtered, renounced faith entirely because what their eschatology taught them would happen didn’t, and the then concluded that probably the entire thing was a crock, including The Gospel, itself.
“Believe in Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.”
That we share.
Though, if nothing else mattes, the question arises as to why Jesus, and the early apostles spent time teaching about anything else.
That is just another reason to regard The Rapture as totally immaterial. It is totally immaterial.
We are told we will not know the day or hour. BUT we are commanded to know the season
We are told we will not know the day or hour. BUT we are commanded to know the season
Although a pre trib disosnsationalist I freely admit I may be wrong. But I will never be disappointed if I trust in Christ. I know at the end of the age I will see Him face to face and dwell in His house forever. However He brings that about is more than fine with me. I will trust Him no matter what. Does that answer your question?
“The Rapture of the Church is the only sign-less event noted in Scripture.”
Other than this statement, this is a good exhortation. We can all agree with the heartfelt prayer, “even so come Lord Jesus.”
The idea that Christ’s return will be signless or secret is not based on the Bible but on the theological idea of a pre-Daniel’s seventieth week rapture, typically called “pre-trib”. A lot of passages have to be stretched to say the least, in order to accommodate this position.
“Peace and Safety. The more destabilized the world becomes, the more the people will clamor for peace and safety. People will willingly trade their liberty for security, which is what globalists have wanted all along (i.e., the Hegelian dialectic). Although this has been the case for the last thirty-years or more, the call for it has only intensified as the world has increasingly become more unhinged. While this is a passive sign, it is however, the one phrase Paul told us to listen for that would precede immediate the destruction caused by the Rapture. 1 Thess. 5:1-3”
1 Thessalonians 5:3
For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
Hmmm. Where else was this analogy used? Oh, yeah.
Matthew 24:8
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Literally, the onset of childbirth.
2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Immediate destruction does happen after the rapture, however Daniel’s seventieth week does not begin with this destruction. The final seven years before Christ sets up His kingdom will begin with a false peace. This is pictured in Revelation 6:1-4. Note that the second seal unleashes a red horse whose rider will “take peace from the earth”. He can only take peace from the earth if there is peace to take. The rider on the white horse has a bow but no arrows. The spirit of anti-Christ is one of seizing global power through a false peace, safety, and security. This may take the form of more “secure” financial systems, gun control, and nuclear disarmament.
But in context of the “sudden destruction” that follows Christ’s return, consider 2 Thessalonians 1. Paul tells the believers who are undergoing severe persecution that retribution will be paid when Christ returns with “flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God”. Yet, at this same time Christ will be glorified in His saints and the suffering believers will receive rest. This does not fit the pre-trib paradigm.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us to encourage each other daily and be faithful to gather with fellow believers, even more so as we “see the day approaching.” The possibility of seeing the day approaching is contradictory to the idea of Christ returning at any moment, surprisingly and unexpectedly. It will be surprising and unexpected for those who are not watching, but not for those who are. But watching and seeing the day approaching is not done by gazing up at the sky. It is by looking for the signs which He gave His disciples.
There are seven signs that the end of the world has arrived. This time is called the “Day of the Lord” in scripture. The Lord’s return is the seventh sign. The six signs that come before His return are the signs of His coming. They are in the Olivet discourse in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the synoptic Gospels) and also in Revelation 6.
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