Biblically Optimistic and Gospel-Based
"For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21:22)
"For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21:22)
I agree with this only to a point. While the understanding needs to be applied against the backdrop of what the people then knew, we must be mindful that John, for instance, saw visions of what was to come. Since he didn’t know what he saw, he had to use what he knew. That’s why if he had seen things like helicopters or modern day warfare, it might be hard to describe.
Likewise, when I think of how we are told that all the world will see Christ come, even if God chooses not to do it supernaturally, with CNN and modern satellite feeds, it would be easy to do these days.
It’s certainly a sign that few people have any these days.
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This book was published almost forty years ago. It has sold millions! |
OVERT OBVIOUS
LONG LIST
OF EVIDENCES
THAT THESE ARE THE END TIMES.
. . . .
EVIDENTLY STILL DENYING, at some level,
That
1. Israel became a nation again in a day in 1948 just as Scripture predicted—thereby jumpstarting the prophetic clock’s increasing pace forward.
2. For the first time in knowable history, certainly since the prophecy was made—we now have the technology to insure that the TWO WITNESSES of the GREAT TRIBULATION and their bodies lying dead in a Jerusalem street as Scripture predicts can now be seen by the whole world.
3. For the first time in knowable history, the MARK OF THE BEAST CAN be implemented with the computer chip implant world wide making it not possible to buy or sell without it--just as END TIMES prophecies in Scripture predict.
4. Knowledge has expanded geometrically as Scripture predicts for the end times . . . and is spread abroad all over the world in unprecedented fashion by the net as can be obliquely inferred from the Scripture.
5. Travel also is now as predicted for the END TIMES in Scripture for the first time.
6. ISRAEL IS BESIEGED ON ALL SIDES by the specific countries Scripture predicts for the END TIME just as Biblically predicted.
7. Jerusalem is a terrible burden around the neck of the countries of the world just as Biblically predicted for the END TIMES.
. . .
. . .
. . .
I realize preterists, a-mills, REPLACEMENTARIANS have absolutely no to little interest in Scriptural facts or truth but it is wise to at least post it nevertheless.
LOL. Sigh.
Thanks.
It’s a persistent pleasure to see
UNMITIGATED BRAZEN NONSENSE
posted under the REPLACEMENTARIAN perspective.
I can say that when I find myself to be cashless, I start praying for the end (of the pay period).
I will be sending the IRS my IOU with a promise to pay within the next century!
There's a line of thought which says this passage has nothing to do with cash, one-world government nor a physical mark, be it a microchip or some other means of identification.
Rather, the hand is a symbol of physical labor and the forehead is a symbol of intellectual thought. All work can be encompassed by these two symbols. Thus, wickedness will reach such a level that only those whose activity, be it physical or intellectual, is inspired by Satan (i.e. who carry the mark of the Beast) will be able to prosper amidst such evil.
Those who follow Jesus will "not be able to buy or sell"; meaning that they will be ostracized and marginalized.
Just sayin'.
Not as sensational as the "one world" theory, but "the end is nigh" gang could give it a passing thought.
I’m beginning to see that prophetic speculation is taking place on the fringes of the Christian publishing industry.
"Captain Obvious, please pick up a courtesy phone."
The forehead symbolizes the mind (i.e. what one believes) and the hand symbolizes our actions (i.e. what one does). God said that his laws will be written on our hearts and minds. He didn’t mean literally. Our heart symbolizes what we love and treasure. Our mind symbolizes what we believe.
Jesus used many parts of the body to represent concepts, such as the eyes being the lamp of God. Jesus spoke of what comes out of our mouths from our hearts making us unclean, meaning what we speak comes from our hearts or what we love and treasure. He never meant any of those things literally. They were all symbolic.
It is consistent with Christ’s teachings to suggest that the mark of the beast on our foreheads and/or our hands is symbolic of what we believe and what we do. The same verse in Revelation 14 that references the mark of the beast also says that those who receive it will drink of the wine of God’s fury that has been poured full strength into the cup
of his wrath. Those who don’t love and serve Christ will experience God’s fury and wrath but not by drinking a literal glass of wine. Nearly all of Revelation is symbolic.
Revelation says that only those who keep God’s commandments will enter Heaven. Christ said that the 1st & greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. He said the 2nd commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. We keep those commandments through what we believe, what we love and what we do. If we focus our lives on keeping those 2 commandments, then we needn’t worry about receiving the mark of the beast because our minds, hearts and hands will be focused on worshiping and serving Christ.
I realize that many Christians worry about if and how technology will be used in end times. God would never allow his children, whom he loves and gave his son for and who love him in return, to be duped into receiving the mark of the beast. God gives us free will so we can choose him. Receiving the mark of the beast will be a choice to reject God and serve and worship Satan. Yes, Satan will deceive people causing them to reject God by denying him, not loving him, and not serving him. But never fear that you will be deceived into receiving the mark of the beast because if you love and serve God, you will not and cannot reject him.
This is a sensitive subject and I know many truly believe that the mark of the beast will be a physical mark on or implanted in the body. I ask you to simply consider what I’ve written, read the scriptures, and pray for guidance from the Lord. Just because we’ve been taught something all our lives doesn’t mean it’s true or that we have to believe it. Seek out your faith through God’s perfect word not through man’s errant predictions.
Blessings.
“Buying and selling, properly understood, are worship-related rituals (Isa. 55:1–2). “This is established in [Revelation] 3:18 (and compare 21:6). When those who refuse the mark of the Beast are not allowed to buy and sell, it means that they are expelled from the synagogue and Temple.”
After the abomination that causes desolation?
Um...this interpretation is a real stretch. Why, later, are damend called those who “worshipped the beast” rahter than those who bought and sold wiht the neast. makes no sense.
I’ll stick to the interpretation in the normal sense, where buying and selling means...well...buying and selling. And in that sense, I’m off to starbucks to buy a coffee...not worship there.