No offense, but I get the feeling you are “looking for a fight”. The reason I say this is that this is at least the second time you expand a single sentence by me into an entire sermon complete with backing scripture, and then attempt to refute it. That is, intentionally or not, you create straw men from my posts and then effectively slay them.
I’m afraid I really don’t have the time nor inclination, on Freerepublic, to dig deep into specific topics on which you are “loaded for bear”. Frankly, I agree with most of what you post.
BTW, I was reading 1 Cor. this morning and when I came upon the word “holy”, I suddenly thought of Moses at the burning bush and a niggling question percolated to the surface: What, exactly, is “holy” ground? What exactly is holy “anything”. I mean, deep down, with full knowledge, what exactly does it mean? Then an answer came into my head that touches on our very conversation, which also popped into my head.
In a sense you are right about looking for a fight. I am looking for iron to sharpen my iron. Prov. 27:17. I have been to dozens of churches, bible studies, even some time at seminary. No one wants to dig into scripture in any forum, online, offline, in church, at home, anywhere. It seems at times, that Berean Christians are nearly extinct.
In answer to prayer recently I have had the opportunity to talk prophecy with a pastor, at length over the course of many months of one hour meetings. He was in shock and awe at the breadth and depth of my knowledge of prophecy, and said I am "WAY ahead of him in this area." Yet, I consider myself to be only a beginning student.
I joined a bible study on Daniel a while back. We are on chapter ten. What a dissapointment. It is a book study, not a bible study. We follow McArthur's book, answer the shallow questions, and avoid learning anything.
Prophecy, the subject of this thread, is highly relevant to society. Jesus rebuked his disciples as fools on the road to Emmaus because they did not compare scripture with the events of their day, and understand that it was being fulfilled before their eyes.
This thread considers the idea of antiChrist in prophecy and sort of makes light of it implying every generation thinks its all about them. That simply isn't true. Looking to the future for the antichrist denies the fulfillment of prophecy. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has web feet like a duck, and swims like a duck..... Those are four marks. I gave 18 marks of the mystery of iniquity. All have been fulfilled.
Similarly, looking for the kingdom in the future only, or only in the spiritual non-physical realm denies scripture.
But who cares right? What does the kingdom of God matter to a Christian. It looks increasingly like I will be writing off freerepublic as just one more place where Christians are interested only in shallow one-liners, or dismissing anything they don't already believe.
peace to you