Posted on 10/09/2005 2:18:54 PM PDT by cowdog77
Pat Robertson, a former GOP presidential candidate and host of the "700 Club" daily Christian TV show, noted, "If you read back in the Bible, the letter of the apostle Paul to the church of Thessalonia, he said that in the latter days before the end of the age that the Earth would be caught up in what he called the birth pangs of a new order. And for anybody who knows what it's like to have a wife going into labor, you know how these labor pains begin to hit. I don't have any special word that says this is that, but it could be suspiciously like that."
"What was called the blessed hope of the Bible is that one day Jesus Christ would come back again, start a whole new era, that this world order that we know would change into something that would be wonderful that we'd call the millennium," he continued. "And before that good time comes there will be some difficult days and there will be likened to what a woman goes through in labor just before she brings forth a child."
When asked if the world was approaching that moment, Robertson said, "It's possible. I don't have any special revelation to say it is but the Bible does indicate such a time will happen in the end of time. And could this be it? It might be."
Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,200 people dead in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S., while the rising death toll from this weekend's earthquake in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India is in the 30,000 range. Dec. 26, some 275,000 people lost their lives from a tsunami sparked by an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean.
Some New Testament verses often cited by Christians regarding signs of the end of this present age before the return of Jesus to Earth include:
"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:7-8)
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;" (Luke 21:25). Robertson isn't the only one raising the End Times issue, as author and a WorldNetDaily columnist Hal Lindsey has weighed in on the issue.
"It seems clear that the prophetic times I have been expecting for decades have finally arrived. And even worse, it appears that the judgment of America has begun," Lindsey said on the Sept. 9 broadcast of the "International Intelligence Briefing" on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. "I warn continually that the last days lineup of world powers does not include anything resembling the United States of America. Instead, a revived Roman Empire in Europe is to rule the West, and then the world.
despite being christian, no matter how many times i see this kind of rhetoric, it just makes me laugh. i have so many old records, pics, and publications from groups saying that THIS EVENT [fill in the blank with anything from the last 50 or so years] was the sign that it was all beginning to end. jack van impe, herbert armstrong, darrell dunn, you name it.
the EU was the ten nation anti-christ... the communists would precipitate armageddon.... the founding of israel.... blah blah blah.
just live your life in christ and its irrelevant what the next catastrophy means, if anything. when we're all here a thousand years from now, the same old seers will be around telling us doom is just around the corner.
Right--it's always been that way and always will be.
The poor will always be with us also.
Success rate of the many who have predicted the end of the world in the past: 0%
WingNutDaily gets dumber and more worthless every day.
Yeah, bring it on. Europe will rule the world, HAH! Those incompetent Old Worlders could not even take care of Bosnia/Serbia without us. They won't get past the Podunk Gun Club.
We will not fall by the hand of the Europeans. The only thing that can beat us is "Western Guilt", unchecked P.C.'ness and uncontrolled immigration. In other words we are our own worst enemy.
Those Crazy Christians
Every generation thinks they're living in "the End Times."
Who cares? At some point, the world will end for each of us, one at a time.
Also, recent studies have found that right now the earth is likely more peaceful right now than it's ever been (there are no large-scale country against country wars going on; just an assortment of civil wars - and even the number of those have been declining, and then you have some media-attention grabbing terror attacks but which don't kill many people.)
And so far this year the number of large earthquakes has been well below average, even including the recent Pakistani earthquake.
IMO This is more pure hogwash and the End has been foretold throughout recorded history. These 'Catastrophes' have also been occurring for the past several billion years and the only difference between those in the past and those now is that a lot more people and property is in the way.
But wait, where're the Bilderbergers, Furburgers, Free Masons, Stone Masons, Tri-Lateralists, et al?
Give it a rest Hal...
"No man knows the hour, no not even the Son, but only the Father"
What I love is that in periods like the mid-80s when the US wasn't getting any hurricanes at all, you didn't see any Apocalyptikooks pointing that out saying, "Gee, the End Times must not be upon us."
Bingo. Ditto for "wars and rumors of wars".
LOL. There is, and has been throughout history, a regular Cottage Industry in this ridiculousness.
The other thing I find fascinating is that Hal Lindsey's predictions in "The Late Great Planet Earth" can end up a complete and utter failure, yet the guy still has a job.
One thing I've learned over the years is that people actually don't care if predictions are right, all that matters is that the prediction is what they wanted to hear at the time.
I won't believe the End Times are upon us until something really unbelievable happens -- like a hurricane forming over cold water. That will be a sign that the world is ending! Ha!
Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Matthew 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Don't look now. Very strange.....
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